EMAIL... Week 71

Hola All! 

We had a very busy and memorable week! Sunday we finished Temple Prep with the Rosario Branch, and Condega had number 5. Because of limited space in the temple housing, some may not get to go until January. The temple trips are for 3 days, so it’s nice that the temple in Honduras has housing for the patrons. We will continue to follow up with those preparing to go, and hopefully their Branch Presidents will get their interviews done before the mission president or his counselor comes up to interview them. 

We had changes Monday, and Elder Koelliker put almost 80 km on the car with driving missionaries to and from the bus stations and to and from their houses here. It was fun to greet the new ones, and sad to lose Hermana Elías and Elder Hughes. We are so grateful not to been moved!

Tuesday we got up early to go to Managua to pick up Mike and Sandra Bryan. They came early for their Smiles for Central America trip, so they could work with us here in Estelí. It was so fun to spend time with them and to work with them. We did visits Tuesday in Condega after we got back from Managua. Of course, their Spanish is excellent and they did an awesome job commenting and adding to each discussion and lesson. We had a visit back in Estelí that evening. The waterfall on Wednesday morning was spectacular and the weather was great! We did visits after lunch and we went with the Hermanas to one of their new investigator families. There were 6 of us meeting with 6 of them in a tiny room of their wooden house, with the wood burning “stove” cooking dinner. They and their circumstances were so humble, but the spirit was strong. We all shared parts of our testimonies of the Gospel. It was a great experience. The Bryans were able to meet several of the people we work with regularly as well. Thursday we showed them a few places of interest and took them to meet Sofia, one of our favorites, then headed back to Managua so they could join their group flying in that night. Their group does complete physicals, dental check ups and work, and eye checks for youth preparing to serve missions, leaving within a year. When these Nicaraguan youth finish their time with them, the whole health section of their mission application is complete. What a blessing for these potential missionaries. We are hoping to get down to see them and Barton and JoAnne Foutz in action. This service is not only very generous, but so needed by these poor people. The Bryans will be fabulous missionaries, when they retire! They also brought 100 pounds of church clothes for the people and missionaries here, which was Jacob Hofer’s Eagle Project! Huge thanks to them, Jacob, and to all those who contributed to this amazing gift for the people here.

We had a wonderful lesson with Carlos, a 21 year old orthodontic student, who is planning to be baptized next Saturday. He loves every concept and tells us how this gospel answers all of his questions. He actually bore his testimony last Sunday during testimony meeting and it was powerful. He asked the missionaries why everyone in the congregation wasn’t up there bearing theirs. Profound question! He will be a wonderful addition to the branch and wants to serve a mission himself in a year.

We are so blessed to have the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We are so grateful for our testimonies, leaders, the scriptures...especially The Book of Mormon, prayer, temples, and eternal families. We are thankful to be able to serve here and now with these precious people and share what we know and the blessings we enjoy! 

Thank you for your examples, love, charity, and prayers! We love you!

Love,

Elder and Hermana Koelliker