Sunday June 4, 2023

Yesterday, on Saturday the Hermana's asked us if we could take them out to this family's house for a visit. There are 6 kids living here.  The parents are in California, working and sending money here for the kids. Everyone in the family are members of the Church except for the oldest son who is not in either of these pictures.  It was a great experience to be there and get to know them a bit.  I don't recall them ever being to church so it was great to meet them and hear a bit of their story.  They were all living over in another bigger city when they met the missionaries and were baptized, then the parents decided to try a new life and make some money and eventually get all their family to the US.  I am not sure why the oldest son was not baptized at that time but they moved the kids out to this small extremely rural village named Hiquaque, and the parents moved away.  It is all rather strange but here and I suppose all throughout central America it is not at all uncommon for family members to be in the States supporting the rest of the family who are still here.  I just think it would be hard as parents to leave the family behind and move so far away.  I suppose for a better life is the faith and hope.  It is a story as old as time, for people to want to move on to a new and better dream of a life somewhere far away where the dreams really do come true,  where the troubles melt like lemon drops high above the chimney tops.  It is always so important to have dreams and hopes for a better life.  These kids are so very nice, and polite.  I don't think it was coincidence that while we were there their mom called them from California. She was so happy to think that there were missionaries and a member from the Branch out there to see their kids.  She was so happy.  After talking with her for a bit the dad got on the phone and he asked me if I would go inside and give their son a blessing.  He has been sick with aches and pains for a while now and just has no appetite and just isn't feeling well.  So I said that of course I would be happy do do that for them.  He is probably 16 or so, and we visited for a bit, and said that he has received priesthood blessings before.  They were all so very nice.  Today there were 4 of them that showed up to church, it was so great! They were doing laundry, they even had an electric washing machine, which worked except it didn't fill up with water on its own so they have to use a bucket to fill the machine.  The Hermana's went over to help them with the laundry. Pretty soon the little boy, in the first picture was getting his Saturday bucket shower with the help of his older sister.  

Chickens, dogs and laundry hanging out to dry.  Such a very common sight here, everywhere you look there are chickens, dogs and laundry hanging out to dry.  Another interesting thing is that the doors on the house are all open and the dogs and chickens would randomly enter and leave the house as well.  

We were with some Elders earlier in the week and I asked if I could take a picture of his shoes, he said sure!  He said, I need to get them sewed back up but I just haven't had time.  There are some amazing and dedicated servants of the Lord out here.  I know that they are everywhere but I feel like we are with a very dedicated, talented group of missionaries here.  They are trying their best to do this work they have been called here to do.  

We went out to La Ceiba, a city about 2 hours away in our car to a multi Zone Conference this past week.  It is such a pretty drive with all the beautiful green everywhere.  There are big pineapple fields out there so we stopped to take a few pictures and see up close what the pineapple plant looks like.  They must be related to the cactus family because it looks and feels like big sharp leaves on the plants. There were no pineapples at this point in this field where we stopped but there were men out there chopping off the tops of the plants with their machete. I do not know why they do that but there they were.  The steep mountains right behind the fields were pretty.  

We really enjoy being with the missionaries and to be able to be here to share this experience with them here in a small way.  Hermana Chappell is always on the phone or laptop sending or receiving messages to the missionaries who in some way or another have health concerns.  She has been sick with a bad stomach ache for a few days so we haven't been out too much but when we can we get out to be with them.  I was sitting in church this morning sweating normally,  everywhere we go there is sweating involved.  There is no AC in the church here but there are fans from the ceiling blowing during the meetings.  Anyway I realized that I was sweating really a lot, and my stomach was not feeling very normal.  So pretty soon I realized that I was going to throw up, and I did not want to in the chapel, so I went out to the restroom and threw up and pretty soon I was feeling better.  I don't know what was going on but I am glad I feel better now.  Colleen still is dealing with a yucky tummy but we sure hope that she can get feeling better soon.  I have been a part of 4 health blessings in the past week, there is always stuff going on, but we are glad to be here and to be a part of the Lord's work here in Honduras.