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