Sunday April 21, 2024

When young missionaries go out on their missions, they may get transferred every 6, or 12 or 18 weeks, some even stay in a single area for up to 6 months, or 24 weeks.  We have had several Elders who have been here in Tela for that long, then there are others who are transferred after only 6 weeks in a particular area. Hermana Chappell gets very attached to the ones that stay of a long time. It seems as if she is sending them off to college or a mission. When they leave it is like doing it with one of your own all over  again! Not easy for Hermana Chappell, it is painful at times! With each transfer they have to get to know their new companion, and / or a new city and area of the mission.  We are so blessed that as a senior couple serving a mission, we get to stay in the same area, Tela, and best of all we get to keep the same companion for the entire length of the mission.  WOW, so awesome to have had the blessing of not only spending these 18 months together here in Tela Honduras, but even better than that we have the promise of Eternity if we will do what we need to do, to receive that blessing from our Father in Heaven.  It has been a different experience being here on this mission for us.  At home there is always work, that you each go different directions all day.  We had the rough years also where we were separated between Provo and Lyman, which lasted for five and a half years.  That was way too much time to be apart but we did what we had to do, and got through it.  I think I was happier to be back together again than Colleen was once we sold the cows and I made the move to Provo.  That was a major adjustment, for both of us, but again, I think it was easier for me than it was for Colleen, for me home so much of the time.  I had a job which was 7:30 to 4:00 Monday thru Friday, which I had never had before. I had never had weekends off.  On the farm I was gone from home 7 days a week morning till night.  So all of a sudden I was home way more than I ever had been before and we were in Provo, so there were all kinds of fun things to go and do and places to go out for dinner etc.  I really enjoyed those almost two years before we came out here on our mission.  I think it helped us prepare for this time when we are together 24/7.  That has never happened to us before.  Here again I feel like I have had an easier time adjusting to being together all the time than Colleen has.  I have enjoyed this time that we have had together,  I think Colleen has too but it has been so much harder for her.  With her co-workers and friends, she has always had such a big group of fun people to interact with.  Now she is stuck with me, a non communicator and non conversationalist.  What the heck??  What makes it even harder for her now is that there are no gringo missionaries here in our district either so I am the only English speaker around. Except for today in Church there was a family visiting for sacrament meeting which we visited with a bit before church, and then also afterwards.  She is from Tela, I don't know where he is form but somewhere in the USA, they have 5 kids and live in South Jordan now.    They said that they have moved around a lot and have recently moved to Utah, he said we just can't get enough lotion or lip balm, because it is so dry.  It was funny because the wife who grew up here in Tela, said that she just can't take this heat.  She doesn't remember Tela being so hot.  Their youngest child who is maybe 2,  had very red cheeks and was uncomfortable all through church, I think it was just too hot for him/or her,  I don't know which, if it was a boy or a girl.  Their kids all speak some spanish even though they live in the States, which I think is great, she shouldn't have a family that doesn't speak her native language, even though listening to her English, I didn't feel like she had any accent at all.  Of course that is my personal opinion.  Her mom still lives here in Tela so they come to visit as much as they can.  She also said that there is no way she could ever live here in Honduras now after having lived in the USA as long as she has.  It was great to visit with them and share an English conversation.  

We traveled a little around here close to Tela this week getting to know the area and the people a bit better.  There are always interesting things to see out on the highway. This week there was this truck with these crates with chickens in them,  no need to tie them down or anything, just add two kids in the back to hang on to everything.  And the other one is of a family on a motorcycle, the dad driving with the child in the middle which is not at all uncommon here but what made this one funny is that the mom is hanging on to a bicycle, a backpack, a small suitcase, and what looks like a bag of groceries in her hand. 

We went out to a neighboring community this week called San Juan.  It seemed to me to be a Garifuna community where the people were very friendly but weren't too interested in listening to anything the Elders wanted to share.  

We also went out to the Quince another day with the Hermana's and visited several families there.  They are so very friendly and always willing to talk religion with us.  They are for the most part Christians and always willing to talk about God. 

 Hermana Chappell had two separate calls from missionaries who got bitten by a dog this week.  It is sure a good thing that all these missionaries including us have received the rabies vaccine.  If the dog is a dog from the street, then they only need to receive two more doses of the rabies vaccine three days apart, and if the dog is a domestic dog that they can go back and check on every day for 10 days to watch for rabies symptoms, then they don't need any further vaccinations.  One the missionaries waited to tell Hermana Chappell he had a dog bite for 3 days. He did not want a SHOT! SO we had to miss a baptism in the branch and go to Progreso to give the Elder, who is really a child who has just been out of Primary for 6 years, a rabies vaccine.  The other Elder said that after the dog bit him, the lady of the house had him squeeze Lime juice on it, to prevent infection.  They have a lot of uses for Lime juice here.  Who knows if it really works or not,  I guess we'll see if he gets an infection. 

This last picture is also a rather frequent sight here as well,  who needs clothes anyway?  It is just too hot here. 😂