Great week just to reflect and think

Elder Tuft with his new suit made special for him in Honduras

Elders Tuft and Laureano in San Lorenzo, Honduras

San Lorenzo Zone 2015 August

Hey Mom and Dad,

Well, that was a lot of interesting news that you shared with me this week. That was a lot of stuff that's happened but I'm really happy for you guys. Sometimes when I go through weeks like that, I just say, "Just keep swimming. What do you do? You keep on swimming." like Dory does in Finding Nemo. Going in to the unknown is not always pleasing but the only way to grow is to be out of the comfort zone.

The members are fine. They are doing really great, even though we have few numbers, they are moving along. There hasn't been money for the branch for my whole time here because President Oscar lost the check for a month and so the church waited until he paid it back... (they don't trust Honduran judgement always...) So that's all over and the branch will be starting to do fun activities. There still isn't a teacher for the YMs but we've given the responsibility to the YM to teach in the class and challenged them to come to church early to be able to participate in the Sacrament. They're getting better to say the least.

Dariela is progressing to baptism. She has an interesting case right now with her ex-husband. They separated and he still controls her because she can't work and so to pay for her and the girls she has to obey him. He doesn't want any connection to the church and is rude to her when he finds out she listens to us. She told us to stop coming and then we had one more visit and she decided to press forward with faith. But that night she left her girls in the room she's renting to go and buy some food real quick and her mom passed by and took the girls because they were alone. When Dariela found out where they were, her mom told her how horrible she was and that she was a bad mom and street trash. That night she called us at 10 pm and told us that she was wanting to kill herself and we calmed her down and we got off the phone with her. Then my companion told me to call her again ten minutes later and we called and she was crying again and so we calmed her down again and told her to go to sleep and then in the morning we'd pass by to go to church. Everything went well and she went to church and liked it. She wants to be baptized but is scared and I don't think she is ready still but she has a date put for the 19th of September. We'll see how that goes.

We met with President Flores (Branch President, I'm guessing) this week and talked to him about reactivation and retention efforts focused on getting them to the temple. So we made some plans and President is going to meet with us again to tell us how we can help.

We talked to the 2nd counselor and his wife on Sunday by surprise and told them to go to the temple and that 4 years have passed since they were married by law and so we'll see what happens with those plans. The wife wants to go and be sealed but the husband just puts it off. He told us that he wanted to get out of his current job in December first and then they would be married in the temple but that's a terrible excuse and the wife knows it. The wife (her name is Francis) wants to get sealed super bad!

A lot of what we've taught this week has been focused on temples and families. I like it better that way. The work is easier when we don't just focus on baptism, but when we focus on the temple. Baptism is just a small step on a trail of many bigger steps to make.

We're working again with Suyapa and Juan so that they can leave behind drugs and alcohol (the little that they drink) and so they can get married and move on to a better life. Juan had that revelation a few weeks ago and he knows the church is true but he double thinks and has a few doubts. But he likes the doctrine. We talked more about eternal families and our life before the earth with them. Then we taught baptisms for the dead and how their daughter who died three months ago can still live with them again IF they go to the temple. :D

That's all for today!
Love you,
Spencer James

PS I read all your letters and it was a roller-coaster ride for me but I can't respond to everything right now. ;D and tell Gma that I love her SUPER DUPER much! You're a fantastic example Grandma and I can't wait to start working on family history with you when I get back (not trunky!). And tell Brad and Jake that they are stud muffins! :D Best cousin-pal awards go to them hands down. I've missed my cousins.

Love you all!