Ruben Dario

Ruben Dario is probably the most famous person to have ever lived in Nicaragua, but due to his fame in Spanish literary poems, I am almost sure you have never heard of him. Ruben Dario is also the name of the neighborhood where we do 90 percent of our work. It a massive square divided into smaller squares. Lots of cement houses and shacks made of metal plating and plastic.

We had an awesome reference this week with a family of four. The dad is not quite as positive, but the rest of the family is so great. They were even going to come to church, but the dad got home late and they did not have anyone to take care of the house, so they didn't come.... Bummer. 

Anyway we also have another investigator who hauls stuff around the neighborhood using his horse. They sure get a lot of use out of them, always pulling them around the streets with their little wagons. 

This week I did divisions with my zone leaders to their area closer to the center of Leon. It made me pretty homesick because we walked in the woods for a while, and the river there wasn't polluted like usually. The land is really dry right now, the wet season doesn't start for another month, but its already looking a bit more cloudier. There was also a pool that people made in the middle of the woods fed by the river, I don't think I would ever swim in it, but it would sure be a great way to ditch this heat. 

My faucet works fine, no leakage. Nothing else has broken since. We got an electric stove this week, so glad that we can cook stuff know. Not that we need to cook much, the members are so friendly here, we get a ton of food all of the time.

We also went to Ponoloya, me ZL and I went to Ponoloya again to do a baptismal interview. Its always really cool there. We met a couple from France, and another guy named Pablo from Spain. All the tourists here are really eccentric, usually around 25-35 years old, if it's a guy he is sure to have a beard, and usually looks like he could be from Australia or the California beach. Really funny. Today we met a guy named Patrick in the grocery story from California. He thought Mormons were rich because of his trip to temple square. haha

Thanks for all of the letters and everything. I love you guys so much!

Poneloya- mar a mar

This week was another really great one. Our area is doing alright, we are looking hard to find people to baptise this week. There are some really cool people that are progressing and we hope will get baptized soon. Our area is called La Posada, or the Inn in English. It is really really big, so we sure get our exercise in walking. It also really dusty in parts, so a shoe brush is essential  everyday after work. A horse died on the side of the road in the area and started to stink pretty bad, luckily some guys threw a bunch of tires on it and burned it away. Funny stuff. 

  We did divisions with two missionaries from a place called Poneloya, a really cool beach touristy town about 30 minutes out from Leon. The beaches there were so good, soft sand, and not to much trash. Completely opposite from Puerto. I worked with Elder Familia from Dominican Republic. It was really hot, I got sunburned.... again. Its a really strange place. Reminded me of a ghost town because there arn't a lot of people like in my area. If you went to Nicaragua, i would definitely recommend Poneloya. 

  We also had interviews with President Collado, and a training workshop with the AP's and Sister Collado. I felt like I learned a lot on how I can teach better and be more organized. Even though I have a lot of time in the mission now, I know I can improve a lot. The workshop went long, so we didn't end up finishing until 8 at night so it took up most of the day. 

Last week a leak sprang up from the faucet heads in our house. It was a cheap one made of pvc pipe. I tried to twist it to tighten it, and the head broke off. Elder Sirrine tried to plug it with a plastic bag and totally soaked himself in his missionary clothes. I to the front door to ask a neighbor how to stop the water. We found the head valve and turned it off. Today I spent a time sawing off the broken part, and using pvc glue to put the new one on. Hope it worked, we will see today when we get home.

  Don't know if you guys heard it on the news, but the pyrotechnic factory blew up really close to our area. We were walking Saturday morning and started to hear a few explosions in the distance. Then all of a sudden the fourth explosion really sounded like a volcano or something. The earth rumbled. We ran to the highway and could see the giant smoke cloud rising above the city. You could smell the black powder as well.

      That's all of the exciting things that happened this week. Any time on mother's day after 4pm should be good for us to skype. What time would work best for you guys?

MomoTombo

Well familia, I am super alegre (happy) to see that home is a blast. Thank you so much for all that you guys do for me and for the letters you send every week. I seen that the stake is doing a newspaper about local Peterson business. Its cool to see all the great stuff happening. They made a mistake though, it said that I was ZL in Leon which is not true. lol. It is great though to hear about the other missionaries though. Even after knowing them for a year, the members in Peterson are sure great people. 

Leon has been so good these two weeks. I cant believe how organized it is here, and how much member help there is. This Sunday the only thing I had to do was pass the sacrament. We did not even have to teach in Sunday School or anything.  Our lunch appointment named Michael and Celen are super fun and helpful in the work. They were baptized when they were kids and then got married when older. Whats really funny is their siblings also got married to each other. So its two brothers that married two sisters. Their dad is the councilor of the ward. Ill have to take a photo with them to send to you guys.

This week we went to a place called MomoTombo. Which is a really big volcano that is situated on the side of Lake Managua. The lake actually looked really nice on this side, and there were people fishing there as well. The sun was really strong and we got burnt a little bit, but were fine. We went to help a guy get baptized. The church is really new there so they congregate in the old house of the Stake President. The baptismal font was a giant metal box filled to the brim. The stake president baptized him, really cool that he came all the way from Leon to help his friend get baptized. He then took us back to Leon in his truck.... Thank goodness, we did not want to go on those hot buses again for an hour and a half!

Today we just  hung out, and went and ate at a burger joint. It funny how much stuff here is in English, there are a lot of Tourists and such. We are teaching a guy named Freddy who has lived in Miami, Germany, and Nicaragua all before the age of 21! He speaks fluent English, Spanish, and German.

This Sunday was fast Sunday, I don't think I have ever been so thirsty in my life. Puerto is cool compared to here, so it was pretty hard. I think we seen some blessing for it though, there's a member here who is pretty sick, so we fasted for him. He seems to be doing better now.

Last night we ate dinner with the councilor in the stake presidency. His wife made us pancakes for dinner, they were excellent.

We have been teaching lots of great people this week. Love you guys, have a great week.  

Buenas de Leon!

Thanks everyone for sending your great emails this week and for all of your love and support! This week has been one of the best in my mission for sure.

 I was really nervous to be sent to Leon, I heard it was really hot and harder to baptize, but the people here are so friendly, and it is really not to much hotter here than Puerto was. We left the airport in Puerto at around 12 oclock and got to managua around 1 oclock. Then the secretaries sent picked us up and we got the rest of our luggage that was waiting in the office, and they sent me off alone to Leon. Yeah, the church has a new policy on transfering missionaries, so I just went alone on the bus for a few hours, and when I got there around 8 at night, I was alone at the bustop. So I took a taxi to the church and got hold of a member to call the missionaries. It was quite a fun experience.

I then went to my new area, or areas, we are currently working in two areas called la paz centro, and la Posada. I was so excited to find out that my companion is Elder Sirrine from Arizona. We were friends back in Managua, so it was really cool to see him again, and I am really excited
that he is my comp. Elder Sirrine has about the same time as I do in the mission, and is really fun to be around.

La paz Centro is kind of like an old spanish pueblo, but with cars and electricity. La Posada in Leon is a little bit more busier. There are tons of really big cathiderals here by our area. This area is really rich compared to what we saw in Puerto. Lots of gringos walking around, the other day we contacted a guy from Canada. Its really touristy here. I like it a lot, we have running water, and the power never goes out, so its a big blessing.

We have a couple of really cool invewstigators from both areas. We did not have time to visit a lot of people from paz centro this week, so only a few came all the way from there to leon for conference. It is about 45 minutes between our two areas. President told us to focus on our area here in Leon, but to still visit theose who are progressing there in Paz Centro.

Sorry I dont have my camera, I left it back in the house on accident in La paz centro, I promise i'll send photos next week. Love you guys so much.

I got to watch conference this weekend in English! Its a stake here in Leon, so the church is really developed. Afterward, our lunch lady made food for the missionaries and a bunch of other families. The members here are really hard working and helpful. Its really different in that way from Puerto. I think it is because Leon has had the missionaries for a longer time.

Love you guys, have a great week!