Sunday May 26, 2024

We have had a rather difficult week, because of several things, but seeing how some of these wonderful young Elders and Sisters treat each other has been both heart warming and also rather sad at times.  We start with this picture taken of Elder Rosario who spent probably 30 minutes just visiting with Hermana Chajchalac, who you can just barely see as she is lying in the corner of the couch and who has been so sick this past week and a half.  He is so kind and considerate of others,  he is such a great young man.  On the other hand the two hermana's have been together for an entire transfer and the longer they were together the less they spoke to each other, it was like they were enemies with each other.  We were glad when transfers finally arrived this past week on Thursday and Hermana Puac left the area and a new Hermana, Chinchilla is now with Hermana Chajchalac, and they are so much more happy with each other.  I am glad when they can get along and at least act like they are friends,  I know sometimes it is difficult when they are put together and they are with each other 24/7, but it is just human nature I suppose that some people are easier to get along with than others.  So, back to Hermana Chajchalac, she was sick,  in last weeks blog I wrote how we took her to La Lima, to the ER last week.  We hoped she would get better.  They did not do a very thorough exam and diagnosis because she continued to be sick, so on Tuesday of this week we took her to San Pedro Sula to the hospital.  We waited all day for a diagnosis and to see if she would need to stay there or if she could return with us back here to Tela.  Finally late in the afternoon they said that she needed to stay in the hospital while they treated her for not only the UTI infection that she had from before but their tests showed that she had Dengue, and after an ultrasound she was diagnosed with gallbladder stones.  So she will have to undergo surgery to remove her gallbladder, but she has been so sick with the infection and Dengue, that she needs to get over that and then they will look at doing the surgery.  Depending on the surgery, but they normally go home to do the surgery and recovery, but since they can do the gallbladder surgery with a laparoscopy, the recovery time is much shorter so she will do the surgery in San Pedro Sula and stay here in the mission as she recovers.  So she ended up staying in the hospital and we came home with us on Friday after we had been in La Lima at the mission office giving rabies shots to the new Elders and Hermana's that had just arrived here, starting their mission.  The higher ups, by the way have finally approved Honduras as a country where rabies shots are required to be received before arriving here in the country, that will make Hermana Ostler's job a lot easier once we are gone, because hopefully all the new missionaries will all be vaccinated before arriving rather than after they get here like it has been here since last November.  Colleen has had to give a lot of shots these past few months to get everyone vaccinated.  These that just arrived this past week will get their second dose at the next to multi zone conferences that we will have in La Ceiba and in La Lima in June.  So anyway, back to hermana Chajchalac, she is getting better and will have to get an appointment with the surgeon and get her surgery scheduled.  She is a bit nervous about getting it done, but it is like Colleen keeps telling her, she will feel so much better once they get the gallbladder removed and she can heal.  She is from Guatemala, and after she talked with her family last week on Wednesday, we asked her how her mom was doing,  knowing how sick hermand Chajchalac has been.  She smiled and said, "Well,  I didn't tell her everything."   So I am not sure if her mom knows that she will have to have surgery or not, but I would think that President Ostler would have to talk walk her parents before she has surgery to explain everything and to get their approval.  Anyway, We have done a lot of traveling this week and spent too much time in hospitals lately.  Oh, well, that is why we are here, to help them.  In the next few weeks I expect that we will be making several more trips to San Pedro Sula.  

So this past Monday night the missionaries wanted to get together and have a meal before transfers, that they prepared for us, it was a Mexican dish, I don't remember what it was called, but it was good.  And a drink from Dominican Republic.  It was a fun evening even though the hermanas were icey with each other and hermana Chajchalac didn't feel good at all. 

This past district has been sad because of the way the sisters treated each other, but the two Elders made up for it because they are both so happy and fun to be with.  When we took the two Elders to the bus stop and sent them off on the bus on Wednesday evening you would think we were saying goodby to our own children, Colleen was crying, it is always hard to see them off,  knowing that besides the next zone conference we will never see them ever again.  The relationships that are created are unreal.  So both of the Elders were transferred out and one Hermana.  Which means that now after Thursday we have two new Elders and one new hermana here in Tela.  We don't have a picture of the new district yet, they were all here today for Sunday dinner but we didn't get a picture.  Maybe tomorrow we can get a district picture of all of us.  The new Elders are Elder Cruz, from Dominican Republic, is our district leader, and his companion is Elder Slade, who has moved around alot but left from Salt Lake to come on his mission, and the new Hermana is Hermana Chinchilla, from Costa Rica.  She is a sweet sister, and so far the two of them seem to be happy so I am happy about that.  If we can just get them through the surgery and well again it will be good.  Here are two pictures we have of the Elders, they will be fun to get to know as well.  Elder Cruze actually came here on the mission at the same time as us so we know him pretty well, he is a great happy young man, it will be fun to have him here with us this final transfer.  This district and zone that we are in now after these last changes are the ones that will finish up with.  At least there is a gringo Elder here now so Hermana Chappell can speak English with him, that makes it easier for her to have someone else to talk to once in a while.  

We were driving this past week out in San Juan which is the next community just to the west of Tela, where the Elders were at, and we passed this clothing store, do you like the nice rows of clothing for sale?  

Also while driving, we see random vehicles that we just have to take a picture of.  It is super common for people to be riding in the back of trucks, large and small.  This truck actually had brake lights which is amazing.  This one has a load of the oil seeds, fruit berries, whatever they are that they harvest from the palm trees that they take to the processing plants to make palm kernel oil.  That is a huge industry here in this part of the country, for good or bad, I don't know but there are large areas of big palm trees where they harvest the seed- fruit things for the oil.  

The skies are still smokey here, not quite as bad but still smokey, which is not fun,  I hope they will get cleared up before we leave so we can enjoy sunny days again.  It is still as hot as ever but just smokey all the time.