I really am glad to be here...especially to be here in Masatepe.

There are lots of wonderful things about this place. 

 It's fun to walk down the street and recognize lots of people,

 say adios, and feel at home.

November 7, 2011
Dearly beloved familia,
     I miss you all!  My pen died.  Thanks for your letters.  I love my letters.  They are organized by date now, I believe, mas o menos.  I go back and read them all the time.  I print out your emails too.  I love to read them.
     Tonight we're hopefully going to have a Noche de Hogar with some recent converts and inestigators.  Hna Castro had the idea to roast marshmallows -- so hopefully that will work out.  Noches de Hogar are super awesome.  People love them.  Last Monday we had a AWESOME one with all the missionaries at the house of a member Ophelia  --  she had planned it all really well.  There was a message and singing and then Noche de Talentos!  Ofella lip-synched to two songs and it was really cool.  She was dancing.  People acted out a story, told jokes, sang, gave tongue twisters.  It was really fun.  Hna Castro sang a verse of I am a Child of God in English and I played the piano for her.  The BEST PART was Hna Eduardo.  He's a convert and he's super with-it.  He doesn't have work right now and he goes on splits with the missionaries ALL THE TIME...like 4-5 times a week for hours.

November 14, 2011
He's sooooo awesome.  He's probably 45 or 50 and he plays the guitar -- learned from a book.  He left and came back dressed up as a clown --full out baggy shorts, crazy shirt, pink socks, and clown shoes.  He had clown makeup too.  He did some tricks and sang 2 songs with his guitarra.  It was soooooooo awesome.  Magical, kind of, the songs were beautiful too.
    These days I've been feeling lot of things.  But I really am glad to be here...especially to be here in Masatepe.  There are lots of wonderful things about this place.  It's fun to walk down the street and recognize lots of people, say adios, and feel at home.

November 21, 2011
     I have a big list of thinks I want to write about.  But I don't know where to start.  I have had very very very little time to write in my journal and I want to record more of the everyday stuff.  What happened this morning, an interesting contact, a joke I heard.  I hope I can have more time to write in my journal.
    I lost my watch in Nagarote and it was probably a good thing.  We're always late and there's really not much I can do about it because Hna Castro has specifically told me that that's not going to change.  Sooo...we get to the house late, we leave the house late...I hate being late.  I feel super stressed because I know it really bugs a lot of members and investigators too.  Hopefully I won't get sick from the stress.  My stomach's been hurting but so far....no ulcers:)
     Anyway, life is good.  Something interesting that has happened.  We were walking down the street and an old man greeted us.  Hna Castro shook his hand and leaned down to hear what he was saying.  And he gave her a kiss.  And we left.  It was really funny.  The next day we were saying good night to the Family Mercado.  Gretel, the oldest, was outside talking to her boyfriend, Rudy.  Hna Castro gave her a kiss and then without thinking, obviously -- did the same to Rudy.  Right as she was kissing him she realized what she was doing and was like Aaahh!  And we all laughed and laughed.  And she was embarrassed.  But it was super chistoso.  About 30 seconds later the Elders called us and I was laughing as I was talking to them -- they came around the corner and Rudy told them what happened and they laughed too.  Hna Castro's comment:  It's because I'm a righteous disciple of Christ.  I give what I receive.  haha
    Last Saturday we had divisions and I was in Los Chirinos to ask permission from some parents so their kids could be baptized.  We were supposed to meet at the church at 5:00 because my companion was going to Jinotepe for the adult meeting of Stake Conference.  Hna Castro y I decided that if she was late in coming to the church, I could go to the house of a member who lived nearby.  So Hna Xiomara dropped me off there and thankfully the daughter who is almost 20 didn't want to go to conference so I stayed there and talked to her and her brother Francis.  Also, they have a brother who is deaf and I've chatted with him before.  I showed him pictures of my family -- that was cool.  His form of signing is very different so I couldn't use ASL, but his Hermanos translated for me.  When I chatted with him before it was so frustrating because I wanted to be able to communicate better with him -- it was cool though because I realized how much easier it would be in Spanish.
    I was there for a long time.  It happened to be Francis' birthday.  He hadn't done anything for his birthday and hadn't received any gifts.  So I have him a sucker Hna Castro had given me and I blew up a balloon Elder Talla had given me.  So he had a balloon and a sucker!  Yay!  I also ate dinner at their house -- gallo pinto + crema and pan.  I told them I wasn't going to eat because Hna Castro had just called me and said she was coming from the centro de Salud.  But Silvio, the dad, said if you don't eat we'll be angry.  "Entonces, como."
     I shared a scripture with them from the BoM and comprometer-ed them to read the B of M (Francis y Silvio).  They are both less active.  Silvio was the 3rd or 4th member of the church in Masatepe.  The church used to meet in their yard.  Francis told me he would come to church the next day  (And he did!)  and Silvio said that "me da pena" to go after not going for so long.  They fed the missionaries when the missionaries didn't pay members for food.  Anyway, it was cool that it worked out so I could visit them.

Sidenote:  This was the 2nd time I have given the only birthday present on my mission.  My presents are lame but I give with love!

Something I love is that when I walk down the street I say Hi to a lot of people because I recognize them.  I've talked to them before.  It's really fun to recognize Hno Jacob's mom, the abogado, the person who said no thanks to the gospel.  I really feel a lot of love for the people in Masatepe.  We say adios to a lot of people as we walk.     [hand drawn "extremely accurate" graph:  Y-axis:  # of times I say Adios...X-axis:  quality of my mood.  As value of Y increases, X increases correspondingly]

I love you Mom and Dad!
Happy Christmas and Happy New Year too!
Keep the Christmas Spirit alive in the Tew house!
Love love love love love,
Hna Marybeth Tew