Monday, December 25 to Sunday, December 31, 2017

Monday, December 25, 2017 – Merry Christmas

The Nicaraguans celebrate Christmas on the 24^th at night. They started lighting fireworks about midnight. Then they eat and eventually go to bed in the early morning hours. When we walked this morning, there were very few people on the streets.

Michelle cooked a wonderful Christmas dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, yams, happy Jello and gravy. The Helbergs came over and brought green beans and brownies/ice cream. It was wonderful. We then went to see the new Star Wars. We hope that the good guys finally win out in the final movie.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

We had our weekly office planning meeting, then we went to the store and home. Pretty uneventful day.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

We had our new missionary training. Sister Bell and I taught a balanced diet. We had Tip Top for lunch (not our favorite). Sister Bell talked with several missionaries that were ailing in various ways. We took Elder Arias and Elder Bashore back to their apartment, so we could change out one of the mattresses. It was old and dirty. We made a quick stop at Pricesmart and then home.

Thursday, December 28, 2017

I took David, our guard to file another complaint about our light bill. There is an organization that receives second level complaints. Our light bill, increased dramatically in October, November and December. An electrician came out last week and found that even when all the power is turned off in the house, there is still current going to the meter. He hopefully fixed it. But now we want an independent person to come and figure out how much was excessive and how much we really used. So we went this morning to make that request, but we found out that everyone is on vacation this week. We will need to come back on the 2^nd of January.

After dropping David back at the house, I went to the bank (I needed more money…. Christmas was expensive this year), store and got a haircut. We then went to Huembas to buy Michelle a new purse (Nicaraguan). Then home for lunch. After lunch we went to the distribution center. We had a long list of items the missionaries needed such as garments and scriptures.

We then sorted through 5 bags of clothes that the sister missionaries left when they went home. We will take these up north and share with the sisters who are going to the temple, or in leadership positions.

We had dinner and watched a movie.

Friday, December 30, 2017

We had another adventure today. We went to Ometepe, the Island in Lake Nicaragua. The Helbergs wanted to go. We left at 5am so we could catch the 7:45 ferry.

The ride was much smoother than the last trip which we took last April with the Lee’s. The boat was full so we ended up on the top deck. It had been raining on our drive down to Rivas, but by the time we got on the ferry, it was sunny and warm.

There was a full rainbow over Lake Nicaragua as we got off the ferry.

We hired a guide, Arcelia to take us to various places on the island. Daniel, was our driver in a 4X4 Rav4. We wanted to see the San Ramon Waterfall. Daniel was going to drive us to within ½ km of the falls, but it was so slick and steep, he had to drop us off about 2km from the falls. No problem… we thought. But it was very steep and slick, so we had to take our time. By the time we got to the falls, we were getting cramps and very tired. Sister Helbergs homemade Chocolate Cookies gave us a much needed sugar boost.

There were howler monkeys and parrots in the tree canopy, but we couldn’t see them. The waterfall is about 262 feet. There was a nice pool at the bottom that some brave souls waded in. It wasn’t very deep.

It took us 3 hours to go and down, twice as long as we expected. Coming down was hard on our knees. Then it started raining so by the time we got back to the car, we were soaked and muddy. But we still had smiles on our faces.

We eat lunch at a little cocinera at the bottom of the trail.

We didn’t have time to see anything else, so Daniel took us back to the ferry. It left at 5:30pm. We arrived home about 9pm.

The sunset was a fitting end to our trip.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

We stayed home most of the day (except for two quick trips to the store). It was nice to have a day to recover. Our legs, knees and feet are very sore from yesterdays hike. We worked from home, taking care of some administrative type work that needed to be done.

Sunday, December 31, 2017

We went to Church in Trinidad. We left at 6am. We both talked. Sister Bell talked about repentance. I talked about President Poncios plan for family success; scripture study, family prayer, Family Home Evening, pay tithing and attend the temple. We paid the bus fare for 8 members that are planning on going to the temple in two weeks. President Cruz will interview those needing interviews and two will need an interview from President Perez, 1^st Counselor in the Mission Presidency. We arrived home early, about 4pm. The Koellikers will be staying with us for two nights before they go home on Tuesday. We will miss them dearly, but we are glad we can host them for a couple of days, since they have hosted us for 1 ½ years in their home in Esteli.