Hey Family!!
Glad to hear everyone had a good time in Utah. Well, it has been another week in good-old-stinky-hot-Nicaragua! Everything is awesome though and I’m loving it! Okay about all the health stuff, my health is good, sometimes I will get really bad headaches but I think its because I’m in the sun for most of the day, but other then that everything is good. I don’t know how much I weigh but we get fed a ton of food by Hermana Gladis.
Spanish is coming faster then it was before, we have been having a lot of meetings real early in the morning so I haven’t been able to do personal study or language study at our regular time so my Spanish right now is "okay". My goal each day is to memorize thirty words and so far I have been accomplishing this goal so my vocabulary is pretty big.
They had emergency changes to make with companionships, so I am no longer with Elder Garcia who was awesome. We had our differences and I have had to develop patience and self control cuz one time I wanted to punch him in the face! BUT I didn’t....I just walked away into the other room and prayed for help and not to have contention in our companionship. But I will miss Elder Garcia when we were getting along and we were doing an awesome job.
My new companion is Elder Alonso, he is from Guatemala and is really cool! He is quiet, really smart and hard worker, so I’m thinking this is one of those really good companionships. I’m expecting a lot out of us this change. We’re going to do AWESOME! I can tell. Ha-ha He is only 5’3” in height so we look like David and Goliath. We think a lot alike as far as goals we want to accomplish and set, and he helps me a ton understanding things in Spanish. We have only been companions for a day too! Ha-ha.
Right now we have 5 families and baptismal dates for those families set on the 11 of July so I’m really excited. These families are awesome and really interested in the gospel, they all worked last Sunday so they couldn’t go to church but as far as I know they are able to go this Sunday. One Family (its pretty sad) their 3 month old daughter passed away like a month ago and they have this book of her death, with pictures of her dead (which isn’t good, its better to remember them and see them when they were alive) so we taught them the Plan of Salvation. Everyone in the family was crying by the end of the lesson and thanked us, so after that I felt awesome.
I DID RECIEVE THE PACKAGE! I got it last night, so it took about 2-3 weeks to get to me. Thank you for everything, I pray for you all everyday, hope all is well, money is flowing and everyone is happy!
Love,
Elder Buck
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
My First Trip to the Hospital
Hello to Everyone!
It is good to hear you still have nice weather in Arizona, LUCKY! It is so HOT & HUMID here!. I hope you all have a good time in Utah, have fun and be safe! Wow, Kade you have two puppies now, that’s cool. Hey, congrats Monson on going to the temple! Ah man, the mission is unbelievable; you are going to love it!!!
You are right Mom, we definitely need the members help in our ward! It was good Sunday, we went on splits with members, I was with Alex and a ward member, so it was really awesome to have the members involved. The teaching this week has gone pretty good, however, Elder Garcia never lets me teach lessons, so I have to interrupt and say my piece, I have been trying to get him to let me talk more so we are still working on it. We are teaching a new family, Martinez, they are a pretty sweet family. They have two kids and the dad plays baseball for a living. He plays on Sunday’s so he can’t go to church with us but we will work with him more. Other than that I have not done much this week because it has been one crazy week….
Last Monday, P-day, after I posted my letter to you on email, all the Elder’s went to the church to play basketball, football, and ping-pong. I was feeling hot and sweating like crazy, more than normal, so I went and changed out of gym clothes and into my street clothes and started to play the piano. While I was playing my back started to hurt, so I took off my back pack, then I started to get a pain down my whole left side up into my neck and I was having a hard time breathing. Elder Sugden came and started playing the piano next to me and I told him I wasn’t feeling well. We got up and walked out to the foyer to where the other Elder’s were sitting and I told them I was not feeling good and I was trying to explain to them in Spanish how I was feeling since nobody speaks English. The pain just hit me again, I couldn’t breathe and I collapsed on the couch, my left arm was numb now and all I could think was I was having a heart attack. The Elders were around me trying to figure out what was wrong and one called the Mission Doctor, I couldn’t even breathe to talk to him so he said to call the Mission President. Elder Sugden and another Elder gave me a blessing while the president sent two A.P.’s with the car to pick me up, carry me out to the car and take me to the hospital. Elder Sugden came with us too.
It was hard to breathe and my chest hurt like crazy, we were speeding down the roads, the roads are full of pot holes and every time we hit one, it made the pain worst. The kept telling me to keep breathing and to hold on! I think we made it to the hospital in 10 minutes and it usually takes 25 minutes by taxi. The hospital happened to be the best one in Nicaragua so I was well taken care of. They rushed me into a bed and the doctor kept asking me medical terms in Spanish so I was having a hard time communicating with him and telling him what I was feeling in Spanish. They took some x-rays and they said I had a bubble outside of my lung (infection). They call it “The Devils Grip” down here. I stayed in the hospital overnight, my hero Elder Sugden stayed with me the whole time. The hospital was awesome, the food was awesome, the bed was even awesome, and I loved the stay. Ha-ha. They kept me over night and released me the next day, I was to rest for four days and after resting the doctor said I was better and could go back to teaching later in the week. DO NOT CALL THE MISSION HOME, I AM OKAY NOW!
Love, Elder Buck
Note from Sandra: I looked up “The Devil’s Grip” online and found it is called Bornholm Disease or epidemic pleurodynia. It is a viral disease that is easily spread from person to person, the characteristics include sudden, violent pain in the chest, fever (his excessive sweating) and difficulty breathing. It is treated with pain medicine only. Without complications all symptoms leave within one week. It is common in hot tropical climates and usually affects children, but since McCoy does not have an immunity built up like the adult natives, he will be susceptible to the virus’ and diseases.
It is good to hear you still have nice weather in Arizona, LUCKY! It is so HOT & HUMID here!. I hope you all have a good time in Utah, have fun and be safe! Wow, Kade you have two puppies now, that’s cool. Hey, congrats Monson on going to the temple! Ah man, the mission is unbelievable; you are going to love it!!!
You are right Mom, we definitely need the members help in our ward! It was good Sunday, we went on splits with members, I was with Alex and a ward member, so it was really awesome to have the members involved. The teaching this week has gone pretty good, however, Elder Garcia never lets me teach lessons, so I have to interrupt and say my piece, I have been trying to get him to let me talk more so we are still working on it. We are teaching a new family, Martinez, they are a pretty sweet family. They have two kids and the dad plays baseball for a living. He plays on Sunday’s so he can’t go to church with us but we will work with him more. Other than that I have not done much this week because it has been one crazy week….
Last Monday, P-day, after I posted my letter to you on email, all the Elder’s went to the church to play basketball, football, and ping-pong. I was feeling hot and sweating like crazy, more than normal, so I went and changed out of gym clothes and into my street clothes and started to play the piano. While I was playing my back started to hurt, so I took off my back pack, then I started to get a pain down my whole left side up into my neck and I was having a hard time breathing. Elder Sugden came and started playing the piano next to me and I told him I wasn’t feeling well. We got up and walked out to the foyer to where the other Elder’s were sitting and I told them I was not feeling good and I was trying to explain to them in Spanish how I was feeling since nobody speaks English. The pain just hit me again, I couldn’t breathe and I collapsed on the couch, my left arm was numb now and all I could think was I was having a heart attack. The Elders were around me trying to figure out what was wrong and one called the Mission Doctor, I couldn’t even breathe to talk to him so he said to call the Mission President. Elder Sugden and another Elder gave me a blessing while the president sent two A.P.’s with the car to pick me up, carry me out to the car and take me to the hospital. Elder Sugden came with us too.
It was hard to breathe and my chest hurt like crazy, we were speeding down the roads, the roads are full of pot holes and every time we hit one, it made the pain worst. The kept telling me to keep breathing and to hold on! I think we made it to the hospital in 10 minutes and it usually takes 25 minutes by taxi. The hospital happened to be the best one in Nicaragua so I was well taken care of. They rushed me into a bed and the doctor kept asking me medical terms in Spanish so I was having a hard time communicating with him and telling him what I was feeling in Spanish. They took some x-rays and they said I had a bubble outside of my lung (infection). They call it “The Devils Grip” down here. I stayed in the hospital overnight, my hero Elder Sugden stayed with me the whole time. The hospital was awesome, the food was awesome, the bed was even awesome, and I loved the stay. Ha-ha. They kept me over night and released me the next day, I was to rest for four days and after resting the doctor said I was better and could go back to teaching later in the week. DO NOT CALL THE MISSION HOME, I AM OKAY NOW!
Love, Elder Buck
Note from Sandra: I looked up “The Devil’s Grip” online and found it is called Bornholm Disease or epidemic pleurodynia. It is a viral disease that is easily spread from person to person, the characteristics include sudden, violent pain in the chest, fever (his excessive sweating) and difficulty breathing. It is treated with pain medicine only. Without complications all symptoms leave within one week. It is common in hot tropical climates and usually affects children, but since McCoy does not have an immunity built up like the adult natives, he will be susceptible to the virus’ and diseases.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Two new converts!
Elder Garcia
What's for dinner? Rice and beans of course!
P-day with Elders at church eating Mexican Pizza for my B-day.
Mutt & Jeff
Hey!!!
Of course I had a good week. Two weeks ago we had 4 baptisms for our district so it was great. It has rained almost every night, comes in and moves out quick but dumps a lot of water so it is really hot, humid and muddy the next day. I drink about a gallon of water a day so I don't get dehydrated.
I did get my package you mailed over 6 weeks ago and everything was still in it. I must be growing still because the rubber boots you sent me do not fit me now, I could not even get my foot into them, but they fit my companion so he took them and gave me a pair of brand new shoes that are too big for him but they fit me perfectly so we are even. He said, "Estos son bonita" which means there are beautiful, so he likes them.
I sent a picture of the food I eat usually every night, rice and beans. The meat is strange because it is dipped in lime juice so it is kind of tangy and the other fried stuff is plantos (unsweetened banana). We do get veggies but it usually tomatoes and avocados which I have a an allergic reaction too because my mouth and throat swells and I talk two octaves lower. Not many desserts or treats so if you want to send me candy that will not melt, I like skittles and starburst.
Our district had changes but I am still with Elder Garcia, but we did get two new Gringos. This week has probably been the hardest for me so far, we have not had any baptism prospects and all of the investigators we were teaching are no longer interested. The natives are interesting to me, he are hard workers physically but mentally and spiritually they are like little children in the way they act, they do not take things very seriously except when it comes to their sort-of Catholic religion. They really put up a fight and scream and yell loudly during Sunday service with loud drums and guitars, it sounds like Gospel Screamo ha-ha. They have their members get on the buses and screech at the top of their lungs, I mean preach, about Jesus, Holy Spirit,and all kinds of stuff that doesn't make sense. The buses have religious pictures and sayings on the side of them too, it is different. They see Christ only as an image not as a true Savior.
The people struggle keeping the commandments to read, pray, repent and it is frustrating because we want them to be happy. I think sometimes the natives are into getting a certain number of baptisms for statistics and do not see investigators as a Child of God. I don't care if we have 9 baptism a week, if the new members are not returning to church, active and trying each day to become closer to Christ, then I'm not doing as good as a missionary. I told my native companion this and he was mad at me for a couple of days, but I guess he understands now because we have been teaching and visiting less active ward members and new converts.
I love what I am doing, my Spanish is improving everyday. I can understand what people are saying except a word or two. Yes I am happy, I love this work and I know the Lord is pleased as long as I do what I'm suppose to do. I love you all, Mom, Dad, Carly, Tanner, Emily, Kendal, Carver, Amanda, Kade, Kallee, Siddalee, and Maisy. It is so awesome you got a new puppy Kade!
Love,
Elder Buck
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
