Sunday, February 18, 2018

Monday, February 12 to Sunday, February 18, 2018

Monday, February 12, 2018
We went to the hospital with Sister Joyce and her companion. Her companion had a doctor’s appointment and Sister Joyce was learning how to instruct missionaries who have doctor’s appointments. She learned how to order a payment guarantee, how to check in for a doctors appointment, where to go for doctors’ appointments, and how to get medicine at the pharmacy. It was a morning well spent.

I went to the bank and shopped. I bought sister Bell red roses for Valentines day. She got me dark chocolate kisses.

Joycelyn Poncio left for the MTC in Mexico today.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018
We had our office meeting today. I worked with Elder Vaides on the house inventories. He has been calling all the areas to update our inventory. He found needs that had not been reported earlier, such as broken chairs, mirrors and closets. Sister Bell instructed Sister Joyce and Sister Poncio how to order a payment guarantee. They ordered one for a follow-up visit for one of our missionaries. We then took Sister Joyce, Puac and Fersola to their house. I had to get 4 chairs, a table and the last fan. I will give those out tomorrow at the multizone conference.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018
We had our last multizone conference in Managua for the Bello Horizante, Villa Flor and Las America zones. We played our reverse Jeopardy game. We did it in the cultural hall because we were too rowdy. We shared our testimonies as we did in the other zone conferences.

Thursday, February 15, 2018
We installed smoke alarms at Rene Polanco, La Fuente, La Catorce and Ciudad Jardin. We then picked up the Helbergs at 2pm and we headed for Selva Negra, north of Matagalpa, for our last excursion. The Helbergs had not been there before. We arrived about 5:30, just as it was getting dark. Sister Bell and I  stayed in a little Bungalow. We ate dinner and then played 5 crowns. Michelle won, and I lost. The Helbergs were in the middle.  I had a hand of 272. That hurt…


Waiting for dinner


Home sweet home
Friday, February 16, 2018
We started with a short walk around the lake. It was very peaceful, but Sister Bell’s knee was giving her fits. We had breakfast with the Helbergs, then while Michelle rested her knee in the bungalow, the Helbergs and I went for a walk in the forest. We were hoping to see, or at least hear monkeys. But we didn’t hear any or see any. We did see a family of Coatimundi Racoons. The best compliment we heard today was when Elder Helbergs said, “I feel like I am really on a vacation”.





We left Selva Negra about 11:30am. We drove over the mountain (my favorite road in Nicaragua) to Jinotega. We met Elder Hodges and Garcia at the Church. We had a package for Elder Hodges. Then we went to lunch at El Tico in Jinotega. We then drove home, getting home about 5pm. It was an enjoyable little excursion. This will be our last little excursion here in Nicaragua. We are happy and sad about that. We have enjoyed seeing and experiencing the various beautiful locations in Nicaragua. It has helped us love this country even more.

Saturday, February 17, 2018
We had a good day. We started in Trinidad. Michelle said that Maria Clara had a good lesson. While she was teaching, I was across the street installing a smoke alarm in the missionary’s house. After lunch, we met Elders Ponce and Carico in Condega. We picked up Edgar and went to a small neighborhood outside of Condega to visit Edgars mother and sister. Edgar was baptized over a year ago. He has not been very active since his baptism. Today however, he was back to his old self, friendly, engaging and interested in the Church. We gave a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. Edger and his mother had a lot of questions. We enjoyed the lesson. 

Sister Bell and I talked with Freddy and Virginia about family history. We helped them begin to collect information about their ancestors in anticipation of their upcoming trip to the temple. We then attended the noche de hermanimiento. After which we drove to Esteli and checked into the Hex.

Sunday, February 18, 2018
We attended Church in Somoto. Pueblo Nuevo came because it was an area conference broadcast for all Central America. We had 64 attending; 29 from Pueblo Nuevo, 2 from the District (Pres. Herrera y Pedro Castillo, the District Secretary), Sister Bell and I and 31 from Somoto. We barely had enough chairs. We heard talks from Elder Achoa, Sister Eubank, Elder Christiansen and Elder Cook. Elder Achoa and Elder Christiansen talked in Spanish, but Sister Eubanks and Elder Cook talked in English. For some reason, the translations didn’t begin until half way through Elder Cooks talk. So Elder Charette got up and translated. His Spanish is excellent and he did a wonderful job. It was especially hard to translate for Sister Eubanks because she talked fast.


Elder Cook talked about the importance of helping the missionaries in the missionary work. He also talked about the importance of family history and temple work. Afterwards we counted tithing money and Sister Bell and I drove to the homes of Azaria and Sadia. We first went to the house of Azaria Perez. She had been sick. We had a nice visit with her and her mother. I was concerned about her because she had been called to teach Institute several weeks ago, but so far hasn’t taught a lesson. The Elders have been teaching Institute, to the few 2-3 that come. Azaria is also the Primary President and has started a new job. So I was concerned that she was overwhelmed. We found that she was sick and the doctor has told her to stay home and rest. She told us she received an email from President Poncio, telling her that he read her conversion story (I had sent her story to him to read) and was hopeful he could visit with her next time he is in Somoto. She also received an email from Sister Linda Reeves, from the General RS Presidency, asking out how she is doing. They met when she was in the US. We found her spirit and desire to serve strong. I was relieved. 


We then went by the President’s house. We had not seen Hermana Alaniz for several weeks. She was not at church today because she didn’t want to leave the house unprotected. We had a wonderful visit. Sister Alaniz and Sister Bell love each other and were so glad to see each other. After our visit we picked up President Herrera and Pedro and dropped them off in Esteli on our way to Managua. It was a long, full but very satisfying day. 

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