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.