December 17, 2014

December 17, 2014

Mi Querida Familia! :) 

I love the pictures of Ash playing Basketball!! That is super awesome! I hope he goes somewhere with that! If it means I have to practice with him during the nights, I will do it!!! :) That is super awesome! At two (one for you guys) will be great! :) Elder Hayes and I were talking about how this Christmas will be, and what we will be doing. The 25th we will be working like normal, and on the  24th and 26th we will be doing the multizones haha, which means no work haha But I think this will be one of the most memorable Christmases that I will ever have. The first away from family, and we will be outside knocking on doors and teaching people about the birth of Christ. I'm pretty pumped to see what it will be like :) But I know I will remember this Christmas forever. Because if everything works out like it should, I will be home on the 10th of December the next year, so this is one of the only Christmases that I will have away from home. 

That is super awful that that friend of Lauren's killed himself.... When we lose hope in Christ, is when we give ourselves to the other side. There is no grey in the life, we are on the team of Christ or we are on the team of the enemy of all righteousness. Many Nicaraguans, and much of the world thinks we can just sit on the fence, and be fine. I love the Scripture in the old testament in Joshua 24:15, 

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 

And the other Scripture, Mathew 6:24

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

We have to decide today whom we will serve and be faithful to that decision. 

Anyway, missionary rant of the week complete. I'm glad you guys had a great week though! sounds like you guys got a lot done, and that Christmas seems to moving forward at full speed! :) I'm super pumped about being able to talk with you guys! I'm stoked! haha :) If You can invite Jessica, that would be great!

Well our possibility got moved back to this week because he was not ready, and still was having problems getting baptized because he did not want to get baptized out of hypocrisy. He did not understand the concept of one true church in all of the world, so we re taught the Restoration and he understood it this time, and was willing to progress for this Saturday. So this Saturday for sure we will be baptizing :) Alison has disappeared again. I think Elder Hayes and I are going to drop her and put her in the old Investigators part of our Area Book because she really has been more of a pain than a pleasure to teach. We will see if we can find her this week, and if not we will  not be going back. Kind of sad, but that is the truth of the missionary work here in Nicaragua haha. 

We have this really cool guy name Mario who is super stoked to get baptized in January, the only problem is, is that he is going on a vacation outside of our area for a month, and will not be back till the 15th of January. So we put his baptism date for the 24th, and we are going to give him the Book of Mormon tonight in English (he speaks a lot of English) and in Spanish so he can grow his testimony in that while he is going on his trip. 

We have some other investigators kids that are progressing for the 3rd of January, and will get baptized! The only problem is getting the moms signature. That is such a huge problem here in Nicaragua!!!! The parents never want their kids to be baptized! It is a pain, but the mom here is pretty calm, so we should be fine on that! :) 

anyway that is about all that is going on here right now! We are prepping big time for these multi-zones, which has sucked a lot of time and energy! But those will be coming up really fast, and will be an absolute blast! :)

I love you guys a lot! :) I hope you guys have a great week and I cant wait to talk to you next Thursday!!!! :) 

Love you a ton!

Elder Naisbitt

12-9-2014

December 9, 2014

Mi Querida Familia! 

Como Estan?? :) Hopefully great! Thank you so much for the addresses mom! I will be working on those as soon as I am done writing you guys! So just so you know I will be planning on calling on Christmas day! and whatever time is best for you guys! afternoon of morning or whenever! :) The church has changed the time for calls now though, its 45 minutes, so just to let you know now! :) I'm super pumped to see you guys! I just keep thinking about how awesome mothers day was and that was like 7 months ago! haha crazy right!? :) Anyway, just let me know on the time of day! :) Anyway, yes mom I love your calendar! The scriptures you used are super awesome! You and Dad are so great! :) I will never take you guys for granted ever again! :) I have received my Christmas package! It is just chilling next to my study table :) Sounds like you guys had an awesome week! I loved the photos of Lauen, especially the one of her and Uncle Fester! HAHAHAHA I about died laughing hahaha :) Nice work on that dad! The Pictures of the Temple in Cordoba are looking great! Seriously! super pretty! Lots of Fun San Diego too! 

Well this week we could not get Alison baptized! she literally disappeared on us! We tried looking for her every night, but she just never was home! Kind of Disappointing, but we are going to have to start over and figure out what scared her and what she did not like! The mission is all about patience and diligence.... However we are preparing our possibility this weekend who is named Yarlin! he is cool, just a little timid and does not have a strong testimony yet, but we are really pushing in these last days to read the BOM and keep on praying to the max!! 

I have learned a lot about self mastery this week and about how to get over the natural man and live as God wants me to live. it has been a really hard week because I am pulling myself out of old habits and focusing myself in obedience to the commandments. However i have seen miracles in my life as God has blessed us with new investigators as well as a closer relationship with Him. 

Just some fun stories that happened this week too :) there was a group of 28 members coming in from Bluefields, to Managua, and were going to stay in one of the chapels here in Managua, and because President Russell is basically the stake president for the District of Bluefields, we were in charge of getting 28 mattresses to this chapel :) and we only did it in 2 trips, with one truck.... :) There are some pretty blurry, but good photos of the Hilux with 11  and then 17 mattresses :) it was pretty sweet! The other photos are of one morning we were shinning our shoes and saw that the shoe polish bottle said it was flammable, so you know that we had to light that on fire :) and the last pictures are of a recent converts little baby puppies! they had just been born that afternoon, and were so cute haha :) anyway, our convert just handed us two little ones and so we took some photos of them :) 

Office work is tiring right now. We are preparing for the Christmas Mulit-zone meetings. Basically that whole meeting is all day and is run on our backs haha. It is pretty crazy! and then a week after those are done on the 24th and the 26th of December, we have on the 8th of January, change meeting again! AHHHH so much stuff to get done!!! But we are going little by little! Eating the horse bite by bite! :) 

Anyway, kind of a slow week here, but hopefully next week is a lot better and more happens :) 

I love you guys a ton!

Elder Naisbitt

December 3, 2014

December 3, 2014

Mom and Dad!

Wow it feels like forever since I have emailed you guys! It has been pretty crazy here in the office with changes, and President is preparing to start the Interviews for the Semester, so that is a lot of planning for us and getting all of the missionaries on the right time schedule! As well President has been loading my plate up with work and stuff to do, so it has been super super super busy! Elder Hayes and I are still companions, and for how long I don't know! President told me yesterday that I will probably be here in the office until at least February..... GYARRRRR hahaha. I am kind of sick of the stress. But we are going little by little :)

Your guys week sounded super crazy!! But San Diego sounds super awesome! Buca de Pepo, sounds like a great Thanksgiving dinner though! We had two dinners, one at Presidents, and the other in an American member's house named the Rasmussens!!! The husband works at the US embassy, and they are members! So we ate REALLY good! The turkey was way great! I had not had that great of food in a year! Seriously! But we ate too much at President's, so we got to the Rassmusens, and we were all too the point of throwing up because we were so full! ugh! :) But it was soooooo delicious! The Rasmussen's sent us home with food, so we are still snacking on it occasionally :) She made homemade rolls, which were almost as good as moms! Nothing can beat Mom's homemade rolls! I would like those one of the first night I am back! :) Sounds like Dad is on his last trips to Argentina, which is super crazy! When is the finish date!? Hopefully pretty soon! That would be really cool if we went there when I got back! 

Well, This past two weeks have been good in the field, we are just struggling to find people to teach right now! because this area is so dangerous, we have locked ourselves only in part of our area, which has really cut down the area in which we can contact. so its been a bit of a trial looking and looking. We did find a cool guy yesterday that kind of contacted us and wanted us to visit him, so we will be heading up that way tomorrow night to see how positive he is. We should have a baptism this Saturday of a girl we have been teaching for a few weeks, named Alison. She is a daughter of a recent converts, and loves the church, just never has time on Sunday to visit because she is always working and going to the university. But she is on Christmas break right now, so we took advantage and have been teaching her! She is super awesome and loves to learn! I just hope that she can keep going to church after school starts again! Her mom and dad are was cool though! Her dad is the Ward Mission leader, and loves the mission work!

 Then in the following week we should have another baptism of a Kid Named Yarlin (Jarline)! He is was prepared by the Lord to receive the Gospel! We found him because he is the boyfriend of a recent converts sister! But he is 17 years old and has received an answer from God that our church is true, and Joseph Smith was a prophet! That is about it for the month of December, and we have a few new possibilities for January! If they progress, I will tell you about them in the coming week! 

I have received a few packages, and I love the Calendar! Mom that is the Coolest thing you could ever give me! Seriously! Sister Russell saw it and was like, I love your mom, and then cried because it was so awesome! Thank you for all of the time you put into that! Really mom, your the greatest! Thank you so much! I will keep the other package closed until Christmas! I have received a package from Grandma and from Jessica! You guys are the best! :) The gift I had gotten for you guys with your scriptures got put on hold, because the guy made them wrong, so I have to go back and see if he can fix them. If they are late, I'm sorry!!! But I have some cool souvenirs I will pack up in a box and send out! But the guy will fix them it is just a question of $$$ Now :) 

Love you guys a ton!

Elder Naisbitt

November 18, 2014

Baby buny

November 18, 2014

Mom and Dad!

What a crazy week! Go UTES! :) what a heck of a win! What are they ranked in the nation? Hopefully they are around 15 right??? Sounds like Dad held down the fort quite well! I cant believe that Laubs has a job at Zupas!! That is so awesome! I have not heard anything from her in a few weeks, but I'm sure she is super busy, but that is super awesome! :) Hopefully they keep her working there for a while, she needs to pay for gas! Does she still drive the Outback?? And the Honda? :) Hopefully my little blacky is receiving some sort of love right?? :) I'm so happy that you made it home safe, and that the Gamma Knife went well! I really hope you do not have surgery.... Hopefully you can just get  BCBS to approve the drug and will pick it up finally! But I know that you're in the Lord's hands, Mom. Seriously! It sounds like you are in great hands up in Seattle though!

Oh, I have received the flat package and I will be waiting for the next one! I have a bit of a question though, have you sent the Christmas package yet?? If not, I have a request, if you could put my old Idaho license plate in the package! There is an awesome member here in our ward that is super helpful with the missionaries, and is like my older brother here in the area, but he collects License plates from the US, and he does not have one from Idaho, so I was wondering if it was possible, throwing that in right on top of that package! :) That is the last thing! :) Sorry!

So the world of the mission is going really well! Sorry I don't mention to much about my comp! Me and him are getting along really well! He is learning a lot because he only has 6 months in the mission. At about that time in the mission, is when you think you're better than the investigators, and just try to outsmart them, and don't really pay any attention to them.  I don't know why it happens, but it happens to all of the missionaries. Its about that time when your Spanish is getting better, and you can somewhat speak with the people, and think that because you are able to speak, means you should talk the whole lesson haha. I was the same way 6 months ago, but I have changed a whole lot now that I look back. Anyway, Elder Hayes is at that point and just LOVES to talk haha. One of our investigators, told him he talks more than a parrot hahaha :) He didn't know what that word meant, and I don't intend on telling him hahaha :) But we are getting a long really well, and hopefully he is learning a little from what I have learned. 

To answer Mom's questions, I have had 0 problems since I have left Masaya. I'm adjusted to everything, and the water, nor the food doesn't hurt me anymore. I'm always careful to not eat food that isn't cooked that well, but that just comes with experience with Nicaraguan Cooking haha :) The nice thing is that my Districts areas are super super super poor, so usually when we go and eat at homes, it is just rice and beans, and maybe some eggs. This area has humbled me a lot. Like last night I did divisions with missionaries in my district for the night, and ate like three times haha. The Nicas are super humble and willing to share and give what they can. its kind of sad sometimes because I have learned to read emotions pretty well, and a lot of times, they give us the food, and it is just almost a look of shame that they couldn't provide more, it has been a pretty amazing year, last year at this time I was a completely different person. 

My District is doing really great! The one missionaries in Monserrat North, Elder Merrill and Elder Castro are doing great! finding a lot of people, and doing a lot of contacting! I gave them the goal of contacting 43 people everyday, which is a lot for a missionary, but they completed yesterday, and are super animated to complete again! 

The Assistants are always doing good! :) hahaha

Elder Hayes and I brought 12 people to church last week, which was a miracle! We put that goal the night before, and the Lord helped us get exactly 12! super awesome! The one family we visited the next day after church, and the first thing the wife tells us is that, " You guys need to pray to the Lord to find the truth" Which basically put, she liked the church, just has her own beliefs that are against the church, like doesn't believe in Prophets, and thinks that all the churches will be saved in the last day. But she is really awesome, so i think we will try and teach the Book of Mormon this week and see if she will accept it. The other people that showed up were a Grandma, her daughter, and her Grandkids, who are super pilas, and they really want to read the book of mormon, we our next appt, on Friday to see if they read Moroni 10! sorry "pilas" (pronounced Peelas)  if you don't remember means they are super positive and will do whatever you ask them!

Anyway that is basically the week! haha we had that fish soup again, so I will put that up on Dropbox! Sorry I wish I could take more photos, but because we have some people in our area that are looking to rob us I never carry my camera or anything important. Once I'm out of the office, I promise I will take a ton more photos!!!!! Promise! :) 

I love you guys! have a great week! If you guys would like anything else for Christmas, like Nicaraguan souvenirs, let me know what you would like so I can look!! :) KEEP ON THE PILAS! :) 

Elder Naisbitt

 

Breakfast of champions

Fish soup

November 12, 2014

Dear Mom and Dad!

What a crazy week! Anna sent me a photo of the Utah guy dropping the ball before the line hahaha, you know Anna! It was funny cuz she was like, "well its been a rough time in Utah country or Swoop-town, what ever you guys call it " hahahahah Priceless Anna moments haha :) But that is too bad that they lost!! It was almost like the BYU game that Utah pulled that huge DUHHHHH moment and almost ruined the game a few minutes before it ended! What is crazy too is that Amanda Oliphant and Kaela Mcdougal are back!! That is so mindbowing! When does Ashton Vandermide come home? It has to be sometime soon now right? Thanks for working on my christmas requests! You guys are awesome! I will be looking for the measurements tomorrow! There is a billboard by the office that has that interstellar movie poster on it, and it looks SICCCCKKKK haha I will be watching that for sure when I get back! Mom, I hope you have a good trip up in Seattle, I hope that everything goes well, Youre in my prayers! Hopefully ash adjusts to the strict teachers! I remember, i compained about having the strict teacher, but at the end of the year, they ended up being one of my favorite teachers! He'll learn to deal with stress! That has been one of the greatest things I have learned here in the office. We are under so much pressure and stress to get everything done, and done perfectly. President is a perfecionest, so when things are done, they need to be done well. It has been super crazy the past four months. I should be here in the office through Christmas, but we will see what happens this coming change! The change takes place on the 26 of November. We will go through all of that, and then after dropping the deads off at the airport, we will go home, take a nap, and then go to Presidents house for Thanksgiving on the 27th. YUMMM But the bestpart is that in the stake there is a family that works for the US Embassy and they are members, so every year the missionaries in the office go over there too! :) Its going to be super awesome! :) 

Any way, enough about the future!! We baptized two people this week, Javier, and Alicia! Melves didnt feel ready, so we had to move his Baptismal date, but he will be ready soon! It was such a great weekend! Javier was baptized on friday, and Alicia on Saturday, and on Sunday they were both confirmed! This saturday, and maybe the coming one, are empty for baptisms. The last week should be really really great! We have been finding a ton of people for December, which should make that month really great! I have pictures of our P-day on Dropbox, as well as the baptisms!

The mission has a goal of baptizing 250 people this month, and if we do that, we will make the yearly goal of 1800 baptism, if in December we baptize 150! President has gotten this mission rolling, and it is moving so fast now! All we are thinking about is the next month, and baptizing this month! And he still is raising the goals, and the Rules of Excelence. (which are every day we must complete with the following, 7 lessons with investigator, 4 with Less Active and Recent Convert, and 24 contacts a day. So if we do that President says we are promised by the Lord to have +6 Investigators in church on Sunday) He is pushing us so hard, but we are here to work, and to serve 100%, not 90 or 50, 100%. He is always talking about living the Law of Concescration on the mission, which is in essence, Obedience with Exactness. Obedience brings blessings, but Obedience with Exactness brings Miracles. That has been my goal on the mission, to live 100% to the Lord, because none of this time is mine, nor my investigators, nor the Wards. It is all aloted time given from the Lord. I love the mission, and all that i have learned from it.

Thank you so much for all that you guys do for me and for the misison! I miss you guys and love you more!

Elder Naisbitt

November 4, 2014

November 4, 2014 (No photos this week)

Mom and Dad!

 

Sounds like you guys had a great week! I only saw the pictures of Ash on drop box! What an awesome costume! Seriously, he looks just like Si!  Poor Utes losing in the last minute! I have faith that they will be able to make the game interesting against Oregon, and at least make a pretty decent game out of it :) Go Utes! I cant believe Laubs had that late of a practice up at the U! But whatever it takes to keep her bleeding red! If that girl goes to BYU, it will be super sad! Halloween just doesn't exist here in Nicaragua haha, they just went and decorated graves of their ancestors on Sunday, which was kind of a pain, because everyone that lives in Managua goes out of town for the weekend to celebrate "el dia de los Muertos". This holiday isn't too big here though, just another excuse for The Nicas to not work haha.  I'm so proud of Ash doing that great on his Piano Recital! That would be an awesome video you could send me... :) if you don't have one of those, just a video of him playing in the house! I hope everything goes well for you Mom with the Gama knife surgery. I'm sorry that this is in your life! Your FHE sounded really awesome! If I was doing one of those sheets, you guys would be up top on that list! Thank you so much for all that you do for!

So this week was pretty standard! We are super pumped for the baptism of the other week! it was really awesome to see the change that people make before they are baptized!!! I think that is the greatest part of the mission. Watching people completely turn their lives around! This weekend we will be baptizing this other girl named Alisia! We contacted her in the street one day, and she lives with a Less Active family, so we went there and got everyone super pumped for baptism, and for going to church. She hasn't missed a week yet, and will be baptized this week! How awesome right?? We will also be baptizing two other guys, named Melves and Javier. They are two brothers, who elder Watteyne and I contacted way back in August, but these guys have been so receptive to the whole message, and have made lots of changes, like stopping to drink, and to put their lives in accordance with the Word of Wisdom. They took a little longer to get to this point, but they are so ready to baptized now, and are ready to be members of the church! The Book of Mormon is such a key tool here in Nicaragua, and in all of the world. People here hate to ready, and it is just like they never have grown that part of their lives, but when you get them started reading, and especially the Book of Mormon, they get super pumped, even though its hard. The Book of Mormon is so simple, that like everyone says, a child can understand the points of doctrine that are presented. Javier, one night was like, "Wow, this book really does a good job explaining principles, and the words from these prophets are very clear." This book, really is the key to everything. If someone will start reading the book, they will feel themselves growing closer to God than they ever had! Anyway, I am super pumped for these three baptisms this week, and we have the goal of baptizing 9 people this month, and I think we could do it, its going to be super tough though! :) 

Okay to answer your questions, some stuff for Christmas:

• well first off some sort of fat burner, because here in the office I have put on like 15lbs here in the office! ;) haha no but seriously, the office is killing me haha.

• -Okay but for reals now, If you could send some sort of scripture marking stuff, like those Twistable Crayola crayons work really really well!

• -I would really like some new ties, some of them have been pretty destroyed! I'm down for any color, just not too crazy, and not pink :) 

• -A new shoe shine kit (broke)

• -This isn't really a need, but I'm struggling keeping my teeth super white, I keep them clean, just not super bright anymore. If you could look around for some whitening strips, that would be AWESOME! :) 

• -Another want, if you guys could look for one of those AXE shower scrubber things, that would be sweet too haha, the shower scrubber things here aren't the greatest quality.

• -three more pairs of those good socks from the missionary store. I think some Nicas stole mine while they were doing my laundry in Masaya. But the other three pairs that I have are super good still, and have 0 problems! I just need a few more.

I think that is everything that I need! I am working on your gifts right now, but I need to know, which members of the family have the scripture "quad" that is smaller, like Ashes scriptures. For Ash's scriptures, I need to know the dimensions of the spine, as well as the outside leather piece. I have a video on how do it on Dropbox. If the scriptures are like the size of Dads green ones, no worries. :) if you could do that this week, that would be super awesome! :)

Well I hope you guys have a great day and week! I love you guys so much! Tell the family that I said hi! and I love you! :)

Elder Naisbitt

•  

Oct. 31, 2014

Dad and Mom!

District + Pre. and Sis. Russle

First off, what a win for the Utes! That is so awesome! I miss a lot of things, but I think the thing I miss the most are Utah games! I cant believe either that I'm 10 months old in the mission! I was looking at the photos from you guys, and Lauren looks super old now too! I cant believe it sometimes! but the photo that really shocked me was the photo of Austin and Betsy's little guy, Nate!!!  When I left he was super tiny, but now he looks like Korver! super crazy! Your pumpkins looked pretty sweet! That's fun that Brittnee was able to join you guys! Loved the designs! I hope everything goes well with your tests Mom, and that you are able to get this cool drug! I'm always praying for you! I hope Dad gets home okay! Ash is the man of the house for a few days now! :)

So it was a pretty sweet week! We have been super busy, but it has been a blast! We did baptize and marry Julio and Vanessa! They are super awesome! it was such a crazy night though! we were on the way, and it decided to rain like none other, and for like a half hour! So that put everything behind schedule, but we married them first, and then we baptized them! But it was like God was really trying our faith and the faith of Julio and Vanessa, because there was a baptism before us, and so we asked the ward clerk to keep the water in the font, but i guess he did not relay that message on, because when we all walked in together, the font was empty.... so we were tasked with refilling it, and waiting for that. 1 1/2 later... ahh, so the frustrating part was that we had a bunch of people there to support, but by the time the baptism started it was 8:30, and there was no one left but a few members that were faithful haha. But we finally got them in the water and then we got them home. The next day, they show up to church at 8 am sharp, and are waiting to be confirmed, but again, nobody told the bishop that they were baptized, so by the end of the sacrament meeting we were like, what are you doing Nicaragua????? But they got confirmed, and everything was great haha. We visited them on Tuesday and they were doing great! :) They were for sure chosen by God!

So the other highlight of the week, like I said yesterday was the Trip to the Volcano Mombacho! Seriously, that was one of the coolest hikes I had ever done! It was such a clear day, and we could see for MILES! There a few cities you can see, the biggest one, that is right next to the lake is the city of Granada. We took a video of the part of the trip up, and you cant really see in the videos, but the roads were literally straight up! it was incredible! so we got to the top, and started the small hike, which is where we found a bunch of monkeys called, howler monkeys!, and the entire Volcano is full of them, so as you are walking, it just sounds like a bunch of Hows and screams haha, it was pretty awesome! These photos are so awesome, i really cant describe how beautiful the whole trip was! It will be the only time I go while on the mission, but when we come back, I will be taking you guys there! Seriously!  There are a ton of photo though haha, like 193 of just the hike :) and another 10 from the baptism!

Well that is basically about all that happened this week, but we are now preparing for changes again haha. They will be on the 26 of November! super crazy!

I love you guys! I will be looking for the flat package! so if I get it sometime in November, open it? or wait till December 1? :)

Hey I was thinking the other day, what would be super super awesome, would be a sweet christmas card, but it has the Calender of the 2015 on it! That would be awesome! one of the other elders has one here, and it is super cool! I dont know if that is still possible, but i would really like that :)

Elder Naisbitt

October 22, 2014 - Nicaragua Managua South Mission newest District Leader

Dear Mom and Dad,

Wow! two weeks have passed by!!!! I have missed you guys a lot though! A lot of stuff has happened! A few highlights of Cambios! My new companion is Elder Hayes, he is from North Carolina, he is 19, and has 6 months in the mission! My first companion that has less time then I do! hahaha Another really cool thing that happened was that I am now assigned as a District Leader!! Whoo Hoo! haha I am in charge of two other companionship's of missionaries, The APs and another set of full time missionaries :) It is pretty sweet! I did my first baptismal interviews yesterday, which was really awesome! The people I interveiwed were really awesome! I am going to love this assginment! Getting to know people, I have realized here in the mission, is something that I love to do! I love to just listen to people, and learn more about them! Anyway, so as a District Leader, I have to take nightly numbers from the missionary sets, Sunday numbers, make lessons for District Meeting, and go on divisions all of the time to help and support the other missionaries. Its really nice having the APs in my district though because they are the best missionaries in the mission, and I usually learn more from them, and am able to adapt my teaching closer to their's. I am loving it!

As for the office, I'm doing a lot more number taking now, and I'm always talking with President about what is going on with missionaries, and especially for the missionaries that get sent home for breaking rules, not being worthy...etc. I order plane flights, and organize all of the trips everywhere haha. It is pretty stressful, but i enjoy it a lot! :) 

The area is getting better! We will finally be baptizing our cool prepared family this weekend! I have to pull some money off of my card to help pay for a Divorce we have to do, so just letting you (mom) be aware of that. Their names are Vanessa and Julio! I have some pictures that i downloaded to Drop Box.

Thank you so very much for the Birthday package! Loved the clothse and the food! thank you so much! I will be waiting for the Christmas package! I need to hit the market again and go searching for more gifts for you guys! anything specail that you guys would like? wooden nicaraguan stuff, machetes, whatever... :) Let me know before next week! :)

I love you so much! Thank you for the support and the constant prayers of love! I hope everything goes smoothly for you mom and your doctors! And Dad, we will definitely have to go and drive go karts when i get back! too much fun! :) 

Love you!

Elder Naisbitt

October 9, 2014

October 9, 2014 (no photos this week)

Amada Familia,

Congratulations Mom on your great test results! I will for sure be praying for you, and I will keep praying! I love you so much! I'm glad you guys enjoyed Conference! I thought the talks were really great! We had to listen to it in Spanish, which I understood everything, it just doesn't have the same feeling as listening to it in English! it was super cool all of the language differences we saw! Especially when the Spanish guys came up and talked, and I was like, I understand you! THIS IS AWESOME! haha :) So we have found out what will be happening here in the office this change!!! Craziness le digo yo! (I tell you) So this past change we have received a new missionary couple that is working in the office with us, and will serve their whole 18 month mission here in the office. The office is big, but with 6 people all of the time, it becomes cramped haha, so we have all been making predictions on what was going to happen, and how president was going to change things up. So he brought each of us in one at a time, and sat us down and told us what was going to happen! (drum Roll..........) I will still be in the office, but i will be changing positions. I will become the General Secretary for the mission, and the the Husband of the couple will become financier! They are taking out two of the elders, so Elder Roney is going back to the field, and of course my companion is going home. So Elder Hayes and I will be the only missionaries left here haha. elder Hayes will become the materials Secretary, and help on my duties because he knows how to do it, but I have basically a week and a half to train to become the General Secretary, one of the most stressful jobs in the office... AHHHH :) oh well, that is how it will be now.

Change meeting is officially one week away, so we are putting everything together, and the stress is starting to mount! :) 3 nights, No sleep!

We are really hoping that we baptize this week! I have had a great time this change, i just want to baptize. Elder Kersey is a great companion, but I have learned a lot about patience this change. a lot about how to take into account others ideas, no matter how silly they are as well, and giving up my will for theirs. I feel like that is why we have not baptized at all. He is a great missionary, just doesn't give up his ideas, nor listens to mine, and we have gotten no where. Like I said, i have learned a lot about patience, and how to love your companion, even in the bad times. *sigh* I guess I should not be judging, because i know I have faults, and he has to learn to deal with me, but man this has been hard. The only thing I have not like about my mission is that, minus my training, I have only had one change with all of my companions, which is like 0 time.  But I have learned to adapt. That is the life of a missionary though. submitting yourself to the Lord, and just being obedient. I am loving the mission, and i cant wait to see what else the Lord has planned for me! :)

I love you guy so much! Thank you so much for being so supportive and always being there for me! I could not ask for better parents or a family! Thank you so much! I love you!

Have a great week! Ill be praying for you guys! always!

Love

Elder Naisbitt

October 1, 2014

October 1, 2014

Looks like an Elder's birthday

Mom and Dad!

I loved reading your letters! I really loved the photo of Laubs doing the "Vader" haha it looks super awesome!! All of the pictures of you guys at the game/conference looked really fun! That's too bad that the Utes didn't win!! Super frustrating! But that seems to be a typical Utah game right? Either we smash until the 4th quarter and then we lose or almost lose, OR we are down super far, and end up pulling it off in the last 5 minutes hahaha :) #UtahFanLife haha Moms night out sounded like lots of fun! I will have to remember that Chinese place for dates ;) haha Poor dad working like a horse though! (Canyon voice) haha.  I Hope Mom´s scans go well and that that scar tissue has gone down and that you don't have to deal with those stupid steroids anymore!!! I will for sure write Christian too! and if I get a chance I will look for Mom in the General Women's Conference haha.

So to answer your questions, this week is not change week, change week is on the week of my birthday, in a week and a half basically! hahaha I have not yet killed my companion, but he did have his final interview with president yesterday! He said he liked it a lot! But he is not ready to go home! I guess the thing with being here in the mission is that by the time you finally get used to being out here, it hits around your 20 month mark, and by that time, time is going by so fast, that the mission just ends in a split of a second!

For me, i already feel like this whole mission  is moving way too fast! I know time will only be getting fast, and we will only be closer and closer to the end! Crazy!

This week I have been thinking a lot about the Atonement of Christ. I have put in a lot of study time just trying to understand more about it! It has been a great experience! One thing that I have been doing and have been trying to put into practice in my life right now is a saying that we have here in the mission, which is, "Live in a way in which you let the mission pass through you, and not you pass through the mission." I really have been trying to humble myself to everything around me and just to let myself go, be a better person, and be changed by the experiences here, rather than just be a rock and not learn anything from these two years that the Lord has given me! I know I am a different person, I can feel it, I can't tell you how I have changed, but I know I have, for the better, obviously,  haha!

Crazy, I mean super crazy story this week!!!!!! So Elder Kersey and I are walking through our area on Sunday night, and like I have always told you, our area is the most dangerous area in all of the mission, seriously. But we were just walking through, trying to get to one of our appointments in that area, and we end up walking behind these three guys, and as we approach, they all stop and look at us, So,  we begin to pass quickly on the left side of this group, As I pass one of these guys, he grabs my arm, and stops me. He is looking at me, and he just had this empty personality about him, like he was just zoned out. So I am stopped, being held by this, I'm sure drugged out, guy and his buddies are all around me. I just froze, and just could not do anything, I then remembered I had my wallet, which has license, Nicaraguan ID, Credit cards, Personal cards, money...etc. and I was not going to let these three jack-wagons take it, so I shoved this guy in the chest super hard, but he still held onto my arm. So now this guy is mad, and pulls out a knife and is holding it in the air like he is going to stab me, and that is when Elder Kersey screams, run run! So I push this dude one more time and started to book it, but before I could get away, he shoves this knife into my arm!! My brain didn't process it, but we just ran, and my arm hurt really bad, so as we got away from these dudes, we checked my arm, and there was no hole, in my shirt or through my garment, and my arm just has a slight small cut, which wasn't even bleeding..... We both just kind of stopped and looked at each other, and just thought, what a miracle, seriously. I saw that knife hit my shoulder, but i just have a tiny cut, and a bruise. Miracle! Seriously! ANYWAY morale of the story is, I'm fine, I'm not in shock, I got over it fast. I made copies of all my licenses, and I don't walk around with my debit card anymore haha. I'm

just super thankful that God is watching over us and keeping us safe :) Picture of my arm are online :)

Attack on E. Naisbitt 

Other than that experience we have been working hard! Our baptism fell through! He went and moved temporarily in the North Mission till the 20 of October! Jack-wagons! hahaha :) but he will get baptized when he gets back! We have 4 awesome people lined up for baptism on the 11! It will be a great week!

I love you guys so much! I'm excited for Conference and being able to hear the prophet! :)

Love love from Nicaragua!

Elder Naisbitt