P.S.

Kathy thinks that with Gary's new haircut and his red nose from being in the sun, that he looks like Someone that looks a little like elder Scott but that is a drunkard.

A FEW MORE THINGS

the comb over:

We went to get Gary a haircut.   We had gone to this man before and he did a great job.   He trims the edges of your hair with a straight edge!   So, this time, he had no customers waiting and he spent a lot of time with Gary, and, after all the cutting he wet his hair and very carefully combed his hair.  When he showed Gary the result in the mirror, he looked like Elder Scott - a major comb over! ( see picture)

We are pretty sure that the insects rule here and we are just a few visitors from another planet,  for example, we were hanging clothes and are feet were being bitten by tiny ants and it hurt really bad!  

Then, Kathy got some envelopes out of a draw that she brought from home, and the edges where the glue was had little bits along the edges. 

Then, we have to wipe the counter tops with disinfectant every day since cockroaches scour the place every night.   How do we know, they leave little messages everywhere. (See the picture)

We were talking to some Latino sister missionaries, that do not speak English, about where to get some Italian food.  And they said "don calzone" and told us where to go.  So we went there and looked all over for the don calzone restaurant and could not find it.  So for the next few weeks Gary would ask people if they knew about don calzone.  We got strange looks but no answers.  Finally Gary was talking to a man and he asked about don calzone,  the man held his hands to his ears like it was a bad word.  Well, it turns out that don calzone is on the menu of the domino pizza place and the word calzone refers to women's underwear!

Finally, there is an exciting picture of bananas attached.

OUR FIRST INVESTIGATOR

so, we have had visits with investigators and it was an amazing experience.  The first family we visited lives in a tiny, basically, one room apartment.   A married couple with a baby girl.   The husband is a member of our church but not active and the wife is not a member.   The wife has had missionary visits before.  (Oh, and by the way, here, you only look at a persons face since it is "open" nursing.   In fact, everywhere you go including church meetings, some one is nursing.)  the missionaries brought us along for us to testify of eternal marriage.   The missionaries went on with there lesson, which we could not fully understand, then, they pointed at us!   So, we did have a few words prepared and we "stuttered" through our thoughts.  We told them, in broken Spanish, that we know our loved ones that have passed on are alive and doing well and we will see them again because of eternal marriage.  Kathy told them about losing our grandson and how very sad we all our but beyond that we know he is ok and we will live with him again.  So, we had no idea what the effect of our stumbling testimony would have, but, when we finished talking they indeed were positively effected.  The young man seem to be especially impressed.  The missionaries invited them to church the next day and we agreed to meet them, and they came!

The next family was a bit of a trial.   There are five people in the family.  The parents are not married.  They live under a tin sheet supported with poles and the sides are curtains.  One light, no appliances at all, they cook over a fire. However, a wonderful family,  they all gathered round a tiny table and we sat on beds. The missionaries taught and the all listened very intently.  We did our testimonies and they asked us lots of questions.  (The mom was impressed that we held hands when we left).  The missionaries asked them to come to church, some of the family agreed, but they did not show.   Here, you are not supposed to refuse food because it is considered rude.  But, we would surely get sick.  So, the missionaries plotted beforehand to protected us.  When they were about to feed us, one of the elders set his phone to ring. He did a fake answer and the told us that we has to leave and that we could take the food with us.  The mom gave us tons of food and the dad ran to the store to get a plastic pitcher for the drink.  So, we left not insulting anyone and we did not get sick.  By the way, through all the evening it was pouring rain and we got home soaked. 

It was a wonderful experience!  Helping to teach the gospel is amazing!

Pictures

A ward house

These pews are not tied down,  non of the buildings have tied down pews.  They are moved around for different needs

Shot from a ward building window

Ward building with a plant thing

Mass transit

My esposa

Shots from Kathy visiting missionary apartments

LOVE

Just a quick note:   We were having dinner at a restaurant after a long day.  We were with the assistance-to-the president missionaries.   Everyone had gone to the bathroom except for Gary, Kathy, and a Latino missionary.   We were talking about how much we were going to miss our mission president and his wife.  They are leaving in about six weeks.  We had been talking in particular about what a great person the presidents wife is.  So, this Latino missionary surprised us by saying in English "she loves us".

The love we have observed in this mission between the missionaries and between them and the president and his wife is way beyond what Kathy and I could have imagined.  It is amazing and a wonderful inspiration.   After a while here, it become clear that this loves comes form the president with his love of God and his love for his wife and missionaries.   The president is a firm but loving.  We can feel his real concern for his missionaries.

SPIDERS ARE NOW OUR FRIENDS

You know how sometimes our greatest enemies can become friends sort of.  Well, the mosquito bites are a real problem.  We are sweating all over us most of the time (sorry, a little gross) and for some reason causes the mosquito bites to hurt even more.  Well, we were talking to a sister missionary about this, and, she said since they stopped killing the spiders the amount of mosquitos has reduced significantly.  So, pain trumps fear, and, we have stopped killing spiders, except for the big ones.

We have been working hard.  Every three months the mission president interviews every one of the 333 missionaries.  Kathy interviews Latino missionaries (we probably have said this before: the church wants every Latino missionary to return home speaking passable English,  they take a test and get a certificate.  Many do not want to take the trouble.   This is where Kathy comes in, as many of you know, she can be "a junkyard dog" when she wants to get someone to do something)  Kathy has got these Latinos working on English.   Gary interviews trainers.  Again, we probably said this before, but, the time in the MTC has been reduce from 9 to 6 weeks because of the many new missionaries coming in.  The 12 week program that Gary is in charge of, compensates for these missing weeks.  So, last week and the next two are interview weeks.  We travel All over the mission, some areas are 3 hours away.  Kathy also goes with the presidents wife to inspect missionary apartments.  Wow, the sister are always perfect but the elder can be really bad.  They get them to clean up and the presidents wife also inspects the ties.  She confiscates those that are not conservative.  We said that the mission is a "no coke cola" mission.  But, Kathy and the wife found a couple of cans in one of the elders apartments!  They handled that.  We continue to embarrass ourselves trying to speak Spanish, but, we are determined to learn the language.

As a final note, we remain extremely impressed with the quality of the missionaries and how much they love the work.  No one complains.  (Which is a lesson we have learned)  And, they live in pretty scary places, get rained on every day, walk around in the most humid place on earth, and, baptize about 200 souls a month!! 

Kathy had a good Mother's Day.  She got lots of flowers from the missionaries here!

THE BANDAID BITE

before we get into the bandaid thing, we need to tell you about change day: every 6 weeks, new missionaries arrive and finished missionaries leave. so, there is this big meeting. the president instructs the new missionaries and there new trainers, these are current missionaries assigned to train the newbys. the president interviews individually each new missionary and each leaving missionary.
The whole thing is quit a "zoo" in the church where all this happens: luggage all over the place, parents roaming around looking for water and wondering why there are big dead bugs all over the floor, new missionaries, staggering around like "deer in the head lites", it all is really fun.
So, the final meeting is where the changes are made. Our office president assistance missionaries set up a video presentation. With all the missionaries and parents in the chapel and the big screen ready in the front, the video show begins. Big portrait pictures of the two missionaries in a current companionship are flashed on the screen in living color, labeled with their names. Then one picture is taken off with tricky animation, like, a blind closing, or slowly fading out, very dramatic. Then, when that picture is gone, the new campion picture instantly appears, and, a change has been made, with lots of sounds of excitement from the crowd.
Then it is all wrapped up with testimonies from the leaving missionaries and any moms that came.

So, it is the rainy season and the bugs have appeared by the millions. Kathy and Gary check everything they put on or use, for bugs. Any food is in the fridge, all our dishes and eating stuff are turned over or in locked containers. We are on "bug alert". So, when we go to bed, we check the sheets and pillows for bugs before we get in. A few nights ago, we are sleeping away when all of a sudden Kathy screams and jumps out of bed (Gary is not going to get a heart attack soon since he got through this scream ok) We turned the lights on and carefully pulled down the sheet to reveal the monster. It was flat, white, and kind of curled up. On closer investigation, Kathy had been bitten by a band aid that had come off here foot!!