Monday, May 2-Friday May 6, 2016 - Michelle's summary

     This week has been so busy with so many wonderful experiences.  I made a health report for Sister Collado.  I had 25 encounters with our missionaries.  One missionary was very sick with diarrhea and ended up having to have stool studies which showed Giardia.  He ate at a members house on Sunday and has been very sick.  He is now on a medicine which will help him and has learned the importance of an immediate fast when at a members’s house who wants to serve him food.  We had several “strep throat” and ear infections.  A lot of dermatology problems.  The two biggest nursing lessons I have learned this week is to have a copy of the guarantee of payment sent to me so when the hospital cannot find it and to refer the missionaries to the missionary health card to put the responsibility for their health on their shoulders.  Dr Lynn has been so helpful.  He is in Guatemala and he is very patient as I am learning.  He teaches me principles so that I don’t have to keep bugging him.  I am feeling better about giving the missionaries advice and I have found that they really try to follow it and have returned to good health.

     Scott and I have had a couple of missionary experiences this week as well.  We gave a Liahona to both of our guards and had a little conversation about the church.  They have both been reading them and perhaps we will give them a Book of Mormon.  We met a woman and her daughter at the tire place when we were getting 4 nail holes fixed on our tires.  Both tires had been slowly leaking and now we know why.  The lady that was waiting for her car spoke English very well because during the war, she had moved with her family to United States.  She has two children and a husband and cares for them very much.  She also cares for the forest here and blames the drought on those who are cutting the trees and not replanting them.  We had a very interesting conversation and we left a pass-along card with her which she accepted very warmly. 

    We heard a bird that was singing his heart out the other morning and puffing out his chest and lifting up his wings with each song.  Our guard said that he was praying to God, but later he admitted to Scott that it was a mating call.  He certainly seemed urgent, so he must have seen a hot female close by.

     I finally feel back to normal with food, digestion, and even the heat.  We have figured out where to go for groceries and how to keep cool.  We are adjusting to life in Nicaragua quite well.  We went to the show Thursday night, A Miracle from Heaven, with the Lees for our Mother’s day celebration.  It was a very moving show.  I recommend it to the family. 

Saturday, May 7, 2016 (Scott's Summary)

After Elder Lee and I moved furniture into a new apartment (we hired Jonathan Estrada to deliver furniture to another apartment), we headed to Esteli for the District Conference. Esteli is about 3 hours north of Managua, tucked away in the mountains. It is much cooler there, about 85 degrees. They have a nice building there to meet in. We got there just in time for the Priesthood Leadership meeting which started at 3pm. It ended at 4pm and the Adult session started at 5pm. There were not a lot of members at either session, because most members could not pay to come both days. Michelle played the keyboard for the adult session and the general session on Sunday.

After about 1.5 hours, Michelle left to use the restroom thinking the session would go until 7pm. President Collado had just gotten up to speak, being the last speaker. We both thought the meeting would last until 7pm. However, he basically bore his testimony and sat down. Michelle was still in the restroom when it was time for the closing song. So the chorister, a young man in a pinstripe suit, got up and started the closing song without the piano. No one seemed to care or notice…. But Michelle and I did.

Sunday, May 8, 2016: Happy Mother’s Day.

We enjoyed our stay at the Esteli Hex Motel. It was clean, modern and had carpet. The breakfast was better than normal, with really good Mango Juice. After breakfast, we drove through downtown looking for a medical clinic. The streets in the downtown were narrow and paved with pavers, so it was very rough. Most of the streets were one way. We did find the clinic, which looked very modern, but it was closed. We found out from a friendly policeman that it is open M-Fri. It was not a hospital but a medical clinic. We did find the hospital as well when we drove out of town later in the day.  

I was able to talk with 2 branch presidents about perspective missionaries and with the Elders from La Trinidad and Condega. We set times to visit La Trinidad and Condega. I was not able to talk with the Elders from Somoto long enough to set a time to visit. So our trip was mostly successful.

The District Conference was good. There were a lot of people who came, mostly because the Church hired buses to bring the members. They were friendly and wonderful to see and meet. Michelle played the piano for the conference. I held a microphone next to the keyboard so everyone could hear it. One of the highlights of the conference was when all the missionaries that work within the District (about 40 of them) sang “Called to Serve”. It was very powerful.

We got back to our little casita about 5:30pm. It is very pleasant tonight. I am sitting on the front porch.  With a little breeze, it makes this night almost perfect.