Nahksa Pamaliki

This week has been awesome here in Puerto! Lots of cool things have happened, and my companion, Elder Monson, from East Salt Lake, is throwing fire! 

First off, our well out front where we get water has been a little low, due to the pesky neighbors getting in and taking a ton each morning.  Luckily, we bought a lock and latch today, so that will not be a problem anymore.

This week, a man came into our house and offered to sell us some spandex underwear. My comp told him that he only wears briefs, but said we would ask the other missionaries if they would like some as well, they unsurprisingly said no as well.   This morning, he came again! This time he brought
some boxer briefs to sell as well.  My comp couldn’t say no this time, so he bought a pair. 

This week it dumped a ton! Part of our area was flooded on Sunday, so not many people went to church. Only 46 people this week, The fumigators passed by this week. Our house was contained a toxic cloud that killed anything left inside. That was really good, because there are a few more mosquitos here than in Puerto.

The people speak Mesquito, a language from the Caribbean, so my companion and I are trying to learn it each day.  Nothing else out of the ordinary. The Atlantic ocean is really cool, to see right outside from  our house, and there are all types of animals everywhere, like cows, pigs, cats, horses, and tons of dogs all wondering around town. Puerto is so cool! 
Hope all is great back home. Love you all so much!

Hola Familia de el otro lado de cielo

Thanks for all your emails this week, it is great to hear that you are all doing very well. I am sad to hear that Chris is not doing so well at home. Tell the Evans that i love and miss them so much and hope that she gets better.

Sounds like the weather down there is really rainey! That must be really great!

Hey family! How did you know i would have changes this week? Well, it was my turn to leave this time and i took off this morning and am currently in Puerto Cabezas! I always wanted to come here since i began my mission! It is really jungly here, and lots of cool things to see. I stayed at the house of the other missionaries last night, and took a flight to Puerto this morning in a prop plane. It was sure weird to be back in the plane, but super cool. I will probably be stationed here for about a year. Puerto is so cool! There are all types of people, and everyone is so friendly. My new house is huge! We have everything, kitchen, bedroom, and a living space! The only  drawback is that it does not have running water. But nothing can be perfect all the time!

Thanks for sending me a gift! Mom and Dad! I am really ashamed to ask for this but it is an emergency! In puerto, things do not come until about 12 to 18 weeks after things are sent. My contact solution stash is running low. I dont believe Nicaragua has ever or will ever use contact
lenses, so the solution is impossible to find. If you could send some, I would be immensely grateful. Thank you for everything! Ike, Davis, Mom and Dad, I love you all so much and miss you all a ton. I want to thank you for all the support you have given me and your letters. I know it takes quite a bit of time to write letters that long, but i appreciate it so much!   Love you all, have a great week! 

I will try to take a bunch of photos next p day! My house is right next to the beach, so i will have some really good photos of that! Someday you guys will have to come here is possible, Puerto is something else, most of the houses are on stilts, really jungly, and a lot of people to find to help be baptized!

Last week for this change!

     Well, this is the last week of this 6 week change. I think I might be moving this change, but won’t know for a week. 
      Today the fumigators passed by our house. They are these guys that walk around with a gas mask, and a leaf blower thing that blows out white fumes that kill all insect inhabitants in the surrounding area. Needless to say we abandoned the house for a few hours after. Every so often they come around to do this. But this actually was a great blessing, because we have had a few unwelcomed guests living in our house, and i would always wake up with bug bites.

     Not much different this week. A nice rainstorm came through the other day, but luckily we were in a casa of our friend Jorge. His rain gutter INSIDE his house was bad, yes inside (his house is about 2 inches
away from the next one, so due to the closeness of the other roof, he has to have one inside his house) water was coming in all over.  We hurried and helped him patch up all that we could to help, and luckily nothing got to wet. 

     The weather here has been a lot cooler! I am so happy! Everyone here says that April and March are always the worst or the warm before the stormy season.

     On Wednesday we had a new persons meeting, which was pretty fun, I got to see all of my old friends.  This Saturday we have a conference with one of the seventy named elder Duncan, should be fun!
 
     Mom and Dad, I seriously don’t have anything else to say, just that I love you guys so much. Thanks for all you do! Love you! Don’t worry, I am doing fine!

Dia De Madre

Hola Familia! Espero que ustedes están muy Bien! (translation: I hope you are doing good)

Mother’s day was really great, for the missionaries that is, because for some reason only Nicaragua celebrates it on May 30 unlike all the others that do it on the tenth of May. This week we had a small party for my birthday at the house of some recent converts called “The Family Rodriguez”, it was really fun.   This family is very poor, like most people in Nicaragua.  They cooked us dinner and then they brought out a cake for my birthday.  People here don’t have ovens, so this cake was bought from the store.  It had to cost at least $15.00, which is like 3-4 hours of work here.  

Last night, the Elders Quorum President invited us over to dinner.  There he gave me a present which was cologne or perfume.  This costs like $20.00 at the store.  The people here are so giving.  They have nothing but will do anything for you.  I always feel like I should be giving more, but I don’t know what more I can do.

I have heard the weather there has been really rainy right now. Here it is still sunny, but we have had a few hard rain showers that lasted about 30 minutes.  All else is good here in Nicaragua, Love you all!

Lagoon Tiscapa

This week was really cool. We went to a lagoon to pick up trash with the national guard or something from nicaragua, and a bunch of other single adult mormons. We were called manos mormones que ayudan, or mormon helping hands!. We even made the news! The lagoon of tiscapa is very beautiful, but like almost all bodies of water in Nicaragua,it is highly poluted with trash everywhere. Nicaragua dosnt really have laws about trash or anything, so trash is evrywhere, really sad. The lagoon is being cleaned every few months, but there is just so much trash it is overwhelming.

We had a fast this week, which was really hard. My companion and i were so dehydrated that when we finished the fast we each drank so much cakow we were sick! Cackow is a drink a little like chocolate milk, but is a little diferent but super good! Fasting is so hard here, but it was well worth it, our number one  investigator came to church so that was good.

 The evans family, Lego land looks awesome! I hope that you all had a good time there. Almost summer vacation up there, i am so jelous! Here they have vacations from november until january, so the nicas are not quite as lucky as you guys are this time of year.

Thats all from nicaragua, each week goes by faster and faster! Love you all so much have a good week!

Cambios en Ciudad Jardin

Hey family, thanks for the emails! Reading them is the best part of my week! I miss you all so much. Davis, you look good with braces. I know they hurt at first, but after a short time they will get better. Ike, drive safely in the new car of yours, I hope you will enjoy it a lot.

 I recieved a new companion this week named Elder Paz, I am really sad to leave elder Estrada, but it is good to have a change, but also really stressful. I am still going to be here in Ciudad Jardin. We had a baptism this week which was really cool,and then after had a little dinner. The picture included is that dinner. 

It is still really hot here in Nicaragua! I am sweating extra more than usual. The sun is so hot, i cant wait for the rainy season to start so we can have a break for this heat! I am also so excited for mothers day to skype you all. Only one more month until that.

Thats all new here in Ciudad Jardin. Hope you all have a great week and be happy!

Semana Santa

Well, Santa was actually this week, but most of the people had vacations for two weeks. There was a ton of little swimming pools everywhere, lots of bolos(Drunk people) in the streets, and no one in the streets in the morning. What a great week. Today I even got to meet the tallest lady in Nicaragua! Just about one hour ago my comp took this photo with me beside her! Nothing else to tell, just living it big here in Nicaragua! Thanks for all you guys do for me! Love you all!