Conference!!!

We didnt have transfers!! One more transfer with Hermana Bennett in La Ceiba!

CONFERENCE!!! Was amazing. I loved the talks of Lynn G Robbins, Carloa Godoy, David Bednar and Todd Christofferson.

Couple notes:

-Are we fearing man more than God?

-Instead of bringing God to where you are, go to where He is.

-Take responsibility of your spiritual being

-Take responsibility of your physical being

-The revelation of a parent has a lasting effect on the personal revelation of  the child.

-Decisions determines destiny.

We fasted with D... for his first time to see what date would be right for him to be baptized. He has had such a change of heart in the past couple weeks. Hes not taking baptism lightly, but takes in account every covenant he will be making with Heavenly Father. 

We contacted a reference from the Elders when we did the super contact last week. As we were in the lesson a man walked in and immediately greeted us. He told us he was a member and a District President in Colon, but was tempted by satan and fell. Hes been ashamed ever since and never returned to church. He visited other churches, but said they didnt even compare. He said as he was the District president there were only 5 active members. He had a dream that he was in the chapel and saw the chapel full of members dressed in white and took it upon himself to fill the chapel. In just a short time the attendance went from 5 to 70... all from one man and his vision. As he was bearing his testimony and talking about his spiritual experiences hes had, (Hermana Bennett and I found out later that we were both praying that the Spirit would touch his heart and he would be able to express himself) He then paused for a while and started weeping. We were able to bear testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that it doesnt matter how many times we fall, but how many times we pick ourselves up. I know Heavenly Father put him in our path and we are so privileged as missionaries, to have been a witness of His tender mercies and that He trusts us with His child. 

I love my mission!  Im grateful for a modern day Prophet who holds all the the priesthood keys to this dispensation and for continual revelation, especially with the gift of the Holy Ghost. The church is true! 

Love,

Hermana Sherman

Our District taking a "catracha" The Hondurans dont smile when they take pictures

With our Zone Leaders

Sister Trainer Leaders & Hermana Klein

We had a nice storm and lightning struck 3 feet in front of me... and we got it on film!

We live on the 3rd level of the red apartments

Hermana Cheman

This baby reminds me of Boston when I left.

Week of tender mercies...

Tuesday: We had our district meeting where we did practices of teaching investigators with profound doctrinal questions which is very common. I think a lot of times we get caught up in profound doctrine and it even takes a toll on our testimony. One question we can always ask is," If i know the answer to this question, will it help me reach salvation?" As missionaries we dont have to answer all of our investigators questions, just the ones that will benefit them to reach the ultimate goal of exaltation. 

Wednesday: Exchanges with El Imán. I went and worked in El Iman with Hermana Tito, this is her first transfer in the mission. She is so motivated and wants so badly to share the gospel with EVERYONE. She also soaked up everything and wanted to learn everything that she could. We found a lady who turned out to be an inactive member of the church. Her name is S. and it was a miracle  we found her. We quickly passed by her and if we hadnt taken the time to get to know her, we wouldnt have known she was a member to help her. We had a really good lesson with her and the Spirit was strong. I felt a special connection with her, as if I knew her before this life. One day we will find out.

Thursday: We met back with our companions at a training conference where the STLs always have to give an orientation. We have a ton of new missionaries from last transfer probably because they all just graduated high school.  Next transfer we'll be getting almost 30 more!

Friday. TRUJILLO. We took a bus bright and early to Trujillo and did exchanges with the sisters out there. Trujillo is the area farthest out in the mission and we have two sisters out there. I always have enjoyed doing exchanges in Trujillo because its so pretty. They have the beach, mountains and the cutest little town. We worked hard and taught 9 lessons and were able to find a lot of new investigators for them. They have a huge area, probably 10X the size of our area. It was a nice work out.

Saturday. We got up at 4:30 am to catch an early bus to Ceiba, but couldnt get out of the gate that was locked. We tried calling the neighbors so we could get the keys to open the gate, but they were dead asleep, (obviously). We decided to wait until it was a little lighter outside anyways because Honduras in the dark isnt the safest place on the planet. We went back to bed for an hour then finally got the keys from waking up the poor man. Here in Honduras there are no doorbells and they always have barbed-wired fences so you cant even get to the door to knock on it. You just yell,"BUENAS!" As we were yelling at the neighbors there were a ton of parrots around us yelling "Buenas!" at the same time. We were laughing. We got back to Ceiba and had 20 minutes to recuperate and  then we went out to do a SUPER CONTACT with our entire zone. Theres about 24 missionaries in our zone and we all worked in our area and the area of the other Hermanas that are up in the mountains. We all contacted and covered everywhere. It was so awesome! You could just feel the spirit of missionary work. We worked in the area of the other sisters and contacted an entire street when we realized we missed a house. We contacted it and a man came out in slacks and a nice collared shirt. We were thinking oh shoot, a pastor. He immediately told us he was a member of the church and works in Trujillo, but only comes to Ceiba to be with his wife and 4 kids on Saturdays. His wife and kids arent members, but he still goes to church in Trujillo. All of a sudden a woman runs out and grabs me and asked if i remembered her. I felt so bad because i didnt, it turned out she is the owner of the house that the sisters live in in Trujillo!!!S he isnt a member either, but we told her we were at her house that very morning yelling at her husband for the keys to open the gate. ISNT THAT NUTS?!?!?! What are the chances?! We were in shock.

Later that night we went to the Stake center to watch the Women's conference! We were praying that we would be able to watch it in English, but when we went to the secretaries office it was closed. We were so sad, when all of a sudden a sister passed by with her computer and said,"im going to try and watch conference in English with you guys!!" Her name was Emily and she had served a mission in Provo Utah. She said she normally watches conference at her house because she lives so far out, but decided to go to the Stake center and watch it after institute. She was scared she was going to have to watch it alone. Such a tender mercy!!! She was awesome and we talked all about her mission and the blessings of serving missions. She also reminded us of the culture difference from here and the U.S. She made us really grateful to be here in Honduras haha. Its so true what Elder Uchtdorf said in his talk about Heavenly Father not loving us for how perfect our hair, skin, and nails are, but who we are. I feel like the culture here focuses a lot more on that. The problems are also so different when its the end of the world if you dont get a lot of likes on a internet post, and here people are worrying about what they are going to eat for dinner. I pray i wont ever be blinded again.

Sunday: Literally every Sunday we run around trying to get all of our investigators to go to church and more often then not, it all falls apart last minute. We had planned to have 10 investigators go to church and they all promised they would and ALL fell through at the last minute. We were pretty annoyed and ended up walking to church late when we walked into Sacrament meeting to see A. one of our investigators who is planning on getting married to E. and than get baptized sitting there. This was the first time he had shown up to church and he came all by himself... another tender mercy. We didnt reflect on all the others not showing up to church at that time. This pretty much sums up the entire mission. Just one good investigator makes up for a hundred falling through. Ive definitely been learning how to reflect on the positive or else there is no way you could be a happy missionary. 

This was my week. All in all im happy. Happy to be here in Honduras, happy for my time to serve, happy with my Heavenly Father who has given me so much.

Love,

Hermana Sherman

I'll never forget our experience at Pico Bonito!

Hi!

Yesterday we we ate lunch at a members house. She gave us tacos and I normally can eat 2 and am full. This time she gave us 4... I barely finished them and was breathing heavily on the 3rd one and was seriously praying on the 4th. As we were walking back, I was not feeling very good. Then Hna Bennett told me it wasnt chicken in the tacos, but soy meat... I had to go straight to the bathroom and it wasnt pretty from there. We didnt have much time to recuperate, so we went out to our appointments. We went to an appointment with C. and she gave us an entire plate full of food. I almost started crying and was praying so hard that i would just keep it down in front of her. She showed us a bowl of chili that she had made. I smelled it and it was soooo spicy. Later, we were talking as i was concentrating on a bite at a time and scratched my nose. C. yelled saying not to touch my face because i apparently touched the lid of the bowl with chili. My entire face started to BURN, like FIRE. I ran to the sink and dunked my whole head in while C. helped me. As we walked back, I noticed half of my food was mysteriously gone and Hermana Bennetts cheeks full of food... Haha that's service right there. I was able to finish my food. It honestly was a MIRACLE. Apparently, Hermana Bennett was also praying for me because she knew i wasnt feeling good ,but it was amazing how i was keeping it all down and was able to eat all of it.

Today for Pday our zone went up to Pico Bonito. Its basically hiking up a mountain for two hours to see waterfalls. We were all reminded of how out of shape we really are. You have to cross a pretty sketchy bridge to start hiking and some of the Elders were pretty terrified to the point where they were on their hands and knees crawling across Hahaha. We hiked about an hour and a half up, and right when we were on the point where you can see the waterfall, we stopped to take pictures. We didnt realize that there was a huge bees nest right where we were talking pictures. The bees started going crazy and stinging everyone. The pathways down to the waterfall was really narrow and pure boulders. Everyone started panicking and screaming and not caring about the pathway, but were diving down to get by the water. Just the other day my companion Hermana Bennett was telling me that shes never been stung by a bee and she got 8 stings. I got stung right in the throat. Almost our entire zone were covered in bee stings and it kind of killed the rest of the hike for us. We just wanted to hike down as fast as we could so we were all sprinting down hill. Every couple minutes you would hear someone scream that tripped or fell, but we all just kept going. I honestly never have sweated so much before in my life. We were ringing out our hair like towels and about a fourth cup of sweat dripped out. Well, we all made it back and lived to see another day. I will never forget our experience at pico bonito. 

We went to Roatan again this past week and I worked with Hermana Z. on Wednesday and Hermana M. on Thursday. They both have been out on their missions for only 3 weeks, but are such good missionaries! When I was working with Hna M. we were hiking in her area. (Her area is on a mountain) We were almost to the top when the appt fell through. She said shes never been to the top before but knew there were houses up there. We decided to hike to the top when we contacted a family of 7. The Mom said she had been attending different churches, but didnt know which pastor was right and had the right authority. We got to teach a little of the restoration and she asked that we would come back every day. She also started crying during her closing prayer and kept saying to come back and not have it be the last time we visited her. We had a powerful lesson with her and she had been prepared to hear the gospel.

C. and her daughter came to church! Its the best when investigators go to church for the first time and its even better when they have a warm welcome from the members. C. said she loved how everyone was a family and already misses the people she met, and wants to go to church every Sunday from now on!

Im grateful to be a missionary here in Honduras. There are so many miracles we get to see every day and i wish i had time to write all of them. I know without a  doubt that the Savior is at the head of this work and when we are worthy, He will give us opportunities to see miracles in being His instruments.

Love,

Hermana Sherman

on the way to Pico Bonito

The Bridge

Typical ride in Honduras

Roatan

This week was amazing!!!

So this week was AMAZING!!! The Lord has definitely blessed us after giving our area a little break. We have literally been seeing miracles every day, especially with references!! We are actually getting references from members, which seriously helps so much!

We went to Orlanchito to do 2 sets of splits. The first day, I worked with Hermana Zamora and we found an inactive member who has been inactive for  15 years because of Gossip. She is sealed to her 6 kids and her husband was in the Seventy. She said that members gossiping had completely destroyed her family. She is divorced and all 6 of her kids have families and are inactive as well. Its sad to think because of gossiping, generations have been affected for the worse. 

We also taught the pastor again and we were tried with patience. I have learned that keeping a calm patient voice will keep the Spirit there, but as soon as theres contention, the Spirit leaves. Not just with our lessons,but the way parents talk to their children or siblings talk to each other.

Proverbs 15:1

 1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

Ive also seen how important it is to be ready to share the Gospel in ALL situations, even members. More people are watching the "Mormons" than we think, and notice a difference in us. Something I wish I was better at in high school, was willing to share the gospel more to my peers. Now being down the road, I know it could have helped them avoid a lot of bad decisions in their lives. 

1 Peter 3:15 & 17

 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: 

 and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

 17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.

This past week it rained quite a bit, but also was extremely hot as always. I dont understand how fast the weather can change here. I did finish my 72 hour emergency kit for whatever reason. I may be eating crackers and water for a while, but its better than nothing. 

Last Monday, we were kind of wandering around at 7:30pm because all of our appts fell through. We had planned to give service at a members house so we decided to contact a yellow house, as we were contacting the house we remembered we told an inactive we would stop by that night so headed into another neighborhood. As we were yelling out to the inactives, a man walking his dog passed by. He turned out to be a pastor and we asked if he knew anyone who needed a message about Jesus Christ. He told us about a family he just had passed who were yelling and needed God in their lives. We headed over to the house and a little girl ran out and said," Do you guys teach about the Bible??" She invited us in where we met her Mom and she immediately let us in and was so receptive!!! We walked out of that lesson and couldnt stop smiling! We were giggling to ourselves the whole rest of the night just because it was such a miracle! We kept thinking about if we didnt stop at the yellow house to contact it we wouldnt have remembered about the inactives and talked to the pastor and got the reference! It was a major "the church is true moment"

 We have been teaching them every other day now and are progressing so fast! 

We also have been teaching a young man who believes he has sinned so bad that he cant be forgiven. He was so deep in the cave he couldnt see the light. While studying for him, I came across this scripture.

Alma 36:19-21

19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

 20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

 21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.

I know that no matter how broken your heart is or devastated we may feel, there is ALWAYS hope through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we may feel joy once again. I also know that there is only true happiness in obeying the commandments of God. I love and pray for you every day.

Love,

Hermana Sherman

Dia de los ninos

Miracles exist and so does our Savior Jesus Christ

So sorry about not writing last week. My poor compa had dengue and we ended up staying a couple nights in the hospital so we didnt have internet to write. She got out Wednesday and rested a couple days and we slowly built up her endurance again. She is such a trooper! 

This week was the weeks of pastors... I dont know why this week more than any other week of my mission. but we had a lot of amazing experiences. 

We were contacting on saturday and passed by a man just staring at his trees in his backyard and decided to go talk to him. He said his son had passed away and his wife is really sick and the family is waiting for her time to pass away as well. So sad! We started talking and it came out that hes been aventista his entire life. As we were teaching, the spirit was so strong and our conversation led into the fundamentals of the church that Jesus Christ himself had established. His brother walked in and sat down. (a pastor), we continued to talked when two more pastors came and sat down and listened to us. Eventually the conversation led to the sabbath day and whether is was on Saturday or Sunday. We were able to bear our testimonies a couple times and the spirit was so strong. They were so set on the ancient laws that they couldnt accept the fact that there is such a thing as a modern day prophet and revelation. We ended up inviting them to just pray and ask Heavenly Father. It breaks my heart when people cant do something as easy as praying to know if our message is true. They can have it all, just need a little faith. 

We also taught a 16 year old girl that Heavenly Father not only hears our prayers, but He answers them too. She was so amazed and so excited to pray and receive answers.

We visited pastor Jose again, the pastor who was the millionaire, but then lost it all and had the amazing story. We got there and he could hardly move because he had pulled a muscle in his back and had been in a lot of pain for 3 days. We talked a while and it came out that he has never let anyone of another faith preach to him, let alone in his own home. He said that he feels something when were in his house and he just wants to serve us. (he gave us 7 eggs, avocado, bananas, rice and jello) cause he thinks were poor... We had a really good discussion about the Book of Mormon and his eyes have been opened that there is another Testament of Jesus Christ. At the end, he asked me to say the prayer. As i was saying it, I felt a very strong impression to ask for Jose´s back to be healed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I knew it would be done. We said our goodbyes and went to our next appointment. He called us 20 minutes after we left to tell us his back has been healed. I know without  a doubt Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, however big or small. Miracles exist and so does our Savior Jesus Christ. He will take away all of our pains whether it be physical, spiritual, or emotional. The atonement has more power than we can even begin to comprehend. 

Love,

Hermana Sherman

Hermana Morales went home and we threw her a goodbye party. She gave me her watch (mine broke) and I gave her a headband I made

The frequent nights without power that happen way too often

Mom you would be so proud!! I shredded this chicken with my bare hands all by myself even though I was gagging at the sight of its little body form and tail.

Star fruit

La Ceiba sunset

My novel‏ :)

This week was amazing. Probably one of my craziest, but a good crazy. haha

I got to see Hna Bennett perform her first surgery in the mission. She popped the biggest blister/boil I have ever seen. I was there giving support and filming it all. I'll give you guys a picture of it. 

We ate lunch at a recent converts house Sunday and we walked in to the smell of BBQ! Ive never been so excited about food. We each had a nice slab of meat on our plates. After blessing the food, I cut a nice big piece of meat and set it in my mouth... as I chewed, I immediately knew it was not normal meat. This meat tasted kind of like body odor and was mushy. My mind kept running about what it actually was and debated asking what type of meat it was. As I was choking the rest of it down,  I was thinking of the worst thing it could be and finally just asked what it was. It was cow liver. It probably wasnt the best idea knowing that I was eating cow liver, but here i am today, still alive. I just hope i never have to eat it again. 

'

So we weren't able to work in our area for 4 days this week and it's amazing to see how only 4 days gives Satan all the time in the world to work with our investigators. We visited H. and he was a completely different person. In these times we know that there will be more good and we will overcome things we weren't able to in the past. We also know that Satan will have more power, which breaks my heart when people are blinded and cant see how easily they can be pulled away from the truth. I know we hear it so much but honestly- 1. Prayer 2. Scripture Study 3. Church are so crucial in times like these.

We were buying something at a pulperia (tiny stores in peoples houses that are on every corner), we were talking to the guy and he said every time he goes to the states, he attends church and his brother was a member, but just recently died. We had an appointment with him, but he had something come up so we started down the street. We met a man who ive never seen before. He had a pretty nice house and here in Honduras people lock themselves in their own house with bars on the windows and barb wired fences and multiple different gates. This guy just has a huge wall in front of his house so its really hard to contact. He was outside picking up grass when we asked to help him and he immediately accepted. He also invited us in! Turns out he was a multi-millionaire who got sick with 14 different sicknesses and was robbed and lost absolutely everything. Hes also a pastor... and had a dream that he was in a group of pastors and the Lord told him to get out and leave his church. So when he woke up he stopped preaching. He said he never lets anyone in his house except people he pays to clean his yard, but liked how we offered service. We taught him about the restoration and the organization of the church. He said he has friend that's a member and gave him a priesthood blessing and the next day was when he had his dream. Miracle!

We also had a cultural night with the ward on Friday where every organization performed a dance or sang. We then ate typical honduran food and at the end had a tour of the church and there were members in different rooms explaining what we do there. There were different groups and after 5 minutes the groups rotated to a different room. We had a feeling we should randomly stop by an inactive after 7 years and invite her to the activity. She said she had been thinking about returning to church all week and that God sent us to help her. She showed up to the activity with her two girls! We were just as excited as if an investigator would have showed up. 

This week has been interesting. Every week has its themes of what Heavenly Father wants me to learn. This past week was about His perfect son Jesus Christ. Ive learned that there is a difference between believing and knowing. I definitely believe in Jesus Christ, but do i know him?

Story I heard. 

3 men died. 

The 1st man goes in a white room with a man looking into the book of life. Asks the man a couple questions about his life and lets the 1st man through.

The 2nd man walks into the room with the man and he starts reading the book of life and asked the 2nd man a couple questions and lets him through.

The 3rd guy walks into the room and immediately falls on his knees and starts worshiping the man. Only the 3rd man recognized that the man was Jesus Christ. 

I want to be the one who recognizes my Savior and Redeemer. So how do we come to know Him? We study His teachings in the scriptures and live by following his perfect example.

I have a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and know it to be the only church with the power and authority of Jesus Christ. The only way we are to know if something is to be true is through prayer and receiving a witness from the Holy Spirit. If you haven't received your own answer, i would invite you to seek one. I think and pray about you guys everyday and hope you guys are able to find true happiness. 

The blister/boil thing

Primary kids after the cultural night

One of the sisters went home cause of knee problem so we got permission to have a slumber party for her!

Pday with Zones Miramar and La Ceiba! We played baseball!

Love,

Hermana Sherman

You can't have faith in Jesus Christ, if you dont know who He is...

Today we have a little time to write, so thought I'd write a little more. 

We went to San Pedro Sula to pick up the new missionaries at the airport and than got to hang out with them all day on Tuesday as we gave orientations. Today we had the transfer meeting, which is always fun and exciting to see everyone, and where they're going for the next 6 weeks of their lives. We got 3 of the new sisters that just arrived in our area, so we´ll be able to do exchanges with them this transfer. Im so excited cause they are all so awesome! The past couple days Hermana Bennet and I have been a little slap happy, which makes everything more interesting. I have been finding everything funny and cant seem to stop laughing at the littlest things. Ive laughed so hard Ive cried so many times and over the dumbest things. 

We found a bag of cool ranch doritos for the first time since ive been here in Honduras and we bought them. We then realized the expiration date was in 2009...we ate them anyway and they tasted just as good. 

Last week while working, we definitely learned how important it is teaching through the Spirit. I remember being in a lesson and the Spirit was not there. It seemed like we were talking nonsense. We were trying to talk, but it wasnt going anywhere. Its amazing to feel the difference when our investigators truly have a desire to learn and the Spirit is there, or when it seems like we are just talking to ourselves. I realized how much the Spirit has helped me as a missionary, you literally cant teach without it. When the Spirit is there, it just carries the conversation for us, everything that we need to say just comes to our minds and we just have to open our mouths. So many times scriptures that i had no idea i had memorized just come to my mind at the right moments. Ive also learned that the Spirit cant bring something to your mind that you havent studied before, just like you cant have faith in Jesus Christ if you dont know who He is and what He did for us.

D&C 11:21

Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word , and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men. 

D&C 84:85

Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man. 

I have been able to rely on my Heavenly Father more than I have done so before in my life. He will not let us down. He does hear and answer prayers in the timing which is best for us. I know ALL sin can be forgiven through the Savior and Redeemer of the world. There isnt a burden so heavy or a trial so painful that Christ hasnt already felt. If we rely on Him, He will make our burdens light. I know the Book of Mormon has power just by opening it. It is the keystone of our religion and I know it to be the word of God. I pray for you guys every day that you may also continue to strengthen your testimonies every day. After being here in Honduras, I realized how close the second coming is. We dont know how much time we have left and I sure dont want regrets. I know our family may be together forever, and pray that we may achieve this sacred goal individually and as a family. Please remember your great worth and potential.

Love,

Lani