October 24th Chinandega

Hey everybody,

We had another week full of miracles. The truth is, to see the miracles you gotta look.   You can't just expect them to come and wait and wait and wait. You gotta search under every rock and look in every crevice. This week, we had a great miracle with Hermana Magda and her sister. They have gone to church a bunch of times and they are reading what we give them, but they are full of doubts. When it comes to the worldy things, everything is a sign to them, but when it comes to spiritual stuff it's difficult. BUT, we made a break through people!!!!! This week we sat Magda down and we talked straight up without jokes about The Book of Mormon. She understood,  still had doubts, but it helped us a lot not to have her sister to make jokes and distract the lesson. Then, on Saturday we took them both to a baptism.  Both Elder Mendez and I were praying so that they would feel the spirt. At the end of everything they were both crying because they felt the spirit so strongly. They said that they wanted their whole family to have this experince. We helped them understand that they had to take the step of baptism for their childeren to follow and they understood.  Now they have plans and goals to get baptized. This is something that we have never ever had before with them!!! 
Love you guys............. look for the miracles

October 17th Chinandega

Whats up guys!!!!!! 

To be honest I've been pretty dang trunky lately  Thanks to the advice from a ton of people, the only way to get rid of the trunkiness is to get rid of it by working hard. This week we did that, Elder Mendez and I are working hard trying to get excellent numbers which allows us to get the most out of the area and find all the people here who are ready to get baptized.

On Wednesday, we had the awesome opportunity to do divisions with the other Elders of Acome, Elder Bassett and Amador. It was awesome and we had a ton of success that day. We found a ton of families and taught some super awesome lessons. One of the families we have is Karla and her 2 sons. Ever since we invited them to pray about the Book of Mormon and Jospeh Smith they have been super set and super firm.  A lot of people say they pray and don't.  When people go to church without us having to pass by them or help them until they go, and when they read extra and respond super awesome, man it just feels great. Karla is getting baptized in November!!!! This will be the first family in Acome!!!!

October 10th Chinandega Oste

Well my friends this week was a toughie, 
On Tuesday, I got a pretty bad case of gastritis. This caused my stomach to inflate immensely and I spent the rest of the week walking around like a frog. I couldn't eat or drink anything and I was super weak. I was super sick and managed to work thanks to the help of my companion Elder Mendez!!! The truth is I was just trying to survive this week, and in the end, for working hard, the Lord helped us be in the top 15 of the mission!!!!!!!! BUT, we worked no worries. I didn't work hard, but I worked. Elder Mendez helped me out a ton.

On Friday, everything cleared up for the baptism of Ceasar the monkey!!!: Just kidding guys, but our young dude that got baptized is named Ceasar and he's a pretty interesting guy. He's very animated and he learns fast. He invites all his friends to family home evening and mutual. The truth is it was a super easy process. At the end of the week, half our zone managed to get on the list of the 15 hardest workers in the mission. I'd like to give a nice big shout out to Elder Ward and Elder Fordham, Vega, Gustafson, Hermanas Baquedano and Swanson. Elder Mendez and I made it on there as well. It feels great to be doing our job well but we need to do it a whole lot better, and the Lord will help us out love you guys!!!

October 3rd Chinandega

Well guys,
Another week has come to an end. This week we managed to climb even more as a zone, everyone seems to be more energized and excited. Elder Fordham and Ward had the great opportunity to baptize and the guy was super awesome.

Hermana Swanson and Baquedano also baptized, like always, they are an awesome companionship. Elder Vazquez and Cedeño always kill it during the week. But the zone is doing awesome, and Elder Mendez and as well.  Before this change, I was pretty disanimated and I didn't really believe that we could have success here, but we managed to find some awesome people and families. They're doing really well. One of them is named Maragarita. Her husband is a member and they have wanted to get married forever but haven't been able to make it happen.  BUT......... this week she had a lot of doubts about prophets and Joseph Smith and we invited her to really read the Book of Mormon and really pray about it with all her heart, AND guess what guys, SHE DID IT  and she received her answer. When we asked her about it she told us with sureness that she knew it was true. So guys......... I invite you all to do it, if you have not done it yet, do it now its super easy. If you have done it, why not do it again to solidify your testimonies. I love you all so much keep doing great and keep being happy guys.

This next part is from the letter he sends to our family.  We make sure he can help others in a small way, when the need arrises, and it did this week.

Hey guys thank you for all writing it makes me feel super happy, sorry about the funds, a family needed some help thank you for keeping me supported.  AS A ZONE WE DID awesome this week. The whole zone went to the stake center and we watched conference with the rest of the stake. It was really fun and a good bonding experience. I love you guys a ton!!!

September 26th Chinandega

Well,

My good old friends, another week has passed, and the zone is rocking it.  As a zone, we have seen some major changes.   I'd like to give a shout out to Hermana Gailbrath (gaby) Rivas Coelllo, Elwoood , Baquedano, Swanson, and the Elders Vazques, Sevillla, Cedeño, Ward, Fordham, Carico, Bassett, Mendez, Vega, and Gustafson. We are united and working super hard, every one of us.  Right now, when everything turns out, we are going to destroy the month of October. I'm feeling good.  I'm feeling pumped, and it's all thanks to working hard.  If we don't work, we won't have the spirit, and if we don't have the spirit we won't be able to throw fire so well. BUT WE ARE DOING IT GUYS WAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the stake leaders meeting, the whole zone showed up, we were animated and pumped.  We strutted our stuff, presented our plan, and teamed up with the stake, to rock the work this month!!!!
In a letter just to me, this is what he said about the stake leaders meeting........ I was nervous but the spirit helped me to say just what I felt impressed to say.

September 19th Chinandega Elder Mendez

This week was pretty good, so I'm sure all of us have had our times where we get used to doing the same things over and over again and over time we just get kind of lazy.  Then there comes a moment where we do a bunch of exercises, it kills our lungs, body, and everything. I know we have all experienced that before, that's basically what happened this week, but I'm talking about missionary work. NOW HOLD ON, I haven't been super lazy but I will admit I have lost the love for working and when my new companion Elder Mendez came I was struggling to keep up. Elder Mendez is a fire spitting animal and he's helping me get back to working super hard. The best part of the week was when we did a competition as a mission to see how many fechas and baptisimal invites we could do in one day.  Our zone got second place with 47 fechas put in one day!!!!!! Elder Mendez and I invited 100 people to get baptized.  It may seem easy, but on average we ask around 15 people to get baptized daily, so it was a big jump. THIS WEEK WE ALSO had a competition between districts. At the end of the week, the district with the most fechas had to invite the other district to Chinese foood. Our district lost, but we managed to see a ton of the missionaries get super animated and start working super hard. This is something i havent seen in them for a very long time. I am very thankful for Elder Mendez, as he is helping me a lot, and helping our zone a lot. I know that this week we are going to work extra hard and we're are going to do even better, we were only warming up this week don't worry guys!!!!

Questions for the week:
How are your converts and investigators doing?
Think of things you would show us or share with us if we were there.

How has your testimony grown, or where have you seen the Lord's hand in the things you are trying to accomplish.

The investigators are doing great and the recent converts as well. It's awesome here, if you bring members to the lessons, the people get baptized much faster, and they go to church by themselves before and after the baptism, it's pretty awesome!!! If you guys were here I would take you to the familia Mungia and hang out with them.  Then I would take YOU GUYS TO EAT PUPUSAS!!!!!   This week I have seen the Lords hand with my companion, before Elder Mendez came I was super disanimated and super tired, but Elder Mendez came FULL OF ENERGYand ready to work.  We worked super hard this week and kicked but as a companionship and as a zone.  I am so thankful for Elder Mendez.  He is definitely a blessing from God!!!

September 12th Chinandega

Hey guys, This week went  very well, we managed to have a miracle. One of the people we have been teaching got baptized but!!! you gotta hear the story. So, two weeks ago she set the goal to get baptized, but days later her little son died tragically. We lost her for an entire week. We looked and looked but could not find her. It was a very difficult time for all of us.  On Wednesday of this week, we finally found her. We could tell she was not doing well. We talked with her for a while, and tried to help her. She told us that more than anything she was confused and didn't not know what was going to happen to her son. We explained that her son would go to the spirit world to rest and learn about the gospel so that he could accept the help of the savior. She understood, but we felt that it was not enough. We felt the need to teach her about the Holy Ghost, and about how it is a comforter and a source of support that is constant. This time she understood and we could see that the spirit touched her heart. We asked if she wanted to follow through with her goal in order to receive the Holy Ghost, and without doubt she said yes!!!! It was an awesome experience and truly was a miracle.  I love sharing the gospel!