Visita a Chinandega

Hey family, happy twenty-fourth of July! I hope that summer is super cool there at home! The photos of the hiking trip are awesome, was it pretty cold up there at night? It got a little cool here last Monday because it rained pretty good, but then turned right back to the nice humid heat. I am sure not going to miss the heat to much, but i will miss the humidity, because your hands and lips never get dry here. 

   This week we did divisions with Elder Alvarado and Ferrin again. I went to work in Chinandega for the night which was a blast. Elder Alvarado is from Salvador. He is a convert of about three years and is finishing his mission this week with Accordino, Shirlee, Monson and a ton of other missionaries. We visited a lot of cool people and taught some about the book of Mormon and others about the trinity. Other Religions are really popular in Chinandega. There's all types of them. Apostolic, Jehovas Witnesses, Adventists, Baptists, and of course the Catholic Church as well. Our church is fairly strong, there are three chapels in Chinandega, plus a few more like here in Corinto and other surrounding areas. 

  We had a sweet attendance this week of 151 people! The most I have seen in Nicaragua! People were having to squeeze in to find seats. It was so nice, because the attendance has recently been a little low. There are so many less actives here its crazy, but we have been working hard to invite them to come to church again. 

 Other exciting stuff is that Alison, our convert from last week spoke in Church! She did such a great job, and for only one week as a member she already knows so much about the church. She says she wants to serve a mission. It helps that she lives with a really active member as well. We should be having some more baptisms in the future. There's a guy here that has been going to church for a year straight that should be getting baptized in a few weeks, we hope so.

There's not much else to say, today we cleaned the house, there's a ton of spiders everywhere, and always mice in our garbage. Last night we ate dinner at a converts house, as we were sitting, their pet kitten was sleeping at the side of the house. Then out of nowhere two giant rats came running by the side of the house and ran into the kitten. It was funny because the rats are almost big as kittens here. 

Brother Andres and Domingo have been working with us a lot in these weeks, there such great guys. Andres brought investigators to church like he does every week. 

All is great here, love you guys so much!

Bautismo al fin!

Well, this week was probably the best one in Corinto. First off, we did divisions all the way to Somotillo. That includes driving by the volcano Cristobal for an hour and a half in a small micro-bus full of really sweaty people. It’s always and adventure. I worked with an Elder from Ogden named Elder Cook and Elder Walker went to Corinto to work with Elder Paau. We went and met some of their investigators and some recent converts. It’s a nucleus there, so they only have like 20 members in the whole town. All except two are recent converts. They have sure made a breakthrough. I had the privilege to meet a guy who got baptized that will probably the branch president when it becomes a branch. The guy is super awesome and loves the church. 

    Then we did divisions later with an Elder Named Elder Mejia from Honduras in Corinto. He lived in Spain for a few years before the mission, so he taught me a bit about Spain. It was pretty fun. Lots of moving around in the bus and transportation this week. 

    Best of all, On Friday night we had a baptism! Alison is the cousin of a more recent convert named Carla and is super happy to be a member. She says she wants to serve a mission and is going to seminary now. The baptism went well, lots of people showed up, and another youth named Amulek Baptized her as his first baptism he has done. Then on Saturday we had an activity with the youth and we ate tacos together. The bishop is really cool here and works hard with the youth. We did divisions quite a few times this week with the youth and with some members. The photo in front of the baptismal font are the members. The one that is squatting down is the member Andres that works with us each day throughout the week.

That’s about all this week. Love you guys so much!

Photos of elder Ferrin and me

Here's Ferrin, my old comp from the mtc. He's here in Chinandega with me.

 

Presidente Poncio

   Hey family, thanks so much for all the emails you have sent. I love them so much and hope that you enjoy reading mine as well. 

  Well, we had the reunion with the new president this week. His name is president Poncio, and he is really awesome. He shook everyone's hand and asked us where we are from. He was super excited for the work in the reunion and i cant wait to work with him. Of course I still miss the Collados, but the new president seems very kind as well. Hes from Guatemala, and has two children, both like 17 and 15 years old. 

    I also got to see some of my old buddies at the meeting for one last time, like Elder Sirrine and Elder Shirlee. They will all be leaving in three weeks from now, so I don't think i will see them again. Maybe someday when they get married and ill have to go to Arizona or Idaho to see their wedding. The mission is sure changing fast, lots of my friends are on their way out.

  This week was very successful in finding new investigators. We have been teaching a sister called Allison who lives with a super solid member named Carla. She should be getting baptized this week. We also have had a lot of other miracles this week with investigators. Like a sister that came to church who was married and baptized, but not confirmed, so we will have to baptize her again. And a mother and daughter who both went to church. Therese a guy named David that is super cool, but was working this week so was not able to go to church this week.

The family where we eat lunch moved their house yesterday, the government told them there time was up and they would have to move as fast as possible. We call him Papa Gordo and they're such a great family. I'm so sorry that they have had so many difficulties.

Andres and a brother called Domingo have been working with us almost everyday, I can't believe how dedicated these members are in this area.

 Today we had a beach activity here in Corinto. The waves a really big, excellent to surf i would think, but no one surfs here. The beaches are so different here than in Puerto Cabezas, it's crazy. There clean with nice sand, big waves and tons of sea shells. In Puerto they are very dirty. The weather was really nice, so we didn't burn to bad. Then we went and got some liquados, or smoothies. They are only a dollar here, so that's really nice. 

That's it for this week, and as for going to Puerto Cabezas i would be good either way, Its definitely not as nice as Corinto, but it would be really cool to see everyone again. I'm good either way. Love you guys so much. See you in two months!

Presidente Poncio

   Hey family, thanks so much for all the emails you have sent. I love them so much and hope that you enjoy reading mine as well. 

  Well, we had the reunion with the new president this week. His name is president Poncio, and he is really awesome. He shook everyone's hand and asked us where we are from. He was super excited for the work in the reunion and i cant wait to work with him. Of course I still miss the Collados, but the new president seems very kind as well. Hes from Guatemala, and has two children, both like 17 and 15 years old. 

    I also got to see some of my old buddies at the meeting for one last time, like Elder Sirrine and Elder Shirlee. They will all be leaving in three weeks from now, so I don't think i will see them again. Maybe someday when they get married and ill have to go to Arizona or Idaho to see their wedding. The mission is sure changing fast, lots of my friends are on their way out.

  This week was very successful in finding new investigators. We have been teaching a sister called Allison who lives with a super solid member named Carla. She should be getting baptized this week. We also have had a lot of other miracles this week with investigators. Like a sister that came to church who was married and baptized, but not confirmed, so we will have to baptize her again. And a mother and daughter who both went to church. Therese a guy named David that is super cool, but was working this week so was not able to go to church this week.

The family where we eat lunch moved their house yesterday, the government told them there time was up and they would have to move as fast as possible. We call him Papa Gordo and they're such a great family. I'm so sorry that they have had so many difficulties.

Andres and a brother called Domingo have been working with us almost everyday, I can't believe how dedicated these members are in this area.

 Today we had a beach activity here in Corinto. The waves a really big, excellent to surf i would think, but no one surfs here. The beaches are so different here than in Puerto Cabezas, it's crazy. There clean with nice sand, big waves and tons of sea shells. In Puerto they are very dirty. The weather was really nice, so we didn't burn to bad. Then we went and got some liquados, or smoothies. They are only a dollar here, so that's really nice. 

That's it for this week, and as for going to Puerto Cabezas i would be good either way, Its definitely not as nice as Corinto, but it would be really cool to see everyone again. I'm good either way. Love you guys so much. See you in two months!

Feliz 4 De Julio

  Hey fam, this week was a good one as they all are. Thanks for all the emails, i never get tired of reading them, even as time goes on. You might think that with time you would get bored, but I feel like they keep me somewhat updated on whats going on back home. I got an email from Elder Jacobsen back in Nicaragua. He sent me some photos of the people that we met in Tipitapa and Managua. 

   So the house was finally complete in the new location, which was right in the middle of a walking path. Unfortunately the government came and told them that they could not have the house there and would have to move it. So one Thursday we spent a few hours digging out the hillside where they will be able to put their house. It was so hot, we were drenched in sweat at the end of it. We wended up moving quite a bit of dirt. We still have to dig more, but it was a good start. 

  This week we did divisions with Elder Walker from South Carolina. He works in an area that's super far away called Somotillo, which is by the border of Honduras. We first took a bus for 30 minutes to Chinandega, then another hour and a half to get to his area. We go by this massive volcano called Mt Cristobal. Its so tall it parts the clouds that go by. I don't know if we could, but it would be an awesome adventure to go climb it... I heard that there's a road that goes part way up. The divisions were really fun, Elder Walker came to Corinto and we had a great time.

   

  There is a member here called Andres who went and worked with us everyday this week for six hours each day! He is so awesome. He gives us a ton of references and helps us teach all the time. We did divisions twice this week, so we have been working really hard to help people come unto Christ. We have worked really hard these two weeks and have found some cool people, but we are still looking for baptisms. 

 Here`s a photo of a ship coming into port from the beach.

That's about it for this week, love you guys  so much. Thanks for everything!