I love this work!

Querido Familia Barrio (Ward),

WOAHHH...do I have a lot to tell you guys. This week has been super good! Seriously I love being a missionary. On Tuesday we had an ¨emergency meeting¨ with the whole zone and they announced that Elder Rodriguez (yep, my comp) had emergency changes. It was pretty much a huge bummer. He even cried a little bit and I felt like I wanted to just because everything was going well and he was just starting to really love the people here. Anyways, he’s a zone leader in Managua now helping a zone that is really suffering as far as baptisms go. He’s an awesome missionary so I know that it’s where the Lord wants him to be.

Sooo...that left me with making sure that everything went well with the baptisms over the weekend. Elder Rodriguez really didn’t say goodbye to anyone and so it was pretty hard to tell them all that he had left. Marcia and Abril even cried and were so bummed because they really wanted him to be here. Nevertheless, I have a new companion named Elder Lopez from Honduras and he’s a pretty cool guy. He has about a week left in the mission so in mission terms I’m going ¨to kill him¨.  It’s sweet though because he was a zone leader just before this and is teaching me a lot.

This week’s been a little tough because we had so much to do and Elder Lopez is still learning all of what’s going on. He also told me that the President Monastel wants young leaders in the mission and that he’s mostly here to train me to be a district leader. CRAZY. But I have faith that the Lord will strengthen and help me if I do happen to ever become district leader.

This weekend was such a happy one. All the baptisms went really well and each one was so special. It was kind of crazy though because at 7 we had planned for Jorge and Marging to be baptized. Jorge got there at 7 sharp but Marging was nowhere to be found. He hadn’t shown up for about 20 min so Elder Lopez and I looked at each other and then at the two bikes that were sitting in front of the chapel and rode faster than Lance Armstrong on speed to where Marging lives about 2 or 3 miles away. I was praying so hard that he had just forgotten and that he still wanted to be baptized. We got there and he came back with us and everything worked out great.

In total, our zone baptized 38 people this month which broke the record that the Masaya zone had before. I know that the Lord performs miracles when we have faith in Him, are obedient to his commandments, and do all that we can to do His will.

In summary, I am so grateful that I’m a missionary and I love this work. It can be super tough and stressful sometimes but there is no greater joy than seeing people change their lives and come unto Christ.

Love you guys a ton and be good!

Love,

Elder Trevor Ward

PS: Connor and Collin don’t let volleyball get you down ever, just enjoy it and play your best all the time. I learned a lot there that helps me on the mission so just learn from your mistakes, have fun with your buds, and remember winning really isn’t everything.

One pretty awesome week!

Hello lovelies,

Another week gone by in the greatest two years of my whole life, and like always, a lot has been going on here. It sounds like a lot has been going on over there too. Haha, it’s pretty hilarious to think that birthday parties are so horrible for Ava. Also, that’s sweet that you guys have the Bosco tournament this week. Keep kickin it Connor and Collin. (PS-today I touched a volleyball for the first time and just about died. But...it’s worth it to be here). Also I did get medicine for the parasites and I’m totally good now! I feel fine so don’t worry too much mom. Also, I got my package!!!!!!!! Thanks so much for your letters, pictures, and everything. It was a great belated b-day gift. Also, I love the backpack mom, so thank you big time. Also thanks for the letters that you sent I got them all this week.
SOooo this week has been pretty awesome, I’m not gonna lie. We’ve seen a lot of miracles in our area lately. This weekend we have 5 baptisms planned and each one of them are people that are so AWESOME. Kelvin is 14 and is Mayory´s son. It was pretty cool we taught him how to pray (which was pretty difficult because he doesn’t speak Spanish), and on Sunday he came running out of the class with a huge smile on his face because he said the prayer. Jorge is about 23 years old and is one of the most humble people I know. He has never attended a church before but he has so much faith and already has a great love for the gospel. This week we went to teach him for the first time in a month or so and the first thing he asked was, ¨Hey, remember I was gonna get baptized. Can I still get baptized because I really want to?¨ HELLO…golden investigator! Marging is 20 yrs old and is a lot like Jorge. He has always done good in his life and has always looked for the truth, but he just didn’t know where to find it. He’s got a good friend on a mission and he says that he wants to get baptized and follow in his footsteps. Marcia is the woman that I talked about last week. She is such an awesome lady and is so ready to get baptized. Abril is her grand daughter that LOVES going to primary and begs us to come over every day to teach her lessons haha.
Anyways, we’re seeing a lot of success right now along with the rest of the zone. It’s approximated that as a zone we will have about 40 just this month. It’s so amazing to see how the Lord prepares people to hear the gospel. I feel like I develop a greater love for these people every day and there is so much joy in this work.
Random story for the week…last night we were walking to an appointment and this man walked up to us holding his little daughter. He said, ¨Here, take her, you don’t have to pay or anything.¨ We were a little taken aback. He went on to explain that she was starving and that she needed to eat tonight. We then began to talk about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that he could help his family in this difficult time. We offered to come to his house right then but he said he had to look for food. We felt prompted to offer to buy something in the little store down the street and right when we did he said, “THAT is exactly what I wanted to hear. I was testing you. I wanted to know if you two really are good people because people are known by their actions. Now I know that you two are followers of Jesus Christ.¨ Turns out he was a pastor from another church. It was a pretty strange experience but just goes to show that people are always watching the things that we do and that our strongest testimonies are those that we bear through our actions.
Anyways...I love you guys a bunch and I’m glad to hear that you’re doing well. Keep loving each other and never ever forget how blessed we are.

Love much,

Elder Trevor Ward

Chook Noris!

March 14, 2011

Elder Ward & Elder Rodriquez (Go Lakers!)

Suppp,

Well, it’s been another crazy week in the magical land of Nicaragua. Man, it sure is weird to think about volleyball, grandma and grandpa Ward’s house, all that stuff. When you’re on a mission you get so sucked in to everything that goes on here, but really it’s a good thing.

First things first, Aubrey sorry that I didn’t help you much with your report. I actually took a couple of pictures and got a recipe for gallo pinto but forgot to send it last week. Way to follow the family tradition of procrastinating!

Connor and Collin, hey broskis. I’m glad to hear that volleyball is going well. Just don’t let it control your life and have FUN! Also, remember that the most important thing in life is winning the state championship of high school volleyball. Haha

Ava I LOVE YOU!!!!!

So...what’s happened this week? Well, lots of things. On Tuesday we had a training meeting with president and some older missionaries and I learned A TON. It was sweet too because I got to see some of my mission buddies from the MTC.

Right now we’re teaching a woman named Marcia and she is honestly one of the most loving people I know. They hardly have anything, and she has been through so many trials with her family but she is still so happy. She always offers us food that they don’t have much of and has so much faith. I’ve learned a lot about the Spirit this week and part of it is because of an experiment we had with her. It truly is amazing how the Spirit can give us very specific direction. She had doubts about being baptized in two weeks and we weren’t quite sure why. I felt impressed to ask her about if she was concerned about who would be there (something simple that you usually wouldn’t think of), and that was her concern. She explained to us that she has had a couple of experiences where she has prayed and felt like she was just filled with a pure love and felt like crying but was confused because she wasn’t sad. It truly strengthened my testimony of baptism and was a blessing to see how she received her testimony that she should be baptized.

Saturday night we were a little bummed because we weren’t going to have many investigators at church. A couple of the families that we have been teaching have had difficulties and it seriously is so hard to see someone that needs the gospel so much but they fall to the temptations of the devil. Yesterday when we showed up though there were new investigators at church and even un hombre named Jorge that was going to be baptized but had to leave Masaya. That was a huge testimony to me that the Lord is the person that directs our lives and missionary work, and that we just have to submit our will to His.

I don’t even know if I’m explaining myself that well in this letter, but anyways, my testimony is growing so much every week and I’m so happy to be here on the mission. There is so much joy that comes from bringing people to Christ and seeing their wounds be healed.

For the random stories…there are always like 8 billion kids running around in Hermana Marcia’s house and they always attack us when we come (physically and with questions). I got tired of them asking what my first name was so I told them that my name is Chuck Norris. Now whenever they see me they all scream Chook Noris!

I don’t know why it happens, maybe a gringo walked around with a big sack of candy before just giving it out to everyone, but all the little kids just run around in the street here playing. Whenever they see us they scream ELDER DE ME DULCES!!!!!!! (GIVE ME CANDY). When I told them I didn’t have candy they resorted to DE ME UN PESO!!!!!  Thinking quickly I said, ?de me un beso? (give me a kiss?!). EWWWW!  They all ran away dying with laughter.

Anyways...I love being here and I’m so happy. I’m glad to hear that you’re all doing well. I know that this is the restored church and that we are blessed so much. We really do take for granted how many blessings we have so I challenge all of you to pray tonight and just thank Heavenly Father for everything.

I love you all so much and SEAN FELIZES!!! (BE HAPPY!)

Love,

Elder Trevor Ward



PS: Still no b-day package, but I got the valentines one and one from grandma and grandpa Ward from Christmas. Thanks it made my day!

Also, I just realized that I never write anyone but you mom and dad, so apologize for me...one of these days I’ll sit down and write people back!



Me and my zone at Papa John's



The best day of the mission yet!

 March 7, 2011

Heyyyy guys!

Like always, it’s good to hear from and hear about everyone! Haha, that’s funny that I’m "famous" at Greenfield Jr. High. Too bad my writing stinks now because my English aren't very good. And…Ava still cracks me up, by the way. Tell the whole family that I said hi and I’m glad that you recognize that the Lord blesses our whole family so much!

FHE with the Chavarria Family

Elder Ward, Elder Rodriquez and the Chavarria Family

This week was so awesome!!!! Honestly we didn’t really do a whole lot else but focus on the Familia Chavarria, now that I think about it, but everything paid off.  By the way...last week on Monday night we had a FHE with them and played charades and everything. I felt like I was right at home again. The highlight of the night though was when we confirmed their baptismal date. Hermano Chavarria had some doubts and I felt impressed to share with him your note (the one you wrote last week dad). It was pretty hard not to get choked up as I read it and afterwards I bore my testimony with that of our families. They agreed to be baptized and we were all so excited!

The baptism this week was amazing! There were about 60 members there to the point where we had people peeking their heads in the door from the outside hall. We even had balloons, food, you name it (for the wedding too). The members gave them gifts and welcomed them into the ward.  We even had two other investigator families there. It was such a happy day, one that I’m sure will be the best of the mission. I learned so much with the Chavarria family.  One of them being that the Lord is so patient with us and that the miracles of His Son's atonement can be obtained by all if we do all that we can. They moved a mountain this Sunday and finally closed their little store to come to church together for their confirmation. Honestly, I can’t explain all of it but it was such a happy day!

Welp...on to the random not so spiritual matters...I bought an original number 34 Shaquille O'Neal Lakers jersey for two dollars last P-day along with a freakin sweet hammock that I still have to put up.

Elder Rodriguez loves picking up mangos off the ground and drop kicking them (because they’re all over the place). The other day he picked up a fat one and said "watch this" (in Spanish...) and punted it super hard. The mango rocketed, miraculously, into the space between the roof and brick wall of the nearest house. We heard it bang around inside, looked at each other in horror, and felt prompted by the Spirit to get the heck out of there. Haha…we pretty much died laughing after that.

Other random story...Roberto Jose Rivera. This guy is a recent convert and I know that he is a child of God but he's a little...strange. He’s about 60 something years old and it’s sweet because he’s been coming to church more often lately. They called on him to say the closing prayer at the beginning of the meeting yesterday and I thought hmm...sweet. Well...the meeting finished and he had no idea. I then scooted over to him and told him that he had to say the closing prayer. After some confusion he got up and walked to the stand. He closed his eyes, folded his arms, and said, "Buenos dias (good morning) Jesus..." and then went off bearing his testimony I guess you could say.  But, he just started talking about the universe, and Adam and Eve, and the craziest stuff ever. People started to open their eyes and wonder what the heck was going on and a member of the bishopric walked up and told him to say the closing PRAYER. Oops...

I taught the Gospel Principles class by myself this Sunday.  That was definitely an adventure. Especially because I walked in the class and didn’t even have time to pray for help before I started teaching. Also.......we made a garden for a single mom and her kids this week in our missionary clothes. Haha…it was way sweet!  Wellppp, I don’t have much else, but know that I love you all so much and hope that you’re doing well! Keep being the best that you can be and I’ll talk to you next week!

Love super much,

Elder Ward

PS...don't have my camera cord :( otherwise I would send pictures, but I'll try it again next week!

The Chavarria Family



The Chavarria Family Baptism