3/17/2013

I want to start my journey here to Honduras today and work my way backwards.

Today was so amazing it is Sunday.  Today we were able to sleep in a bit because there were three sessions at the Honduras Temple.  We were so lucky to get tickets to go inside the Temple for the 3 O’clock session.  We are on this trip with a Mission President, President Christensen.  He served in Santiago Chile as the Mission President from 1999 to 2002 and then as the MTC President in Guatemala.  He was the one that got us the tickets for the Temple Dedication.  The Temple is medium size.  It is much bigger though than our temple in Redlands.  It is by far the most beautiful place here in Honduras.

Clint’s shoes were all dusty from the celebration last night and so on the way to the Temple we stopped at the airport and got them shined. We took pictures of him and a lady sitting next to him drinking Coke out of a bag.  His shoes look amazing and it was only $2.00.  The driver took us to the Temple and it was a mad house of cars making their way up the pot hole spotted roads.  Normally they wouldn’t let people be dropped off inside the Temple gates but because of our company, a Temple President from Guatemala and Ross Farnsworth, founder of the BIT School Charity (One Life at a Time)….they let us drive right up.  I felt so special being around such amazing people all weekend.  After we got dropped off we said good-bye to the Farnsworth’s and made our way to the Temple doors.  The feeling of excitement and gratitude was in the air.  There were two rows going into the Temple.  Men on the right and women on the left.  There were chairs lining each row with youth sitting in them assisting us with our booties.  We all had white booties to protect the carpet inside the Temple.  Once we were inside we ended up sitting in the first row of which I think might have been a waiting room.  While we sat and waited they showed a video of all the different Temples in the world.  They are all so beautiful.  My favorite parts of the Temples are chandeliers.  They are so grand and sparkly!  Once the video ended the TV’s turned to a live feed of the celestial room.  We later found out that if we were there earlier that we would have been able to be in the celestial room because of President Christensen.  But, it was better that a Honduran got to be in there instead.

Sitting at the head of the celestial room on the far left was the President of the Temple and then one other man I recognized.  His name is President Martino and he is accompanying President Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Jeffrey R. Holland on this trip.  He is the man that walked out from the Temple Housing Building on Saturday to hand deliver us our tickets!!  I really didn’t realize who he was until after he left.  I felt special again!

When the apostles walked in everyone stood.  There was an interpreter there but I wished that I had head phones for the times they were speaking in Spanish only!  At the beginning Clint had thought they had asked if anyone needed an interpreter or headphones.  He raised his hand for me.  Just then, a young girl ran over two white hankies and gave them to us.  Ooops!  We had hankies already but we took hers and played dumb.  I was actually happy though because on the way to the Temple I told Clint that I wished we had bought extra hankies for the “Hosanna Shout” so that we could give them to family members.  We ended up having 5 altogether!  So wonderful.  I also had mentioned that I wished I had a hankie with an embroidered Temple on it.  At the end the lady sitting next to me gave me one with the Tegucigalpa Temple embroidered in gold!  I felt special again.  Clint, earlier in the day, had decided he wanted to give his tie away to someone there.  He knew that ties were hard to come by, and the one he had on was a really good one and nice.    So in return, Clint gave her his tie to give to her husband, since he is the one that gave up his hankie!  She laughed but was very grateful.

So let me write about Jeffrey R. Holland’s talk.  I wish I had remembered to take this notebook with me there so that I could have written down everything.  He spoke about the light in the Temple and how the windows let the light sparkle in.  He said that is like the Saviors light and it is everywhere.  It is the baptismal fonts, in the sealing rooms, in the priesthood and everywhere throughout the whole church.  His light is the center of everything our Church stands for that is why we are the Church of Jesus Christ.

President Uchtdorf also talked about the windows.  He said it is the first and  the last time they will ever have windows like this put into a Temple.  He said they were ver difficult to ship.  Later I talked to the man who builds all the temples and he said that if the two pieces of windows didn’t fit that they would have to send them back to Salt Lake City and get new ones!  I will come back to him in a minute.  President Uchtdorf  said, don’t sit in the temple and say “There are three windows there that symbolizes…or that line on the wall goes straight up because …..or that circle is there because….just come to the Temple and enjoy.  Enjoy its beauty and the way you feel when you are there.

He also talked about the rough and scary landing into Honduras airport!  He said he was okay not having to do that again. He related it to life.  He said that it is not easy being an apostle.  It looks like it from the outside.  He says he gets to fly in a nice plane, be picked up in a nice care at the airport, stay in a nice place next to the temple on the temple grounds but that even for him life has its trials.

I really enjoyed each talk and I wish that I took notes.  At the end of Uchtdorf’s talk he said with a calm direct voice, “I know our Savior lives, I know he lives, I love him, I know him.  He is the head of this church.”

When he said “I know him” it was like a piercing to my soul.  I know that he has personally spoken with the Savior.  I know that he is a man of God.

At the end of Elder Holland’s talk he spoke in Spanish.  The whole weekend he and President Uchtdorf had an interpreter but, at the end of his talk he took his glasses off and looked directly at the people in the celestial room.  Even though I was in a different room I felt as if he was looking at me too.  He spoke in very simple Spanish to the people of Honduras.  I couldn’t tell what he was saying but the Spirit was so strong that you could hear a pin drop.   I started crying as well as many other people.  I know he loves me and through his love for me and everyone there in the temple I could feel the Savior’s love for me as well.

That feeling of love reminded me of something else in his talk.  He said the temple services are a vicarious work.  He spoke about how people are just waiting on the other side without bodies and they need us to do their work for them.  Likewise for all of us here.  In order for us to return to Heavenly Father we needed the Savior to die for us so that we could be resurrected some day!

I feel like Temple work is a way of paying it forward.  Because he died for me, I need to help others in a way they can’t help themselves just like the Savior did.  We are the Saviors on Mount Zion to those people we help in the temple just like the Savior is to us!  That is what Elder Holland said.  That makes so much sense and it laid everything out in front of me.

Clint and I realize how much we need to be going to the temple.  Here it is so close to us that I could ride my bike there if I wanted to!  I really have put it last on my huge list but I need to put it first.

When the dedication was over everyone turned around hoping to get a glimpse of the Apostles but, they ended up not walking by.  So, everyone made their way outside.  A cute little boy maybe 10 years old helped me take my white booties off. Clint and I took pictures outside the Temple.  As we were taking pictures we noticed that a whole lot of Hondurans were waiting outside the Temple doors for the Apostles to come out.  They started making a “cat walk” for them to walk through.  First, Elder Holland and his wife came out.  He tried to wave and shake everyone’s hand.  One girl wanted him to pose for a picture and he said no posing just snap shots.  Probably because he would have been there for hours.  I ended up standing in the back ground trying to get pictures.  As he got closer Clint’s phone died!  I was so sad.  I called Clint over and he deleted some pictures to make room just in time for Uchtdorf to come by.  I spoke to his wife and he shook my hand and said, “All the best to you.”  Clint got some great pictures and video.  I felt special again!!!

After they went into the church temple housing, President Christensen, Bruce Hough, Clint and I went around and visited with a lot of the members and past missionaries that served in Honduras.  The sister in-law of the Bishop that met us at the airport and is the teacher at BIT ended up giving me another hankie with the Temple embroidered on it.  I wanted to keep it but I knew that President Christensen admired the one I showed him earlier that the lady in the temple gave me.  I ended up giving it to him and he seemed very happy about that.

One other thing, as Elder Uchtdorf was leaving he told the people as he waved “Trabajar!” In Spanish this means work hard!  I loved that.

I also wanted to write about the Hymns.  They sang “Hosanna” which was sung at the Salt Lake City Temple dedication and “The Spirit of God” which was sung at the Kirkland Temple dedication.  I actually have one of the original hymn books that Emma Smith put together.  The first hymn she put in there was “The Spirit of God”  It’s pretty cool to have that little book!  I got it when I went on the church history tour with my Mom and Dad.

March 16, 2013

This is the second day that we have been in Honduras.  We were tired from the first day and we went to bed last night as soon as we got back in the hotel. We woke up and Clint went down and ate breakfast.  He brought me back up breakfast and told me to hurry as usual!  Our group was waiting downstairs.

As soon as I was ready I hurried and ate one bite of my breakfast and downed a delicious glass of fresh pineapple juice.  We went down stairs and ended up hurrying for nothing.  We were waiting in the restaurant for Bruce Hough’s plane to land.  Bruce lives in Utah and is the father of 10 kids but two that are famous.  Both were on “Dancing with the Stars” but his daughter is Julianna Hough.  She is in the movies now and I guess sings too!  I get a little star struck but, not really. He told us that his daughter had broken up with Ryan Seacrest.  He was moving her into her apartment in Los Angeles and they stored some of her stuff and $170,000 worth of jewelry got stolen!!  Anyways, back to the airport.  As we were standing in the airport we would see men in white shirts and ties, some with missionary tags.  I spoke to one couple and they were serving in Guatemala.  He had served his younger days mission in Honduras.  He said his current Mission President allowed them to come to Honduras for the Temple dedication.  They seemed very excited to be there.  He told us how he almost died on his mission from his appendix rupturing and he got down to 97 lbs.  He still looked 97 lbs.  After he left I leaned over to Lori Farnsworth and said he still looks 97 lbs and she laughed and said she was thinking the same thing!

We also were lucky to meet another very special man and his wife.  I don’t remember his name but he is in charge of building all the temples in South America.  He talked to us for a while about how stressful it is.  We asked him who makes you feel the stress, who puts the stress on you?  He said, “I do!”  He said everything has to be perfect in the temple.  So, if one thig is off it all has to be redone.  After the dedication of the temple was done and everything was all said and done I saw him walking on the sidewalk.   He saw me and I put both of my hands on my shoulders and wiped them and gave a sigh of relief.  I said to him “Do you feel relieved?”  He did the same as I did and said, “Oh yes, I am!”  Clint and I talked with him for a while.  He told us about the Angel Moroni and how it is placed.  It is hollow and is handled with white gloves.  If you touch it the gold leafing gets messed up and it has to be redone.  It is placed down into a rod like thing with four prongs and then turned into place this locks it in.  I asked him if there was a white dove on top of the temple like the one at the Las Vegas Temple.  He said no but there are a lot of other stories.  One was that the people building the temple when they were driving away one night they saw a light dancing in the windows and at other temples he worked on people saw fire in the windows!!  Just like the Kirkland temple.  They thought the temple was on fire but when they got closer it was just fine.

After we left the airport with Bruce, we went to pick up our tickets at the temple for the dedication.  There were security guards there that wouldn’t let us in.  President Christensen stood at the gates and had them call inside the Temple housing for someone to come out.  The person who came out was Elder Martino who is the Area President!  He came out and shook all of our hands and spoke with us for a little bit.  After he left Lori and I realized who he was and what an awesome moment we had just then spending that little bit of time with him.  He is President Uchtdorf’s companion on this trip!!!He gave us tickets and they are personally signed by President Uchtdorf!  He is such a sweet man.  He reminds me a lot of Cory Ferguson, just real sweet and unassuming.

After we got our tickets, we headed off to the mall to try and find suit pants for the missionaries at our school.  The school gives each boys 6 white shirts and 1 or two pair of pants and some dark shoes.  We got to the mall and ate lunch there.    It was at a food court much like the US.  The mall was hopping with families out enjoying their Saturday.  We and President Christensen went to Burger King!  I asked what one soda was and they girl said banana.  I got my soda and it was orange.  She probably thought orange in English was banana.  Lori and Ross ordered 2 pieces of pizza and they gave her two whole pizzas!  So funny!

After going all the way to the mall, they decided that it was best to buy the suits as bulk much like they did with the shirts the day before.  The day before, one of their students who worked at a clothing company came in and showed us different white dress shirts.  Another cute skinny and happy boy student modeled them for us.  We chose the thicker sort of textured shirts.  We thought they would hold up better.  They get 4 short sleeve and two long sleeve.  They seem like they will be nice shirts!

Okay…so after we left the mall we went back to the hotel so Bruce could get settled.  On our way back I offered everyone a mint that was in my purse.  I had put a hand full in after breakfast.  They had been in there all day.  Unbeknownst to me my water bottle had leaked in my purse causing all the candies to become sticky!  I looked over at Bruce and he was very carefully trying to open his mint with his two pointer fingers and thumbs.  I got the giggles because he is so funny!  Everyone ended up having very sticky fingers.  Mommy Paige came to the rescue because of course I also had wipes in my bag!  When we got back to the hotel I threw away all the yummy chocolate mints and wiped out my purse one item at a time laughing about Bruce as I did it!  It serves me right for taking so many mints!

We were able to rest for about 30 minutes and then I started to get ready for the big celebration later that night.   I knew that a lot of the  youth had worked hard for months but nothing would have prepared me for the amazing cultural event we were about to see!

It was held at a large stadium and according to everyone there were about 9,000 plus people attending.  It was youth from all over Honduras and their families.  As we walked through the stadium Clint and I passed out erasers to the little children sitting in the stands.  They were shaped like cheeseburgers, fries and hot dogs.

They were very cute and all the children seem to really like them.  We were able to sit down on the field in folding chairs.  As we were sitting waiting for the show to start, the crowd behind us was going wild!  They were doing the wave, blowing long horns.  We felt like we were at a soccer game!  One by one each Stake’s youth groups would run out on the stage until it was completely full.  Some of them had sticks and they were banging them on the stage.  The crowd cheer as their Stake would run out.  Clint and I were worried that the stage was going to collapse.  We were told there were 4,100 kids in the program.  There were even kids in the stands behind the stage holding up cards that would create a back drop for each number.  The costumes were unbelieveable. All the way from bats to large two story walking puppets!!  Each costume was hand made and paid for by fund raisers the kids did on their own.  Every part was my favorite part!  I had wished that my children could be there to see the dedication it took for all these kids to pull this off.  At the end of the show a boy ran a large book up to President Uchtdorf.  It had a hand embossed Silver front to it of the Angel Moroni.  It was the size of a phone book.  In it all the children/ youth had written a commitment to serve a mission.  He stood and held the book high in his left hand and said, “I accept your commitment!”  The whole crowd roared with excitement.  What a moment I will never forget!  After that crowds of youth dressed to look like missionaries came running in to the music of “Armies of Helaman”.  That was when me and so many others lost it.  We cried as we watched these faithful servants of the Lord.  They then sang “Families can be Together Forever.”  It left the stadium and the Presidency full of the Spirit.  A young girl maybe 12 or 13 then went up to say the closing prayer.  The microphone wasn’t working and right as they got it to work a man in the control center started praying instead!  The girl looked crushed and she started crying.  When the prayer was over President Uchtdorf and Elder Holland gave her big hugs to comfort her.  I’m sure she had been planning her prayer for months!

After the prayer we started making our way out of the stadium.  We were some of the only people moving.  All the youth stood staring at the Apostles crying and hugging each other.  They knew that this would probably be the first and last time they would physically be in the presence of an Apostle of the Lord.  I was crying with them as I walked in front of them.  I was able to touch each of their cheeks and hug some of them to comfort them.  As I write this now I am crying thinking about what I had experienced.  It will forever be engraved in my heart and I will never forget how I felt that special night in a humble stadium in Honduras.

One thing I loved was when the whole crowd shouted and chanted, “Honduras!  Honduras!  Honduras!”  But when they say it they leave the “H” silent so they say “Onduras!”

March 15, 2013

This is the day we arrived in Honduras.  The anticipation of visiting a third world country was exciting but, a little scary.  I made the mistake of reading all the scary things on the internet.

We got to the Airport and waiting for us was Ross and Lori Farnsworth, President Christensen, a Bishop from Honduras who teaches at BIT and David Gonzales, a 25 year old who runs BIT (he is also the son of Walter Gonzales of the Quorum of the Seventy, and who Clint knew from his mission.  Clint also sang Christmas songs to David when he was a toddler).  Ross and Lori are the founders of OLAAT which funds BIT (the school) and they live in Arizona.  President Christensen is actually my former Book of Mormon teacher at Ricks College.  He is also a former MTC President in Guatemala, and a form Mission President in Santiago Chile.

They were all so welcoming to Clint and I.  I felt so happy to be there with all of them.  I could tell right away that Ross and Lori were very loving, funny and normal.  Just the kind of people I love to be around!

We went back to our hotel.  The hotel was beautiful, and was the Intercontinental Hotel.  It had traverteen arched columns in the entry that led up to a large Spanish style chandelier.  The doors to each room are solid wood with a light white wash.  It was exactly the style I love!

We got settled in our room and then went down to meet everyone in the lobby.  Our same driver was waiting for us.  Ross told me that he would be our driver the whole weekend.  He and Clint would split the cost at the end of the day 50/50.  It ended up being $60 each per day.  I thought that wasn’t bad for the amount of time he spent with us.  Clint and Ross also ended up splitting most of the meals for everyone, or Ross would pay for all of it in some cases.

As soon as we got picked up we went to the school.  The school is in a simple building.  It is on the third floor above some convenient shops.  There are a few large rooms and one full of lap tops and the other full of older big computers.  We were able to meet some of the students and Clint and I got to speak to them.  I told them how proud I was of them and the importance of getting a good education.  I said especially you girls.  It is common for a boy to get an education but just as important for us girls.  Knowledge is the only thing we can take with us to heaven.  I gave them a bunch of school supplies, pencils, sticky notes, highlighters.  They all seemed to be grateful.  One girl waited about 40 minutes to hug me and thank me.  I thought that was so sweet.

We were able to see the store room where they have the clothes for them to wear once they are ready for their missions.  We also saw the dental clinic.  Lori has set the whole thing up.  Her dad was a dentist so she knows a lot about dentistry.  In order to go on a mission the kids have to have dental, medical exams, and appropriate clothing.  This is why Lori offers dental in all of the schools.  We were lucky to see a boy receive custom retainer with two teeth for his upper centrals.  He had to have them removed because they were rotted out.  A dentist in the states got his impression and made him a custom “bridge”.  It looked so natural and Lori was so happy to see that her work is paying off.  She amazes me with everything she is accomplishing in her dental clinics.  Now so many young adults can smile because of her efforts.  I felt blessed to meet one of them that day!

After the school we went to meet a student that graduated from BIT.  Because of his English and computer skills he learned there was able to get a manager level job at a factory that made car parts.  It was nice to meet him and hear his story.  After that we went to an orphanage.  I didn’t know that we would be doing this or else I woule have come better prepared.  It was so sad to see all these children.  They were in three different rooms.  One for babies, another for younger children and one for handicapped disabled children.

I had some suckers “dumdums” in my purse luckily tat Yvette had given me.  What a blessing that she decided to give me those while I visited her in Texas on our way to Honduras.  We were just joking how Moms always have so much in our purses and she said, “here, take these all with you to give to the children.”  I was able to give the 18 month olds some suckers.  We held them and gave them some love.

One little girl had 6 fingers on each hand.  David held her most of the time.  When he put her down she cried and didn’t want him to leave.  It was very sad.  The rest of the children seemed numb to feelings.  It was so sosososo sad.  Lori and I cried a lot.  A couple of the women working with the children did not have a good spirit about them and I pray they do not harm the children.  The head of the orphanage was kind though and she spoke to us through her tears how she doesn’t understand how an adult could do such horrible things to a child.  She told us how one little girl had just gotten there because her older brother who is like 22 would physically and sexually abuse her terribly.  The little girl is so frightened of men now.  She cried to us about the sadness she feels for all of these children.

The school hopes to come in and put a garden in so that they can have a place to grow fresh veggies and hopefully let the children work in the garden.  There is something healing about working in a garden.  Hopefully that will all happen.  I’m going to help that orphanage in as many ways that I can.

That was a long day of insights but a day full of eye opening ways that I can help others.  Here I thought that I was coming down to Honduras to help the people but in reality they will be helping me.