I'm Still Going Strong

Volcano Boarders

Hey guys!

Cerro Negro (Black Hill)

Sorry that it took me a while to write again. President gave us a nice little surprise on Thursday. He asked what we had planned for today (Saturday) and we told him nothing because President’s counselor had to take the truck to visit one of the branches. He told us that he was going to take us to Leon, so that’s where we were all day and where we just got back from. I think my companion was the most stoked about it, considering that that is where he’s from haha. It was super weird; we saw his house, his high school, every now and then he would say, "Hey, I know that guy!" The highlight was Cerro Negro, or Black Hill, which is an active volcano. I’ll just say that volcano boarding is pretty sweet :).

Anyways...this week has been very busy. Sadly enough it was one of those weeks where we didn’t get out to our area as much as we would have liked. Sunday was NUTS. I think that we really take for granted how awesome our ward is. Sunday, as you know, was fast and testimony meeting. Some of my most fervent prayers in the mission have been that our investigator’s eyes and ears will be miraculously closed in those meetings…haha. First speaker: Harold Castillo. Crazy old man, no teeth, cusses like crazy and says the most ridiculous nonsense in the world about how he sold his soul to the devil for 50 million dollars blah, blah, blah. 3rd speaker: An evangelical-mormon lady who apparently had some bad feelings towards a member that stood up and SCREAMED about hypocrisy and love. Elders’ quorum was the same talk about how we’ll be condemned for not doing home teaching visits. Also, I learned that you can only get the Priesthood if it is given to you in the room where the Elders’ quorum class is. Interesting... We’re working hard with the members too.:)

Our recent converts are awesome! Everyone is starting to give us referrals and we’re starting to go with them to teach lessons. It’s truly amazing how much they help in the work. Last night we taught a lady with one of our sharpest converts, Juana, and she bore a powerful testimony of how she wanted nothing to do with the church at first but really became converted when she read and prayed about the Book of Mormon. A cool little miracle happened this week. Ricardo, another recent convert, took us to a family and at the end of the lesson we gave a blessing to the daughter’s sick child. The next day she was running around just fine and now the whole family is very interested in our message. We taught them how they would get an answer from the Spirit and the daughter said, "honestly, that’s what I felt when you gave my daughter a blessing and when you guys were teaching me now." I love it when the investigators recognize the Spirit!

Mom, to answer your question the whole office still lives together in the same house. It’s a way cool house and we’re excited about being there. Also, I’ve already been told that I will start training a new financier starting next Wednesday. It’s kinda weird since I’ve been here for so long. Random comment...I’m so glad we get circumcised when we’re born because there is an elder staying in the office house because of that. OUCH!

Don’t worry about me though, I’m still goin strong. I taught the lesson in district meeting on "enduring to the end".  I used the example of a marathon runner. I’m sure dad is familiar with this phrase known as "The Wall", when your body has used up all of its nutrients and is basically just going on empty. It’s the time where you either drop out of the race completely or give it your all and just keep pushing. We’re all gonna hit "The Wall" various times in life, but the question is what will we do when we hit it? I love you guys a bunch and let’s keep running towards our eternal finish line.

Love,

Elder Ward

volcan=conquistado

PS. I hate to talk about this but here it goes. There is a young bishop who helps us out in the office who is a really good friend of mine and is offering to drive us around for free when you guys come to Nicaragua. In other words, we would just have to pay him with meals. I know everything pretty well so I could do it, but I want to know what you guys think. He’s done it for quite a few other missionaries and he says it’s nice because they can just sit and talk while he drives. He’s also offering to come pick you up from the airport and stuff when you get here and could drive you around so you don’t get lost. You’d probably have to pay him a little for those days that you’re here without me. It’s up to you guys though. Just let me know. LOVE YOU!

Welcome to my City (Elder Ward and Elder Santana)

The Horsecream man

The Lord Visits His People in their Afflictions

Hey!

The Big Move (Trevor's on top)

Happy Tears and a True Friend

Man, you guys had a super awesome week! That sounds like a super awesome family reunion. Seriously, I think that sometimes we really take for granted how blessed we are to have an awesome eternal family, and to have the resources to do fun trips like that. Oh! …and sorry I didn’t write until now. Today was super busy. We got up at 5:30 and started the big move to our new house. We did that ALLLL day until about 2:45 when we frantically started getting ready super fast in time for our baptism at 4. I don’t know if I told you guys but we married and baptized Judith and Cesar today. It truly was a miracle. When we first taught them the law of chastity Judith said, "There is no way that I will ever get married in my life". They would fight all the time, Cesar smoked like a chimney...but...Christ and His Atonement continue to surprise me every day. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again...the gospel changes lives for eternity.

Judith and Cesar's Baptism

Well, I can honestly say that this has been one of the harder weeks of my mission. I don’t like to talk too much about the tough times, but this time I will because I feel like I’ve learned in one week what one might learn in years of experience. Throughout the course of this week it seems like ALL of our recent converts and some of our investigators have had some kind of difficult test.

1. Carlos and Delvia got kicked out of their tiny little tin house because Carlos got rubbed at gunpoint right after getting paid.  

2. Henry and Maricela this week also got kicked off of their land by the government, had to destroy their house and then rebuild it, and after rebuilding it that same day it rained really hard and EVERYTHING got completely soaked because the roof got built bad. As a result Henry drank and when we showed up he had the beer right in his hand.

3. Doris was hospitalized with a really bad illness.

4. Norma had a problem with the 2nd counselor who said some really ugly stuff to her.

5. Henry and Stacy have been really struggling economically but got offered a job for one day of the week to sell cheese in the market. That day was Sunday.

6. And the big crowning event of the week...Juan is in prison right now and he did absolutely nothing to bother anyone. Turns out that he was walking home from dropping his daughter off at her cousin’s, stopped to talk to a group of old friends (from when he drank and stuff) and the police came and took all of them because someone had just been robbed at knifepoint in that area. No questions asked, no investigation, nothing. It’s sad, but the police and the law are very corrupt here. It turns out that he will be there for at least 3 months until they have his trial.

This all happened in about 2 days...and as you can imagine I was just hurting for our investigators and our converts. I felt completely hopeless, unable to do anything for them. I asked myself...WHY? WHY, if they were new members and were trying to so hard to do the right thing, WHY was this all happening? Throughout the week I was reminded of what I’ve learned on my mission. The Lord gives trials to those that He loves. He sees the things that we can’t see. We see ourselves as the little pieces of coal being passed through fire and pressure that seems unbearable at times, but he sees us as the finished product, the diamond. I loved sharing these scriptures with our investigators:

13 And it  came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

14 And I will also ease the  burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as  witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

One thing I love about these verses is that the Lord said that He would remember the covenant that they had made with Him. Also, He never took the burdens away but just strengthened them so that they could bear it so that they would KNOW WITH A SURETY that the Lord visits His people in their afflictions.

Sorry, that got really long but I felt like I should share that with you guys. I know that suffering is an important part of our eternal progression and that we should be grateful for those learning opportunities. It’s amazing to see how our converts are becoming even stronger because of these trials. I love you guys a bunch and keep being good.

Love,

Elder Ward

Elder Santana and Elder Ward....so cool!

Much More That We Can Do

Dear family,

WOO HOO for Connor! That’s super awesome that he’s finally going to get to New Zealand. He is going to do awesome things there and I know that he will love the people there. Hey, I know exactly how we could make it up to Connor for not taking him with us to the church history sites...going to get him from New Zealand! haha You guys have become quite the travelers. It seems like you’re in a new place or talking about a new trip every time we write. And Collin, happy birthday dude! What the heck you’re like 17 already huh? That’s weird.

This week....well I had always heard of audits before the mission and how everyone despised them, but I never really understood why...until I had one this Wednesday. JK, it wasn’t that bad. I learned a lot and also a lot of things that I need to improve. It’s interesting that through the course of our lives there are many moments where we have to give accountability for our work and our actions. It was interesting because I thought...eh, I’ll pass with flying colors. I’ve got this financial secretary thing down already. I was pretty humbled, as we are many times when we think we’re doing all that the Lord asks when in reality there is much more we can be doing.

Well, unfortunately Henry and Maricela had their baptismal date moved to next week because Henry stopped drinking, BUT Elder Rose discovered in the interview that one day this week, out of the blue, he decided to smoke (and he doesn’t even smoke)...But we’re working hard to help them understand true repentance and true conversion. Can’t remember if I said this last week, but Cesar has stopped smoking and they’re really excited to get baptized. We also met this really awesome family this week that are SUPER evangelical but are very interested in the church. It was interesting because the wife said that they had a lot of problems in their relationship and that she felt like their church wasn’t helping them to fix it. We read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and they loved it....I’m pretty positive that no other church truly blesses families like ours does.

Today we went to Xiloa with President and his family to have a barbecue and play around. We played ultimate Frisbee together and celebrated Father´s Day for President. This may sound kinda crazy...but after seeing families get married, talking about the importance of families, being around happy families all the time...I’m starting to realize how awesome being married and having a family is and I’m stoked for it.

Well, not much more to write about. Hopefully there will be more exciting news next week.

Love,

Trevor getting killed by Andre Castro

Elder Santana and Elder Ward

Elder Ward

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

The Gospel Heals Broken Families

Hola,

Man...Newport Beach, beach volleyball, spending time with family, sitting in the hot tub till your ears shrink...there’s almost nothing better than that...besides being a missionary in Nicaragua!!!!!! Dude….I don’t know what the deal is but there are so many people here that are ready to hear the gospel and be baptized. Remember Henry and Stacy and their family? Well, them two and four of their kids: Henry, Stacy, Stefanie, and Margeli, are getting baptized today. I think I say this every time but I love that family so much. This week they were explaining about how their family has changed since we started visiting them and it made me so happy! I’ll let you guys know how things go with the baptism.

Honestly, I’m happy about being in the office still. You can’t really complain when the Lord continues to pour out blessings. On Monday in our meeting with President one of the new secretaries, Elder Escobar from Guatemala, says "I’m just getting used to being in the office". When it came to my report I said, "I’m just getting in the office". President and his wife laughed and asked, "Elder, did you hope to have changes?" I told him that I was thinking that there was a possibility. He told me that in his manual for mission presidents that he was allowed to leave me here for 8 months…haha. One thing that really got me though is he thanked me for my work and told me that I was still here because I’m doing a good job.

Another miracle...we’re teaching a family named Cesar and Judith. They’ve had some problems in their relationship and apparently on Sunday morning had a pretty bad fight. Well, Cesar took off in the morning and Judith started getting ready for church. One of Judith’s friends who is a member passed by for her and they went to church. To her surprise, and ours, that’s where she found Cesar as well. They didn’t talk to or sit by each other in church but they ended up resolving everything after church. Before Judith swore that she’d never get married to him, but I think that she realized that the Lord wants her to keep that commandment because she agreed getting married to him. Awesome! It’s pretty sweet how the gospel can heal broken families.

Anyways, gotta go. There’s no water in the church for our baptism, so we’ll have to see how we solve this problem. I wonder if the fire department has ever gotten a call from the Mormons asking them to come fill up a baptismal font...Love you guys a bunch and be good!

Love,

Elder Ward