Week 99 Ocotepeque

What did they say about your back? Well he just said something about a muscle, gave me some muscle relaxants and some other pills to take but I haven’t felt a difference.  Did they do an x-ray or a mri?  No he just wrote me a prescription and told me to come back in 15 days if it doesn’t stop hurting. 

I went to the physical therapist and he said I have some scoliosis but who knows how much that might be what is causing all the pains. 

How was your week? It was a good week sometimes I get frustrated with my comp because he doesn’t clean anything but that is the least of my worries. Besides being messy are you getting along with your comp?  Yes all is well.

We have eaten good I bought some general tso sauce when we were in SPS and it tastes really good also, I purchased for Thai noodles as well. 

Tell us about a Spiritual experience from this week? My best experiences of the week have been contacting. We were walking home one day at about 8.30 p.m. and we walked past a huge tall black guy and we just kept walking. But I said lets go talk with him. He was from Belize and his English was funny but he truly knew a lot about the church and had visited temple square 2 times. He didn’t accept another book of Mormon because he said that he had read the whole thing and he started reciting if from memory. We talked with him for like 20 minutes and we went home. Truly if you want to have fun and be a happy missionary you need to talk with everyone. This guy looked like he was homeless. And I don’t know if he is, but he speaks at least 3 languages it was amazing. 

What are you doing for your Birthday? I have planned nothing. 

How was church attendance last week?  34 people came. 2 young men came this week.  I just taught young men’s and Sunday school for the youth.  President bush comes this Sunday to visit.

What did you do for p day?  We went to the waterfall again. 

Well my time is up. Have fun in the rain and talk to you all next Monday. Love you all. 

Week 98 Ocotepeque

Who is your new companion?  My new comp is Elder C. he is from Mexico and has about 5 months in the mission.  He is from Vera Cruz Mexico. Yes he is fine to get along with. He speaks well, I haven’t talked to him much in English but I would imagine because of where he is from. 

Tell us your spiritual experience of the week? It was when we were walking around yesterday and we saw uno M. and we asked him if he had read then I just asked him if he was almost ready to be baptized and he responded almost. Truly he has so much potential and there is no major problem for him to get married. I truly feel that soon he will be ready to be baptized we just need to talk to him about getting married but the good part is there isn’t really a huge financial problem for them to get married. I just felt like at least what we were teaching to uno m. was beginning too change his life, he is reading the book of Mormon and he is praying now he just needs to come to church. I just was so happy to see that our work is not just going to waste it is all helping generate long-term fruits. 

What did you do for p day this week? Well we went to the Catholic Church again and we just went up the bell tower. First we went to some bridges and we just jumped on them because they were hammock bridges.  We also went to a war monument for the unknown soldiers that died in the war of Honduras and El Salvador.   It was long so we left early.  The military do this only once a year in remembrance of the war they lost against El Salvador 

Where did you travel for changes? I stayed in La Entrada with 4 other elders while the others went to changes and we got back to Ocotepeque at 5 in the afternoon. 

38 people came to church on Sunday. The branch president was back in town and he is happy and soon president Bush will visit us here the end of July.  

I have been cooking a lot because I don’t want to spend too much money. Where do you buy your groceries?  Do you buy anything of that beef to eat or is it to expensive?  I just buy chicken breast and sausages that taste good but I don’t know what they are made of.

Is it normal to see cows being herded around?  Not in the center of the city, but yes it does happen quite often.  We just buy them from a super market here. 

How is the back feeling do you make your comp carry everything?  Well today it feels fine because I haven’t lifted anything. But I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow to see if they can see what it is. It hurts only when I twist to the left hand side.   Have the medicine helped at all?  I have been taking meloxicam.  Just one day that I couldn’t get out of bed because it hurt too much, it took me literally 1 hour to get out. Well hopefully they can figure something out at the doctors tomorrow.  Will you be traveling some for that?  Yes to San Pedro Sula, more than likely they will do a mri if they have a question, they don’t care because the insurance is 100 percent coverage

Well my time is up but I love you, talk to you all next week. I hope to see pictures from your small trip. 

Week 97 Ocotopeque

Did you travel to Guatemala today to get the stitches out? No we just went to the general clinic that there is and they took them out for free, I think that everything they do there is free because they make all of the doctors that graduate work for 1 year in a clinic and they assign them so they have to come so it is a government program. 

How are you and your companion feeling?  My companion is doing well he got his stitches out. How is your back? Well it still hurts even though I haven’t been working as much and I have been using a lighter backpack. But the nurse is going to send something that will help me with the pain. Were you able to get some work done this week? Yes the ZL came, I went with Elder D., and we did divisions on Tuesday and we had a great day. Also we were able to work a few hours with my companion. 

What was your spiritual experience for the week? Well the best experience that I have had this week has been to see the progress in a investigator, his name is M. he is like 50 and he has one daughter in the mission and 2 here that are members as well as his wife but there not married. Truly we have seen a change of interest in him, he is a jokester, but he is truly receptive to the message that we are bringing and his daughter that is in the mission is super excited. We are going to help them get married and get baptized he is so close and the best part is there is not a financial problem too big to get married. 

How is the weather? It has been extremely hot lately and there has been a few nights without power and that means no fans and that all of the food in the refrigerator goes bad so it has been fun, we have been eating out for the last week at a restaurant in front of our house but they sale really good food and they are nice to us and always give us huge portions. We hope you are eating a lot of food and the food pictures look good.  Yes we eat well.  What type of food do they cook?  Anything you ask for, if you want a burger they make it. If you want a chile relleno they make it and they have their other food that is like a buffet that you pay for item.  Is it good food and do they like the missionaries?  Yes they give me a discount sometimes. 

Tell us about an investigator. We have many investigators but the next promising one he has a son that is a member and he is inactive but we have taught the father 2 times and with the mother and they brought up getting married and they are extremely interested in everything so we are working with everyone and telling them that during the month of August it is cheaper to get married because the government charges less for the whole deal.  August is the month of the family in Honduras.

What did you do for p-day?  We went the El Salvador border.  The El Salvador boarder looked nice.  Did you find a place to eat there?  No there wasn’t much there, but the capital was 2 hours away

How do you like the area, have you had any of the parties you were trying to plan with the branch president? We have not had any branch parties but we are working on it. Soon though we should have one we are just working on getting some other things in order in the branch before we do the activities. 

When will you find about changes?  My companion has changes he is already packed up.  That's too bad; you seem to get along well.  Yes but a change is always nice.  Is your comp excited to see somewhere else?  He is really nervous.   Where do you have to go to wait for your new companion?  We will go to either La Entrada 4 hours away or in Santa Rosa 3 hours from here.  While you are waiting at La Entrada you could visit people there with another Elder to pass the time.  I will eat breakfast; study and they will pass by around lunchtime.  Did President B. do the changes or did Pres. D.?  President D. did the changes.   This will be the last companion.  Yep this will be my last one. 

How was church this week?  I presided the meeting this week.  My companion directed and I blessed the sacrament and talked.  26 people in total including 4 missionaries came to church.  There are no Sunday school teachers; we are the teachers for that also. 

Love you and talk to you next week I will try and send pictures of the house and of my new companion. Thanks for everything you do. 

Week 96 Ocotopeque

Well we made it to write today so it is all fine, good to hear from you. My comp is still getting better he can walk but not too much but we came in a motto taxi to write.

Well on Thursday we went to la Entrada we left at 5 am we walked out in front of the house and no big buses came so we walked and found out that there would be none for a while then my comp put his finger out and a semi stopped and he picked us up ant took us there like 3 hours in a semi. Then we got a ride in a milk truck and the guys bought us a juice to get part way back. It was good and we didn’t spend much. We got to know President. this day and it was good he is really funny it was nice to finally meet him. 

Well you sure had us going this week with your charges on your debit card in Guatemala.  When did your comp start feeling sick?  Friday at 4 in the afternoon he started feeling sick, He couldn’t walk and was just laying down crying in a fetal position. The nearest hospital is 3 hours away in Honduras. Or San Salvador El Salvador 2 Hours, and in Guatemala it was only about an hour to get there so that was the best choice.  It was the only thing you could do that is what everyone from Honduras does. Did you talk to the mission president, or decide on your own.  We looked for a ride and the mission nurse asked for permission.  We didn’t go with anyone just with the guy that dropped us off. We had to pay him 1000 HNL but that was the only way that we were going to get there. He helped us into the hospital and then went back home. We went to Esquipulas Guatemala and it was a fairly large city. The border going to and from Guatemala isn’t protected there is just free pass. I was legal because I had my residency but my companion didn’t have any legal documentation but no one was going to stop us. We paid a guy in a truck to take us there and you don’t even have to stop on the border.  They helped my companion immediately and called the doctor he came and did some blood tests and felt around my companion’s stomach and when he pushed down and let off of the area of the appendix my companion had lots of pain. So they got him ready and took it out at 12 that night. We got there at 9 so it was really fast. All I know is that it worked out good. I have never been so long without a companion because he was in the surgery for about an hour and well during this time I was talking with a lab technician guy and come to find out he was an elder in the church but he was inactive but I truly had a companion while he was in the surgery. The hardest part was that we couldn’t call with our phone so I had to go and use the phone at the front desk or nurses station. It was a really small hospital but they did a good job. There were only 2 patients the whole night and there were two nurses to attend them, it was good.  Did they do it open or a scope?  He has an incision of about 2 inches so I don’t think they used a scope. He was put out so he has no idea.  Did you sleep in a chair at the hospital; no they had a futon that was really uncomfortable. Another problem was that I just wanted to be able to go and buy food by myself but I couldn’t. So you fasted for your comp instead of eating. Why didn't you go with the lab guy?  I also didn’t have quetzals in this time to pay for it. The elders from that area did come and visited us. They came at like 11 at night.  It wasn’t that expensive of a surgery, hospitalization, doctors and anesthesia it was cheap compared to the U.S.  It was the best there was because it was a privately owned hospital.  Yes Guatemala is nice, and the Spanish is a bit different but not much at all.  We got home on Saturday night.  How did you get home?  We had to pay a Guatemalan to bring us back home. Do you go back to Guatemala for a follow up with the doctor? We should go back on the 11 but I don’t know if we will.  Yes you go back so they can make sure it is healed enough to pull the suture. How much will a planned trip cost on a bus.  It would cost like 5 dollars.  With an appendix you can get infection in the skin so watch for swelling pain and redness

How is your stomach feeling?  It is feeling better. I am tired because I didn’t sleep Friday night and that is killing me so I have slept in the last few days. How is your back feeling?  It sill hurts a bit but the best part is that neither of us can carry anything now. Who told you not to carry anything or does your back hurt that bad that you don't want to?  if I take a heavy bag, I get to the point I don’t want to carry it anymore because it hurts fairly bad. So no back packs how are you going to teach? We will use really light backpacks, but for a couple more days we will just be in the house recovering. What are you eating in the house or picking up food and taking it home?  Yesterday we had soup and grilled cheese and chicken breast and mashed potatoes and a lot of Jello and today we went out to eat. 

Well my time is up, love you all and have another good week. Thanks for everything and all that you do. Have fun with the sod.