THE HUMBLE SAINTS OF ROATAN

We thought you might be interested to see the homes and a few of the families that we visit each day as we go about our day.  In some homes we teach, in a few we encourage and in others we simply love.  They are sweet, humble people who are doing the very best they can with what they have been given.  They treat us like royalty and we love them back with all of our hearts. 

President Alvaro Sanchez and his sweet wife, Anna Maria Sanchez are our closest neighbors.  They actually live walking distance down the beach from us.  He has been the branch president for four months now and she serves as the gospel doctrine teacher in Sunday School.  Both are humble, dedicated, generous members.  He is a pediatric dentist and volunteers three times a week at the island clinic.  I have loved how willing he is to listen to suggestions. 

Fernando and Olga Flores are a tremendous young couple.  He serves as both the Elder's quorum secretary and the ward clerk.  She is a counselor in the primary.  Their little daughter, Camilla has stolen our hearts.  Fernando is one of my piano students and actually has his own keyboard.  They live on the bottom floor under the stairs.  There are, at least, four other families that live in this home.

David and Olga Mejia are one of the families that we are hinging our future hopes upon.  He is a member of the church but she has to wait until they get married to be baptized.  After several weeks of effort they have received the necessary papers for marriage and hopefully will be married this September.  They live here.

Some of our members live in very humble circumstances, but they aren't alone.  Many people live like this on this island.  Belkis Madrid, a single mother of one lives here.

 

Suyapa family home.

 

 

Osmar Ortis lives in the section on the right.

 

 

 

Jose Brennes lives alone here.  He is a faithful, 70 year old member of the Church.  His son and daughter-in-law, Tulio and Sadi Brennes and their little girl, Sadia, live in the back half of the home.  You can see the green sheet over their door.

 

 

Marcos Brennes is one that we haven't reached yet, but we are working on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quarter mile walk through the woods and a climb up 52 stairs brings us to the home of Yensi Linares.  He is twelve years old and is the only member in his family.  This home is so far away from the church that it is nothing short of a miracle when he chooses to come to church.  

 

 

Daniel and Aminda Garay have built a little wooden home right next to the home we used to live in.  They are amazingly faithful Saints who do their best to eek out a living by selling a hot dog or a piece of fried chicken in this little 8x8 foot sidewalk "pulperia" (store).  Daniel is one of my piano students and will be ordained a priest tomorrow. 
  
There are so many people here that we have grown to love.  They greet us with warm hearts and with smiles.  They get up, wash and then walk to church in the blistering heat... but they are there each week.  These have just been a few of the people that we have grown to love and serve.  There are many others.  Each has a story to tell.  As you follow along with us we hope that you will come to love them too. 

NOW... THIS IS THE LIFE!

 

WE FOUND A NEW HOME

 

 

 In July the Honduras, San Pedro Mission received a letter from the First Presidency outlining what should be provided for housing for senior couples.  With the new unified contribution for senior couples each mission is to make sure that couples are provided with a safe and secure home.  It must have air conditioning and many of the other nicities that we have back home.  This is picture of our home.  We are on the second floor.  This picture shows two of our three private balconies.  I think we have officially died and gone to Caribbean heaven!  And this is why!

 



The pathway that leads to our swimming pool and exercise room.

 

 

This is our backyard.

 

 

This is our front room, dining room and kitchen bar.

 

 

And here is our kitchen, complete with every appliance known to mankind.

 

We are guarded 24/7 by guards who are friendly and courteous.  There is an on-site restaurant that serves up, so we are told, a real good prime rib every Friday night.  We have kayaks we can use to get out to the barrier reef and the white sands.  No more "cold water pila" for LaRae.  We have a washer, drier, dishwasher... hot water!  And more!  We feel blessed, indeed.

     When we showed our home to our mission president and his wife they were thrilled and asked us let everyone know that this is the kind of home they can expect to stay in if they come to Honduras on their mission.  "Calling all seniors!"  We really could use the help. 

     Being able to come home to this condominium every night has been wonderful.  We feel safe... and cool. We can rest and prepare our lessons more efficiently.  We were afraid for awhile that we were going to have to leave Roatan.  We are extremely grateful that President Veirs allowed us to stay and try to finish what we have started here.  We love the members of the church in Roatan.

    Oh, by the way, it is a two-bedroom condo and we are allowed visitors.  Any takers?

 



 

 

The water is great!  The missionary work is even better.  Come and join us. 



THIEVES... HURRICANES... EARTHQUAKES... AND MORE!

WE'RE BACK!  It's been a long, difficult three weeks, but we're back!

THIEVES...
It all began August 4th at about 7:30 p.m. when we walked back into our home in Coxen Hole.  All seemed to be going so well.  The branch is having wonderful success and we had just been talking about how excited we were for what was happening - baptisms, weddings, reactivations, etc.  As we unlocked our extremely squeaky front gate to enter our house apparently four thieves were exiting out our back door just as quickly.  When we entered the house we noticed immediately that our back door was open and swinging.  Then LaRae noticed that our bedroom door was also open - and we never left that open because that was the one room in the house that we keep cool with our little portable air conditioner.  Then... we realized we had been burglarized!!  We lost our computers, a camera, cash, a video projector, a DVD player and everything else that we had of monetary value.  All was gone!

The thieves had climbed over the cement wall that surrounded our house, stood on the pila by the back door, cut through the screen window, removed a window slat, reached in the window, unlocked the back door, slit the back door screen and walked right on in!  We don't think that they were in there very long because they actually left a few things behind that we are pretty sure they would have taken had they had a few more minutes.   A tender mercy of the Lord was received that night.  We very easily could have been in the house when they arrived.  We were blessed, but it left us mighty unnerved.
     The next morning was Sunday and so we attended Church but we never came back to this house again except to gather our things and move out.  Dustin and Lacie Mitchell, a wonderful family from Canada insisted that we move in with them until we could arrange things for another house.   He is a returned missionary form Argentina and was just called as our Elder's quorum president.  She is a sweet, busy mother of two super little children, Brigham and Cambrie.   

They put us in their bedroom and pushed the kids beds together and all four of them slept in the kid's room for FIVE nights.  They blessed our life in so many ways with their goodness and generousity.  They housed us, fed us, loaned us money and helped us find a place to live.  We had to freeze all of our accounts and have everything reissued, so for three weeks now we have lived off of their generousity.  We love them and will always be grateful to them.
   
HURRICANES....

  
While we were reeling from the burglary ... a hurricane decided to give us a visit.  For four straight days it appeared that Hurricane Earnesto was on a collision course with Roatan.  The people didn't seem too worried, but it being our very first hurricane, we were!  We checked the weather report every chance we had.  We stocked up the church with a water supply, and brought all of our food to the family's home.  We were kind of excited.  But, 12 hours before it was supposed to hit us it took an abrupt 45 degree turn north and missed us by about 200 miles.  We did get a darn good 24 hour rain storm, but no real wind.  The picture on the right isn't the eye of the hurricane, but we thought it was pretty cool.

EARTHQUAKES...
   Two days after the storm we were sitting on the couch chatting when the house began to shake!  It only lasted a few seconds, but because all of these things happened in the same week we thought it was awesome and wanted to add it to the blog.

MORE... MUCH, MUCH MORE!
   The night after the burglary a grueling process of getting new bank cards began.  Alan and Danielle have been wonderful and have spent many long hours trying to expedite the process.   Getting mail to Roatan is no easy feat.  It still isn't resolved, but we are hoping that sometime this week our cards will get here. 

THERE IS A REASON PEOPLE VISIT ROATAN

Roatan is called the "Jewel of Honduras."  Its temperature never varies; the rainstorms are fierce but typically quite brief.  The people are warm and inviting even though they must live in the face of poverty and other challenges.  The island subsists on tourism, but right now the resorts are completely empty.  The locals tell us that the tourist season is mainly between November - February.  But, there is a reason people come to Roatan by the thousands.  It is because of some of the things that we saw this last week. 

These two pictures were taken of the beach at Fantasy Island Resort and Spa.  It is where the TV show was filmed many years ago.  This last P-day we had it all to ourselves.  The water is sparkling blue and warm as a bathtub, the sand is clean and white.  You could spot conch shells all along the shoreline.  It truly is a paradise. 

The island of Roatan has a relationship with the ocean.  Most of their money comes either through tourism or through fishing.  Diving along the coral reef has made this island world famous.  The barrier reef is the second largest reef in the world and is so close to the shoreline in some places that even lousy swimmers like us can be there in minutes. The ocean has a beautiful florescent blue color because of the reef and the white sand.


Pretty much everything revolves around the ocean.  In our ward alone we have a member who owns an underwater museum where you can see sculptures while you snorkel, several members who work at a resort named Banana-Rama, a couple from Canada who are here supervising the construction of another resort, a member who owns a little store right on the beach, and several who literally live with the waves lapping at their back door. 

 

Because its entire economy is based on the tourism dollar the resorts cater to American taste.  The resorts feature world class cuisine and pools that are so beautiful it almost makes you forget the ocean.

Roatan draws people from around the globe and every once in awhile there is a member of the Church who drops in while they are here on vacation or business or for humanitarian reasons.  Some come on a regular basis, others only once.  It is interesting to chat with them and learn their story.  A fellow came this week and invited us to dinner at the XBlanque resort.  He ordered for us in advance.  The food was delicious, we were the only guests at the resort that night.  The chef had trained in the United States and really knew how to do it right!

P.S.  And this was just the main course.



Flowers that we just dream of having in Utah can be found here.  Fruits and nuts that we could never grow in Utah often grow wild in people´s backyards.  Bananas, cashews, mangos, papaya, coconuts and others that we can´t pronounce grow in profusion.  There is green everywhere, except for the city.  It is an incredibly lovely, little, 37 mile long island in the Caribbean.  Those who visit probably spend the vast majoriy of their time seeing and experiencing the things we have shown in this blog.  It´s beautiful.

We are enjoying our time here on Roatan.  But, we are not tourists here.  We have tasted of their beauty and their foods, but we are missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We have enjoyed sampling these things on our P-day, but we are working as hard as we possibly can to build up the branch and its members.  They are both wonderful!

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF A ROATAN MISSIONARY

Monday was our Preparation Day (P-Day) - but we had so much to do that we didn't really get much of one!  We had to be at the church to wait for a delivery of new soffet for the church building and then we headed out to an area called Mud Hole for a visit with Guadalupe Zelaya and two of her sweet daughters.  Jesse is in my Young Womens class and Kenia just got baptized, so we were taking her a picture of her baptism.  Guadalupe earns a little money sewing on an ancient treadle Singer sewing machine that she keeps on her porch.

When we left them we just decided to take the long way home and explore the Island a little.  We ended up passing by a completely secluded long, white sandy beach.  We HAD to get out and explore and gathered sea shells.  No doubt we will be coming back here again!  The reef barrier was so close that 4 boys had swum out to it and were walking along the top of it.

On Tuesday we had a surprise announcement that Herbert Fernandez was getting married!  It was a Civil Marriage and was planned at the spur of the moment.  They have no family here on the island except one brother who is a lawyer and he performed the ceremony.  After this ceremony, which all took place sitting behind a desk, and the reading of legal documents, they were married.  There is no doubt that a Temple sealing is the only way to go.  There were four guests; we were two of them.

There was a wedding lucheon afterwards at a Chinese restaurant.  His brother (in yellow), her girlfriend and the two of us were the guests.  Two hours later we were with Aaron, his brother, teaching the discussion on chastity to his non-member wife, Olga. 
     Later that evening we visited with a potential investigator whose wife has cancer.  At first he didn't want anything to do with us, but after Wayne started asking questions about his trees we ended up staying for about 45 minutes and as we left he told us we could come by any time.  We were now his "amigos para siempre" (friends for life).

     Wednesday we spent the morning preparing piano lessons and Priesthood and Young Womens lessons.  They take alot longer to prepare in Spanish!  Later in the afternoon we had a discussion with a family whose 18 year old son had been killed in an accident.  The wife is a member who hasn't attended for 30 years, the husband is a nonmember.  She has been treated for cancer and she just can't find any relief from the sorrow of losing their son, so wanted the missionaries to come and teach her husband.  Unbeknownst to the missionaries when they asked us to go, we also had lost a child and could speak words of comfort that come from our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation.
     Then that evening after PEC meeting we headed down to the Branch Presidents home and ended up strolling out to their dock and spending a few hours in the cool beach breeze, watching falling stars and discussing how to make the Branch run more effectively. 

Thursday we didn't have much on our schedule and so I washed clothes in my wonderful pila...and hung them out to dry.  Timing is everything here.  If you don't watch the skies, you can end up having your clothes rained on or fumigated by a passing bug fumigation truck.  Then you get to wash them again!  But we have learned that an empty calender at night doesn't mean there won't be something to do the next day as there are many that call asking for "little favors".  Especially since we are one of about 4 cars in the Branch.

We were given a referral to visit with a woman and her Bible loving husband.  We found out while there that the wife, Mirian, is a long time member and no one knew that.  The husband Oscar wanted to debate the Bible with Wayne.  Wayne knew better than to do that and offered to simply add to the knowledge that Oscar already had.  He listened and accepted a Book of Mormon which pleased his wife.  We passed by on Saturday and he had begun reading and had questions for us.  While Wayne taught I learned how to prepare baleadas and actually ate them after a very sincere prayer!
     We were also called to the home of the owner of an apartment complex in which a member lives.  She had always admired him and had asked him to pray to remove an evil feeling that she felt around her property.  However, he is disfellowshipped right now and so he called us.  After we explained the Restoration and how we have the priesthood, Wayne offered a prayer over the house. It ended up being a very good experience and we were invited back next week.

Friday I got my first haircut in Honduras.  It is a little short, but so much cooler!  Not much happened today as the electricity went on and off all day. But we did sneak in lesson preparations and because the lights were still off no one came to Young Mens that night, so Wayne drove around to the young mens homes and gave them a short lesson.  Our day ended with us playing Five Crowns by the light of a candle.

     Saturday morning started with a bang!  A handful of women from the Branch were making hamburgers, Wendy's style, to sell to families in the Branch as a Fund Raiser for the upcoming trip to Tegulcigalpa for the Temple Open House in November.  Each hamburger cost $2.50, they sold 200 of them.  My job was taking all the wrappers off the cheese, cutting pieces of Saran Wrap to wrap them in and mostly.....keeping the flies off the hamburger patties!!!  Wayne in the meantime was the delivery boy for the families that lived too far away to deliver on foot.
     We filled the afternoon with piano lessons by Wayne.  He has 14 students right now.  He gives a group lesson on Saturday and private lessons throughout the week.

This is Daniel Aguilar and Jesse Zalaya.  Two of his many new students.



When Wayne was done with piano lessons it was time for the Young Womens Activity.  We were teaching how to direct music.  There were three that showed up.

Laritza Ayala, Ariana Aguilar and Daritza Zelaya.

Of course Sunday is full to the max with church meetings and visiting in members homes and trying to find others homes.
     This is just the highlights of our week and the way that next week is already shaping up it is going to be far busier.  Such is our life as missionaries in Roatan.  We love it!

SOME ARE MEMBERS, SOME ARE NOT

Our calling as missionaries is to serve as support to the members and to the wards or branches within which we will serve.  Having been here for two weeks now we have jumped into that work with both feet.  We have met some amazing people, some interesting people, and some that have some serious challenges.

Dulki (on the right) was baptized as an eight year old little girl while she was visiting her grandmother in La Ceiba, a coastal city of Honduras.  Now she lives in Roatan with her mother and her two little sisters.  She is the only member of the Church in her family and lives in abject poverty approximately 15 miles from the Church.  There is no way that she can ever afford a taxi and there is no way that anyone can afford to pick her up each week.  She will likely very soon be a forgotten name on the rolls of the Church.  It's actually quite sad. 

These two men are brothers.  They are Herbert and Aaron Fernandez.  They were baptized while still young in San Pedro Sula along with their mother and younger brother.  All three brothers served missions.  Aaron has served as a stake president; Herbert as a counselor in a stake presidency.  They have had incredible experiences with the spirit.  Herbert told a story in Sunday School of actually raising a child from the dead while serving as a missionary.  He told us a story of a dream that he had while a missionary where Joseph Smith appeared and offered him the privilege of witnessing the golden plates for himself.  That came in response to a question about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  They are amazing men.  However, right now both of them have lost their privileges in the priesthood and are struggling to return. Aaron's wife, Olga, is not a member but we have been teaching her along with the Elders.  We have great hopes for these two men. 



Roni and Zulema Zelaya are two of the very faithful here in Roatan.  He served as branch president for the past several years even though he is very hard of hearing and basically reads lips.  It was a challenge for him, but he did his best.  He presently serves as ward mission leader.  Zulema is one of the true work horses of the branch.  She teaches seminary and also serves as the Young Women's president.  She has a strong testimony and LaRae loves serving with her as her first counselor. 

This little group of five boys comprises about a third of our primary.  They are all Zelaya boys and come from two different families and live with their grandmother and their single parents.  They love a piece of candy and so they will walk from their home to ours in order to get a treat.  LaRae struck on the idea of not giving out things for free.  So, when they pass by she hands them a garbage sack and goes out with them to collect garbage from the street in front of the Church.  They are happy and willing and before long we have a sack full and she will somehow find a sucker or a cookie for them.  They greet us with smiles and hugs every time we pass by their house - which is often because they live on the main road up the mountain.  The street is their only playground so we can never sneak by without running into them. 



These are the two elders working with us here in Roatan right now.  They are Elder Barba from Mexico and Elder Tinkham from South Jordan, Utah.  Elder Barba is a three year convert himself and was baptized when he was twenty-two years old.  He is a soft spoken, kind elder.  Elder Tinkham is a happy, cheerful dedicated elder that speaks fantastic spanish.  They are helping us to find the lost members of this branch.

Naomi Zelaya has stolen Wayne's heart.  She is the tiniest little girl with huge brown eyes.  She is the sister of the little boys in the picture above.  While LaRae was visiting teaching her grandmother Wayne was talking to the grandfather outside.  He said that he had 26 children that he could remember and that he couldn't feed them all anymore.  He said, teasing I think, that he needed to sell one of the grandkids to make ends meet.  When sister Zelaya came outside I asked how much she wanted for Naomi.  I offered $20.00, but she told me that wasn't enough.  They really are beautiful people and we love serving with them here in Roatan. 

ROATAN, THE JEWEL OF HONDURAS

When we announced we were going to Roatan, everyone told us it was the jewel of Honduras, their paradise.  Now we know why they say that!  It truly is beautiful!

Leaving San Pedro Sula required us to take a 3 hour drive to La Ceiba, a small coastal town, in order to catch the ferry that would take us to Roatan Island.  The ship wasn't very full, but of those that were on our level, (not 1st class) eleven got sick from the rough water.  As you head out to the island you go against the current so it is choppy but the Elders, Wayne and I did just fine.  Wayne was disappointed that we didn't see any whales!



Elder and Sister Roper from California picked us up and took us to our new home.  They have been here on the Island for about six months and  have done a great work here activating members.  He served as the Elders Quorum President and she as the Primary President.  The members loved them and they will be greatly missed.  We spent the first two days driving around the island with them, meeting members and getting to know where members live, where to shop and where the best places are to spend our P-days.





Our house is owned by Diana Dempke, a member of the church, from Kansas.  She purchased this home ten years ago as a base for humanitarian efforts on the island.  She arranges for groups of dentists to come and serve several times each year.  Our home is lovely with all of the amenities that we might need.  We have a propane oven, a lovely laundry pila, a water cooler, a microwave oven and a full sized fridge.  Awesome!

We have a yard that has mango trees, banana trees, plantain trees, a cashew tree, hybiscus bushes and other flowering bushes.












We also have our own personal resident bedroom, kitchen and porch geckos.  We love these as they keep the house free from bugs!  We have a lizard that is two feet long that we see on our wall, but he has eluded Wayne's camera so far.












Our ants are amazing!  They are biting fire ants and their hills are numerous and large.  They have literally created a pathway all the way around our yard.  The worst part of that is that their main highway was right under the clothes line!

We are loving Roatan!  So for the next six months or so we will wash our clothes at this pila, eat  bananas from our very own trees, quick step over the ants, and work our hearts out in the sunshine of this tropical paradise.  We are doing the work of the Lord and we are being blessed.  This home will be a very comfortable place to spend the next months.