Notes from Scott’s call May 9, 2010
Scott’s companion’s name is Elder Ensign. He’s from Utah somewhere. He has been out over 1 ½ years. He seems to be a nice guy and Scott says they get along well. They are in San Ramon close to Matagalpa about 2 hours from Managua. It is a very small town about 5 blocks by 5 blocks. Everyone knows everyone. The people are very poor. Elder Ensign is the Branch President and Scott is his counselor. They had about 20 people in church today and no investigators. He said it’s a hard area and they spend a lot of time doing branch work. Since they are North Nicaragua, he will be in the Nicaragua North mission. The mission president has one more transfer and then there will be a new mission president.
One of the missionaries he was traveling with lost his passport somewhere. In Miami he didn’t have it. Scott had to call an emergency # to find out what to do with him. SLC said they would figure out what to do with him. The missionary had to stay in Miami with some missionaries there. Scott said he still wasn’t in Nica by Wednesday when he left for his new area. They had training on Tuesday and then got their companions and left for their areas on Wednesday
They had quite the time getting through customs since none of them have very good Spanish yet. Finally, one of the agents with a little English asked where they were going to live. They all kept saying, “We don’t know!” Anyway, they finally made it through. There was a Bishop there to meet them that told them to stay there. He took their luggage and left. The AP’s finally came with a pick up and a car. Some missionaries piled in the back of the truck and the rest were in the car. I guess it was quite the ride to the mission home.
The people of Nicaragua are very poor. The living conditions are very bad. Scott said he never imagined it would be this bad. He says he thinks he’s going to get a disease every time he gets in the shower. They have 2 sinks and one is so gross and disgusting, they don’t use it. The other one is almost as bad, but they have to use it. He said there are ants all over the floor. He has a very thin mattress to sleep on and no pillow. Aleena, he is very glad he has the blanket you made. He uses that as a pillow! He woke up the first morning with a few bites, but didn’t think anything of it. The second morning he had a few more. His companion told him he has bed bug bites. He didn’t think too much about it, because they have them everywhere, I guess! That would be horrifying to me. They are told not to tell their families too many details about their conditions! Its very dusty and there’s trash in their apt. Scott said they are going to clean up tomorrow. Their apartment was broken into a few weeks ago. They now sleep with a bar across the door somehow and a table pushed up against it! Wow!
It’s very hot there and he is always sweaty, but he says he doesn’t mind. They do a lot of walking. They walk to Matagalpa quite often. He says he understands about ½ of what people are saying and less if they are speaking to him. He said the food is good. He has decided to eat everything. They eat at a restaurant that’s not too expensive. The people are very poor and can’t really afford to feed them. It’s different in different areas.
I’m getting tired, but I think I captured most of what Scott said. He seemed very up beat and happy. He said he has a good companion, so that helps. His P-day is Monday, so he can e-mail then. He said the dearelders take quite a few weeks to arrive there. Thank you to everyone who has written letters to Scott. I know he appreciates it. He said he hopes he’ll have some e-mail to read tomorrow!
Love you all,
Gwen/Mom
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