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.