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