Now you see me...now you don't! -May 15th, 2017

Hello again everyone! Just talked to five of y'all yesterday so to the rest, I hope you've all had a good week! 

This won't be too long because of skype yesterday but I just wanted to tell everyone else about the news I received on Saturday! (if you haven't already heard) 

I'm being transferred again! I'll be heading out of Gadsden and moving to Tuscaloosa for my last transfer! I'll be serving with Elder Butterfield again too! If y'all remember, we were together for a transfer in Prattville. I'm really excited! Tuscaloosa is home to the University of Alabama so it's a pretty fun town! Roll tide! 

This also means that by the end of my mission, I'll have served in five areas where I only spent a transfer in each area... It's gotta be a new record or something... haha I guess I just cause too much trouble;)

Well anyways, I was able to get my new address as well! So here it is:

3501 Loop Rd Apt. B1 Tuscaloosa, AL 35404

Well, I'm really excited for this new adventure in Tuscaloosa! It's going to be a great last six weeks in which I plan to "leave it all on the court" before I get on that plane out of Alabama. 

I love y'all and will talk to you next week! 

Another week bites the dust! -May 9th, 2017

Hey, it's me again... back to report on another week here in Gadsden! 

I can't remember if I've used that title for an email before.. it feels familiar but hopefully not haha can't remember at this point... too many weekly emails...

Elder Gwira and I are continuing to give it our all to make Gadsden a thriving area again. This week we received a handful of referrals! So basically Heavenly Father threw us a bone for our efforts the last few weeks haha things are coming along! 

We also got a random text from somebody that neither of us know but that the missionaries used to teach a while back this week! So we've been in contact with them and will hopefully start to teach them this week. All the prayers and fasting from y'all are really paying off... I appreciate it so much! 

The love and support that I've received throughout my mission is truly amazing and words can't describe what it's done for me. Its the little emails or letters that help keep me going and working my hardest! So thank you to everyone who's reached out to me. 

Honestly, not much else to report on from this past week! Tuesday was Elder Gwira's birthday so we decorated out apartment and surprised him in the morning with presents and a good southern breakfast! We also went to lunch at his favorite place and had dinner with some amazing members who got him cake! He told me it was his first birthday he's celebrated in 15 years! So I'm very grateful i was able to spend it with him and help make it a day to remember for him. Shout out to my mama for being the best and making his day with the package and cards and what not:) 

Well, sorry this email was short and not too exciting... procrastinated writing it and ran out of time haha it'll be better next week, i promise! 

Love y'all! 

Pic: The Gadsden Squad at dinner with an awesome family in our ward. 

Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along! -May 1st, 2017

Hello everyone! Hope you've all had a great week. We definitely did here in Gadsden! 

On Tuesday we had interviews with President and they went well! I'm so grateful for President and Sister Sainsbury and all that they do for this mission! 

Little piece of news... Zone Trainings have been permanently cancelled! What I heard is that it's because of the increase of meeting such as interviews and zone conferences that came with the new monthly schedule a few months back. So there's now one less meeting to worry about! 

Then on Thursday we had an exchange in Birmingham. I was with Elder Foudy and we had a great day. All of our appointments fell through but we were able to still get some stuff accomplished and have a good time. We were contacting and I saw this black lady working on her garden who for some reason had bags on her feet... so i went up to her and asked if today was "wear bags on your feet day" and I just didn't get the memo? Stupid joke but she had a pretty good laugh over this and we ended up talking to her for about half an hour. Good ole southern ladies that will just talk your ear off! We then had dinner with an awesome family who have always been really close to the missionaries. Families like that are the best, you just instantly feel like you're at home! After dinner, all four missionaries went to their basketball night. The biggest turnout they've had yet.... still not as crazy as prattville but it was good haha 

Then on Friday we had district meeting again which went well! Being in an all elder district is interesting... you have to come up with fun activities that the sisters normally take charge on haha but it's still good. There are great elders in this district so it always turn out well. 

I don't really have much else to report on! We've still just really been trying to find a solid pool of investigators. We've been working hard and haven't been seeing a ton of success from it, which is always hard but a normal aspect of missionary work period but especially in the south haha! Hence the title of this email... we're trying our hardest to keep pushing and keep working hard so that we can help the work move along in this area. 

Well, the weeks have been flying by so i'll talk to y'all again before we know it! Love yall!

Automobile Antics - August 24th, 2017

Happy Monday everyone! Another week has passed and another weekly email is here. 

This past week was good. We're able to do a ton more stuff with a car! We did quite a lot of service actually! We volunteered at the local library and a cool museum in downtown gadsden! We also worked on a few different peoples yards which obviously is a ton of fun! Workin' on my farmers tan;) haha for one yard we had to transport a lawn mower in the back of our car, and since it's so new and nice we took every precaution we could to make sure it wouldn't hurt the car.... I'll attach some pics:) btw we succeed and didn't harm the car.

We actually had quite a lot of success with finding less actives this week! Our ward has over 700 people in it and only around 100 are active so there's so much work to do in this area with those who have fallen astray! We've recently been working with the Dukes family who are less active and have a couple of unbaptized children. They're an awesome family and we're excited to help them on their journey back to activity.

Y'all probably remember Elder Opare who was a previous companion of mine, well he served here in gadsden as his first area! And this past week we actually found a couple teenage boys who he baptized that had gone astray. We're also working with them now! 

So as you can tell we're really excited for this area and the people that we've been finding. The power of a car is pretty amazing and has been such a blessing! ... one that i definitely didn't fully appreciate for most of my mission.

Other than that, this week we had the first district meeting of the transfer! It was great. We've started making the training's in meeting more of a discussion set up, similar to Sunday school and what not, and I like it a lot! I really focused on having the other elders in our district be involved and lead most of the discussions. We have a few potential leaders in this district so I wanted them to get as many chances to prepare as possible! I took the main discussion which president wanted us to have which was about baptism! Basically just making sure everyone understand all the small things that go into making a baptism successful! I thought it was a really great meeting!

After district meeting Elder Gwira and I walked out to our car and found that we had a completely flat tire! So I got to teach him how to change a tire haha it was hot and we got sweaty but it was fun haha I'll attach some pics of that as well! 

Well anyways, that's all i've got for this week! I'll talk to y'all again soon:)

Pics! -April 17th, 2017

Hey everyone! 

Not much happened this week. Most of the week was spent finding, with not much success there... but hey that's okay. We also were able to attend the temple! We went Thursday morning and it was amazing. We also had Zone conference that afternoon so it was a pretty long day.... good day but long. Since I don't have much to report on, I'm dedicating most of this email to pictures (You're welcome mama;)), it'll take a few emails to get them all to you so be patient! These pics are from various times throughout the last two weeks plus today's trip to the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham. My beautiful companion is the star of most of these pics haha Enjoy! 

Grinding in Gadsden -April 10th, 2017

hello everyone! Hope you've all had a great week:) 

As you know, this past week was a bit hectic! On Tuesday we had Zone Training, the last one that I had to prepare, and it went well! Our Zone was great and i miss all the amazing missionaries that I was able to serve. On Wednesday was transfers and that was crazy! That day we had a massive storm covering the whole south. Thunder, tornado warnings, the whole nine yards! But a miracle occurred and the rain stopped just as everyone had to move their luggage. Elder Gwira and I then drove an hour up to Gadsden in the rain. 

Elder Gwira is awesome! Like i said he's from Ghana but he lived in D.C for a few years before his mission. He's a great missionary with a ton of potential! He's been on his mission for about five months so I'm really excited to be around him and feed off of his freshness and energy. 

Gadsden is a great area! It's surrounded by rivers and hills which makes it beautiful. It's currently a biking/walking area because of some different reasons but we're making the most of what we've got! Aka houses... Which is what we've spent most of our days doing, knocking houses! Elder Gwira and his last companion were doubled into the area so they had to start fresh, they did a lot of tracting and found hardly any success so we're still starting fresh haha! It's a difficult situation because we're trying to get this area going but without a car and due to our location we're having a hard time with it. All we have is houses within a two mile radius so we're trying to figure out a different way to attack this. This is all new to me too because I've always had a car in each area so I'm learning on the fly as well. It's a big project but I'm excited to be able to end my mission on a note like this. 

This ward is great too! It's a small ward but it's full of very nice and welcoming people who love the missionaries. Quite a few missionaries who I've been close to have actually served here as well so it's been cool to talk to the ward about them. Oh yeah! My bishop has actually lived in Hawaii as well! He was the softball coach at BYUH. We went to dinner there last night and had a ton to talk about. His name is Bishop Allred and he knew a ton of the people from our ward. Such a small world!  

Also... i have pics but just realized that I forgot my camera cord at the apartment so they might have to wait til next week... Sorry!:/ 

Well, that's all I've got. Talk to y'all next week! 

The Time Has Finally Come... -April 3rd, 2017

....That Elder Honn leaves Prattville.... that's right! I received my transfer news and after 7 1/2 amazing months in this area I'm packing up and heading North. I am being transferred to the Gadsden area which is about an hour north of Talladega, an old area of mine! 

I'm so very grateful for this area and the fantastic people that I've been able to meet and develop relationship with. I've had so many amazing experiences that have have taught me so much and helped my testimony increase even stronger. 

As always, it's a mix of emotions because I'm sad to be leaving but I'm really excited for a new adventure in a new area! I've heard a lot of good things about Gadsden and I look forward to working there. 95% sure it will be my last area so I'm planning to give it everything I've got. I'm going to work my hardest for these last two transfer and leave with no regrets of how I finished my mission. I promise that I will sprint through the finish line! 

Other than that, this past week has been good! Like i said last Monday, we had a lot going on. Interviews were good. The district meetings were good. And MLC was good as well! This week we have Zone Training tomorrow, then transfers the very next day... It's going to be a crazy few days doing all that and also fitting in goodbyes but I'm looking forward to all of it.

I loved conference as well! One of my favorite talks that I thought I'd mention is Elder Bednars that he gave in Priesthood session. I'll include the link and let y'all watch it for yourselves:) 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/media/session_3_talk_4/5381933379001?lang=eng

I loved it because he taught something that a little over two years ago, I was struggling with myself. And i think a lot of missionaries preparing to go on missions struggle with as well. I testify of what Elder Bednar teaches though... that while we are called to a specific place, our main calling is to serve. Regardless of where. I wish I would've heard this talk back in the summer of 2015 when myself and everyone around me was receiving mission calls. Luckily, I learned this for myself but I hope that his talk can touch the hearts of any young men preparing to serve. 

That's all I've got for y'all this week! I love you and I'll talk to you again next week!