We have cambios this wednesday and I am nervous! Two sister AP's are leaving and a lot of new girls are coming in so I think they might put my comp in as a Sister AP and might have me train. We'll wait and see what happens. But I'm nervous because my area is HUGE and I still get lost in it. If they pull my comp out, there's gonna be trouble. 

Each week is such a treasure. We had the Pijama Party (Sister's Conference) at President's house and talked a lot about marriage and family and also ''locking our hearts'' here to serve a consecrated mission and a consecrated life. We heard from the Teguc temple presidency in addition to Pres and Hna Hernandez and it was all so inspiring! I sang twice in the conference with Hermana Snelson (the missionary from Provo that I've shared a zone with since the MTC.) And we also sang at our baptism on Saturday, in sacrament meeting, and in our Gospel Principles class. We sing a lot. But hey, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto God (D&C 25:12.)

 We baptized Daysi! I've been spelling her name as Deisi this whole time, but when we filled out her registro bautismal, I learned the right way. She is my sister. I totally love her. She wore my skirt and shirt to be confirmed and we're going shopping for her today to get Sunday clothes. I love the youth here in Honduras and all over the world. I really want to work with the Young Women when I get back! Her baptism was beautiful by the way. Everything ran so smoothly and we brought a mom and her daughter to come see it. 

We're working with a beyond cute new couple and we'll get their legal papers tomorrow to prepare for their wedding and baptism on March 8th!! Pray for Yoliza and Victor! 

And I'm not going to talk about pigs in this email, but I have to at least mention one creature, so I'll tell you about the little scorpion crawling above my desk! I thought it was a bug but it was a little yellow scorpion and I killed it with my shoe. I'm bummed I didn't hear about this before, but one of the missionaries told me you can kill them by poking them with a pencil on their back because they go to stab the pencil with their tails, but it you move the pencil fast enough, they stab themselves in the back and die. Don't know how credible that is, but I'm pumped to find out first hand! 

Valentine's Day was so special because we played amigas secretas and the girl who drew my name knows how much I miss cookie dough icecream and she made it for me!! But because we're in Honduras and it is literally 98 degrees in Choluteca right now (check the weather), it all melted and so we poured the soup out of the party bag and into a cup and asked someone to put it in their freezer, but they ended up throwing it away! But I honestly almost cried at how thoughtful that was! Hermana Blazzard loves me. And I got to eat lots of the soup before it got tossed. But there was just so much love on the 14th and we planned a ward cultural night outside that was a success! There were songs and dances and dramas! I taught the three other misioneras in our area the cup game and we sang ''give said the little stream'' as we tapped our cups. After the talent show was over, they put on bachata, merenque, salsa and punta music and everyone danced! I'm not exaggerating when I say that not being able to dance is one of the biggest challenges of the mission!!! I can't wait to come back and dance someday! (And I'm finding latin dance clubs when I get home...Girls night out!)  

And I have to tell you about THE most hysterical moment of my entire mission. We were in the middle of our first lesson with a house full new investigators and their aunt walked in and told us her Dad had just passed away and that she wanted to sing us a song. So she starting singing so loud and so serious right in our faces with hand actions. I realized she was completely drunk. My comp just put her head down but I felt rude so I tried to keep looking at her, but I was fighting back laughter like never before. Tears were welling in my eyes from the effort. And then she finally stopped and her neices were like, ''hey, she's a professional dancer!'' and they put on punta and bachata music and she went from the most angry and sad lady in the world to the happiest on this planet. I have never seen a smile so big as she shook her hips like it was her last night on Earth. I was laughing hysterically as she would dance up to us on the couch and put her bum in our faces. It was straight out of a movie. The most awkward situation a missionary could face. Thank goodness we weren't elders! And I won't go into too much detail, but she grabbed my comps knee and started dancing like a crazy person! Then she leaned into my face and I'm like,''What do I do? What do I do?'' But she just kissed my cheek like they all do to greet people here. 

I would pay anything to have that experience on film. 

Sorry to share something so strange, but just know that the mission truly is so spiritual! I get to feel the spirit so strongly and I love it. I'm trying to follow ALL of his promptings. 

We are so blessed. 

xoxo, 

Hermana Flynn

I'm writing on a Saturday because I'll be in Teguc on Monday and won't be able to write. We (the sisters in the South) are having a *drumroll please* PAJAMA PARTY with the President's wife tomorrow! It'll be really fun! 

This week has been crazy! Hermana Ramirez and I decided to start waking up at 6am to study earlier and get out the door to work around 10am. That way we can teach more lessons and retain the converts and strengthen the less-active members. 

Yesterday, we baptized a 16 year old boy named Luis! The youth of this ward are beasts and totally brought him to church two weeks ago and came with us to every lesson! We're so grateful that he has their complete support, because his transition into the ward will be so smooth. We're going to start teaching his family as well! He is such a blessing. I love that boy! Plus we brought a couple who just moved in together to the baptism! The boy is inactive and the girl wants to be baptized! So we're helping them get married right now. The work is good in Sagrado Corazon. 

Let me tell you about this Tuesday. First of all, we found a huge frog in our bucket by the pila (I'll send you a picture.) And it's still there, so it's our pet now. I got a ton of cool eating opportunties! I ate a goatmilk caramel sucker and then went to a less active woman's house and she gave us dried tiny sardines to eat. It was disgusting. Then she cut up sugar cane for us with her machete. It was delicious. We threw the chewed up sugar cane on the floor to feed the seven piglets that were running around inside. The mama pig ran in to eat but then felt threatened and charged at my comp to get out the door! She jumped out of the way but it totally knocked over her chair and scared her so bad! The little kids there all stripped down and started swimming in the pila which was adorable and I was jealous because I've wanted to do that since day one. The we went to another house where they were killing garrobo (a big lizard) to eat so I helped with that and to thank me they gave me a boiled iguana egg to eat! It tasted like cheese. They also gave us tamarindos, which are pods that grow on trees and they're really sour. As I was playing with the lizard skin, they were like, ''Watch out! The pig is eating your backpack!'' And it was.. That day was so crazy and fun and we saw so much progress with our investigators that we celebrated by ordering pizza from Pizzahut! That's what I love about Honduras: It's very third-world in a lot of ways, but we also have access to lots of modern things. 

Well, that's all I have time for, but will you guys do me a favor and pray for these people? 

Familia Rodriguez, Deisi, Henry, Valeska, Karina, Katherine, Yoliza & Victor, and a different Luis.

Thanks! I love you all TO THE MOON! 

xoxo, 

Sister Sarah

P.S. Sorry to talk so much about pigs, but they're just such a huge part of my life here..

We're doing a lot of good work here in San Luis. Hermana Ramirez and I have set many goals and we're going to wake up even earlier and start sacrificing to meet them. 

We started a very successful free English class that's attracting many non-members! I love teaching English! ''I espeak de English!''

The mangos are all coming in, so we've been eating lots of mango verde, which are cut up, unripened little mangos with vinegar or lemon, chile, and salt. It's delicious. 

You know that game you play in the car where you punch someone and say ''Slugbug, what color?'' Pues, here in the South you punch your comp when you see a naked baby running around--so at least twice a day. All the missionaries do it.

My DL got sick this week after eating iguana at a family's house. I haven't had to face that situation yet, so I feel very blessed! 

We did have some interesting animal encounters this week though. While planning, I thought I felt an insect crawling down my arm. Nope, turns out it was just a baby lizard. I spazzed a little! And we also found a huge spider in our room! We have a hilarious video of my comp killing it! I'll include a picture. 

I am just loving the mission! It is such a joy because although the days sometimes feel like weeks, the weeks feel like days! I'm trying not to waste any time. I'll hit 8 months in one week. 

I'm reading the New Testament right now and it is incredible. I highly recommend it. 

love, 

Hermana Flynn

P.S. We walked into the house of an investigator and Psych was playing on their TV in Spanish! I died!

This week was awesome!

We went to the temple on Thursday so we had to wake up at 4 am to catch the bus to Teguc. We got home at 8pm. It was such a sweet experience to do a session in the most gorgeous temple on Earth and feel that peace. I learn something new every time I go. And I'm so much more appreciative now that I have to wait 6 months between each visit. As Hna Ramirez and I were in the Celestial Room, a worker came and pulled us out and brought us in to watch a family sealing. It was so beautiful. We were crying. When the sealer said ''for all eternity,'' in Spanish, a wave a spirit washed over me and I couldn't believe how good God is. I'm so blessed to be sealed to each one of you. 

We had a baptism set up for this past Saturday AT THE BEACH but he didn't pass the interview! NO! And we won't be able to baptize in the ocean again because there was a ward activity (we live 45 min away from the beach) and we probably won't have another for a long time. Dang. But we have another baptism for this Saturday and we're working with some postive intvestigators and trying to find families! There are some incredible people here in the South. 

Today we played soccer at the Stake Center with a few zones and I am sunburnt! But it was a blast and I think I lost 45% of my body's total water volume. 

Walking here makes me think of Christ's ministry. Taking off my shoes at the end of the day and seeing all the dirt reminds me of how Christ humbly washed his disciples feet. How lucky are we to be able to study His life and learn from His example? Sometimes when the adorable but dirty little kids climb on me, I get nervous because I'm trying to avoid lice and skin conditions, but then I remember the Savior and how he walked with the poor, the dirty, and the afflicted--leperous and maimed. So I just hug them and hold their hands and try to give them the love that they usually lack in their humble homes. 

Isaiah 40:3 ^bPrepare ye the^cway of the Lord, make straight in the desert a ^dhighway for our God.

 

I know that Christ lives still and that this life is the time to prepare to meet Him. 

So I got transfered! They exhiled me to the South! And it is SO different from the city! You know those old cowboy movies where they're in dusty little pueblos in mexico and there's tumble weed blowing across wide rocky dirt roads? That's exactly what my new area looks like. I just looked up the weather in my area and it's 95 degrees. And today feels a lot cooler than it was yesterday. It's so flat here and my area is HUGE! So we walk so much on these really rocky roads. Just the main street is cement. It's so different! 

Some people's goal is to drink enough water to pee clear. My goal is just to pee because I sweat so much that I never need to use the bathroom! And at the end of the day I look so so tan because of all the dust that's blown and stuck to me. If only it were that easy for me to get a nice tan! 

But the people here make up for what the land lacks. The recent converts are so pilas and solid in the gospel and the members are so willing to leave and teach with us! We had a baptism this Saturday with a 13 year old girl who loves the church and is going to Girl's Camp this next week! We're teaching her sisters too. And we have a baptism on date with a 17 year old boy who is such a sweetie and leaves to teach with us and he calls me ''hermanita'' because he's like 6'2. And he just helped us move! I had just moved in my last area and two days after I got here we had to move again! I'm actually really grateful for that because we had to wash our dishes in the sink in the bathroom which really grossed me out. It was the grossest bathroom I'd ever seen in Honduras. That's saying something!

There are tons of farm animals down here just walking around. We were in the middle of teaching a lesson to a family in the middle of the street when the old dad suddenly got up and stood next to me to guard me from a herd of about 30 huge cows passing by. And I had no idea how big a pig could be until I came here. Everyone has a huge pig tied to their tree. A family just invited me to come watch them kill theirs this weekend. I told them I'd think about it. And there are tons of horses wandering around too. I just saw a guy with a little horse cart that looks like the ones they race in the movie Leprachauns. ''Time for a little freeway maneuver!'' And because of all the animals, there are some sketchy things in the soil. I just had a bug bite that I scratched on my foot and it got infected and my ankle is huge and hurts pretty bad! But no worries, I'm just going to start a round of antibiotics. 

There are two restaurants here--Wendy's and a place called Churascos. So a bunch of zones from the south go there every monday and after district meetings, which is a party! And I'm still in the same zone as a girl named Hermana Snelson from Provo. She was with me from the beginning in the CCM and in my last zone and now we share a ward here! We had a sleepover in her apartment last night which was a party!

My new comp is named Hermana Ramirez and is from LA south side. Her mom is from El Salvador and her dad (who doesn't live with her) is from Mexico so she speaks awesome spanish! And she has an incredible story. I love her so much. 

Well, that's all for today! But just remember how much I love you all and how grateful I am for each one of you! Read your scriptures!