Monday, October 9, 2017
I woke up this morning about 4am thinking about things I
should do to help Somoto, mostly ideas to help organize, such as help them put
together a calendar so they can schedule PEC and branch Council meetings,
organize VT and HT in the system so they can better track accomplishments, help
put together a template for council meetings and help them focus on the 5
things President Poncio taught in the last District Conference Meetings:
prayer, scripture study, FHE, tithes and offerings and Temple. I got up and
wrote these things down.
In our office meeting today, Sister Bell and I led a
discussion about the importance of drinking safe water. This discussion was a
follow-up to last week’s discussion. We
felt we needed to educate them why drinking pure water is so important and how
it will help achieve the mission goals. I showed the missionary count chart,
which tracks the kind of illnesses the missionaries call Sister Bell for. From
January 1st to September 30, Sister Bell received 462 calls from
missionaries about various health problems. Out of the total, 110 were for
stomach problems. In contrast, in Costa Rica where they have clean water coming
from the tap, their stomach illnesses are about a third of what ours are. When
you estimate the number of lost work hours and days from stomach problems it
comes out to about 200 missionary days lost over a year’s period of time. That
is a lot of time lost. From this discussion, we got a commitment for the
leaders to be an example and for us to be able to teach this in the missionary
leaders meeting in early November.
We spent an enjoyable afternoon with Sister Elwood and
Chali. We helped them with some medical issues. We then took
them to the distribution center and to Carl’s Jr. for lunch. The missionaries
love to go to Carl’s Jr. because they can’t afford to go on their own and it is
usually out of their area. They are especially happy when we tell them we are
paying. They are both delightful missionaries. Sister Elwood is from the States
and Sister Chali is from Guatemala. Sister Chali has been in the mission field
for 2 weeks. Sister Chali was baptized with her family when she was 13 but was
inactive for many years. She began going to Church just a few months before
going on her mission. She says that the mission is much harder than she
expected but is happy to be a missionary. I am sure her testimony will grow
stronger while serving and her family will be blessed.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
We ran a few errands this morning, going to the bank,
store and buying pills for the missionary pill boxes. We returned home about
11am and worked from home the rest of the day.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
We went to the
office for a few minutes this morning after going by the hospital to help a couple of missionaries. We needed to make a few copies. The office
secretaries (Elders Ruiz, Bennion, Howell and Adams) were working diligently.
There was a sweet spirit there. We enjoyed the few minutes we
were there.
This afternoon, we worked from home. I have been working
on a tithing talk. During Conference, I felt several times that the members
need to pay tithing in order for the Church to grow in our little towns. So I
have been thinking and putting down on paper some of the thoughts and ideas. I
have been writing it in English and today, I translated it into Spanish.
We finished eating the turkey breast that I cooked
yesterday. It was a nice change from our normal diet.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
We found out last night that we can’t get to the Las
Flores beach where the turtles lay their eggs. The Tropical Storm Nate, damaged
the roads into the beach. There are several little communities without water,
electricity and food. Our guide, Maracio, is helping with the recovery efforts.
So we talked about postponing, but when Hermana Helberg called our hotel to cancel, we
couldn’t cancel without forfeiting the rental fee. So we decided to go see San
Juan del Sur.
We stayed at the HC Liri hotel. It wasn’t fancy, but it
was clean. The breakfast was fantastic; fruit, scrambled eggs with ham and
cheese, Maracuya juice, gallo pinto and toast.
There is a beautiful Christus overlooking the city and
bay. We walked up to it. It was a steep climb. We were tired and sweaty by the
time we got to the top, but it was worth it. We got a wonderful view of San
Juan del Sur.
We then went into town. It was too early for dinner but
not for ice cream. We found alittle ice cream shop that served gelato. It was
wonderful. I had a chocolate and Michelle had a Nutella gelato. We then walked
around the city, watched the sun set and ran across a returned missionary from
the South Mission who was visiting with her family. She was excited to see
Hermana and Elder Helberg.
We eat at a local restaurant named G&G, after the two
owners Gabriela and Gabriel. The food was wonderful. The drinks were fantastic.
I had a orange and ginger drink and the rest had lemonade with basil leaves.
They were so good we ordered a second round. Gabriela was our server and was
very delightful. It was a small restaurant, with only 5 tables… all filled with
gringos. Everyone was speaking English, including Gabriela.
Friday. October 13, 2017
Since we couldn’t see the turtles, we decided to see a
volcano instead. About 1 ½ hours north, on our way back home, is the Volcano
Mombacho. One needs to park close to the highway and take a truck up the steep,
one lane road to the top.
This volcano is unique because it created a tropical
rainforest around the top. The two top craters, were created when the mountain
collapsed on itself. Usually the craters are formed from an explosion. We hired
a guide, Estela, who spoke excellent English and knew a lot about the ecology
of the mountain.
During Tropical Storm Nate, a tornado touched down on a
side of the crater. It ripped part of the forest apart, causing parts of the
ecology to dry. We got to compare the rain forest with the tornado damaged
area. The ferns and moss are drying up.
This is in the tornado damaged area. Estela told us that
there are 150 species of Orchids on the mountain. She said that one of them is
endemic only to this volcano. It is named Maxilaria Mombachoensis. We walked
just a little distance and found one.
We saw some beautiful views being able to see the Masaya
Volcano, Momotombo Volcano, Laguna de Apoyo, Granada and Lake Nicaragua.
After the volcano, we drove to the Laguna de Apoyo for
lunch at the Apoyo resort. The Helbergs had not been down to the Laguna. They
have only seen it from the viewpoint at Catarina.
We had a very enjoyable 2 days. Sister Bell and I both
had several phone calls while we were traveling, as did Sister Helberg. But all
in all, it was a refreshing mini-vacation… one that we all needed.
Saturday, October 14, 2017
We got up early so we could drop some money and supplies
off in Matagalpa. Then we headed for Trinidad. Michelle taught two piano
lessons. One to Maria Clara and the other to Carol Linneth. Carol Linneth has
not had a lesson in months, but she has natural talent.
We then went to Somoto and worked with Hermana Natalia
and Celia, the RS President and Counselor (mother/daughter) to help them rework
the Visiting Teacher assignment for Zone 2. We added another companionship with
4 new sisters. We still need to work on Zone 1, but now that Hermana Zaida is
back from Costa Rica, they can complete Zone 1. Hermana Zaida, the 2nd
Counselor lives in Zone 1 and knows the sisters better than Hermana Zaida.
We went by Hermana Zaida’s house, but she had gone to
visit a friend. We found Elder Gharring and Silva there visiting with Yanelys. We stayed and visited with them. We talked
about going to the temple to do baptisms. We left her with the Liahona Magazine
about temples.
We taught another teacher improvement lesson in Pueblo
Nuevo. Hermana Nubia, Arelys and Hilario attended with the missionaries. They
had assignments to read a section of the Teaching in the Savior’s way manual
and to give a mini lesson. Elder Ponce taught about how music can be used in
the class room. Elder Johnson taught about using stories and art in lessons.
Sister Nubia taught about how to deal with difficult questions and Arelys
taught about how to teach children. We had a wonderful discussion and learned
some wonderful principles of effective teaching.
We ate our subway sandwich on our way back to Esteli,
arriving early… about 8:30pm.
Sunday, October 15, 2017
We attended church in Pueblo Nuevo. We took our keyboard
with us and left it at the Elders house last night. When we arrived about 30 minutes
early, the Elders had set up the piano and a cute little 7-year-old girl was
sitting at the keyboard. I found out that she and her 14-year-old sister were
investigators. So Sister Bell and I taught her 3 little songs. She beamed with
delight. Because the missionaries were conducting the meeting and Sister Bell
was playing the piano, I sat next to them and showed them how to follow and
sing the songs.
After Sacrament, we took the piano into Primary so Sister
Bell could help teach songs. I heard them singing I am a child of God, Give
said the Little Stream and the Prophet song. Sister Bell said Arlys was well
prepared and Primary went well. Hilario also taught a good Priesthood Lesson,
asking a lot of questions. Maybe our instructions about how to teach in the Saviors
way have been helping.
We ate our 3-day old peanut butter sandwiches on our way
to Trinidad. We first taught a family relations lesson to Yasser and Marilyn. I
had been stewing about this lesson all week since Yasser did not show up for
last week’s lesson. But he was here today and seemed glad to see us. We taught
a fun lesson about showing appropriate affection and being loyal to our spouses.
There was a sweet spirit there.
We then taught another Temple Prep class to Dania, Wendy
and Karan. Sister Cruz, the branch Presidents wife was also there. We taught
about ordnances and covenants. This lesson also went well. They are preparing
to go to the temple in December.
We got home about 7pm, tired but happy for a productive week-end.
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