Sunday August 6, 2023

Today is Fast and Testimony Sunday for all of us in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Hermana Chappell has been feeling sick today and yesterday so she stayed home today but I went to church at the Telemar branch which is the church pictured above.  We attend Tela Branch and then Telemar every other week.  Today it was our turn to go to Telemar.   Which made the Telemar members happy,  usually fast and testimony meeting here in the Telemar branch is somewhat slow with big spaces of time between testimonies, so they appreciate us being there to offer two more testimonies to take up some of the time.  But today was totally different, there was no spare time at all between testimonies and I didn't even have an opportunity to get up and share my testimony which I was planning on doing today.  I think today was actually the first fast Sunday since we have been here where I did not share my testimony. Somewhat different than back home in Provo or in Lyman,  where it was definitely not every month when I did that.  The meeting started out with the primary children singing the primary song, "I love to see the temple".   Also in the foyer there were pictures that the primary children had created of a temple.  Most of them drew pictures of the Tegucigalpa temple but also some did the Salt Lake Temple.  They are really awesome, the artwork of these children.  There were several of the children of the branch that shared their testimony which I always Love.  With the primary song and the primary age children starting the meeting I think made a big difference there today.  There is a couple here in the Branch who quite often come to the pulpit together and share their testimonies, and then today after them, there were two other couples who came up together and shared their testimonies as well.  I just thought that was so great, seeing the love and hearing their testimonies about eternal life and the blessings we receive after making covenants in the temple.  It was a very meaningful meeting today,  I am glad that I had the blessing of being there today to be a part of that.  I am so thankful for Colleen and the blessings that we have had throughout our lives to have the gospel of Jesus Christ be at the very center of everything that we do and have ever done.  It is all about family and the love and concern that we have and share within those family circles.  I am so thankful for our children and grandchildren, and the relationships that we have.  I am so very thankful for the blessing we have of being here in Honduras at this point in our lives to help the missionaries and the people here.  There were so many of the members in Telemar today that asked about Hermana Chappell,  they truly do appreciate us being here and they definitely miss Hermana Chappell when she is not there. 

 Our clothes washer has been making a loud sound lately and as of Tuesday did not pump the water out.  So we thought Oh No,  it is going to be forever till we can get it fixed, so we decided to wash the whites and maybe get by on the colors until it can be repaired.  Every house here has a pila, (top picture) with the washboard in the cement basin with the tap and drain.  So here we are washing the clothes,  Colleen washing them and then I rinsed them and put them in the dryer, which was still working.  I didn't wring them out very good because it took three times to get them dry.  😁 Anyway, the Landlord lady gave me a number I could call to see if they could fix the washer.  I sent him a picture of the machine, which let him know what brand it was, and told him what was going on.  That it didn't spin the water out at the end of the cycles.  I was very surprised when he showed up later that same day with a pump from another machine and replaced ours with this other one.  He said that he would give us a two month guarantee on the pump so we will see how it goes but at least now it does spin and pump all the water out and it is so much more quiet than what it was before.  I am pretty sure that because of the fact that I am a Gringo, he charged me about three times what he would have charged anyone else here but at least it is fixed, so no more washing clothes in the pila.  

Here we are after District council on Tuesday, the last one before transfers.  This particular group have been such a special group for us.  I don't know just what it is but it seems that we have made a very special connection with each other.  Hermana Ortega, the one in the dark green dress was transferred to La Lima and a new Hermana,  Hermana Gomez is here now, since Thursday.  Here they are, our new Hermana Gomez and Hermana Seb on the bus on their way to Tela from Progreso after having made the changes and now traveling to their new area.  They are both from Guatemala, so I expect they will be great companions for each other and enjoy their time together.  It seems to make a quite a difference when they have their home country in common.  

This last picture is the group of missionaries that have finished their mission and went home this past week.  It is amazing how many of them we have come to know and love.  The months of July August and September are big months for Gringo missionaries, because of the fact that they leave right out of High School and how quick they are to get their application submitted and receive their call.  The Latino missionaries are more spread out throughout the year.  This particular group is the largest group at one time that is leaving the mission.  There are 23 of them and the new group that just arrived has 17 new missionaries, so we are short a few, the number is always fluctuating somewhat but stays at around 170.  That is a lot of young men and women to have to keep track of!  Hermana Chappell gets to know some of them very well and others not so much but it is always a blessing to be able to be here and to be a part of this great missionary effort that is going on throughout the entire world, but more especially for us here in this mission of Honduras San Pedro Sula Este.