Letter and photos fron the Mission President

Dear marvelous parents,

            We would like to extend our gratitude and happiness to you and your family in this season of joy. Thank you so much for allowing us to have your son with us this special day, serving the Lord with all his heart, might, mind and strength. He makes us very proud, so surely we can´t imagine how proud you must be! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

            -Nicaragua Managua North Mission

La Navidad Nica Style

Dear friends and Family

       Thanks for all your emails and support you have given me!

       

       This week was really good! We baptized a seventeen year old named Rudy this week. He was a little apprehensive but was really  appy afterwards. 

       We have been digging latrines like no other here! Every week we spend the morning digging a pit that ends up being eight feet deep! It is surprisingly really hot down there

with no wind to cool the sweat on your face. It is really dirty work but also very rewarding at the same time.

                        

       Had a Christmas party at the Hilton Today! It was really weird being in such a rich place after living around metal shacks all the time. Nicaragua sure has the rich and the poor parts. Tipitapa is kind of in the middle, but coser to the poorer side. All the nice tropical spots are where the rich people live, so Tipitapa is more like open plains right out of the city. At the party we had real American food and got to watch the maze runner! Super awesome! Then we had a talent show with all the missionaries. Some were surprisingly quite amazing, including Elder Jennings (from my district) who can juggle really well. We ended with a testimony meeting which was really powerful. We were sure really spoiled today!

  

       I found elder Jacobsen at the party and he gave me a bunch of gifts to give to our converts! What a great Elder, they are going to be so excited to get something for Christmas.

       Nothing else new. Love you all and thank you all for your support. I really wish I could email longer but I can’t. Love you all!

The not so jungly Nicaragua

     Another great week here in TipiTapa!  My companion and I worked really hard and had about twenty people committed to church! The bad thing is that people’s word here is worth about two cents. Only two of the people committed came! On the other hand, our assistance to church has gone way up again! Within the last three weeks our assistance to church was cut in half due to Purisima, where everyone goes and worships Mary Christs Mother all over the streets.  A few Sundays ago, the whole city let of fireworks right at noon to celebrate Mary! It was so crazy, it was impossible to listen because the fireworks were so loud.

       My companion is super great. He is always happy, no matter what time of day. I sometimes have a hard time being happy and having a good attitude, but he always helps me to look on the bright side. This week we did not have a ton of success, but we did work really hard! I have learned a lot from him about this. I know a missionaries success is not determined by his baptismal numbers, but by how hard he worked and how much he loved the people. Elder Perkes always loves the people even when they don’t keep their promises.

       My toe infection has come back, it is getting really gross. The nurse said I will probably be going to the hospital if it does not clear up soon. It doesn’t hurt, but it is kind of annoying.

       The weather out here is getting very dry. It has not rained here for about three weeks, but somehow everything stays really green.  I think it is because of the humidity and how everyone dumps their water onto the streets to keep the dust down. The dust is getting a little bad as well. My stuff at our apartment will have a thin layer of dust when we get home. 

         Hey Mom and Dad, I ran into Elder Jennings!  Brother Deyoungs nephew! He was transferred to work here in TipiTapa with Elder Fairbourn. He is an Awesome Elder and is really great to be around.

       If I can’t Skype on Christmas I will make sure to call you guys.  I have no idea at the moment when I will be able to, hopefully I will by next Monday.  I wish you all a great Christmas!

      Nothing else is to exciting right now. Thanks for all the support you give me! Love you guys, and keep sending me your emails!

Companion Changes and a baptism

 

     

This week had a lot of ups and downs. This week we baptized the some of the members of our lunch sita! It was so great, because these people have been so great to us since we have gotten here. I baptized a man by the name of William, who is a short quiet little dude who smiles at you every time you talk with him. It was so great to see how happy he and his family were at the baptism.

    

Elder Jacobsen and Elder Clark

This Sunday was really really hard for me. As you may know, every six weeks we have changes in the mission where missionaries might be assigned new areas. It turned out that elder Jacobsen got called to Managua. He left this morning. It was really hard to see him leave. Honestly, my life in Tipitapa and my area was a piece of crap before he came. He is such a hard working missionary, it stinks to see him leave. With him, we baptized nine people in four weeks. I don’t think there are many other missionaries like him here. Even though I knew he wasn’t always having a good time, he could put on a great attitude for our investigators.

  

Luckily though, I am assigned with an elder from Bountiful called Elder Perkes! He is super nice and has a great attitude. I don’t know him to well right now, but I know we are going to do great. I sent a picture of him, his old companion and I. Elder Perkes is the one in the middle.

   Nicaragua is so much different than I thought it would be. I see all the pictures of my friends in the jungle and raining all the time. Tipitapa is not really like that. It has not really rained here for a week, and I am in the middle of a city made of one story buildings. We are kind of like celebrities around here, as in everyone stares at us and calls us ‘cheles’ which means white guy. Everywhere you go there is some dirt and dust on the floor. It is a different kind of life people have here.

     Thanks everyone that has supported me here. There have been some really hard times here, but I am doing my best. Got to go!

Great Week in TipiTapa

           Hello family!

    

     This week was really great and probably one of the best I have had so far. First off, we moved into a new apartment, which is so much better than the last. I am so grateful elder Jacobsen found it for us, he is amazing! This new apartment is awesome! We have good flowing water in the afternoon, and usually some in the morning, a small kitchen,(but no appliances), a small washroom to wash whatever and dry them on strings, and is so much safer and cooler than the last one. I swear it stays about five degrees cooler in our new house than our old one. 

      

       The next best thing about this week, was that I received you package mom and dad! I was so excited when Hermana Barker the mission nurse said she had something for me in her car! I am so excited to open it when I get home tonight!

       

But the best thing happened this week is that we baptized a whole family of four, along with a fifteen year old. I had the opportunity to baptize the youngest two in the family named Victor and Javier. I was so nervous I was shacking in the font. It was a great experience though. We have been teaching them for quite a while, and they now want to go to the temple. I will try to send a picture with this email for you to see. Mom, I tried using drop box, but the computers here don’t have it. Sorry if you put a lot of work into it.

         I am so grateful for my companion Elder Jacobsen. I would be so lost without him. He is so hard working it is crazy. Our days since he came are always so packed with appointments that we hardly have time to do anything else! He really loves the investigators, and tries to help them beyond their conversion. He buys them food and clothes that they desperately need. That is a big problem here. They don’t have enough money to get to church, and don’t have any church clothes, so they feel awkward going. Currently we are doing a lot of work in what we call the Promised Land; where the poorest people live, but also the most receptive to the gospel live. It is really hard to get them to church because they are so poor, and it is the farthest area from the church. This is where we found the family we baptized. 

           The other missionaries also moved in right next to us in the same apartment complex. Elder Fairbourn and Elder Chen are their names. They are great missionaries and I love it when I go on splits with Elder Fairbourn.

                

              Everything else is Wonderful. I think I am adjusting more and more each week.   Thanks for all of your support and all you do for me. Love you all so much.  Here is a picture of my nasty toe: