A Simple Wedding and Baptism Saved by the Holy Ghost

First was the wedding....

Well, everything this week turned out pretty good! The best news is that we had the wedding and the baptisms last Saturday!!! The family was sooo happy, but it wasn't all smooth sailing. In fact, we actually had a scare on Friday when went to visit them and found they had been fighting. So we reminded them about the importance of families and the temple and they talked about their daughter that had passed away a few years ago. Then they felt the Holy Ghost touch their hearts, and they got humble and made up with each other. Once the Holy Ghost was there, then they were back on track and super excited again!!!!

The rest of the week was actually fairly normal with most of our time spent looking for people to teach. We have been struggling to find more people to teach, but the investigators we do have are doing pretty well. So the past few weeks, we have been working with this guy named F. We first contacted him about 3 weeks ago, and initially, he was not very positive at all. He told us that he visited the LDS Church when he was younger, but he claimed that the LDS leaders wanted to send him off to Honduras...not sure what he means by that. He also explained that he's very Catholic and wants to die Catholic. However, we were able to convince him to come to General Conference with us, and then he completely changed and was super excited about apostles and prophets. Since that time, he has been reading in the Book of Mormon, and he even passed a baptismal interview, but then yesterday morning, for some reason he didn't want to come to church and he said he doesn't want to get baptized anymore. So we have a visit scheduled with him on Wednesday, so hopefully we can help him with his concerns and help him re-commit to getting baptized.

Then they were able to be baptized. What an awesome family!

In fact, yesterday, almost nobody would come to church with us, so we are working extra hard this next week to bring more people. Still, the new family we baptized last Saturday have been awesome, coming to church, and they love making us shakes (and we love eating them). This next Saturday, we have another Multi-Mission Conference and a Church Historian is coming, We are not sure what he's gonna talk about, but I hope it's something cool. Plus, here in Nicaragua, they will be celebrating Halloween this coming Friday, so it's going to be a crazy day and the streets get really full with people dressed up in costumes just walking around (there's no candy here, sadly).

Cambios are not this week, but next, and we all think my companion is gonna have changes and I will get a new companion. Otherwise, our district has been the top district in the zone, and the Masaya Zone is one of the hardest in the whole mission!!!! So me and my companion are doing well and all healthy now. In fact, lots of people have been giving us food lately.With 1 year under my belt, I feel like I know a lot more what I am doing and I don't miss home nearly as much as when I first came out. According to some of the other missionaries, they say the time starts going by crazy fast during your second year out, so I'm trying to work hard and make the most of it. Anyways, that's about it for this week. Thanks to everyone back home for all the emails and updates! Have a great week!

Multi-Zone (Spiritual) Machete and a Baptism

This past week we had the baptism of the girl we have been working with and now she is officially a member of the church with the rest of her family. The baptismal service went well, and afterward, we ordered pizza to celebrate! She wants to go on a mission of her own when she gets a little older, so it turned out pretty cool.

After the baptism on Saturday, we had a pizza
delivered to the house to celebrate with the family.

Next week, we have another baptism scheduled with the family I was telling you about the last few weeks, which should be awesome! They came to General Conference and then to church yesterday, and they are super excited to be baptized and have loved coming to church. We are also going to have their wedding the same day before the baptism, and we are still working on all the paperwork for that, but it should all be good for Saturday. This family also has an in-home "smoothie shop" and they make us smoothies every time we visit, which are so delicious! Anyway, we are support excited for the baptism, plus the Zone Leaders have a cool guy, and the Hermanas also have a family scheduled for baptism this Saturday, so we will be doing them all together at the same service and we are planning to buy two giant cakes from the Costco-owned store here to celebrate.

We also had a few new people come with us to church yesterday, but we are struggling to find many new people. This area in Masaya is more difficult than Bluefields or Trinidad Ciudad, and the Catholic holidays aren't helping, but hey, we're seeing the Lord's blessings with some people ready for baptism! A new bishop was also called in our ward here yesterday, and he is going to be a great help!

Also this past week, we had our Multi-Zone Conference last Thursday. President Russell gave a really good talk from the book, "The Fourth Missionary," and told us how to be a consecrated missionary. It was basically a machete for everyone, but I liked it a lot. We all got copies of the book to take home with us, and then after 5 hours of classes and training, we got to play some games! They were a bunch of different "Minute-to-Win-It" types of games that were a lot of fun, and then we finally got back to our apartment around 8:00 that night.

Just glad he wasn't hiding inside my shoe....

One other thing we received at the Multi-Zone was a bunch of bug spray and repellent. This chemical spray came from the States and when we got home, we used it to fumigate our apartment so now hopefully the tarantulas and cockroaches shouldn't get to us anymore :). Out apartment is a little small, but honestly it is not all that bad and I kind of like it, especially with fewer bugs and spiders. Me and my comp, Elder Nolasco, are both doing good and getting along really well. I have had a nagging cold for about three weeks now, but I think it is finally starting to go away. Well, glad to hear everyone at home is well. That's about it for this week as I am about out of time.

The Masaya Zone riding on the bus coming back from the Multi-Zone Conference.

Conference Weekend, Bow, and Pupusas

In the jungle, the mighty jungle... this thick jungle drop-off is the backyard of one of our investigators.

Often it will rain so hard here that the streets turn into rivers.

This is called "bow," or at least that is how you pronounce it.
It is a plate of yuka and plantains cooked for a few hours in
a crockpot. It wasn't too bad.

With General Conference this weekend, our mission president wouldn't let us attend more than one of the sessions unless we brought at least 4 investigators with us, and well, our Conference weekend... was a success! We got to watch 3 of the 4 sessions, as well as the Priesthood Session on Saturday night. We were able to bring at least 4 investigators to the Saturday morning session, as well as both sessions on Sunday. However, we didn't get to just sit and enjoy the talks because we were busy giving up our seats to our investigators or other members, and we kept leaving to go get more people or help usher and all sorts of stuff... but I was able to listen to some of the talks. I really enjoyed the ones I got to listen to. Of course, they were all in Spanish and I was able to understand 100% of them without any problem, but I have realized that it is more difficult for me to actually remember the talks as well when I hear them in Spanish. I did happen to notice President Monson struggling a little bit during the end of his talk, and I really liked Elder Bednar's talk at the very end where he talked about the last few Apostles who passed away, showing their pictures and sharing parts of their last Conference talks. Overall, I enjoyed Conference a lot, but it was still rather stressful!

I know it's Catholic, but it's pretty dang cool looking:
La Iglesia San Sebastian, Monimbo Barrio, Masaya.

This past week was difficult because they held Catholic Festivals pretty much every day, with a new saint and new parades each day, as well as lots of beer and craziness. So trying to contact people was rough because it seemed like nobody was really interested in our message. Otherwise, it was just a normal week in our area, just trying to work around all the parties and festivals, which makes it stressful to try and get our goals for the week.

A pretty view of Laguna Catarina today.

This next Saturday we will be having a baptismal service along with the Hermanas in our ward (our area is half the ward, and the Hermanas have the other half). We will be baptizing a Young Woman who is part of a family of active members, but she hasn't been baptized yet. The Hermanas also have a few investigators planning to be baptized. Also this next week we will be having a multi-zone conference on Thursday, so I will get to see some of my friends from other zones.

Today for P-Day, we went with the Zone Leaders to Catarina Laguna, which I also visited when I was here in Masaya last year. Afterwards, we went to a place that serves pupusas, which is an El Salvadorean food, in honor of my companion's heritage.

P-Day pupusas.

Last, I had an experience this past week where I actually used the scripture my family is studying this next week. The Hermanas were struggling with a family that is committed to be baptized soon, but they have had some problems and the Hermanas asked me to come and try to help them. The father of the family was having some issues, but I urged him to realize that their family needs to have a firm foundation, with him leading the way. I used Helaman 5:12 as the base of my message to them, and we also read from the "Family: A Proclamation to the World." After we visited, the family decided to continue working with the Hermanas and strengthen their family, so it is cool that this was the same scripture my family picked for this week.

Mission buddies -- we all met up and took this pic while we were on divisions with the Zone Leaders.

Deja Vu and Eclipse de la Luna

This is P., the newest Young Woman in the Barrio Monimbo,
along with Elder Nolasco and me.

This past week was good. We had a baptism and brought a new family to church for the first time! In fact, every area in my district had baptisms this past week, and President told me he's happy with our progress and he told me that I am doing a great job here in Monimbo.

Kind of like Deja Vu all over again -- August 2015.

We looked super hard this past week for some new investigators. We found quite a few, but a lot of them dropped out on Sunday. This time of the year is pretty difficult in the areas with a lot of Catholics. However, we did find a new family that is really cool. They are the familia Jimenez and they are planning to get married and baptized in October. What touched them the most as we were teaching them was the Plan of Salvation because their first daughter died in childbirth, and they were crying as they talked about her. They even came to church Sunday by themselves, which is always a really good sign.

November 2014.

Today for P-Day, we played more soccer in the morning with some of  our Zone. My trainer, Elder Castro, even showed up. He is living here in Masaya now at the home of our lunch citas, so I will be seeing quite a bit of him again.

This next week we don't have any baptisms scheduled, but we do have a few planned for October 10th! Besides, it is General Conference this weekend, and I can't wait to find out who will be called as the 3 new Apostles. However, just like last year, we have to bring 4 investigators with us to be able to attend each session, or else we can't attend, so we will be working extra hard to get people to come with us.

Time is going kind of fast here in my new district and it is hard to believe I have already been here 2 weeks! It is a little bit different having Hermanas in my district (there are 3 Hermanas). I have to remember to be sensitive with them and stuff, but these Hermanas in my district are super obedient. They just baptized 4 people last Saturday, and then they have 5 or 6 more scheduled for October 10th! These Hermanas are almost done with their missions, so I have to make sure they don't get "frito" as they say here in Nicaragua. Still, these Hermanas are pretty cool and a lot of fun.

A view from Nicaragua of the lunar eclipse last night.

I heard from Elder Rushton that last Saturday they baptized another one of my old investigators back in Bluefields. This lady was so awesome, and she cried when I left Bluefields... it would have been so neat to see her get baptized. She is going to be a really active, incredibly strong member of the church.

We did get a chance to see the lunar eclipse last night as well. It was pretty cool. Also, I can't believe how tall my little brother is looking in the pictures from home, but on the other hand, I am pretty sure I have grown a little bit also because I had to have a lady in our ward extend my suit pants a little longer this past week. Thanks again to everyone for your emails and letters. They mean a lot to me!

The Zona Masaya -- lots of familiar faces, including my brother, Elder Sanchez on the far left,
who trained with me in Masaya at the start of our missions.

Adios, Bluefields -- Back to Masaya!

Back to Masaya, Nicaragua, but this time in Monimbo.

Pics of my new apartment

Our bathroom....

So this past week was cambios, and sure enough, I was transferred from Bluefields and now I am back in Masaya again, which is the zone where I first started my mission. This time I am in an area called Monimbo, which is the neighbor area next to the Zone Leader's area (which was my first area). As a result, I already know a ton of ward members, and it is still the same lunch cita and the same lady that helps with our laundry. I got to know a lot of this zone last time I was here because I was always going out on splits with the Zone Leaders, and I even already slept in this apartment once before! One other good thing is that Masaya is not as hot and muggy as Bluefields, so I am not sweating nearly as much (it is still really hot, though).

My new companion is named Elder Nolasco and he is from El Salvador. He started his mission the same time I did and he even trained in the Masaya Zone like I did, but in a different area. So Elder Nolasco has been in a little trouble in the past with the Mission President, but it's not really been his fault as his senior companions have not been the most motivated to work. So President Russell told me at cambios that I need to help shape him up!

Our study area....

I am still a district leader here, and our district consists of the Zone Leaders and their companions, my area, and then another area with a trio of sisters. Both of the Zone Leaders are super cool, and one of them, Elder Kleiner, was one of my Zone Leaders when I was in Sandino, so its gonna be a blast! Also, Elder Salmeron, who was my last companion in Sandino, is a companion of one of the Zone Leaders here, so I am his district leader and I am always around him again.

There are lots of Catholics here in Masaya and it seems
like they are always having these parades or processionals.

Another thing that President Russell told me at cambios is that he knows that the problems our district was having in Bluefields weren't really me and Elder Rushton's fault, but being the district leader there was a learning process for me to grow. So now he told me to tear it up in Masaya also and I'm feeling a lot better about the whole transfer now. Yesterday, a new stake presidency was called here in Masaya, and now some of the wards are temporarily without a bishop, including the ward I am in, so President Russell was telling be that he will be coming to Masaya quite a bit the next several weeks to train the new leadership.

Let me tell you, that last panga ride leaving Bluefields last week was a looong and sad ride. Elder Rushton told me that he and my replacement, Elder Bradbeer, did baptize 5 of my old investigators last Saturday in Bluefields, and they have one more of my investigators scheduled for baptism next week, and they brought 14 of my old investigators to church yesterday in Bluefields! The area is still progressing great out there and I am a little sad to not be in Bluefields. Masaya is quite a bit more difficult... the land of the Catholics... and it is a little more difficult to baptize here. When I arrived in my new area last week, we only have 3 little kids that are progressing and will be baptized shortly (hopefully 1 this next Saturday), but Nolasco and I will work hard to find some adults and families to start teaching! My new comp really seems to have the desire to work hard so far, so we are already off to a strong start here.

Caballos, ha ha, giddy up!

Goodbye, Bluefields :(

G. is a 15-year-old, future missionary who returned to Bluefields and was baptized this past week.

Well, unfortunately, I just got the news that I will be transferring this next week for cambios. I'm pretty disappointed and it's all I can think about right now, so I'm having a hard time writing this email. We had as many as 6 baptisms scheduled for last Saturday, but only 1 of them happened. He is a teenager named G. who Elder Passey and I had taught, but he left Bluefields for about 1 month and then came back last week. He is really cool and has a lot of friends with the Young Men in the branch, and he is even talking about serving a mission. 

A cool pic of a rain shower moving into the bay.

Unfortunately, we had to postpone the other 5 baptisms thanks to coffee! So we have to keep working with those investigators and we had to postpone their baptism. Plus, we got word that another guy we were teaching about 2 months ago is returning to Bluefields this week and wants to get baptized next Saturday, but it looks like I won't be here now. We also had a bunch of investigators in church yesterday, and we have some really cool investigators progressing and saying they want to get baptized the end of September and first of October, but again, I won't be here to see it happen.

This is a picture of one of the little, red worms in our drinking water.
We found tons of them in the well and cleaned them all out, but not after
Elder Rushton got sick.

My parents read my companion's blog from last week and he talked about getting sick. We discovered some little, red worms in our drinking water, and he had been sick all week last week. We went to the landlord, and she had her cousin come and help us drain the water well and then clean it out as much as we could. The water is still pretty disgusting in general, but at least the little red bugs are gone. I have been drinking the water the whole I time I have been here and, fortunately, I haven't been sick at all. Elder Rushton also mentioned that he had bed bugs, and yes, I had them also, but I didn't want to say anything so that my Mom would be worried. Those are also gone now, but I will be leaving tomorrow for cambios anyway.

So I finally got the rest of my birthday presents last week when we went to Managua for interviews with our mission president. I can't say my interview went very well because even though Elder Rushton and I have been working hard and keeping the mission rules, he wasn't happy with a few things, like keeping our area book up to date. So kind of a bummer this week. I guess I will let you know next week where I end up and who my new companion will be.

We finally got to try turtle rondon and it was pretty good.

Loma Fresca, Bluefields

This is a cool lake we found in our area.

We worked hard all week this past week and were able to bring 11 investigators to church yesterday. We are hoping to have as many as 6 baptisms this next week. Two of our investigators are returning to Bluefields and we were able to confirm that they will be back. The other four are references of children from less-active families. When the branch asks us to find and teach these kids and their parents, and work to get them coming to church again and the kids to be baptized, we are more than happy to oblige!

Up in the mountains of Loma Fresca, Bluefields

So kind of a short email today because we have to leave in about 90 minutes on a panga headed for Juigalpa. We have interviews with President Russell tomorrow there. Normally he doesn't pull us out of Bluefields but normally just visits every few months, and he is coming in October, but we got called in....

Loma Fresca is located in the other half of our district.
We went on divisions this past week and went up there.
It's basically hiking around looking for shacks in the jungle
on top of the hill like this one.

Other news is that after we finish our emails today, we will be eating lunch with a family in the branch who is going to fix us a typical Bluefields meal called "rondon," and this kind is going to be made with turtle! I'll take some pics and let you know next week how it tastes, but I am super excited to try it! Anyways, sorry for the short email, but we're pushed for time.