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.
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| Our office staff: Us, Rangel, Tolliver, Michelson, Jenkins, Cannon, Sis. Veirs, Buffat, Pres. Viers, Pollendo |
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| Elder Royer |
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| 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.
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| Sis. Cuyun |
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| 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.
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| Sister Jenkins |
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| 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!
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