August already.....

I can't believe that it is August already and I am 1/3 of the way through my mission here in beautiful Puerto Rico.  The past couple weeks have been pretty busy.  We completed another round of 5 Zone Conferences with Pres/Sister Boucher, received 16 new missionaries and 19 completed their missions and went home along with a senior couple, Elder and Sister Card.  This meant some great time spent at the mission home.

We enjoyed a great dinner at the Mission Home as a farewell for the Cards.  They have been serving the past 6 months on Tortola with the previous 6 months on Antigua. This is their 3rd mission.

Fortunately, missionary health issues have been minimal and no cases of Dengue or Chikungunya at this time although there are 350+ cases on the island.  We have really been blessed and the missionaries continue to be vigilant with insect repellent.  We do get a lot of strange rashes, upper respiratory viruses and gastrointestinal viruses, as well.

It is a good thing that I took a couple photos or I wouldn't remember what had happened.  Along with the 'work', we manage to get the senior couples together at least once a week for food and games.....they all came to my apartment last Friday night to watch The Saratov Approach.  A couple from my MTC group (the Carters) were in the movie along with their son.  Interestingly, they are assigned to Russia now.

Dave and Steph will be visiting Aug 13-18.  I am really looking forward to their visit.  We will spend one night on Vieques which is a Puerto Rican island accessible by ferry from Fajardo.  It is a good thing they weren't here last weekend since all ferries were shut down with the pending Bertha system.  We just got heavy rains which are a blessing since we have had little rainfall.  Water rationing is delayed until at least late August.

Today, I drove to Arecibo to check on an Elder with a sprained ankle - not too bad - took him an air splint.  He is a pretty big Samoan/Hawaiian boy and we had to secure the top velcro with duck tape :o)  After treating them to lunch at Wendy's, I met up with Sister Dawid and Sister Dacosta at the Mall and gave them a ride home.  Back to Bayamon and a quick trip to the nail salon before getting home about 8:30pm.

The photos below are after dinner at the Mission Home.  The Senior sisters had been helping Sister Boucher prepare food for Zone Conference in the kitchen and, when I went into the Living Room, the 'picture' was quite striking with all those guys in white shirts assembled on white couches. (I do have to add that the Brethren along with President Boucher did dinner dishes before retiring to the living room.)

President Boucher on the right with Elders Bennett/Nadauld/Eakle/Card left to right

Others not visible in the photos are Elders Wentzel/Castaneda and Helm.

Elder/Sister Card

L to R - Sister Dacosta (Honduras), Sister Ramos (Mexico), Me, Sister Allred, New Sister Oborn/Sister Dye (both US)
This was transfer day and Sister Oborn was brand new - Dinner at Denny's

Mostly Photos......

Elders Bennett (Ofc Elder) /Eakle (Sr Missionary)/Helm (Ofc Elder)

Hi again......the photos will show that we do have a great time while we work!  After a busy week, we met at the Wentzel's apartment with the rooftop access for a 4th of July Cookout.  The next photos were taken at an upscale housing area, Dorado Beach.  One of the members of my ward lives there.  Brother Kingston's wife was out of town on business and he doesn't like to spend the holidays alone, so he invited the Senior Missionaries for a cook-out.  He included a tour around the neighborhood where we saw ChiChi Rodriguez's golf cart and Ricky Martin's home/helicopter pad as well as beautiful vegetation/pool/beach.  I had visitors from Dallas - Dani Stephens and her two teen daughters arrived 6 July and we toured the island Mon-Thurs. We had a lot of fun and laughs - great gals! They left on Friday and then I spent Fri/Sat catching up with missionary visits.  Ingrown toenails and foot problems top the list of complaints.  President and Sister Boucher arrived the end of the month and are busy already.  We are really blessed to have their friendship and leadership.  It has been warm down here, but not as warm as TX.  I don't get really hot unless I am cooking.  It was my turn to cook Sunday dinner for the Seniors last Sunday - Beef Stroganoff/Caeser Salad/Green Beans with Banana Pudding/Nilla Wafer Dessert.  We had a lively Yahtzee game following dinner.  Then I cooked dinner for our office Elders last night - food disappeared even more quickly - Swiss Steak/Mashed potatoes/Mixed Veg with cheese sauce/Green salad and dessert was a Choc Chip cookie/ice cream sundae.  No more cooking for a few days! 

Elder Bennett with Sisters Stevens/Me/Lopez/Allred

President/Sister Boucher

Caguas from Rooftop

Chi Chi's Golf Cart

Dorado Beach Flowers

Pool/Beach at Dorado Beach

Senior Outing

Crash Boat Beach/Aguadilla, PR

Crash Boat Beach/Beautiful Clear Water - Warm, too!

San German Church

Downtown San German

Ricky Martin's home/Helicopter Pad - Dorado Beach (Out of sequence - sorry!)

Sisters Conference 6/23/14

Happy Independence Day ALREADY!

It is hard to believe that 1/3 of my mission will be completed already on 7/13!  The past week was busy.  Sheri arrived on Saturday PM and spoke at our Sacrament meeting on Sunday.  Then we were invited to dinner at the Mission Home.  President Zwick was visiting Dominica, but arrived home in time for the Sisters Conference on Monday, the 23rd.  Sister Zwick served lunch to 65 very noisy Sisters at the Mission Home following the conference.  Getting to know Sister Dew was a real treat!  I caught up with missionary visits the rest of the week and our new president (President and Sister Boucher) arrived late Friday PM.  A few of us met with them on Saturday afternoon as we bid a sad farewell to the Zwicks.  They were wonderful - accomplished an amazing feat in their short two month here.  Our lives have been truly touched by their love and service.

Not much more news, but more photos!  Take care and stay cool!

The Firestation in Ponce is the oldest in Puerto Rico.  There are many Lions in the parque as well - painted in many different styles.  The Flamboyant Trees dot the whole island with beautiful red/orange follage.

Sisters Dew/Zwick working on Sunday Dinner

Senior Missionaries/Sisters Dew and Zwick

Lion in the park in Ponce

Ponce

Flamboyant Tree along Hwy 52 South of Caguas

Busy month again!

Hi ya'll!  Well, I had the opportunity to go without electricity for a couple of days again.  The whole complex was out from 9am - 4pm, but my condo was the lucky one that didn't trip on.  Finally, got it on Monday afternoon as I was cleaning out the freezer again to get rid of thawed food.  Then the A/C  and stove weren't working - apparently part of the switch hadn't completely reset.  We have had some more ups/downs as the mission is getting "reset" as well with the outstanding leadership of President Zwick.  

On a lighter note, Elder and Sister Wentzel arrived from Sacramento, CA and are a great joy and strength!!  They remember Matt Blake when he served his mission there.  It was fun to reconnect them again.  Matt remembers them taking him out to a Mexican Restaurant and going on splits with their sons.  We have become fast friends and they join Sis Allred and I as we rotate for Sunday dinner and play games while drinking virgin PinaColadas.  They, initially, moved into the Patterson's apt in my complex, but have now moved to the Costley's apt in Caguas.

The first part of June was a spiritual feast as I attended 5 Zone Conferences around the island.  President and Sister Zwick shared much wisdom with the missionaries providing them with motivation and 'tools of the trade'.  Their son, Scotty, participated as well.  Scotty is 43 yrs old and is mentally/physically challenged, but able to live with minimal supervision.  He is a joy and really livened up the zone conferences.  He was here for a week so he could attend and participate in all the conferences.  Sister Zwick commented that she "thought Scotty would be one of my greatest trials, but he has been my greatest blessing."  He is so kind and loving with great childlike faith.

June 7th was a busy day as I met Sisters Stirland and Diego for lunch at Macaroni Grill followed by a basketball game at night.  Gary Wilkinson, who was an All American Basketball Student/Athlete at Utah State, is in our ward for the summer.  He has been playing Pro Basketball in New Zealand with previous seasons in Korea, Greece, etc.  He is playing the Spring season with the Bayamon Vaqueros.  He was kind enough to arrange free tickets for the game.  Elder/Sister Wentzel, Sister Allred and I went and had a great time.  He warned us that some of the music lyrics were a bit strong, but I assured him that it is likely that I wouldn't understand them anyway and I wasn't expecting Church dance music.  They lost, but Gary played a great game.  He is putting basketball aside and will be attending law school at the Univ of Utah in the Fall.  He is here with his wife and 2 small children.

I had the opportunity to visit San German again - it was established in 1511.  Also, Sister Allred and I made a quick shopping trip to Old San Juan.  We met up with the same singer/guitarist as when we were over there with Kris and Eric.  That time, however, he had been drinking a bit and just serenaded us with "Happy, Happy, Happy".  Sister Allred gave him a dollar to leave.  This time, he sang pretty well :o)

This has been a busy week.  We welcomed 15 new missionaries on Tuesday and sent 11 home on Thursday.  I was at the Mission Home on Tuesday to do a quick briefing with the new arrivals and helped Sister Zwick with lunch.  Elder Bennett did a great job grilling burgers and hot dogs.  Later in the afternoon, I picked up Sisters Castaneda and Butler.  They were among the missionaries headed home, so they stayed with me Tues and Weds nights.  Both flew home on Thursday to Utah and Colorado, respectively.

We are looking forward to a Sisters Conference on Monday.  The speaker will be Sheri Dew from SLC.  She will, also, speak at the English-speaking sacrament meeting tomorrow.  Then, the Wentzels, Sister Allred and I are invited to the Mission Home for dinner after Church.  Enjoying Sister Zwick's cooking is becoming a pleasant habit!  Our new Mission President and wife, President and Sister Boucher will arrive from Utah on the 27th.  We will be excited to meet our new president, but sad to see the Zwick's leave.  They have enriched all of our lives.

Sunday Dinner at Mission Home - Pres Zwick at head of table and Sis Zwick to my left

Sisters Stirland/Diego - Macaroni Grill

San German

Sisters Partridge/Ponce

San German

Impromptu singer on Catano Ferry - Happy to accept tips!

Elder Jorgensen/Rodriguez (recovered from appendectomy!)

Gary Wilkinson - never missed a free throw - great 3 pointers as well!

Elder/Sister Wentzel/Sacramento, CA

Belated Happy Memorial Day!!

The past couple of weeks have flown by!  Well, the Elder with stomach pain had chronic appendicitis with an abscess.  After a couple days inpatient with IV antibiotics, he had an appendectomy and was discharged this week.  I think my car drives to the hospital on autopilot.  He is a great young man from Guatemala - comes to my shoulder!  He was treated at the Auxilio Mutuo Hospital in the Hato Rey area of San Juan by a surgeon who had performed hernia surgery on an Elder in February.  His hospital care was awesome - equal to or better than I have seen in the US in recent years.  Dr. Pelet is great, as well.....the fact that he has lived in the US and speaks English is a great benefit to me :o)  Elder and I spent many hours together 'communicating'....we both had to rephrase some sentences sometimes, but eventually got the message across.  He speaks no English except "Wow" and "Oh, my gosh!"  He is doing well.

The current health bulletin for the Caribbean is re: the Chikungunya virus.  It is carried by a mosquito with daytime bites.  I will be alerting the missionaries over the next couple weeks at Zone Conferences.  It is essential to use insect repellent on all uncovered areas.  It has already hit the island of Dominica and is expected to hit hard in the Dominican Republic, Caribbean, and even, possibly, the Southern US.  Symptoms are fever to 104 and severe joint pain (similar to severe arthritis which occurs overnight).  In some ways, it is worse than Dengue.

I have had time to fit in a couple piano lessons.  One student will begin playing simple hymns for prelude in her ward where there is only one other who plays a little bit.

Wednesday night was crazy....the scouts in my ward washed 5 mission cars as well as Sis. Allred's and my cars.  With 2 office Elders and the two of us, we moved cars to and from the office as well as the mission home.  Pres and Sister Zwick have been visiting the islands this week, so I was driving the President's Honda Pilot around running shuttles.  I felt like we were a band of car thieves.  All ended well, though, with a 10:30 pm dinner at Burger King.

My Bishop here has asked me to serve as Primary Chorister - it has been a while since I have done that :o)  We can't be called/set apart in the traditional way for ward callings, but are given "opportunities" to serve.  So much for the easy RS pianist role!  We have about 20 Primary kids and one sharing time.  These are all American kids....many of their dads are here with FBI.  As usual, it is a small world in the Church - Matt Foulger and family are here - his brother was Taylor's scout leader in Allen 4th Ward.

Tonight is a Relief Society Activity - Sis. Allred and I will observe the exercise and yoga class, but enjoy the salad dinner :o)  We are afraid that if we get down on the floor, we may never get up again!!!

Almost forgot --- we had a new Senior couple here BRIEFLY!  Let's just say that they were not a good fit for this mission.  The sister couldn't believe that she wasn't met at the airport with a fruit basket and the apartment (similar to mine) was not adequate.  Also, it was too hot here and there was too much traffic. They got lost driving to the office two days in a row.  To make a long story short.....the Elders were pleased with the opportunity to provide transportation for them to the airport.....they have been assigned to a mission in California!  (To make matters worse, SLC had not advised the Mission here re: their arrival/travel plans, so they arrived at the airport unexpectedly.  Fortunately, the Elders in the office hadn't left yet since that was the only phone number they had.  Then, President/Sister Zwick were ready to sit down to dinner at their home with a visiting Area Temporal Affairs director and his wife.  The Elders picked them up and took them to the Patterson's apt in my complex to drop off their luggate.  I thought the Elders were going to stop by my apt to grab a couple pina coladas (virgin, of course) on their way home.  Instead, they brought with couple with them.  I was in a house dress with slimy hair after cleaning my floors and the couple appeared in their missionary finest clothing.  The Elders later told me that they had to stall and waste time before they could take them to the Mission Home to meet the Pres.)

I haven't been anywhere new, so no photos this time......

Update - Finally!

Sorry, folks!  I hope you haven't been holding your breath waiting for an update!  A lot has happened since I last wrote.  Our Mission Pres/Wife were released on April 28 and they returned to Alabama where Sister Smartt will be treated for a new diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.  Then, Elder Cornish of the Area Presidency came to preside over the mission until a new/interim president could be identified and arrive.  Elder W. Craig Zwick of the First Quorum of the 70 and Sister Zwick arrived on May 3rd.  What a joy and blessing to have close association with them and Elder Cornish.  Many of you may remember the April General Conference Talk re: the 18 wheeler on fire and the sister who jumped out with the baby.  Yep - Sis. Zwick is that awesome sister!  Then there were transfers, missionary visits and, ultimately, an All Mission Conference held in Caguas to re-group and instruct the missionaries.  It was a wonderful conference as the missionaries from the islands were flown in as well. 

 I was able to visit Mom in Florida for Mother's Day - left here 5/9 and returned on the 14th.  It was really strange being out of the mission.  I felt like I was in limbo and was anxious to return to my assignment.  The next 2 days were Orthopedic appointments for a couple of elders, the weekend and here we are.  I sat down to update this blog last evening and received a call re: an elder with stomach pain, so visited him about 10pm.  Fortunately, they were only about a 15 min drive from my apartment.  

The really great news is that I now have screens on all windows.  Since mosquito-borne Dengay fever is a risk in this area, screens are a necessity and I had none.  My landlord has been great about responding to the requests of the Mission after receiving a letter indicating that the contract would be considered null and void if he didn't comply with the requests.  My washer has been repaired as well after a month or so.  I had considered moving to a different apt in the complex on the ground floor which was vacated by the Pattersons when they were released, but opted to stay here in a brighter, more pleasant unit.  I decided I could climb the 2 flights of stairs for the this apt and not have to go through a move.  All apts in this condo complex have the same floor plan.  I have one missionary to visit today so far - twisted knee playing soccer last week.  One of these days I need to do a good cleaning of the apt.  The downside of all of the open windows is the dust/dirt that blows in from the Sahara via the Trade Winds.  It is like a fine black powder on everything and a real pain to deal with on the nearly white tile floors throughout the entire space.  I vacuum first and then damp mop.  That is a small price to pay for the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful island and the cool breezes. 

The photos this time are random pictures of an evening with the Senior missionaries before the Pattersons and Petersons went home.  Costleys go home in June which will just leave Sister Allred and me as the oldies. We went to the Crepe Maker for dinner, then the men decided they needed ice cream as well....so we caravanned (4 Chevy Cruzes) to Baskin Robbins. Word is that 3 new senior couples will be arriving within the next month.  They are greatly needed! Our new permanent Mission President will arrive July 1 for a 3 year mission.  Sending my love to all ya'll!!!

Dinner at the Crepe Maker (Elder Patterson taking the photo)

Elder Patterson/Retired Dentist from Idaho

Sisters Sigler/Stirland/Zwick at the Mission Home

Mom - Sebring, FL - Mother's Day