Hermana Grondel: Puerto Cortés

Um, Wow, what a week!!

This week, we had transfers! Packing was quite the adventure. I thought I was doing pretty well until I remembered I had to somehow fit a basketball and a pillow into my suitcases. That was an adventure. But, I did it, haha! I was pretty sad to leave my zone, especially Hermana Bahr, and because they changed the districts, and I am excited for those changes.

I am now in Puerto Cortés with a new companion, Hermana Jimenez. She is from Nicaragua, and she is awesome! After transfers were announced, I was talking with Hermana Dester, and she warned me that Hermana Jimenez gets sad sometimes. Pres. Dester then talked to me about her, followed by Elder Loyo, Elder John, Sister John, and Hermana Vasquez. Soooo, I was a bit nervous my first day. But the truth is, I absolutely love her. She is one of my favorite companions! We get along so well, and I adore this area too! Hermana Jimenez has 1 year in the mission, and she has been here in Puerto for 5 months already, so she thought she was going to leave this area. In fact, she was so sure she was going to leave the area, she packed up all her things. It was super sad to see that when I got here, all her stuff packed up. But we are going to light things on fire! I feel at home here, as though there is something very important for us to do here. Also, she has told me that before cambios, she was so ready to leave this area, but now she is sad because she is almost positive she will leave this area, and she doesn't want to stop being companions. Seriously. Love her. She is trying to learn english so she can go to BYU-Idaho, so I help her practice. That is a blast :) She is OBSESSED with Michael Jackson, and we have plans to go to the Vegas show after our missions. :)

Our area is HUGE in comparison to El Bosque. Our area reaches the ocean. Oh man, it is beautiful! But also a bit cruel, since we can't go swimming. :) I could live here. Though I think I will stay in the states. :) They have a gorgeous park with stores nearby. The streets are nice and wide. Everyone is chill and laid back here. I feel like I am in Hawaii or something.

On Friday, we went to visit Hermano Alfredo, an awesome man in our ward who is in a wheelchair. He lost his left leg below the knee. We cleaned his house and helped in the yard. While helping in the yard, I stepped backward and ended up in a mud pit. Hermana Jimenez felt so bad because she thought it was so hard, so she took my shoe and then started washing it. Well, it was so wet, I couldn't use it, so we both walked around barefoot for the rest of the morning while we were cleaning, haha!

I also had the chance to eat my first full coconut! There is one hermano in our ward who is rather old and never wears a shirt. He always calls us "mamá", haha! He gave us some coconuts. Hermana Jimenez chopped off the top, we drank the coconut water, and then we split the coconut and ate the meat inside. La verdad, I didn't like it very much. I think I will stick to dried coconut. But Hermana Jimenez says it's because it didn't have enough flavor. I guess we'll see!

We are in a branch that has the attendance of a branch. We have a goal to reactivate or baptize 40 men so we can split the ward. We share our area with two elders, Elder Bailey and Elder Arnold, who are also our Zone Leaders. Every Sunday night, we have a Family Home Evening with a family in our ward and the elders. I love it! I think I will finally learn how to make Baleadas this transfer! But if not, when Hermana Bahr and I are companions (one day!) she will teach me. :)

Well, I think that is everything! I love you all so very, very much. I hope you have a fantastic week. Before you know it, we will all be together again, but for now, thank you for your love, support, emails, prayers, and examples.

LOVE,
Hermana Grondel :)