Stuart went to Florida this past week to work with some collaborators at the Disney Animal Kingdom.

The project is to see how to reduce the amount of iron intake in the diet of large mammals, like black rhinos. He got to see, up close, black rhinos, which are seriously endangered. They are so HUGE and have a prehensile upper lip. He couldn’t take any photos due to regulations about being in the non-public areas of the Disneyworld.

Needless to say, they are very impressive animals.

He also downloaded (from Amazon) some movies to freshen-up our current collection. I was surprised that I wasn’t as excited to be in the US as I thought I would. Maybe it was because I missed everyone here (in Honduras) and wanted to get back here to be “home” with everyone. I suppose, “home” is really where your family is, even if it is long-term temporary. For now, Honduras is our home and we love it and it is great to all be here, together. While driving to the airport the morning I returned, I heard a long article on the BBC about Honduras with the oft-quoted statistic that Honduras is the murder-capital of the world, 87/100000, which in comparison to Mexico (16/100k) which so many people think is so bad or the US, which many European countries regularly chastise for its high rate (4/100k). Despite hearing the article on the radio on my way to this “dangerous” country, I was not worried, nor afraid—it just felt good to be going home. We have been blessed with total peace and tranquility up to this point.

The children went to a Primary (children’s organization at Church) activity at Hermana Elsa’s house. We hiked up a steep rocky trail to the green house of Hna. Elsa. We were amazed by the view of all of the Yeguare Valley and Jicarito. From the hammock on her porch, Hna. Elsa can watch the sun rise in the morning, shine over the university, the watermelon farms, and the sugar cane fields, and set over Mount Uyuca in the afternoon. We ate spaghetti with lots of milky sauce (it might have had mayo in it!) and strips of ham in it. After playing a delightful round of Pato-Pato-Ganso (Duck-Duck-Goose), we managed the steep downhill hike back to our car, happy and full. And apparently our guts have adjusted to the new land; none of us had any digestive trouble after the dinner.

We knew we would find lots of soccer here, and we do. Along the highway, there are a few patches of flat dirt where children have constructed crude goals out of three branches. There are several cement soccer “canchas” as well, including some at the school.

The boys use our empty front room with its tile floor for an indoor cancha. Soccer matches occur nearly every day, if not several times a day in this room. We also play tag there among other things. We (Ranae and Stuart) think a room like that is a must wherever we move, eventually.

We found a huge toad at Aurelios (our dueño—landlord). It was bigger than Henry’s or Stuart’s hand—maybe the size of a 1kg yogurt container. It truly was the largest toad any of us had ever seen. It could have eaten kittens. It hopped around and Henry touched it…it was dry and Henry has no warts to speak of today.

Jack and Stuart went to a “Super Saturday” activity at the Uyuca Stake Center in Teguc Saturday. The “Stake” is a region of about 10-15 congregations. Youth 12-18 could attend. It was really fun, even though Jack didn’t understand everything. He ate marshmallows, and spicy salad (encurtido) that goes along with the tamales we had afterwards. They also had tamarindo juice to drink, but neither Jack nor Stuart ate any. Jack played the balloon relay—you carry a balloon between your legs for about 40’ and then put it into a bag. If you drop it, you have to go back and start again. He played that a lot. He also played a game where you have to put a shirt and pants on (girls had a skirt to put on) while keeping your balloon in the air. Mostly, the girls won this one, since it was nearly impossible for the boys to put on jeans over their clothes in the time it takes to keep a balloon in the air.
They also had a fruit eating contest…who could eat the most in 1 minute. Stuart was recruited, but he lost. But it must be noted that the fruit was fabulous! It was two 1/4s of mango, slice of watermelon (sandia), two rounds of pina (pineapple), 1 regular size slice of melon (cantaloupe), and 1 banana. Stuart’s strategy was really to make sure to eat the fruit he liked the most that was also the rarest—so he didn’t make it to the banana. He noted that while the fruit appeared clean and fresh (and tasty!!) the bowls where the fruit were placed had already been through about 10 rounds of eating contest. The juice in the bottom was surely contaminated…I can hardly write about this!

At the school on Friday, it was Family Fun day with lots of games (each grade k-6 had an activity) and there was lots of local food for sale. You had to purchase a chance at each game and also purchase the food. The money went to the school. We contributed our pile of money by eating lots of pupusas, tamales, empanadas of meat, soda, paletas, natural fruit juice (passionfruit, mulberry, nance, orange and one other juice) and of course, hot dogs, which is what all the children wanted! However, Jack ate a few pupusas, because he loves them. We budgeted our activities and food purchases, and stuck within that budget (This is here for the Jones family) and everyone had a great time. We even had a little money left over, so our budget worked nicely. We got to play with water balloons, teeny water guns, walk across a tight rope, and throw wet sponges at the teachers. We met another Fulbright guy who has been living about 1 km away at the house of a student in Jack’s class. He is a public health student from NYU.

Here we have been loaned a Diesel Toyota 4-runner. It is a great car and we are blessed to have it. The arrangements made to get it were extensive and much of the reason we have it is due to a good Dept. Chair who worked a lot for us. While Stuart was in Florida, Ranae had to fill it with fuel. In the US, the diesel pumps are usually green and the gas ones are usually yellow. Here it is the opposite—diesel yellow, gas green (Foreshadowing….). Ranae went to get fuel and put in 4 gallons of regular unleaded gas into the diesel Toyota. Thankfully, she called for help, and Reiniery came to the rescue, getting the car to the campus mechanic. The draining of the fuel will cost us $35 (surely the lowest mechanic bill we’ll ever have).

On Saturday, while watering a small section of the yard, Abe noticed that the water was warm. Since we had to take showers and it would be good to water the lawn, Stuart went in and got his swimsuit on and poured shampoo on his head. When he came out, Abe sprayed him down. Henry brought out some soap and he finished his shower. The rest of the children, including Calla, all got in “dressed” for their outdoor shower and Stuart hosed them all off and made sure they took a good shower. Not only did everyone get clean, but the grass was watered (and a fern!) and it was fun, fast and it saved all the effort of doing it inside in the shower. The only thing was, as we were finishing it slowly began to rain. It rained very hard off and on until about 3 am. So the grass got watered anyway, but we had a great time getting clean. Stuart is trying to figure out some way to discreetly do the same in the Turlock, during droughty times—keep clean and water the lawn/garden/fruit trees. I wonder what the neighbors would think if they knew we were hosing the children off in the backyard instead of putting them in the tub or shower?!

Two weeks ago, was the Honduran Constitutionally-declared Day of Español. As such, the students participated in various Spanish-language activities. They recited poems, played traditional songs and Jack was in a Honduran traditional dance. He was good and it was a pretty cool dance. Aspen recited a verse of a larger poem and Henry’s class sang a song. Abe didn’t get to participate in that. Maybe Pre-K is a little early for public discourses, since most of them can’t say their c’s or l’s or other letters. We especially loved the first graders reciting their Spanish tongue-twisters. Wow! ¡Que rapido!

For any of you who care about ward/branch dynamics here is a little taste of Latin branch work. We are in the Zamorano Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Or more accurately, the Rama Zamorano de la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias. I am the first counselor in the Branch Presidency. This means that I counsel and help the President with whatever he needs/asks. I also have the assignment to work with the Youth. When we arrived, and for the first 3 months we were here, we met with about 60 people, on average. After April 1 or so, we have dropped to about 40 on average. We have about 6 regular Melchizedek Priesthood holders who attend and I have noticed that the congregation is mostly female. Though the female:male ratio is about equal if you count children. In short, we lack adult men—it is severe. About 4 young men attend regularly—the son of the President, Jack (my son) and the two sons of the second counselor, Reiniery, Jr, and Guillermo (or Joaquin—he goes by both). So our dilemma is to grow the Branch (converts) and retain those that are already here. Both of these are challenges and both feed into each other.
Other organizational issues that are different than in other congregations I have attended or worked with in the US, is that of trying to staff organizations. The lack of adult men means no (active) leaders for the young men and no one to replace me when I leave. No mission leader, though that responsibility falls to the 70+ year old Elder’s quorum president who lives a 2-hour walk from here or a 45-minute drive from here. The primary president has no counselors and no primary teachers to speak of. One woman works with the Young Women. In short, there is a LOT of work to do here. I don’t feel overwhelmed, however, the needs feedback onto each other. A lack of teachers results in little “nourishing by the good word of God” which means that the desire to attend by the students kind of wanes. In addition, the example the youth see isn’t that compelling, sometimes. While some of these problems occur in the US, just having some active people in the jobs would be a huge improvement. I am glad to be here working with the great folks here in the branch—totally faithful members who strive to live the gospel and do what is right all the time. They are great examples.

Calla is coming of age for pretending while we are living in a foreign country. As such, she pretends things that our other children never knew existed when they had two years.

She pretends to make tortillas and fill them with beans. One day she declared, “I’m Miriam,” and then proceeded to speak a whole string of gibberish sprinkled with Spanish words—“ananana como asi encantanana si por que canana enino hola mi amor.” And my favorite was when she was using a rock to pound a dry leaf. What was she doing? Using her machete to crack open her tamarindo pod! She is also picking up Spanish words here and there. From Aspen’s horse riding lessons, she learned the words “arriba” and “abajo” (up and down). The other day, when I set her at the table in a chair lower than her normal tall chair, she asked, “Why am I abajo?” She is creating her own version of Spanglish.

We were so happy to have Stuart return from his trip to Florida. He brought back gifts for everyone, which truly built morale. He brought popcorn kernels for Ranae, socks for Jack, ink pens for Henry, flip flops for Aspen, new books for Abe and Calla, and sour patch kids for all. He also brought a new bottle of Crafter’s Pick The Ultimate glue (a very handy item), new markers, and the afore-mentioned new movies. We are stocked to make it through the next three months.