Sunday March 31, 2024

We were in San Pedro Sula this past Thursday,  and it was rather odd, because of the fact that today is Easter Sunday and this past week has been Semana Santa, (Holy Week),  most businesses were closed and schools are out, so everyone is out on vacation.  There was not hardly any traffic in San Pedro at all, so we took advantage of the situation and took this picture of the San Pedro sign.  Every city has their own, painted sign with the name of the city.  It is a fun thing they do here.  There were people here in the park but not very many, usually it is crazy busy.  We have always wanted to stop and take a picture but usually the traffic is crazy and there is nowhere within blocks to park the car.  There is a grocery store in San Pedro that is a very upscale grocery store for this country, there are a lot of imported goods, mainly from USA, but there are also things there from Europe.  We have been there several times, because it is where we can find gluten free flour and pasta.  So we go there every once in a while to buy things that are not found anywhere else that we know of.  Here are a few more pictures around this same park.

After being in the uncrowded city, we soon found out where all the traffic was,  They all came to Tela for the week.

They have set up these shade tent things all along the main road by the beach, and there are so many people there crowded in to this one section of public beach,  I don't see how that is enjoyable for anyone, but then again, I don't think like most other people either.  We drove over to church this morning and there were not many people out on the beach that early on Sunday morning but boy oh boy they had all left their trash everywhere.  It was crazy,,,,, there were crews out cleaning up everything though so I was glad to see that.  Restrooms and garbage disposal are two things that are lacking here.  

They have also temporarily finished the road construction in Progresso so it was amazing to be able to drive through that city in a relatively short time.  The new road evan has painted lines!  Amazing and there is a motorcycle lane on the right side of the main road, or maybe it is a slow vehicle lane, who knows?  They make it a car or bus lane just to get around slower vehicles.  The traffic here is a bit different than Utah.  

Today is also Meggan's birthday!  We hope to talk with here later today, we always enjoy visiting with our family members back home whenever we can.  Easter has fallen on her birthday a few times in her life, Colleen looked it up and it has only been 4 times that Easter has been the same day as her birthday.  I remember one year for here birthday cake, Colleen made a bunny cake for her.  I don't know why I remember that but I do.  

There happen to be three Hermana Leaders that came to see the Hermana's in Tela this past week,  so guess where they stayed?  With the Chappell's of course.  So we had to be taxi, room and board for them, which was great.  It is so different when there are sisters staying as compared to Elders. It is kind of like the difference between girls camp and scout camp.  Both are a lot of fun but totally different experiences.  Back home we would never have traveled like we do here, but it is not uncommon for them to crawl in to the back of the car, the hatchback, and ride there.  The other option is to take a taxi, and who wants to do that when they can all squish together and have the Chappell's take them where they need to go?  

Hermana Carias who is such a sweet Hermana, is from Costa Rica.  They are not rude about it but it is really common for Latinos, whether they are missionaries or people in the branch, to ask you if you will give them a shirt or a tie or a dress.  So Hermana Carias has asked Hermana Chappell several times if she would give her a dress and she was very specific about which one she wanted, so she happened to be here as an Hermana leader and she is going home on this next transfer so Colleen gave here this dress that she has been asking for.  She was so happy.  I still think it is a bit odd to ask people for their clothes but that is just normal here I guess.  I have given away two shirts and three ties so far and this is the first dress that Colleen has given away.  I think when we leave we will leave several shirts and ties and dresses here.  Speaking of which....

The countdown app on my phone dropped from a three digit number to only two this week, the number dropped to 99 days left.  And we also heard this week that we actually have two less days than that, because the mission is changing back to having missionaries who are leaving the mission leave here on Tuesdays rather than Thursdays, beginning July 1, 2024.  Which means that we will be traveling home on Tuesday July 2 rather than Thursday July 4 like we had thought.  It was about 6 months ago when they changed the day to Thursdays for missionaries leaving the mission but now it is going to be moved back to Tuesdays, who knows why, but I suppose it didn't work out like they had hoped because they are changing it back to how it was earlier.  We are ok with that, two days sooner :) 

We also made tacos this week with the freeze dried hamburger that the three friends who were here in Feb brought to us.  Colleen's good friend Megan Jensen sent it to us because everytime Colleen talks with her she always mentions how she would like to have some good beef.   Thank you Megan and Reggie!  Megan saw this on Amazon and thought she would get it for us.  I have never eaten freeze dried meat before but it was good, not anything like home beef but at least it was different.  We have cooked a couple of pork roasts and have found ham a couple of times but mostly if we eat meat, it is chicken.  So it was good to try something else.  It really will be good to enjoy a great steak, roast or even a hamburger when we get back home. 

It is always an uplifting experience when we go out and visit with branch members as branch members.  That is one thing that they seem to do very well here.  We set a time and all get together as branch leaders and make visits to other branch members.  We are always so well received and it is always a spiritual experience as we share words of hope and encouragement and share testimony and prayer.  President Garcia and his wife have been especially good at getting people out to see each other.  The ministering program that the church has in place is such a wonderful thing when it works.  When the individual members see it as an opportunity rather than an assignment, it makes such a difference.  I have enjoyed the experiences that I have been a part of.  I know that Colleen feels the spirit of the experience but the language barrier is difficult when she can't understand and share her experiences and thoughts.  I try and translate for her but I don't do very well is settings like that.  

When we are on our way back to Tela there is a place in Toyos called Tio Dolmo where we almost always stop and go to the bathroom, get a little something to eat and just walk around a bit.  That is the place where in the mens restroom is the cleaning room for the ladies who clean the building.  It is not uncommon at all for ladies to be in and out of there on a regular basis, and at times mopping the floors, yes in the mens restroom when it is full of people.  Just a bit different than back home.  Anyway, it is an open buffet style, restaurant, convenience store, and just a nice place to walk around for a minute.  The view from the front of the business is beautiful looking out across the street where there are a few shack places built there where ladies sell things from their front porch.  One thing they have quite often is corn on the cob grilled on their little homemade grill things.  But up beyond them is the beautiful green mountain, with so much pretty greet trees etc.  I don't have a picture here but just up the street is a big place where they bring the palm fruit that they harvest from the palm trees and they somehow prossess it to make the palm oil.  The smoke stack there is always pouring out dark grey smoke, and there are always trucks in and out of there.  But besides that it is a very pretty area where we like to stop whenever we are passing.  It is right on the main road as we travel to or from Tela.  A couple of the treats we buy are taquitos and quesadillas, which are NOTHING like the tacos or quesadillas from Mexico.  They are made with corn flour and have a sweet cinnamon filling in them.  I don't expect to ever see them again anywhere else other than at Tio Dolmo.  It is definitely a Honduras thing.  

When the Hermana Leaders were here last Monday we had 9 people in the house. That is a lot of people in such a small space. Missionaries wanting to talk to families and have a place to be alone can be a challenge. It certainly is challenging.  Very lively and never a dull moment. 

I LOVE this Hermana Carias, she is sweet and was so sick for many weeks about 6 weeks ago. I was so very worried about her. She became so thin and unable to eat anything. But she finally became stronger and has been such a great asset to the mission and the Hermanas in the mission.  She will be missed most especially by me.  

I don't suppose this Honduras adventure would be complete without a huge spider.  Well, we finally did see a very big spider, and in our house of all places!  We were sitting on the couch and it came walking along the wall, then went over by the stairs and in to the bathroom.  Colleen saw it first and screamed, I didn't know what was going on but when I got up and saw it I was surprised at how big it was.  We took a picture before killing it, but of course like all pictures it really doesn't show how big this spider really was, bigger than a silver dollar,  I don't know what to compare it with, bigger than a chicken egg, maybe like a lemon size.  I really would rather not see another one.  The worst part was that it was right here in our front room,  I hope we don't see any more! 

Also, we had Easter dinner today with the two Elders and the two Hermana's here in our area.  Colleen always makes great Sunday dinners, today we had ham which we found that was an American imported ham, which was good, not like the bone in hams, we usually get for Easter but it was good,  also a baked potato, with sour cream which we had just bought this week in San Pedro, corn, and she baked a carrot cake for desert.  It is always great when she cooks Sunday dinner, they are always American style, which is what we do, so the gringo Elder loves it and the Latino missionaries don't ever say too much about the food, but they are glad to have a meal anyway, even if it isn't their Latino style Sunday dinner, whatever that would be.