Thanksgiving in the Hospital

On Thanksgiving day we received an e-mail from Trevor's mission president's wife (in Spanish) informing us that Trevor had been in the hospital since Tuesday with a skin infection and was receiving intravenous antibiotics.  She said he was in good spirits and that he is a very obedient and hard-working missionary and a great leader.  They expected that he would be released from the hospital on Friday.  Here is Trevor's account of his hospital stay.  Warning:  It is a little graphic!

Hey Family!

Well, I was kind of wondering what kind of e-mails I would be getting from you guys today, and I guessed right. Hahaha. First of all, I’m ok, and you guys don’t need to worry too much. I guess I’ll just talk about that because that’s basically all that happened this week....

So...about like two weeks ago this bump appeared on my leg and I thought it was just like an ingrown hair or something. (By the way, this story is really graphic.)  Soon after, another similar bump appeared on my butt like in between the two cheeks. I didn’t really pay much attention to them until they started growing and started to hurt. I called the mission nurse (who, I hate to say it, doesn’t help a whole lot) and he said he would call the mission doctor to set up an appt with a dermatologist. Well long story short, he never got back to me. I was in a lot of pain, and tried to self doctor myself, but figured that I'd just have to tough it out until it went away.

The good news was that last week Elder Amado came to our mission, from the Quorum of 70, and we had a SUPER spiritual conference with him. I felt super pumped up spiritually after, but my body felt crappy. When we got home I felt like throwing up, my butt hurt more than ever, and I had another huge lump, and I had a fever. I crashed on my bed and in the mean time Elder Leiva had made a few calls. He woke me up and said, "Were going to the hospital", which kinda surprised me, but we went. We went to emergency and they made me show them all the spots. My favorite part is when they squeezed the bump on my butt like a zit so the puss would come out. OUCH!!

Anywayssss....they told me the infection specialist came and they told me that they’d have to hospitalize me for 3 days...3 DAYS!!!! I guess I couldn’t argue with that. The weirdest part is that I was there alone the whole time. On Wednesday morning the nice nurse came in, gave me a towel to shower with, and I took a heavenly hot shower (the hospital is actually super nice). Then I put on a cool blue hospital gown and reclined in my fancy bed in my Maternity Ward Suite, and they brought me breakfast in bed: pancakes and syrup...I thought hmmm...this couldn’t be too bad. That’s when Señor Mustache and a short fat doctor came in. They injected anesthesia in my butt and cut me open to get all the puss out...fun stuff. My underwear got super soaked in blood so they gave me a man diaper to wear all day...

Anyways...making the story shorter, the first day was SUPER boring because I didn’t have scriptures or anything with me. I read the whole Mission handbook, made oragami, took a nap, and that’s when President and Hermana Monestel came at night and they actually tried to call you guys with me right there, but you weren’t home.  President said something to me that actually made me feel a little better. He said, "Elder, I wouldn’t say this to a lot of missionaries, but since you’re a good missionary, I think the Lord is giving you a time to rest." I’m not going to lie, I did feel a little homesick and a little lonely, but the amazing thing was that I think I felt closer to the Lord maybe more than I ever have in my mission. I had a LOT of time to reflect on my mission, my life, my relationship with the Lord, and what I was truly grateful for. I think what I really narrowed it down to was Jesus Christ and his Atonement....I think I came to understand that a little more this week. It also made me appreciate the opportunity that I have to teach the gospel. Haha, I even joked with the nutritionist lady that came to ask what I wanted to eat. I asked if they had turkey and had to explain what Thanksgiving was. I ate lots of good food though, got really rested, and had lots of time to read, ponder, and pray. I was constantly hooked up to antibiotics though because what I had is called MRSA...which is supposedly a really serious skin infection that’s resistant to most antibiotics. I’m fine now, I just have to put bandages on my ankle and butt and take antibiotics every 4 hours.

I’ll save the story of the other one for when I get home (nothing serious happened, its just gross) By the way, I left on Friday like Hermana Monestel had mentioned.

Its kinda weird being back working now, there’s been days where I’ve said, I miss the hospital...I think I realized just how tough being a missionary can be after sitting in a nice air conditioned room with nice food, hot showers, and all that good stuff. But what I do have to say is, it’s worth it. I know that the sacrifices we make in this life for the Lord will be more than compensated in the next and that we will have treasures in heaven.

Quick story...remember that miracle family I told you about? Maybe I did...I can’t remember. Well we’re teaching this girl named Cindy who’s 17 and her husband is a member. She’s super Evangelical and her family wants her to get baptized with them in that church. We’ve been using our most powerful weapon with her quite a bit (the Book of Mormon). The awesome thing is that last night she told us that she got her answer and has a baptismal date for the 10th of December!

Anyways...I miss you guys a bunch. I’m glad you had a good thanksgiving and I’m so thankful that you’re my family. Don’t worry about me because I’m in the Lord’s hands.

Love,

Elder Ward

PS Mom I’m going to try to go to the distribution center here tomorrow to buy baptismal pants, so I’ll let you know next week if I could or not. Thanks!

Be the Best You Can Be

Dearest Ward Clan,

Man, I love reading your guys’ letters! It’s truly amazing that we can be in two different parts of the world and have similar spiritual experiences. I’ll respond to some of your thoughts with some of the experiences I’ve had this week.

To start the week we had interviews with President Monestel. It’s always a super spiritual experience and I think for me it made me really reflect on my mission and what more the Lord expects of me. It got me really fired up to just be the best that I can be so I’ve been trying really hard to be the best that I can in every way.  This week more than ever I’ve felt the pressure of being a Zone Leader. We’ve been trying so hard to give the elders in our zone good examples, teach them true principles, animate them, train them, and love them. I’m gonna let you guys in on a sad secret. I think everyone would imagine that all missionaries, considering that they’re representatives of Jesus Christ, are obedient or mostly obedient, and everything is just fine and dandy. Unfortunately, there are very few in this mission that are like that. Connor and Collin, decide right now that you will give the Lord your all in your missions because there are many called but few are chosen. We found out this week that there are problems with obedience with the majority of missionaries in our zone. Elders with girlfriends, elders with extra cell phones, elders that don’t work, elders that leave the zone to go have fun, and just a bunch of stuff. These past couple of days have been super crazy, but somehow I’ve found peace in having to make a bunch of decisions with many of the elders. I’ve had to ask the Lord for a lot of help and it’s truly amazing how He’s guided me in everything that I’ve done.  I was reading Mosiah 2 this week and I was amazed by the love that King Benjamin had for his people. In his last moments of life he took it upon himself to talk to his people 1. because he loved God and his fellowmen and 2. so that he himself could be clean from his sins. I’ve learned that all that we can do is be the very best that we can so that we can tell the Lord that we did all we could.

That ties in to another experience that we had this week. We’ve been working hard to find new families to teach and baptize but haven’t been seeing very many fruits. We were kinda bummed because we didn’t have anyone in church when all of a sudden a family of members walked in with 3 people, a family and another guy. They just came from another city and were already taught by the missionaries. The member said, “hey elders, I brought some investigators to church for you. They’re basically just ready to get baptized.” We have an appt with them tonight so we’re pretty stoked. Honestly, sometimes we feel like our obedience and our diligence isn’t paying off but the Lord always has peculiar ways of blessing us.

Last night I spent the night in Elder Pace’s area. He’s had some real tough times with his comp who is having emergency changes tomorrow which is a long story, but it was fun to be able to just hang out and talk about how much the mission has really truly changed our lives. We reminisced about the times we used to hang out in front of Wallace Theater in 7th grade and where we are now, in the heart of Nicaragua preaching about Jesus Christ. Sorry, don’t have much time left but just know this week that I’m so grateful for you guys and for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Tell grandma I said happy birthday too!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Ward

PS...I really don’t know what else I’d want for Christmas....one idea, don’t know how you’d do it but what I’d love is like a little folder or binder of pictures that I could use to teach from all the principles of PMG...but don’t worry if that’s too big of a hassle  cuz I could make it too.

MARIO AND JUNIETH GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!



Elder Ward and Elder Leiva



Dear family,

Man, this was such an awesome week! For me and for you guys. Mom and Dad, I’m glad that you guys enjoyed your trip, not that I’m trunky or anything but I’m already thinking of some of the fun things I want you guys to experience in Nicaragua...eating cow heart (had it this week, and didn’t like it), getting cool rashes (which got worse this week but now I’m taking these pills that the mission nurse told me to take), and other cool stuff. Haha. By the way, Collin, that’s dumb that BJ said that... I’m sure that you’re an awesome setter. Just know that it couldn’t have ended worst than my championship game did when I got hit in the face on an overpass.... You’ll get over it… its just volleyball.

This week was full of victories...one night this week we were coming home (the 4 of us) when the kids on our street were like, “Hey chele, lets play futbol!” and I thought...nahh, we need to plan, but we agreed anyway. Long story short, we killed ‘em 5 to 3 and the WHOLE street came out to watch. Everyone was like, hey the Mormons are playing soccer!!!! The best was that we had agreed that the team who lost had to do pushups in the middle of the street. All of the neighbors counted as they did their pushups and it was a good time.



Mario and Junieth's Baptism

 MARIO AND JUNIETH GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! Honestly, it truly is amazing to see how the power of the Atonement can change people’s lives. Mario used to fight with his wife all the time, hardly ever smiled, didn’t ever look up at us to talk to us, and just wasn’t a very happy person. All I know is that he pretty much had an Alma the Younger conversion. He used to be a gang member and President Monestel had to come interview him, so I imagine that he had some pretty heavy repenting to do. It brought so much joy being able to see his face when he walked out of the interview and President said that yes he could be baptized.  It’s amazing because there is a different light about them both now, and they have changed completely. The cool thing is that Junieth asked him (President Monestel) if he would be there for their baptism and he said that he would be busy. About 20 minutes before the baptism he texted us saying that he was coming so it was cool that he came too.

I’m really starting to love this area...the members, our investigators, our recent converts, the other missionaries...to answer your question, Dad, unfortunately we haven’t been able to visit Edwin and Mercedes much because they’ve been sick but we’re hoping to be able to this week.

I realized how much I miss volleyball this week. I don’t think I had even touched a volleyball up until this week. A bunch of little girls were playing in front of where we eat so I taught them how to play. We got up to 24 hits with them! But it’s worth it to be here as one of the Lord’s missionaries in Nicaragua. Anyways, miss you guys a bunch and I love you so much!!!!! I’ll keep praying for you and you keep praying for me :)

Love,

Elder Ward

Mario and Junieth's Wedding

PS. Mom, I thought of a few things I might like.
-the memory that you sent me is full so maybe another memory stick thing
-outdoor volleyball for P Days
-stuff i said before like underwear, ties, socks
-memory card for camera (if it’s not too expensive)
-pair of shorts (like volleyball shorts)
-another journal
-I know that whatever you send will be good




A Miracle Happened This Week




P-day with my zone ( I am in the very back on the left)

  Hey mom and dad!

Man...fachentos (“rich people” in Nicaragua), you guys are in Hawaii... I’m glad that you guys are getting to spend some time together there. And the rain and the bugs sound just about how Nicaragua is. Haha. It sounds like life has been super crazy lately but I’m glad everything is going well. By the way, we only have an hour to write now instead of 1.15 so I gotta make this kinda quick.

On Wednesday we had changes meeting. It was way sweet because I ran into Collin Pace and I’ve hardly seen him at all. We were sitting next to each other and when they got to where he was going they said Xiloa which is an area in our zone!!!!!!!! We were both super stoked because we go to the same church building and everything on Sundays. So that was kinda cool. We went fishing and had a picnic at the lake in his area. 

To answer your question before I forget, my toe is better...but the bad thing is that I think I have allergies to something in our room so I have a bunch of red bumps all over my body but I’m taking Benadryl which has helped a little. 

This week a miracle happened. I was reading an article this week called faith precedes miracles. I loved it because it gave examples like when Noah started to build his ark there wasn’t a cloud in the sky... Anyways...I’ve been thinking a lot lately about who we were going to baptize this month. Long story short, I don’t know if you remember Mario and Junieth, the family that makes piñatas that split up? Well I never really wanted to give up hope on them and Elder Leiva and I prayed that the Lord would work a miracle and get them back together. This Saturday we saw them walking in the street together and I just got the happiest feeling ever... I couldn’t believe it! We went to go visit them last night and they immediately asked if they could still get married (which they didn’t want much to do with before) and baptized (which was kind of a surprise) I learned that sometimes we have to hit rock bottom, feel a true godly sorrow like Alma the Younger did, to be able to come back up. We are so STOKED that they will get married and baptized this Saturday.

We had a lesson with Edwin and Mercedes that really built my testimony too. Edwin basically just broke down and told us how difficult his whole life had been (mom is dying, his little son is really sick, he’s not getting paid enough, his dad tried to kill him when he was younger, he’s addicted to cigarettes...the list goes on...) and he said its just not fair that he has had to go through all that. We talked a lot about the Atonement, and read a little bit of the story of Job. Even though he had such a horrible life, he knew that he would see God in his resurrected body. It made me really think that no matter what we go through here, the Lord ALWAYS has something a millions times better if we are faithful. It felt good to be able to explain that to him.

This weekend has also been kinda crazy with the elections. Lets just say it’s not like the States... There is a ton of corruption with the voting process too. The former president won again so it looks like Nicaragua continues to go down the drain. There was a drunk guy in the street dancing like a maniac so I took a picture with him. It was pretty awesome.

Anyways... I miss you guys a bunch and I love you lots. Just know that I’m super happy here in the mission and I know that this gospel is true and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. 

Love your son,

Elder Ward