Hello family and all loved ones at home!

So, I was transferred! I had felt for a while that I would be transferred but it was still hard to say goodbye. In the Latino culture, they have a tradition that when a missionary leaves, they go to all the houses in the ward to have a proper goodbye. Although it was good to get closure and say goodbye, it was an emotional rollercoaster. It was incredible to realize how much I've come to love these people, and how much all of them mean to me. My heart broke to leave them.
In some of the houses we shared testimonies or a hymn. As I asked which was her favorite hymn, I love what Hermana Rodriguez chose, "Come come ye saints". She has been so faithful, always helping us and with so much enthusiasm for missionary work.
And to say goodbye to Silvano and Sofia, that was hard. I truly will never forget them. Silvano even woke up at 4am to take the bus with us to the zone conference in San Pedro Sula. That’s how these people are… they’ll give everything to show their love. I hope I can learn to become more like that.
I think hardest of all was to say goodbye to Hermana Figueroa. She taught me how to be more sincere, to teach what people need, and to have more confidence. From the first day we were great friends. She is still in Copan serving with Hermana Jimenez who was with me in the CCM in Guatemala.
Anyway, my first transfer was hard. But I know that my heart can open again as I focus on the work at hand. There is a lot of work to do here, especially in retaining. The branch is small and meets in a house near a central park. Many that we contact on the street haven’t heard of the church, which is quite different from Copan. I’m excited to learn here and seek to be an instrument in the hands of God, doing my best every day.
I am now in Riolindo with Hermana Gutierrez from Guatemala. She is very kind and has a lot of charity for the people here. We've already practiced making tortillas(practice makes perfect, right) in our kitchen, and she pronounces well her English (she learned some in school before her mission).
Riolindo is very hot, calm, with less noise (La Entrada was more of a city with music pouring from the houses). I taught Relief Society (4 people) on Sunday, using Deiter Uchtdorf’s talk from Oct 2009 conference about the love of God. I’m so excited for General Conference this weekend!
I was impressed by a sister I met this morning who rode her bike an hour and a half to visit us. I still haven’t seen the whole area, but it’s quite large.
I love you all! Thank you for your love and support! XOXOXO
Hermana Francis
Ether 12 27