Monday, November 13, 2017
We started by picking up a table at the Sister Leaders home.
We then took Sister Fersola with us to the office for our meeting. We left
right after the meeting, so we could be with an Elder when he saw his
doctor.
We took the Elders to Pricesmart for lunch,
then we dropped them off at the galleria, so they could find a taxi back to the
area. We did our weekly shopping, then we went to the distribution center and
then home.
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
We had the new missionary training meeting at Waspan. We
have 20 new missionaries who are still in training (2 changes) with their
companions. Some have been here for a week, others for 7 weeks. As Sister Bell
goes to the pulpit, I ask how many glasses of water they should drink a day
(8), when they are sick, taking medicine or a really hot day (16), what types
of drinks they should drink and what they should not drink. This time I also
asked if anyone knew what yesterdays health message was. Only 2-3 knew, which
means that most don’t read it. I rewarded the three with candy bars. Sister
Bell talked alittle about chiggers because several sisters have been bothered
with them. She then did her “umbrella of comfort” where she walks around and
has the missionaries take out items from her purse and talk about what it is
and how it can make living in Nicaragua alittle more bearable. I provide a
little bit of color. We then sang 8 vasas al dia. It is always better when we
have a larger group of singers, than just one or two.
We sat up tables and chairs for lunch (Pollo Estella
Chicken) and then took them down and cleaned up. The Cultural Hall was much
cleaner after we were done than before we started. Elder Howell and Bennion
helped with the set up, but Sister Bell and I did all of the take down and
clean up.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
We left home at 6am this morning, headed for Chinandega for
a multi zone conference. I quizzed them about water and asked who knew the
topic for the last newsletter we sent out. Only three missionaries knew. I treated them with candy bars. Hopefully, that will
motivate the rest of the missionaries to read what we send them. It is
frustrating to prepare and send out these newsletters and not have them read.
We left about 11am and headed for Ocotol. It is a 4 hour
drive, so we left the conference alittle early. Normally we like to stay
through lunch so if any of the missionaries want to visit with Sister Bell, they
can. But I asked how many wanted to visit with her and only a few raised their
hands, so they talked with her at break.
We took a bed frame to the sisters house in Ocotal. Their
bedframe was all broken up. We find that a lot, especially in Elders homes.
They tend to wrestle or fall hard on their beds, which breaks or bends the
metal cross braces.
Hermanas Noyola y
Tejeda with Sister Bell
We then dropped a few boxes of supplies with the Zone
leaders and then headed for Esteli. We are staying the night at the HEX. We
drove about 9 hours today…. We are tired and ready for bed.
Elders Garcia y McCord
with Elder Bell
The sunset was
beautiful as we were leaving Ocotal.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
It was nice to sleep in and not
have to drive 3 hours to Esteli from home. We got up, walked, had breakfast and
got to the church about 8:30. Our presentation went well. However, when I asked
if anyone knew what our message was for this week, nobody raised their hands.
Apparently no one reads our health messages.
We took Sister Poncio to pay for
the Subway sandwiches, which we ordered last night. Then we went back at noon
to pick it up. We ordered 51 sandwiches, 51 chips, 51 sodas, 7 salads and 7
waters. They were supposed to have it done by noon, but they didn’t finish
getting it ready until 12:40. They need to started a little sooner next time.
This afternoon, President Poncio
showed a video about the “Light of the World” Christmas Campaign. He invited
the missionaries to participate and present this presentation to members and
investigators. The missionaries are to encourage them to do a daily service
from December 1 to Christmas.
We took Elder Spears back to
Managua. He is going to La Fuente in an emergency transfer. We had not dealt much with Elder Spears and enjoyed
getting to know him better. He has been involved in a couple of emergency
transfers, which tells me he is the type of missionary that can fill gaps. I
told him he is like a Major League baseball relief pitcher; one that comes in
during the game to keep control of the game. He may not have the glamour of a
starting pitcher (AP, ZL) but his role is just as important. The President must
have a lot of confidence in him, knowing he can pick up and move, fill a hole
and do it well. We picked up Elder Chen, his new companion, at the office and
took them home. We got home about 8:30pm, tired and ready for bed.
Friday, November 17, 2017
We have the final multizone
conference today in Managua. We did our usual presentation, helped set up and
clean up lunch, talk to sick missionaries and distribute packages and mail. We
then took Sisters Flores and Johnson to their house to fix a few things.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
Sister Bell taught Maria Clara a
piano lesson in Trinidad. We then went to Esteli and picked up Sister Magdalena
Perez, the District Relief Society President, and took her to Somoto with us.
When we got to Somoto, we went by Hermana Natalia’s house to see how they are
doing with the preparations for the RS meeting tonight. They were busy cooking.
We then went to visit Hermana Zaida, who spent three months in Costa Rica with
her son. We went by a few weeks ago, but she was not home. It was good to see
her. We then went to the house of Hermana Gloria. We received from the
Whittiers, the Humanitarian missionaries in Guatemala, a wheel chair. Hermana
Gloria is disabled and needs crutches to walk. President Alaniz, Hermana Perez (district relief society president) and the
missionaries helped us give her the wheel chair.
The Relief Society activity went well. Sister Perez taught about the Relief Society and visiting teaching. Then ate a lovely meal that Hermanas Natalia and Celia had prepared. The missionaries ate all the left overs.
During the meeting, I worked with President Alaniz and Elder Davidson on
financial issues. We stopped to get smoothies in Condega on our way back to
Esteli, dropped Sister Perez at her home and got to Koellikers about 9:40pm.
Sister Perez showed
us that she could still carry things on her head.
Sunday, November 19, 2017
We went to church in Trinidad. Sister Bell played the piano
and I gave a talk about Tithing. I asked Maria Clara to come up with me. She
read the scriptures and stories and helped me occasionally with words I didn’t
know or couldn’t pronounce. She also played prelude (only with the right hand).
We were able to talk with Jasser and Marilyn and schedule
another family relations lesson when we come up in two weeks. We also talked to
Karen and confirmed that she still wants to go to the temple in January. So we
will also continue with the temple classes when we come back up.
Karen paid Sister Bell a wonderful complement today. She
told us that the first time we met her, Sister Bell gave her a big hug and kiss
on the cheek and treated her like old friends. She really felt love from Sister
Bell. It really made a big impression on her and helped her gain a testimony of
the Gospel and the Church.
We got home at 3pm, looking forward to a relaxing Sunday
afternoon/evening at home. However, when Sister Bell looked in her bag for her
computer, she found that it wasn’t there. We had left it in Esteli. So we jumped
back in the car and headed north. We expected another 6 hours of travel, but
the Koellikers offered to meet us in Dario, so our 6 hour bonus travel ended up
only being 4 hours.
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