Monday, August 21, 2017
We took our truck into a new
dealer for servicing. We had to make an appointment, find the dealer, figure
out where the service department was, find someone to help, pick it up hours
later and pay for it. All went without a hitch. Maybe we are becoming Nicas.
We attended the office staff
meeting, picking up a few assignments. Then we headed to the hospital. We drove
the President's car since ours was in the shop and he was in meetings all
morning. We helped the missionaries, bought them lunch, gave them money for
taxis and wished them well. We also picked up some medicine for other missionaries
and then went back to the office.
A tender mercy happened while we were at the
hospital. There was a returned missionary (of 4 days) who was in the emergency
room. Her home was Nicaragua but was serving in another country. She came home
needing medical attention. She needed to be admitted, but the hospital was not
able to contact the insurance to change the condition of the payment
guarantee. The admissions person asked if we could help. We talked to the
missionary and her mother. We tried getting a hold of the Stake President, who
would be the one dealing with the insurance. But he didn’t answer his phone.
Finally, Sister Bell called the insurance, explained the situation and the lady
at the insurance said she would call the hospital immediately. We were glad we
were there to help.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
We had our new missionary
training today, 16 new missionaries with their companions. The unique thing about this group is that only 3 were Elders and 13 were Sisters. Because some of the
new missionaries didn’t get our 10 commandments of good health when they first
arrived, President Poncio asked that we incorporate this training in what we
were going to do. Our topic was to be eating a balanced diet, but since this is
part of the 10 commandments, we decided to expand the original 10 commandments
presentation. We did this through asking questions about the 10 commandments
and of course, we had a bag of chocolates to pass out for participation. The
participation was excellent and it was a lot of fun.
We had Elder Alofipo,
Bendeck and Chen for dinner at our house.
We made enchiladas. I get more and more impressed
with these missionaries as I learn about their family life. They are wonderful examples of
disciples of Christ.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
We got up at 4:30 am, expecting
to leave at 6 am for a zone conference in Chinandega. At 5:30, we got a call
from Sister Poncio telling us the conference is being delayed until noon. So we
skyped with Kim and left about 8 am. We took a new mattress to Sister Romero in
Leon and then took her and her companion Hermana Orellana to the conference in
Chinandega.
Sister Bell taught a lesson on
back pain. She showed the missionaries how to do exercises and then had a few
missionaries do them. It was a lot of fun. We left the conference and drove to
Esteli. We are staying at the HEX.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
We had our multizone
conference in Esteli at the El Rosario Chapel. We love this conference because
we see so many missionaries that we work closely with in Somoto, Pueblo Nuevo,
Condega and Trinidad. Our presentation about back pain went well. The
Koellikers baked cupcakes for everyone to celebrate President and Sister
Poncio’s birthdays. We sang happy Birthday to them in Spanish and then in
English.
Friday, August 25, 2017
We had our Multizone conference in Managua. Sister Bell
did her presentation about sore backs having 5 missionaries demonstrate back
strengthening exercises.
Elder Boaz showed us how to do one of the exercises.
We had a short 2-hour conference. Then we had the
opportunity to listen to M. Joseph Brough, 2nd Counselor in the
General YM Presidency and his wife and Tad R. Callister, General Sunday School
President and his wife. Brother and Sister Brough spoke Spanish, having served
as Mission Presidents in Guatemala. President Poncio was a Stake President in
his mission when he was there. Brother Callister talked about the Atonement. We
had read his book; The Infinite Atonement so were very excited to hear him
speak on the subject in person. Sister Bell took about 4 pages of notes. One of
the key messages from his talk is that the Atonement overcame 4 obstacles that
prevent us from returning to the presence of God. Two are obvious: The
Atonement overcame Physical death and Sin (Spiritual Death). But he also said
that the Atonement helps us overcome our afflictions and our imperfections and
weaknesses. He explained that if we feel the Holy Ghost, we are either forgiven
of our sins or at least on the path to forgiveness. He also explained that we remember
our sins because remembering can be a deterrent to repeating the sin. His
example was Alma, who remembered his sins for many years, but could remember
them without the guilt after he received forgiveness.
We had the Helbergs over for dinner. We cooked pancakes,
eggs and hash browns. We were sad that the Lee’s were not with us.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
It was good to be back in the mountains. We are both
tired after a very busy week and were not excited about getting back in the
truck and driving 4 hours north. But once we started and especially after we
got there and began to work, our hearts changed and we loved what we did today.
Sister Bell taught one lesson in Trinidad to Maria Clara. The other girls were
not around.
We then drove to Pueblo Nuevo to work with Elders Johnson
and Medeiro. We visited members and investigators, all who lived way out of
town. It takes them 1.5 hours to walk out to these homes. The first stop was to
the home of a teacher. She was not home but her husband was. He allowed us to
come in and the Elders taught him alittle about the restoration and gave him a
Book of Mormon. Apparently the Jehova Witnesses are visiting him also. He
accepted the book and they set another appointment for tomorrow. We then
stopped by the home of Hermana Jenny. Her husband was home so we got to meet
and visit with him. He is not a member. Past missionaries taught him but he was
never baptized. The Elder gave him a short message. Sister Bell passed out
candy and we left. Both these homes are in San Antonio, several Kilometers outside
of Pueblo Nuevo. I had to put the truck in 4-wheel drive acouple of times to
get to their homes.
Then we went in another direction out of town. Again it
was about 7 kilometers outside of town but in a different direction. We stopped
at the home of a young family. The home is adobe but very clean (for a dirt
floor). The Elders gave her (the husband was not home) a Book of Mormon and we
all bore our testimony of the Book of Mormon. The two little girls were practicing putting
buckets on their heads.
We attended church in Pueblo Nuevo. Sister Bell took our
keyboard and she played for Sacrament Meeting. The Elders had asked me last
night to talk in Sacrament Meeting about Mercy. I of course, thought of Mercy
and how it affects Justice. I had a talk all outlined in my head about the merciful
act of the Savior in our behalf. But when we got to Pueblo Nuevo and began to
visit with the Elders, I found that they had another idea all together. They
wanted me to talk about Mercy and how we should be merciful to each other. So I
had to quickly rethink my talk. That wasn’t hard because I had a wonderful
example, Grandpa Thomas. I told how he was kind, considerate, patient and
merciful to others. I shared two examples: the first was when I was visiting their
home before we were engaged. Michelle had gone to pick up Roxanne. She drove
through I stop sign and ran into a truck. Grandpa didn’t show any anger, only
compassion and concern for the health of his daughters. He was very merciful.
The other example was that he forgave any indebtedness to his family members in
his will, another merciful act. He was a great example of putting others first.
Sister Bell helped in primary, playing the piano and teaching songs. The kids really enjoyed that.
We then went to Trinidad and taught another temple
preparation class. Only Karen was there, but we had the lesson anyway. We
talked about the blessings of the temple, using D&C 109 and D&C 97 as
the text. The spirit was sweet. Karen is very excited about going to the temple
and has found great peace and happiness in the Church. We were not sure she was
going to make the class, as one of her sons was sick. She had taken him to the
Hospital. They found he had the beginnings of a throat infection and gave him
some medicine. She took him home and then came to the meeting at the Presidents
house. We offered to postpone the meeting (especially since Dania and Wendy
were not there), but Karen wanted to come and have the lesson. She is a great
example of faith and commitment. She teaches Sunday School and Seminary. They have been
trying to have Seminary in the church every morning at 5 am. She lives across
town so she must walk to the church and be there by 5 am every morning. Not
surprising, the students haven’t been coming. I suggested that they consider
home seminary and a class once a week on Saturday. She liked that idea and will
talk with the Branch President.
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