My trip to San Pedro Sulu..

Nov. 11, 2013

Dear Wonderful Family and Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I have a crazy week to tell you about, I felt like I was in a screwball comedy last week.

To start off this story --- two Saturday´s ago Hermana Abrica our sister training leader (STL), called to tell us that the STLs were coming to do divisions (splits) with us on Thursday. So Hermana Alejandro and I started planning which investigators we wanted to visit with them.

Then on Sunday I woke up really sick to my stomach. I was really sick but because we were fasting for a really important cause, I didn´t want to end the fast. By the time, I could end the fast, I was feeling terrible. Hoping that it would pass, I continued to work. Also on Sunday we ran out of credits for the cell phone. (In the mission, the only way we can have more credit is to wait until the 8th of every month for more credits to be added on the cell phones.)

Monday and Tuesday past the same way. I worked at about the tenth of my normal pace because I was so miserable. On Wednesday I was still so sick we called the nurse, on a borrowed cellphone. She told us to go to the lab and get some tests done and have a doctor look at the test results. Because Wednesday is also district meeting day we called the district leaders to tell them we wouldn't be at the meeting. We went to get the lab test done and have a doctor look at the results. The doctor said that I had an infection in my intestines and gave me three prescriptions to take.

I forgot to mention that I hadn´t really eaten anything since Saturday. We went home and I began taking the medication. About 1PM we got a call from the Zone leader's phone. It was the STLs. They had run out of credits on their cell phone also. They were worried about me and were wondering why I wasn´t at the district meeting. I explained that I was at the lab getting tests done. The district leader forgot to tell them why I wasn't at the meeting. They said they wanted to change the day they did divisions (splits) with us and come today. Hermana Abrica could then leave with Hermana Alejandro and work with her and Hermana Baltizar could take care of me.

Soon after the call we started cleaning our apartment. I was so sick the previous Monday (our P-Day) I didn't feel like cleaning. The sister training missionaries were at the house before we finished cleaning. That afternoon, Hermana Baltizar took good care of me, but I wasn´t improving. I was getting worse. That evening Hermana Alejandro and Hermana Abrica brought the branch president and his first counselor to the house to give me a priesthood blessing. During the visit of the Branch President, I got a call from the Zone Leaders telling me that on Friday I needed to be in San Pedro to declare my residence in Honduras. Afterwards I told the STLs that I need to be in San Pedro on Friday. Hermana Abrica said she didn´t think it would be a good idea for me to travel to San Pedro since I was so sick ...

This crazy story is about to get crazier.

We all decided that I would wait to go to San Pedro, because I had been so ill. We didn´t have any credit left on our cell phones to call the zone leaders to tell them that. At the same time, the Sister Training leaders wanted me to call the mission nurse to talk to her again. And again we had the same problem-- no credit on the cell phone. Hermana Abrica and Hermana Alejandro decided to go to a member´s house nearby to send a message to the nurse to have her call me. The nurse called and I told her the medicines the doctor prescribed and what the doctor thought. After I told her what I was taking, she was pretty sure the doctor did not know what I had because the medications were for three different types of infections. She had me read the lab results and because of my symptoms, she thought I had a bacterial infection in my stomach. So she gave me the name of a different prescription to take. She told me to stop taking the others because they were making me worse. And then the Sister Training Leaders asked our mission nurse to call President Klein to ask permission for them to stay longer with me. The nurse called President Klein and he gave the Sister Training Leaders permission to stay with me as long as needed.

On Thursday, Hermana Abrica and Hermana Baltizar left early in the morning to buy my prescription and buy the ingredients to make chicken noodle soup. They and Hermana Alejandro made me some chicken noodle soup. Aren´t they the best! That afternoon I stayed with Hermana Abrica and Hermana Alejandro left with Hermana Baltizar to go out to work. Hermana Abrica is really amazing. That afternoon I started to feel better after taking the right medication.

In the evening, we still needed to tell the zone leaders that I wouldn't be able go to San Pedro. Hermana Abrica decided to have the district leader call the zone leaders with that message. When district leader called us we asked him to call the zone leaders. And we waited and waited for a call back...

Will this story ever end? Maybe!

So while we were waiting for the Zone Leaders to call, the mission office secretary called our sister training leaders. Hermana Abrica happened to mention that they were with me and would stay with me until I was doing much better. The secretary told her that I NEEDED to be in San Pedro tomorrow to sign papers otherwise I would loose my legal standing in Honduras. If I didn't come the mission would have to pay a big fine. We asked the secretary to call us back and we would talk about what we needed to do.

After talking about it, we decided I needed to get to San Pedro even if it meant a seven hour bus ride. We didn't know the bus schedule so we asked the secretary to call the zone leaders and have them call us with the bus schedule. The zone leaders called and said  we needed to be at the bus terminal at 3:30 am.

Friday morning we woke up at 2:15 am to get ready to leave. The sister training leaders would travel part of they way with us until they arrived at their area. The Sister Training Leaders suggested it would best to take a taxi from the terminal to the office since I didn't know where the mission office was.

I survived the seven hour bus ride from Olanchito to San Pedro Sula. There were two other Elders on our bus who said they knew how to get to the mission office. We decided to go with them rather than take a taxi. The Elders wanted to take a ´´rapidito´´ (a van) from the terminal to the mission office because they didn´t have enough money for a taxi. I really dislike the "rapiditos" in Honduras because even if there isn't room for another person they will squeeze three more people in the van. This "rapidito" took us to the center of San Pedro Sula. The Elders got off the "rapidito", and thinking they knew where they were going, we followed them. They walked really fast through the city and because I was sick it was hard for me to keep up them. After a forty minute walk through the city we arrived at the mission office. The Elders didn't really know where they were going.

We waited at the office for about three hours and then they took us to immigration. Immigration was probably the easiest part of the day. By the time I was finished with immigration, the last bus for Olanchito had left. So we needed to stay the night in San Pedro. But we hadn't brought anything for an overnight stay in San Pedro.

The mission secretaries called the nurse to see if we could stay the night with her. She has a lot of extra beds in her apartment. She said yes but she wouldn´t be home until 7 pm. We waited in the mission office until the secretaries finished up. While we were waiting Hermana Alejandro and I went to Wendy´s. This was the first time I had had anything from Wendy´s since being in Honduras. I ordered some chicken nuggets. They tasted so good! The mission secretaries dropped us off at the nurse´s apartment and told us they would call us latter to tell us when they would pick us up the next day. Hermana Alejandro immediately went to bed. Later that night, the secretaries called and said they would pick us up at 2:15 am the next morning and take us to the bus terminal.

At 2:30 the Elders picked us up. They slept in. When we arrived at the terminal no one was there. We asked them why we came so early and it was because another Elder who was traveling with us thought a bus from San Pedro to Olanchito left at 3 a.m.. We found out that the terminal didn't even open until 3:30 a.m. So we waited until the terminal opened. When we entered the terminal we found out that the first bus for Olanchito left at 6:30 am. Oh fun! We waited and waited. The elders decided we should take a bus to Saba that left sooner than the bus to Olanchito.

The bus from Saba was one of the slowest buses ever. It made a ton of stops. We left San Pedro at 5:30 a,m and arrived in Saba at 11 a.m. At 11:30 we finally took the bus from Saba to Olanchito. We arrived at Olanchito at 12, and were extremely tired.

Sunday however was wonderful. We had many referrals and members brought several investigators to church. A welcomed blessing for the week we had just gone through.

Congratulations you made it to the end of my story. Thank you everyone. You are in my prayers.

Love,

Hermana Lindsey Orgill