Monday, November 28, 2016
We decorated the office today for Christmas (after our
office meeting and piano lessons for Yoselyn). Elder Galo and Hamson helped
Sister Bell, Sister Lee and Yoselyn. I took a few pictures and tried to stay
out of the way.
We have an uninvited guest in our
home. His name is Oscar and he is a
small lizard. On Friday he zipped into
the house and I enjoyed watching Elder Bell chase him around the kitchen and the
living room. He was very fast and he
finally jumped on the couch and disappeared.
Elder Bell turned over the couch, but Oscar was not to be denied his new
home. He is now our roommate and is
happily eating bugs at night. Since his
arrival, we have noticed very few bugs around the house. I guess he is earning his keep.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Today we had our change meeting to
review and prepare for the new changes that will occur next week. We have 14
missionaries leaving and 18 coming. Four are north Americans and 14 are Latinos.
They come Monday night and Tuesday morning. With this change we are closing one
apartment in Managua and reentering another and finding a new one in Jalapa.
Jalapa is a small town about 6 hours north of Managua, past Ocotal. The work is progressing there, because they are adding another set of missionaries. We have not
been there yet but would love to someday. Maybe this will give us the chance to
go.
We helped the Sister Leaders put
up their bunkbeds, then did a little shopping before we went home. We hosted
our Senior Missionary Dinner tonight with the Lees and Helbergs. We made
crepes, then watched Christmas with the Kranks.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
We spent the day in the office
because our car was in the shop getting serviced. This was the 80,000 km
service and it cost over $400. Fortunately, the Church pays for most of it. We
only pay for the oil and filter service. While I was checking in the car, a
young man came up to Sister Bell and began talking with her. He was a return
missionary from Panama, having been home for about 6 years. She carried on the
conversation very well, understanding what he was saying and talking back in
Spanish. She felt very good about the experience.
I worked on our next newsletter. I
included a recipe for potato chips made in the microwave and information about
back pain, mostly a result of carrying heavy book bags. Most have fanny packs
that have shoulder straps and a waist cinch. Many of these fanny packs are made
in Guatemala. We have had several missionaries, mostly Sisters, complain about
back pain. When we have talked to them in person, we find that they are wearing
their packs wrong. They don’t cinch up the belt so that all of the weight is on
their shoulders. Their packs are really heavy causing the pain in their backs
and shoulders. So we included some suggestions on how to remedy that.
Sister Bell had her final tutoring
session with Whitney Allen. It ended with both being in tears. Whitney has been
helping Sister Bell with her Spanish for about 9 months. She not only helped
her with her
language but they have become wonderful friends. Whitney is getting
married this month (December). We wish her well…..
We began to decorate our home
alittle for Christmas.
Thursday, December 1, 2016
We invited the sister leaders,
office secretaries, our zone leaders and the assistants to breakfast this
morning. Elder Gonzalez and Sister Walborn are leaving next week. We wanted to
invited them to breakfast before they left. We fed them blueberry pancakes,
eggs, juice and fruit. They ate heartily. Elder Gonzalez is a serious, obedient
and dedicated Elder from Honduras. He will be a great leader in
the Church. Sister Walborn is a fun
missionary. She is happy and creates enthusiasm with everyone around her. She
is from Michigan. I tease her that she would be a great farm wife. I tell her
this, but emphasize that this is a real complement, because farm wives are down
to earth, hardworking, and loving people. They are the salt of the earth, just
like she is. Sister Bell says that she will be a wonderful Young Woman Leader.
We will miss both these missionaries.
After cleaning up the kitchen, we
bought a box of donuts and loaded up 2 mattresses in the car and headed north.
We dropped the donuts off with Hermana Knowlton and Hermana Jimenez in Nagarote.
They had the cleanest apartment in the Leon Zone.
Then we continued north to drop
off the mattresses in Grasca, a little town a few miles south of Chinandega. We
met the zone leaders, Elder Lopez and Elder Rendon. The missionaries were taken
out of this area about a month ago, but the Church kept the lease on the
apartment because President Poncio knew we would reenter the area again. With
the changes coming up next week, the President is putting two sister
missionaries in this apartment. The old mattresses were dirty so Sister Poncio wanted
them to have new mattresses.
One the way home, we took alittle
detour to Puerto Sandino and Miramar. They are cities on the ocean (Pacific).
We were looking for a nice resort to take our kids when they come. But neither
of these towns had anything that we would be looking for, but there was a
beautiful sunset.
Friday, December 2. 2016
We spent the day catching up on
things and preparing for the week-end. Sister Bell had several calls from
missionaries, mostly colds. We might have one case of Zika. We thought we were
out of the Zika season, but maybe not. I am working with our contractor and the
missionaries to get furniture to the correct apartments to be ready for the
changes on Monday and updating our furniture inventory. We are running out of a
few items like fans and cocinas. They get used a lot and don’t last very long.
We had a long day, starting at
about 7am and arriving at the Koellikers in Esteli about 9:30pm. We stopped in
Trinidad, Matagalpa, Ocotal, Pueblo Nuevo and Esteli, mostly to drop off
packages and supplies. The missionaries are getting Christmas Packages. A long
day.
Today, we passed 5 accidents on the
highway. Normally, we don’t see too many accidents on the highway, which is
surprising because of the way people drive here. We see a lot of accidents in
Managua, mostly minor accidents involving motorcycles and cars. However, today
was different. A couple of these accidents were very serious, one at least
included fatalities. It sombered us and brought tears to Sister Bell's eyes. I
drove very carefully after that.
We have been listening to a book,
The Contrite Spirit, which is about the relationship between the temple and the
atonement. The book is written by Elder Bruce Hafen and his wife. They wrote a
chapter about missionary work and the temple, which emphasized that our missionary
goal should not be baptisms but getting converts to the temple. We have been
pondering this for several weeks and have felt inspired to emphasize going to
the temple in our work up north. The Esteli District is having a district
temple excursion this week, but none of the people in our branches are ready to
do. So Sister Bell and I are approaching several of the branch members and inviting
them to prepare to go to the temple next March. This is when the District is
hosting another temple excursion. So this week-end we approached Hermana Nuvia
in Pueblo Nuevo, President Alaniz in Somoto, Noe and Suyapa in Condega and the
Branch Presidency members in Trinidad and invited them to prepare to go to the
temple in March. Everyone accepted the challenge. We gave them a copy of the
Liahona Magazine from 2010 that was about the temple and told them we would
begin teaching temple prep classes beginning in January. We coordinated this
with President Acevado, the District President. He is very appreciative of our
efforts.
Saturday Evening, I taught a
Priesthood Preparation Class in Pueblo Nuevo. We only had two men there. One of
our regular attenders is still struggling with drinking and another was sick.
We taught about ordinances. After the class, we talked with the missionaries
teaching these classes during the third hour of the block on Sunday. They are
in agreement. I suggested they call Hilario as the Priesthood instructor and to
call Sister Nuvia to teach RS at the same time. Pueblo Nuevo is progressing,
little by little.
Afterward we stopped by Sister
Nuvias home and talked about the temple. She is very excited, but will need to
save her money to have enough to go in March. Her daughter, Dania, wants her Patriarchal
Blessing. So I will help President Alaniz in Somoto (PN is part of the Somoto
Branch) complete the recommendation. She will need go to a Patriarch in Managua
as we don’t have a Patriarch in the Esteli District.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
We started in Somoto with a
leadership training with President Alaniz and the missionaries. Elder Santizo
got a call Saturday night from President Poncio informing him of his new
assignment as a Zone Leader in Chinandega. He is really sad to leave, but will
be a good zone leader. The members will miss him; he has a lot of enthusiasm
which is contagious. Sister Bell and I will miss him as well. In our training,
we talked how to improve our Sacrament Meetings, Patriarchal blessings, temple
preparation classes, renovations of the chapel (which began over the week-end)
and ordering next year’s materials (which President Alaniz had already done).
We then went to Condega. We met
the missionaries, took chairs to the factory and helped set up for church.
There were only about 15 people there. Elder Spence and Elder Sanchez are
discouraged because of the low Sacrament Meeting attendance. But even though
our numbers were few there was a real strong spirit and there is a lot of love
with those that were there. Sister Bell and I both bore our testimonies. Sister
Bell did it without notes. I talked with Noe and Suyapa about preparing to go
to the temple in March. They accepted the invitation. The Elders asked me to
teach the SS class. Rosa usually teaches but she said she didn’t feel comfortable
teaching it because it was about the priesthood (she had also had an argument with
her brother the night before and didn’t feel she could teach because she didn’t
feel the spirit). So I taught it. Then Noe taught Priesthood (about setting
good examples as fathers) and Suyapa taught RS (Faith). I am happy to report that Rosa
felt much better after the Church meetings and was back to her usual happy
self.
The missionaries have been praying and pondering how they can get more members
to come back to Church. They have come up with a few inspired ideas. The missionaries,
Freddy and Noe are planning a day to visit the inactive priesthood holders and
invite them back to Church. They are also planning a Christmas Party for the
group. (Elder Spence’s father is wanting to pay for the party.) They have found
and are teaching 4 families (unfortunately none came to Church this week-end). We
scheduled being in Condega Saturday night for the Noche de Hermanamiento to
show the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. These are all reasons (except
for the fact that none of the investigators came to church) to be optimistic
about Condega.
I love your Christlike spirit.
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