Monday, October 30 to November 5, 2017

Monday, October 30, 2017

We took medicine to one of our Hermanas and then made our way back to President Poncio’s house for our weekly planning meeting. The traffic was terrible. We got there about 10 minutes late, but the President hadn’t arrived yet, so I guess we were early.

We then went to the hospital with an Elder and his companion to have his ingrown toe nail fixed. Sister Bell met two other Elders as one of them had another doctor appointment. We took two of them to Pricesmart for lunch. We had to buy a few things there anyway. We made a stop past the house to pick up a few things (and drop off a few things), then we went to the office. We got home about 5pm.

Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - Happy Halloween

We taught the leaders this morning. This is the first time that we have been invited to teach health at the Leaders meeting. I presented a powerpoint about the importance of drinking clean water. Here are the key points:

• ·         In a given year, approximately 616 missionary illnesses will be reported to Sister Bell
• ·         The top problem is stomach problems; almost 150 missionaries will have stomach problems this year.
• ·         The primary reason is drinking bad water.
• ·         In Costa Rica, where they have clean tap water, their stomach illness rate is about a third of ours.
• ·         We need to treat water by adding cloro, or boiling. We can buy pure water and we can use the filter bottles.
• ·         We lose approximately 200 missionary working days due to stomach illnesses.
• ·         We asked the leaders to be good examples, teach these principles and help change a culture of relaxed health.

We then went up to the hospital. A sister missionary had a test and a doctor’s appointment. We then went home for lunch and then to the bank and store. We are now home (4pm) relaxing.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Today was wash the sheets day and errands. We started at the office, preparing for new missionaries and sending a newsletter about eating healthy. We bought a bulletin board for Trinidad, paid our rent, went to the store and ate lunch at a pork barbeque restaurant. We had a pulled pork sandwich which reminded me of Bucky’s in South Carolina, except we drank natural fruit drinks. Fatima came today so we had a clean house. This afternoon, Sister Bell ironed and we watched a movie. Pretty laid back day.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

We went to the sister’s house to pick up two closets and two fans. The Office Secretaries came over to help load them into the back of my truck. We took them to the office so Jonathan Estrada could pick them up tonight and take them to Leon. He is helping move the Sisters in Villa Universaria into a new house.

We didn’t stay long at the office. We came home. I worked on contacting missionaries who still need to test their smoke alarms this month. Smoke alarms don’t last long here. They go off unexpectedly for no reason. The missionaries get tired of this and deactivate them or take the batteries out. When they move, the SA tend to get lost. We are constantly replacing them. Since we don’t have gas in our homes and the homes are made of brick, fires and carbon monoxide gas problems are non-existent. But we keep alarms in the homes anyway.

Friday, November 3, 2017

We made a quick trip to the hospital to give a hymnbook to a missionary who had a doctor’s appointment today. We then went to the distribution center and then home for lunch. We had a change meeting today to plan next week’s changes. We then came home, and I made a lot of phone calls to zone leaders to organize a few moves.

Saturday, November 4, 2017

We left a little early, so we could take a few things to La Primavera. We have stored several extra furniture items there. Jonathan Estrata was going to pick up a few things for Chinandega this morning, and we needed to get these things there before he picked them up. We then headed for Trinidad. Hermana Bell taught a piano lesson to Maria Clara. Then we went to Somoto. We met with Hermana Natalia and the Elders in Zone 1 to organize VT in zone 1. We then sat through a branch council meeting. Elder Davidson had prepared a written agenda and President Alaniz followed it pretty well. It got alittle long, but not as long as some I have attended and conducted. We had scheduled a temple prep class after that, but since no-one showed up, we left for Esteli, arriving early, 7:45pm. The missionaries had been told to go home early as tomorrow is election day and some places can become a little crazy. Fortunately, we are safe and sound in the Koellikers house.

Sunday, November 5, 2017

We went to Church in Pueblo Nuevo. Hilario came with a new dog. His old dog, who died about a month ago, always came with him. He would normally curl up under his chair, occasionally get up and walk around, go outside or just sit watching. Today he came with a new dog (not a pup). When Hilario got up to pass the Sacrament, his dog came with him and while Hilario stood while the prayer was given, the dog sat down and stayed there while the prayer was spoken. His eyes were fixed on Hilario. He followed him while he passed the Sacrament. It looked like he was hoping he would get a piece of bread or a drink of water. But no such luck.

Sister Bell went into Primary for the last 45 minutes. She taught “Nephi’s courage”, plus I heard “give said the little stream”. She is getting really comfortable in teaching music in primary. The kids (and the teacher) loves it.

We met with Nubia, Dania, Maybelline and Jose, who will be going to the temple in December. We talked about costs, dress, food and interviews. They are all excited about going. Elders Johnson and Ponce are teaching Jose the lessons. They taught 3 lessons last week and will teach the last three lessons this week.

We got home early today, about 4:30pm.