Monday, July 17 to Sunday, July 23, 2017

Monday, July 17, 2017

After the office meeting, we ran home to take the wash off the line before it began to rain, had lunch then drove to Lees and picked them up. We made a little road trip to Leon and El Viejo. Leon is 1.5 hours from Managua and El Viejo is another hour from there. Our purpose was to deliver packages, mail, phones and supplies to various missionaries in the West.  It was a quick trip but having the Lees with us made it more enjoyable. They have been to the West only twice before, once early on in their mission and the other several months ago when they went with us on another mercy trip. The Lees go home in a few weeks. They have been training Elder Ruiz and felt they could leave him for half a day. We got home about 8:30pm.

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Today we had the 3-zone conference in Managua. Our presentation about colds and how to treat them, went well.

Zone Villa Flor

Zone Bello Horizante

Zone Las Americas

The missionaries that are leaving bore their testimonies. This will be a big group leaving. We love these missionaries and will miss them. They have been a wonderful influence in the mission, worked hard and made a difference in the mission. The leavers from these three zones were Hermanas Barrios, Rojas and Galbraith, Elder Cook and the Lees.

Hermanita Barrios from Guatemala. One of our favorites.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Today was a celebration of the revolution. People from all over the country came to Managua. We were told to stay home today, so we did… all day. We had plenty to do. I made lists for YW, AP, RS and MP for Pueblo Nuevo and Somoto. I also made a schedule for a 2.5-hour block of meeting in Somoto. It was really nice to have a day where we just sat in front of our computers getting caught up on our paperwork.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

It was a good day. We started by going by the apartment of Rene Polanco. The missionaries have moved out and I wanted to see if we had signs of bedbugs. We replaced the mattresses a few weeks ago because the old ones were infested with bedbugs. We are moving the furniture out tomorrow and I wanted to make sure we were not moving bedbugs that would infest other apartments. Fortunately, we didn’t find any. We then took the key to the zone leaders and headed to our next stop, which was the hospital. We needed to cancel a few appointments from missionaries, stopped at the bank and then the store.

This afternoon we spent the afternoon with Sister King and Sister Hernandez. Sister King is from the Dominican Republic and Sister Hernandez is from El Salvador. They are wonderful missionaries and we enjoyed spending the afternoon with them. 

Friday, July 21, 2017

Hermana Bell started the day doing laundry. While it was hanging on the line drying, we went to the Church offices so I could get instructed how to do financial reports in MLS. I have made arrangements with Elder Asplund to meet me in Somoto and we will try to do these reports. Sister Bell and I then went to Pricesmart and Portas (neighborhood store) before going home for lunch and take the clothes off the line. After lunch we went to the Office, back to the store and then home. I also put photos of the Temple in Honduras in frames as we will begin teaching some members in Trinidad the Temple Prep Classes. We want to give them each a picture so they can see the temple every day as a way to strengthen their resolve to go.

The Orange Jessamine is flowering again. It has the sweetest smell. We love walking past it and it is everywhere in our neighborhood. I wish I could put the smell in the journal.

We walk past this marvelous tree in our neighborhood every day.  A t one time it was a tiny little seed.  The seed fell on just the right kind of soil and as the soil was warmed by the sun and moistened by the rain, the miracle of this beautiful creation of our Heavenly Father came to be - one twig, one leaf, one branch at a time.  The missionaries here in Nicaragua are planting seeds of the hope of Christ in the hearts of the people.  As each convert, nourished by the good word of God, comes to the waters of baptism, the little nucleos or groups grow to become branches and then wards and the church grows.  As sacred ordinances are performed, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will fill this nation someday one convert at a time.  We are so blessed to be part of this great work.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

We left the house at 7am, stopping at the office on our way out of town. We needed to make copies for a temple prep class we are teaching tomorrow in Trinidad and pick up some scriptures that they also needed in Trinidad. Sister Bell only had one piano student today, the new girl (we don’t remember her name). But she had a 1-hour lesson, which Sister Bell said was greatly needed.

We went to Somoto and helped the RS President and her daughter/counselor plan a RS activity and begin to organize VT. They have two companionship with 4 sisters in each route. This covers about ½ of the branch. We then went to the Church and visited with the Branch President and Elders Alfaro and Asplund. We needed to do some financial reporting in MLS. We think we did it right, but we will see if we did when our work is checked. We had a lot to cover with President Alaniz. One thing was to show him a 2.5 hr block schedule. They have been doing a 2-hour block, which doesn’t leave much time for all the classes. After a few months at 2.5 hr. we will implement the 3-hour block schedule. Poco a poco.

We stopped at the Noche de Hermanimiento in Condega, arriving about 45 minutes late. There were only three members with the missionaries, but one was Erica, a young 15-year-old member who we had not seen at church for a few weeks. It was wonderful to see her back at church. She was so faithful and was full of the spirit. We hated to lose her.

We got to Koellikers early, about 9pm.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

We attended church in Trinidad. The Branch President's car was not working this morning so he came on his motorcycle with his wife, but left other family members at home. I took my new truck to get them. We squeezed 5 adults and 2 kids in the front and back seats (I left Sister Bell at the church). As I walked into the Church, President Cruz asked if I could talk, since one of the speakers ended up working and couldn’t be there. Of course, I agreed and then began praying to determine what I should talk about. One of the reasons we came was to begin teaching Temple Preparation classes. So, I decided to talk about the temple. I talked about 10 minutes. It seemed to go well and hopefully everyone understood me.  Sister Bell played the keyboard for all three meetings and after it was over, one of the Elders commented that it was the first time that he had heard the members sing on key since he came to this area - about three weeks.

After the meetings, Sister Bell and I met with Hermanas Dania, Wendy, Karen and Karen’s two sons. We gave introduction to the temple and then talked about whether each will be ready to go in September or December. Dania and Wendy (mother and daughter) want to go in September, but Karen wants to go in December. We handed out framed pictures of the temple, the pamphlet, “How to prepare to enter the temple”, a handout with scriptures talking about the various parts of the plan of salvation with instructions to read the scriptures and then we set next Friday night at 6pm to have the first lesson.

Here is a picture of Karen and her two boys. She taught the SS class today and teaches seminary every Monday through Friday. She says she is learning a lot. She is a single mother and has been a member for a little over a year.