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.