Louis and Carmen get baptized!

Sept. 13, 2010

HOLA MI FAMILIA!!!!!

Alright first thing first..... BAPTISM!!!!!!!!! YAHOOOO.. hahahaha but really its awesome, Louis and his wife Carmen were baptized this Saturday the 11th of September. It was an amazing experience to see a new family enter the road to their salvation. They were really ready and they have such a strong testimony, this is the same guy I told you about that shot himself in the leg! Also we still have 2 other people with baptismal dates for this coming week! The work is going very well here for us in Honduras!

I'm sorry I grew up so fast...... hahaha sometimee I think how sweet it would be to go back to playing legos all day! hahaha but this is just part of it all I guess but there's plenty of new experiences and memories to be made so we just take what we get and make the best of it! Alright so maybe Tegus is not the ugliest city but it's up there for sure. If you really want me to I can tell you about all the things we live with like the huge tarantula I found outside my house one day and the scorpions that are all over the place and those camel spiders are here too.... ya there's a lot of that here. hahaha!

Alright about the clothes, yes I did find my sizes. It's pretty easy to when I have dropped down a couple of sizes. I bought 3 shirts 2 belts..... and a new suit.... but its not just any suit, there's a member here that owns a company that makes the suits for the Marriot here so she came to one of our meetings and she took my measurements and I got to pick out the fabric and everything and if I wanted it to fit a certan way and all that, its going to be sick I'll send you pics when I get it, which should be this Saturday. My other one is really big on me now, I feel like I'm swimming in it, and its kinda falling apart.

Well I said what I would like for chirstmas, but you guys do what you would like and I'll be happy one way or the other. YA so a little bummed about the whole you guys going to sushi......I haven't even seen a roll of sushi for a whole year, but it's all good no worries. I hope you all had fun. Alright so I'm sending pics this time but I need some pics too. Send some of those last family pics we took, I really want those.

Well that's all I have for now. I love you all, thanks for everything mom, you are the best. I got the best family in the world. Te amo mucho.

Your son, Elder Paulson

Funny Story!!!

Sept. 6, 2010

Alright familia!!!!

First mom I didn't mean to make you think that I felt bad about the whole money thing, but thank you for the money I'm really down on shirts right now, you and dad are the best!!!! and the G-parents too!!!! I couldn't ask for a better family!!! I love you all!! So I'm going to go buy some shirts today becuse I only have like 6 I think. And I'm looking for someone that can fix my pants because I'm getting the wholly holes in the crouch! Alright about the pictures, so I found out that they are not completely erased, I just got to figure out how to restore them. but they are still there, but I have been saving my pics on my thumb drive that I have, so no worries but it's getting kinda full!!! So if you guys could include one in the next package that would be awesome.

Well I'm not going to lie mom, this is one of the uglist cities in the world I'm sure!! hahahaha but I like it in some sort of a way.......? but yes it rains everyday all the time, it comes, it goes and then comes again!!. but it makes it cooler so im not complaining. Yes I have more then one pair of shoes, i just need to get them fixed and I'll be good. So don't worry about that. Yes I love those hero posters and I would love more. If there's one of David and Goliath that would be awesome! and if those little ones aren't too expensive that would be cool to give to some of the kids here. So I have been thinking about the Christmas package too and what I really want is that you can take the money that you would use to send all that and buy all that put it aside ( same for my birthday) so that when I get home we can go buy new clothes and all that good stuff that I will need when I get home. I just want a few little thing for Christmas, like if you could find hymns and church songs in Samoan or Tongan, and also one of those oil holders that looks like the horns they have in the temple those thing would be awesome!

Thanks for the football update and tell Lindsey congrats for me! So just want to tell you whats going on with the work, we have 3 investigators with a baptismal date 1 family (Louis & Carmen Gomez) they are super positive. Funny story, Louis works for a security guard company and carries a gun, well he came right from work on Sunday to church with all his stuff which includes his gun, well long story short he shot himself in the leg...... it was kinda scary at first but then it got funny because he didn't want to go to the hospital.... hahahaha . The other is Christan he's 13 but he's super smart and we have a ton of other people that are so close to a date.

Well that's all I got for the week . I love you all so much and thanks for everything!!!!! te amo mucho

Your son, Elder Paulson

I am really in Tugus! Just mark it on the map!!

August 30, 2010

Alright.....

Well first I'll answer questions and explain a few things. The weather is rainy always, raining and raining. At about 5:00 it starts raining and doesn't stop till some time at night when I'm sleeping. I have practically gotten used to the humidity and constantly sweating..... that's just my life for 2 years. Yes the Dangue is really bad here, but I'm not worried, if I'm obedient the lord will protect me. YES, garments are ridiculously cheap!!!! like 50 cents, but there's a limit, we can only buy 3 pairs each time we go. I did get that envelope and those hero posters are SICK!!!! and I love that picture of Christ! All right my new area is right in the middle of the city of Tegus so just put a pin right on the city and write the date and the area so you can know that's where it is. My comp is from El Salvador, he's really cool, he only has 4 months left. Yes, I will take pictures for you, I'll get them to you next week. Yes, I lost all my pictures from the beginning of the MTC till June all gone....... but there's nothing we can do to change that. Well I hope I answered all your questions, so about the money.... it's not that i just went and blew it all on things I didn't need, I was kinda in the hole, I didn't have any more money from the mission, I had used it all on transfers and there was no food in the house when we got there. Soooo that's what happened I didn't even want to use it at all but I had to.

That's crazy that Max is already in middle school, I don't ever remember you buying me Hollister to start school...... but it's all good. Today we went to this place called Picacho, no not the Pokemon. It's this place up on top of this mountain with a zoo and with this huge statue of Christ. It was awesome, I have attached some pics of it. I started the Book of Mormon again but with the goal to read it all in Spanish this time and finish it before the end of the year!!! We'll see what happens. I'm kinda running out of clothes, they are kinda just falling apart, I don't know what you guys can do to help but thought I would just say something. Tell the grandparents hi for me and give them a kiss. Tell grandma I wash my clothes by hand. I don't know if she did that when she was a girl back in Idaho. Well I love you all, thanks mom for everything your the best!!! Te amo mucho.

Your Son, Elder Paulson

Transfer to La Pena??? Made Senior Comp!!!

August 24, 2010

Alright I'm going to try to make this a long one,

First, yes I love the news you guys send me, I wish you would send me more actually! You guys are really my only source of the outside world! and pictures, I need more pictures. If you can send those last family pictures we took that would be awsome!

Well, yes transfers did happen for me, and guess what I'm back in the city! YIPEEE........ my area is called La Peña, and like always it's pretty ghetto but also there's actually some really nice areas here too. but there's a catch, me and my comp have never been here before, they pulled both missionaries out and stuck 2 new ones in, so we have been running around with our heads cut off trying to learn our area, where members live, where old investigators live, where recent converts live, and where the boundaries of our area are. It's been a pretty hectic 4 days! But I'm really grateful also, it's going to be an awesome learning experience. My new comps name is Elder Cena (Elder Dinner in English). He's really cool, kinda quiet but he's an awesome teacher. So I finally moved up to senor comp, actually we're both senor comps. I know kinda weird but I'm down, the higher you move up the more responsibility you have. My comp has 20 months here in the mission. I'm pretty sure I'm going to "kill" him too. I'm feeling six months in this area. This is a ward with a bishop and everything, the bishop is a little military about his calling but he's really in to the work. He owns his own security company. This is the biggest area I have had since I have been here, it's HUGE!!! but I have also heard that it's full of baptisms. So that's all about my new area and where I'm at right now.

Yes, my hump day is coming, a little bummed that so much time has passed, but I know that I can't go back, I just have to keep moving forward and getting better. It's really weird to think that I have a year in the mission, I still feel like I just got here yesterday but with a lot better Spanish. That was awesome about Bingham and that Alta lost, keep me updated. That's awesome what you and Amelia are doing, you guys should really get in to that and keep at it. That would be awesome, then I could start my own catering business when I get back and we could be a full service wedding company! Hahaha! Well I love you guys, thanks for every thing, I hope this was enough for you mom, sorry i got you all distraught, You know I don't like it when you feel sad. Te amo mucho!

Your Son,
Elder Paulson

No Time to Write!!!!

August 16, 2010

hola mi familia!

OOOOOOOK!...... So it's been a week. Mom to answer your questions, first off I got one of those envelopes and I am still waiting for the other one, I'm sure it will come, that's just Honduran mail system for ya. So you liked the pictures of the wigs, well that was us at a talent show we had one night here in the branch, we just put on a little act for them. Speaking of pics, I need you to save all the ones that I have sent to you since I have been here, last week all my pics got erased.

Well we haven't had much happening this week, but transfers are this week so I might be in a new area next time I write. All is well for me, I'm healthy, thanks for all your letters I'm sorry this is so short, I ran out of time this week, I had to write my mission president a lot, but I'll write a bigger one next week, I promise. I love you all, thanks for everything.

Love, Elder Paulson

Juan and Isla get Baptized!

August 9, 2010

Hola mi familia!

Well it has been quite a week, we had 2 more baptisms this week! Juan and Ilsa, it was awesome. These are true converts. Juan is already bringing his family so we can teach them and at church in the class we have for the investigators he was bearing this super strong testimony to one of our other investigators and I was just so happy. I know what the scripture in D&C 18:13 means now because I have felt that joy. I have attached some pics of them and some other things.

So tell me what happened, why did Amelia get laid off? I didn't think they could lay her off, isn't she like the big boss lady? Tell her not to worry, soon she will be a vet, and she will be saving a horse's life someday. That's crazy that all those people are getting married, tell them all congrats for me. So I had a pretty cool eye opening experience this week, I had this dream that I came home and you were all there in the airport waiting for me and at first I was happy and stoked to be home but then I was sad and really missed the mission and really wanted to go back because I felt like I had so much more to do, and when I woke up I was thinking about what it meant, and when I was writting in my journal I remembered a scripture I had read in Mormon 9:27-28 and know that I just need to right now start applying myself 110% to the mission and just get to work so when I'm released that I collapse because the only thing that was holding me up was the hand of the lord so I could complete my calling, and I know that if I do this I won't have any regrets about the mission!

So another funny thing that happened to us, we were in our weekly planning session and we always have our front door open and the screen door closed so I can see outside from were I sit, and I look outside and there comes walking up to the door two ladies, one old grandma lady and this young girl and they say HOLA and start going on about how they are Jehovas witnesses and want to share a message with us, so when this happens I just look at my comp and start laughing, and we are like sure hold on, so we walk out and they look at us with these big eyes and say "you live here" and we are like yep, but they shared their message and we just listened, but it was pretty funny cause we were the ones that got contacted.

Well that's all I got for this week, thanks for everything guys. Hope all is well. I love you all, hope to here from you all next week. te amo mucho!

Love Elder Paulson

August 2, 2010

Hola mi familia,

Alright here it goes I will answer your questions first.

1.That short guy is kinda like an adopted son of some members here, they don't know how old he is but he has lived with them forever. His name is Chinito, he does all the work for them, he cuts and carries the wood, he carries the water to their house. He hardly talks and when he's not doing anything he just sits in this chair they have there in their house.

2.Those are the birds of some members in my district leader's area and when I was on splits with him they showed them to us. So i took the opportunity for some sick pics.!!! hahhaha

3. Those guys are all over the place they guard the coke/pepsi trucks, they guard restaurants, grocery stores, banks, and any other place you can think of, all the Chinese restuarant have them. This time they were with an armored turck that was bringing money to the BK.

4. The missionary in the middle is my comp. Elder Eslava, the elder behind me is my DL and the others are just other missionaries. If i had time to tell their specs I would, hahaha!

I hope I answered your questions.

Well first mom I want to tell you sorry I got you all worked up about not getting the letter last week, I really was fine, I have learned to deal with this kind of thing. But as you have all said this month will be my hump day, and I still have a lot of learning to do and I feel like I still just barely got here. It really makes me bummed out when I think of how much time has passed already and I already only have one more year in the service of our Lord!

Well with Patricia and Dago, Dago and his daughter got baptized but Patricia and her other kid did not, she has a problem with work and her boss is a big fat JERK!!!! and wont give her the time off to go to church, people need at least 2 times going to church before they get baptized. Sooooo.... we're still working with her and praying a lot. I'm going to talk to her about quiting her job and putting faith in the Lord that he will help her out.

I know that this wasn't a lot, but I ran out of time, I'll be sending a letter this week to you guys. I have a goal to do that every week. Well, love you guys and hope all is well. I love you all!

ELDER SPENCER PAULSON