Move to Leon

We received a short email from Sam today.  He has been relocated from Puerto Cabezas to Leon - across the country. 

Wedding Crashers

Feliz Semana Santa! Here they celebrate the Holy week, (Semana Santa) Instead of Easter. This includes lots of partying on the beach, and lots of drinking Joyita! So far there has not been any incidents that I have heard of, just a guy who was really drunk in the street. We were walking home after church last night, and the dude fell down in the gutter on the side of the road. We did not know what we could have done for him, so we helped him hobble to the sidewalk and he stumbled down the street.

         This week we did have a few miracles pass. We have had a hard time baptizing over the last few weeks, but miraculously we married and baptized two families this week! And both of them lived right next to the beach. One of the families was being taught by Elder Monson and his old comp before I got to Puerto. And over the 10 months that I have been here they slowly progressed to be baptized this week! We told them the day earlier that we would call the lawyer at 5 the next day. When we called the couple the next day, they said that they wont have time until 7. So we called they lawyer to come to the church, and went to pick up the couple. The culture here is really relaxed, so when we got to the house to pick them up, they got ready in about 5 minutes and we headed to the church. It was a great wedding and baptism. The president came with his wife to be witnesses for the wedding. 

Nothing else new has happened. Today we played capture the flag at the church, and then later we went to eat hot wings at a place here. Its gotten really hot lately. March and April are always the hottest months here. The dust covers all the trees near the roads. 

Thanks for all the messages. Its so great to see your faces. Love you guys!

 

Mis Homies!

Naksa pamili! 

   Thanks for all your great emails and photos! There is a word in the mission called trunky, which means homesick, and these photos sure make me feel trunky, but in a good way. Its funny how things change. Of course I always miss you guys, but the homesick is always the worst at the beginning of the mission. Its not that I miss you guys any less now, its just that I know I don't have as long to wait till I come home. Today I complete 75 Percent done!

This week was great. We had a great investigator that was all ready for baptism, reading the book of Mormon, going to church, and in the last day.... She talked with her family and they convinced her not to get baptized, because she already has her religion. That's the biggest challenge we have here as missionaries. Everyone professes to have their own religion here, but no one really keeps the commandments. 

We did find a really great family though. They went to church on Sunday with us, and now the father is going to the sea for ten days. They are planning on getting married and baptized when the comes back. He wanted to get baptized last week, but he had to go to church first. We have been fighting to baptize these past weeks, but have not had any success. I believe this week for sure we will have one.

This is a photo of some of my favorite peeps in Nicaragua. There is the District President in the suit, The big guy is the branch President. The dude with white hair is my convert Francisco. He is super cool! Everyone except the district president and one other are recent converts. The work is sure accelerating here in Puerto. 

Today we watched a show called Freetown. Its a story about missionaries in Africa. It was great. What's crazy is my friend Warner Ashby just went through there on his mission last week. Cool stuff.

Thanks for everything family! Love you guys so much, stay strong in keeping the commandments, they will bless your life. Love you all!

Radio Miskut

Well, as you can see from the heading, we have started up the radio once again. We took one of our investigators named Elvis to talk in Meskito as well. He said he liked it a lot, he's a pretty cool guy. This week we talked about prayer and the importance of praying everyday and with sincerity. We each had the opportunity to speak for about 15 minutes. It was really fun. 

We have had a really hard time baptizing over the last few weeks. This week we were going to have some baptisms, but some of our investigators left to the sea, and others have some difficulties before they will be ready. I feel a little stressed out for that, but we have an investigator this week who is super positive, and one of the few that actually read what we leave them! 

This week was District conference, so we went to the bigger church out by the Nicaragua military base. The bus broke down, so we got to the church at about 10 o'clock, and the district meeting started at 9 haha. Then the volume didn't work so we sat around for thirty minutes while they repaired it. Things definitely don't go as smooth as back in Utah, but it was a blast. Everyone got home safely, even though the buses were packed like sardines! 

We also had a meeting with President Collado this week and we talked about current issues and how we can be better missionaries. I really look up to Collado and his wife, they are such great examples to the mission and really help us to be the best missionaries that we can. Then they invited the zone to lunch. We all ate chicken burgers from membreños. 

Today we went to a place called Caminante to look for ties. I bought a sweet one for only ten cords. That's less than fifty cents. I love how everything is so cheap here. We also got our haircuts for forty cords, which is like a dollar fifty. What a steal! 

It got me thinking about how blessed we are from home. The guy who cut my hair makes about 15 dollars a day for working 11 hours. We are so blessed to have what we have. Anytime you think your life is hard, you just need to look at the lives of these people, who have almost nothing. 

Thanks for all that you have done for me. I love all of your letters and the photos! Cant wait to see you guys in a few more months. Love you!  

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.