Disciple of Jesus Christ

Wow, I love missionary work so much. This week was amazing. We have found many great new families and people to teach. There are so many people in Honduras that have been prepared by the Lord. I know that if we follow the spirit we will be able the find the people that the Lord has prepared. There are so many people that are willing to listen to us. Once they invite us in it is the job of us missionaries to invite the spirit into their lives so that the spirit can teach them and bring them closer to Christ. One great way we have found to invite the spirit is to sing Hymns. Even when we have to sing on the street or outside the house. They seem to want to listen a lot more when we sing Hymns. Contacting people is a lot of fun, and i have met so very interesting people. There was one lady that was a little on the drunk side, and she tried to go in for the kiss. I gave her the stiff arm, shook her hand, said nice to meet you, and we got out of there. Drunks are always a lot of fun. A lot of people ask us for money because we are white and they assume that we have money. We come up with a new excuse each time, and we now almost make it a game. One guy just walked into the house that we were teaching and just started quoting the Bible, and tried to diss on us and disprove us. We each bore a powerful testimony, which invited the spirit, and he didnt say much after that. There are so many crazy stories each day, and i wish that i could explain them all. But the people are amazing, and i love talking to them and teaching them so much.

One family that has been really prepared by the hand of God is Familia Salines. After we taght them about the Book of Mormon, they prayed an got an answer. The husband then read from 1 Nephi 4 to Jacob 7 in two days. When we came back he said that this was the most that he has ever read in his life, and that he couldnt put it down. He owns a pulperia on the street, so he reads it while waiting for people to buy from him. Some people pass and notice that he is reading the book of mormon and start going off on how bad and wrong the Mormons are. He then got up, told them that they were blind without the Book of Mormon, that their churches werent true, and that this church has already changed his life. He had only gone to church once and he was already preaching the gospel. When we came back to teach him he told us all about it. He also wants to be a missionary just like us. also, they are the furthest colony from the church, and they came 45 min early to church. We had ward conference this week, so the whole stake presidency was there. He didnt have a white shirt or a tie, so we ran home before church and i gave him one of my shirts and ties. He looked so good in white, and he was so happy. The ward is really supportive, and a lot of them introduced themselves. One Hermana gave them a brand new hymn book and triple combination. They want to get baptized, but they are not married and they dont have the money to get married. We talked to the bishop, and a lot of the ward members are willing to donate some of their own money so that they can get baptized.

We had two baptisms this week, and it was such a wonderful experience. Josue, a 10 year old boy who is the grandson of our last convert Manuel, was baptized by his grandpa Manuel. Manuel was baptizewd 4 weeks ago and recieved the priesthood 2 weeks ago. He was so excited, but so nervous. We taught him the pray and how to baptize many times, but when it came time he was really nervous. He had to dunk his grandson Josue 6 times until he got it right, he either didnt dunk him all the way or didnt say the prayer right. But when he did it right they both were so happy, and the spirit was so srong. The other person that was baptized was Georgina. The is one of the coolest lady i have ever met, and i have mentioned her many times in my past emails. She has such a strong testimony, and she was so excited for her baptism. She asked me to baptism her, and i was grateful for the opportunity. I was really excited because it was my first time baptizing someone. I said the prayer right in spanish the first time, and i dunked her all the way. When she came out of the water you could tell she had changed, and she was so happy. The baptism was amazing, the members were very supportive, and the spirit was very strong.

The relief society had a huge culture activity at the stake center that we were invited to. There was many cool things from honduras, lots of amazing foods, and it was a lot of fun.
Ward conference was great, and our investigators loved it. the stake president is 26, and he was an AP on his mission. He gave a really great talk, and he used Lion King and put a spiritual twist on the whole movie. It was great. After church we were invited to have lunch with all the leaders. We had a priesthood session at 3:30, so while we waited 8 of the leaders and us missionaries split up in pairs to go get all of our investigators and inactives to come to the meeting. Our ward is realy helping us a lot with the missionary work, and we are getting so much more work done. While we were out getting inactives to come it poured rain. One second it was blue skys and beautiful, and the next it is pouring rain and we are soaked. I actaully love the rain, and it was so much fun.

Overall, I am doing fantastic. I am loving my area, my comp, the people, and just about everything else. One scripture that i found that really changed my week is 3 Nephi 5: 13. "Behold, I am a Disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ, I have never been happier in my life. I love being a missionary, I love serving the Lord, and I love preaching the gospel to the people of Honduras. Thanks for all your prayers and support. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Elder Travis Jay Ward


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Location:Seis de Mayo