Sunday April 16, 2023

That picture is a great serene way to begin this week's post I would say.  This past week has been mostly tranquilo.  Up until yesterday after English Class our Branch President in Tela pulled me aside and said that the Stake President was going to be in Tela tomorrow and he would like to meet with you and your wife tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 8 am. at the church.  So of course I said great, we will be here.  There had already been rumors of being called to help with the Telemar Branch as a counselor in the Elders Quorum so I thought that is what was going on except that I thought it odd that they would be in Tela insead of Telemar, which I thought was odd, but oh well, What do I know?  So we get there this morning and we sit down in the Bishops office and he starts talking about the branch presidency how they are going to make some changes, so I am thinking ok, fine, why are they talking about the Tela branch all the time.  So then he said that they are releasing the first counselor in the branch presidency and sustaining him as the Elders Quorum President and they asked me to serve as the first counselor of the Branch Presidency.  So all I could think about is "I wish my spanish was better!!!"  I suppose it will be OK, but that is crazy that they are making this change here now today.  So we run out of there and go pick up our family to bring them to church, which we do almost every week now, and barely get back before church is supposed to start.  It was fast and testimony meeting here today so they took care of business and here we are.  

This is the view of the Tela branch from up on the stand.  Can you see Hermana Chappell on the Left in the back?  Not so very many people there.  I counted 48 including the entire Stake Presidency who were all seated on the stand.  There are a quite a few people on the right side which you cannot see from this angle but I just thought,  This is what I am going to see every week from now on.  Initially our calling was to help out in both of the Branches here but now with this calling I am not sure what to expect moving forward.  Oh well I suppose time will tell.  The Telemar Branch was Hermana Chappells favorite,  Isn't that how it goes?  

Me on the left, President Hernandez in the middle and the new Elders Quorum President on the right Manuel Mendoza.  Awesome men.  I can't say I am very excited but here we go.  Thanks to Hermana Chappell we will get through it.  

Here we are with the family we take to church quite often,  Hermana Doris next to Hermana Chappell with her daughter Yariani and her grandson David.  All members except for David who I think will be getting baptized soon.  He seems like it is what he wants in his life right now.  I hope he can make the commitment and follow through with it this time.  Apparently he has been close to baptism before so we will see what happens.  I hope that he can and will, it will make the whole family happy, including us.  

Other good news that we got news today is that this other family that we have been visiting in the Telemar branch, is that the man and woman have set a date for July 4 to get married so that she can get baptized.  I hope that happens, they are a great family too.   The thing about that family is that they are fun to visit with, the man speaks very good English so Hermana Chappell gets to be a bigger part of the conversation.  I try and translate for her as much as I can but during the conversations sometimes it is hard to keep up on the conversation and translate at the same time.  

While driving out to an appointment the other day we passed by this group of cows grazing in the pasture so we just had to get a picture 😁

The fleas or whatever bugs they are sure do like to eat on Hermana Chappell's legs.  Mine too but Hermana Chappell is so much sweeter than me so they like her better.   There is probably a solution but we aren't aware of what it is yet.  I think we know where it is where we go that we get so many bug bites but it would be nice to know how to avoid them.  They itch like crazy and the one bite whatever it is makes a big red patch that lasts about two weeks then finally disappears.  The problem is that we  always have to go to these locations where the fleas, and mosquitoes and who knows what else there are where they live.  We are blessed to have a good clean house without all the extra animals and bugs to live with us.  For the most part at least.  We do have geckos that roam the walls in the late evenings.  I think they are nocturnal and come out at night to find a meal.  It is a common sound to hear them.  For such a small animal they sure make a loud noise.  Not loud but for such a small animal it seems weird to me that it is as loud as it is.  

This is our "New food" experience this week.  Guanabana,   odd to look at and somewhat slimy texture has a very citrus taste, somewhat like a grapefruit.  Elder Martinez who is from Mexico found this one recently at a fruit stand and so he bought it to share with all of us.  It has a great flavor once you get past the texture.  There are slushies and smoothies and ice cream flavors using the guanabana that I think would be really good.  We keep finding new and interesting fruits and things to try here.  It is awesome.  Thanks Elder Martinez for sharing with us!