Monday, January 1, 2018 – Happy New Year
President Poncio invited us to lunch as a farewell to Elder
and Sister Koelliker and Elder Hamson, all who will be going home tomorrow. We
love these missionaries. Elder and Sister Koelliker have become very good
friends. We appreciate their hospitality almost every Saturday night, when we
stayed in their home in Esteli. They have worked hard to activate members and
support new members in Esteli and Condega. Elder Koelliker served as branch
president of the Rosario Branch for many months. We love them and will miss
them.
We met Elder Hamson in Somoto, when we began working there.
He was a brand-new missionary there. He then served as financial secretary for
8 months, so we worked closely with him then. He has been a zone leader since
he left the office. He is a wonderful missionary. He is going home early to
begin school at BYU.
After lunch, we were invited to join the President, his
family and those missionaries leaving for an afternoon excursion. He first
headed for Catarina, but the traffic was so bad, we turned around and headed
for Granada. The traffic was bad there also, but we finally found places to
park and walked around the main park. There were a lot of people, celebrating
the new year, with music and dancing. The Catholic Church was holding a mass or
concert in the main Cathedral, so the plaza was packed with people. The
Koelliker and Elder Hamson bought a few gifts at the markets, then we headed
home. With the Koellikers, we ate at Rosti Pollo before arriving home. We enjoyed
our little outing, but most of all, we enjoyed being with the Koellikers and
Elder Hamson, one last time.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Today we said goodbye to our good friends, the Koellikers.
We took them to the airport arriving at 6am, helped them get checked in, took a
picture and said our goodbyes. We love the senior missionaries we serve with.
They have become good friends. We will miss them.
After going to the airport, we went back home. David and I
went to INE to file a complaint about our light bill, but we were told we
needed to file 2 complaints with Disurru, the power company. We had only filed
1 complaint for Novembers bill. So we drove to the Disurru office and filed a
complaint for Decembers bill. Now we wait for more inspections.
We made it to the morning office meeting. We were greeted by
several missionaries who were part of an emergency change. We learned who was
transferred during our office meeting. We worked in the office for a couple of
hours, waiting for lunch. The President took us to a Mexican Restaurant – Ajua.
It is a lot like Café Rio.
We ran home to take laundry off the line, then we went to
Sinsa to pay our rent. I talked with Yareny’s, our housing contact. I informed
her that we would be moving out March 13. We talked about the light bill and
how to cancel light, water and internet. Then we went to the office. We are
working on how to get a package sent by the Church that contains 2 Epipens out
of customs. Roger Perez from the Church’s administrative office has been given
the assignment to get the package out of customs. I was afraid I would have to
do it again. We started gathering some of the information he will need.
We had dinner at the Helbergs tonight. That is always
enjoyable… but we are really tired tonight.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018 - Happy Birthday Kanika
We were really tired this morning, so we slept in until
6:30am. Michelle did wash before we left. We walked around a new park being built just a couple of blocks from our home.
We were about to leave when the man
from the power company and 3 men from Sinsa came to check the power. The power
company man did a quick inspection, like he did before. He said more people
will come by within 5 days to do a more thorough inspection. The Sinsa men (3
of them) did a much more thorough inspection. Apparently, the fix they did last
week was still working, which is good. They couldn’t find any other obvious
problem. But they plan to return several times to determine the usage.
We went to the office. The leaders were having their council
meeting. I had distribution items for several of them and Sister Bell wanted to
be available in case any wanted to talk about health issues. We got a free
pizza for lunch, since they had extra and we were there.
We loaded up packages, so I can deliver them at the upcoming
zone conferences and then headed for the Distrubition Center. We have more orders
for garments, etc.
Thursday, January 4, 2018
We started early, leaving the house at 5:30. We stopped at
the office to pick up more packages and then headed for Esteli. Sister Bell
gave a presentation about feet. I did the color commentary and then we gave
them a test about the material presented, with chocolate being the reward if
they knew the answer. We ended singing Ocho Vasas de Agua. President Poncio
showed a short tribute to President Monson. We will miss him, especially his
example of service and his stories. We look forward to the Presidency of
President Nelson.
We stayed until after lunch so I could give out materials
and Sister Bell could give council to sick missionaries. We left about 2:30 and
drove to Chinandega. We stayed at Las Portales, a nice hotel next to Rosti
Pollo.
Friday, January 5, 2018
We had out multizone in Chinandega today. It was nice to
sleep in and not have to drive 3 hours to the conference. Our presentation went
well. Chocolate always improves a presentation. The fotos of bad ingrown
toenails got everyone’s attention. Hopefully, it will help.
We stayed to the end as we had to give out packages, letters
and materials. We also brought Hermana Fersola home because President Poncio
was staying in Chinandega for the week-end to attend a stake conference.
After dropping off Sister Fersola, we went to the hospital. We had an Elder come from Puerto Cabeza on the noon flight. Elder Howell,
stayed with him for most of this afternoon. When we stopped by, he was resting
comfortably in his room. We taught Elder Howell how to order dinner, left them
some money for food for his companion and went home.
Saturday, January 6, 2018
We were at the hospital a good part of the afternoon and went back again in the evening.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
We went to Church at the closest ward which is in the south
mission. It is the same ward that the Helbergs go to. It started at 8am. There
were very few people at 8am, but they started anyway. People began to come in before
the sacrament and a bunch came in after the Sacrament was over. I was impressed
that they closed the door during the Sacrament, so people had to wait in the
lobby while the Sacrament was passed.
We left early so we could visit with our missionary in the hospital. We then left for Trinidad. We got there just after noon.
President Cruz was still at the Church. So was Karen. So we went to the chapel
first. We showed Karen the used clothes we got from the sister missionaries.
She picked out several, which will help her upgrade her wardrobe. She is really excited and
ready to go.
President Cruz told me that only three or four will be
going; himself, his wife, Karen and possibly Dania. I also worked
with the missionaries and President Alaniz in Somoto to help Azaria and possibly one other go to the temple. Azaria is all ready and excited. We thoroughly enjoy helping members get to the temple. That is one of the true joys of our mission.
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