Monday, October 16, 2017
Happy Birthday Emmet….
We divided and conquered today. Two Sister missionaries had doctors’ appointments. I dropped Sister Bell off at the hospital and I went
to our mission staff meeting.
After the meeting, I met Sister Bell and the 4
missionaries at the hospital. One of the missionaries and her companion needed to go to
the distribution center, then to an internet store to write their families,
then to sister leader's house to get their things (they came in last night)
and then to the bus station. While Sister Bell stayed at the hospital with the other set of missionaries, I took one companionship to distribution and
then to an internet store close to the sister leaders house. Then I headed back
to the hospital. The sisters with Michelle had already left in a taxi,
after Sister Bell took them to lunch at the little restaurant next to the
hospital. I ate a hamburger at the hospital cafeteria and then Sister Bell and
I went home.
We were all settled in for the night, when we got a call
from Sister Poncio, telling us that a Sister missionary was having severe stomach
pains. Sister Bell had already been communicating with her earlier in the
evening. Sister Poncio gave permission for her to go to the hospital. We went
up about 10:30 pm, in time to help them get their medicine and take them home. We got home
about midnight.
We had been studying about Charity. One of the
characteristics of Charity is serving others, even when it is
inconvenient, when we have other things we want to do or we are just too tired.
At times in our mission, we have had to do things when it wasn't convenient or late in the day when we were tired. Tonight was one of those nights because we
were settled in for the night and did not want to go to the hospital. But our
Charitable natures won out. We served, even though we were tired… and we
were glad we did.
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Today was an errand day. We first went to Walmart. We
wanted to price water bottle dispensers in an effort to help the missionaries drink clean water. They cost C$215 or about $6.45. We
talked about purchasing one for each missionary apartment. They can buy a
5-gallon bottle of water for C$60 or $1.80. They would need 4-8 bottles every
month depending on how much they used this source of water. I will present this
to the President next week and see what he says.
We then went to the office. We made copies of handouts that we will pass out this week at the multizones and in our lessons this week-end. We had lunch
at a Crepe Restaurant, then we went to the bank, store and Pricesmart. We were
home by about 4pm, which is about 2 hours later than we expected. We are both
pretty tired from our late night last night, so getting home early was nice.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
We got up at 3:30am so we could be on the road by 5am. We
headed for Matagalpa for a 3-zone conference with Elder Valeri V. Cordon of the
Area Presidency (1st Quorum of Seventy). About 7:30am, when we were
about 30 minutes from the Church, we got a call from President Poncio telling
us that the conference had been postponed until noon. So when arrived at the
Church, we parked in the parking lot and took alittle nap until the
missionaries began showing up about 9:30am.
We had a marvelous conference. Sister Bell and I had 5
minutes to make a health presentation. While Sister Bell talked about Pinkeye,
I passed out a handout that explained what it is, how to prevent it and how to
treat it.
Elder Cordon talked about how the Lord called Moses to
gather Israel, a daunting task. He showed a video depicting the events recorded
in Moses 1: 6-12. After seeing the galaxy in vision, Moses knew that the mighty Egyptian
Empire was really a small adversary. So when Satan approached him, Moses could
tell the difference between him and God. He explained that we have a choice to
be children of God and be in the similitude of His only begotten son. Or we
could choose Satan’s depiction of man being a “Son of Man” and becoming nothing.
It is our choice, but if we choose God, he will help us become all we can
become and do all we need to do. After seeing God’s glory, Moses could tell the
difference between Him and Satan. If we choose God's vision of man, we can accomplish many and great things, with the help of the Lord. He said that our goal as missionaries is to
establish the Church. He also suggested that we focus our prayers, study and
planning sessions on individuals. For us, that would be the people and units we
work with.
This is the Ocotal zone. We stood in because we work in
Somoto and Pueblo Nuevo.
This is the Esteli zone. We stood in this picture because
we work in Trinidad and Condega.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
We had another marvelous conference with Elder Cordon, this time in Managua. Six
zones, Bello Horizante, Villa Flor, Las Americas, Leon, Chinandega and Chin
Oeste zones were invited; almost 100 missionaries. Here are a few other
thoughts from Elder Cordon:
· Elder Oakes taught, the missionaries need to
understand who they are and what their calling is in order to be successful
missionaries. He then defined that the calling of a missionary is to grow the
Church, not just baptize. In order to grow the Church, we need to strengthen
and seal families. I believe what Sister Bell and I are doing is exactly what
Elder Oakes taught and those missionaries that work in our areas, are helping
us build the kingdom of God, not just baptizing people.
·
President Monson said that the value of a person
is the capacity to become like God.
·
Our goal is to be good enough to make it to the
millennium, where we will have 1000 years to finish perfecting ourselves.
Friday, October 20, 2017
We first stopped at a local pharmacy to get some medicine
for one of our sister missionaries. We then went by the sister Leaders house to
help a sister missionary with a foot problem. Then we delivered the medicine that we had purchased earlier, to a sister’s
house in Villa Flor. As Sister Bell was leaving the house, she forgot we were
standing on steps and as she began to leave, she stepped as if she was on the
ground, but there was no ground. She just fell over. The tender mercy was that
as she was falling, she was putting out her arm to catch herself, but the
spirit told her to tuck the arm back next to her body. She did this, so she landed on her side, but
not her hand. If she hadn’t tucked her arm and landed on her wrist, she probably
would have broken her wrist. Her right arm is sore, but don’t think it is
broken.
We then went to the office to make a few copies and pick up
supplies for this week-end. Then we went to the
hospital to help two sister missionaries with appointments and tests. By then
it was about noon. Sister Bell had washed the sheets this morning before we
left so we needed to take them off the line before it rained, which it usually
does in the afternoon. I then went to Walmart and Pricesmart, while Sister Bell
stayed home. She did some charting in the computer and rested, putting ice on
her sore arm.
Tonight, we hosted the Senior Missionary dinner with the
Helbergs. We cooked turkey breast, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables and key
lime pie. We shared our impressions of the conferences with Elder Cordon and then we watched the face to face program with 4 young musicians; Patch
Crowe, Lexi Walker, Nicole Luz and Madilyn Paige. They not only sang
wonderfully, but they are also very mature for their young age. The answers
they gave to the questions, were very inspiring. We have some wonderful young people in the Church, who know who they are and are motivated to make a difference in
the world.
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Sister Bell woke up to find her arm swollen and very
painful. So we decided to go to the hospital to have sure nothing was broken. We have been to the hospital many times, but this is the first time we went as patients. The doctor checked her out and had her get an x-ray. They determined that she did not
have any broken bones, but the doctor told her to not work for a few days and
keep ice on it. He put her in a sling. So we cancelled our Saturday and Sunday appointments
up north and hunkered down in our air conditioned rooms.
Another tender mercy happened at the hospital. President Poncio had asked Sister Bell to make an doctor's appointment for a missionary, but she was not sure which doctor to take her to. So she asked the orthopedists that helped her. He said he had helped many people with this type of problem and could help our missionary. A tender mercy....
Sunday, October 22, 2017
We went to Church in the Ducuali Ward, here in Managua. This is where Sister Fersola, Sister
Gunn and Sister Perez work. We were welcomed with open arms, as usual. We
enjoyed Sacrament meeting. The sister of Hermana Augustina in Pueblo Nuevo
attends this ward. They just had a temple trip and Sister Augustina’s sister
was asked to bear her testimony about her experience in the temple. The missionaries also had a baptism on Friday,
baptizing a middle-aged man and he was confirmed in the meeting. He was also
asked to bare his testimony. He did a wonderful job, thanking the sisters and the Lord for helping him change his live. The missionaries were all in
tears. We then attended the Gospel Principles class and then came home. We
talked to Becky and even got a Sunday Afternoon Nap. Life is Good in Nicaragua…
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