Monday, March 20 to Sunday, March 26, 2017

Monday, March 20, 2017

We started the day feeding Elder Hampton, Elder Adams, Elder Chinchilla, Elder Diaz and Elder Neilson. We had pancakes, eggs and hashbrowns. They eat and eat and eat…. I have forgotten how much young men can eat.

We spent all day in the hospital. One Elder had a follow-up appointment with a doctor and another had stomach pains. They found he had a stone in his gall bladder and needed surgery. 

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Our missionary had the surgery at 2pm today. After the surgery, surgeon showed us the rock that was in his gall bladder. It was as big as a red kidney bean. It was huge. He will feel much better now that it is gone. 

We spent most of the day with Elder Torres from the Dominican Republic. He is very short and loves to talk. He speaks English very well and loves to help us with the Spanish. Elder Torres is  small in stature, but large in dedication to his mission work. He was baptized when he was 9 years old. His sister also got baptized the same day… she was 8. He was being raised by his aunt. But none of his family were members. The miracle is that he stayed active all through his childhood and teenager years, without the support of his family. His Sister also is active. He said that the members, especially the primary President and the Bishops wife really watched over them. He speaks English very well and wants to learn Portuguese, French, Italian, German and Croatian. He wants to be a teacher of languages. He is a very self-motivated Elder.

We definitely saw the Lord’s hand in protecting his missionaries. Our missionary was initially diagnosed by the first doctor with gastritis. However, because the ER was very busy, it was slow to get some of the tests done. As the day wore on, the pain moved lower in the abdomen indicating other problems. Finally, the ER doctor called in a GI doctor, who ran more tests and found the problem. She was going to treat him for gastritis and send him home, but something persuaded her to not rush the diagnosis.

After we got home, Sister Bell got another call from a Sister Missionary, telling her that her companion was still having severe stomach pain. She had called Sister Bell about 3 times during the day initially with vomiting and all felt that it was something that she had eaten. But when the pain increased and moved down into her lower abdomen, they came to the Emergency Room. Doctora Abadala, our LDS doctor, was the attending doctor. She diagnosed appendicitis. This was confirmed by tests and an ultrasound.  Doctor Vega was called in, the same doctor that operated on our Elder earlier in the day. The President was called and the approvals obtained within an hour.  They operated on her about 1 am. Her appendix was very inflamed and was ready to burst. Again, the Lord protected our sister missionary and inspired her companion to keep calling.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

We got a few hours of sleep, after getting home about 4am. I was up at 8am. I needed to take two new mattresses to an apartment here in the city. I passed by the Sister Leaders house to get two mattresses and strapped them on the top of the car. 

We then picked up Yosylyn Poncio at the Presidents house and went to the hospital. Yosylyn stayed with our recuperating Sister while we took her companion to her apartment to shower and get clean clothes. Then we passed by the office and then back to the hospital. We found both missionaries recuperating well and much happier without the pain they were experiencing before their surgeries.

We took the Lee’s, Yoselyn, Kenneth Poncio (Yoselyn’s brother) and ourselves out to the Asado al Patio for Gators (Top Sirloin Steaks cooked on a grill). We ate two, with gallo pinto, cabbage salad, French fries, banana fries and fruit drinks. It cost me a pretty penny, but it was worth it.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Our Elder  was released from the hospital today. We brought him and his companion to our house so he could recover. They enjoyed being at our house because we have new mattresses, food, air conditioning, food… did I mention food?

Friday, March 24, 2017

Elder Torres went back to Corinto today, leaving our recuperating Elder with Kenneth Poncio at our house while we went to the hospital. Yoselyn Poncio went to the hospital with us, then to our house for dinner. We played Phase 10 until we needed to take everyone home.  Kenneth won and he was very happy about his win.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Sister Bell spent the afternoon in the hospital while I went with Sister Speas and Yoselyn to their area. They had a baptism planned. We picked up one member and an investigator and took them to the church. Things did not go very smoothly. When we arrived about 10 minutes before the baptism was supposed to start, the little girl and her family were not there. The Elders nor the Bishop was there. The baptism room was full of kids. The neighboring ward was having a primary activity. Fortunately, they went outside to break piñatas. 

Finally, Natalie and her family came, but the bishop still didn’t come. Sister Gunn and Sister Arauz came because they had a baptism too, so we decided to combine the baptisms. We finally got everyone there that needed to be there. The room was packed with people and the baptism went very well. The two little girls were very happy.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

We picked Yoselyn up at the Sister Leaders house, where she stayed for the night and went to the hospital. We left Sister Bell at the hospital and I took Sister Speas and Yoselyn to Church. We passed by an investigators house, got them out of bed and took them to Church (they got dressed first). Natalie was confirmed. Her mother, who is a non-member came. We stayed for Gospel Principles and then went back to the hospital. Sister Bell and I then went to Waspan for Sacrament Meeting (the only branch/ward that started late enough for us to attend). 

Afterward, we went back to the hospital. President Poncio, his family and Sisters Willes, Apen and Jimenez came to the hospital. I took the four sister missionaries, to their areas and came back to the hospital to spend the afternoon with our recuperating Sister.