Monkey Business

Naksa Pamili! Hey thanks for the emails as always, This week has been really great. We have had a hard time baptizing this month. We only had two, so it was kind of slow. This week we hope that an investigator that we have had over the last nine months might be baptized. If he does it  will be so great. Nine months of going to church, its about time.
As you can see from the photos, we found a monkey in our area in a place called Los Angeles. It was really nice, and ate some mango from my comps hand. 
Crazy story that happened here. We were visiting some less actives this week, and we ran into an older man who is from the communities that surround Puerto. He told us that his son had made a pact with the devil and had gone crazy. When he invited us we, we found his son was like 30
years old and his hands and feet were tied so he could not escape. He was just chilling sitting in a hammock and talking a bunch of nonsense. We had a prayer with the father and son, and left  them to their business.
A family of inactives that we have been teaching went to church again, so we are really happy for that. The food was so good, probably the best I have had in Nicaragua. It was interesting  how they cook so well even though its so hard to find food here. 
This morning we woke up at 4:30 to go see the sunrise over the ocean. It was pretty, but the biggest cloud in the sky was right in front of where the sun arose. We went with two of our friends Elder Campbell from Alabama, and Elder Cedeño from Costa Rica. Hope you like the photos. 
That's all happening here in Puerto, thanks for the emails, love you guys! 

Mas de Puerto

Hey family, how is it all going? I am really sorry if my emails are very repetitive. There is really not much new stuff going on here. We have had quite a time trying to baptize this month, but we have only had two. We are going to be working really hard this week to baptize, I really hope we can. Sometimes it just feels like no one want to listen to our message, but I know there are more out there.

This week we did divisions with my District leader and his companion. I went with the companion Elder Uribe from Dominican Republic, and Torres went with elder Walker from Alabama. It was good, we visited a lot of our recent converts and stuff. Then in the morning we made pancakes on our electric stove.

My comp caught a lizard running around in our area. It was a bigger one than what we usually see. I attached a photo of it along with a bunch of Nica kids. The other photo is part of our area. It is a marsh, so no one builds on it.

I completed 17 months on the 17 this month. I feel really old in the mission now which is great. I have not met a new missionary in the field since we came here.

On Friday we had noche de hermanaiento at the church. We watched the movie a labor of love about missionary work and the effect it can have on the people in their lives. It is really cool considering that every member here is a recent convert! My meskito is getting better, I can now hold somewhat of a conversation
with the people, but only if we talk about baptism, food, where your going, and simple stuff like that.

Today it rained hard in the morning, the power has gone out about 4 times today, a bit more than usual. We went to cut our hair and ate at membreños again. All is cool. Sorry I don't have more to write you guys. I am so grateful for your emails, and hope all is well at home. Thanks for the photos as well. You all look really  old. Kaiki Was! Yang mai latwan Kaikisna! That you go well and that I love you!

Langosto Supreme

Another Great week in Puerto Cabezas. Some might think that it would be boring being in the same zone for nine months, but I hope that I never leave. We have seen so many miracles here in Puerto over the past months, its going to be so sad to leave these people behind.
   Well, On Wednsday we had such a great lesson with one of our investigators that always come to church, but is so scared to be baptized. Our branch president, President Zuniga, was baptized about 10 months ago, and is now helping all of the people here to come unto Christ. He talked about his conversion with our investigator and how he wanted to wait to be baptized. I don't think I have had a lesson so spiritual. Even though our beloved investigator still has a lot of fear about being baptized, I think this lesson really gave him a boost.   The same night President invited us to a lobster feast! It was deluxe, a whole lobster tail with bread and rice all to ourselves. Here it is a lot cheaper than back at home, but it is still quite expensive for these
people. It was delicious.  

  We have been working extensively with a family of less actives, and have seen a lot of miracles. This week one of the daughters of this family was baptized. The whole family came as well to see the baptism.  Then they came to church on Sunday. I hope that they will be active soon. 
   Today we played soccer like always at the church, it was really fun. Always hot and sunny. We had a little rain this week but the weather was quite mild. Not way to hot, but certainly not cold. 
Oh funny story this week, we had an activity like mutual for all the members in the ward at a members house. Our job was to bring a few seats to the activity. We got to the house where they were stored, and we took  about ten seats. The house where we were going was really far from where we were, so we decided to put them in a taxi. After situating them in the trunk space, it was evident they were going to fall out. The driver kept telling us don't worry, don't worry, they are not going to fall, Then after ten seconds of driving, all the chairs fell out on the road, blocking traffic and whatnot. It was pretty funny recollecting them as the traffic drove by. I'm not sure if you guys will find it funny, But it definitely shows how the mission work is definitely not always ideal.
Thanks for all the emails, I love you all so much, Hope that all is well back in Utah! Have a great week.  

Buenas de Puerto!

Wow, Thanks for the photos mom, It kind of looks like Püerto Cabezas a little bit, jut a lot more mountains. Hey and guess what, they cleanedp the beach here, so all is looking sweet. Vacation Puerto Cabezas! Jk.
 uThanks for everything you guys are sending me, I appreciate it all a ton.
Well, this week we did divisions with our zone leaders Elder Monson, and Elder Gonzales. It was fun to teach with Monson again in his area, I feel like I learned a lot on inviting people to be baptized. The mission
is not baptizing very much this year as it was last year, so we are trying a few new ways of inviting people to be baptized, the goal is five people everyday. 
Elder Jacobsen sent me some ties when my zone leaders went to Managua. He is sure a great missionary. Even after all this time he still tries to help me be a better missionary. The ties are sweet.
We are teaching some less actives and a family who is friends with them. They are sweet, the dad has gone to church every week for the last three weeks, and I believe that he is going to be Baptized. It is so great to
have awesome investigators. We ask everyone, but the greatest obstacle here is that people already have their own church, and don't want to change. 
Here are some pics of the airport last Monday. Sorry I did not take many new photos, everything is still pretty much the same as it was last week. A cold front came in yesterday, and everything got really wet and  cold. I did not even sleep with my fan on! Wow! 
Thanks for everything, have a great week, Love you all!  

One more Change in Loma Verde!

Well changes came, and it turns out that I will have another change here in Puerto Cabezas! What was sad though, is that my three really good friends Elder Shirlee, Elder Accordino, and Elder Alverado all left today. It is really sad to see them go, Shirlee came to Puerto with me, and Accordino was a great companion. I am so glad though to be here for another change. I was really scared I was going to leave this change, but luckily im here for the stay with Elder Torres for another two months!

We had a baptism this week with a niño from a member family. He did not speak to much Spanish, so teaching him was a little difficult, but we brought a returned missionary to help us teach. It was a great baptism. His name is Jayson, and he is a stud. One day we found him on the beach, and he had fished a whole bucket of tiny fish that the family fries up to eat. And yesterday he gathered a ton of mini clams for his family to eat. Only 11 years old and still providing for the family.

Our recent convert Jessica spoke this week on the plan of salvation and how we need to help other come to the gospel. It is so great to see the miracles that come into the lives of the members when they put their faith in Christ. 

Got some more Turtle rings and stuff from our Homi Hilario, its all really cheap here, but the work is really cool. 

I cant believe that you guys are going on another trip! How fun, I bet Puerto Rico is going to be a blast, hopefully pueden aprender un poquito español también en la viaje [you can learn a little Spanish while traveling, too!] Thank you so much for the photos, I love to see you guys. I feel as though I am getting to the point where my family feels really distant, like I have not seen you guys for like 16 months... I miss you guys all a ton.  Have a great week.