It's a small, small world

Dearest familia,

HEYYY!!!!!!!! Unfortunately I have to make this kinda quick because we’re celebrating one of the sister´s birthdays. It was good to hear from you again like always!  I’m glad to hear that Easter went well over there in good ol’ America, jealous that you guys broke out the volleyball net, and stoked that you guys are reading the scriptures every day! Seriously, that is so nuts that Elder Galan is Travis´s companion!!! He is from the stake that I’m in right now and was the stake secretary.  I even did divisions [splits] with him for part of a day once and I had told him that one of my best friends was in Argentina and that he loves it. Hahaha!  That is sooo crazy! Small, small world. (Background: Travis Hatch, one of Trevor's best friends, is serving in Argentina.  His new companion, Elder Galan, is from Nicaragua and served the beginning of his mission there while waiting for his visa for Argentina.  When Elder Galan arrived in Argentina Elder Hatch told him that his good friend, Trevor Ward, is serving in Nicaragua.  Elder Galan had met Trevor and knew him.) 

Easter is a little bit different here in Nicaragua.  They celebrate ¨La Semana Santa¨and basically have a whole week long holiday. They have huge parades in the streets and everyone in the whole world goes to the beach. More importantly though, this week I feel like I’ve come to know my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, even more. This week we were excited because the familia Vegas was getting baptized (my Nica grandparents). Ahh...sorry, I’ve been going in and out of the room and now don’t have time to write the whole story.  But long story short...this week was tough! But I learned something important that there is always hope because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The baptism was awesome this week and gosh this is so lame but I have to go because they’re kicking us out of the room where we write.

I love you all though and I’m sorry this letter sucks! I’ll write you a better one really soon!  Keep praying for me because I just got two more elders in my district and I’m gonna need some extra help from above. Love you!

Love,

Elder Ward

"And it's true"

Hoy familia!

What the Heck are you guys doin’ over there? Haha jk.  Wow!  I literally just died reading that story about Ava.  I’ve thought about the movie “Sandlot” a couple of times here because a lot of the kids love playing baseball in the streets and stuff. It sounds like you guys have all been busy lately. Dad, glad to hear that you’ve had some business.  I’ve been wondering about that lately. When things get tough just remember how blessed we are.  People here work to live and over there people work to live in luxury.  Mom, good luck camping, and yes, it is super nuts that I’ll be talking to you guys soon.  I’m not sure how we’ll do it but possibly at that lady’s house again.  More details to come.  To my bros and sisters: Enjoy your lives and what you’re doing because you guys are freakin awesome!

I’ve grown so much this week and I’m pretty sure that this has been the fastest week of the whole mission. The new responsibilities have been tough but I’m slowly learning how to handle them.  I’m starting to be able to find joy in the work again.  To answer your question Dad, I think being senior comp is the harder responsibility [over being district leader].  Elder Garcia doesn’t talk much and I don’t think he has a ton of confidence in himself but I’m working hard to be a good example for him and to help him learn.  Also, it’s kinda crazy having to make all the decisions and stuff but I’m learning to trust in the Spirit more.  Also... I underestimated the challenge of having sisters in the district. They are awesome missionaries and are examples for all of us but they’re still...girls. haha (No offense to anyone.)  They didn’t have investigators at church for the second week in a row and just started bawling right in front of me.  I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with girl drama for two years.  But I’m being patient and just trying to love my district and do everything I can to help.

As always, we’ve seen a couple of miracles this week.  We’re teaching a way awesome family named Juan and Yisela right now and we taught them about the Book of Mormon this week and they were really interested.  We passed by their house a couple days ago because we had an appointment with them and the wife came out to tell us that her husband wasn’t there.  We made an appointment to come back when the husband would be there and were just about to leave when I felt prompted to ask her if she had continued to read the Book of Mormon.  She said, "Yes, I read the part that you wanted me to read, and I remembered that you told me to pray too...so I did, and it’s true."  We were surprised by her response but it truly was amazing to see the miracle of how the Lord answers prayers and how the Book of Mormon establishes our testimonies.

We had stake conference this Sunday which is tough because it’s harder to get people to come.  We had a couple of investigators that just needed one more time in church to get baptized.  We did divisions with the priests in our ward as usual and worked like crazy in the morning to get them there.  Felix Vegas INSISTED on riding his bike by himself even though we wanted to go with him so we committed him to go and had a member pass by for him to encourage him to go.

We get to church...and wait...and wait...and he doesn’t show up. Neither do the other investigators...the hermanas were crying...I felt like crying. For the whole meeting I beat myself up, wondering what I could’ve done differently. We left the chapel like four times to see if he had showed up but he hadn’t. SO BUMMED!  I hate to admit it but for the first time on the mission I just wanted to give up for a little while, go home and take a Sunday nap.  But instead we went to his house later on and he tells us that he DID GO but that he couldn’t find us.  I was so stinkin happy, especially because they’ll get baptized this weekend.  I learned that we should NEVER give up because the Lord will bless us with success, even if we can’t see it right away.

Oh and HAPPY EASTER!!! I’m so grateful for the Lord and His sacrifice especially this week and I know that He is our Lord and Savior. Every blessing that we have comes through Him and I know that we will all live together as a family one day because of His Atonement.  I’m so grateful for the opportunity that I have to bring that message to others.  Remember Him this week and make sacrifices for others to honor Him.

Until next week...

Oh, and I love you guys a bunch!!!!!

Love,

Elder Ward

FEELING THE WEIGHT!

April 11, 2011

HOY CHELES!

Man it’s so good to hear from you guys! I know that I always say that, but sometimes Mondays are the only days I have to remember that I have a family at home that loves me. It sounds like everyone is doing well at home. Haha, dad thanks for the words from Ava’s prayer and conversation. I love that little girl. Aubrey nice job with your report and that’s AWESOME that you’re reading the BOM. Collin that’s sweet that you’re working hard in your quorum and with the nonmembers. That’s the most important thing that you could be doing right now.  It sounds like v-ball is going a little rough. Just enjoy it, have fun with your friends, and always give it all you’ve got. Mom, I imagine that the way the taxes turned out was just another one of the many blessings the Lord promises the faithful. 

Speaking of giving it all you’ve got...this week has been one of the craziest weeks of my life. We had changes and I was called to be the district leader and got a new companion. His name is Elder Garcia and he’s a missionary from Costa Rica but was born and raised mostly in Nicaragua. He only has about 3 and a half months in the mission, (which barely makes me the senior companion), but he’s an awesome missionary!  I really have felt the weight of all the responsibility this week and there have been moments where I’ve felt so inadequate. I’m grateful though because I’ve been learning so much more trust in the Lord. For example, we had changes on Wed and I had to do my first baptismal interview on Thursday night. I’m really starting to learn what being led by the Spirit means. After a super hard day this week, I was kind of bummed.  I prayed so hard that night, and the next day the Lord used us to perform miracles. We put 5 baptismal dates on the calendar, contacted 56 people, found new investigators, and taught by the Spirit. 

I know that in our lives we have tough days, but if we pray with all of our might and offer Him all that we have, the Lord will bless us so much. One last little miracle...we were praying and fasting yesterday so that we could baptize two families this month. Only one had shown up to church which meant that we wouldn’t reach our goal. The familia Vegas (AKA our grandparents because they are super old but super awesome) rolled into the church just in time for the closing prayer of sacrament meeting. It was pretty crazy! 

Thanks so much for your prayers because I can feel those blessings every day. Continue to pray for my companion and I because we’re really relying on the Lord a LOT lately. I love you guys a ton and just know that I’m so happy! You guys are the best ever!

Love,

Elder Ward

PS: Mom, I haven’t talked to my bro D Lamb (Dylan) for like 4 months and I want to see how he’s doing! Please do all that you can to get his e-mail for me! Thanks!

Awesome Conference!

Lenin says "hi", and I do to!

Haha, Lenin is a guy that works here in the stake center and standing over my shoulder. Anyways...random. Mannn how awesome was this week? I guess I’ll start out by talking about the conference. General Conference is awesome at home but it’s about 91276 times better on the mission. We basically invited EVERYONE we talked to to come to conference...even if they wanted nothing to do with us.  It was like..."Oh wait I know you want to punch me in the face, but you should go to conference to here the voice of God`s living prophet.” Elder Lopez taught me something pretty sweet this week. It’s called bus contacting, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. You are getting up in front of a bus full of 40 people, proclaiming the gospel, peeing your pants a little, giving pamphlets to those that are interested and writing down their directions. It was a pretty crazy experience but it really strengthened my testimony of living prophets as we testified of them.

The Lord continues to bless us so much in this area. Our goal in the mission is to have 5 progressing families to teach, which is a goal that requires lots of faith. This week we found some awesome families and I know that the Lord will guide us by His Spirit, along with guiding them to enter the waters of baptism. To answer your question, yes I did get to watch every session of conference. Our Zone Leader, Elder Montierth from Arizona, happened to find a store that sells "Arizona" canned drinks, Pringles, chunky salsa, and Tostito potato chips. Conference isn’t quite complete without that kind of stuff. Honestly, I couldn’t say what talk was my favorite of all of them. I loved all of them so much and I felt the Spirit so strongly. We were blessed to have lots of investigators and I got so excited when someone said something that our investigators needed to hear. One thing that I got from conference is that it seems like the topic of family was brought up a lot. The family is SO SO SO important and there is so much joy in knowing that through the Savior’s Atonement we will all live together again. My advice to you guys would be to read over the talks and ask Heavenly Father for revelation of how you can change your lives to become more like our Savior. Also, after a weekend like that, after realizing all the blessings and joy that we have from the gospel, how can we not share it with someone else? I can’t remember who it was, but an apostle mentioned that we can’t do the work alone. Family, if you truly want to be happy, invite someone to our house for a Family Home Evening with the missionaries or something like that. I promise that the Lord will help you find someone and bless with you with the knowledge of how to help them to come unto Christ.

Well the next letter is gonna be crazy! I’ll have a new companion, maybe new responsibilities, maybe even a new area, who knows...but come what may because in His strength I can do all things. (Alma 26:12) I love you guys so much and it’s so good to hear from you. I always laugh when I hear the stories about Ava. Also, hang in their with v ball...sometimes I miss volleyball, but don’t miss Highland Volleyball so much. Just wait till you get to your missions bros, it’s MUCH better!

Con amor,

Elder Trevor Ward