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.