EMAIL... Week 77

Hola All!

Wonderful week here in Nicaragua! Last Sunday after the Sacrament and the first speaker in the Rosario Branch (due to the fact that they needed Elder K to help with the Sacrament and President Jeronimo ended up being the first speaker), we took President Jeronimo up to Condega for their Sunday Meetings, to meet the group up there, and to interview a recent convert to receive the Priesthood. He got to speak for a few minutes in their Sacrament Meeting as well. We then hustled home, made some sandwiches to add to the sack lunches for Elder Mendez and Hermana Rodríguez for their bus ride to Managua. Elder M is now an AP, and Hermana R completed her mission and is now home. We only had Elder Fankhauser for lunch, since Elder M was on his way to Managua, plus he needed Elder K to be his companion until the Condega Elders could come down. They had to pack up Elder Bassett for his change before they could leave Condega. We always miss the ones we lose, but learn to love the new ones! 

Tuesday we did our last Zone breakfast with egg casserole, pancakes, juice, and fruit. They were all so appreciative and had so much fun! Great missionaries, working hard, teaching wonderfully, and bringing the Light of Christ into many lives! Love them!

We loved our Family Home Evenings and visits this week, sharing the message of the purpose and true meaning of Christmas. The Church videos are powerful and we have been so blessed to be able to share them with the precious people here. The videos bring such a palpable spirit, and give us the opportunity to testify, and those we are visiting the opportunity to better understand and recognize the Spirit. We had many “hasta luego” experiences, because we don’t want to say “good-bye”.

Yesterday was truly a day of miracles! Our goal was to show the Hermanas, since they are new, where people live. Elder K had created a list of people needing visits, weekly, bi-monthly, and monthly, so they won’t be forgotten. We randomly saw people we haven’t been able to find at home for a long time, and either visit with them then or set up appointments. It was especially evident that Elder K was being directed by the spirit several times. One time he was prompted to drive out of our way back past a home as we were leaving another visit. Many of the grandchildren of the family were then outside, so Elder K stopped and greeted them. The Grandma and 19 year old Aunt came out. We visited with them and Elder K was able to peek inside. He started to get in the car to leave, and then he said that he thought they needed the box of food we had in the car. I nodded and he took it to them. They thanked us, and later that night he said that there were just a few scraps in their kitchen, and that’s what prompted him to give the box to them. As we were going to drop the Hermanas off at their appointment, Elder K took a huge detour out of our way, because there was roadwork on the main road and he did not’t want to have to deal with the delays. He was asking me about a woman who we used to visit, but who had moved to Guatemala. We had heard that she was back. He asked me if I remembered which house was hers, and as  I looked around, I saw her. We backed up and had a good visit with Iliana and introduced her to the Hermanas. 

Heavenly Father loves and knows each of His children personally. If we have the desire to help Him and our Savior with Their work here on the earth, They will direct and help us accomplish that work! As Elder K reflected on our experiences yesterday, he said, “Heavenly Father put people in our path!” I know that He also directed OUR path! 

We had a lovely dinner at Marvin and Blanca’s last night. She made tostones and chicken with rice smothered in a delicious cream sauce with onions, peppers, and jalapeños. Muy delicioso! We took Macadoches Cake (Texas Sheet Cake). She gifted me one of her Nicaraguan cook books. Look out Family!

Feliz Navidad y mucho amor de Nicaragua!

Love,

Elder and Hermana Koelliker

Noche de Hogars... Multi-Zone Conference Magic Show and Soccer Championship

Noche de Hogars y visitas con familias y personas muy especial!

Translation: Family Home Evenings and visits with very special families and people! 

Elder Koelliker gave a sweet blessing to the little 2 1/2 week old baby boy! Holding him made us want to hold our baby Marra even more! 

Our wonderful Multi-Zone Christmas Activity and Conference. Special note of the Estelí Fútbol (Soccer) championship pictures and of the other teams, Elder Bassett’s magic show...and it was amazing, and other fun shots.

This year’s “La Gigantona” and Elder K teaching Marvin how to access and use some of the lds.org programs for his calling.

EMAIL... Week 76

Hola All!

Last Saturday night we drove up to Condega to do our last Hermanamiento with them. Elder K showed a Christmas video and we talked about what gifts we can give to our Savior. We played the balloon game...look out Koelliker grandkids...and they loved that. I served wraps and homemade chocolate chip cookies, neither of which they had ever had before, and soda. It’s fun to provide new experiences for them, so we had a great night with some wonderful people, who we will miss!

Sunday we both spoke in Sacrament Meeting about Christmas, and we stuck a Christmas Carol on the program. They don’t sing them, unless we strongly request them. It is always a good experience for us, despite my lack of language. More than 2 days to prepare and practice would have been nice, but that’s all part of being a missionary in a small Branch. We enjoyed talking about Christmas traditions, the true meaning of Christmas, the blessings and gifts from our Savior, and how loving, serving, and forgiving others is what the Savior taught us all to do! These are the gifts we can give to others and in turn, give to Him.

We have loved this week of continuing with Christmas themed Family Home Evenings, visits, and our Rosario Hermanamiento. As we have showed church videos about the birth and blessings of the Savior, and have encouraged others to discover ways to follow His example, we have felt the Spirit powerfully testifying that these things are not only true, but essential for our joy, happiness, and progress in the life, and in our preparation for eternal life. 

This year we had a Multi-Zone Christmas celebration and conference, and we had it at our Rosario chapel, which is much nicer and more private. The missionaries all changed into their P-day clothes and had a soccer tournament and a volleyball tournament. The soccer was amazing, with so many truly skilled players from many countries. However, the best overall player is from Utah, which surprised me. The volleyball wasn’t legit, but they had fun. Next we had a catered turkey lunch, which was the first turkey we have had here. Yum! For my final Multi-Zone Conference treat, we served Texas Sheet Cake with ice cream. The Americans were especially grateful to have a taste of home. Then we enjoyed a talent show and presentations for the tournaments. Elder Bassett from our Zone did an awesome magic show and our Zone’s young missionaries sang their created lyrics to a popular tune, based on our experiences in the Estelí Zone. It was great! Our zone won the soccer tourney, and Matagalpa received the volleyball award. The kids all changed back into their missionary attire and President and Hermana Poncio both shared messages. At the end the missionaries finishing their missions were called up to bear their “final” testimonies to the Zones. We didn’t expect to be included, but we were. Oh how we love these missionaries, the Poncios, the people here, the opportunity to serve in this capacity, and the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!  We are so grateful to know that the Lord is in charge and directing His work here on the earth!

Remember the reason for the season!

Our love to all!

Elder and Hermana Koelliker

Hiking... Pancakes... Turkey!

Our final trip to the waterfall here above Estelí with the missionaries with whom we serve regularly! Love them and the waterfall!

Estelí Zone pancake breakfast! These missionaries can eat because they work so hard!

Last week many shrines to honor the Virgin Mary were built all over town. They also had many processions in her honor and fireworks!

This turkey came right up to me. Maybe I looked like “dinner” to him?

EMAIL... Week 75

Hola All!

Another packed week! Saturday night we picked up the Condega Elders, who were here to interview a girl for baptism, and then drove up to Condega for their Hermanamiento. They had Elder K do the message, since the family that had planned to do it was going to be late. He showed “Enemy Territory” by President Packer for all the youth there. We had a great discussion and then played “Nines”. Look out, Grandkids! You will be introduced to all of the fun games we have learned! 

Monday we took the 4 Hermanas and 2 Elders serving with us here in Estelí to the waterfall. The car was packed, but we had fun and enjoyed the beauty of Nicaragua on their last P-day for this change. It was weird to realize that this was our last trip there, but we have so many great memories with so many different missionaries and friends at the waterfall.

We are loving doing Family Home Evenings with the members and less actives here. It is so sweet to share Christmas videos produced by the church and sing Christmas carols. They don’t know the Christmas carols very well because they don’t sing them very often. That is one thing we have really missed, the music. Without a piano or organ being played by the talented musicians we are used to, they struggle to learn the hymns and to sing on key. We were shocked until we realized that this is part of being young in the gospel, but we did think everybody knew the Christmas carols. Nope! So, it is fun to teach them in a more intimate setting. And of course we love sharing treats!

Our pancake breakfast with our Zone is always fun for us, and I think they like it too, because they eat like they do. We have found that missionaries are always hungry, unless they are sick. All that walking and talking burns tons of calories! We are always so impressed with their teaching, love of the people they are serving, and their strong testimonies! The future of the Church is in great hands!

This week we were able to find some people at home, who we haven’t been able to catch for a long time. It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to bring the Spirit into their homes and see them feel it. It reminded us how important faithful visiting and home teaching are. You never know when it will be the right time or you will say what they need to here at that moment, and it is your opportunity to be an instrument in the hands of God.

We had one of our favorite families over to dinner last night. Marvin has become active this past year and is serving diligently in his calling. His wife and 19 year old son still rarely come. We love them so much and have visited them, or have had them come to our house, every week for the whole time we have been here. Progress has been slow, but as they talked about how they have looked forward to our weekly visits and have felt the spirit each week, I was teary. Blanca said that she realizes that the Church is working like we are telling them and modeling for them in the United States, but she knows that it will take time to get to that level here. That was huge, as she has been so turned off with the irreverence, the lack of commitment and preparation, and the attitudes of many of the people. She had gone back to going to the Catholic Church with her mom. We told them that they need to be the leaders and show the members of the Branch what the Church can and should be. We challenged them to prepare to go to the temple as a family and be sealed. Marvin is ready, and Blanca and Marvincito love the idea. Poco poco!

Life is good! The Church is true! We are children of our Heavenly Father and He loves and knows each of us! Our Savior has fulfilled His role in our Heavenly Father’s Plan, so that we can return to Them for eternity, if we do our very best to fulfill our part! We love this season and the extra Spirit that comes with Christmas! Let’s all continue to light the world with that Spirit!

We love you all!

Love, 

Elder and Hermana Koelliker

EMAIL... Week 74

Hola All!

The District put on an activity for the youth and did a great job! They showed and discussed some of the Church’s videos for the Youth, had a couple of speakers, and did a Family History Training, where they helped all of the youth create their own accounts and enter as many of their ancestors as they had the information for. Lunch was a big hit as well! Elder K had his laptop helping the kids with the Family History part of their day and I got to cheer them on and be a fly on the wall. I love to watch the youth interact and have those “aha moments”. I guess that is the teacher in me. Love the Church programs, especially for the youth! What a blessing for them and for those of us with opportunities to serve with them.

Sweet Family Home Evening with one of our favorite families! They have come so far, and their son is preparing for a mission next year. He received his physical and dental check up at the Brigada that the Bryans and Foutzes helped with a few weeks ago. Their family was so impressed that doctors and dentists would come to help their youth prepare to serve missions. Big thank you to Smiles for Central America for your selfless and meaningful service! We continue to distribute the clothes many of you donated to Jacob Hofer’s Eagle Project, and Hermana Poncio (the mission president’s wife) took many of the items to give to missionaries and members in Managua who are in need. Thank you sooooo much for your loving service and kindness to our people and missionaries here! You have already been “Lighting the World”!

For our Hermanamiento this week Elder K showed the new “Good Samaritan” video and then re-introduced the “Light the World” campaign. We want to do a Family Home Evening in as many homes as possible this month to share the Light of Christ and Christmas, and to encourage the members here to share the Gospel, and to serve and help those around them. We did several visits on December 1st to get members, who were not at the Hermanamiento, to choose a date for their families to participate in an FHE and to invite their friends. We will keep you posted! We look forward to this time of year, so much that Elder K already put the Christmas lights up and we hung our paper Christmas tree and ornaments. We are so excited to participate in this program and do our part to “Light the World” in Nicaragua!

We enjoyed having President and Hermana Poncio in our home for lunch on Wednesday, as they were here for interviews with their entourage. We did a Nica version of Cafe Rio, and since they were in the Provo MTC, they had experienced the real thing. President teased me and said he was eating at Cafe Koelliker, and that he was sad that this was his last lunch at our house. We invited him to come to Vegas for lunch! We had a good interview later that evening. He is a good man and his schedule is incredible! We are so grateful for his leadership, kindness, and concern for us and our family.

Just got home from the baptism of Maria de los Angeles, the 10 year old daughter of less active parents. Elder K performed the baptism and the parents were happy to see their daughter take this step. Hopefully this will also be a step for them in becoming a forever family! Poco poco. We are so grateful for the opportunity to have the blessings of the Gospel in our lives and in the lives of our family! What a blessing it is to have made temple covenants, so that we have the potential to be together forever! 

Thank you for your examples and prayers!

We love you!

Love,

Elder and Hermana Koelliker

Special Families... Griswold Christmas Lights in Nicaragua

Baking Galletas Americanas with Gabriela. She is a fun, happy, smart, and beautiful 12 year old in the Estelí Branch. Her dad is now the Branch President there and her mom is the Young Women’s President. We love their family!

Our current Branch President in the Rosario Branch, Presidente Jeronimo, doing his day job of making pants. I hired him to make me 3 pairs and the missionaries have used his skills as well. He and his wife also have a small pulpería, and sell Marta’s Nica enchiladas, carne asada, naca tamales, and gallo pinto. He cooks a mean carne asada! He is a wonderful man and dear friend.

The Chevy Chase home of Estelí! We were so impressed to see all the workers setting this up! Wow! It looks like Christmas!

Last lunch here with the Poncios and entourage. Hermanas Poncio and Fersola with their gathered pile of clothes for members and missionaries in need in Managua. Thanks to all who donated to help the people here in Nicaragua, especially to Jacob Hofer and the Bryans!

The Rugama Family is definitely one of our favorites! We have grown to love them so much as we have had the opportunity to work with them. They were sealed in the temple as a family several years ago and are saving to go again. Their son, Octavio, is preparing to serve a mission next year! Their daughter, Fany, does not like pictures, but is a sweetheart! We will truly miss them!

The baptism of María de los Ángeles with her parents, friend, Hermanas Pacheco and Donaire, and Elder K. Potential eternal family!