Spencers in Roatan

Bishop Spencer and his wife were able to meet up with Scott in Roatan after their dental mission in San Pedro Sula.  Heavy rains and flooding almost prevented them from making it to Roatan.  Power, phones and water had been out but they were finally able to reach Scott and meet up with him.  I am so grateful for their documentation and pictures that they sent.  Their documentation was wonderful!!

Elder Vasquez, Elder Hansen and Bishop Spencer

Elder Hansen, Sandee Spencer and Bishop Spencer

Looking into the grocery store type place which is actually in a house. You don’t go in to pick your groceries. You tell them through a window what you want.  We let the Elders each pick out 5 items- so we stocked them up on a bit of groceries. A good thing as money ran short this week!
 



Outside of the building where Scott lives.  He lives upstairs.
 



 

The main room of Scott’s apartment. Study area on the right. Each elder has his own fan

Bathroom

Scott is showing us that there is only a trickle of water coming out of the spigot. The storm was so bad it took down the infastructure and they don’t know when they will have water again. They are wearing their last clean clothes. I wish they were closer to our resort as we have a nice washer and dryer in our unit.

Kitchen counter in forground, boy’s study area on the left near the door

Bishop Spencer and Elder Hansen

Buddy taking a picture of Scott’s study area

 

I asked if it was safe there....

Yes it feels very safe here. We were under strict cautions and restrictions in San Pedro Sula. We were not allowed to go anywhere ever without our armed police escorts. But our entire group came over to Roatan for some rest and relaxation after our service project and here we were allowed to go anywhere at any time. I again asked our cab driver if it was safe and he assured us yes it is safe everywhere on Roatan. Scot mentioned they don’t assign sisters to unsafe areas and they have sisters here. Great place to start out.

 It’s weird that it gets dark really early here- like 5:30 PM. But there were people out everywhere walking around. For some reason that seemed odd to me and I finally realized it’s because there are no street lights so they are outside walking around in what looks like midnight - but it’s really not that late.

I wish I would have thought to bring Scott more stuff. I got so distracted getting all the dental stuff together I didn’t think of it. I did give him what you sent! He was excited to see it. But I wish I’d thought to ask what his favorite treats were to bring him.
He has a great attitude. It was raining (again!) and we asked what does he do in the rain? Rain coat? Umbrella. he said no you just don’t worry about it.
I asked if he has a Momita to do his laundry and cook for him and he said yes she is wonderful. She doesn’t do his laundry but she does cook for them and it’s wonderful. For some reason he didn’t love the Baleadas when he got here but he does now. I am crazy over them and want our new ward members to teach me how to make them.
Scott said to tell you someone is committed to Baptism but I can’t remember the name. Bocho?
He’s doing great. You should be proud. It’s very fun that he is living in a 4some. My boys always loved that. It gave them a break from always having to talk to their companions and they said it was fun at the end of a long day to get to hear how the other companionship had done.

We asked if he had gotten to go fishing and he said not yet. Someone was supposed to take them but their boat got stuck somewhere. They of course have to fish from land

There is a cool ecological park here that I almost went to. Scott said they had gone on a p-day. The monkeys roam freely and crawl on your shoulders try to get in your back pack etc. They also have a big park with hundreds of iguana. He said his companion had been there but he had not yet. He did say he tasted Iguana. He said they had just eaten a big lunch and someone served it to him. It was bony like a cross between chicken and fish. Always cool to eat something really weird on your mission.

Sandee

Another odd thing down here is their oatmeal. Our breakfasts were included at our hotels and were super fancy. Lots of fresh fruit, cold meats, pastries, omelettes made to order etc. And they served oatmeal but it was so so thin. Honestly it was more like slightly thick milk. I mentioned it to Scott and he said yes he likes it like that. He said he also likes taking some oatmeal and mixing it with some water something else (sugar?I’ve forgotten) and stick it in the freezer for a few minutes and then drink it cold. ?????

Oh the juice here is really good. It comes in pop size cans and there is peach, watermelon etc. I really like the pear!


Sandee's last email titled
The Great Plan B

One of my many character flaws is I have trouble letting go of Plan A— or what is fair or good or how it should be.

It seems Scott shines in the area of Plan B. I mentioned that he was chuckling when he tried the water faucet in their apartment again and only had a trickle. They have a bar right near their house that plays loud music all night and when I asked about it he said “I kind of like it!” And as I mentioned he said a favorite snack was oatmeal with water in it stuck in the freezer for awhile. It is what it is here and Scott is making the best of it with a smile on his face. 

I think one of the reasons I like to travel is I tend to naturally let go of Plan A. It’s not going to be like it is at home so you wing it and go with it. When we went to Mexico to pick Chris up from his mission the whole family went. At one point we were taking a public bus and it was crowded and we were standing in the aisle really crowding people (Spencers are big people). One of the passengers asked if we could please go sit in the back on the luggage shelf. And we did laughing the whole time. When Buddy Kait and I were in Japan Buddy went to the hotel we were staying at to try to reserve the Karaoke room. They told him it must be reserved 24 hours in advance. “but we would like to use it now and it is empty and we have money” The answer “It must be reserved 24 hours in advance” (Typical organized Japanese people) We laughed then and laugh every time we think about it. Just this morning we went to return our snorkel gear at 8:30 (we had been told the shop opens at 8) and they said the “accountant” didn’t arrive until 9 so come back or we might not get credit for turning it in. And so with smiles on our faces we went to eat breakfast and came back later. 

I think a lot of new missionaries can waste a time and energy complaining about how things are different than they are used to. Scott isn’t wasting a minute doing that.
 

We got to Roatan on an unusually stormy weekend and as I mentioned the storm damaged a lot of the infrastructure. I asked Scott “What do you missionaries do when it rains? Do you carry umbrellas? Wear rain coats?” He said (cheerfully) “No we just get wet. We do have umbrellas but when we carry them the people think we are Jehovah’s Witnesses (there are many of those on the island) So we don’t carry them.”
 

He realizes that though he might get soaked to the skin he is baring his testimony just by being visible as a representative of the church and of the Savior. He’d rather be wet than have that visual testimony missed by anyone.
 

I’m going to try to be more like Scott when I get home. Plan B is what we’ve got so there is no use wasting energy and inviting the spirit of contention by belly aching that things just aren’t happening according to our Plan A. 
 

You’ve got a great son!
 

Sandee

Thank you Sandee!!!