Monday, January 31, 2011

Questions????

¡ Hola querido familia!

So it’s definitely way good to hear from you guys and once again I have so much to write about in so little time. But the questions are way awesome! So I’ll just go with those for now.
1. Did you get your birthday package?  No, I didn’t get my package yet :( but it’s all good. I actually got grandma and grandpa’s package that day, so that was pretty awesome. By the way, my birthday was way good.  It was pretty much a normal missionary day, but we went to have a ward council meeting when the familia Ortiz  walked into the church all excited (there’s like 10 of them and they’re way awesome).  They were adamant that I come outside. There was a big cake sitting on a table outside along with some of the members in the ward.  It was a special surprise!  They do this funny thing here.  After singing happy b-day (in English which is hilarious), they say muerda la queque! (I spelled that wrong but it means “bite the cake”). Then they push your face in the cake.  Supposedly it’s a surprise every time they do it?

2. How is your Spanish coming? My Spanish is coming along really well. It’s kind of weird, we try to speak English in the house at night so that my companion can learn, but I’m starting to forget English. I think that’s a good thing. I can understand people more naturally now, but there are still some things that I don’t understand. The Lord has blessed me a lot with that though.

3.  Have you lost any weight or stayed about the same?  I think I’ve lost weight honestly. Everyone from the MTC says that I look skinnier. Also...I pooped out a worm. Sweet, huh? Actually, we don’t know for sure if the parasite was from me or my companion. It’s a mystery really. It was pretty nuts to see a little maggot like thing swimming in the toilet. Don’t worry mom...I’ll be ok if it is me that has parasites.

4. Is it hot at night or does it cool down?  It’s actually perfect at night and I have absolutely no problem sleeping. But, freak during the day it gets way hot and the sun just cooks you. But, it’s definitely worth it to be able to serve the people here.

5. What sports do you play on p-day?  Sports on p-day...duh...soccer.  Haha, it’s pretty cool there are always kids playing here and there is a field on just about every corner. Believe it or not I can actually keep up with some of the Latinos in the zone. Today I scored the goal to win it all! :)

6. What is your favorite food there, besides McDonald’s?  Ok food...honestly, the food here is pretty good. They cook with TONS of oil though, and it’s pretty typical to have rice and beans and some kind of banana cooked in 20 different ways.  I don’t even know what the food is called though, so I couldn’t tell you.  I had this soup the other day that was way good. They go all out to make soups here...not like wussy chicken noodle soup. They also always make "fresco" or juice out of blended fresh tropical fruit and its SUPER good. They’re really surprised when I tell them that we drink water for meals.  I guess it’s like an abomination!

7.  Ava wants to know if you have bunk beds?  Nope, don’t have bunk beds haha. But, lots of people sleep in hammocks here. I swear Masaya is the hammock capital of the world.

8.  Have you explored any parts of Nicaragua on p-days? Have you seen the ocean yet?  Well, I wish that we could explore parts of Nicaragua but we can’t get permission to do much until we baptize more because our zone has been struggling for the past couple of months. It really is a tough zone, but Elder Rodriguez and I don’t let it get to us because with the Lord’s help nothing is impossible. I did go to a sweet lagoon once though.

9. What are the names of the families you are teaching and their status? (Dad thought it would be great for us to be able to pray for them)  Ok, for the most important part! Familia Chavarria¨are awesome!  They’re the ones that we go to do family prayers with at 5 in the morning. The missionaries have been coming to teach them for about a year.  They’ve had lots of obstacles to get over, but they’re all coming to church and we’re visiting them every night. Tonight we’ll have FHE with them which will be way sweet.
Familia Vegas are the old couple I told you about and we love them to death. They have been married forever and are super faithful. The husband, Felix, told us that he had a dream that he and his wife were walking in a white field holding hands and that their whole family was there and they were dressed in white clothing. Towards the end of his story he began to cry and said that he felt so much joy in that dream.  The next day we came for the first time to teach them about the temple. They want so badly to go to the temple and be baptized.  He just had an operation on his eyes and has to battle with lots of health problems, but I know that their great faith will get them through it.
Mauricio: my freakin stud comp put a baptismal date with this guy in a CONTACT.  How sweet is that? Right now we’re teaching him and he’s battling with quitting smoking, but he’s super stoked to get baptized.
Milena is the daughter of a member that is about 14 yrs old. At first she said she’d get baptized and then she had doubts.  She prayed about it after we helped her clear up some of those doubts.  She got her answer, but STILL doesn’t want to do it. Some people require lots of patience. haha
Jorge has never been interested in religion before and is such a humble guy. He’s a farmer that used to live in the mountains and is pretty quiet but is SO excited about the gospel. He told us that he is exactly like Joseph Smith in that he was always looking for the gospel but never could find it until now.
Anyways there are more people but were hoping to have lots of baptisms this month because these people and more all have baptismal dates. But your prayers would be greatly appreciated because were doing all that we can so the rest depends on the Lord.
Man I love you guys a bunch and its good to hear from you. Man...I got a little carried away this letter. It’s a long one, so I hope you enjoy. Anyways, I’ll talk to you next week and just remember that I love you!

Love,
Elder Ward

Monday, January 24, 2011

A birthday, an earthquake, and a killer mango...

What the heck, I’m 20 years old? Mom you said you feel old, but honestly I feel like the old one. Man it sure is good to hear from you guys, just like every week.  I love writing you too, but the thing is that it’s so hard to explain the joy that comes from the mission. Mom, just imagine that feeling that you have in the temple with the family and imagine being able to bring that to a bunch of the families in Nicaragua.
So, highlight of the week…Elder Christofferson came to our mission and we had a mission conference on Thursday. When we first got there, I got to see all my mission buddies who I hadn’t seen since I got here (Elders from my district in the MTC) along with Elder Pace. It was pretty awesome because we got to swap stories about the good, the bad, and everything. But when Elder Christofferson walked into the stake center, the Spirit was so strong. It really was quite amazing to hear an apostle and his wife speak to us in Spanish in OUR mission. It really strengthened my testimony of the gospel and that Heavenly Father loves ALL of his children all around the world. We all got to shake their hands and he talked a lot about the Spirit and answered some questions of the missionaries.
Apparently, he went to a big conference for the saints held here at the University in Managua and talked mostly about how he knew that they wanted a temple here in Nicaragua. He challenged the members to prepare themselves for a temple, just as our families are doing now, and that they would have to make sacrifices in order to be blessed with one. I have a feeling that we might be seeing a temple here within a matter of years.
You’re right though mom, my mission has completely changed with Elder Rodriguez. He is already like a brother to me. He has taught me so much from his example and he has such a strong testimony of families. I’m starting to learn more about him.  His dad left his family when he was really young, and he is a convert of about 5 yrs.  He was pretty much a rebel before the mission, but now he is an amazing missionary and we really enjoy the work together.
This month is the month of sowing, and we’re excited for next month because there should be quite a bit of reaping. We are teaching a bunch of super awesome families right now and all of them have baptismal dates for February. I’ve learned so much this week. First of all, I’ve learned a lot about the Spirit. The Spirit can lead us and guide us in every aspect of our lives, can give us every word that we need to say, and tell us exactly what to do. There have been many times this week where the Lord has told me what to do, what to say, and how I can help a certain investigator. Also, I’ve learned a lot about sacrifice. For example, this morning we woke up at 4:45 to go say morning prayers with the family Chavarria. It was a challenge, but there was a sweet spirit as we all kneeled down together and prayed before they all went off to work. I really don’t know how to explain it, but the Lord really is so merciful. The more obedient we are and the more sacrifices that we make, the more the Lord is going to bless us.
Other small things:
There was a small earthquake here the other day and it was pretty crazy.
My comps favorite band is Metallica (imagine that) and we both heard a Metallica song yesterday and wanted to cry (we miss music, but ¨vale la pena¨; translation-“worth it”)
I was almost killed by a falling mango this week...there is so much joy in missionary work.
I wish that I had time to talk about every family that I’m teaching and about all of the little miracles that happen every day, but really I think what sums it all up is the miracle of how the gospel changes peoples’ lives.  It can change struggling families into families that will be happy forever. Maybe you guys can ask me questions or something in the next e-mail?
Anyways, thanks for the birthday wishes! I think I should get my package today, hopefully. It will be a sweet day no matter what we do, but I think a family of recent converts might have us over for dinner.  They’re pretty awesome, so it’ll be a sweet day!
Anyways...I love all of you guys. It’s so good to hear from you and I can’t help but smile whenever I think that I have my family back at home. I told the story last night to the family Chavarria how we would always wake up early to pray read scriptures, usually half asleep, but that I know that my family is so much better off because of it.

Big gulps…uh? Welp, see ya later.

Love,
Elder Ward


Gilbert Boys-Elder Pace and Elder Ward

Monday, January 17, 2011

My first baptism!

My First Baptism


Querido familia,

Sup guys?! It’s me again, Elder Ward. Like always, I never know what to write to you guys because I always have to organize my thoughts. But, it’s good to hear about how everyone is doing at home. Connor way to go getting your Eagle man and happy birthday! Sorry that I forgot to tell you earlier.  I wasn’t even thinking about it last Monday because it was a few days before your birthday. Also, don’t worry about Coach Vee. She’s intense. Seriously, all I know is that volleyball was way sweet, but it isn’t life if you decide not to do it.
Haha, man I miss all you guys. Whenever I see little kids here, I’m always reminded of Ava. She really is a unique one and I miss her to death. Tell her I said hi and that I love her. Honestly, I love all you guys a bunch and miss you, but it’s a good kind of miss you guys.
So...this week.  Right now I’m attempting to send some pictures, but I don’t know how it will work out. It’s kind of slow, so unfortunately, I don’t think I can send very many.  This week we worked our butts off!  The highlight was definitely that I had my first baptism this week!  It was such an awesome day and it makes me want to work even harder so that we can baptize even more people and more families. I attached a picture of the woman I baptized, Mariella Chavarria. The famila Chavaria is a way special family.  I think I told you about Hermana Elizabeth who was deciding whether or not she was going to go to the temple because it’s such a big sacrifice (recent convert). Well, she ended up going, and the cool thing is that Elder Rosa and I told her earlier that the Lord would bless her whole family if she went. Mariella is her sister and we’re planning on baptizing the whole family pretty soon.
AHHH gosh, I want to tell you guys about every person that we’re teaching but I don’t have a ton of time. We’re also teaching another family, la familia Vegas.  They are pretty old (about 70ish years old), but they’re the nicest old people ever. We had a super awesome lesson with them this week where we talked about the temple and how their family can be sealed forever in the temple. Their kids are members too, and we talked with one of their daughters last night that lives here.  She is so excited! This week my testimony of eternal families grew quite a bit.  I know without a doubt that our families are what bring us the most joy in this life, and I’m so glad that we have eternal families.
Ah man, I don’t even know what else. Thank you to everyone for your letters and Christmas cards and things like that. I will do my best to write you back, but just know that I love you all and thanks for your support!
Also mom or dad, please thank grandma and grandpa for me for my birthday check.  I think that I might use that $250 to help pay for the temple trip of this awesome family of recent converts that is going to be translated soon. I also want to help the family of the sister that cooks and cleans for us, but I don’t know how receptive they will be.  Who knows...anyways...this letter is super jumbled and random.
But.....I’m really starting to develop a great love for the people of Nicaragua. My testimony grows every single day and it’s amazing what the Lord can do to heal the lives of every person on this earth.  There is so much more to write but that is the most important thing.

I love you guys a bunch and hope you’re all doing well. Just know that we are all so blessed. Keep it real in the US of A.

Con Mucho Amor

Elder Rodriguez and Elder Ward
Elder WARD

Monday, January 10, 2011

I love being a missionary!

heyyyyyyyyy!

What’s up guys? What the freak man, I just wrote you guys like yesterday. I have a bunch of things to talk about and not enough time. Haha! Man it sounds like its been busy at home.  Connor, I would tell you how dumb that was to wait until now (1week before your 18th birthday) to do your eagle, but I have no room to talk...so nice work!
You know what, this week has also sounded a lot like that for me as far as running around for papers, getting signatures, figuring out what the heck we need to do next for this to happen. So...here’s the deal. Almost everyone here needs to get married, and in order for us to have a baptism, we also need to have a marriage. I’ll try to sum up what happened this week. We’ve been teaching this super awesome lady named Adaleida. She has so much faith and has wanted to get baptized since the day I met her. Unfortunately, her inactive member “husband” wanted nothing to do with marriage. This week we were talking to her about faith and how the Lord performs miracles if we have enough faith to do that which is aligned with His will (such as baptism). She had just finished reading 1 Nephi 3:7 where it says the Lord will prepare a way when the “husband”, Cezar, comes walking up to us. I had never even met this man and it was always so hard to talk to him. It was a miracle. We began to talk to him and we could tell that even though he was nice to us, he didn’t want anything to do with marriage. In short, we had the most spiritual lesson that I’ve had thus far in the misson. It ended with us all kneeling in prayer in their tiny house asking if getting married would be the right decision. He immediately said yes after, and they were both super happy. 
Here’s the catch...this was on Tuesday night. He was going to leave this Sunday to go to Costa Rica for 3 or 4 months, so we had to arrange everything in a week. We had to talk to lawyers, figure out all the laws, get their identification, make copies, arrange it with the bishop...talk about stressful!  But it was all worth it, because we were going to have a baptism. So Saturday we go to make sure that they were all good for that day still and had been talking to them every day that week. Adaleida then told us that Cezar found out that he was married here and was never divorced. So we go talk to more lawyers and stuff like that and did absolutely everything we could. In the end, the baptism never happened, nor the marriage.
I learned something super important this week. I think that sometimes the Lord tests us to make sure that we will do absolutely everything that he asks or expects. It’s kind of like the story of Abraham sacrificing his son. I imagine him suffering immensely as he went so far as to lay his son on the altar to sacrifice him. It was definitely super, super tough to not have the baptism and marriage this week, but I know that the Lord has his reasons. Honestly, I wanted to cry because I knew how badly that family needed the gospel and I love them so much.  But at the same time, I felt good knowing that we did absolutely all that we could.
Wow that was long, but it was the highlight of the week I guess.  Elder Rodriguez is seriously the man!  He wakes up at 5:30 to study every morning, he works super hard, he’s always positive, and he is an amazing teacher. There’s tons of other good stuff I could say about him, but anyways we’re finding tons of new people to teach.  I’m confident that we will have baptisms soon. We’re already way good buds, and I have loved being a missionary this week.
Other things from this week:
Bird pooped on comps shoulder in the middle of a lesson and it was hilarious.
Saw a 7 foot snake in the road and almost stepped on it.
Walked to the Cocos this week and it was a crazy adventure (out in the middle of nowhere for reference) and they weren’t home!  Oh well!
Elder Christofferson is coming to our mission! How sweet is that!
We're doing lots of splits with the priests this week and I’m pretty stoked!
Were busting our butts every day and I love being a missionary!
 Love you guys a whole bunch and that’s way sweet about the temple thing mom!  I’ve come to appreciate the temple so much more here, so prepare yourselves in every way possible for a temple in our very own town! We are so blessed!

Love,

Elder Trevor Ward

Monday, January 3, 2011

Big news...take a seat, cook up some popcorn, gather round the computer monitor!

¡Oi Cheles¡ (what´s up white people?)

Wowwww. This letter is going to blow your mind! What I have to say first and foremost is that I'm becoming more and more aware every day of just how well our Heavenly Father knows us and how much he cares about us. So here comes the flood of random thoughts.
Happy New Years! Mine was pretty good. It was exciting to see all the people excited about the coming of the new year. It's kind of sweet how you can relate the gospel to just about everything. We talked to a lot of people about how with a new year we have new goals such as going to church, getting married, stop drinking, all that good stuff.:) To be honest though, it was kind of weird sleeping through midnight. I woke up to the war going on outside my window (fireworks, by the way thats super wicked awesome that fireworks are legal in Gilbert now...probably should send some from here because they only have sissy fireworks there). Anyways woke up to those at midnight and my companion wasn't in his bed, so that was kind of a little sketchy. Turns out he was in front celebrating.
This week was a little bit tough but good. There was one day where I just tried to love the heck out of Elder Rosa and to not criticize him at all and we actually had a semi-productive day. A couple days before I had lost my patience after we spent about an hour and a half in this woman's house just chillin after I told him a bunch of times we have to go. I learned something really important this week and it actually came to me while teaching an investigator. She is a potential baptism and the husband is a less active member. Mayory really wants to get married and baptized but they're having troubles in their relationship. We were talking to her about forgiveness because in a previous lesson he had asked for her forgiveness for some things that he had said, but she kind of shook it off. I told her that Christ told us to forgive people 70 times 7 (or some number like that). Anyways...we should always be patient with people and always give them a chance to take advantage of the Atonement or else they will never change. Its pretty cool how much you learn when youre teaching other people.
We had 3 families at church this week along with a lot of less active recent converts. The testimony meeting was powerful as all the members got up and bore their testimonies about the temple. Also an Elder that had served here previously, named Elder Strong, and had already finished his mission came to visit with his family. He translated for his mom as she bore her testimony and said how grateful she was for the people of Nicaragua and their testimonies and for taking care of her son. I know that you would say the same thing mom, and I'm not gonna lie, I definitely wanted to cry but I didn't because I'm not a baby.
Well...here comes the big news. So take a seat, cook up some popcorn, gather around the computer monitor. No jk...but really. This Sunday I definitely felt your prayers and the power of your fasting mom and dad. Thank you so much for that. Anyways, its interesting how the Lord answers our prayers. I fasted for our investigators that we might be able to have a baptism soon and also for Elder Rosa that he would have desires to work. Last night we got a call from the zone leaders who told us that we would be having emergency changes. This rarely happens, and unfortunately it is usually when an elder needs lots of help. So...I have a new companion!!!!  His hame is Elder Rodriguez and I already love the guy. He was a zone leader in Masaya and was a little confused this morning why he had to get transferred because he had only been in his last area for a month. As I began to describe how things were with my companion and everything, he totally just accepted it. I could tell that he was a little bummed because he was just starting to love his new area, but he was so accepting of the Lord's will. He seems like a really hard worker and is just an awesome guy. He's from Guatemala and has 18 months in the mission. I also learned that after we have suffered and learned what we needed to learn (because I literally feel like I learned what I needed to learn this whole month up until yesterday) the Lord blesses us with success. I'm so excited to get to work with him and to be able to just worry about the people and the work. Nuts...I know!
Well...I really don't know what else to write but I hope that you guys are all doing way awesome. I love you a bunch and make good goals for this new year. As you include the Lord more in your life this year He will bless you so much. Think of something that would be really tough to do (with a purpose of course) and do it!!!

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Con mucho amor,
Elder Ward