Holy Week Holiday

 Friday, we drove to Las Tablas, our farthest drive.  It was Holy Week and there was no school.  You'd think we'd call ahead, but we didn't.  We had three cancellations.  We'd just talked to Audrey and she said she was interested in a beach vacation.  We asked a mom who said April was the month to do it as the rains come again in May.  Since we had time on our hands we decided to visit a beach.  It was on the map, but there were no road signs.  We asked a police officer and found our way.  There were few people on the beach.  It was really hot, but the breeze from the ocean was almost cold, a very interesting combination.  We didn't stay long.  Not very touristy.

This is the way the ladies go, tree tree tree tree.

We went from the  beach to Aurora Gonzales' home.  She is a nonmember Grandmother.  We started singing with her and she loves it.  From there we started telling her the Joseph Smith story.  This day, we were invited to dinner, so I visited with the cook while Rod was in the living room with Aurora.  They started reading the Book of Mormon.  I was really impressed.  Rod's Spanish has come a long ways.  They shared mangoes, plums, and a huge avocado with us. 

 Everyone was thrilled at the Jordan's when Rod danced with the baby.

 Ledys earned her new keyboard.  They were so thrilled.  Her brother, Eric, between us, is her first student.  He can play his first hymn.  She was supposed to play today, but the high council speaker told me there wasn't time, he needed to speak.  Hmmm.

 Ada is our newest student who is active.   She switched from English.  You can tell that everyone is supportive.  She is a young married return missionary who is lovely.

 Jasury is one of my favorite students.  She has a spirit kind of like Audreys, strong and like light somehow.  Jasury was baptized today if all went well.  We cancelled her appointments with us because they conflicted with seminary for her and we needed to cut
down on our travel.  It makes me sad,

This is a before picture.  Jaan assured us that he was going to begin early with his missionary image.  I'll be interested to see him next week. He has lots of musical talent and is really excited to learn to play.  He doesn't always want to listen to the teacher, but that's normal, I guess.

This was our Thursday.  Our first appointment wasn't at home so we visited our last, thinking maybe we could shorten our day.  It worked! Not only that, our last appointment had planned to cancel, so we really hit the jackpot. He, Carlos, has just been called (at our suggestion) to teach a mission prep class  to six youth (including Jaan and Jose Angel -- two of our students) using Preach My Gospel in both languages.  We provided the texts.  I hope it works well.

We love the work and know it is true.  Emma is leaving for her months vacation, but she is planning to take her Book of Mormon with her, and says she will pray with specifics.  She was high on her Mass for Holy Week.  She has learned to worship the Lord very well.  I admire her a lot.

The Good, the Bad and the Oldley

Rod's Turn

(Who would expect wordiness from me?)

Sunday was a good day with our investigators, but bad for the branch as they are still in the old facility and attendance appears to be going down as people may not like the crowding and the uncertainty of where to direct the taxi.  Monday wasn't great either as we traveled to Chitre to have most of our appointments cancel.  Oldley is a picture below.  We don't work with non-members much, but two and perhaps three appear to be accepting gospel messages.

Jesus and Ximena:

Jesus used to be over-active (9 callings), but hasn't been for several years, they are piano students and came to church this week.  Janell has been talking [with the older students, she marriage counsels, shares gospel messages -- what a good senior companion!] about the doctrines to Ximena while I watch the little one.  (You will remember that she got a blessing from her husband to remove fears and the Spirit poured into her body -- so she has a testimony of priesthood power).  

During Relief Society, she was asked to say a prayer and did!  She is shy and coming to Church was a major breakthrough.  They came over after Church for chili and corn bread and internet.  She got to talk to her family in Columbia.  She was able to connect with a favorite cousin with whom she hasn't talked in a long time.  The cousin, a member, promised to come to her baptism.  This is the first that we had heard of it.  (What kind of missionaries let the investigators challenge them?!)

Family picture below:

Emma:

We went to see Emma thereafter -- she opened her house last week to us so Jesus could teach the youth how to prepare talks.  

Janell talked to her and shared scriptures.  After about normal time was up, I asked if she had questions about the Gospel.  She asked what rules would she need to follow if she were baptized.  We talked about attending Church, Word of Wisdom, Sabbath day, tithing, etc.  For a time, she paid tithing to the Catholic church by putting her money in a napkin and slipping in the pocket of the priest, so she works to live the Gospel as taught in the scriptures and won't find tithing a new challenge.  She talked about how the Lord has been changing her life for a long time to bring her to where she needs to be -- for example, she used to smoke and drink -- now she feels that she is getting close to where He wants her.

She has mentioned a couple times before the desire to serve a mission somewhat similar to ours and Janell suggested that she could do that as she cuts hair in her salon.  This resonated well with her as she really does it now.  She senses where a person is at and talks to them to understand and help them.

She currently drinks coffee, but it isn't an addiction.  We hadn't talked with her about the gift of the Holy Ghost, but left her with that page in Preach My Gospel to read and discuss next time.  [What kind of teachers do that! (don't tell the mission president)]

She is going on vacation, home to the Dominican Republic in two weeks for a month.  Janell suggested she take a tape recorder and capture stories from her dad.  So I am also going to take family group sheets and talk more about helping your ancestors with temple blessings, next time.  She seems to have been preparing a long time for the Gospel.  It isn't our great teaching style [leave her the manual to read, Carambalita!] that is catching her attention, rather she feels the Spirit and the doctrines resonate with her.

Lupe:

We have been sharing gospel messages with Lupe who runs a very small internet cafe.  She has a little one and is quite busy, but seems interested in the messages, we just need to catch her when there aren't customers.  She gets a feeling of peace and warmth when she reads the Bible, we suggested that is the feeling to look for in our message.

Here is a snapshot of the oldley, carrying milk cans and other things to the highway for pickup.

Jose is a recent convert in Aguadulce.  His mother asked us to help him after his grandmother died and his dad was killed in an accident (she is not a member), so we are going to see if he is interested in playing the piano.  At this point, his enthusiasm is low.  He wants things easy.

Do Miracles (unexplainable happenings) change lives?
This will be long, but I wanted to capture an experience of the elders here in Aguadulce.
There were 5 people present as Elder Reed and Goodfellow were teaching a recent convert and her mom.  The mom (Victorina Monterey) had been interested in her daughter (Maritza Itzel Espinosa Monterey) joining a church to help her bring her life into better focus.  The mom attended church with her daughter once before Maritza was baptized and has also been studying with the Jehova Witnesses.  Sister Maximina Salis de Berraza is a good strong member who lives about 10 miles out of town, active in helping the missionaries meet her neighbors and is the Young Women's president in the branch.  Sister Berraza characterized Victorina (the mom) as pretty hard of heart.  (I am capturing my understanding from Elder Goodfellow and Sister Berraza.)
These 5 were present as the Elders came to teach of prophets and the restoration.  Elder Goodfellow's Spanish is about as bad as mine, although he understands more, having mostly had Latin companions.  Sister Berraza sensed that the Spirit wasn't present and felt badly as her dogs may have been deterring.  She prayed 'the most fervent prayer of her life' and felt a great Spirit enter the room.  She was not able to hear birds or any sounds from elsewhere.  Elder Goodfellow bore his witness of the truthfulness of Elder Reed's discussion of prophets and the restoration.  Sister Berraza, as usual couldn't understand him.  However, Victorinia said that she didn't hear him, but another voice in perfect Spanish, clearly and logically explaining so that all her doubts were resolved.  The daughter heard it also.  Elder Goodfellow related to me that he bore testimony and the mom said he wasn't speaking to her, it was another voice telling her in excellent Spanish.
I have read of somewhat similar experiences, but have never known the participants.  Not always do miracles change lives, as the answers to prayers of faith can and I'm not sure why the Lord would have intervened in this way.  We suggested to Elder Goodfellow and Sister Berazza that they write it down.  We will be teaching Maritza piano, so should get to know the family better.  Maritza and her mom need to write it down as they will have challenges and the memory will dull and the feelings need to be refreshed by reviewing it.  Janell thinks it is significant that the Elders committed her to baptism the next week in that moment, but Elder Goodfellow received an emergency transfer and we haven't heard more about it.  Elder Goodfellow related that the mom said, 'Now I know that your church is true and not the other one'.  We may hear more at piano lesson time. 

Lovely going away party

We had a great day in Penonome this week.  We have started praying over our students individually as the Sunday School General President suggested last conference.  When I was praying over Olinda, a non-member English student whose mom and brother are members, I felt like I should ask her if she would like to learn about the gospel.  Rod taught her dad English while I was teaching her  (her brother who usually takes piano wasn't there).  Rod talked to the missionaries, and they didn't know the family (even though it was only a few months ago that the other missionaries set up our appointment with them).  The mom and brother (piano student) are inactive.  Rod made arrangements with the missionaries to go by with us.  These guys are latinos who both speak English.  Rod and the missionaries were teaching English to the dad.  The  young children, who usually play cards with Rod if we only have one student, were being pretty annoying.  So Rod and one missionary played Go Fish while the other missionary taught English.  Wasn't long and the Elder was telling the history of the Book of Mormon.  Turns out the Dad, of the little kids, came along after the mom was baptized and doesn't know much about the Church.  The elders made another appointment.  Olinda, on the other hand, isn't sure if she's interested.  We'll talk about it this coming week.  

That night, we were at the church and called another student (I thought) and got the brother, who had been delayed at school and missed his lesson.  He and his dad came to the church, enjoyed mingling, and Engeller had the lesson he'd missed because his class let out late in the afternoon.  Of course, the missionaries sat the dad down again, got to know him better and taught a bit about the plan of salvation.

We are convinced that we are blessed by the Hand of the Lord more than we can hope for.  He is GOOD!!

 Elder Wood (on the right with the guitar) has been our zone leader for the past while.  The sister is going home, and he formed an impromptu Mariachi band to send her off.  He made up clever words to songs they knew. It was a lovely party, and everyone felt good about it.  

 They had someone make this pinata and required her to wear a yellow skirt.  She really was cute.  I imagined taking her home, but she met the usual fate of a pinata.

 Before her demise, Rod had the last dance.  (Janell's favorite color is yellow -- pretending with the surrogate wasn't all that great.)

 I'd been wanting to try coconut since one of our students prepared coconut ice cream and I loved it.  I want to try real pina colada.
Rod said he wasn't willing to sacrifice fingers, he didn't think much of the taste treat combination, coconut and fingers.  This man did a wonderful job.  If you want to see more view the following video.

The coconut man's wife offered us "Duros" or Popsicles made of guanabana.  I didn't like my first guanabana because it was slimy.  My second try  was a blended drink which tasted good, but smelled like noni.  (For any of you who don't remember, this is the one that smells like vomit and tastes the same, including the acid in your throat.) The duro avoided the smell and really was delicious.

Of Iguanas (live this time) and different flora

Last week end we met with  a member and his wife.  She was sad because she was living in a home which had been robbed and she was so fearful that it was affecting their marriage.  (If your wife were waking you up multiple times in fear, it WOULD affect your marriage!).  I asked her (a non-member) if she had thought about a blessing as there is power in the priesthood.  She said her husband hadn't told her that, and she was interested.  We offered to fast and then come for a blessing on Sunday night.  I had recently had an experience where the Spirit said "This kind cometh not out but by fasting and prayer".  When we came, her husband gave her the blessing.  The next day I called to ask how her night had been.  She fell and broke her arm the day before, so she said she was awake, but not with fear.  She said that she hadn't felt more fear.  Yesterday they came to watch conference and have lunch with us.  At the end, she said she had felt good in conference.  Rod told her in Spanglish with her husband and I translating that now she had a testimony and needed to choose to do something about it.   She wasn't offended when I suggested she was in a position to accept the gospel and bless her family.  She invited us to her daughter's first birthday party and told us that they are expecting another baby in August.   I love the gospel and I love our work.  The gospel BLESSES people's lives.

 One morning I was exercising when Rod entered and got the camera.  He exited, and when he returned he said, "I can take some photos for the blog, too."  This was the result.  He does sweat a lot.  This was morning, the coolest we get, and we just took a walk.  [We are no longer in the brisk category, but we don't stroll either -- about 1.5 miles in 25-30 minutes.]   In case we haven't said it enough, "IT'S HOT HERE!"  It's a good thing there are lots of blessings.  [When we were buying clothes for this climate, we were told 'you want fabric that can wick the sweat away from your body'.  That takes more fabric and is hotter, I like the underwear that is a mesh so the water (and hopefully, the breeze) can flow freely.  Often it drips, particularly, my back.  So much, that I started worrying about erosion / arroyos forming and that I was wasting away.   My sweet wife / senior companion put my mind at rest -- its just more wrinkles!  Lesson learned:  thin fabric is better -- forget wrinkle free! ]

 In Las Tablas yesterday Rod didn't have a student and so was enjoying their yard.  He found this frog.  There were 5 of them in corners of the house.  They were hidden better than the photo shows.  We clicked "I'm feeling Lucky" on picasa and this was the result.  We decided to leave it since you can see so much better.  The lady is afraid of them.  She says it's a cultural thing, that they aren't poisonous or anything.

 He spotted the iguana, and she got a hose and flushed him out to a better photo position.  [During this season they come in search of water.]  They are pretty.  These colors are pretty true.

 She says he likes the water. 

 This is a new kind of palm tree.  It's hardly recognizable as one.  There surely are lots of varieties.

 It's called a dreadlock palm.  You can see why.  Even without her telling me, that is what it reminded me of.

I think the Lord must have had fun dreaming up the variety.