Kindness Opens Doors

Thumbs up to Baptisms

Hey family!

First of all, I just want to say Happy Father’s Day dad! Haha… I know it’s kind of a bummer that there’s no phone call, no big gift, nothing like that...but I really love you dad. I did find a kind of cheesy poem, but it expresses my thoughts pretty well:

You may have thought I didn't see,
Or that I hadn't heard,
Life lessons that you taught to me,
But I got every word.

Perhaps you thought I missed it all,
And that we'd grow apart,
But Dad, I picked up everything,
It's written on my heart.

Without you, Dad, I wouldn't be
The man I am today;
You built a strong foundation
No one can take away.

I've grown up with your values,
And I'm very glad I did;
So here's to you, dear father,
From your forever grateful kid.

Anyways, thanks dad. I know that I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today without you. Man, you guys left me with a lot to respond to! I was really surprised about the church history trip thing but also very stoked. OF COURSE I would want to do that! We can just tell Connor that we figured he was in Missouri already and that he wouldn’t want to go back again;). I’ve been thinking a lot about the BYU thing (not too much to lose my focus) but I kind of already figured that it would be tough to do block classes. I guess I have time to figure out if I will go up to school early or not because you did make some good points, Dad. I just really don’t want to come home and sit around until Winter semester, but we’ll see what happens...I’ll keep praying about it.

To answer your questions about your trip...the nicest hotels are definitely in Managua and then there are some farther away like in San Juan del Sur and Granada. The more touristy places are Masaya, Granada, San Juan del Sur...Granada is like a colonial city that has old churches you can go see and they have Mombacho (the volcano we hiked a few months ago) which I believe has a canopy tour thing too...but I will try to come up with a plan for the days that we have together. Sorry, don’t have much time to answer all the questions haha.

Well...just a little about this week. The baptism on Saturday was awesome! It’s so awesome to see how their family has changed and they even said that they feel a peace and happiness that wasn’t there before. Last night we went over to visit them and read a couple pages from the book we gave to the little kids "Stories from the Book of Mormon." I couldn’t help but be filled with that joy that you talked about Mom, knowing that I played a small part in setting a family on their path towards eternal life.

Henry, Stacy, and Family's Baptism

WE FINALLY FOUND A HOUSE!!! It’s amazing how the Lord has His hand in everything. Our deadline to get out of our house was the 15th and I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel with the whole house hunt thing. On Monday the appt. with the realtor fell through to make things worse. Oddly enough, I kept thinking of a house that we had gone to see about a month earlier that they were repairing at the time. So...we went and looked at it again and long story short it was the perfect house! I got the contract signed, security deposit and first month paid, and everything. It’s cool to see how the Lord works out little details for those that obey Him. Apparently someone else was just about to buy that house but they liked us more because "we’re religious people, and we’re very friendly". Also, I talked the owner of our current house into giving us until the 1st of July to move out. As we talked in the meeting to sign the contract the real estate agent mentioned that the doors were opened to us because of our kindness. When she said that, I was instantly reminded of the line in my patriarchal blessings that says, "Many doors will be opened to you in your life for your kindness and your love". Cool, huh?

Wow this letter is long already and I have so much more to say. We’re fighting alongside Henry and Maricela so that they can get married and baptized this next week. Henry is just fighting hard to give up the alcohol for good. Cesar and Judith have had a complete change of heart and ask us twice in every visit when they can get married and baptized. Cesar has gone from smoking a pack and a half a day to 2 a day...and if that’s not a miracle, I don’t know what is. They’ve got a baptismal date for the 30th. We’re also teaching one of Henry and Stacy’s daughters, Carolina, and her husband, Nelson. She’s pretty excited about baptism too after seeing her family’s example.

Mom, I got the package you sent. Thanks big time. Funny story though….I’m not sure if you noticed that the pants are slim fit, but I wore them and everyone was giving me a hard time haha. I even got some 13 yr old girls to hiss and whistle at me when we walked by... but they’re really not that bad and I really appreciate you sending that stuff, so thanks. :)

Love you guys a ton!

Elder Ward

More of Henry and Stacy's Baptism