May 17

Hey family!!!

I love you guys, and it was cool to get to see you last week on Skype. I was super grateful to get to talk to you and see that things are not all that different. The power was out here in Chinandega for almost all day yesterday, so i have not gotten to write you till today...

Things have been pretty awesome this week. I am loving this change! We had baptisms this week and have even more for this next week! Which is including two families that we have been teaching for what seems has been forever. Raining season is also starting to get us pretty hard! It is starting to rain a ton. Like for an hour or so every day. I have been trying to decided what i am going to do to protect my stuff from the rain, and i think i have decided i will buy a bag from Guatemala that is waterproof. A lot of missionaries have done this, including my comp elder Burgener. The Chinandega West Stake is taking a trip to the temple in Guatemala this next week, so i gave one of the members money to buy one of the bags in the store right next to the temple.

Out of all the experiences i have had, the best has definitely been the story of a man we met this last week. About 5 years ago, Isias was baptized and pretty firm in the church when he was about 16 years. He actually would go on splits with missionaries some days and help out members. But as he started to work, get a girlfriend, and other things, he started to fall away from the church. He moved away to live with his family and two kids, and kinda forgot about the church. About 2 years ago, his grandfather died, who was not a member but always had a big influence on the life of isias. About a week ago, Isias had a dream with his grandfather in it. His grandfather told him that he needed to rejoin himself with the mormon church! He said where he was at (spirit prison) was not where he wanted to be. He wanted out, and the only way they could see each other after this life was if Isias came back to church and did the ordinances for his grandfather. He also said, ¨not to worry, because the missionaries will be with him the next day!¨ Isias was pretty confused, first of all because his grandfather was not a member of the mormon church and also because he did not know how he could do the ordinances for his grandfather (he only had a year in church before we fell away). He told the story to his family, and his wife had no clue what it ment, and his evangelist mother said its not possible!

But sure enough, later that day, I was walking home from an appointment in Chinandega when all the sudden a man on his bike slams on the brakes and stares at us as my companion and i walk by. I will admit, it was kinda awkward because we had eye contact for a while as we passed by. I thought he was just looking at us because we were gringos... but after we passed by he finally ran up to us to talk to us. He said something like ÿou dont know who i am, but i am isias escoto, and i had a dream i would run into you today¨... As i heard his story, I quickly felt compassion for him. He really did have the humble heart and contrite spirit the scriptures always talk about. It has been awesome to get to know him and his family. We have gotten to reteach him, and also teach his wife. His is getting married to his wife this next week and the wife is getting baptized right after! I am truley grateful for how the lord has prepared people for us to teach!

We also joke around because maybe everyone in spirit prison, after someone hears the gospel, they let them have one phone call to earth to tell someone to do their ordinances.. and his grandfather decided to call isias haha.

Another crazy story i heard was My old Companion, Elder Dokos, (the tall one from Kansas) got threatened by a group of teenage robbers in his area. But Elder Dokos, realizing that he was about a foot and a half taller than all of them, refused to give his stuff and told them to leave them alone.... In the end, Dokos and his comp are fine, but had to get taken out of their area this morning... I laughed when i heard the story. Especially since he is about twice the size of the average nica.

I love you all! i hope everything is going super this week. keep up the positive attitudes and remember your in my prayers all the time.

May 2 and April 25

Monday, April 25, 2011
Hey family!!


It has been a good week! we are finishing up one more change. i cant believe i have completed another change!! overall i have been really happy with this change. i looked back at all the goals i set and we completed most of them, one of them included baptizing a family in our area, which happened this saturday! Its been good. The hard part is i only have 3 more days with my companion... which is weird, because at the beginning of the change i didnt think it was going to be hard to say goodbye. We have gotten to be pretty close though. these last couple days, we have been visiting all of our recent converts and investigators, so elder sanchez can say goodbye. The plus has been everyone has been inviting us over to eat dinner! I have been so grateful for this change and the opportunity to be in Chinandega. i wonder what surprising lay instore this next change.

One of the cool baptisms we had this last saturday was with julian, a 74 old man, and his wife. When we first met him, i thought he was a little out of it. but this past week, we have gotten close to them, and they have turned out to be kinda tempory grandparents on the mission. Whenever we come, we always up leaving with atleast a bag of 20 mangos each (dont worry, we give away pretty much all of them). anyways, Julian has lived in the same house for 74 years in SanBenito, a colony 20 minutes away from the city). His whole life he has never gone underwater, he was so scared to get baptized! I cant imagine how much faith it must have taken to do it. After the baptism, he said something that i thought was pretty funny... "i hope this is the true church because i never wanna do that again"

the other interesting thing that happened this week was the doctor over all the missionaries in central america came and spoke in a conference to the missionaries of nicaragua. He is a doctor from the states, serving as a missionary. He was pretty funny and entertaining, but also helped us realize we need to be more safe. He also had the pretty crazy stories of things that have happened while he has served his mission.

anyways all is well! i hope things are going well over there in utah, you guys are in my prayers every second! let me know how you are doing!

__________
Monday, May 2, 2011
hey family, Mon, May 2, 2011 3:04:28 PM


You guys are still in my prayers every second. its good to hear that you guys are holding up! especially with positive attitudes. its helped give me a boost too. wow i cannot believe that you have turned off cable and gave up Disney Channel!! its funny because a lot of families here will do anything to have television. we constant passby houses that are made out of wood or tin with dirt floors, but somehow they are watching disney channel on a small tv in the corner. it makes you wonder what sacrifices they make just to be able to watch tv all day.

thats cool that mom will get to talk in church for mothers day about me! i hope you have enough stories. i have plenty of cool experiences, but im not sure what ones i have told you guys. i have been blessed by serving a mission in so many ways. my testimony has grown, iv learned the power of the atonement and also the power of faith. the mission in nicargua has helped me grow in so many ways. umm the people in nicarugua are open to the gospel because... thats a hard one haha. Jesus Christ has a huge part of the culture here. pretty much everyone here wants to follow his example, but they just dont know how, or have the trust to drop everything to follow him. Heavenly father has definitely been busy preparing the people here to listen to the word of god, and also been busy preparing us.

things have been crazy and so fast this week. i spent the first couple days of this week with my last days with elder sanchez. It was fun, but sometimes it was hard! we said goodbye to all the investigators and recent converts. we also got invited to dinner many times. it was fun and i tried my best to make sure he enjoyed his last couple days in nicargua. then we had changes. to be honest, i was kinda nervous! i did not know if they were gonna stick me with another troublesome comp or put me in an area with more challenges. I feel like i succeeded with this last change but i was not sure if i was ready for another stressful change. When joking around with other missionaries, i said i really only wanted two things, i wanted a gringo companion to speak english with and i wanted to be senior comp. but inside, i was pretty sure i was not gonna get either since i dont have much experience. haha as it turned out i got both! my companion is elder Burgener from idaho! he is way cool, and has about 3 months more than me here. we have a lot in common and get a long really well. we have a lot of big expectations for these next months. Its a lot different with him, i dont feel like i am carrying all the weight on my back. our lessons run a lot smoother and a lot more spiritual. everyone in our area has already begun to warm up to him.

what else is new... oh it started to rain this week! i thought chicago rain was crazy, this is even worse! im not sure what i will do when raining season actually comes! well see how that goes though.

next week is mothers day! i am planning on calling sunday afternoon.. we actually are taking about using skype. the president has given the ok to use it.  i will probably call home in the middle of this week to tell you what the plan is.... we have more time to talk than the last time...

I love you guys! happy early mothers day mom! keep up the awesome attitude. you guys are always in my prayers. thanks for everything you do...