Please watch conference ALL OF IT.
All the cool kids are doing it.
Hermana Oram
Hola, My name is Sydney Oram. I am have been called to serve in the Honduras Tegucigalpa Mission.
Well this week Hermana Aguilar and I finished the little booklet 12 SEMANAS!!! It is a little book of things to study and do during the first 12 weeks in the mission field and well WE FINISHED IT FINALLY! I cant believe we have been together 3 months now. Seriously she is super awesome and we have learned a lot in these last few weeks! This week we made tortilla for an investigator1. We got to her house and she was making tortillas and we told her we would make them for her and they would taste super good well like and hour alter we made like 3 pounds of tortillas and they were almost perfect haha. But everyone is so shocked when I tell them that my mom doesn’t make tortillas every day and that we don’t eat tortillas with every meal. But don’t worry I am practicing and still am going to open my tortilla shop in AZ! I love tortillas especially when they are fresh and right of the stove. Well this week we made 3 trips to Teguc and well I have pretty much mastered the hailing taxis thing! The city is fun there are tons and tons of people and well I have just been in little pueblos my whole mission and life! But I think I like the city life!!! Then Saturday we watched the women’s session of conference and it is seriously the best!!!! I LOVE CONFERENCE ALMOST MORE THAN TORTILLAS! but really it is like the SUPER BOWL. I am so excited. It is so much better to watch conference as a missionary. 1) because you cant sleep because it is all in the chapel and constant translating English to Spanish takes a little bit of brain power. 2) I am not just watching conference for me but for my investigators.
Please watch conference ALL OF IT. All the cool kids are doing it. Hermana Oram
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We had the same lesson yesterday and the branch president taught it. It was a little deep psychology he was teaching and went way over every ones heads... but it was super interesting. he talked about selfies and the damage that it can do and how we are just focused on ourselves and if there is a tiny thing wrong we delete the picture... it was interesting but well I am still going to take selfies. But that is one huge thing I have learned is that it really doesn’t matter what others think, and well I don’t need to spend hours and hours getting ready! The week we taught a witch. A straight up witch well the investigator that doesn’t believe in God believes in other types of powers apparently, and lives in the mountains of Honduras. Well everyone told us to not visit the lady but typical missionary we felt like we had to visit everyone, so we climbed up the mountain to visit the witch. Well she was covered in wart like things (like a witch) but we entered in her house, Outside her house it was super hot like middle of the day but inside it was super, super cold and we had chills the whole time and it was super, super dark aside from one little light bulb. Well she was also a hoarder this little witch and her house was straight up like in that show on tv about hoarders, except she had one room that was completely empty and dark. But still I was like we need to teach this lady the gospel, and for some reason I wasn’t too afraid. Well we pulled out our hymnbooks to start the lesson and for some reason neither my companion or I could talk for practically the whole time we were in this house our minds went blank and we just listened to this crazy lady tell us a bunch of insane stories. Well, I was with my hymnbook trying to focus and fins a hymn but I couldn’t find one. Then I was like okay, we are just going to sing I am a Child of God 196 and so I was flipping through the book but there was not 196 there was ever other page minus 196 and it was like 15 minute of looking for a hymn while she told us a ton of stories about tons of crazy things and she told us that everyone thinks she is a witch and that no one has entered in her house and that is a mystery to everyone and a ton of things super weird and really the whole time we were in this house we were completely abandoned by the Holy Ghost and we could not teach it was horrible. We tried and tried but I couldn’t remember a single thing neither could my companion until finally after like 40 minutes we left and finally could think and talk again. Then everything was fine but really I understood how important the Holy Ghost is in our lives without it (especially in missionary work) we can’t do anything. It is so crucial that we live worthy to have the spirit with us and that we strive to have it in our lives everyday. Really we were just mindlessly sitting there listening to this lady tell us a ton of stories and we were left completely incapable to teach or sing or pray we couldn’t do anything. The Holy Ghost is so important in our lives and there are times when we are doing things or listening to things or watching things when the Holy Ghost completely leaves us solos. And as a missionary it has been a long time since I have been alone and well it is a horrible feeling. But everything is good in Cerro Grande we are finding people and the branch is going to grow!!!
Just stay away from witches! Hermana Oram We are doing good here in Cerro Grande we got lost in the woods again without water but we found a underground well so we ended up living. But really our investigators are doing better than ever they are listening to us and they keep there appointments we re so happy. Well yesterday was the first time the new Cerro Grande branch met and well we had 23 people which is better than we thought was going to happen! We are doing good with our tiny branch we have lots more work to do but the members are awesome. The other day we went to visit our investigator in the mountains and we walked super far and we saw a little town in the distance and I asked a guy whta tthe little town was called and he said Las Playas its part of Zamorano so now I Know when I start to miss Zamorano I can just walk in the forest for 5 hours and I am back to my first area. I am not going to lie the mountain life is starting to get a little old it is super pretty but the brown muddy water that comes from the faucet is actually making me dirtier than just not showering. But don't worry I am still showering. Yesterday I gave a talk in church (it think I have now given more talks in spanish than in english) but it was fun and not quite as nerve-wracking talking to 20 people in comparison with 200. I talked about the felicidad en el evangelio and how we should really just be happy. Some times we aren't the happiest and we don't even have a reason to be mad there are a million reasons to be happy and trust me there are people who have it wayyyy worse. But we are doing good here in Cerro we found a new investigator that doesn't believe in God, so that is going to be a challenge but it will be fun! The church is true even when only a few people come to church. Oh and this week a guy told us he doesn't know how we aren't getting skinnier if we are always walking so much... we just laughed at him gave him a pass along card and walked away.
Hermana Sydney Oram Well this week I turned 20!! There is no better place than Honduras to turn 20. It was so much fun and my awesome companion had tons of surprises 3 cakes a lime pie tons of balloons and everything! I loved the happy birthday banner!!! Thank you to everyone it is above my bed and i look at it every night. The other night i was looking at all the pictures and i said to Hermana Aguilar [my family looks so white...they are all super super super white I don't know what happened] then she said [hermana it is because you are surrounded by dark latinos all day everyday of course your family is going to look white] but yeah it was a fun birthday with tons of rain but it was good. This week we have been teaching an investigator that lives super far away in the mountain and he came to church yesterday he walked 2 hours to go to church!!! 2 HOURS!!! I was lazy to drive 2 minutes to church back home and there is no way I would walk 2 hours but this investigator is super pilas!!! We are working super hard with him and it was a miracle that we found him in the middle of nowhere two weeks ago. WELL best news of the week I didn't fall and cut my leg open. Also yesterday was 1 year since i had the opportunity to enter the temple to receive my endowments and the blessings I have received since that day are innumerable. The temple is literally a piece of heaven on earth and the covenants that we make there are the most important things we can do. Well also yesterday they split our branch and left us with 12 members (my comp and i included) so we are starting form the bottom here in Cerro Grande. It is a little stressful but we both love the area and the people and it was sad to have half of the members transferred to the other ward but the church is true and this just shows how it is growing here in Honduras. Thank you so much all the birthday wishes!!!! This is Fernando and he turned 9 he is a member and his family didn't have money to throw a party or to buy him anything so we threw a little party and brought his balloons and a lion and candy. He was crying before we got there because he was sad that he wasn't going to be able to throw a party but when we got there he said that we brought him happiness for his birthday and it was the best birthday ever!!
This week I fell again. I was just walking normal and all of a sudden I fell and there was two rocks lodged in my leg and so I pulled them out and then there was a bunch of blood but we kept walking until my shirt was all covered in blood then we washed my leg with a bottle of water and kept working until the night. Everyone freaks out when they see how nasty it is wit puss and green stuff but I am cleaning it a ton and scrubbing it with hydrogen peroxide and all that so it is fine. Also this week we went to a members house for lunch and she gave us both a big piece of meat with tons of onions on top. well we started eating it and it tasted like turkey heart and so when my companion asked me what it was I said. um I think it is heart. she almost threw up and she gave me her piece of meat so then I ate two huge pieces of boiled mystery meat. it actually didn’t taste too bad but like every meal we have to say ¨oh thank you sister it was so good I love your food!¨ well a few days later we asked her what was the mystery meat and she said COW LIVER. So now I have eaten boiled not completely cooked cow liver. Not super weird but a little bit and well every since the tiny bit my companion ate she has been super sick but ay vamos. This week was super good we finally got into a groove again without meetings or conferences and we found a lot of people that want to listen to us. Nothing really exciting happened. we made a lime pie to celebrate 10 months!!!!!!! actually I forgot I was cumpliendo meses until after we ate the whole pie for breakfast. But we are doing super good here in big beautiful CERRO GRANDE!!!
HERMANA ORAM Well this week was pretty awesome it started off helping all the freshly arrived missionaries learn to contact and tract in the streets. So our zone we went to Teguc to do divisions with the newbies and we helped them learn how to do talk and all that and I was with an Hermana which I thought was Latina but she is from the states and didn’t know a ton of Spanish and I had some flashbacks to my first days here in Honduras and what a train wreck I was but now at least I can more or less talk to people!!! Well then Wednesday was changes AND WE DIDNT HAVE CHANGES AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY IN MY LIFE!!!! I love Hermana Aguilar and never want changes!!! But they took the Hermanas out of Zamorano (my old area) and now there are elders there! So that was crazy! But then Friday was Hermana Aguilars birthday and i totally threw a surprise party without her knowing which was super hard because we are together 24-7! But I woke up at 5 in the morning and blew up balloons and made huge cards and made pancakes and then woke her up by singing church songs by David Archuleta and jumping on her bed. And then I organized con the ZLs to buy a cake for the district meeting Friday and everything went perfect. The SATURDAY WE HAD THE GIANT CONFERENCE WITH PRESIDENT NELSON!!!! We went to a chapel in Comayagua with the mission there and all of the mission Tegucigalpa and one of my friends from my ward at BYU is serving in Comayagua was there and I talked with her and I saw all of my companions which was fun. We were the first row of hard chairs and directly in the middle so i had a perfect view of Pres Nelson and we all got the opportunity to greet him and shake his hand. I can’t explain how strong the spirit was there. He talked about marriage a little bit and told us to always have our mission president and his wife as our examples of a perfect marriage, he also told us to make sure our future spouses are full tithe payers and that tithing is the best way to measure integrity. He also talked about family history and the importance in missionary work he shared some stories that were just amazing and also talked about how we need to teach English to our Spanish companions! something I am not so good at haha but I am going to try to be better!, but he ended by promising a blessing to all of us and the spirit was so strong no one made a noise and no one moved. He is truly an apostle of God. I will never forget the things we learned and the spirit in that chapel. I am so grateful everyday for my opportunity here in Honduras! Hermana Oram So this week we learned how important it is to follow the promptings of the spirit. We were walking home late Tuesday and when I say late at like 8 and we started walking and our area is straight forest without lights just dirt trails and after 7 there is no one in the streets because it is dark. But we have no choice but to walk home about 45 minutes from the closest members. So after dinner we started walking. I had a feeling that we shouldn't walk home but we had no other option so we kept walking. I thought that it was just fear but really I don't get scared walking at night here now that I have done it so often. But then stronger I had this feeling we shouldn't walk in the dark and this time it was different than fear, it was a feeling that we really shouldn't be walking. So we called a few members to see if they could help us but they couldn't help us so we kept walking. AGAIN I felt we shouldn't walk in the dark and it was stronger this time. Well about that time a man passed us really slow and stopped in front of us and then walked a little more ahead of us and then hid behind a tree waiting for us to pass well I didn't really pay attention to him but I knew that it was just getting later and later and darker and that we needed to get home so we started walking again when we walked and got a little closer we saw the same man there behind the tree in the middle of the forest in the dark. I grabbed Hermana Aguilars hand and pulled her and we started running the opposite direction and Heavenly Father truly answers our prayers because after running about 5 minutes passed a mototaxi and there are never mototaxis he wasnt even working he was just riding around in his mototaxi late at night but he passed and took us close to our house. Heavenly Father truly answers prayers and through the Holy Ghost he leads and guides us and keeps us from danger. I know that Heavenly Father protects His missionaries. We have been working really hard here in Cerro but our investigators are disappearing but I know that we are helping here. I am way stronger than I thought I was. This week I have felt a million times better health wise and I am so excited for Saturday when President Nelson is going to come and speak to us. It will really be such an amazing experience to hear and Apostleof the Lord speaking directly to us. I am so happy here despite all the really crappy things that happen I am still happy. Really I dont know why. Be careful dont walk at night.
Stranger danger. Hermana Oram Okay so we got permission to write quickly today because the power was out yesterday and we couldn’t write. This week was good. Well after 9 months in Honduras finally I got sick. I knew it was bound to come sooner or later but I was throwing up for about three days from something I ate or some bacteria or the water here. It isn’t quite the cleanest and I have kinda gotten lazy about the whole hand sanitizer thing so I get what I get and I cant complain but I got a blessing from out branch mission leader and I started feeling better after that he gave me a blessing in English which as pretty cool since I miss English. But ya, I am all better now and we are back to working. Well we still worked because I can’t stand staying in the house just I walked as slow as a turtle so we didn’t have a ton of success but now we are both super healthy and ready to take on another semana here in Cerro. Well this week we walked through a protest against immigrants and foreigners so that was interesting two blonde and an obviously Mexican missionaries walking through a bunch of people with signs saying no immigrants was kind of weird but they were nice to us we just got strange looks. Well we have been hitting hard on the word of wisdom here in Cerro Grande and really there are so many blessings through living this commandment that really is from our Heavenly Father. But really we are starting to see lives change as our investigators really apply the Atonement and overcome there addictions. I am so grateful for the word of wisdom and really it blesses us so much. Well thanks to whatever sickness flu virus I had I lost a few pounds that I gained from the food here that is so good! Everyone always asks me what food I miss from the states and I really cant think of anything well besides lemon pie, dirty dr. pepper and in n out burgers, and steak. But really Honduran food is so good it is super boring and really just beans and rice and eggs but it tastes good. I am so happy here even though it is like a roller coaster and super, super difficult and we walk in the forest and the drunk guy are super mean and sometimes I forget everything I know in Spanish and just stare at people blankly in the middle of lessons or even better when I start speaking English at people and they don’t understand me but I love it. peace hermana oram Well this week was great. And when I say great I mean super hard and rough and like all the other weeks here in Honduras. I really shouldn’t ever think an easy week is going to come, and really I think an easy week would be super boring and pointless. So this week was hard. Our investigators are... there. Just there. But the good thing is we have people to teach and we have people to help and fast and pray for. The mission isn’t about numbers. That is what I thought for a while that we are just here to baptize as many people as we can and, ya. But no it is about people. These are real people we are teaching. But the beginning of this week I was feeling all good all proud of myself thinking I am doing everything right I am the best ever.... and then Wednesday came and I was feeling all happy and again thinking I am the greatest and well I was there walking on flat ground and out of nowhere I fell to the ground. I think I slipped or something but I slipped on some dirt and glass and it cut up my leg not too bad but it looked super gross. But it humbled me quite a bit. Just from the silly little scratch I was weakened. Like seriously I am nothing. But then the next day we had zone conference and President just let us know what we need to do and I realized I AM NOT THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD. I mean seriously I tripped and fell on flat ground and I cannot even talk right in Spanish. But luckily it doesn’t matter the Lord calls the weak and simple and really I have changed, he has changed me. I am happier than I have ever been in my life and I am working harder and doing things that I never imagined I could do. I am nothing without our Heavenly Father. I literally couldn’t possibly even help even a little bit in this work if it wasn’t for Him and the power of the Atonement of His Son as well. Well we are working hard and doing weird things that literally don’t make sense like walking across sewage water rivers to visit a family that lives in the mountains super far away but when we got there was the spirit so strong that that was exactly the place we needed to go. The key in everything that we do as children of God is following the promptings of the spirit. oh and well now I am halfway through this amazing experience. #9months #mitad
Hermana Oram |
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May 2016
Hermana OramI am from Queen Creek Arizona. I am a student at BYU Provo, and I am currently serving in the Honduras Tegucigalpa Mission from October 2014 to April 2016. Categories |