March 24, 2014

WEEK 13, March 24, 2014

Family :)

This week was really good! :) WE FINALLY BAPTIZED!!! :) I will post pictures next week, I brought the wrong cord to the cyber.... gyarrrrrrr but I will show them next week! I baptized this kid! His name is Oscar and he has 11 years old! :)  He is a ton like Ash, which was really cool! He was so happy, and is so excited for church, and to start working on his faith in God! He is such a good example to his family! His parents are super positive, and will get baptized we think haha. The problem with being a missionary here in Masaya is that we have the greatest Market for buying stuff, but it is such a huge temptation for people here. especially on Sunday, everyone goes to the Market and it is first priority! I have Never macheted so many people here in my life. Generally it includes making them realize that the church is their  salvation because it has the Sacrament! hahaha macheteing is the only way to teach people here, because they are lazy and have never thought of things in an eternal perspective. Its hard, but I love the scripture, I believe its in first Nephi somewhere, where Nephi is just destroying his brothers for being idiots, and they are like, why are you talking so hard to us, and Nephi says in response, only the wicked take these things hard because they know they know that they have sinned. I love that a lot because it's true!! I have learned to be really direct when talking to people. If you are indirect here, you will never have success, because the people's hard hearts will never be penetrated! (1 Nephi 16: 1-2)

I'm so happy for your awesome test results Mom! I really am so happy!! We just had changes last Wednesday, I think I will be here in Masaya for the rest of this change, and be changed to a new area this coming change. usually for missionaries, they keep you in your first area for 6 months, but since I am with Zone Leaders, President will want me with regular missionaries as soon as possible to see if I will be a leader or not. This next change is where President will watch the hardest for the bright shiners out of us new missionaries. I just hope that I am given a good Comp, not a Frito (The Verb Fritar means to fry, so a Frito Missionary is a missionary that is "Fried" or just lazy and usually wants to go home) missionary. But who knows, Ill go and work hard where ever the Lord wants me to go!

The culture in Nica. is nothing like I have ever seen before hahaha. Everyone does this funny finger slapping thing! watch this video hahahahahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUZh84D39B8

Just Keep that pointer finger loose, loose as a goose hhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hopefully that made your day mom :)

But everyone does this and its basically means like your super happy and people do it when they hear good news hahaha :) But I do it a lot now, and its just a part of me now hahahahaha :) The other thing, is there are a ton of Motorcycles here, and I have sat and watched people on motor cycles drive by for 2 months now, and I hope you aren't mad, but I kinda really want a Motorcycle now........ :) idk, its just a crave I've had for 2 months hahaha :) Have a awesome week mom!! :) Tell Ash I said hello!!! :) I love you so much! Just remember to keep yourself loose as a goose hahahahaahaha :)

These are  answers to Lauren's questions:  

I Thought your prom picture was awesome!!!!! Freaking Zach! 

The weirdest thing I have ever eaten was something called a mandura, and its like a banana they cut in half, and fry it in a pan, its really good, but it has a funky texture haha :) We eat mostly beans and rice hahaha, pretty boring! Don't take American food for granted laba hahahaha everything is so different here, But I have gotten used to a lot of stuff! :) I feel like  it's easier to speak Spanish than English sometimes already! :) Loving it here! I miss you a ton laba! I'm so happy for you! :)

Love Elder Naisbitt

March 17, 2014

Week 12 - March 17, 2014

Mom! :)

Okay so Just some background Info on my comps! 

Elder Macias is from California, he has 19 months out here, and will leave in september! He has 2 other siblings serving missions in Washington DC and Peru. 

Elder Garcia is from Guatamala, and has 17 months in the mission, and leaves on my B-day in October! hahaha He has 5 siblings, two of them are serving missions right now, in Honduras and El Salvador, the other two are older and aren't serving anymore.

Both of them are converts to the church, elder Macias was Baptized when he had 9 years and Elder Garcia when he had 12 years.

We have District/Zone meetings every Friday. We never really see the President. But I posted a picture this week with the Hilux and the APs in our house because they worked with companionship´s in our area, so they had to park the truck in our house haha. They are really awesome, and it was fun to work with them!

The other pricutres I put up are the first few are of me with my allowance the mission gives us every 15 days haha. its roughly $90 or C$2300 

Okay so the picture that has my comps and I eating dinner is at Central Park at a little dinner shack thing haha :) Super Rico! :) it was like pico chicken, with this type of a fried banana, kinda like a plantain, and a bunch of Avocados in a salad haha :) so GOOD!!! :) 

And the last photos are of us at our "parents" house here in Masaya! They are so awesome, and so strong in the church! the boy that im with is 17, and his name is Carlos Manuel, and he is planning on serving a mission! The two parents are Peter and Margarita :) They are so sweet, and will usually feed us dinner! :) We have FHE or Noche de Hogar with them everymonday cuz they are recenet converts haha :) We love them a ton! :) 

I'm so glad that you had a great week mom! :) Sounds like this whole prom thing is gonna be awesome! :) What is the plan for their daytime activities? :) Ugh this conversation is making me want your delicious food again! I miss your cooking so much! Thank you for all that you did for me before the mission! The other day I was totally craving your meat loaf! I was loosing my mind! and homemade mashed potatoes! ugh hahaha :) I hope your scan results are great again! You should get them today right? :) The procedure they did sound like a pretty sweet way of doing a scan! :) I really have been praying for the family everyday! I hope everything is going great! :)

So this week was pretty great! We should be baptizing these two little kids we have been teaching for the past month or so, one is named Arjelia and the other is Oscar! So I will let you know how that goes next week! :) We taught a lady who had been messing with Witch craft and didn't believe in Satan or that she could enter into heaven! It was super crazy! We had no idea she had been messing with witch craft until after we had finished teaching and had left, when one of our Recent converts said she practices witch craft! So we are never going there again! There was such a strange/off feeling when we were there, Just kind of like something was missing in the house, and it was just unnerving the whole time! We gave her the Book of Mormon, but she wouldn't open the book, and she never once said Jesus, only Dios which God. Pretty crazy! Witch craft is pretty rampant here in Masaya, and Nicaragua in General!! 

We ran into another lady too, that we were pretty sure was possessed. We knocked on this door to see if they could help us find this family that lived on this street, and the lady that answered was super sweet, but she had this daughter in the back of her house in the "yard" that was screaming and shouting nonsense. and  I guess the mom said she wasn't always like that but about three years ago she went crazy.... SOOOO at this point we are like Freaking witchcraft!!! another one! but before we could go this crazy lady sees us and says this in spanish "What do you want guys?? Are you here to take me out?!?" There are differnt verbs in spanish you use to say to "take" out on a date, and to "remove" and she used the remove one.... so we got out of there as fast as we could haha. We have the power to do that kind of Exorcist stuff, but we will never go and put ourselves in a situation to do it unless they possessed are bothering missionaries. If they arent bugging missionaries it's the Stake Presidents duty haha.  Scary though! 

Anyway that is basically the ghist of my week! :) I love you mom!!! :) Youre the greatest!!!!! :) 

With Love!

Elder Naisbitt

Week 11 - March 10, 2014

Week 11 - March 10, 2014

Okay mom & dad,  I think dad was right, there is not enough time to write two different emails answering both of your letters... If I ever have time, I will definitely write separate emails! 

My comps. and I are doing great! We are getting along really well and we are constantly busy with teaching people! I have learned to realize that I won't have regular bowels for two years! haha. 

So the food here is really good! I love it, especially Gallo Pinto! I still cant stand beans, but I love Gallo Pinto haha :) Mom, you need to make this, con Huevos y crema! :) crema is como sour cream haha :) Everyone would love it! They have these drinks called Frescos! These are the greatest thing in the entire world! really they are awesome! Frescos, and the Coke here!  Real sugar coke is really great! :) Frescos are usually homemade with fruit and Tang :) or my personal favorite, semilla de Jicaro, which is seed of Jicaro, which is a type of fruit! OHH its so good! 

This is really a bummer,and it's sad, This past week, we had this guy lined up for baptism, and he was ready to go! During this guy's interview with our District leader he told him  that he had been smoking every day!!!! Ugh!! This is like the third investigator that has not let us know when we've asked him about the word of wisdom and didn't have a problem, and was committed to being baptized. Not all with Word of Wisdom issues,  but we literally get them to the waters of baptism, and then they disappear! Its pretty frustrating. The whole Zone of Masaya is seeing this happen. Its crazy because we are one of the hardest working zones in all of the mission. Satan works hardest where there are the hardest working missionaries. 

Also, this week was my first fast in the mission. I thought fasting back home was hard. That is nothing compared to this! haha. It's 100 degrees outside and we still work just as hard as we usually do. My body literally felt like it was going to break apart. I can't wait till next month!  hahaha. Its been a pretty humbling experience for me. I haven't prayed this earnestly in my life, and been humbled this quickly too. 

Moms pineapple sherbet smoothie thing sounds soooooo good right now, haha. I'm so happy about moms test results too! Such good news! I loved the pictures this week, That corvette was awesome!!! and Lauren's face while holding the chicken is priceless hahaha :) Anyway, I love you guys and I'm so grateful for your support! I wouldn't be able to do this without you guys!

Just a few new photos in Dropbox for you.

The one with me and my comps, is us holding a 500 cordoba! The lady of our house is super fachenta (rich) and she drove up and needed a blessing, so we gave her a blessing and then she says, you  guys aren't eating enough food, and she whips out this 500 cordoba! the exchange rate  right now is 1 us dollar is 25 cordoba, so she gave us 20 bucks hahaha :) really nice! :)

The second picture is the lake that is in Masaya! We stopped by this little store and I thought I would take the picture :) Gorgeous!

The other is, Elder Macias´s ping pong set that his old comp gave him haha! so that's us getting it ready to go for today! :)

Thanks for everything! :) I love you!!!!! :)

Love,

Elder Naisbitt 

March 3, 2014

Week 10 - March 3, 2014

Mom! and family!

I am happy you enjoyed my hearing my voice on the video I put in  Drop box last week,  hahaha :) I miss everyone's voice! Ugh I  can't wait till May!!!! :) I am so happy you had a great week and an awesome birthday! I love you mom!  I'm sorry you had to spend your birthday away from the fam! But it sounds like you had a blast with the Iverson's in Seattle! I will and have been praying for your results to be great! and that everything is clear! We fast next week, so I will be fasting for you mom! I think I have fasted for you every fast Sunday I have been away! I love you mom! I miss your dancing in the car and your infatuation with P!nk, hahahahahaha,  j/k, but really I miss you a lot mom!  I ll be there for birthday # 44 though!

We had a pretty standard week! I had the brown rain (diarrhea) for like three days this week, not explosive,  but just a bit runny,  gross!  hahaha but I'm doing good now! We were way busy this week! Elder Macias and Elder Garcia had to run back and forth from Managua a few times, so I worked with the District Leader named Elder Gray!  You might remember me telling you he is from West Jordan and went to West Jordan High School and grew up by Ash's elementary school, Westland.

Pic of the week! :) I found a guy that had a BYU shirt, and me and the other missionary in that photo, Elder Gray are huge Utah fans,  and this guy had no idea what BYU was,  so we told him that when we took the picture, we were huge BYU fans and that if you make a U with your hands, it is for the BYU! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha,  freaking priceless :  Of course we corrected our fallacy and told him that both schools were really rivals and disliked each other.  (I guess that it is funnier to us Utahans more than Nicaraguans.)

Anyways,  this has been a pretty great week! One of the pictures is me with a huge pig at this ladies house. hahaha It was huge and only a year old! crazy! The the other pictures was taken at a park, Mickey Mouse & Minnie Mouse were the honored guests. I also received  Jess´s Valentine package today. She put a Rubik Cube in it and I solved it immediately!  I still haven't received the package you sent yet,  so hopefully next week!

We have been working so hard and it is crazy! I feel so tired everyday, and somehow I just keep working! haha. My feet always hurt, and I don't remember what it is like to not to be constantly translating Spanish to English and vice-versa. It's exhausting! and sometimes really disappointing,  because we love these people and they all know that the church is true, but they don't want to make changes in their life, many just keep running away from us. But on the other side,  it is so great to see someone really accept the gospel and take it and run! Its so awesome when they feel the Spirit and want to keep on learning.

Being a missionary is amazing!

My companions and I are getting along really well, and we are teaching really well as well! Its hard teaching with three, but we manage!

I love you mom, you're the greatest!

Elder Naisbitt