Week 48 La Jutosa

Have you started on any medicine yet? No the nurse has not responded back and I haven’t received any treatment but I don’t feel super sick and I looked the parasite up last week and it doesn’t have any real harm. I have a lot of gas, which is one of the side effects of this ameba.

Did your go to the mountains and get firewood? No we haven’t done it yet I am still trying to talk my comp into doing it. He doesn’t want to have to work super hard in the middle of nowhere. We have been listening to all of the stories of J. and they are extensive. He has had a really hard life.  We decided to ask him about all of the animals that have bitten him or hurt him. He started talking about a viper snake that bit him on the toe when he was like 8, he then went home and he almost died, he went unconscious and well was going to die, when a person passing by told his family a cure for this. This is the curd. They got a duck cut it down the rib cage and put his foot in side and tied the duck on. He said that in like and hour or so he was awake and that the duck had turned purple because of all the venom that it had sucked out of his foot. He survived and almost no one survives this. Boa Constrictors have attacked him and he just talks about them and he loves to play with them. Cows also attacked him and even a sloth hurt him one time and it ripped his toenail off. He acts like all of this is nothing but just to hear it is really cool. We ate with them on Sunday for dinner, they gave us baleadas and they offered us the trachea of cow but I turned the offer down. Well there’s not meat on the trachea but they were eating it. It was just like a rubber tube. It looked nasty and super stretchy when they tried to bite a chunk of it.

pila where we wash our clothes

Companions taking a bath in our pila 

What was your spiritual experience for the week? I think it was on Sunday after we finished the fast. Our investigators invited us to go and eat lunch with them so we said yes.   We went there and ate with them and they said that they had a really rough night and that it had been a hard day. Come to find out, they had been fasting. It was a very spiritual experience, that there are people that go above and beyond because they really want an answer. We teach her and invite her to read. Well she reads and then she writes notes and favorite scriptures on a separate page. We taught her one time this week in the rain, it was hard because we were below a metal roof that was like 7 feet high, so we were really close to it and it was hard to hear. We taught a whole lesson screaming so that they could hear us. It was really funny, we felt like evangelist because they always scream when they do anything. 

Also we watched a few of the churches videos with our investigators and it was impossible to say that the spirit wasn’t present. They were almost all crying and it was neat to see the power of the videos. I hope that some day I will be able to make such powerful videos. 

When are your baptisms scheduled? We have 3 baptism scheduled for this next week C. is 24, M. is 22, W. is 16. They are sisters and cousins and well they have come to church 3 times now and are very participative in all. They love the church and just want an answer a little better from God about baptism but they are on track to be baptized this week. The next week we have a few more and the next week a few more. We have 5 investigators with a baptismal dates and 4 or 5 more that will have a date here in a bit. We have one group of sisters that has 4 sisters so that’s almost a family and we are teaching their cousin so we should see progress. We have others with fecha (a date) there name is C. and J. and well they are really nice, they even invited us over for lunch on Sunday.   Are you teaching any boy investigators?  No there are no guys, here its crazy because there all working during the time we are out teaching. 

What are you studying this week? I have been reading in 2nd Nephi and it is interesting just to try and understand all of the things of Isaiah and well sometimes I get bored and yeah, but I will get through it. I think the coolest thing that I found in the scriptures this week was an example in the Book of Mormon of modesty. 

Did you have any new foods this week? I didn’t have anything new but we did eat sopa de MONDONGO and it wasn’t my favorite but it wasn’t bad. I had to ask the lunch cook what was in it because there were some huge cartilage fatty things in my soup and she said it comes from the cow foot I didn’t eat those because I was scared to do it, she gave us Nance juice and it was terrible it tasted as my companion likes to say like “Elmer’s glue”. 

Are you getting use to the mattresses yet? Yes I am finally used to the new mattresses and I sleep really well on them now. 

How has the weather been? It has been really hot here and really humid. It rains almost every night for a few minutes and sometimes it like fills all the streets with water and they turn into small rivers. 

What did you do for p-day?  Wow today we went and played soccer in Puerto and we ate at Wendy’s. I got really mad at Wendy’s because they didn’t have change for all of the money we were spending on food. I got mad at the company for a minute like, are you kidding me? I had a 500 limp bill and they didn’t have change. Its not worth Wendy’s time to be there if they don’t have change for 25 dollar’s in the till. So I just used my free burger receipt and that is what I ate. 

When do the kids go to school are the in school now?  Yes they are in school now. Do they get any time off ever?  They get a few weeks off in different season of the year.  The school here is every day of the week, at least for some kids, including Saturday and Sunday. 

Well my time is up, I hope that you will all have a good week and that you will be able to have some fun. I love you all, thanks for everything, I couldn’t do it without you all.

Love ELDER OLSEN

Week 47 La Jutsoa

How are you feeling?  I have had stomach pains.  Are you feeling better with the antibiotics?  Well I am not taking anything right now I am still waiting for our mission doctor in Guatemala to tell the nurse what I am going to take.  A nurse Dad works with was a mission nurse in Guatemala and she said it is probably an amoeba. What did the tests show?  The tests say that I have Endolimax nana, a parasite.  Do you still have stomach cramps I was told you should be taking flagil?  No I don’t have stomach cramps but sometimes it hurts when I walk. Are you feeling strong enough, have you lost any more weight?  No I haven’t lost any more weight.  Are you being more careful about the water and using the UV filter? I am just drinking more bags of water. Even the water that we had bought in the big 5-gallon jug had something in it. I just refuse any water that is offered to me now, but sometimes this week I have had a coke with ice that is from bad water, but I will try and get better at not drinking bad water, but it’s everywhere.

How was your week?  My week was good but it was a little long. We had a lot of work but we got to go to Choloma every day Monday through Friday and on Friday afternoon we went to San Pedro because my comp had a doctor’s appointment with a neurologist.   

What your spiritual experience?  The most spiritual experience this week was seeing the fruits of our labors in church. We had 7 investigators in church this week and we really felt good to see them there. It is always hard because here they don’t just have hymn books so we have to share and have members share. We had a family of 5 and 2 other girls who are cousins and they liked the church. I just feel good to see that what we are doing actually has an effect. It was weird because only 17 of the people in church were active members from La Jutosa and the rest were investigators, missionaries, or people from Choloma. The attendance was 35 people in total.  

What did you do for your birthday, happy birthday!!!  Nothing special. Today we played soccer and we ate at pizza hut.  Will you have a cake?  My comp gave me some cup cakes like the hostess ones so that counts.   Did the other elders recognize your birthday?  Yes also one of the other elders had his birthday on Friday.   What about dinner in SPS?  On Saturday we went out to eat for my birthday. We ended up going to the same place that we ate with dad, Garden Bistro. I charged it to my credit card it was like 700 Limps.  Did you have Steak Diane?  Yes that is what I ate.  What did your companion have for dinner at the restaurant?  My comp bought a sandwich. Why didn't he have steak?  I don’t know, he paid for his meal, I tried to pay for it but he wouldn’t let me. 

You probably didn't have time to go to the mountains and cut firewood this week.  No we didn’t go to the mountain to cut firewood but I did get to split some firewood.  Who did you split it for?  Juan de Dios the grandpa of all of our investigators. 

Is next week transfers?  Changes aren’t this week but the next week on Monday we will find out and on Wednesday are the changes.  What are your feelings on transfers?  I think I will stay here.  Yes if you are having success he will keep it going.  We should see success especially next transfer because there are a lot of investigators progressing.   We should see success because there is going to be home teaches here soon and it should go good.  Well any association with the other members is more that there is right now.  Are there any possible priesthood holders to baptize?  There’s like 7 priesthood holders in the branch. Do you have any baptism dates?  We have 4 people with dates.  Are you still looking for a river spot to baptize?  No we are just going to the nearest ward building with a font. 

This is what president said about the dates for return:

 A couple of quick thoughts about your release date: August 18, 2016 is the date when your group of missionaries will go home, and it coordinates with August 16th when the new missionaries arrive. That's why we have set dates, so that missionaries leave when others come, and we don't have to close areas or put people in threesomes, etc. The Brethren give mission presidents the ability to adjust release dates either 30 days before or 30 days after your two-year anniversary date, largely to coordinate the dates of arriving and departing missionaries. Because you arrived at the MTC on September 3, 2014, the Brethren permit me to send you home as early as August 4, 2016 or as late as October 3, 2016. If I try to do anything earlier or later than that window, you and I have to write letters and seek a special exception from the General Authorities. Frankly, since you don't start orientation until August 25th, I hope you will consider the challenges that leaving early causes for your next mission president (I will be gone by then), and go home with the rest of your group on August 18th. However, if it really causes you and your family inconvenience, then go home on August 4th. To ask for a date earlier than that becomes a challenge. What do you think on the date, the 18th is no time to transition for you and us as a family?  We will see what we decide. I don’t know if I need a lot of time but we will see. I will just have to buy a computer and that’s about it. We are the selfish ones because you would never be home to see us.  Yes I would be home because at least I would live reasonably close not airplane distance. 

How are the new mattresses?  The new mattresses are super stiff and hard, it has been really hard to sleep on them. 

We are dying with the humidity here in South Carolina, so we feel for you and the heat.  OH it isn’t even hot there I would have to use a coat if I was there.  It’s really hot here, it burns to walk and there is always sweat on everything.

We went to the Myrtle Beach boardwalk and pier last night, it is sad to see the people have no direction in their life, and think that partying is everything.  You should see that here, there’s so many drunks all of the time, even on Monday and Tuesday that should be impossible.

But thanks for the time you have talked to me but I am out of time now. Love you all and tell everyone hello for me. 

Week 46 La Jutosa

For p-day we went to the beach and we played volleyball, it was pretty fun. Although I got sunburned I liked it.   We came back and ate at Wendy’s and we are now writing. 

How was the teaching this week? Are you having success? We have two sisters that are progressing very well they came to church last week and they loved it. They didn’t come this week because there was a drunk outside of their door all night bothering them, so they didn’t sleep all night long so they slept in. But they are very good there always reading thinking and praying, they are 22 and 24 years old and they really want to know if what we have taught is true. They have a baptism date for the 8th of August and will be ready by then. 

What was the spiritual experience of the week? I think that the most spiritual experience this week was talking in church. I have had to talk 3 times here and I have had to talk on missionary work, it has gotten really hard not to talk on the same things over and over again. So I was feeling sick and I had to write my talk so I sat down an just said a prayer and thought for like 2 hours on what I was going to talk about and I decided I was going to talk about home teaching because that doesn’t exist here and it is something that the branch needs to grow. I just felt the spirit telling me what I should talk on. The talk went good and I gave it and I know that it was what I should talk about. 

Are the parents of the boy you baptized interested in the church? The parents aren’t interested in the church he only has a mom and all of his brothers are from different men. I. is always happy. We have been working with his sister and she has potential to get baptized, she just needs to come to church a few more times. The mom sells cable subscriptions and she works on Sundays, she makes commission and has to charge the people, Sunday is when all of the people are in there houses so she says she cant come to church. 

Did you eat any new food this week? This week I ate no new food I almost didn’t want to eat at all. I have had a super bad stomachache and diarrhea for a while and then I got a fever on Saturday and Sunday so I am taking some pills now.   I think I will have to get a test to see if I have parasites or an infection. So I am just staying hydrated and I will start the tests tomorrow because they take 3 days of tests I have to give them a sample every day and they will tell me what I have.  Do you have to travel down to Choloma for the tests?  I think I will go to San Pedro for the tests.  Please make sure and drink plenty of water.  I am drinking some stuff I had to buy in the pharmacy and a Jumex type drink that is good to hydrate.  I am taking 2 pills ones an antibiotic with digestive enzymes and the other I’m not sure.  Did you get it from a pharmacist?  No the mission nurse told me what to buy. Is the mission nurse Hermana M.?  She is the next mission nurse the one right now is Hna R.  Do you still have a fever?  No I have been taking acetaminophen; I don’t know what it is in English.   How long does it take to get you San Pedro?  It takes like 30 minutes to get from Choloma to SPS.

Your companion has a picture of a bucket with water in a shower, is that the water that comes out of the tap?  Yes that was water from the tap and sometimes I gut stuck drinking that water in some people’s house.  Grandma says tell them you are fasting. Yeah well they don’t tell you what you’re drinking until after.

Did you do any service this week?  No I don’t think so. But this week we are going to go into the mountains and get firewood. 

Did you ever help the man with his bees?  No I don’t want to play with bees.  Its crazy, 1 liter of honey here costs 60 limps or 3 dollars.  Yes its super cheap here and it smells good, it’s not packaged very well though they just clean out alcohol bottles and re-use them because they’re cleaner. 

We might get the inside of our house painted and we will get some new hose valves for the kitchen and shower.  Today was the first real picture we have seen of that house, those ceilings are high, is your bedroom in the same room as your kitchen.  No we have 2 bedrooms 1 bathroom a kitchen and a dining room.  So do you still have to sleep in the same bedroom?  Yes we have to sleep in the same bedroom.

Do you ever sleep in your hammock?  No I sleep on the bed. I have had a really old mattress so I called the mission secretary and told him we needed new ones. We should get new mattresses this Wednesday. I felt like I was sleeping over the  Grand Canyon.  The mattress has the biggest divot I have ever seen in a mattress.  It bows like 6 inches in the middle, and it hurts my back.  Do you have fleas in the beds?  No I don't think so, if we do I don't know.  I have only found one tick on my arm one time, but no fleas.  

It has been a really interesting week and it has been a struggle in many ways from being sick to not having light in the house sometimes at night.  This week it only went out once, but it seems to go out on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Its not like it just goes out an hour, it was out all night and when we woke up still nothing, when we left the house still no power.  Other than that it has been a good week, just trying to stay animated here is a little hard but I can deal with it.  That’s all my time is up.   Don’t forget about the Volkswagen in all of you not spare time. 

Week 45 La Jutosa

Did you have the dual baptism this week? No we only ended up baptizing one person this week. But it was a dual baptism in a sense because we had 2 baptisms, one that was just for the branch and the other that was for the mission. I had the opportunity to baptize A. I. C. E. it was a very cool experience because he is only 9, but he is super responsible. No one in his family makes him do anything but he will come to church without anyone.   He will stay home if his family goes out of town just to go to church and this is something very cool about him. He was so happy and I felt very happy to see him as the newest member of the branch.

Tell us about some of the food you ate this week. This week I think that one of our investigators gave us pork liver or kidney from a pig that she had killed in the mountain it was terrible, but we choked it down. Other than that we have just eaten normal things. 

Were you able to do any service this week? Yes one day we went and chopped or weeded with machetes and it was pretty fun. I like weeding, it is pretty fun because I use the machete to do everything and I just end up having to pick up the weeds after. After, the family gave us pizza that they had made in a wood oven and it was really good for pizza in Honduras. 

What did you do for p-day? For p-day we just cleaned a little in the house and then we came down to Choloma, ate at burger king and we then went ant got with other elders. One of the elders only has 5 days left so it was his last p-day and we just went to pizza hut and well we split a big pizza combo. It was good. 

Did your companion go see the doctor? No he didn’t go to see the doctor but we will see because he is going to start to run out of the pills that the doctor had him taking to prevent the migraines. I think that my fungus had finally gone away and the treatment that I was on will end here in 2 more days. 

Have you talked to the mission president about coming home a little early for school? I have, he keeps saying that he will send me my return date but it hasn’t happened yet so I just emailed him to remind him.   Hopefully next week I will know and then we will be able to see if I need to come home early. 

What was your spiritual experience for the week?  I think that the most spiritual experience of the week was starting to see progress in new investigators this Sunday, because there were 3 in the sacrament meeting and they are smart and can progress if they receive an answer to their prayers. It is very interesting because here the people don’t try and combat the Book of Mormon and say that it is impossible because you can’t add to the Bible, but they accept it and just say thanks that is something that I really didn’t know. I know that the Lord has Elder P. and me here for a purpose and I really think that we are doing something good because we are starting to meet some more of our goals. 

Is that an avocado in the picture?  Yes that’s an avocado from the tree above our house. That thing fell and hit the roof and it scared us really bad because it was loud.  Were you able to eat it?  We gave it to our lunch cook and well it kind of bit us in the butt because she has started to give us a lot more avocado.

Well I ran out of money as I always do when I have to buy shampoo, its crazy because it happens to everyone there’s not money if you buy shampoo. Well I bought lotion, shampoo and body wash. It cost me over 25 bucks. 

We camped like 3 nights this week because the power went out so we have to come back to the house but there’s nothing to do and nothing to eat so we just watched meet the Mormons and we went to bed.  Did you do any cooking this week?  no there almost wasn’t ever power to do anything and I don’t want to cook on a fire.   They’re building a hydroelectric dam above our house and below they’re building a big coal fueled power plant. 

What is the picture with your companion swings over the river?  We looked for a spot in the river to baptize and we didn’t find any good places and this was while we were looking, he wanted a picture on the swing over the water.  So where did you baptize.  In a ward building called La Ceden it is in Choloma on the way to Puerto. We used the bus to get there and the branch president took all the people there in his pickup truck.

But thanks for talking with me, hope that you will have a good week. I hope that we will begin to see more progress here in the big snail that what La Jutosa means so love you all and be safe.