Christmas....probably the best one I will have yet!

Oh heyyy guys!

Whats up_  I don’t know how to do question marks on this crazy Nica keyboard and I don’t know how to change the language so these things _ are question marks. Anyways, I love the Christmas picture you sent me. It actually turned out pretty good...probably because I’m not there to ruin it. haha Man oh man! I don’t even know what to write about, like always. I guess I don’t have to write a ton though because I’m going to call you guys this week! Yessss!  I am so stoked!  Honestly, I don’t know when I’m going to call but I’m thinking probably like Christmas morning sometime around 10AM. Sorry that I’m not real sure about it though. I don’t really know how to communicate in this place. I’m probably just going to have to come to a cyber and call from there which I’m guessing is going to cost a bit. But I can talk for 45 minutes I believe. So...just be ready for a call Saturday morning like around 10 or so.
So, my thoughts on Christmas...honestly this one is a little different, but it’s probably the best one I will have, if not next year’s. For example, there aren’t the usual things that everyone loves about Christmas—rhe lights, the Christmas music, cool weather, the Christmas movies, you name it—but I was reminded of something last night. They had a stake Christmas devotional last night and as we all sang Silent Night in Spanish I felt the Spirit so strong and was reminded what Christmas is all about. Here I am in Nicaragua, so far away, and people are gathered together to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.  I was reminded that Jesus Christ came to the earth to atone for all of us so that we might be able to return to live with Heavenly Father. Sure, this Christmas is a little different, but I feel so blessed to be bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ—the reason that He was born—to the people of Nicaragua. Mom, your story really got to me because I’ve thought about that quite a bit this week and I know that even if it’s hard sometimes for me to be gone, it’s worth it.
I’ve had to remember why I’m here quite a few times this week.  It’s been tough. The families that we had a baptismal date with for this past weekend are still trying to work through their marriage problems.  It was a little disappointing but I know that everything will work out when the Lord wants it to. We’ve found a couple new people to teach and they all seem very interested. This girl named Joseline that we met at the church this last Friday was there for mutual. We visited her yesterday and she asked us if she could be baptized whenever. It was pretty awesome so we’re going to work with her and already have a date set for her to get baptized.
Man the mission is tough...at least right now.  It’s such an immense calling and I’ve been feeling the weight of it this week.  I’ve talked a little bit about my companion and really I want to try to avoid talking bad about him in this letter but I will say what I learned this week. Unfortunately, there are a lot of missionaries that don’t really have their heart in the work. I asked my companion why he was on a mission the other day when things were really tough in an attempt to help him. After talking to him we came to the conclusion that our goals were the same. We are both here to bring people to Jesus Christ, to help people be saved in the kingdom of God. We talked about what we could do to do that for quite awhile which helped me to realize why things are hard for him.  I thought back to something that was said when I was set apart—“sometimes your most important investigator is your companion."  I think that that is definitely true right now.  Maybe more than anything my purpose right now is to help my companion be a good missionary.  It’s just hard because you can only help people so much until it’s their turn to make a decision.  Unfortunately, after our discussion not much changed.  As I thought about this I thought, what would Jesus do?  Well, we always make mistakes. We always fall short of perfection as we work toward our goal of eternal life, but He always forgives us if we work for it.  So, I’m trying to give my companion an opportunity to change, but it’s up to him now.  I can understand a little better now how our Heavenly Father and Savior feel.  They give us so many opportunities to change and They are just waiting, pleading for us to come to Them.  It gives me a better perspective of my role as a missionary as well.  In a way, the situation with my companion is not much different than with our investigators.
The challenge right now is not "playing down to his level.”  We always talked about it in volleyball.  When you’re playing a crappy team you’re always tempted to play down to their level. We should always strive to be the very best we can be regardless of what the other team or other people are doing. Only the Lord and we know what is expected of us.
Man...what else?  Seriously some of the people here are just awesome.  We teach a recent convert named Hugo every now and then.  He never leaves his seat that’s in his front yard and every time we come over he says, "Do you know what time it is?! The devil is out roaming the streets right now!" After we tell him that we’re there to conquer Satan he always excuses our stupidity for coming at such a dangerous hour.  And there’s Franklin... To anyone else, Franklin would seem like the scum of the earth.  He’s an old, toothless man that roams the streets pestering people for money and stuff. As we’ve talked to him more and more, I’ve come to realize that he is a loving guy that is so hungry to hear the word of God. Every time we see him he asks for a Book of Mormon and just starts crying and hugs us whenever we give him one.  It’s just amazing to me that a man that has no home, no family, hardly any food, wants more than anything to hear the word of God. It makes you realize what is most important in life.
Anyways, this letter is getting pretty long so Merry Christmas. I still don’t have anyone’s e mail addresses so if you could help me out by sending a few that would be awesome. Just of friends, family, whoever because I don’t really have any other way to write besides e mail.  Well, I do but I’m not quite sure how it works and I think it’s a pain. By the way, Mom, I don’t know if it’s too late but you asked me if I want anything for my birthday. The bag that I carry around right now is killer.  I have some pretty gnarly back pain because I have to walk around with a big bag on one shoulder all day. I’m bummed cuz it was kind of expensive but do you think you could maybe send a new one?  We can talk about it more when I call but just wanted to mention it. If you can’t send one that’s fine.  I can buy one here somewhere.
Anyways, I love you guys a bunch. Remember what Christmas is really about this week and try to make other peoples’ Christmas better!  I can’t wait to talk to you this week and I’ll be sure to have some good stories for you!

Love much,

Elder Ward