Sunday Nov 5, 2023

If feeding missionaries gets you points in heaven, Hermana Chappell certainly has a lot of heaven points.  We had 5 over for lunch today after Stake Conference.  President Ostler and the two AP's stopped by plus we had the two Elders from here over.  Hermana Ostler is in Salt Lake to meet their new granddaughter for a week so she wasn't here but it was good to have them here.  She had a pork roast and baked potatoes and corn on the cob plus cookies for desert.  They all ate like they were starving.  These young men and women can sure put away the food.  The Gringo's like the american style food that we have here at our house.  Elder Lazo and Elder Pardo probably didn't quite like it in the same way we do because it is our style cooking rather that what they might have in their country but they are always hungry and eat everything placed on the table.  It was a great day.  Stake conference was in Progreso this weekend, with an area seventy presiding.  We went yesterday to Progreso and participated in the Saturday meetings, then today they allowed us and the Telemar Branch to watch from here using Zoom.  I was so happy they let us do that so we didn't have to drive in to Progreso again. 

 We have done so much driving this week.  Last Monday evening we got a call from a missionary who has been sick with Dengue, but who had been doing ok just staying at home.  He called because he said that he was bleeding from his gums, which is a complication that happens with a more severe case of Dengue.  So after talking with the Mission Dr. Elder Wade who is in Logan, it was determined that this Elder needed to get to an emergency room at a hospital soon, because of the potential life threatening issues.  In severe cases Dengue can cause internal bleeding that has the potential to be life threatening.  So rather than risk further complications we decided that we needed to go get him and his companion and take them to San Pedro Sula to a hospital there.  At the time when the missionary called it was late enough in the day that the public busses from their area were not running any more, so them taking a bus was out of the question.  We around 9:30 pm, we left here to go to to Mezapa to pick them up to go to San Pedro. Yikes, you know how I do when it gets later at night, but we were blessed to be able to travel safely.  Once we got to the hospital they take forever to get anything done but we finally got lab results back and his numbers were all good, so they told him to just make sure and hydrate well and we were free to go. This was at 3:00 am,  we went over to President Ostler's house to sleep for a little while.  We got up at 7, and were on our way back home.  We did stop at a Denny's, and had breakfast. After very little rest it was good to get back home.  We were able to take a little nap Tuesday afternoon after getting back here in Tela so that was good. 

The Zone leaders were here doing exchanges with the Elders here Tuesday and Wednesday so we had them here at our house Tuesday night then Wednesday for District council, then they left Wednesday afternoon.  So after they left it was like a sigh of relief to be quiet again.  The quiet didn't last though,  Hermana Chappell got a call from another missionary who had been sick for a week with Dengue symptoms but was getting worse and worse, so she sent him to the hospital out there in his area which is Yoro.  The only hospital there is a public government run hospital which are barely better than nothing.  When she spoke with him on Thursday he was still getting worse so it was decided that a transport would go out there and get him to take him in to the hospital in San Pedro on Friday morning early.  They were far out away from where we are so thank goodness we didn't have to go do that but Hermana Chappell was worried enough about him that she wanted to go to San Pedro to see him.  So on Friday after the English class we got in our car and headed back to San Pedro to the hospital again.  We finally got word just tonight that his lab results are finally getting better.  He is such a small young man from Uruguay, a wonderful, sweet young man, but he sure has been sick.  I guess it is like most illnesses, some get by without being too sick while others just get really sick. He has been really sick.  It is a good thing that he was transferred to this hospital in San Pedro, because he really did need more professional care.  

This week also has been so rainy.   Initially it was a hurricane that was headed this way but as it got closer to land it weakened and they just called it a tropical depression.  There was never any bad wind with the storm thank goodness, but my the rain has been so steady, lighter at times and such a downpour at other times.  Thank goodness we were able to travel just fine.  Other than the nerves and stress it causes.   The roads are bad enough in good weather but we made it ok again to San Pedro. 

 On Friday the group text message chat for the Tela Branch was non stop, what are we going to do if the water raises any more we will be flooded, and offers to help from everyone.  It really could have been a serious situation but in the end no one was seriously flooded, and no evacuations were needed.  The church is in a good location and it can be used if needed for families in case of an emergency.  Today has been cloudy with a light rain on and off and cool.  The weather forecast is for another storm to move in this week and rain a lot more.  There are three rivers here close by that dump into the ocean.  Dixon was telling me yesterday while we were at church that many of the rivers here when they are running low, the sand and debri plugs up the end of the river where they dump into the ocean so they back up and can run over the banks but then after they back up to a point the pressure and volume of water flushes out the sand and debri so they flow better without the resistance so the flooding problems now for the next while are much less.  There are a few low places here where the water was up to the front bumpers in the cars as they drove through the water down the streets.  The people in motorcycles had it much worse.  

Speaking of motorcycles, for Halloween here the thing is for late at night to have BIG groups of motorcycles all get together, put on masks, and drag around who knows what and make a lot of noise.  I feel like there is probably a lot of beer involved as well.  I am glad that Halloween is over.  That is the one and only one we get to experience here.  November and December are typically the most rainy season anyway but they have said that this past week is way more rain than normal.   We will see what this next week does.   

The Hermana's of the Relief Society made donuts this past Thursday so sell to make money for the bus ride to Stake Conference and for the Temple trip.  Thank goodness at the last minute they said that we could watch the Sunday session of Stake Conference on Zoom so we stayed here but they made and sold donuts on Thursday.  They smelled very good,  Hermana Chappell ate one, and we bought 4 bags to contribute to the fund.  We gave a bag to the Hermana's, one to the Elders, one to the Madrid's and one to the Funez's.  

The roads don't have a lot of drainage in the lower places so it just builds up until it can all soak into the sand or wherever it goes.  

This picture of our district we took after district council on Wednesday by the Tela sign.  

Today after conference we had a record number of occupants in our car to give them a ride home after church.  The picture from inside the car, and then once we all got out.  There were 10 of us in our Nissan Kicks.  Wow, we are crazy, but we made it ok.  It is nice to be able to help them out.  They all live a ways out of town and the roads out there are so muddy and wet.  We drop them off at the corner when the roads are so bad, but at least it is a lot closer than if they had to walk from the church.  I wonder if any of them will even keep going once we are not here to give them all a ride each week, oh well, I don't need to worry about that for now.