November 23, 2015

November  23, 2015

Mom and Dad! 

Well we are getting pretty crazy close! I cant believe it! sounds like you guys had a great weekend, tiring but good I'mm sure! If you get a sec, send the photos if there were any! We will have to see what Laubs chooses to do with colleges! That will be interesting,

Well my letter will be kind of short this week, not much happened! We have been working super hard outside of the area trying to get the zone moving faster to have this month be a good month of baptisms, so we have been running around crazy, taking buses, and walking home 4 miles because there were not any buses haha. That was last night, Elder Black and I went out to this part of Managua called Loma Linda (Pretty Hill) to help some sister missionaries with their possibilities. We forgot that on Sunday that the buses stop passing around 7:00 pm. so when we finished we went to the bus stop and waited, but the bus never came, so we had to walk ALL the way home. we got back around 9:00 pm, and Elder we sat outside to take numbers, and I fell asleep in the chair. I guess Elder Heileson did too haha, so our kids took pictures of us knocked out at like 10:00 pm hahaha, those are on Dropbox.

With the little time we had in the area this week, we thought we were going to to well in church, but we could only get 8 investigators to church. and the worst part is that two of the people that were going to get baptized this Saturday did not go. Manuel got the famous Chikunguna and was down and out, and this other lady left Saturday night for an emergency in the family. They only have two times in church so that cant get baptized... Darn. We need to talk to them about that and make sure they are ready to go this coming Sunday! We had a ton of cool people but they are fell Sunday morning for a bunch of dumb reasons. We need to work harder this week, and find more ways to be obedient so that it does not happen again! 

Other than that we are doing good, just working away! Sorry for the short letter! 

We had this soup on Sunday called Mondongo soup, which is the stomach of a cow! it was pretty gross haha it was like chewing a bunch of thin fatty meat! I thought it was the intestines at first cuz it had a super weird taste! we ate it all, but the only one who loves it is Elder Guzman! Apparently they eat it a lot in Honduras too! You'll have to ask Christian if he ever ate it!

Anyway, I love you guys! Thanks for all of your support! 

Elder Naisbitt

November 30, 2015

November 30, 2015

Hey Mom and Dad!

Well another week bites the dust! sounds like you guys had a great trip down to SD! Lucky! Why did you take a rental car? is the van being ssssccaaaarrrryy? :) hahaha I'm  glad you guys had a good time and that you were able to relax! I'm happy to see the photos, its been a while since I have seen them! I'm sure the weather was delightful as mom always says! hahaha :) well we had a pretty decent week too! :) dads shoes are sweet by the way! :)

We had a pretty decent week ourselves! ill start from the beginning!

So nothing really happened from Monday till Thursday! Just working! We found these two cool people on Tuesday that went to church this week! they are Maria Jose and Jose David! Jose is the dad of Maria. They loved church! we are going to go tonight to teach them the BOM and get that testimony built! They are preparing to be baptized on the 19th of December! I should be there for that one! ;) But they are super sweet!

On Tuesday we also went looking for a restaurant that would cater a thanks giving lunch with the zone! we found this place here close that made food super cheap and the brought it to the church on Thursday! It was awesome and everyone left super super full! there are some photos of the lunch on Dropbox. That was on Thursday!

On Friday Elder Black and I went out to Monte Fresco and visited the district out there. They have their district meetings out there, and it was great to be able to learn from them and help them learn as well! A sister gave the lesson about learning to recognize the spirit, and to figure out how a person can learn to follow it. She had everyone pass to the front and share their testimonies about how they have felt the spirit in their own lives. On my mission I have never felt the companionship of the Holy Ghost more strongly than ever in my left. Its just  a constant feeling of having someone else there with you. Everywhere! Its been such a huge blessing to be able to have the spirit in my life and see the spirit touch the lives of my investigators that God has given me. 

On Saturday we baptized a super cool girl named Sandra! at first she really did not want anything with us or the church, but as we have been teaching her mom and after her mom was baptized, she began to have doubts if what she was really doing was correct, and if her mom had been baptized in the true church. She knelt down and prayed to know if this was the true church, and she told us that she knows it is because God told her! Super awesome, got baptized super easily! God is good :)

Saturday was also my final interview with President! That was super awesome! We talked about the mission, and what I learned, and the plans afterwards! He gave me tons of good advice! I feel super ready to go back now, and get on to what life has prepared for me! We will see what happens, but it was an awesome interview!

Yesterday we were blessed by the Lord to have 12 investigators in church, and we now have 15 people with baptism dates, progressing. Awesome! Thanks to God! The zone is doing great, and we are just needing to get to know all of the people that are going to get baptized this coming weekend!

Today we went to the church at 10:30 am to play basketball with two recent converts! It was awesome! Air-conditioned, inside court! SWWWEEEETTTTTT! I became a baller on the mission! ;) not haha but we had a ton of fun! We then went to this pizza place right here by the church, and ate a ton of pizza! 

Well I hope you guys have a great week, and that everything goes well for you guys! :) Love ya tons! 

Elder Naisbitt

November 16, 2015

November 16, 2015

Dear mom and Dad! 

Well this week literally FLEW by! I cannot believe that it is Monday again! Seriously, I have never imagined time would go by so fast! I'm glad everyone is doing good and that everyone is happy! That's so cool Mom went down to Arizona! It sounded like it was a blast! I have so many movies to see when I get home... We were in at our lunch appt, and the little kid was watching TV and a commercial came on and it was the trailer for hotel Transylvania 2, we could not hear it, but I was laughing so hard! The first movie was hilarious haha. Anyway, I'm glad all is marching well in Zion!

So this week went by so fast for a few reasons, first and foremost, we baptized Grichard! Whoo Hoo! He is such a cool kid! we invited his grandma to come to the baptism and I think she liked the church, we need to give her some follow up on what she felt during the baptism! Anyway the baptism was great! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be able to help people come to Christ! 

Well the sad part of the week is that, darn Manuel was going to come to church this week, but his work called him in and he had to work.... So he cant get baptized because he does not have sufficient times in church. If everything goes as planned and we have some miracles, we will have a great baptism Saturday on the 28 of November! 

On Friday were interviews with President Russell! Each three months we have zone interviews! Most of the time its pretty calm, and nothing happens, other times President gives you lots of things to get better at! I came into my interview, and President tells me, well we will be talking in a few weeks, so we ended up just talking about the zone and the missionaries, and my mission haha. It was easy. But that ate up all of Friday, and Saturday was the baptism! The week was so fast! 

Anyway, another week bites the dust! 

I love you guys and I'm grateful for all that you do! Keep on Keeping on!

Elder Naisbitt

November 9, 2015

November 9, 1015

Dear Mom and Dad! :)

Darn I was hoping to get home on the 4:30 flight haha I ordered all those darn things in the office! Come on secretaries!! :) kidding! but 7:30, I'm going to be BEAT! I can not tell you how tired I am haha, I'm' going to  keep working obviously, but I just want you guys to know that when I get back I am going to sleep for a week straight! #EyeBags haha I have loved serving the Lord, and I know that as I serve him harder and better here in the mission he will serve me afterwards! I just want to give everything I have! I have a ton of people I am going to stay in contact with, and I have never loved a people more than I have loved the Nicas :) if you cut off my hand, instead of blood, gallo pinto and this drink that they always drink that is super awesome called Pinolillo would fall out! I am 100% Nica :) Once a Nica, always a Nica! :) 

Well our poor possibility, Eliezer just cant stop drinking coffee! We have tried everything, but he wont stop! His mom is not very happy we are still teaching him, so I think we are going to drop him for a time, and let his mom calm down before we go back. Its always hard dropping an investigator, but sometimes its what is necessary. Its like when a car is overheating, its better to just turn the car off and let it cool down, rather than just drive it slow. Investigators are super touchy, especially if they have a baptism date and they cant complete that goal, its frustrating for them and for us, does not matter how much patience and love you have, its frustrating. Sometimes, an investigator recovers and will get baptized the coming week, but the majority fall and don't get back up for a time. During that time its a good time for them to reflection and think about everything. Usually in two to three weeks, they are ready and good to go again. So that is our plan with Eliezer. When he feels the difference that his life is without the Gospel, he will come back with a new determination to fallow it. As a child falls, he realizes that the ground is not a happy place after being on his feet, so they get back up! I love the Gospel and the impact it has on people and on their lives! :) 

We have quite a few possibilities for this coming month! I'm super happy with the people that the Lord has given us so many great people teaching! We had a bit of a struggle in the church this Sunday! I really have no idea what happened, we worked SUPER hard this week in the area trying to get a ton of people ready for baptism this month, but it was like everyone cool we were teaching just decided that is was a great day to, visit family, get sick, go work, sleep in..etc! I think I heard it all on Sunday. We ended up bringing 7 investigators to church which was a big disappointment for me, but we are going to work even harder to get new investigators, and bring them to church. The next investigator that should get baptized this weekend is named Grichard! he is 13 years old, and always goes to church with Freddy and Marya and their family! we are going to focus on his needs this week, and get him pumped for his baptism on Saturday! We are also teaching this super awesome guy named Manuel! He is like in his 50's but he is a reference from a member in the ward, and he is awesome! He has two times in church, and is ready to take the step on the 14th of November!

I just want you guys to know that I'm doing great! I love my mission, and I love the Gospel! I love the Nicas, and I love the Lord! Thanks for all of your support and prayers! I know that you guys will be blessed, and have been blessed by my service! I don't want to leave Nicaragua, because I know that Mom is receiving more blessings than ever, and i want her to always be good! I represent two things in my mission, First, the Lord, that's why i carry the title, Elder, and secondly I represent you guys! The Naisbitt family! I love you and I'm grateful for everything! 

Elder Naisbitt

p.s. I am pulling out some money last week, and tomorrow for a new suit I am having made here in my area. it was like 50 bucks. the last suit I bought, was supposed to be grey, and that was the color ( I  thought) of the fabric, but it ended up being a green grey suit. This one is going to be grey. I tried it on today! should be sweet! :)

Love love!

Pss no photos, we had nothing to take pictures of! next week I promise!

November 2, 2015

November 2, 2015

Hey Mom and Dad! 

 Well  this was an interesting week! we had changes, and I am going to "die" here in Altagracia! As the Nicas would say, "Gracias a Dios" hahahaha the Nicas are my favorite! Sounds like everyone had a pretty good week too! Halloween is not celebrated here, and "Dia de los Muertos" is not really celebrated either! Nicas only like Christmas, and Independence Day! haha and a bunch of Catholic holidays! Basically any holiday where you can drink! Alcohol is super popular here! I'm sure you remember seeing pictures I have sent with the drunk people sleeping on the side of the road! its a huge obstecal here for the work of the Lord. I'm glad you guys had a great week! It makes me happy to hear that every one is doing great!

Like I said this week was super interesting! I stayed in the area, and so did Elder Guzman, and we received Elder Heileson, who was one of the District leader in our zone, he is my new Zone Leader comp. and He received a new kid from the states, Elder Black from Montana! I'm pretty dang happy that these guys are my comps! Elder Guzman stayed to finish his training with me, and Elder Black is right out of the MTC :) Super fun! :) Elder Heileson is one of the only other Americans in the mission that is a Ute fan, so that has been fun to talk about, and he used to live in Utah, but now he lives in Arizona! He has 16 months in the mission! He is awesome, I'm learning a lot from him!

So we worked like normal Tuesday, Wednesday were changes, and Thursday! On Friday we went over to Freddy and Mayras house to visit them, and they tell us as we walk in, hey come check out what we bought for the birthday party tomorrow! so we go walking around the back of the house, and they had bought a LAMB! haha awesome! so we took some pictures with it, then out of no where the two brothers of Mayra show up with knives and sheets of metal! So we decided if we are here, might as well get some action shoots of the killing :) hahaha it was pretty  barbaric how they killed it hahah They cut the throat and they cut it apart! hahaha at the end of it, we took some pictures of the head! Once in a life time experience there!

On Saturday they had told us to come at 5:00pm to get something to eat before the party started, so we came, ate some the of the lamb, which was on kabobs and left fat and happy! The birthday party was their daughter, Dulces, Quinceñera! I took a few pictures with Mayras brother, Norlan who is a super awesome guy! he helps us out a lot! around 5:30 we were out of there because the music started, and people started to show up, we came back around 8:30 to get a piece of cake, and we headed home!

On Saturday we were going to baptize a kid named Eliezer, however we showed up and we reviewed all of the baptism questions with his mom their so she could see that he was truly ready, but he confessed that in the morning he drank coffee! GYARRRRRRR which is a week of repentance, so we are planning the baptism for next Saturday! Hopefully everything goes as planned! we could get another Sister we are teaching, who is in a city super far from Managua, but if she comes back, we can baptize her this week! :) Lots of Prayers and Fasting! :)

Well I hope you guys have a great week! :) I love you guys! :)

Elder Naisbitt