Merry Christmas From Honduras

It was SO wonderful to be able to talk to Elder Baller in Honduras for Christmas. Lots of laughs, memories (and a few tears at the end). We love him SO much!

Elder Valladares and Elder Baller

Elder Baller showing us the Honduras tie he got from his Secret Santa

WEEK 25 - Q&A

1. How was your first Christmas in the mission field?
It was fantastic! So great to talk to the fam and to spend time with my other family here.

2. What do you think you'll remember most from this Christmas?
Eating way way way too much and throwing it all up lol.

3. What were your favorite Christmas songs in your Christmas playlist?
I love anything that didn't have words, just to listen while I study.

4. What are some of your goals/resolutions for 2016?
I just want to be able to look at the year at the end and say that I worked my absolute hardest.

5. What is something you didn't know about yourself that you've learned on your mission?
I am a little more outgoing and talkative than I thought.

WEEK 25 - Update

This week was really really good.

Thursday

Thursday we ate 7 times during the day and I ended up puking it all out. We played basketball with the zone and did Secret Santa.

Friday

Friday I got to talk with the fam. Which was fantastic. After that we basically just contacted for a few hours because we didn't have any appointments.

Saturday

We gave and English class. We are doing it to find more people because we ask everyone to bring a friend. But only 4 people came. Kinda a fail.

Sunday

Sunday was really good. Nothing really too special.

Monday

We had a district meeting. We are honestly working so hard. We get home dead at night.

Tuesday

We went to Urrutia. We were supposed to have dinner but the members weren't home so we went to the church because there was a Relief Society activity. We arrived just in time to clean up everything and go home without food.

Wednesday

We taught some lessons. Nobody was really too interested. It was kinda a rough day.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and Happy New Year!

Elder Baller

Mission Christmas Party 2015

Great photos from mission Christmas gathering

President Bowler, Elder Baller, Sister Bowler

Elder Baller is in the first row, sixth from the left

WEEK 24 - Q&A

Elder Baller had P Day on Thursdays for the last two weeks of December. He didn't have much time to write on Christmas Eve, so just answered the Q&A.

1. What was the best part of your week?
The Christmas party with the mission. It was super duper fun.

2. Who is someone you have been grateful for this week?
My new companion. We are working so hard and he is such a good missionary. He is a convert of 5 years.

3. If you had to choose the 75-80 degree weather of Honduras or the current 25 degree/snowy weather of Utah, and had to live in whatever you chose for the rest of your life, what would you choose? :)
Honduras

4. Do any of the missionaries in your mission drive cars?
The missionaries in the office. But other than that everyone walks.

5. Is the focus of Christmas in Honduras mostly religious or is it commercialized?
It is kinda both but it isn't near as big as it is in the states.

WEEK 23 - Photos

"Arborlito" (Tiny tree)
We sent this tree in Aidan's Christmas package. It really is tiny. Like four inches high.

Lights in the window
We also sent a couple of strings of battery operated lights.

More lights in the window

Me with our zone leader Elder Guillen from Guatemala

We went to the cross for P Day
(There is a cross on the mountain in Danli)

The cross

Elder Guillen

Elder Baller & Elder Valladares

"Flag"
also featuring Elder Solis

Selfie with Guillencito

WEEK 23 - Q&A

1. I'm sure you'll write about your new companion in your weekly letter, but give us some details here. What is his full name? Where is he from? How long has he been out?
I honestly don't know his full name... He is from El Salvador. He is 21. He has 11 months in the mission. He has a twin in the mission.

2. What was the best part about this week?
Working hard. We found this lady that is super duper positive. Make fun of the super duper all you want. It won't stop me from saying it. She is great and we are going to be working with her. And we found her from complete revelation. I felt like we should contact a house and then her mom started talking to us and my comp felt like he should ask to talk with her daughter.

3. Do you do any of your favorite Christmas traditions there in the mission?
We always looked at lights as a family, and listened to Christmas music, which I always loved.

4. We haven't seen many fruits and veggies in your food pics. Do you eat any? What are the rules for eating produce there?
We do eat them. Just not in our house because we never buy them. I am super careful with stuff like that so I don't buy stuff like produce.

5. Does the ward there have a Christmas party/program? 
Yes we had a Christmas Dinner on Friday. It was great.

WEEK 23 - Changes

This week was really good. I am not going to be able to do a day by day update as well this week because I forgot my agenda, but here it goes.

Tuesday
Tuesday was my last day with Papa Alarcon. We just did basically nothing. Washed clothes, bought some stuff, and said goodbye to a bunch of people. It was sad.

Wednesday
Wednesday I went to drop off Alarcon at the stake center and then just kinda hung out with some of the other elders while we waited for our new comps. I finally met my new comp, Elder Valladares from El Salvador. He is super cool. He has 11 months in the mission. We just kinda got to know some members with him.

Thursday
Thursday we had a district meeting and then we worked. We are working super hard and we are talking with so many people it is ridiculous. We put a baptism date for an investigator named Genesis, she is the sister of a member.

Friday
Friday we went to Urrutia and we talked with more people. After that we had a Christmas Dinner with the ward. TONS of people came. We were basically running around helping with everything.

Saturday
Saturday was pretty good. I honestly don't remember anything that happened. We had a stake priesthood meeting with all the priesthood holders.

Sunday
Sunday was good. Eidy, our convert, gave a talk and it was so fantastic. Hermano Salgado, another convert, got the priesthood. Such a good day.

Hope you all have a fantastic week!
Elder Baller

WEEK 22 - Photos

Hello, Family. Here are captions for the week. All of the pictures this week are from our baptism.

You will see a large, dark-skinned man. This is Hermano Salgado. Who we have worked with, fought for -- blood, sweat and tears. Actually, a ton of sweat and no tears or blood. But a lot of work for him. We've worked with him for two and a half months and finally, finally, finally.

The kid, Stephen, lives in the apartments next to ours. He's really awesome and funny. He's 13. He loves to hang out with us. We live next to each other, so he always knocks on the door and wants to talk to us. He always asks when we can draw, because he loves to draw with me. Whenever I go up on the roof and wash clothes, he and his little brother are always up there.

WEEK 22 - Q&A

1. You mentioned you were decorating the house and possibly cutting down a tree. What decorating have you done?
We made a tree out of pass-along cards on the wall. Kinda pretty. We don't really have time to do a whole lot but tomorrow I think I will have a little bit of time to do something.

2. Do a lot of people have pets there? What kinds?
Almost everyone has a dog or a cat. Basically everyone. And then everyone once in a while someone has a bird. But nothing else.

3. How is Elder Alarcon feeling about going home? How are you feeling about it?
He is sad, happy, nervous, and a little worried all at the same time. He feels like he has changed a lot and doesn't know how his family will be. I am super sad to see him go, but he has been a great missionary.

4. Did you get to watch the Christmas Devotional? If so, where and with whom?

We did watch it with the stake in the stake center. Hardly anyone has the right cable so they show it by satelite in the stake center.

WEEK 22 - Week 16 in the Field

Tuesday
Tuesday we went to Urrutia. Which as always, was fantastic. We were talking with a lady that has been less active for like 15 years, her daughter is a non-member so we were talking with them. We ended up machete'ing her backyard. We were talking with Eidy, our convert, and her mom Amanda, while we waited for Massiel, Eidy's sister and another convert, and it was great to talk to them. We hadn't seen Massiel in a while because she works until the last bus comes and so in order to meet with her we have to walk back. But it was something we all needed, fantastic. I was playing with Alexa, Massiel's daughter that is 1 year old. She is so adorable and she love love loves me.

Wednesday
We had our baptism interviews on Wednesday and everything went really good. We were worried that Steven and Hermano Salgado would have problems with coffee but we told them. You can't drink coffee anymore and neither of them have and they both say that they don't miss it.

Thursday
We went to Ocoba and worked a little bit. After that my companion was feeling more tired than normal so we called the nurse and rested in the house.

Friday
Friday my companion made milk soup, which is a lot better than it sounds, I guess it was something his dad used to make and his dad sent him the recipe. It is like soup with chicken and potatoes and milk. Actually really good. We had a meeting with our ward mission leader and the Hermanas, which was great. It is always super funny.

Saturday
Saturday we cleaned the font. We went to a new neighborhood with the Primary. It was a missionary work activity where we walked around with the kids and they invited people to church and handed out church magazines. It was super duper fun. Then we had the baptisms. Wow. Great. We worked so much with Hermano Salgado and it was great to finally see him take this great step in his life.

Sunday
Sunday our ward mission leader, Samuel cooked for us. Spaghetti with sauce made from Orange Juice. Sooo good. We also went to the Church Christmas Devotional. Super great and beautiful.

Love you all so much! Hope you all have a fantastic week!
Elder Baller

WEEK 21 - Photos

Elder Baller here with your weekly captions for pictures.

First is my early Christmas present for the fam. Parts of this are very poorly done. Mostly Manolo. I think that Maria is actually pretty good though, pretty solid. This is my early, and possibly my only, Christmas present to the family.
(Mom note: Book of Life is one of our family's favorite movies -- Aidan and Brooke used to watch it together all the time.)

 I have done another photo shoot, because it's fun.

"Thanksgiving Day Smiles"
We'll say that I took this picture on Thanksgiving even though I forgot.

"Unprepared"
I was trying to take a certain picture and I set up the timer and it went off quicker than I thought.

"Thanks, Mom!"
Mom sent me the sheet music to this song and I'm very happy.

"Superfly"
I think I look super super fly right there. And yes, you may have noticed that my hair is very long right now. We didn't have time to cut it last week. You all know that my hair grows super, super fast. 

The famous bridge of Los Arcos (The Arches, in English). On Saturday, we went to give an Hermana a blessing. She has dengue, which is very sad. She can't walk very well and is in a lot of pain. And then, another set of Hermanas that live in Los Arcos asked us to bless their house, to dedicate their house. They haven't been able to find anyone in their ward who could do it. So, we went to another set of Hermanas' house and asked them how to get there. They said to walk down a road to a wooden bridge. And that the bridge would be really ugly. So, we were expecting an actual wooden bridge, like an ugly old bridge. And this is what we found. Those boards literally bent every time we stepped on them and the bridge would move a little. But I liked the picture. All of Danli is like this. Super green and I thought the bridge looked actually sort of cool.

No caption was provided for this, but I'm guessing Aidan drew this. Love it.

WEEK 21 - Q&A

1. What did you do for Thanksgiving? Did you even realize it was Thanksgiving? :)
We honestly didn't do anything different. Except for talk about it. And we imitated the First Thanksgiving when I gave my companion a bag of chips and he gave me some cookies.

2. Do people decorate for Christmas in Honduras?
Yes, there are houses already decorated. Some really pretty Christmas trees and lights in most of the windows.

3. How are you and Elder Alarcon spending your last week together? Any special plans?
We aren't going to really change anything. We are going to spend some time resting because Elder Alarcón told his mom he would get back some health and strength.

4. If you don't get transferred from Danli, will you go to the mission home for changes, or will they just send the new companion down to you?
It depends, if I am training, which I have heard is a possibility, basically everyone tells me I am going to train, I will go for sure for sure. If not it depends -- sometimes you go, sometimes not. I really want to be there to say goodbye to a few people that I will probably never see again.

5. If you could choose to have Norte or a Native companion next, what would you choose?
First, love the super gringo Norte. I would actually like to train a gringo. I would like to have my little white son lol.

WEEK 21 - Week 15 in the Field

This week was excellent.

Tuesday
Tuesday was fairly normal. We went to Urrutia and we machete'd Eidy's house. She is our first convert and she is so great. She has helped us with her sister and her niece. We contacted a reference from the Bishop and it was a couple that are super super positive, they are really busy so it is hard to find them, but we are working with them.

Wednesday
Wednesday was totally normal and I have nothing special to write about.

Thursday
Thursday was.. Thanksgiving. We went to eat a restaraunt that we go to every Thursday because we didn't have enough money to go to Pizza Hut with the zone. :( We went to a new area that we have never been to called San Marcos Arriba. Super great and we found a bunch of new people there.

Friday
We went to Urrutia again. We visited Eidy and talked about the mission because she has a real interest to go and she told us that she is going to go, so that is awesome. We had a meeting with our Ward MIssion Leader and after there was a wedding in the chapel of a couple in the ward. Our investigator was at the church using Wifi so we talked with him.

Saturday
We went in the morning to give a blessing to an Hermana and then went to dedicate some other Hermana's house. The rest of the day was normal, we visited several members.

Sunday
We went to Church, which was fantastic as always. We are planning 3 baptisms for this Saturday. Hermano Salgado, who we have worked with for about 2 months, and our neighbors. The aunt and one of the kids will be getting baptized. When we asked the aunt if she was ready to be baptized this Saturday, we all just kinda sat in silence for about 2 minutes. Whoo the Spirit was strong! After that she just kinda looked at us and said, Yes I am. Wow. Great experience.

Love you all. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Elder Baller

WEEK 20 - Photos!

Again, as always, captions are provided by Elder Baller himself. :)

Pictures of the baptism we had. It was great!

Next, I decided to do a little photo shoot. And I have named all of these pictures.

"The Search"
Basically, I was trying to set up this camera with its self-timer so I could take pictures.

"Happy"
Because I'm happy

"Deep in Thought"

"Water of Life"
Because water IS life

"Patriotism"

"Obedience"
These are vitamins that Mom has reminded me to take about a million times, and I do... every morning. So, for these reason, it is called "Obedience."

These didn't come with captions, but obviously he's playing soccer. :)

WEEK 20 - Q&A

1. What's the weather like in Danli now? Have you ever been cold?
This is kinda funny. It is not cold, but I am so used to the weather here that I am like freezing most of the time. It rains a lot. It is super hot sometimes. The weather here is more bipolar than Utah.

2. Do you have rules about how often you need to clean your house? Does anyone ever check it?
We clean it once a week, on P Day. They check every once in a while, but they tell us when so we always have it super clean.

3. In the photos of your house, it looks like there is a lot of stuff everywhere. Do missionaries leave stuff they don't need when they get transferred?
Yes! There is a ton of stuff that is not ours. Boots. Shirts. Suits. Pants. Tons of stuff that other missionaries don't want.

4. Do you and Elder Alarcon make your own food usually? Or do you make meals together? How do you decide?
We sometimes cook together, sometimes we do our own thing. We like the same stuff so we usually just agree on whatever.

5. How much of the time (percentage wise) do you feel that you understand Spanish being spoken? 
Understanding-wise, 85%. Maybe more. I have basically been able to understand everything since day 1. What I can't understand I can usually figure out pretty quickly. The problem is talking.

WEEK 20 - Week 14 in Danli

Hey everyone, this week was really great!

Tuesday
On Tuesday we went and got to know an RM that got home on Tuesday, Noé. He is super cool and the ward did a little welcome home thing for him. It was great.

Wednesday
We had interviews with President Bowler, which was great. I talked with Hermana Bowler because I had been feeling sick for a few days and she told me to only eat potatoes, rice, bread, and bananas for two days and to have a test done.

Thursday
We did the baptism interview for Astrid on Thursday, we went with the Zone Leaders and she ended up not being there. They had another interview to do, so I went with one of them to Paraíso, while the other stayed with Alarcón to wait for her. We didn't get back until super late, but it was fun.

Friday
Friday we talked with Eidy, our convert, and she went to the temple on Thursday and did baptisms for the dead. She is so great. She is going to take her family names the next time she goes, which might be this week!

Saturday
Saturday we went and helped some Hermanas in our zone move because they were changing houses and needed some men. Haha. We were the only guys there and ended up carrying a ton of heavy heavy stuff. After that, the nurse of the mission called to give me the results of my test, and I have a parasite. Don't worry mom. It is no big deal. Just 2 pills a day for the rest of my life and that's all. No just kidding. 2 pills a day for 3 days and that's all. We had the baptism for Astrid and it was great. I got to do it again, everyone asks for me. My companion says it is because I have the face of an angel.

Sunday
Sunday was normal, church. Church was really really good. I was feeling super super sore all day long, but it was a really good day. We worked a lot with members.

Love you all. Miss you all.
Elder Baller

WEEK 19 - Photos

Selfie - I got a haircut

I was reading the Liahona, and I found Grandma Ferguson. I'm like 90% sure it's her. It was in a section about Visiting Teaching. I wanted to see if you guys think it is too. Weird.

This is a soup we made. It's just water with beans, potatoes, rice, spices and mantequilla. It was way good.

We made kind of like pupusas, mixed with something that's Honduran called catrachas. This was actually pretty good... kind of. A catracha is like a fried tortilla with beans on it. And the white stuff on top is queso -- cheese. But it's different from in the states. And then that is mantequilla on top. The problem with this one was that my companion made the dough and put way too much salt. And we fry the beans in something called sofrito. And this time, we used one bag of beans and one bag of sofrito. So it was way too much sofrito. It was crazy flavorful. We made them again today and it was better. Today we put cheese inside of them like actual pupusas.

The sky here is very beautiful. These are typical houses here. The windows here are all barred. 

The building you see is a house and the building to the left of the house is a tobacco factory. The barbed wire is typical on all the fences here. These two pictures together and it's a panorama. The sky is so different but it's right next to each other. I love the sky here!

This was my dinner Saturday night. Super good. Yes, that is a Coca Cola. I drink it when I am feeling sick. I made this by cooking the spaghetti and scrambling and egg with it. Then I threw it all in a pan with some butter and corn. Mixed it up, seasoned it with salt, pepper and vinegar. It was super good. It looks boring, but it was really good.