BEING FAMOUS DOESN'T MATTER MUCH

Missionaries - you see them come and you see them go.  Some had a huge impact on the mission serving as leaders and baptizing hundreds.  Some served quietly, almost without notice. Some have had a big affect on our lives while others were barely known.  We have come to love these young men and women - these missionaries. Only a few of them will ever work side by side with us in the office, but we see them and speak to them pretty much every week. And we miss them when they leave.

Elder Marco Gomez made the decision to go home this week.  His surgically repaired knee is going to require longer to recover than was previously expected.  For seven days he sat with us in our cramped little office space cheerfully hoping to be of use.  We both had several long discussions with him about his decision.  He is the only member of the Church in his family and neither of his parents have supported him in his decision to serve.  His knee needs time to heal, but spiritually he is about as strong as it gets.  In a letter he gave Wayne just minutes before leaving he expressed his love for us both and then promised that in a month and a half he would be back to finish out the time he had been called to serve. In the meanwhile he is going to go home and teach his family.  We will miss him.  He was a zone leader in the most dangerous zone, of the most dangerous city, of the most dangerous mission in the world.

Elder Diego Galvez from Guatemala (on the left) will be leaving us on Monday.  He has been Elder Gomez' companion.  He is joined in this picture by Elder Carlos Zepeda from Nicaragua who will replace him as zone leader in Valle de Sula.  He has had his struggles with Wayne over the changes in the financial programs Wayne has instituted, but he has served faithfully. It is tough to see them go.  We really do care about them.

Elder Rangel and LaRae stand in the new reception area.  One mission goes right... the other goes left from here.

Our new office building is coming along quite well.  The sheet rock is now in place, nearly all the electrical and internet wiring is done and you can see quite well where we will be working for the next year.

Blue print of the new offices.

The office on the left will be a little bit bigger than the one on the right, but as of now we don't know which one will be ours.  The two financial secretary offices are basically identical.  The real difference is the size of the president's offices and the size of the storage closets. On these blueprints the two storage areas are called POUCH and BODEGA. The word "bodega" means closet.  This is where we will need to store all of the books, pamphlets, DVDs and CDs, and garments, and everything else that doesn't fit anywhere else.  The four black dots are the four cement pillars that support the floor above us - we had better not remove them.  Either office will be nice, but we will feel cramped for space. This entire space used to be our mission office.  Now, there will be two of us in it.  There no longer is any place for missionaries to gather while they await interviews or transfers or medical aid.  There really is nowhere for our nurse, Sister Tolliver, to do her stuff. This will be our home for the next twelve months and we will be happy there. We, of course, miss our "other home." We miss our children and their spouses, our grandchildren, our brothers, sisters, Dad, and friends.  We miss the safety of living around people that watch out for their neighbors. We miss a lot of things. However, we recognize the privilege it is to be in Honduras for a couple years of our life. What would we be doing if we were home?

Most people don't make much of a difference in the world. Only a very few will make such an impact that statues will be raised to them. This is Lempira.  He was a war captain in the battle against the Spaniards in 1537. At one time it is reported that he had 30,000 soldiers under his command. He lost his life in a battle due to the false belief that wearing a Spaniard's clothing would make him impervious to the Spaniard's bullets. His cause didn't end in success, but his name lives on today.  The Honduran money bears his name.  Every single day we pass out these lempira to the poor.  It takes twenty lempira to equal a dollar.

Francisco Morazan was born in Honduras and was the first Central American president.  He united Central Amerca between 1827 and 1842 during the turbulent time after it struck its independence from Spain.  His name also lives on today.  The central boulevard that runs through the center of San Pedro Sula bears his name.  The service that we render will not cause that a statue will be erected to our names, but I believe that our names will be remembered.

Sister Cecily Francisco and LaRae in the Villanueva chapel on a "Ruta" day

Today we had the privilege of participating in the baptisms of Melbin, Bryan and Cristian.  We, perhaps, haven't affected the entire nation of Honduras as did Lempira or Morazan, but our time here has had an impact on these three men and on their families.  Perhaps, when the real history of this world is written we will realize that the thing that shaped the world most wasn't the decisions of politicians or the roar of the cannons, but the soothing lullaby of a patient mother in the night. Maybe the one-on-one discussions about family and faith we had with these people in the sweaty confines of their cramped little front rooms in Honduras will have a more permanent impact than the wars raged by tyrants. For now this is our calling. It isn't a big thing that we do, be we are trying to do it well
.


From left: Arnaldo Galindo, Cristian Cruz, Melbin Pineda, Roque Rapalo, Juan Carlos Salgado, Brian Salgado.
Arnaldo baptized Cristian, Roque baptized Melbin and Juan Carlos baptized Brian.

Melbin and Tatiana Rapolo Pineda and children

We had 91 people attend the baptism

Standing room only.  We had nine investigators in this room watching the baptism.  

What a privilege to have taught this wonderful family

FINDING THE UNUSUAL IN OUR EVERYDAY LIFE

I remember seeing an old Bert and Ernie cartoon long ago.  It showed an old guru sitting on a mountain top.  He offered this wisdom, "The hardest thing about living to be so old is that everything begins to be deja-vu."
Such is the life of a senior missionary.  Everything we have done this week, we have done before.  And although it could be monotonous, we try really hard to never stop experiencing the wonder of it all.  We look each week for the "unusual."

You will have to look hard to see the unusual in this picture.  If you can't find it, we will include the answer at the bottom of the blog.  The people of Honduras live a patchwork type of life.  They make things work.  They are less worried about style and more worried about serviceability. We thought this photo encapsulated the entire Honduran culture.

In Honduras buses, taxis, and little street shops are viewed as a blessing from the Lord.  These people recognize that others have also worked their entire lives from dawn to dusk, but have never been blessed like they have been to receive such a wonderful way of making a living. As a result of this feeling, very often pictures of the Savior adorn their windows.  Frequently they give names to their taxis or stores such as "La Bendicion" (The Blessing) or "Don de Dios." (Gift from God).  These people openly manifest their belief in God.  For those of us who have come from a nation where our belief in God must be kept private, it is unusual and refreshing to see such openness.

These beautiful, home prepared pickled peppers are proudly displayed along the side of a little road near Villanueva. They are not unusual  because they are there, because there are thousands of little street-side vendors, but it is unusual in the fact that they are selling something other than pop, beer, potato chips, or fruit.  Often you will see five or six vendors in a one block area who are all selling the exact same product for the exact same price.  What happens is that one vendor opens a business, makes a little money, and then is copied - product for product.  The final result, however, is that everyone will make a little, but no one will make enough to support their family.

Together with President and Sister Veirs we passed by the old office building this week to see the progress.  The "unusual" in this photograph is that there was significant progress.  Things move slowly in Honduras. Tomorrow! Tomorrow!  The workers here had the entire office framed, three new bathrooms plumbed, the tile replaced where necessary, and most of the electrical work done.  The new target date for completion of the office is May 6.  It was originally scheduled for June 1, 2013.  To finish a project early - now, that is unusual.

Two offices will now occupy the space of the former one.  They will be connected by a single reception area.  LaRae and Sister Veirs are standing in that area now.  President Veirs is looking into the space that will used to house the books, videos, pamphlets and clothing that we distribute throughout the mission. It is much smaller than we had previously, and will present quite a challenge. Every office is much smaller than before, but they will still be quite serviceable.  Each of the two new mission presidents will have their own private office and bathroom.  Three of the secretaries will occupy the room where this insulation is being stored.  Wayne's financial secretary office will be where the worker in the orange shirt is kneeling. This office is also unusual in another way.  It will house both the East and the West mission, but it is located about 30 minutes outside of the furthest west boundary of the East Mission.  Every day that the East Mission secretaries come to work they will be leaving their mission boundaries. Every time a East Mission missionary comes to the office to be interviewed, they will have to leave their mission boundaries.  It will be a challenge, and it will be expensive.

Elder Michael Christensen who serves in this mission now has a younger brother who decided to do an eagle scout project.  He collected white shirts and ties, individually packaged them, sealed them in plastic and shipped them to us here in Honduras.  He has asked us to distribute them as the needs arise.  What an incredible project!  The problem won't be in finding a need; the problem will be in selecting which need to satisfy.  In the months we have been here in Honduras there has been a constant stream of such requests from wonderful people in the States. This project was unusual, however, in the fact that he came up with the idea himself.  Typically, the requests come to us as "what could we do for you?"  He sent 100 lightly used shirts and three ties in each package!  Wow!

Eating lunch at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Pedro Sula

In my opinion the most unusual thing we experience is the quickness of the bond of friendship that develops between us as missionaries.  We and the Veirs have developed a deep and caring friendship, but it isn't just between us and the other old guys.  Each week our friendship deepens with these wonderful missionaries.  We are separated by two generations - yes, we are old enough to be their grandparents.  Yet every day we grow closer to them.  We share the challenges of a very difficult work, and there is a closeness of spirit that has come from that. These young men and women love us.  Only a few of them will ever work right by our side in the mission office, but even those who we only see occasionally are special to us. From time to time we have decided to include pictures of some of these great young missionaries.



These are the Fesitranh zone elders.  From left: Elder Larsen, Elder Jimenez, Elder Lui, Elder Garcia, Elder Underwood, Elder Chen, Elder Moreno and Elder Giron.  Elders Chen and Moreno are the zone leaders.  We thought that we would include a few more pictures of the missionaries with whom we serve from time to time. Elders Garcia and Chen have worked with us in the office and Elder Lui was one of my seminary students long ago in Syracuse. The rest are just great young men.

* What was unusual about the first picture?  It is a Toyota truck with a Nissan tailgate with the Toyota name painted over it. So, now it is 100% Toyota.

OUR MISSION PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE

We have learned an appreciation for President and Sister Viers this week.  They have treated us like gold our entire mission and we are extremely grateful for their friendship.  These past two weeks, however, we have witnessed the burden that rests upon the shoulders of this great couple.  They are in our daily prayers.  The job of a mission president never seems to end.

Our office staff: Us, Rangel, Tolliver, Michelson, Jenkins, Cannon, Sis. Veirs, Buffat, Pres. Viers, Pollendo

Elder Royer

Elder Gomez

Part of the burden of a mission president is the seemingly constant barrage of illness.  With 240 (and growing) missionaries under their guidance there seems to always be someone who is sick.  Sometimes we go a couple of weeks without any missionary being sick or injured, but this week has been one continuous scene of hospitalizations and sickness.  We, blessedly, have avoided the "bug," or whatever is the cause of all the illness.  We thought today we would simply include the memory of some of those who have fallen by the wayside this past week.  We begin with Elder Royer.   He has only been in Honduras for a little over a month when he began to have some problems.  He was in and out of doctor's offices all week.  He constantly communicated with his parents and doctors at home.  He has wavered between going home and having the surgery that will someday be necessary, or staying here and toughing-it-out.  It was decided to let him rest for 10 days or so.  So he has sat in our home all week, wanting to be of service, but not having much to do.  Bored out of his mind, but unable to do more.   We think that he has now made the decision to stay  in the field. We hope so, he will be a great missionary.

    Elder Gomez was bumped by a car awhile back and has courageously limped through the last several months.  Finally, he could wait no longer and went into the hospital for knee surgery.  He went right back to his area and tried to hobble around with crutches, but the pain and the work were too much.  He is now assigned as Elder Royer's companion and stays all day long in the home of the mission secretaries until he gets healed up a bit.  A new mini-missionary (a youth from a local ward) is replacing him for, at least, two weeks while he recovers.  He is a zone leader is the most dangerous zone in our mission.

Sis. Cuyun

Elder Rivera

    Sister Cuyun was doing perfectly fine five days ago, when she started to notice a weakness in her limbs.  She contacted the mission nurse and was brought to the hospital. By the time she reached our home she was in a full scale panic attack.  LaRae tried to calm her, but she was quickly whisked away to the hospital.  She pass out on the way there.  She was admitted and spent two days in intensive care.  After constant communication with the area doctor it was finally agree upon that she should go home.  So, this morning she and the mission nurse flew to her home country.  She couldn't walk at all and only could  barely lift her arms.  We pray that she is going to be OK.  Her mission, in the blink of an eye, was over. We watched President Veirs struggle over these decisions.  He knows the growth that comes with staying in the mission field, but he also feels a responsibility for their health.
   Elder Rivera is a great missionary, but awoke a couple nights ago with severe stomach pains.  The APs drove to his area to pick him up.  He spent the next 24 hours in the hospital.  There sat President Veirs right by his side. The Honduras doctors wanted to perform an appendectomy, but the area doctor didn't agree with their diagnosis.  He received a priesthood blessing, spent a day or two in the office recuperating, and is now right back out in the field working just like he had been doing before.
   Elder Rangel, our immigration secretary, showed up to the office on Wednesday in pain.  A sore throat, aching bones and stomach problems took the nearly constant smile from his face.  LaRae told him to turn off his computer and go lie down on our extra bed upstairs.  He curled up under a blanket and quickly fell into a deep sleep. We checked up him several times over the next ten hours.  He was deathly still. Finally, we woke him up and sent him on his way back to his home.  He and Elder Cannon, who is still not perfectly well himself, never get a chance to fully recover because their assignment is constantly getting them out of bed at 4:00 in the morning to pick up or drop off missionaries.  He is such a happy young missionary.  It has been a pleasure working with him in the office these past three months.
Every day 240 missionaries sleep in the sweltering heat of cramped bedrooms. Fans cool the sweat off their bodies.  They eat whatever is presented to them that day; often they eat the offerings of street vendors because they can save a penny or two by so doing.  They walk miles and miles over dusty, dangerous roads.  Although these five were sick this week, in our opinions it is nothing short of a miracle that it isn't always worse.  They are protected, and so are we.

Sister Jenkins

Sister Tolliver

   If sickness was the only challenge we wouldn't worry so much for the Veirs.  They also face a myriad of other challenges.  Just in the last five days we have had four robberies that we know about.  Tonight our mission nurse, Sister Tolliver and her companion, Sister Jenkins, were robbed.  The thief got away with a total of 4 lempira (20 cents), but he also got their phones and their scriptures.  Sister Tolliver had only been back in Honduras for three hours.  She had to fly to Guatemala today to accompany Sister Cuyun to her home.  The two thieves showed them their gun, asked for everything and then drove away.  Amazingly, they were cheerful and unafraid.  In the nearly three years that President and Sister Veirs have presided over this mission there hasn't been a single missionary hurt although there are missionaries robbed every week.  He was asked by Elder Martino of the Quorum of the Seventy what he was doing to so successfully keep his missionaries safe.  He responded, "I pray a lot."
     Those prayers are answered.  Disobedient missionaries require changes, but we have watched those changes be guided by the Holy Ghost.  New companions are assigned that are just what was needed.  We actually are amazed at the load this couple carries.  They are not only in charge of the missionaries but the numerous district branches that are spread out over the country.  Making plans for the week is nearly an impossibility.  They had plans this week to be in Roatan to participate with them this Sunday.  They were on their way to the airport when the news of Sister Cuyun turned their car around.  They are definitely the definition of full-time servants of the Lord.  Their time is not their own.  Every time we have been with them his phone never stops ringing.  We watch him quietly slip into his office, shut the door, and come back five minutes later just a little bit more sober.  They are amazing leaders.  They have fulfilled the calling that was given to them three years ago now.  And they are our friends for life!

A FRENZY OF ACTIVITY AND CHANGES

Without a question this has been the most stressful week of our mission.  We have had weeks where we didn't hardly have time to breathe - yet they weren't stressful.  We have had weeks where we didn't have much work - they, neither, were stressful.  This week, however, had us running from hither to yon and back again.  Time after time we were called away from what we were doing to solve an "emergency" that had popped up elsewhere.  All of us (President Veirs, his assistants and all of the secretaries) have just about reached the end of our rope.  It would have been 100 times worse if we hadn't moved all the computers ourselves last Friday.  This week all started...

...when we arrived in the office on Monday morning to find movers there hauling everything - including the safe - out. We had been told they were coming Tuesday, but by mid morning on Monday the desks, compartment dividers and pretty much everything else was gone.  That left us scrambling to try to get our files boxed up, organized and sent to the right spot.  Still, six days later we are trying to find things.  We spent a solid four hours shredding and ripping paper of old files that were no longer necessary to store.  We hauled away dozens of huge garbage sacks of shredded paper.  Most of the office furniture was sent to be stored in the El Benque chapel, but a whole lot of it ended up at our house.  We'll be fine, but...

...our house is so full now that there is barely room to walk. Boxes line nearly every wall, and pour out of every room.  Honestly, we didn't realize that there was that much in the office.  Elder Cannon, bless his heart, is a computer whiz and, gratefully, has been able to pretty much solve all the networking problems.  Without his knowledge and skills we would have been even more frustrated.  Then Tuesday morning arrived. It was the morning of the arrival of 22 new missionaries.  Moving that many missionaries around with all of their luggage is no easy thing.  Feeding them is also a major deal.  We picked up hotdogs, chips and pop and got to the Vier's home just in time to get some food on the table.  The Veirs were busy all day driving back and forth from the airport because the missionaries don't all arrive at the same time.  But, finally, they were there.  Because the office is now ... well, gone!... President and Sister Veirs hosted them in their home.  It was a tight squeeze, but we all fit somehow.

Lunch was followed by four hours of training which was received eagerly by 22 sets of eyes which could hardly stay open.  Those who came from Guatamala caught their plane at 3:00 a.m. and those from the Provo, Utah MTC were in the airport the night before at 11:00 p.m. They were all exhausted, but willing.  We both did our little part but without the use of our normal equipment it wasn't the best.  After our tiny parts we ran back over to the office (house) to try to get a bit of our work done. This is the last week for LaRae to enter all of the baptismal registrations and it is the first week of the month which is the week where Wayne gets the majority of his financial headaches.  There were the normal calls about ATMs mis-dispensing funds, credit cards that were rejected, getting too little or too much money.  This time of the month is the hardest.

Wednesday was the day of our transfer meeting.  We were just settling into our seats in the audience and were quite excited to enjoy the energy, enthusiasm and joy of the meeting when the phone rang.  A delivery of 120 cases of Book of Mormons and another 19 boxes of other odds and ends was waiting at the office and wondering where to unload their wares.  Wayne left the meeting and directed them to our home, helped them unload and then hurried back to the meeting.  When he got back he was a little bit sweaty (its 100 degrees now with 90% humidity) but again happy to be in the meeting which was now drawing to a close.  LaRae was frantically trying to get everyone to turn in their baptismal records, and Wayne was responsible for getting lunch for the six missionaries who were leaving the next morning.  Then we got another phone call.  There had been a serious accident...

... our brand new AP, Elder Braxton Buffat from Idaho, and his companion, Elder Polendo and our secretary, Elder Rangel, had forgotten some materials they needed for a training session.  As they returned they were hit broadside with such force that it caused the car to roll over twice. They all three told the same story of how the car had come to a full stop upside down, and then rolled back over onto its wheels. The driver of the other car fled the scene without stopping to see if anyone was hurt. Witnesses saw everything, but no one was willing to testify for fear of retaliation.  Miraculously, none of the three were injured.  They are sore and stiff, but they are fine.  President Veirs took the six leaving elders to lunch while we sat with these tramatized elders. Dozens of phones calls were made.  We were ignored at every turn.  I figure over 5000 cars passed us over the next seven hours while we waited for the police to arrive - yes, I said, seven hours!  Only one car, a member of the church, stopped and asked if they were OK or if there was anything they could do to help.  The National Police came - twice - but each time just to gawk at the wreck. They informed us they have no jurisdiction of accidents.  We were forced to wait for the traffic cops.  Now, what I am about to say may sound impossible, but it is true.  There are only two police vehicle units for all of San Pedro Sula and the surrounding areas.  We simply had to wait our turn.  When they finally arrived we were even more shocked to find out that becuase the other car had fled the scene there was nothing they could do.  They only investigate accidents where both cars are present.  They sent us 45 minutes away to file a police report.  Of course, when we arrived there the station was closed.  It had been closed for over two hours.  Eventually, we obtained a tow truck and were able to tow the truck to our parking spot at the old mission office.  It was 8:00 p.m. when we finally resolved, at least for the night, the issue of the wreck that had occurred at 11:30 a.m.  Our little white faces were sunburned from standing in the sun.  The wreck had occurred directly in front of a little cafe owned by two guys from the states.  They were cordial and generous, but they were drug runners.  Time after time cars pulled up in front of the cafe, were given the "get out of here" signal and left only to return an hour later.  It was quite the day.

I wish this was all that happened that day but it wasn't even close.  President Veirs received a call from a missionary who wanted to go home, another from a missionary who needed to be picked up because he was so sick that he needed to be taken to the hospital and another from missionaries who had gotten all the way to their new area only to find out that the keys to their apartment were in the possession of the zone leaders who had stayed in San Pedro Sula for another training meeting the next day.  They had to take a two hour bus ride to the home of the closest missionaries in order to have a place to stay that night.  Then Thursday arrived...

... we ran errands for the mission all day long.  To the post office for mail; to the Bus Terminal to drop off Elder Douglas Ordoñez as he returned home from his very honorable mission; to the doughnut shop to pick up doughnuts for the zone leader conference; to Pricemart to pick up pizza and pop, again, for the zone leader conference; to Fed Ex to pick up a package in hopes that the missing credit cards for the missionaries who had come yesterday might be there; to the police station again to file the report that we couldn't file yesterday only to find out that we still would have to come back again the next day; to El Carmen where at an obscure little out of the way bus station we picked up a couple more baptismal records; to La Lima (45 minutes away) to pick up 60 DVD players that should have arrived a month ago and are badly needed; twice to the secretaries' home to drop off office supplies that were brought to our house by delivery drivers; to President Veir´s home to try to help him solve his accounting nightmare (we think someone has hacked into his credit card) and then to top it off we lost electricity to our home for the tenth time in a month.  But, the day ended and with it came...

...Friday!  This picture has nothing to do with Friday, but this blog was getting kind of gloomy.  LaRae had 114 baptismal records that had to be imputted by today; so, we all tried to stay out of her way and let her work. Amazingly, she finished them all just in the nick of time to send them into Church headquarters by the deadline. Wayne´s financial issues had stockpiled all week long so it was one long, 10 hour struggle to get people their money.  The lack of a 3rd mission car has greatly increased our challenges.  Elder Cannon and Rangel spent 8 hours trying to get the wrecked Toyota Hilux into a shop for repairs or whatever.  One hassle after another left them both completely frustrated.  Either the workers were on a lunch break, or the tow truck was too small, or the vehicle was too smashed for them to repair.  Elder Cannon finally broke down and quietly said, "I think I´m ready to go home!"  But, today is Saturday and we just finished watching the first session of the LDS general conference.  We streamed it live into our computer screen and enjoyed it in English.  We feel revived, energized and motivated to go forward and serve with even more diligence and power.

This Church is true!  The work of a senior missionary is sometimes very difficult and frustrating, but we are so happy to be a part of it.