What a crazy week its been! Apparently back home everything is a little crazy as well. Collin, sounds like your birthday was pretty awesome hanging out with the crew and everything. I wish I could have been there, but I'm glad it was fun. I cant believe you are benching that much! Gosh I'm sitting here without a trace of any muscle I used to have and getting fat in my office chair. Kind of depressing, but its what happens when your down in Guatemala without a good gym or anything else. Sounds like you are experiencing a little of the college life again mom. Don’t get too stressed out with everything. it will all work out I'm sure, it just takes a bit of effort and pain as always. Curt, I'm super stoked for you know with this good job lead. That would be pretty sweet working for Marriott and getting to use Spanish and everything while living in Florida. Sounds pretty exciting, but I wish you the best that it all works out, and thanks for your insightful email. I really enjoyed reading it and thinking about the insights you shared. Man, I can’t believe Colorado is burning down again. I thought nothing would get as bad as last summer´s fires, that’s really sad.
Well this past week for me was pretty insane. It was changes (transfers) this past week, which means for us in the office, a ton more work. I personally had to get everything prepped money wise to have everything happen. That meant I had to take out a ton of money. I was handling thousands of quetzales (the Guatemalan currency) this past week, and I took pictures of me with stacks of bills haha (I won’t say how much). I had to pay for everything from buses for all the missionaries, to the food, to the hotel for the new missionaries, everything. Basically I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off making sure things got paid and running errands for president and everything. It was pretty stressful and insane.
So on Tuesday, the day before changes, all the brand new missionaries straight out of the MTC came to the mission to have a little orientation day before they got sent out to their areas. Elder Yergensen, who is the executive secretary here in the office told me that the day with the “greeny´s” is like Christmas. And I have to say it kind of was haha. Seeing all these bright eyed new kids wandering around so amazed by everything and us here in the office kind of was like Christmas. It was a ton of fun seeing all these new elders and sisters who had no idea what was going on, and the gringos who cant speak Spanish , it reminded me a lot of my first day here in the field and how I couldn’t speak Spanish, and I had no idea what was going on haha fun times. So it was a fun and stressful day, we each had presentations that we gave, and I got up and did my whole presentation about money and everything and I even got to translate for all the gringos who couldn’t speak Spanish which was a cool new experience.
That was all fun, but the stress really hit Wednesday during cambios dealing with a bunch of missionaries with problems and all the craziness that goes on. Elder Anderson who has been training me went back out to the field, so I am officially flying solo. Oh and on a random side note, I am really thankful for medical care in the states because on Monday Elder Anderson went to the local Guatemalan hospital here to take out an ingrown toenail that has been bothering him. I went with him, and it was so crazy, just this dirty Guatemalan hospital where we went into the “operation” room which was just a small room with these nasty 50 year old hospital beds with a half dead bleeding drunk man lying on one and a drugged up lady on another one. We got in there and the doctor gave Elder Anderson a couple shots in his butt and in his foot for pain, and then went to work on his toenail while he could still feel it a little bit. The whole time I was just standing there, and she (the doctor) even had me help out giving her the scissors and medicine and everything haha. The medicine was just sitting out for anyone to take and touch, and all these people were just walking in and out asking for help while she was cutting out Elder Anderson´s toenail. Oh, and she took out the whole thing! Not just a little part, the doctor just took out his whole nail which he and I were not expecting haha. Well anyway, it was just a dirty, crazy Guatemalan hospital type of an experience haha. I'm just glad that I'm healthy and hopefully I will never have to go.
Oh and where was I? oh yeah, so for the changes it was all crazy, but I actually got to see and greet all the parents of missionaries going home that came down. Since Elder Clyde my “dad” went home this change, I actually got to see and talk with his parents! It was pretty cool to talk with them, and his mom said that she recognized me from all the pictures Elder Clyde sent home when we were companions. Anyway, it was pretty crazy, and it’s weird to think that my first companion in the field went home. It’s crazy how fast the time has gone by. I have 11 months in the missions and now I'm going on one year! It’s unbelievable.
So my week was a little crazy, but I learned a lot and was working pretty hard. I have been thinking a lot lately about how during this time in the office where I am not working as a normal missionary, what am I learning, or what do I want to learn spiritually. I have been thinking and pondering a lot about that lately, and I was reading in Mosiah 27 about the experience of Alma the younger, and what got my attention was in verse 14 where it says that the angel appeared to Alma and his brethren because of their faith. That got me thinking about how did alma senior obtain so much faith to where an angel answered his prayer for his son. So that got me reading, and I really learned something that I already new, but in a more profound way. If we want to develop our faith, we first have to have hope. Now I tend to be more of a cynical person, and for me its hard to see the bright side of things or the hope sometimes. But when I was reading that story, I was thinking about what alma the senior was thinking. In the face of a bleak and unpromising future for his son who was persecuting the church and one of the vilest of sinners, he had hope. Hope for a better future for his son. Hope that things would get better, and this hope led him to trust in god and develop his faith, and look at what happened. Everything did get better and alma the younger eventually became one of the greatest missionaries of all time.
That really impacted me, and I was thinking, how can I say that I have faith, or that I want things to be better if I don’t have hope. Hope for a better situation. Hope that everything will work out, or just thinking about the brighter side of things. If I ant faith, I need to first be happy and have hope. It’s something I never thought about before and I thought was really cool.
Well, I want to thank you again for everything and wish dad a happy father´s day, and Holly and Curt happy anniversary. 8 years! You are getting so old haha.
Love you guys,
Elder Henderson
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