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 |
No comments:
Post a Comment