The Good News and The Bad News

Dudes!!!

Honestly, this letter couldn’t describe what could be the most eventful week of my mission, but I will make an attempt. I will try to write it in a way so that you can feel a little bit of what I did. This week Elder Chacaj and I worked like I have never worked on my mission. I found out pretty quickly that there weren’t really any investigators...so we got to work. We started out teaching short, powerful lessons to the members and many of them gave us referrals of their friends, family, and neighbors. We talked with EVERYONE. On Tuesday morning a miracle occurred. We prayed hard in companionship study for a family that was ready to be baptized and within a half hour the phone rang. It was one of the leaders of the Church in another city who said that his nephew and his wife had just moved to La Estación, Granada, that they had gone to church various times, and were already married. Few times in my mission have I felt so strongly that we had to go visit a family. It was tough to find them, but we did, and they were so happy to see us. They accepted the invitation to be baptized and were committed to read the BOM.

Other story...we were walking along and saw a bulky, young bald guy with his wife sitting out in front of their upper-class home. My first thought was...hmmm, probably not interested, but the Spirit told us otherwise. They happily agreed for us to return and that first lesson was amazing. The wife, Karen, explained that she had gone to so many churches but felt that she hadn’t found the truth. She also had a fond memory of when she visited a temple in the United States. The Spirit was super strong and I think that we all felt it was true.

We had a FHE with an awesome member family and the referral that they gave us. They’ve had a lot of tough problems in their marriage and are thinking of splitting up. We also talked about the Atonement and forgiveness. Really...I’m glad that we have an obligation to forgive others and that Christ makes forgiveness possible.

On Saturday night, I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about the awesome week we had had when the phone rang...AP´s: "Dude, I’ve got good news and bad news." (It’s never good to hear from the AP.) "Bad news: You’ve got emergency changes again. Good news: You’ll be training." So...long story short, my first Sunday in Granada was my last and I’m now here in the beautiful Jinotepe with Elder Comfort, a gringo from Canada. I wasn’t really disappointed but just asked myself why...then I remembered the story of a new untrained missionary (myself) whose first month of the mission was pretty miserable and how his "step dad" [second companion] changed everything around. I’m super happy to be here with him, and yes, it’s going to be an opportunity to grow. He is struggling with the language and his companion basically just taught him a lot of patience. It feels good knowing that I could make a difference in Granada though and I’m really starting to realize that sometimes the Lord needs us for very exact purposes. That’s why we’ve got to "Be the man He wants us to be." My comp’s name is Connor and he is about Connor’s age...I’m already starting to see him as a brother and I know that the Lord will bless us with success. I’m also the district leader of four sisters....WOO HOO! Haha jk, that’s bad...It’s going to be fine.

I love my mission more than ever. I feel like I am a completely different man than the one I came as and I love the Lord. Pray for us :) and have fun with all my friends :) hahaha.

Love,

Elder Ward