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