The Hammock Report, Ed 15 June 2015

Well adoring fan club,

This week was actually the best of times and the worst of times. Confusing I know but you all will understand by the end of the email. But before we get into that we have to give out the award for getting the Ronaldo reference from last week's report. And the award goes to...John! All the rest of you either didn't know or care or ignored. Thanks for playing this last week.

So this week started off with yet again more divisions. This time I was with the other set of elders in my district, Elder Ordonez (Canadian actually) and Elder Televario (Chapin (from Guatemala)). So it was pretty great to see their area and try to help them out. Elder Ordonez is a total workhorse too. But when I was with him we had a bunch of lessons fall through so we got to go and contact and found a bunch of really promising people for them to teach. It was a good time with him and we also had some good lessons also capacitating some families on the new area plan to get the work moving. It's really not new so to speak but not a whole lot of people here in Central America have done before. It's more member oriented instead of everyone just waiting on the missionaries to do everything.

After ending divisions we got back to work in our area for a day but then de Nuevo we had a meeting. Well I did. President Dester had a leadership meeting with all leaders in the mission and so my companion was on divisions with Elder Ordonez and Televario while I headed to San Pedro with the zone leaders. It was a great meeting where we were capacitated on how to better help those in our districts and zones be better motivated and keep the good work moving strong. Let's just say that I have a crap tone of notes from that meeting. Then we headed back to the coast. And that is when the week turned sour. So turns out that my comp just planched out while I was gone with a certain Chapin (name withheld in this part of the email) and then has been a complete pain in the butt since the "come to Jesus" meeting that came as the result of breaking a whole bunch of rules. And now I think that this week we might have to go to San Pedro again for someone to have some forced reflection time with a certain mission pres. But yea that is what I will have to deal with this week. The way he is acting is more like a certain soccer player from Portugal that was in last week's email.

Shut up Ronaldo! We all know you flop and are horrible with shots under pressure!

Well back on track again, thanks for all the love and support and I can't wait to hear from all your adventures this next week. Well I love you all and will hear from you soon.

Mike

The Hammock Report, Ed 8 June 2015

Well folks this week was a fun one!

So first we started out on Tuesday with our very normal district meeting. But this was no ordinary meeting this time...oh not it wasn't. So right as I was capacitating and right as the spirit comes into the room and we all are feeling and thinking of ways to make ourselves better this week... BOOOMMM! This little elder from Guatemala just hurls all over! I mean projectile vomiting! Yeah at first I was kinda upset but then it changed into a feeling of being impressed because he went for a minute solid and had some distance on it. If there was an Olympics for vomiting, I got a champ in my district.

Well after a good mopping and a lot of laughing we were back off to good ole Puerto. Tuesday also was a surprise visit from the APs who came to do divisions with us. And you all know what that means when they come for divisions. So we took them on a good walk around for a bit. As in the hardest parts of our area to try and gas them. It was also made better by getting them to eat a huge lunch right before taking them up some big ole hills all day. MWAHAHAHAHAHA! I know, only slightly evil but they'll live.

After Tuesday, all was good up until I had to go do divisions with one companionship in my district. So I spent Friday with a fellow Idaho boy from Poky. His name is Elder Fackrell and he is a total stud. He has about 10 months in the mission now and he is a hard worker. It's always good to see that the Idaho boys like to work hard. Now if I could just implant that in a few Mexicans, Chapines, and a Peruvian or two my life would be better. So the whole day we went and contacted a new part in their area that they had never visited. There we found a whole bunch of new families and even a dairy. The best part was that the guy gave us some free milk and we had a pack of cookies as a snack. Yeah, yeah finally a glass of cold, whole milk and cookies...priceless!

Then on Sunday we had a good time with fast and testimony meeting. Yeah it was set back one Sunday since last week was Stake Conference. So it was really good to get to share my testimony and hear some strong ones from the ward members here. Great times. Then after church we had the ward council meeting, which lasted forever! I about fell asleep five times cause it was hot and they all just talk in circles until finally we just decided to get up and leave and that is when they finally decided to get something done. So we had to sit back down and help them help us with the obra misional.

Then we get to today. So we started bright and early helping hno Juan Hernandez with his house again. It is progressing a lot actually. Then after that we went and played soccer at the church with a bunch of the neighborhood. It's a pain in the butt to get anyone to come to church for their eternal salvation but as soon as you bring soccer into the mix they show up by the droves. I mean it is its own religion here. As in on Sunday the whole town basically shuts down for a couple hours due to the Barcelona game. Crazy but hey they enjoy it. Personally it's more fun to watch futbol from the Northern European teams because they play faster paced but here it's one of two teams; Barcelona or Real Madrid. I am a fan of Barcelona due to the fact that Madrid has possibly THE person I would like to punch in the face the most on its roster...Cristiano Ronaldo! I mean just look at the little girl...

 

...I think I just threw up a bit in my mouth. You might also recall this little worm from the National selection de Portugal en el mundial en Brazil. Yeah, he is the little worm who last minute robbed the U.S.'s win. Cherry picking little...

 

...wow...I think this place is finally getting to me. Well anywho I think that is all for this week's report. I love you all and can't wait to see you soon.

 

Mike



The Hammock Report, Ed 1 June 2015

So this week the trend was a lot of meetings...let's talk about that.

So to start we had a whole lot of meetings this week. So first like every Tuesday we had our district meeting at which we had some capacitación to better ourselves...this is a normal one so it really shouldn't count. But then we had a multi-zone meeting on Wednesday. Here is where President Dester talked to us and we were capacitated on what are some of the things that we need to work on as a mission. The highlight of that meeting was that Mommy Dester brought us all brownies! Yeah, she is the greatest. It's been a long while since I saw, let alone ate, a brownie and boy was it delicious!

So after the meeting on Wednesday, we came back to Puerto Cortes and got right back to work. So the work here is going a wee bit slower than we would like but we have been attacking strong and trying to get the ward really involved in helping in the process. Well as that was happening we also had to try and help plan the Stake Conference that was going to be held in our ward building. Yeah it was kinda hard to get that done since we really didn't have time nor was it our job to do. But it all ran well in the end. But as with those two days of more meetings...it was just a long week to be in meetings. But the good news is that after the whole bunch of meetings we have a great plan of attack with the local leaders here and we are expecting a bunch of success coming real soon.

Also on another different front, we have been helping a member here build his house and it's coming along very well. I don't have a picture right now so I will have to get that to you guys because it's been nice to do some service and help around with the members. Well sorry that there isn't much to report, just trying to get the good work going here. Well I guess I will see you guys later,

Mike