December 7th Volcano Erupts

I asked him some things in my letter and these are the questions and his responses.    Where did you get your boots?  What did they do with the boa constrictor after they killed it?  Have you gotten any packages lately, and if you do, please keep them until Christmas unopened if you can, so you definitely have packages to open Christmas day.  What do you do when you get up in the morning, what time do you usually eat lunch and how do you do that, do you still have  a lunch cita?  I got my boots at a paca, its like a Goodwill ! They left the boa constrictor in the street, I don't know why, they made a pretty big deal about leaving it right in the middle of the street. Oh man I got the Jurassic world package........I about died when I saw all the stuff.

 I wear the Jurassic world t-shirt to bed every night, and I love looking at the dino pics in the books!!!!!!!  Also, I loved the candy, cliff bar, and missionary book, it's helped me a lot with the work!!! So, I get up in the morning. I pray, and I work out. I do push ups lunges , jump rope and pull ups with a thick rope thing that hangs from the ceiling!! I've dropped ten pounds woooooo!!!! The chocolate milk diet!!! Our lunch cita makes us gallo pinto with cheese, and rice and beans, maybe some talks(?). Lots and lots of rice and beans. That's basically all we eat, but its not too bad. When we eat Burger King it makes us want to cry. It's super hot, not to humid right now because the rainy season is over, but wow its pretty hot,Chinandega was hotter though, when I was in Chinandega within five minutes of leaving the house sweat would be pour from my face and arms. There are a ton of stray crazy looking dogs here in Nicaragua. It makes me miss the clean ones! We have a real shower and it's it amazing!!! The area is pretty dope, the people we teach and the recent converts are like family to us. It's going to be tough leaving. I'm going to be here until Februrary! Love you guys you're AMAZING KEEP BEING DOPE, you have no idea how much I loved the messages and packages!!!
Nothing to crazy has happened this week other than that. We work we sleep and try cool new foods. 

This is what he wrote with this next picture.


also the volcano by our house blew up.......much love

Here's the link to an article about the volcano, nothing crazy happened this week my foot:)
Link to article on the volcano eruption.
Another link, this one has a video.
Well guys this week was a tough one. We were soaring pretty high then dropped super low. But no worries. We have plans to turn everything around. Nothing to crazy has happened this week. We are working more with members so that the church here has more of a base. We have seen that people are getting baptized but they are not staying because there is no friendship. The atmosphere on Sunday is very isolated and negative.

On Wednesday we all headed to Chinandega for a multizone conference with President. President dropped some serious bombs on us. He started by telling us that he has something for us that will change our mission. He told us that we need to work more with members in any form that we can, contacting with them, getting to know their friends and talking to all the people that live by them. We have seen how that has helped a ton. The people we find have a  friendship system set up. He also told us that if we want to bring families to church, whether they are members or just investigators we need to talk with the men. The men are the most difficult to change and the most dedicated. If we can bring one man to church he will bring his family and his friends. President has also told us that there are families waiting for us.  There is one family every week who is ready to be baptized. Our goal and our purpose is super easy and super simple, find them, teach them, and baptize them. Elder Williams and I are doing our best in La Paz. This week has not been the most successful but we know that this up coming week we will have a lot more success!!! 
Have a killer Christmas guys!!  

November 30th Boa and Baptisms

Carlos Mariella Sophia and Easton's Companion Elder Williams

What's up guys!!!
This week went pretty well. We started off on fire, burning through the days doing well, then  it came time to prepare for baptisms and our plans just blew up. But we got it done. This week a family of 3 got baptized. Their names are Carlos, Mariela, and Sophia, as well as their youngest son Carlos. They are an awesome family. We aren't as close to them as we are with others but they are pretty awesome. They have a lot of problems financially right now, so it's a lil tough for them, but it will all work out in the end. On friday, we barely managed to get them married and baptized. We were supposed to meet them at the church at 1. We waited till 1:30 when we received a text saying that today they wouldn't be able to do it. We didn't receive a solid answer, so we went to his house to see what was going down. Turns out he had some things he had to take care of finacially, so we just arranged the wedding for the night. Distance from La Paz to Nagorote  The ceremony was cool and we got a bunch of help from the lawyer who is a member. After that, we headed back to La Paz Centro. On the way we got stuck in traffic for 30 minutes or more and finally managed to get back around 7:30.  By 8:00 they were baptized, and afterwords we got pizza.

We traveled all the way to Nagarote to get them married.
Oh and the snake pictures. Alright, so we were at a recent converts house talking and teaching and what not, when this huge boa popped out of the bushes and started crossing the street. The crazy aunt screamed get the machete, and while her kids were getting the machete she started hurling rocks and bricks at it. She wasn't a very good shot and only managed to peg it like once or twice.  Once she got the sword like machete in her hands she started hacking away at the snake. It was awesome and incredibly entertaining. To finish up, we gave a quick little gospel lesson using the snake as an example. Super dope super awesome. Also, we are working with a inactive family who haven't been to church in forever. They are awesome, dope, and super love-able. We are making things work guys. I  love you guys a ton, you're awesome. Thank you for writing me and keeping me informed.  Have a killer week.

Peace out!!!!!!

November 23rd Healthy

Whats up guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Didn't do anything too crazy this week. For once were feeling good again, no diarrhea, no chinconguña. Everything is rolling smoothly. My companion, Elder Williams, is killing it in Nicragua. He speaks Spanish pretty well. When I started I didn't understand anything at all. He understands it pretty well and is communicating pretty well. So, this week we learned that some people say they want to get baptized, say they want to go to church, and say they will act. Then there are people who say they will go to church, say they will do things, and actually do it. Sunday morning, we realized who really want to get baptized and who didn't. This week we plan to finish up teaching the investigators we have. We don't have much time here in La Paz Centro so we gotta make it count. We gotta look for the people who will act and want to change. With Elder Williams and I, we're doing our best to be obedient and we are doing our best to work as hard as we can.  I know we will see miracles in the weeks to come. We are rocking it here in the Paz Centro. Thanks for the letters guys.  I try to talk to everyone on Mondays, but the truth is I'm trying to ease back because I think about you guys way too much. Being a trainer has helped me so much,  now instead of thinking about you guys all the time, I'm thinking about the area and what we can do better. Its dope though, Seriously mom, dad, thanks for the messages every word that you guys send me is magic, I'm loving it!!!! Please keep the Christmas tree up, I love it!!!!!!!!!!!  I'll keep you guys posted love you!!!!!!!!!!! I'll also take better pics

November 16th Baptisms Training Elder Williams Chinconguna

What sup guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So...... we had a crazy week this week . On Sunday night we found out Elder Lopez was headed to Chinandega!!!!!!!!!!! Wooooooo.... so we packed up, said good bye, and headed to Managua. I worked in Managua on Monday night with the APs, and on Tuesday I got my first kid on the mission!!! Thats right I'm training!!!!! On Tuesday President assigned Elder Williams and I together. He is a dope kid from Texas, and he speaks Spanish pretty well so I don't have to help him much. In fact he speaks better Spanish than when I got to Nicaragua. When I got here I couldn't do ANYTHING! For all those guys out there struggling to learn the language, I feel ya man!!! You will get it. It's all good now. Now I'm leading the work here in La Paz Centro. Its definitely a new feeling, but it feels great. 

Unfortunately, this week has been a lil rough too. We started off with this thing called chinconguña. It's this sickness that the mosquitoes carry. You feel pain in your bones and in your skin and everywhere really. It was horrible stuff, we survived. 

But!!!! I have something to report. Instead of staying in bed. We worked and we found some awesome people. At the end of the week we married and baptized  a small family. The wife was a member but inactive and the husband didn't really have a church. They are named Alejando and Darlin. They are awesome and tonight we have an appointment to show them how to do family home evening!!!!!! It's all going awesome and we plan to throw some serious fire !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Love you guys!!!!!

November 10th Training Elder Williams

Hey guys
I had a crazy week and I couldn't write so next week's letter will be extra dope.  So......... Lopez left and I'm training a new kid.  (In the mission field missionaries who are training new Elders call their trainees their kid)   Yesterday I couldn't write because I was in Managua.  I'm with Elder Williams and I'm still  in La Paz Centro, this keyboard sucks so I can't write much.  My comment to him was...... It's OK,  I teach 2nd grade so I can decipher bad writing really well.

its        allbgoodb imsadb andb excited bbutb                i got bto go loveb                    you untilb monday

I didn't edit this part because I thought it was a good indication of how bad the keyboard really was.

November 2nd Baptisms Jeffery Cherlin

What's up guys!!!
This week has been pretty good. Elder Lopez and I have worked pretty hard this week. There is always room to improve. In my opinion we have just cracked the surface of the things we can do. As of right now we are working hard to turn La Paz Centro into a ward. We need 100 people for attendance and 15 priesthood holders who are active and paying tithing. Right now we've got 8 or 9 and we've got a few lined up for baptism. This week we learned that to be a successful missionary you gotta learn to to work efficiently and you gotta be obedient with exactness. Before Elder Lopez and I were not the most obedient and we had some success. Now Elder Lopez and I have commited to be more and more obedient everyday. With this combo we are metaphorically cooking with gasoline. This week we have found so many `people who are just so dope and so ready. I can now see that obedience allows us to work harder and see more miracles. It's tough but the rewards are pretty sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey guys this week we had some baptisms, we baptized 2 Jeffery's and a Cherlin. Two were from a less active family that just recently reactivated. Its a family of three, the father Jader and his 2 kids. They are incredibly poor but have a ton of faith. The other young man is named Jeffrey and he is from another less active family. We are working to get them back to church.  To finish off I have some cool stories. Today we ate this super weird meat that looked super sketchy its called sawana or something. It is super good and cheap . I'm hoping I don't get sick. Also, I'm working on my paca purchasing skills. A paca is basically a used stuff store. They are everywhere here. Today we were walking and I spotted a Jurassic park bag that is super small and perfect for my scriptures and pamphlets boom!!! Right on the spot, I bought for a few bucks. Earlier,  I got a Deadpool shirt which was pretty sick. I'll keep you guys posted !!!

I forgot to tell you guys that they do not celebrate Halloween down here. They think everyone in the states are weird and crazy and worship the devil and witches because we celebrate Halloween. Today is the day of the dead . Everyone goes to the cemetery to clean grave sites and adorn the graves with flowers.

New Investigators

Love You

October 26th

Meeting in Managua with Cliff Bars from care package!!!

Hey guys whats up!!!!
So this week we had a few people who were preparing to get baptized but unfortunately they were not able to. We have been looking for a ton of people and putting a bunch of baptismal dates, but unfortunately we forgot to take care of those who we found. We had been teaching them, but not as frequently as we should have, we had been focusing too much on finding. But it's all good, we will turn things around this week. So this week we had interviews with President and they went well. President showed us somethings that we can do better and we plan to make it happen. On Saturday we went to Managua to listen to a couple talks by general authorities. They talked about a ton of stuff and everyone learned a lot. The coolest thing that happened this week is a less active got reactivated. This less active had left his family and was roaming the streets. His marriage was in the dump and his family was suffering. This week he talked to the stake president in Leon to get things straightened out and now he is a new man!!!! He now smiles, he laughs, he talks with his family, he talks with his wife like they are best friends. I have seen a huge change in him and he didn't need to do much. He took a small step and that step changed everything with the help of God of course.  

Bus Ride

Some other things that happened this week, Snickers are imported to Nicaragua so they are pretty expensive and rare.

Snickers Bar

We can only find them in big grocery stores, so my comp and I bought a few there so dope!!!!!! The whole zone had interviews on Wednesday, it was pretty cool.  We are all in the bus in the picture. I got  a lil carsick on that ride but other than that its all chill. I found a sick gecko in the house and it peed all over my hand  I got a killer package with Poptarts and gummie sharks and a whole ton of cliff bars, so dope!! and a Jurassic park shirt!!!
That's all for this week...oh wait I forgot to tell you guys that here in Nicaragua a popular name for Jesus Christ is Papa Chus I love it!!!!!!  This little guy is the son of one of our investigators.

October 19th

Whats up guys!!!!!!!! nothing to crazy has happened this week, Elder Lopez and I worked pretty hard every day. This week we worked on putting fechas on contact and working with people who are the most positive. Last week we found a place called El Cruze or something like that. Its a super small little vilage in our area. Its not village but a little strip of land with a bunch of super poor families. Some people live in tin house with blanket doors. Pretty crazy stuff. We have found a ton of positive people and we have put a lot of fechas. Unfortunatly we found that putting fechas is super cool and all but when we don't have time to teach them they start to fall. We also found that those who are most positive, go to church, so we are working to get them all to church. It's all pretty chill though. On Saturday we bought some ice cream for Elder Lopez. He turned 23 and we had a lil party for him. If you guys have time, try coco puffs with ice cream, it's pretty sick. This week we are going to try to pull off a miracle with our investigators. I know it will all turn out well.
Love you guys

October 12th La Paz Centro

Hey guys, we had a pretty cool week this week.On Tuesday, Elder Spence and I crushed during intercambios here in the Paz. We found a ton of super cool people and managed to place a few baptismal dates. The rest of the week Elder Lopez and I have been working pretty hard. Right now we are trying our best to place baptismal dates on contact. I have seen that this helps us find the people who are looking for the truth and only need help. Before, we spent a lot of time trying to work with people who simply weren't ready. Every lesson was super tough and we barely made any progress. Those who we are working with are progressing much faster. Oh man, this Thursday our district had a meeting with President Collado to present what we have done in the past 3 months. Last time we had this meeting my results were not the best so I had a little bit of fear going into it this time. Elder Lopez and I had some great baptisms, and we lifted the attendance in sacrament meeting. It was awesome. President told our district that we are doing well. Now that my companion is district leader, and we have had a lot of success, President had us raise our goal pretty high Converts are doing well. Jose is killing it, has gone to church every Sunday and has gone to every meeting, he's so dope. Elder Lopez has a lot more work to do, but he is enjoying it and has learned really fast.

I have not bought anything in Nicaragua lately, but this Saturday I'm going to throw a party for my companion.  It's his birthday, he comes from a poor family and hasn't celebrated his birthday super special in a long time. Nothing to crazy has happened. In the meeting President asked my opinion on why Elder Lopez and I have had success.....that means I'm  doing something right!!!!!!!!!!! Dude, guys thank you so much for the updates I love you guys so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every word, every comment makes me so happy, you have no idea.  Mom I love you so much, you keep everything moving in the family, you are amazing.

Love you guys

October 5th La Paz Centro

Well Guys this week was pretty cool.
We haven't seen anything too crazy but we have definitely learned a lot. My companion is District Leader now, so he has been adjusting to that and he is doing great. When it comes to numbers at night it turns into a team effort, I add things, he adds things, and in the end it all works out. So... we went to Leon with all of the zone, we played soccer and it was so sick!!! Then, after words we went to Burger King and we used coupons, you'd be proud of me (I always use your card when going to BK). We also used coupons in the grocery store then we headed home!  We started contacting in another poor area in La Paz Centro called El Granero and 17 de Julio. These areas aren't as poor as el Kilombo, but its pretty poor. The first day we started contacting there we found a couple positive people and set a few baptismal goals with a family. They are progressing pretty well and have gone to conference with us. Like our recent convert Jose, this family does not have much knowledge of the scripture.  They are learning fast and its solid.

I love all the times we spent watching conference in the house!!!! My companion and I headed to the stake center in Leon to watch conference it was pretty cool and we learned a ton!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our recent convert Jose went to the priesthood session on Saturday and both sessions on Sunday. He is awesome and is super dedicated. When we called him to ask if he was going to go with us he simply said yes without excuse or complaint. He is super awesome and I know he will be a killer member and leader of the church!!! Conference was so dope!!!!!!!! Recently, Russel M. Nelson visited the mission in Nicaragua.  When I asked Easton how it felt to see him on TV during conference, this was his response. It was weird, but it was cool, I felt like I kinda new him lol.  I loved all the talks from the first session on Saturday.  The talk about "ponderizing" scriptures was amazing.  I learned so many things and I plan to make a lot of changes to my life as a missionary and in my life as a person and Son of God here on Earth.
Love you guys a ton!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep rocking it

September 28th Baptisms La Paz Centro

Hey Guys,
So we finished up with another change in Nicaragua. Elder Lopez and I are still together and he is now District Leader. We are both excited for this change, and we expect to have a great amount of success. So this week was pretty awesome. On Saturday, the family we have been teaching got married and were baptized as well.

The couple that got married are awesome, they are named Juana and Jose! Their daughter Gretel was baptized too. Before they finally got baptized a lot of things happened. During the week we passed by their house to teach, prepare, and prevent them from falling. Everything was super chill until Friday night. After their baptism, they told us that Friday night they had a little argument that turned into a huge fight, and Juana had decided that she was not going to get married or baptized, and was going to leave.

The truth is they were fighting over something super small and sort of funny, but somehow it exploded. Jose was thinking clearly and told Juana that satan fighting to prevent them from taking this step in their lives. After Jose spoke to Juana she realized that the argument was nothing and they made up, after that everyone was chill again and were determined to get baptized. I feel like I did not explain what happened very well, but do your best to imagine it.  From our experiences with Juana and Jose I have learned that some people learn faster than others, intelligence has nothing to do with it.

Last week they told us that they wanted more time because they didn't want to take such a huge step with out being super prepared. We had almost taught them everything at that point so we knew they we ready and only needed to take a step of faith. Jose told us that he did not understand baptism very well and did not understand why it was important for them to get baptized. He also told us that he was smoking and didn't want to get baptized with this addiction. We explained everything and we challenged him to stop smoking with a goal and stick to it. We asked if he was willing to get baptized with his original date and he told us " ya i will do it" without hesitation. Juana did not say yes and told us that they would talk together later and give us an answer the following day. Everything worked out and Jose quit smoking long before his baptism.  Jose is super dope and has plans to be a teacher in the church. He told us that he feels completely changed and has a desire to serve. He is going to kill it and we are going to help him.

September 21st La Paz Centro

Hey everybody,
Again, not a ton to report this week. Elder Lopez and I have been spending a lot of time looking for new people to teach and helping those who we have progressing. Before, we spent most of our time in the poorest spot in our area called Kilombo and Pancasan, but we contacted pretty much everybody there so we felt it was time to move. Now, we are looking for new people near the highway. We have found a few people. Right now we are teaching a family of 3 . The husband and wife who are not married are named Juana and Jose. This week they have had some family problems and this is the weekend they set their goal for being baptized. Friday, we passed by the  house and had a very powerful discussion about baptism and Faith. From this, I learned that teaching with the spirit is much more than just talking. During the lesson we had to listen and look for the problems that were popping up. We have faith that they will follow through with their goal, and we plan to bring Felipe and his wife, our recent converts, to visit Juana and Jose with us.
This week Elder Lopez has helped me a lot with my teaching skills and language skills. When we first became companions, he told me that I gotta change up my teaching process or I will never progress. He also taught me that I really just need to relax and talk with everyone. This has helped me a lot. Before, I used the same teaching skills and questions without thinking about the needs of the person. Now,  I look for the needs of the people we are teaching, I stop and think, then I speak. After 12 weeks of practice with Elder Lopez I am communicating, not perfectly, but better every day, and I am enjoying my mission more and more.
Love you guys have a good week

September 14th

Hey guys, I don't have a lot to report this week. Our district hasn't had the best results in these past weeks, so we've had a few meetings to think up ideas that will help us find new people and strengthen the work here in Leon. Elder Lopez and I have been working a lot with our family that is progressing towards the 26 of September. Right now, the parents and one of the daughters, Gretel, has goals to get baptized, and we are hoping to help the rest of the family set goals as well. More than anything, Elder Lopez and I learned that contacting people in the street works, but it does not work very well. Working with members makes the work flow much faster and much easier. When I first got to the Paz Centro we helped 4 people get baptized in 1 month, and in the end we didn't feel like we did much work. We taught the people, but it really wasn't a battle. With the family we baptized by contact, it felt as though we were fighting every day to help them. In the end, my companion and I felt exhausted. Right now, we are trying to find a balance between contacting and working with members. We also had stake conference this week in Leon,and we heard some awesome talks from the members, and even greater talks from our mission president and his wife. I will be honest, when I first got to Nicaragua I couldn't understand anything, and I didn't try to. During the conferences my mind was up in the clouds. After a short 7 months I can understand more or less and I'm finally looking for spiritual guidance in the conferences. This last conference I learned a lot, and I plan to use what I have learned in the upcoming week, thats all I got for you guys this week!!!! Oh wait, Saturday night we got some mexican food in Leon with the zone leaders oh man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was so amazing, first time on the mission!

Kilombo September 7th

Whats up guys!!! We didn't do a bunch of crazy stuff this week but I learned a lot. More than anything I grew a lot with my language, teaching skills, and my growth personally. We will start with the family we found on Tuesday. We were contacting in a poorer part of La Paz Centro which is called Kilombo. The houses in Kilomobo are made out of plastic and metal and that's about it. We have found that the people who do not have a lot of money are more open to our message, and are more open to act as well. So we were contacting, and we stumbled upon a family of 6, but we only talked with the older couple of the house, who aren't married but are willing to get married. The woman was laying down in her bed because she hurt her back pretty bad. We asked if she wanted a blessing and if she felt as though she had enough faith to be healed. She told us she a sufficient faith. We gave her a blessing and that was basically it. The next day we went to the house for a return visit and we found that she was walking, working, and helping her husband prepare his art to sell in Managua. We asked her how she was doing and she said she was feeling great. We witnessed that the Lord works by small acts. They are now progressing towards a baptismal goal for the 26th of September. Elder Lopez and I have been helping them understand the restoration, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. Here in Nicaragua the members do not have a very good understanding of these things, which by consequence causes them to be less dedicated because they feel as though the restored church of Jesus Christ is just like every other church. It is difficult but we have found that by using scriptures from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon people understand the restoration more clearly. The family that we are working with with does not understand perfectly and neither do I, but they understand the basics. Also, we have seen a great change in the family we married and baptized two weeks ago. Just recently, the wife Hermana Margarita was rushed to the hospital to be operated on. She had problems with her appendix and needed to get it removed. Her husband came to us in the morning for help. He was serious but he came to us with a friendly relaxed attitude as well. They know that this life is not the end, that family, and God are the things that really matter most.  Now, I can see that they have a much more broad look on life.

Apostle Russell M. Nelson August 31, 2015

Hey guys so we've got a problem. I can't send you guys pics because the machine we used to read the camera card is broken. This week I will buy a new one but until then I can't send a ton of dope pics. I can tell you some crazy stories from the week though. Alright, on Tuesday we found a pretty big scorpion in our house, we killed it and everything was chill. A couple minutes later my comp went outside and called me. He found a fairly big tarantula crawling on the wall outside. We killed that one too. Later on in the week we found another scorpion. That was pretty crazy.

As for spiritual experiences, we didn't have many but the few that we had were very powerful. Last week we married and baptized a famiy. This whole week we have been teaching the basics over again so that they understand clearly what is the sabbath day, what is tithing, and what is the word of wisdom. Also, we have been teaching a lot about temples so that they don't forget that the real goal in life is to have your family sealed together for time and all eternity. The family went to church and didn't work Sunday so they are definitely making some progress. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to listen to one of the 12 apostles that are living today. Russel M. Nelson spoke to us with power and authority. But before all of that he shoke hands with every single missionary in nicargua. Thats right, I said good morning to Russel M. Nelson and shook his hand. He spoke to us in a way that was very relaxed. He had notes but he spoke freely and by the spirit. He taught us that we need teach with the end in mind. Yes, as missionaries we are here to help people get baptized, but really we are here to help people make holy covenants in the sacred temple of the Lord. He taught us that the people need to do the basics first before they can progress further. Here in Nicaragua, people have a hard time going to church and paying tithing, because they can barely survive with the work and money that they have. President Nelson taught us that when the people can do the basics they can climb out of poverty, and climb out of the spiritual circle that they are stuck in. Right now we are doing are best to get our family to the temple to be sealed one year from now, and we are also working with the family of our lunch cita. The husband of our lunch cita is the only person who is not baptized. He wants to get baptized, but does not want to give up alchohol and smoking. He is tough but my comp and I want to see his baptism so we will work hard with him. That's it guys.
 love you

We managed to pull off a miracle!!!

Hey guys whats up!!!!
So this week we managed to pull off a miracle!!!!! Throught the entire week we worked super hard with one big family in order to marry the parents and baptize the rest of the family. In order to marry Felipe and Margarita we needed to take out a bunch of papers and identities. We finished up all the papers Tuesday. In the same day we had to take all the papers to a lawyer in Leon, who is a member of the church. She was really awesome and even came to La Paz Centro to marry the couple. If she had not have helped us out we would have had to pay 800 to 1000 cords and travel to either Nagarote or Leon. On Friday I went to Mombo Tombo to do divisions with Elder Spence from Utah. He is an awesome elder and is picking up Spanish super fast. While we worked in Mombotombo Elder Gibbs, our district leader, worked with my comp elder Lopez doing interviews for all of the people who were going to get baptized. While they interviewed elder Spence and I threw fire in Mombotombo. During this time I had the opportunity to practice what Elder Lopez taught me. When I first came to La Paz Centro I taught by memory because I couldn't really do much else. Two weeks into the change Elder Lopez told me I should change up my teaching techniques. This was pretty tough for me because teaching from memory is pretty easy. He helped me stop teaching from memory and start teaching by the Spirit. He helped me make friends with the people here, talk with them , ask them  questions joke with them, and search for the problems that they need help with. In Mombotombo I realized how much Elder Lopez helped me. I didn't know the people we were teaching but after a few minutes of genuine conversation I saw the problems, the doubt, and the fears they had, and with the help of Elder Spence we set goals for them, answered their doubts and helped them get back on track. To finish off the day of divisions we drank some coke and ate a couple mangos.
Back to the baptism story. On Saturday 7 people made a change in their life and got baptized, Felipe and his wife Margarita, the mom of Felipe Leila, the sister of Margarita Carin, and the two nephews of Felipe Jaser and Jose. Another young man was baptized as well, he is from a different family, and  his name is Kevin. It was a crazy fun and spiritual time. That night we helped throw a party for them because they relly have no money, barely enough to feed their family. The next morning by another miracle we managed to bring all 7 to the church to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost to complete their baptism. Unfortunately we were not able to baptize the mom of Kevin. This was a big surprise for us. We have had several very powerful lessons with her and her family. This made Elder Lopez and i a little disappointed but its all good we are going to continue to pass by and visit with her.
Thats all for this week guys, we have pics but the computer is not working so we will have to wait till next week.

August 17th La Paz de Centro

Well guys this change has officially begun, and I'm with Elder Lopez for another 6 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are super pumped for this change and we plan to make a lot of changes to the way we do things. This week went pretty well. Elder Lopez and I found out how difficult it is to work with families who want to get married and want to get baptized BUT literally do not have money to eat, let alone take out papers and pay for a lawyer. We have been working with Hermano Felipe and his wife Hermana Margarita for a while now. They have been to church and are still working towards their baptismal goal in the end of the week. We also have a family in Killombo that is going to get baptized this month. It is a mom with her three kids. We have been passing by their house for 3 or 4 weeks now. The mom has always been firm in her goal to get baptized along with her youngest son Kevin. Sometimes they want to listen sometimes they want to get baptized, but not until yesterday did things change. Yesterday, we passed by their house to see how they have been. We began with simple small talk. Talked about the mish , their family, the work of the mom. Eventually the small talk led to tithing and fasting because the oldest son asked us what are the things that he needs to do to go on a mission. We told him its simple, first you need to get baptized then pay tithing and fast offerings, go to church and talk with the president of the branch and stake. After a year he can go on a mission. This led to a short lesson on tithing and the sabbath day, really we talked about the powerful promises God has for us if we keep doing the basics. This family has been struggling for years to keep their heads above the water financially. She has told us on multiple occasions that she is always stressed and always looking for ways to work and find more money because the things she is doing just aren't good enough. We shared some thoughts of ours with her because we always pray for her family, think about her family, study for her family, and look for ways to help her out. My companion shared his thoughts and I shared mine. Guys!!!! I saw the gift of tongues man!!!. I will be honest I struggle to speak Spanish. I do everything possible to better my Spanish, but it's a lot of work, and I am not super talented with it.  BUT, I was able to speak my thoughts clearly to the family and I didn't use words that were crazy or new. The experience was not magical. My mind was cleared, and I was able to think clearly about the problems this family had and about the words I needed to use to communicate the message I needed to communicate. We continued to talk  afterwords, and in the end everyone had tears in their eyes due to the spirit that was present. In the end the oldest son told us with conviction that he was going to get baptized with his mom. I won't forget that experience and I am very grateful for the divine help I received so that we could help this family.

So, our investigators have a well by their house but there is no water in the well. The family throws garbage into the well and when they do that smoke erupts from it. It turns out the well is surrounded by lava but is not directly exposed to it  and gets super hot inside. The family told us that during the civil war here in Nicaragua people threw bodies and dead animals into the well to burn them.

Also my comp and I got pretty sick this week. When we were talking with some less actives I felt the urge to puke. After a couple minutes of pacing back and forth in the street I let loose.

Post Sick Pic

The members gave me some Alca Seltzer with lime and we headed back to the house. The next morning I pounded a bunch of Powerade to flush out my system. We thought it was because of the large amount of rice and beans we've been eating.  MY COMPANION AND I HAVE SKIPPED LUNCH FOR THE PAST 4 DAYS BECAUSE OUR BODIES CAN'T TAKE IT!!!!  It's all chill though, we are back on the pulperia diet of Ritz crackers, Oreos, and bread.

This next photo is our area and a pulperia.  We buy snacks and drinks at the pulperia.  We don't have things to cook with.  No worries, we don't get sick that often. Pretty much everyday is like we are camping.  Oh my gosh I miss your cooking so bad, the other day I smelled pancakes and I almost died!! We do have a new lunch cita though, and she's great.

You asked for a photo of a banana tree.

Got to go, 
Love You

This is one of our investigators. We found her while we were contacting.  She is planning to get baptized on the 22nd with her 3 kids.  She makes some dope quesillos, and we found her in Leon selling them!!!!  I'm totally making them when I get back to the states.  Quesillos are tortillas with mozzarella cheese and a salad of onions and cream!!! dope guys!!! 

So we were working and we contacted this dude on a cart and he let us go to his house, but he lived far away so he took us in his wagon.  We hoped off because it was way out in the middle of no where but it was kinda cool.

So, we are preparing some families for baptism and we took them all to church in moto taxis.  That was fun.  

Not much to say this week guys.  We powered through another week, and we've got a few families that are preparing for baptism on the 22nd. Alright, so we've got Felipe, Marjori, Maria Lourdes, Maragarita and all the kids.  Felipe is getting married to Margarita after 10 years.  Maria and Marjori are getting married to Pedro and Pedro.  They couldn't make it to church, but we are praying desperately they go next week so everyone can get baptized.

Two of the Cutest Kids 

Elder Lopez and I are praying that on Wednesday we don't have changes, but if we need to go we will go.   More than anything we have been solving problems with the families. The moment they accepted a baptismal GOAL A TON OF PROBLEMS JUST RAINED DOWN, BUT IT'S ALL GOOD THEY ARE GOING TO CHURCH AND reading the stuff we give them to read. We tried something new this week teaching wise. Our mission president has told us that people do not understand everything really well the first time. We decided to teach the restoration, especially the part about Joseph Smith and the authority of God restored to the earth. It was awesome, the families understood almost everything including the Book of Mormon. That's all for this week guys love you guys!!!!!

Helping by unloading a truck load of beans, rice, and oatmeal.

What's up Guys?  Elder Lopez and I killed it this week. Throughout the week we worked with the family of Santa Maria. Santa Maria is not a member but his wife is. We taught his three kids, and their grandpa, Hermano Mariano baptized them on Saturday.

  Hermano Santa Maria has told us that he will get baptized later. Right now he is easing his way off cigarretes. Everyone wants to wait to act, and salvation can't wait, so  we will try to put a baptismal date with him this week. On Tuesday we had inter changes with the elders from Momotombo. Elder Gibbs and I went to Momotombo, while Elder Spence stayed in La Paz Centro with my companion Elder Lopez. Momotombo was awesome.

There area is flat, has a lot of sand, is hot, and had a giant volcano. We took some killer pics by the volcano.

After a lesson, we passed by an iguana vendor. He had 3 fairly big iguanas ready to be sold. We bought the biggest one for 80 cordobas, and took it to a friend's house to cook it for us. Oh man!!!!!!!!!!!! Iguana is so dope guys!!!!! On Wednesday, Lopez and I were walking back from a members house when we found a boa crawling a cross the road!!! Super dope!!!!. Other than that not much else happened.
I'll see you guys next week !!!!!!

July 13th

This is my new comp Elder Lopez. He is from Honduras and he has one change more than me, so we are figuring things out together.  It rained on Wednesday so we busted out the jackets, Frog Togs are dope for hot weather but not with this kind of rain.  I don't have a ton of time this week but I'll fit in as much as I can. This week Elder Lopez and I worked a ton!!!! Unfortunately, before changes all the investigators in the Paz fell, including all the baptismal dates. Elder Lopez had high goals, and I am working on setting high goals so we went to work finding. Everyday we contacted 10 or 15 people while teaching less actives and recent converts. Tuesday, we found an older man and committed him to baptism in the contact. He is cool but we don't think he will last, he mostly just nods and says yes. Through members, we found the family of Santa Maria. Santa Maria is not a member, but his wife is a less active and their kids are not members either. We have worked a lot with them this week, and right now their three kids are preparing for baptism.  The father needs a little more time to get things in order, but he wants to get baptized. 

One of the recent converts of Elder Lopez lives on a farm way off in the distance, so we we walked there through mud puddles and forests.  It was cool, and it reminded me of the Lost World!!! We went there with mission leader, his name is Hermano Abel.  We also found an older lady who has stopped attending churches because she is confused by all the different doctrines. With the message of the restoration, we feel like she will progress, she only needs to go to church. On Saturday, Elder Lopez and I fasted to bring people to church, find people, and commit people to baptism. On Saturday we committed the family of Santa Maria to baptism, and on Sunday we brought 4 investigators to church, and the members brought 3 investigators to church for us.

We ate lunch at a members house on Sunday.  We ate beans with cream eggs and tortilla,  and then afterwords we ate some mango with salt and lime it was so dope!!!!!!
This week we plan work closely with the members. This week we also had the opportunity to work with members from the stake who are return missionaries, they were really cool. I worked with Hermano Pablo. We found some awesome people.

In the center of Leon there is a big cathedral, I think its the biggest in Nicaragua, but the lion is outside the cathedral, right by it there is a place called jugoso and they sell batidos.  They are so good oh my man!!! a lil expensive but dope !!!!

 I got a sick Nica bag for cheap!!! The pic with me and the bag is my area,  Most of it is paved with stone, but other parts are dirt and dust.     It's really windy here so its super fresh !!

These are the kids of our lunch ceta. She cooks lunch for us. They love to play Subwaysurfers like Hayden and Alex. Our lunch ceta is nice, She cooks a lot of rice though.... when I started I didn't mind, but now I'm hating rice. We eat it every single day.  We also eat a lot of dope juices made out of fresh exotic fruit   In the night we ate at a Fritanga...a vender of fried food. We all ate fat plates of chicken and fried platanos. It was super dope with a lil bit of coke!!!!!!!!!!!





To finish off the week we ate steak in Leon with Elder Dessauer and his comp Elder Torres!!!!!!!!! Oh man it was dope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steak in Leon

The big volcano is Momtombo, there are a ton of volcanoes in Nicaragua!!!!

Love you guys!!!!!!!!!!

Question:  Did you get your birthday package yet?

Answer:  Thanks mom, and no I have not.  We get packages every two or three weeks!! Honestly though I don't need a ton of packages it's pretty expensive.  I only really need photos!!!! but thank you so much the packages are dope I just don't want to cost you guys a ton of money!!!