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!!! 

July 6th La Paz Centro

What is up guys!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't have a ton to say this week. Elder Dunford and I finished our change strong. We filled our area with fechas. Unfortunately, we had changes and I left for Leon. I am in La paz Centro with Elder Lopez. I am excited though. He is from El Salvador and we are going to kill it this change. He has already started helping me with my Spanish.

He has been out for 7 months and Leon is just as hot. But, where I am at is pretty fresh because there is a lot of wind.  My old companion is going to train and the rest of my amigos are going to stay in Chinandega.

I have big hopes for this change. I plan to kick all the fears I had before and start fresh. For my birthday Dunford and I bought ice cream and peanut butter with raptors!!!!! Oh man it was perfect, and on top of all of that, in our lunch seta's house the family was watching the perfect storm......

Birthday Meal

We might have glanced a few times. Oh man it was a great week. Sorry I don't have much for you guys this week.  I think you're the best Hayden!!! And Alex too oh my gosh I miss you two guys so much man!!! I will keep you guys better informed this week love you!!!!!!!!!!!

Soup with Little Crabs

No Birthday Package Yet
Comment:  We got a Jurassic World photo from the theatre and we will be sending it tomorrow.
Response:   Holy cow no way!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh man!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh I'm so pumped thank you so much!!!!!!!!

Question:  Did you get the video we sent for your birthday? (I made a 32 second video and sent it with his email letter this week.  It had photos of friends and members in out ward.)
Answer:  Oh my gosh that was so dope!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh wow thank you so much I love it all.  The pics were perfect thank you so much for putting that together for me.  Mom you did a killer job on the video it was so awesome and the music was perfect thank you so much.

GTG mom much ruv have  a killer week !!!

June 29th La Florida

OH MAN!!!! This week was fantastic, though it started off a lil rough. Monday we taught a fresh set of investigators. They had a beautiful family of 4 and loved our message, but when we invited them to church  They told us it was the most important thing in the world to put in a latrine and they only had time Sunday. I said "its fine we understand". Later on my companion and I were talking, and we realized that we should be more direct and determined with the people we are teaching. El dia de reposo is a commandment of God and putting in a latrine could be postponed for 3 hours. After that we started rocking again. We found a lot of awesome people and placed 4 or 5 baptismal goals for people. The truth is, most will give up, but the dedicated will stay and that's what we want. Dunford has taught me that to baptize you need to find, and to find you need to work with members and contact people. This week we helped three people get baptized. The first person was 13 years old,and his name is Manuel. His parents are of 2 different religions, but we met him 3 or 4 weeks ago and he told us that he wanted to be a mormon and go on a mission. We had full support from his family. They even woke him up for church for us. We have had some great times with Manuel. The second `person is named Milton. He is a little older than Manuel, about 17 years old, but they are both much taller than Dunford and I. Both his parents live in Spain and his sister takes care of his 5 brothers. He spends most of his time with the family next door who are members. This family is the family of Bethxi our recent convert.

Milton does not talk much but he has plenty of support from the family of Bethxi and Walter the recent convert of Dunford and Spencer. Our third person is named Daynerzi. She is part of the extended family of Bethxi. We had a great amount of support from the family and we are working to reactivate parts of the family as well. Now with the crazy stuff this week. We had divisions Tuesday. I stayed in the area with Elder Gustafson from El Realejo. Elder Gustafson is the man. His teaching skills are very very good. He taught about the book of mormon with one of the families we are teaching, and it was the best speech i have ever heard. He included the family, used examples, and by the end I could see that the family could understand and feel the spirit. Later on in the week we met with a very rich, very friendly man, who lives in our area. His name is ___ and I have never spoken with him sober. The first time I met him he was wearing cowboy boots and being followed by  his servant. He brought him beer and followed in one of ___'s taxi.  _____ always gives us a big hug and likes to snuggle with my face, he also buys us juice Gatorade and snacks. I really don't believe we will baptize him but I think he would be the best convert ever!!! He reminds me of a Nicaraguan Doc Holiday. Anyway thats it for this week.
Love you guys!!!!!

Question:  Did you get your birthday package?
I did not get the package yet, but thank you in advance.

Question:  How was the birthday video we sent?
Hey mom thank you so much for making that video I loved it!!!! I like the grandpa pic when he pretended to be me!!!  Any kind of picture is amazing and thank you for the spiritual note you gave me!!!!!

Question:  Did you get the camping shower in your last package?
Yeah I got the camping shower. We will try it out this week. Elder Dunford will kill for a warm shower.  I don"t need a birthday present, the best thing you could do is send me photos.  That's all I really need. The truth is you guys are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!! For my birthday our lunch ceta will make a cake!!!