HOLA FAM

Hello from Honduras!

Well, this week was full of all kinds of up and downs....more ups than downs though. To start off the week, Monday, I went to La Lopez to help an Elder put on a baptismal date with a sister for this past Saturday (she got baptized). On the little division, a couple of things happened. First, we were walking on the highway at about 8 o'clock at night, and this bum looking guy walks by us, and he had a huge old knife, that he was gripping tightly in his hand, and then he just walked by us staring at us, and then turned around and started walking towards us. Elder Bair and I just took off running as fast as we could. That was one of the scariest moments I have had in Honduras. We got back to the apartment at about 9 o'clock, and Elder Bair had left the keys with his companion who went to Puerto Cortes (my area about 1 hour and 15 minutes away). So, we were locked out of his house. We tried opening a window, and as we were trying to get in the window, the window popped out, landing on the ground and shattering. The owner of the apartment came out...her husband kind of got mad at us. So then, we finally got in our house and got settled in for the night. At about 12 o'clock at night, I got up to go to the bathroom, and as I got done using the bathroom, I guess I left the sink water running, because when we woke up in the morning, the bathroom was flooded. Anyways, those were just a couple of sad experiences that led up to the great one on Tuesday morning. So Tuesday, we got up to go to our District Meeting in Chaloma. We arrived at about 9 o’clock,  and the missionaries with the keys to the Chaloma building still hadn’t showed up. So about 6 of us missionaries were waiting outside the church at this time, when all of a sudden two guys of about 19 or 20 years old rolled up on bikes, pulled out their nice revolver hand gun, loaded it up, and came for the biggest gringo that was there. Yep...that was me. So, they started asking for my camera, and if we had cell phones. So they got my camera (which had my chip in it, with about 350 photos on it, that I was about to burn onto a CD) and then they took off. He should of at least asked me how to use it. I would have told him. So it is nice I have my life still, but my heart dropped for all my pictures. I had so many pictures I loved on that chip with families and people. So that was a long day. I wasn’t in the greatest mood. Don’t worry though, I am now feeling awesome. I am thinking Satan wanted me to get all down, so I wouldn’t be as effective in the hands of the Lord. So yeah, it did hurt my heart to see my pictures ride away on that little bike, but then I decided it's in the past, and I put it behind me, and I went to work. And from Tuesday on, I had one of the best weeks of my mission. Thursday, we had a Multi-Zone Conference with about 5 zones. Yes, I will say it was absolutely awesome. The Lord worked through me again, and I talked with His Power. At the beginning of the Conference, the AP´s asked me to get up and give a talk. I went up there calmly and opened my journal, and gave a talk I had prepared for such a time as this. Wow family!.. I wish you could have been there and understood me. It was one of the greatest talks I have ever given. I always say that, but this time it was the greatest. I wish you were all there. At the end of the talk, President Ochoa stood up in front of everyone and said “Amen”.  I got the tingles up and down my spine. President Ochoa then stood up to talk and said, "If I could talk to you about anything today, it would be what Elder Lee just said". He then talked for about 10 minutes and sat down. We then listened to the AP´s for a little bit, then the wife of  President Ochoa, and then some testimonies of some of the Elders.  The Conference was so great. After the Conference, an Elder came up to me and told me he loved the Spirit he felt from my talk. He said he felt like he was in the locker room, listening to a pep talk from a football coach. He was like, “Elder Lee, you would be a sweet football coach.”  But anyways, enough about me, then this Friday, we married the Familia Melgar. They are a little family of 4. They are so pilas. The brother was in jail about 5 months ago. When we found him about four weeks ago, he told us that his spirit was hungry for the Gospel. And let me tell you, he just ate it up. He is so awesome. I wish I had pictures to show you.  My companion had his camera, and we took some pictures with that. Then Saturday, we had their baptism. They saw pictures of the temple in the church and they are so excited and want to go to the temple as fast as possible. The Lord really blessed us with an awesome family. So anyways, this past weekend, our Zone got the Celestial Zone again. We are the first Zone ever to reach it two times in a row. This is actually my third time straight cuz I was in the Celestial Zone three transfers ago in Villas Del Rio. Anyways, we baptized 42 this past month. The Lord really blessed us. I have found it a whole lot easier to reach goals on the mission, if I rely completely on the Lord, and promise Him, and commit myself unto him, and just tell Him we need your help because we can't do it on our own. The Lord is amazing! Well fam, if I could just tell you how I am feeling right now, it would be great. Words on paper cant describe it. I love you all, and thanks for everything. Oh, and Mom I decided I want a camera for Christmas. If you put money in my account, I could buy one here instead of taking the chance of it getting stolen in the mail. I kind of want to buy a Canon digital elf, if that is alright with you guys. Oh, and these past  two weeks, I have taken a bunch of money out of my checking account, because right now the mission is having troubles putting money in the bank, and a lot of missionaries have no money. I had to pay a 1000 limp telephone bill, and I have had to lend a bunch of money to missionaries in my District cuz everyone is broke right now. Usually the mission puts money in the bank, but right now there is some kind of problem. And two or three times a week, we have to travel. So today also, I took out 600 limps, so my comp and I can eat and travel to our District Meeting tomorrow. Oh and yes, I can buy socks here too, and pants, shirts, etc. Something I would appreciate a lot though are nice PICTURES of everyone, from friends also (all the missionaries love looking at other missionaries' pictures) over the internet or in cards, and some American candy. The Hondo candy just isn’t cutting it anymore. Well the work is going forward here in Honduras. This past month our mission baptized the most it has ever baptized in one month. The President is really pleased with the work here in our mission. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. They really do help. Thanks for everything. Have a Happy Halloween and enjoy the cold. Happy days! Love, Elder Lee  Oh and P.S....yeah Mom, you can use the Book of Mormon waterfall picture, if you want. And you can just steal some words from my family letter, cuz I don't have any time to write anything.