Sunday Feb 5, 2023

I feel like we are kind of getting into a groove, 😇.     We have been here in Tela long enough that we are finally getting to church,  and to the grocery store and back, and we can get to the beach, all without google maps!   I remember not too long ago that I finally got a little more comfortable driving in Provo and sort of knowing where I needed to go. It is a bit of a comfortable feeling when you at least can get where you need to go and getting back home is important too.  We have had to use that to get us back home quite often.  I don't know how they did it without google maps!  We are spoiled.  We did get out to the beach finally this past week.   We walked from our house, it really isn't too far away.  There is a more public beach just down the road that is packed with people on Sundays but we have never stopped there yet.  

We went out to meet people in the area with both sets of missionaries, they each serve in a different area assigned to a different Branch.  It is hard for me to remember names and which people are where and their stories but I think with time I will get it figured out.  We met a grandmother this past week whose son had been in a motorcycle accident while on his motorcycle on the highway.  He got hit by a truck and messed up his left leg from the knee down.  They have operated and put in a metal brace and screws to hold it all together.  He showed us the x ray of his leg and a picture of the scar and stitches.  There is a public hospital here and a private hospital.  He is in the public hospital which is where the poorer people go.  They are required to pay up front the entire amount of the charges before they will do anything.  So they had to go to the streets asking for donations.  It seems to be very common for people to be on the street corners with a bottle and a picture of their family member lying on a bed asking for money.  Anyway he seems to be improving and hopes to be able to go home later this week. We told them that since we had a car that we could pick up the grandmother and take her to the hospital and get him and take him home when he is released.  Hopefully he will feel more excited to return to church when he can get around, they have been rather inactive for a while but  we want to help them in any way we can.  We also met a man today who has been the Branch President here twice.  His wife was at work but he was very nice and wants to return to church and help out with the missionary work.  I feel like he was sincere and will be a great help to the Branch.  

He hasn't been back to church since Covid, which we hear from a lot of people.  Not only here, but in Provo it was the same way.  Covid has been a challenge for so many in so many ways.  A big part of it is that I feel like people get out of the habit of coming out to church on Sundays and it just got to where it wasn't that important to return.  I do know that for me, I couldn't wait to be able to return to church and be gathered together with other ward members and worship together.  There is just something about being together, singing the Hymns of Zion, partaking of the sacrament ,and praying and learning and sharing together.  That experience of being together I feel is so important.  

Today in Sacrament meeting which was fast and testimony meeting, I planned on sharing my testimony.  There was probably a total of only 30 people there so I thought it would be easy to get up.  It was so awesome though that there was never a moment when as one person closed another person was on their way up to the pulpit.  So I did not participate, other than that I was asked to say the opening prayer.  I will next time. I'll have to get up really fast. 😆.  It really was a great meeting.  Starting about 15 minutes late, I thought maybe they would end on time, nope.  they went late but it was really good.  There was one young primary age boy who shared his testimony which he said some really impressive things.  He said that he was grateful for the missionaries and they were angels sent here to help spread the word of God. He was so cute.  There is an Hermano Moreles here that goes out with us on a regular basis to meet ward members, he is truly a committed disciple of Christ.  It is really awesome the time that he gives to help in the Branch.  His wife is the same way, they truly are committed saints of God, in every way.   It is a testimony to me to see the way so many people live here that are so committed to serve our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ.  It inspires me to be better.  We are so blessed to be able to be here and have this wonderful opportunity so serve our Heavenly Father in this way.   I am so grateful to our Savior Jesus Christ for the many blessings we have received not only here but throughout our lives.

We had a baptism this week in the Telemar Branch, these seven children, Los Bonilla, were all baptized, then confirmed today in sacrament meeting.   They struggled a bit with the sister in the wheelchair but she was patient with the Elders and after 5 tries, they finally got it right.  Her feet kept coming up which is a natural reaction, but to be completely immersed, which is what has to happen for a baptism, they finally had her sister help them so they were successful.  The mother was baptized years ago but then fell inactive until recently.  They are a happy lively family 😂.  Never a dull moment with them.😂

After Church today this young man came in after he caught this gecko outside in the courtyard.  They say that these geico's run really fast so I asked him how he was able to catch him. He said he traped him in the corner.  He was pretty excited to have caught one.  I haven't seen any of these running around but they say they are everywhere.  I'll have to be more observant.  I asked him what he was going to do with it, and he said that his mom was going to make a soup with it, he claimed it is really good to eat in soup, I hope I never have the opportunity to eat gecko soup!!!

This is the beach our from our house, We are about 15 minutes walking distance from the ocean.  We have to walk down the street, across a soccer field, if there is no one there, or we walk around it if there are kids playing there, which is most of the time, then through a cemetery, then there is the beach!  We have only been out there once but we will be going back!  It is really nice and relaxing.  You can feel the mist blowing in off the ocean, and there is always a nice breeze right by the waters edge, which makes it feel cooler than just a little ways inland.  There is just something about listening to the waves and the crashing of the water as it rolls in and out.  The waves here are very small but the sound is so very relaxing.  Even though the mosquitos and the little biting "no-see-ums" that bite you and then the bites itch like crazy for days after.  It is still great to go out to the beach.  It is so relaxing to be out there