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

Week 7 - Transfer 1 - Week 2

Hey guys, 

So I have just about completed my second week here in Honduras. Everything is going fine for me so far. I am acclimating to the climate pretty well. It is hot here but it is a humid heat. A lot of my time that I have spent doing is basically tracting areas and contacting people to teach and sharing short messages about the gospel. 

The people here are humble and alot of them are very reciving to the missionaries. Alot of the homes are 4 rooms with concrete floors. The areas that we cover are small townships. The main area that we cover is an area called La Paz which is a decent sized neighborhood in the states which is just outside the city of La Lima. 

Alot of the time that I am teaching I am useing scriptures out of the bible because it is something that all the people here in hunduras and it is hard to give them the BofM and have them read it. So i am starting to read a little bit out of the new testiment and it is interesting to think about it and how the teachings apply to me as a missionary, and how I can relate them to my investigators. 

 

The scripture that I am ponderizing this week is James 1:5. 

Hope that everyone is doing fine this holiday season. 

Elder Trepanier

Stacey notes: 

I chucked at his "humid heat" comment. Coming from the desert, where it's a "dry heat" in the 100+ summer months.

I had the chance to email chat for a little while with Elder Trepanier. Here are some of our exchanges:

Tell me about the area you are serving in? 

How's the ward? 

Are you speaking more Spanish?

There are a lot of homes. It is the size of a decent sized neighborhood in Vail (think our house in shadow pines). and we cover small little townships. I am speaking more Spanish and it is coming a lot more now because I am fully immersed in it and not that many people speak or understand English.

The majority of the homes are small 4 room houses. The majority of them have concrete floors. The ward that I am serving in now is a large one in terms of area that it covers but there are about 160 members each week that come to church. The ward covers 4-5 townships and other small areas. 

So what have you been eating?

A main staple that they eat here is a lot of chicken and Baleadas which is a tortilla with beans, cheese and different things such as eggs chicken ect. 

There were also some pictures sent by a person from the ward of the Elders and Hermanas helping them decorate the family's Christmas tree. It's great to see his smiling face!

Week 6: Honduras La Paz

Hey Family, 

Everything is going well here in Honduras I am in anarea of Honduras called La Paz wich is right near La Lima our mission covers none of the city of San Pedro Sula. We flew from Guatemala City to San Padro Sula which was a 1 hour flight. I'm adapting to spanish decently I can understand when people are speaking based on the context of the words that they are saying.

My companion is named Elder Coj he is from Guatemala and he has been out on his mission for 21 months and we are both new to the area. I am new to the whole mission life and he is new to the area. My comp understands english but he does not speak it that good kind of the inverse of me because I can understand spanish but it takes me a while for me to say what I need to say because my mind only thinks in english and there are some words that take me a while to say in english for example the word atonement I always think of expacción which is the  spanish word for it. Elder Coj is my trainer and the slang that is used is papá or father and I am his child or hijo because he is the first elder to be companions with me. 

I have only been here in honduras for 4 days and it is taking me some time to get used to the humidity. It reminds me alot of when we were in atlanta. Alot of what we are doing is contacting people because we don't have that many people that are investigators from the prior missionaries that were in the area before us. And because we are new to the area we are figuring out the layout of the area so it is alot of walking and contacting people. 

The people here do not have front doors like we do in the states they have a fence door and how we "knock" door is stand out front of the area and say buenas which is used for hello here in honduras. We have been spending a lot of our time figuring out the layout of the area and contacting people. It is tiring at times because you think that someone will listen to the message and then they say that they are fine and every time that they say that it gets me a little bit frustrated that they do not what to take some time and listen to our message. 

The people here are so humble they are not all just catholics like it said when we looked at honduras on wikipidia. 1 might be catholic others evangelico and others are jehova witnesses and others might be members of a local church. It is crazy the amount of different religions that they have here in Honduras. 

Hope that you guys are doing well. 

Elder Trepanier

His District from the CCM (Missionary Training Center)

His companion, Elder Coj & Elder Nielson (from Utah)

His current district

Week 5

Hey guys,

So I have 3 days left in the CCM and I will be out in the feild in my mission. We have to go so soon because they have a mission president conference in Costa Rica. I feel like I know and undersand spanish pretty well here but once I get out in the feild I am prepared to not understand the majority of what people are saying. 

I am feeling better now from my sickness. There were a few days that it stunk but now I feel a lot  better since ive been taking medicine and getting enough rest. There are going to be afew things that I am going to miss here in the CCM. The food is going to be one of them next are the freinds that I've  made here, one other thing that I am going to miss are the sundays here they are so awsome after the regular church services that we have we have devotionals that really get our spirits up and I want to get out into the mission feild right then and there.

The next email that you guys will get from me will be when I am in Honduras and I will have oficially started the proselytizing part of my mission. Untill next week. 

Elder Trepanier

Weeks 3 and 4

Stacey here: I got a little busy last week, so this weeks blog is a combination of the last 2 emails that we received from Elder Trepanier/Cory.

Hey Guys, 

So this week has had some ups and downs in it. Going to the temple weekly is such a blessing that I have while I am here in the CCM. Don't be afraid to email me with any questions that you may have about were I am at or were I am going. I am learning the language pretty well and it is starting to come to me more and more now. The teachers that I have are so helpfull and when we have practices with other latino districts in the CCM as I listen closely to them I can understand them about 90% of the time. As we are having practices with "investigators" me and my companion have been teaching them with only the spirit, the scriptures and the pamphlet that we are teaching from which is a blessing for us cause now everyone else in the district has to follow what we have been doing for the later half of our teachings. 

This sunday was fast sunday and I think that every Norte who is here bore their testimony in spanish. We had some awsome devotionals this week as well that really got me thinking. I got to tell you the CCM president here is such a powerful speaker that he could "fire up" a you ng priest to go and do as much work as he can to prepare for his mission. I am opening up way more to my district as well and for those of you who know me well know that I am not the type of guy that shares his fealings on things majority of the time but it seems that I am doing just that. 

My stay here is about half way done and it feels like ive learned a lot since I came in language wise and gospel as well. I hope that all of you are doing well back home and can't wait to email you guys next week. 

Elder Trepanier

Hey guys, 

So I'm sick and it sucks being sick. It feels like im coughing up a storm all the time. It is crazy that I am leaving for the field in 10 days. I had to give a talk this sunday in sacrament meeting in spanish and it was crazy because I had the feeling that I was going to be one of the North Americans that had to speak. It went well I really feel that the language is coming for me decently.  

In this batch of latinos that we had these past 2 weeks I found one that was from Honduras and he is from a part of my mission his name is Elder Cueves and he is from La Ciebe. If I ever find myself in that area of my mission I will try and find his family. 

All the days start to be blending together here. The only days that stand out for me now are sundays and preparation days. The weeks seem to be going quicker the more time I spend here. alot of the time that I spend here is sitting in class learning the language.

It legit is going to feel so empty in the CCM because no Nortes are coming in with this next batch. Everything is going fine for me here.  

Hope that everyone is doing fine.

Elder Trepanier 

Hey mom

Can you send me some more pens, scripture markers, and ties. Thanks for sending me the package with grandma I don't know how she got it to me but I loved it. I don't know what else to ask for probably just some more letters from home and some stuff that you think that I might need. 

Elder Trepanier

I asked him about possible needs for a Christmas (or after Christmas since I haven't sent anything yet) package. Also, his Grandma Trepanier brought him a small package as she is in Guatemala currently on a trip with friends. She went to the Guatemala temple and stopped by the MTC/CCM to deliver the package. Looks like he really appreciated it.

Week 2: Guatemala CCM

Hey guys,

So ive just about completed my second week in the CCM and it has been good. Majority of my time has been sitting in the classroom learning how to speak spanish and become better missionaries from preach my gospel. It is crazy now we had 41 north american (or nortes as we call them here) elders and sisters leave with all the latinos that were in here for two weeks. We are supposed to get about 1 district of nortes here tomorrow they are all probably either having there final meal with their family before they head off on the plane to start there missions. 

This Sunday was such a good sunday for me personally and spiritually. We had a devotional on faith and another on baptism. They were both given by great speakers and motivators. The president of the CCM is so good at getting us pumped up. When we had a district meeting after those 2 devotionales and the words of one of my favorite one republic song came into my head and I was thinking what type of missionary that I want to be. The chorus is And I did it all And I did it all I owned every second that this world could give saw so many places and things that I did and with every broken bone I swear I lived. And I thought I want to give all my time to the lord and when the time comes that I am to go home I want to stand before my mission president, the lord, and Jesus Christ and say that I did all I could do while I am in Honduras and all my time that I had was used to help thy work advance in the central americas. 

Everything is going fine with me learning spanish. I hit a bit of a rough spot this week all the latinos that I have talked with say that I need to relax and just let the words that I need to say come out. Majority of my time is spent in the classroom. We get up at 6:30 have half an hour to get ready for the day and then we have about 2 and a half hours of study time for personal and language study. Then we have classes from 9:30 to 7:00 with breaks in between for lunch and dinner. Our teachers that we have are natives to the central americas that can speak some english but not the best english majority of them are from guatemala. 

Hope everyone is doing fine,

Elder Trepanier

Everyting is going fine mom. The time that we have to email home changes dependent on our schedule for our PDay. For example today we had the opportunity to go tour what is called here the governor's palace which is a beautiful building. I was able to take pictures but I can`t send them to you here in the mtc. You will have to wait till I get out in the field to get my pictures of my companion and the other elders that I am with here in the CCM. 

With regards to the photos those are all the elders and hermanas that were in the CCM with me for my first 2 weeks. The amount of people here is going to be alot smaller than it was just yesterday because we are only getting about 8-12 nortes here tomorrow in the morning can`t to see what they are like and such. Hope that everything is going fine with regards for the house. 

Elder Trepanier 

In another email he mentioned that 41 of the pictured elders and sisters left today for their missions. His current companion is the "5th person to the right of him".
I googled the Governor's Palace in Guatemala City and it does look pretty cool. My humanities loving siblings will enjoy the architecture. 

Week 1: Guatemala MTC/CCM

Hey guys,

So I have just about completed my first week in the MTC. My district that I am in is super fun everyone is super friendly. My companion is named Elder Sweat he is from california in the palo alto area. He is a chill guy. 

The first few days that I was here were pretty long but lately they have been flying by super quickly. I am picking up spanish fairly well during the time that our teachers have been teaching it. I usualy pick up 80% of the spanish that is spoken to us in the classroom and by the latinos. 

It has been a good experience so far in the MTC. I can´t wait to hear from all you guys back home and see how you are doing. 

Love You all,

Elder Trepanier

Mom, 

My flights went well I met up with elders in SLC and in LA. In SLC I met up with Elder Rosen, Elder Meoño, and Elder Keith and Sister ball, who are all great guys in there own sence. Elder Rosen is a recent convert to the church and he was baptised about a year ago, which I think is cool and the amount of faith that he has to be out here on a mission. I then met some more missionaries in LA whoes name are Sister Shutter, Elder Brown, Elder Sweat, and Elder Shumway, who are also great in there own sence. We all have our own personal experiences and stories and me and the elders that I came with are all in the same district and we are tight like a close knight family. I believe that these are the Elders that I should be with during my time in the MTC. 

I will not be able to serve with any of them on my mission. Almost all of them are going to the guatemala city central mission. The only elder that is not going there is Elder Meoño who is going san salvador west and belice mission. 

My classes are going great so far. The majority of them are taught in spanish with a bit of english mixed in with it so that those that are not as good at spanish are able to understand. 

Tú Hijo 

Elder Trepanier

Hey guys, (A response to the family email we sent)

Thanks so much for your support. The MTC is good and the food is great. The temple is beautiful and I am grateful to be able to go through it during my Pday. Sunday went well only sacrament and priesthood opening exercise are in spanish and I can understand the majority of it when i listen carefully. Tell rosco that I miss him too and that I love him. That picture that I have of him is just what I need to remind me how great of a dog that he is, even if he is not there when I get back. 

My MTC Disctrict is close we have 7 elders and 3 sisters in our district. I live with all the Elders and we are tight knight like a family usually is. It is great to be able to spend time with them in the MTC. Hope that everything is going well with the house I know that everything will be fine. Tell mom to send me about 10 more ties to the mission home especially pasleys and if you can find and Jerry Garcia ties that are pollyester macine washable that would be gread too. 

Your Brother/Son 

Elder Trepanier

First day, First email

Hey guys, 

I have made it to the MTC here in Guatemala safe. I arrived with 7 other elders and 3 other sisters in my travels. I tried to get as much rest as I could on my flights. 

I just wanted to say that I am here safe and ready to do the work that I need to. 

Elder Trepanier

Welcome

Welcome to Cory's LDS Mission Blog
We will be posting updates throughout the next two years as he serves the people of the San Pedro Sula East Honduras Mission.

Cory reports to the Guatemala MTC on October 14th.
His address there is:

Elder Cory N. Trepanier
Honduras Sen Pedro Sula East Mission
Guatemala Missionary Training Center
Bulevar Vista Hermosa 23-71
Vista Hermosa I, Zona 15
01015 Guatemala City
Guatemala

Any letters or packages should be sent to his mission home. The address there is:

Elder Cory N Trepanier
Honduras San Pedro Sula East Mission
12 Calle, Av Circunvalacion, S.O.
Edif. Yude Canahuati, 3 Nivel, Oficina 4
San Pedro Sula, Cortés
Honduras

Cory will also have access to email dependent upon his location. His email address is:

cory.trepanier@myldsmail.net

Additionally, Cory may be sent letters via the USPS Pouch. Only postcards or one-page letters (written on one side) may be sent. No envelopes. Use of a heavy weight paper is suggested as notebook or other light-weight paper will not process through the USPS machines. These letters should be folded in thirds and addressed as normal with a first class postage stamp.
His pouch address is:

Elder Cory N. Trepanier
Honduras San Pedro Sula East Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150