Semana Santa and General Conference

Well I have survived another Semana Santa(or Spring Break) here in Honduras!

It is easy to think that everyone this week would be super interested in listening to the missionaries as we celebrate the center of Christianity. But honestly it was a really rough week for proseyliting. Mostly because this week here is much more a week to go to the beach and party and much less remembering the Savior. So we spent the week walking by houses with their pools set up on their lawn as we walked in the sun. We knocked on doors of a lot of empty houses and spent time visiting members that were still in town.

But despite all the people being busy we were able to have a few spirtual experiences this week. On Monday evening just as we were finishing up Pday we got a call from a member from our ward. She called us asking us if we could come over and give a priesthood blessing to her neighbor that was sick. Of course we got there in about 5 minutes to give the blessing. The sister in our ward brought us over to hear neighbor and friend Norbia. Norbia is an older lady that lives with her family and that day she had just come back from the hospital due to a stomach problem. They told us that she had a stomach problem and asked if I could give the blessing. We gave her a blessing and I told her she would recover from her stomach problem in a few days. Later as we went back to the sister from our ward to her house she explained to us that Norbia was suspected to have cancer. This sister later explained that she was sure that she would be healed and that she wanted to share the gospel with Norbia. So she invited us to go teach her later that week. Honestly, I was a little nervous mostly because of my lack of faith. I was nervous that I had just told Norbia she would recover in a few days not knowing she had cancer. When we came back on Friday Norbia wasn´t home so we just talked with the sister from our ward for a bit. She told us that Norbia had gone to 3 more doctors this week and that at everyone they told her that she didn´t have cancer. And it wasn´t that she was cured from cancer but that the first doctor she saw made a mistake and she never had cancer. I was relieved and thankful. It was a miracle that came in a way that none of us were expecting.

Speaking of miracles. I loved the miracle of being able to watch our Prophet and Apostles speak this general conference. It is interesting to think that no matter that I am in Honduras I am watching the same conference as you guys.

I had so many favorite talks. I think I´m going to pick just two. First the talk by Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy. He talked about repentance and failure. I loved that he analyzed why Nephi and Moses had failed many times before completing their objective. I love how he reminded us that repentance is like going  from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm. Then I loved the talk by David A. Bednar about meekness. Meekness isn´t weakness. It is rapid and righteous response, willing submisiveness, and strong self-restraint. I loved how he compared many stories that I love and applied them to us.

Anyways, that is all this week. I had a great week this week. And I hope you all did too.

Thanks again for all the love and support.

Love,

Elder Gessell