Weeks 24-27 Transfer 2 Weeks 13-16

Here's a month's worth of Elder Trepanier's emails. Enjoy!

Stacey

April 4

Mom 

Let me say that General Conference was great to listen to. We got to listen to it live because we are on the same time as it started in Utah, so that was cool and I got to listen to it in English as well with all the other North Americans in my area. The priesthood session was great to listen to. If you get a chance listen to President Nelson´s talk also listen to President Utchdorf´s talk as well. It seemed like in this conference they talked a lot about fatherhood and the importance of it. I also really liked Elder Holland´s talk as well with his closing remarks and how he opened it up. 

Apart from conference things have gone fine for me this week with my companion and in the area as well. As you said mom I am still in my area that I was the last 3 months, I fell like I will probably have changes in May the Wednesday after mothers day. I am not sure how we are going to call you for mothers day and all but what ever happens happens. 

Its crazy to think how much time has gone by since I left and now just about 6 months have passed by. 

Let me tell you that today we went to play volleyball on the beach in our zone area and I got sunburned bad so it is going to such these next few days or so as I start to recover from it. Hope that everything is going fine for you guys back home. 

Elder Trepanier 

April 11

Hello Family, 

Things are going fine for me in my area with Elder Hernandez. You are right dad it is my first time that I have survived changes without changing my companion or areas in the mission but I feel like it is going to be my time to change areas in the mission when the next changes come around. 

It is cool to hear that the bees are starting to work now and are producing honey. I would like to receive some in a package if I can get some from you guys if there can be a way to get it to me. It is so weird to hear that it hailed back home I am used to the straight rain here in Honduras that we get. Nothing really has changed for me in my area. It just feels like I am continuing to work for another month and a half. 

I have come to the conclusion that the mission if you have a companion that you can get along with you can change the area for the better because you are on the same page and you want to work as well. You can have a crap area but the mission can be a great time even. 

Mom I have not had a dream in Spanish yet I will let you know when I do if I remember. It was cool to hear that you had the missionaries over for dinner this week it must have felt better knowing that your son is on a mission. 

Lets just say that I am having a great time in my area working on the Lord;s work with him by my side. I got to say that on the mission I have been blessed so much that I have come to recognize it in my life daily now that it has started to become second nature to me. Hope that you guys have a good week and that everything goes fine for you this week. Talk to you next week. 

Elder Trepanier

April 18

Hello Family, 

This week was good in our area in the work that we did. We are going to have 2 baptisms in May and that is a firm point that is going to happen. I really hope that I will still be in the area when these baptisms happen. I want to see the fruits of my labors and rejoice. I feel like my work here in this area is not done here. 

I did burn a tie this week I will send you a picture when I can of it. It is good to hear from you guys weekly and see what everyone is up to through out the week. 

A spiritual experience that I had this week was when we were with an investigator and he said that you are like superheros in the street. Superman has his S, spider man has his spider on his chest and you guys have your backpacks. He said that we do not walk alone and when we are with him he does not fell like it is us and him only he feels like there is someone else with us like angels and such. This is so cool to hear someone that is not a member say and recognize these types of spiritual things that happen. 

Hope that your work is going well and that the family is going well as well. I truly hope for the best of you guys and thank you so much for the things that you have taught me the 18 years that I have lived with you guys and learned how I can be a better person and keep myself calm in situations. 

Hope that this week goes well for you guys and you keep reading the scriptures and praying personally and as a family. 

Elder Trepanier

April 25

Hey family, 

Things for me have gone fine for me this week. We have been working more and more with the members and meeting with them, especially those that are return missionaries. Let me say that one of them that we are working with (who is the young men's president) it is cool to have him with us in the lessons that we have with him. He is a help to the investigators and can relate. For other news in my area one of the return missionaries that is from this ward that I am in is moving to Salt Lake to get married with his girlfriend who is from the states and in this up coming week he will be gone and living in the states. I will try to get his information so that I can talk with him and get to know him a bit better and such. 

Let me just say that there are some changes that are hard and a trial for one as a missionary. There have not been baptisms in our are since those that I had in February and we do not have any planed until may and I will probably not be in the area to see them unless I get a 4th change in this area and a 3rd with my companion Elder Hernandez. Let me say that there are some things that get on my nerves with him as a companion but it has been a good time learning with him and from him as well. I do not try to focus on the bad things that my companions have and the things that get on my nerves. I always try to look for the good and focus on that. 

Hope that you enjoy the fotos (loved to see his use of Spanish spelling) that I sent to you. I will be going to Utila which is an Island that is part of our mission as a multi zone P-day that we will be doing with the other zone in our area. I will be sure to send you guys pictures of how it is and such. Hope that you all have a good week this week and enjoy all the small things in life and make the best out of every day.

Elder Trepanier

 I'm guessing that this is a beach there in La Ceiba

Looks like this is the tie that he burned at his 6 month mark

Weeks 22-23 Transfer 2 Weeks 11-12

March 21

Hello family,

Thank you for all your help and support that you have given me while I have been on the mission. It was cool to get some updates about march madness and what has been going on. It looks like an interesting layout with who is left in the sweet sixteen. Things are going fine for me here right now. This week in Honduras and much of Latin america it is semana santa and many people have work and school off this week so this week is going to be time for us as missionaries to take advantage and teach these people the gospel with there family if they receive us. Hope that everything is going fine for you guys and all. 

Today it is raining a lot which is not very good for a missionary because it is basically a dead P-Day that we really cant do anything, but we had an activity planned for this day and just about the entire zone came and we played soccer on a field while it was raining. Everybody was soaked  because of the rain and slipping and sliding on the grass field as well. Just about everybody fell to the ground which was funny to watch as well. I can say that this p-day was fun and not just okay lets stay home and then go and write and eat. We all need to act like fools sometimes. 

Hope that everything is going fine for you guys. 

Elder Trepanier

March 28

Hello Family, 

Things have going fine for me this week. I have been able to see many miracles this week that are good that I have seen. We are now starting to teach a family of 5 now and they seem to bee accepting of the gospel and what we are teaching. It is a great feeling to see how the Lord prepares his people and if we find them that they will accept the gospel and make the changes that are necessary to keep the Lords commandments. In my area right now we are continuing to work hard and trying to continue forward in teaching and finding people to teach and in helping them in any way that we can. 

It has been good to hear what has been happening back home especially with the family and what you guys have been doing. As I have been thinking about things I have come to recognize that I have been blessed on my mission in thinking that I will repay the lord for the many blessings that I have received, but I still feel like that I need to work harder as a missionary.  

Hey mom I recognized what is different. You are embracing the gray in your hair in the photo.

(I/Stacey had made mention of something being different in my message to him and told him that he needed to figure it out - I cut about 8 inches of hair off this past week. I had stopped coloring my hair before he even left - This made me laugh)

Elder Trepanier

Weeks 20-21 Transfer 2 Weeks 9-10

3/7

Hello Family 

It is good to hear that everyone is going fine this week. The picture that is attached is one of my companion and I with another missionary in another zone that I know as well. It is crazy to see how much the church has grown here in about 40-50 years. In April they are going to be forming a new stake in the area. 

This week we had a Multizone conference like mom said. The theme of the conference was personal revelation and let me say that it was interesting to listen and I learned a lot from this conference for myself and how I can help those that I teach as well. 

I have been thinking about that too mom that the first of the 4 general conferences is coming up next month. As well as mothers day in may when I get to call you guys next. Time really does go by fast in the mission like people say that have served. But in this time you do understand more the atonment and learn more about the gospel because you are stuying it and teaching it daily to the people. I can see all the blessings that I have recieved by serving a mission in this small time that i have been out here in honduras.

This past week I was sick for a few days but I am getting better day by day. Thanks for all the love that you express for me in these letters hope that you have a good next week and let me know how march madness goes back in the states. 

Elder Trepanier

3/14

Hello Familly,

Things are going fine for me in Honduras right now. Let me tell you it is starting to get hot here in La Cieba it feels a bit like summer in Tucson because of the humidity. I'm getting used to it a bit more but I am sweating a lot because of the heat. In the mission right now the work is increasing a lot because they are dividing the stake in April so all the wards and missionaries are working to strengthen themselves for the division that is coming. Every day I come home to the apartment tired from the work that we are doing. For my last P-Day we played basketball with a few other missionaries in the stake center in our area. In the ward we only have 2 missionaries (me and my companion) and a ward mission leader. 

This past week we have been starting to look for less active members to try and reactivate them and bring them back to the church. Let me say that it is a bit said to see members of the church that have withdrawn themselves for reasons of their own, but this is what missionary work is all about. Inviting people to come unto christ and helping them understand his teachings. It looks like this change I will not be having any baptisms but that is nothing to me right now I know that the baptisms will come from the work that I do in this area even if I do not baptize the investigators that we have I delight that I was part of their conversion story. 

It is cool to hear what ha happened back home with Andrew and him getting a job. I hope that he can hook me up with one when I get back from the mission. Thanks for sending me some pictures from home especialy the temple. One question: when is the predicted dedication date of the temple? It is cool to see the progress that they have made. And thank you very much for the picture of rosco it has been a while since I have seen a picture of him. Hope that he is doing well. 

In one month is general conference and in may is mothers day so I will be calling to talk to you guys to see how it is going about 1/4 through my mission. The time seems to fly by. Hope that you all have a good week. 

Elder Trepanier

Weeks 15-19 Transfer 2 Weeks 4-8

February 1st

Hello Family, 

Things are going fine for me as I am working. I am continually learning patience with my companion and looking to the eternal perspective so that I my better myself as a missionary and a person. We have 2 more weeks until we have changes in the area in which my companion is probably going to leave the area and I am going to be getting a new companion. During P-Days there are activities that we can go to with other missionaries if there are any such as playing sports mainly. In my area we normally walk around our area for the most part, and there area buses to take us to other areas in Cieba. I am starting to get to know the major part of the city which is known as Centro which is basically city center were there are stores and such that we can buy. 

I have been reading our search for happiness by Elder Ballard this week in my free time that I have and it is interesting how he puts in words and explains things that are gospel related. I am just about finnished with it now. I am learning more and more as I read it. 

I could not really take many pictures this week so I will be sending you some pictures of me with other missionaries that were in my District/Zone. 

February 8th

Dad, 

Things are going fine for me. This week we have 2 baptisms and it was through the gifts of God that they happened, and I am glad of it. I started praying and asking directly that I wanted to have a baptism with my companion before the end of this change and I could see the works of the Lord as I think of what happened up to the point that we were filling out the baptismal forms for them. I will be sure to send pictures next week of the baptism. 

I finished the Book of Mormon this week in my mission and I actually feel good about it because it is the 3rd time that I have read it all the way through and as I continue to read passages of it and study what they mean I find that I am learning more and more of what is being taught by the prophets of those days. 

I hope that the family is doing good. Let me tell you time really does fly by in the mission (I guess that it is because we are working every single day) I complete 1 6th of my mission this Saturday. 

Elder Trepanier

Oh yeah here are some photos. What I go out in, when it rains in this area and a recent photo of what I look like a week after my first hair cut in this area.

February 15th

Family, 

This week was pretty good with the baptism and all I will be putting a photo of it in the email. It was a good experience to have as a missionary seeing that people want to change there lives for the better so that they can become more closer to our Heavenly Father. 

This week I had a spiritual experience when we were teaching a family that are investigators and let me say they they are ready to hear the gospel and make the changes that are needed to better there lifes. We were teaching about the Book of Mormon and we had left 2 books with them and they had started to read them so when we cam back for another visit the mom had read the entire first few parts of the book and the father had prayed and felt that he needed to read the book to find out that it was true and such. My companion and I started to testify of the power of the Book of Mormon and that our heavenly father answers our prayers that we give. . 

Glad that you had a good time with Aunt Deanne and Uncle James while they were there this week. Hope the best for you guys. 

Oh yeah and as missionaries we receive the Liahona as well and let me say that it is cool. 

Elder Trepanier

February 22nd

Family, 

Things are going fine for me right now in the mission. We had changes and Elder Valenciano left the area and Elder Hernandez is now my companion. He is from Nicaragua and let me say he is different than my last companion we seem to always be talking and it seems that we are on the same page for teaching and such which really was not the case with my last companion. My spanish is starting to get better and I am starting to speak more and more and not be afraid to talk to people and express my feelings to them. 

The people that we baptized that I sent a picture of are a mother and daughter. I really did not teach them that much we just finished teaching them the lessons in the change and got them ready for baptism. With my new companion we are starting to teach the son of the daughter who is in the picture. 

Hope you have a good week.

Elder Trepanier

February 29th

Hey Dad, 

Things are going fine for me for this week. Elder Hernandez wants to learn English but right now we are talking the majority of the time in Spanish so that I can get more and more used to Spanish and then we will transition to me teaching him English. In the picture that I sent to you guys last week of me in the background the one with his head turned is my companion, and this is right by one of the stake centers in the area that we go to play soccer. 

As for my mission president, he is finishing in June July so we will be getting a new one when he leaves. With this I am trying to learn all that I can from him so that when the new mission president comes I can adjust to what he wants us to do as missionaries. I have to tell you I have learned a lot from President Klein and I will miss him when he leaves. All mission presidents have there own respective attitudes , but with President Klein it was different than with the MTC president. This is because he speaks with charity and clarity to help the missionaries get through whatever times that they are going through. 

The church here in Honduras they do not do scouts for the young men in the ward. The youth in the ward have seminary at 5 in the morning Monday to Friday which is interesting. 

Hope that this week goes good for you guys. Talk to you next week.

Elder Trepanier

Hey Mom, 

For me everything is going well. When I was thinking one day I thought about what the MTC President said that I would start to be comfortable with Spanish in about 4 months of my mission and I feel like I am at that point in my mission right now. I am comfortable with talking and expressing my feelings more and more in Spanish to our investigators that we have as well with the members. 

This week we have a multizone conference which I will be sure to write you guys about next week. I am sorry that I could not send you guys photos because I brought my camera but I forgot the adapter for it to send photos. I am starting to open up more and more and talk with my companion and other missionaries in the zone. 

Hope that this week goes good for you guys.  

Elder Trepanier

Weeks 12-14 Transfer 2 Weeks 1-3

1/11 (Week 12)

Hello Family, 

So there are these things called changes and now I am in a new area in the mission with a new companion as well. It feels like that I am starting over my mission because I have no idea about the lay out of my new area which is called Buenos Aires and I am trying to establish a relationship with my new companion Elder Valenciano who has been in this area for about 4 and a half months and has about 7 months done in the mission. Everything is going fine for me here now. 

I found out that I had changes last Monday night when the zone leaders called and said to my companion Elder Coj that I was going to zone Mirimar to an area called Buenos Aires. Let me just say that this area is different in ways because it is hilly and my last area in La Paz was flat. I am starting to get used to the area now but it was difficult at first. Where we are living now it is smaller than were I was in La Paz as well. In La Paz I was living in a house but now I am living in a small apartment which has barely enough room for 2 missionaries to live out off. The picture that I have is the view from our balcony that we have. 

This past week it was a bit tough for me because I am trying to be more patient with my companion and with myself as well. Elder Valenciano is good and all. Me and him are on a different page on the style and way that we both want to work and we really do not see eye to eye on some things, but I am trying to work it out with him as well. 

Dad yeah it was hard to find shoes that fit my feet because they are so big and they use the EU scale as well which is a bit different. The shoes cost around 600 limpera. I bought them in a city called Progreso. 

Hope that you all are having a good time and such talk to you guys next week.

Elder Trepanier

Photo from his apartment

1/18 (Week 13)

Hello, 

So if you guys do not already know I have changed areas in my mission. Yes after only having one change in my first area. The name of the area that I am in is called Buenos Aires which is close to the city of La Cieba. It is taking some time for me to adjust to this area right now because I am still new to this whole mission thing. 

I continue to work and think of ways that I can better myself as a missionary to help those that need my help whether they be investigators, members, less actives in the church, or people on the street that I do not know. 

Let me say that my Spanish is coming little by little for me. I am understanding the majority of what people are saying to me but I cannot say that I can understand 100 percent of what is being said I mainly rely on context to know what people are saying to me. 

Hope that you are all doing fine back home. 

Elder Trepanier

1/25 (Week 14)

Mom, 

Let me say that time has passed by fast for me on the mission and it has only been just about 3 months and I have learned a lot, and sometimes I do not even realize how much time has gone by until I think about it. 

As for the ward the area is decent size that it covers. There are about 200 members in the ward area but the attendance of church fluctuates a lot it is really not that stable because of the amount of less active families in the area. The Bishop in our area wants the attendance of sacrament meeting to be 120 people but it has wavered around 80 to 100 people since I have been in the area. For lunch we pay a sister in the ward to cook for us during the week and we have dinner appointments every day with members of the ward and the majority of them love having us over to eat. 

Right now in the area it is a bit hard to find people to teach because when we find someone they either do not want to hear the gospel or they are hard to find when we put a cita with them. We have 2 investigators with a baptismal date for this Saturday one is about 50 and the other is about 35. They are good people I have not gotten to know them very much because I have been here for only about 3 weeks. They are on the verge of getting baptized and such. 

Hope that everything is going fine back home. 

Elder Trepanier

Hello Family, 

The area is going fine. There is a lot more rain than there was in La Paz because of how close that we are to the coast. I am handling the rain decently. What goes on is when we leave for the day as we look at the sky and if there are a lot of grey clouds we go and put our rain jackets in our bags so that if it does rain we are prepared for it. The ward is good I am starting to get to know members in the ward such as the ones that we have dinner appointments with but it is a bit tough because of my Spanish that I have and also because of the time that I have been here in the area. My Spanish is getting better and better as I practice and study. 

We had a missionary conference this week were the general authorities talked to all the missionaries in the world on what we need to be focusing on as missionaries to help our investigators. We also had interviews with President Klien also this week and things are going fine. Probably my companion will be leaving the area at the end of this change because this is his 4th change in the area. I am working hard and trying to be better more and more each day. 

Elder Trepanier

Our Christmas package arrived! (he forgot to tell us)

He was without his rain coat and a member offered him a garbage bag to use

Love this smile!!
(And how I figured out that he received the package)

Weeks 10-11 Transfer 1 Weeks 4-5

Week 10

Hey Family, 

Firsts things first the time that you gave me to skype on Christmas Eve at 2 pm my time works perfectly for me I just need to find a place that I can use that has a web camera so that I can talk with you via skype it will probably be from an Internet cafe. I am just going to give you the number of the mission phone that we have so that if you guys are running late on your end you can call and talk to me and I know your phone number so that if I am running late on my end I can call you guys. Now this does not mean that you can call me during the week to talk to me it is only for talking before the skype call to make sure that we are all ready to go because I have 40 minutes to talk to all of you. The phone number is **********(redacted by Stacey) I can not wait to talk to you guys and see how you are doing. 

Let me tell you guys being in a trio of missionaries is different because of how things work in our lessons. All that it basically is that one of us starts the lesson off and then we rotate between the three of us who is going to talk I am still getting used to it because I am only used to it just me and my trainer Elder Coj in lessons and we pass the topics of the lessons off one to another but things are going fine with them. Elder Garnica my other companion does not speak English at all and what English that he does know are bad words that are not really appropriate to say as a missionary and a representative of Jesus Christ. 

Things have been going great for me in the mission. We are nearing the end of my first change (which is normally 6 weeks but this change is a 7 week one) here as a missionary and it weird to talk to the other missionaries in my district about what can happen to everyone in the district and in the zone. I am adjusting better to the language now that I have one month in the field. Let me tell you guys that time really does fly by on the mission. They say that the first 3 months of you mission are slow but let me tell you guys that i feel like this has been one of the fastest months in my life because we are working everyday until about 9 o'clock at night. 

Thank you guys for the pictures that you have sent me and the words of encouragement that you have sent. I can not wait to see you guys on Christmas Eve and see how you have all changed. I got to say Andrew you look pretty good in a suit and with your new hair cut as well. Let me say that what Brother Toledo said was true the hair cuts that you get on a mission are so so I got my first hair cut in the field today and I fell that it looks good but it is not how I usually like it. 

Hope that you guys are doing well. See you on Thursday. 

Elder Trepanier 

Week 11

Mom,

It was so good to talk to you guys as well. I can not send any photos this week because I forgot to bring my camera with me to send a few pictures but I will send more next week. Christmas went well for me one tradition that they have for Christmas is when on Christmas Eve it changes to Christmas Day they set off fireworks it is kind of like New Years Eve in the states. You will do fine in your new calling that you have and I am sure that the lord will guide you in what you need to do. Thanks for everything and hope that everything is going fine back home. 

Elder Trepanier

Hey family, 

It is great to hear how things are going for you and what happened this week. Let me say that things went fine for me this new year, and with every new year everyone has new years resolutions or goals that they want to accomplish. First things first this week I got the letters that Rachel sent from the church this past tuesday and just so that you can know it took about 4 weeks for it to get to me from what I could see from the packaging. It seems that you all had a good time this past week. 

Dad we had a zone conference in december and it was pretty cool. We had 2 zones there and it was an experience for me to have. The mission president speaks in spanish when we are at a meeting as a zone or for me when I went for a 4 week meeting with my trainer, and if we are in an interview he speaks english with the north americans or when he calls to speak with a north american. 

It seems that everyone is doing fine and had fun while Andre and Zack and aunt lonie were with the family. For me my new year went by pretty tranquile because President Klien said that he wanted all of the missionaries to be in there houses at 8 oclock and I decided to follow the missionary schedule and go to sleep at 10:30 and I was woken up by the amount of fireworks and firecrackers were set off at midnight and I raised my head from my pillow and thought to myself oh its midnight.

I am having a good time here and am wanting to continue to work and be the best missionary that I can be. I can not believe that I have just about finished 3 month in the mission and have finished my first change here in Honduras. It seems like the time has just flown by for me. Like people say time flies when you are having fun, and I am trying to have the most fun that I can. Also every day seems to be going my so fast because of the amount of work that I am doing. 

Here are some pictures of the christmas gifts that I got myself and what the majority of the houses look like here. 

Elder Trepanier

Weeks 8-9 Transfer 1 Weeks 3-4

Sorry for the delay on posting for the last few weeks. Here's the latest from Elder Trepanier ~Stacey

Week 8

Hey guys,

So let me start off with a spiritual experience that I had this week. The other day my comp and I contacted a house and when the person that was living there came out to talk to us, my comp just went silent and he let me do the majority of the contacting and when I would look at him for help, he would not help me at all so that I can get better practice. I could tell that the spirit was telling me what to say.

So far the majority of my mission has been contacting people and finding new people to teach the gospel, and let me tell you that this work is not easy at all, and I remember a talk that I heard Elder Holland give on missionary work and one thing that he says stands out to me is that missionary work is not easy because the life of Jesus Christ was not easy.

There wer 2 missionaries that finished their missions this week and when they shared their testimonies they said that their testimonies of the atonement were strengthened and it is the atonement that will help us through the mission as we become better representative of Christ and as we walk in his footsteps.

I hope that everything is going well for all of you where ever you may be.

Elder Trepanier


Week 9

Hey guys,

So today I have completed 2 months in the mission. Not much has happened this week to me and companions so I apologize in advance that this email is going to be probably one of the shortest that I have sent.

I do not have that much to talk about because I was sick on Tuesday and Wednesday and I did not leave the house except to ear. On another note, Elder Coj and I received a new companion who's name is Elder Garnica from Bolivia who has 16 months done in his mission.

Hope that everything is going fine for all you guys back home.

Elder Trepanier