WITH ALL OUR HEARTS, MIGHT, MIND AND STRENGTH

As we have written this blog over the past, nearly, two years we have been aware that many of those who see these words, either by accident or design, are not members of our faith.  Some have relatively little knowledge of the Church we represent and do not understand why we would offer such a large chunk of our lives to this service. We answer, sincerely, that we believe that we were called by the Lord Jesus Christ through a living prophet upon this earth to offer this service.  And we have made every effort to serve Him with all of our hearts, might, mind and strength. This week has given us many opportunities to serve Him in each of these four ways:

OUR HEARTS:

From back left: Elder Rodriguez (ZL Cofradia), Elder Contreras (ZL Valle de Sula), Elder Esperanza, Elder Zura, (ZL Merendon).  Front from left: Elder DeGriselle, Elder McRae, Elder Loyo (AP), and Sister Ramirez

On Wednesday of this week we bid farewell to nine amazing young men and one sweet young lady.  We have grown to love them with all of our hearts.  Elder McRae, shown with me on the left, holds a very special place in our hearts.  The way that he served and the example he showed for all of the other missionaries, will always be special to us.  Sister Anna Ramirez, shown on the right with LaRae, truly was one of the sweetest sister missionaries we have known.  We will miss them all.  With every group that goes, another arrives, and relationships of love are quickly formed.

 

 

Twenty-two new ones arrived from a myriad of different countries to spend the next two years of their lives here in Honduras.   We received three missionaries from the USA (one, Elder Lund, is from LaRae's old home town), others came from Panama, Guatemala, Paraguay, Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador and even from a different location here in Honduras.  Here they sit, anxiously waiting their assignment to a companion and to an area of service for the next six months or so.  They are nervous, but eager at the same time.  Sister Virula (shown here with Sister Zelada) is one of these new missionaries.  Her new companion is Sister Zelada.  Immediately, their new companions take them under their wings, accept them, make them feel comfortable and loved.  Sister Zelada is truly one of our very best!

 

From left: Elder Loyo, Elder Mower, Us, Sister and President Dester, Elder Coronel and Elder Zitting

With this week's changes our old office staff was disbanded.  Elder Loyo left us for his home in Mexico, and Elder Coronel was reassigned to another area.  This group has worked together really well and we have come to love them all.

 

MIGHT: 

Elder Mower and Elder Zitting with Wayne hauling boxes on their P-day.

Hauling boxes around is a part of our weekly task.  This week was no different.  Fifty two boxes of pamphlets, Bibles, Book of Mormons, and other materials arrived on Tuesday.  The building manager won't let us use the elevator to left these boxes, so we haul them by hand up three big flights of stairs.  Wayne isn't as fit as he used to be and this is an increasingly difficult part of the job. 

 

MIND:

 

We have learned so many things while serving on this mission.  This week Wayne stood in utter amazement as he watched LaRae manipulate formulas in her Excel Spreadsheet. This may seem so simple to many, but these are things that we "old dogs" have had to learn since we arrived. 

 

 

Our minds are stretched every day by our work, and we have had to devote all that we had mentally to this great cause.  On Friday we began the series of multi-zone conferences throughout the mission.  This first of four conferences was held in La Entrada, Copan.  We both had a presentation to teach. Wayne taught about cleaning their apartments; LaRae taught about how to correctly fill out baptismal records.  We used PowerPoint presentations to add to the effectiveness of our teaching. Of course, all that we teach and all that we write has to be done in Spanish. 

 



Every day we answer dozens of questions from these young missionaries.  Learning to understand them has been one of the great challenges of this mission.  We've used every little bit of our minds.

 

STRENGTH:

Home inspection in Monterrey.  Elders Best, Vermont and Arnold

Our days are long.  There always seems to be a deadline that we have to meet.  LaRae had to have the mission's 2013 history completed by Friday; six new apartments had to be furnished by Tuesday; the presentations had to be ready by Thursday; all the financial deposits had to be approved by Monday; Wayne had to be ready for an audit of his books by Thursday.  We work every day with all of our strength.  We spent four hours driving around doing home inspections with President and Sister Dester.  Office staff meetings are held each Monday.  We delivered both breakfast and lunch to the 22 arriving missionaries on Tuesday and do a training session with them that afternoon.  LaRae had to have all of January's baptismal records submitted to the area offices in Guatemala by Wednesday.  Honestly, we get home every day about 6:00 p.m., drag ourselves upstairs, do another hour or so of work on our home computer, try to eat a bit of dinner and then crawl into bed - exhausted. 

 

SO IN CONCLUSION:

Is being a senior missionary hard work? Yes!  Are we tired? Yes!  But, it is a good kind of "tired." This has truly been a remarkable experience for us.  We have probably never been happier than we are now.  We have learned all kinds of things; our minds are sharp and clear; we have done things that we would never would have done had we not come here to serve.  We have met and loved hundreds of wonderful missionaries and Hondurans.  Having served these two years here in this foreign land and having done the things that we have been asked to do, would we be afraid to do it all over again?  No!  This service has been a privilege and a blessing.


One last sweet thought: Every missionary loves a candy bar! However, they are way too expensive for them to purchase.  We decided to bring them a special treat this week to eat during a break in their zone conference at Copan.  OH!  How they shouted for glee!  Sweet is the work!