31 Diciembre 2012
hey family, it was nice to talk to you all on Christmas. hope you are having a good day.  write me a note!  love, hna tew

Questions:

   When are you going to tell Peabody that you´re going to retire? 

   When are you going to tell the Stake or everybody else? 

   When do you find out where you are going? 

   Do you know how many options there are in each place?  Like, what´s the likelihood that you´re going to Chile vs. Argentina?  I don´t know how many missions there are and how many openings there are.  

   

I am really excited for you all. yay!  

What is Paul´s surgery? 

We´ve been working a lot with members lately.  It´s fun and it´s a lot better than working by ourselves.  Yesterday we had two families in church!  And Carlos Garay!  Yay  

Henry is to complete a family.  Yesterday was his first time in church and he really liked it, especially principles of the gospel.  Mauricio, who got baptized about a year ago is the ward mission leader and he gave the class.  It was excellent.  Henry has a lot of questions and it´s really interesting to try to teach him.  But he´s reading his Book of Mormon and going to church.  We found him Christmas morning haha.  We were contacting and we yelled buenas and I saw a sign that said "Fam Rodriguez Ire y hare lo que el Señor mande."  And I was like... hna de Leon... I think that Mormons live here.  And sure enough.  I recognized Maria Elena, asked her if she lived by herself and she said no, her husband, who has lived in the states for 31 years came back to Nicaragua a month and a half ago.  Is he a member?  no.  Is he here? yes.  Can we talk to him. sure.  He accepted a baptism date.  That´s why I was late on the Skype call.  We were talking to him.  So that was great that he went to church.  We are going to teach him in the house of a member.  :)  

  Carlos Garay went to church for the second time.  Last week he was ready at 7:15, outside of his house with his BoM.  This week too!  Yay! He was an evangelical Pastor for 20 years.  He´s reading the BoM like crazy and is super excited.  His family bugs him a lot but he´s like, whatever.  He has a ton of friends in church now.  yay for a friendly ward!  He always asks us why we are late or why we missed an appointment.  He´s about 70 years old.  He talks a lot.  We´re going to visit him tonight with Mauricio.   

   Jessica is the sister of a member that goes to the other ward.  Her husband is from Costa Rica and they both have gone to church many times.  She has a testimony, but he´s still working on it.  They have to get married first, and he needs to get some papers from Costa Rica so they can get married.  They are planning on the 26th of January.  Their kids always go to church and they are so cute!  They aren´t members, but basically yeah, they are. 

   Hna de Leon is great.  She´s probably my favorite or second favorite companion.  

I'm going to write a little more later.  

write me a note.  

love you all, 

good luck with everything.  Feel better Nani and Tanner! 

hna tew

Just wanted to say hi to my grandparents too.  Tell Grandma and Grandpa Tew that I love them and I hope they are doing well.  That I think about them and pray for them and I hope they have a happy new year!

Grandma Campbell, thanks for all the letters and the encouragement.  I´m really glad to receive the letters!  Love you grandma! Happy new year!  

24 Diciembre 2012
Hey family,

   um... Wow.  Congratulations Mom and Dad.  You will great!  That´s awesome news.  To be honest, the thought has crossed times on my mission that you might be called to be mission presidents, but it was still kind of surprising a lot.  But that´s great.  Felicidades!  I can´t tell anyone?  Not even my companion?

   Um...  you all need to buy 3 tickets to be here Tuesday night. and I think that we´ll leave Tuesday morning.  Can you buy the tickets?  Dad, I think it´s best to stay in Managua every night.  Nicaragua is really safe, but I want to sleep in a American hotel.  

   Not that I ever think about ending my mission.... :)  No I´m excited to see you all but I´m really enjoying my mission now more than never.  My companion is awesome.  Hna de Leon, de Guate. 

Love you all.  Thanks for the letters.  

hna tew 

Kevin did you get the job at BYU?  

Tell me tell me  tell me

Dad,  Congratulations!  That´s great that you get to be a mission president.  

Mom, Congratulations!  That´s great that you get to be a missionary!   

Kevin, Congratulations!  I am so happy that you got the job.  Cheryl said that you were moving to Provo, but I wasn´t sure.  But that´s so great!  I hope that I´ll be able to talk to you and Cheryl and the kids tomorrow.  But if not, happy Christmas and I hope everything goes well for you!

Cheryl,  Congratulations for being awesome!  Sounds like you are excited to go to Provo.  I thought that was cute that Tanner was reading books to Adam and Scotty.  

Kyle, How are you doing?  I hope you are doing great and are enjoying Christmas too.  love you!

Doug, Hey your gingerbread house is awesome!  I love it.  Hope you have a good Christmas.  Say hi to the cold for me.  

Dani, thanks for the pictures and the updates.  I love getting emails.  Adam is a Campbell kid.  He looks really Campbell-ish. 

Pablito, Feliz Navidad hermanito.  Espero que estés feliz y que estés disfrutando la navidad.  Te quiero un montón!  

Well, I am with hna de Leon.  She´s from Retalhuleu (como se escribe???) anyway she´s awesome.  She´s excited to work and she is up with working with members so we´ve been having lots of mini lessons (10 minutes) with member.  Also we´re trying to pull up the retention because our converts are not going to church.  They´re great, but they don´t go to church.   

Dani, you are right; today is Christmas.  Our plans... at Midnight we´re going to leave to house to go hug our neighbors.  just kidding.  We´re going to eat dinner at midnight with a member.  just kidding.  Dang.  All the traditions are contrary to the missionary rules.... Speaking seriously, we probably will stay up late tonight because of the fireworks.  We made no bake cookies today.  margarine plus milk plus nesquik plus oats equals no bake cookies Nica style.  We´re going to visit our converts tonight and take them cookies.  When we gave away some cookies before lunch it finally felt like Christmas.  and Jaime and Jimmy were happy to have cookies.  yay!   

I´ll probably open my packages tonight with my companion.   :)  

Hna de Leon talks a lot.  She is really fun but with´it (pilas, chispas).  She has lots of good ideas and she´s patient.  I have REALLY enjoyed this week.  I am glad that she is going to be my last companion.  :)  Yay!  We are getting a ton of missionaries in February when I go home.  I have really loved being a missionary, especially this week.  I hope I can do everything i have to do in the time I have.  

Also, Nani looks really cute with and without teeth :)  

So yeah... Skype tomorrow at 1:00.  I think I´m going to have to create an account so don´t freak out if I don´t call exactly at 1:00.  Also, I haven´t confirmed with the zone leaders and they have to be there in the stake center when we call.  

But I love you all a lot.  I´ll be praying for you Mom and Dad.  Thanks for your letter.  I won´t tell anyone until you tell me to tell someone.  But that´s great that you´re going to be mission presidents.   It´s like 101 dalmatians. you already have 5 children and now you´re going to have 500 more.  When do you find out where you´ll be going?????? 

Thanks for all the letters and everything I love you all a lot.  Talk to you tomorrow. 

love, hna tew

17 Diciembre 2012
hey!
write me a letter. 
who else has gotten mission calls.  I heard about Tiffany and Jessica.  Any more news??  pictures from the CCC?  Thanks for the letter, mom and the pictures, Dani.  We had a baptism this weekend and it was the crazy.  But miraculous. 
love, hna tew

Hey!
   Mom, sounds like the Christmas celebration went super well.  Congratulations!  I hope you took lots of pictures.  I love what you wrote about the room with pictures of Jesus.  Sounds like a really special experience. 
   Dad, hope you´re doing well.   I got a letter from Jed Jensen this week that said that it´s a real pleasure to be able to work with you.  Two or three people have sent me letters thinking that I´m in Guatemala, and they get here, just a little late.  But if you can tell him thanks.  I really appreciated the letter and I´m grateful for all that he did to help me what he was my bishop. :) 
   Kevin, hope you are doing well. Tell me what you´re up to.
   Cheryl, hope you are feeling good from your surgery.  Give the munchkins a hug for me.
   Kyle, what are you up to?  I´m looking forward to talking to you at Christmas.  Thanks for your note last week :)   Also I had a dream that I was hugging everyone and I was giving you a hug when I woke up.
   Douglas, how is work going?  Your children are really cute. 
   Dani, I hope you are great!  Merry Christmas!  Send me some pictures of your gingerbread house por favor.
Pablito Lindo, hey how are you doing.  Write me a letter in Spanish!  or in English!  Hope you are happy and are enjoying life.  Love you a lot.
    
This week was so crazy there is no way I can write everything that happened.  But it was INSANE.  Some spiritual experiences...
  We planned to teach repentance to Ricardo and Patricia using Alma 36.  So we practiced in the morning and it went really well and then we taught them in the evening and it was a really spiritual lesson.  We asked a lot of questions and They understood really well and we committed them to repent. Ricardo had been having nightmares and I think he felt a lot of guilt.  When Elder Blandin went to interview him he asked how his prayers were going.  Elder Blandin told us that Ricardo said, me fui y me escondí, y me puse a orar.  y como se sintió.  Sentí un gran alivio, que todos mis pecados se habían ido.  WOW  That was so cool.  
  This weekend we had about 10 billions pruebas of our faith.  and also of patience.  There was no water to fill the font.  Then the bishop left, locked the font as it was being filled and we couldn´t turn it off.  The lawyer that was going to marry Ricardo and Patricia came and hour and 45 minutes late!   Ricardo and Patricia left and we could not find them.  We were walking around the streets with out 10 little kids following us wherever we went and they were kind of driving us nuts, but afterwards Hna Real said that she realized that they were trying to support us and help us find them.  Anyway, we ended up telling the ward to go home, and that we would have the baptism at 7:00 on Sunday morning.  So the ward went home and we went to Ricardo´s house and sat in front until they came home, at about 8:45.  And then we had a really spiritual lesson, and they said everything is good for tomorrow at 7:00.  So, they got married and baptized and Ricardo had such a huge smile on his face. 
   There really are angels.  And there really are miracles.  
Love, love, love, hna tew

10 Diciembre 2012
hey family,
  Mom, thanks for the recipes and everything. Um, I still havenñt gotten the debit card, unless it´s in one of the packages you sent for Christmas that I still haven´t opened. 
Love you a lot!  
   Dad, I think that you need to be here Wednesday morming in the chapel at like 8:00 so maybe you should fly in Tuesday night.  That would be the 5th I think. 
   I´m thinking that we can leave Managua on the 11th or 12th.  I just want to see KEvin and Cheryl and Kyle and Paul and Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma Campbell in SLC and then go home.  So, I think you all come the 5th and we fly out the 11th in the morning. 
Love you

thanks mom,  you are the best. en serio.  Como le va en el Español.  Si habla cada día con mi papa y siempre escucha bién va a poder entender lo que dice la gente aqui, cuando venga.  Espero que este bien y que la actividad CCC sea exitosa la quiero mucho,
hna tew

Hey folky folks,
  Grandma, thanks for all the letters.  I really do appreciate every single one that you send and I am grateful!  I just don´t always write it.  But thanks a lot you are a wonderful grandma!  Hope you are enjoying Christmas!!  Love you a lot! 
  Grandma and Grandpa Tew!!!  I hope you are doing well and are enjoying Christmas too! 
   This week was the Purisima.  Let me share the recipe.  Take one Halloween.  Throw away all the costumes.  Put a statue of the virgin Mary in your house with a ton of decorations and Christmas lights.  Then the people pass by singing to the virgin and the people in the house hand out food or candy or toys.  We live in a really catholic part of town.  It was crazy. 
Mom, thanks for everything.  You really are the best.  I love you a lot.  Thanks for everything you do and everything you teach me.  The CCC sounds fabulous!  Who all is involved from the community?
SKYPE  Kevin and Cheryl, I´m sad you are not going to be there.  Maybe Skype has new technology... three way?  If not you call at least and I can talk to you all a bit.  Kevin Congrats again for your dissertation I am so proud of you.
  Kyle thanks for the note.  I will try to enjoy todo!  Hope you`re doing good.
Paul, hope you are doing well Love you!
Doug, I want to see your fale.  Sounds awesome!
Dad, thanks for the letter.  Sounds like the retreat was a big success.
   We have had a busy week.  It´s been great and kind of stressful.  We are inviting everyone to get baptized.  and we are contacting a lot.  We´re planning some activities with the ward.  We need to work with the members more because there are a ton of powerful people in the ward, but they aren´t visiting.  And the ward has been without an Elders quorum president for NINE MONTHS!!!!  So,  yeah home teaching is not a strong point right now.  And our converts are really struggling.  Carlos and Francis are out of town or something.  They haven´t answered their phone and they aren´t home.  But we have faith.  
We have a family that is progressing, Ricardo and Patricia.  Ricardo is quitting to smoke (I don´t think that´s how you say it...) quitting smoking.  I don´t know how to speak English... 
Anyway.  Life is great.  This will be a great week.  We had a ton of lessons and A TON of new investigators.  So, hopefully they can progress, go to church, repent, get baptized, go the temple, teach their children the gospel, die, go to paradise and preach to the spirits imprisoned, be resurrected and enter the celestial kingdom.  It´s easy. :) 
Love you all!  Help someone enter the celestial kingdom today! 
Love, hna tew

3 Diciembre 2012
Hey,

Mom I think it was the second package that got broken into.  YOU made the tree!  Thanks for making it.  It really means a lot to me.  I hung up the paper chains and the popcorn and the nativity set is out.  Thanks a lot.  You are the best!   Can you send me a chocolate chip cookie recipe and also the recipe for no bake cookies (the ones with oatmeal)

Dad, thanks for the letter.  I`ve been thinking about you a lot too.  All the missionaries say that you get used to being away from your family, but I still miss you all a lot.   I`ve been thinking a lot about all of the family and how great it will be to talk to you all.  hey..!  

WE CAN USE SKYPE THIS CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So, that`s great that everyone or almost everyone is going to be home!  

Kevin, congratulations on passing your defense!!!!! that is so great!!!! I was praying for you.  You have worked so hard and I am really proud of you 

Kyle, how`s it going?  I`m glad you enjoyed your trip and I hope you are doing well with school and finding your internship or job... I forgot which it is.  But it sounds like you`re doing great. 

I`m going to send this now but I`m writing another letter.  Kevin, I want to hear more about your defense and everything.  

love, hna tew

Mom, also the peanut brittle is delicious!  Thanks so much.

Doug and Dani, hope you are all doing well!  The pictures of you and your kids are really cute!  

Cheryl, hope you are feeling okay with your surgery and everything. I`m thinking about you and praying for you. :)

Pablo, Hola hermanito.  How are you doing?  I hear that you`ve been feeling a lot better lately.  I hope you are doing well! 

Update on the investigators...  Carlos went to church again this Sunday.  yay!  When he gets baptized he is going to be a big strength for the church.  While we were waiting for the gospel principles class to start he started talking about one of the testimonies that a long time member had shared about how we need to work in order to make the church grow.  He said, yeah, I have a ton of Mormon friends and none of them ever invited me to go to church and I`m only here because the missionaries visited me .  The members only visit me when the missionaries come to my house.  We have to go invite people we have to go to work in order to help the church grow.  And I was like.... um thank you Bishop Carlos.  

 He and Francis are the family that I always wanted to find and teach.  They are so special.  This Sunday we went to their house to bring them to church and no one responded.  We called their phone and nothing.  The door was shut too and that usually means that no one is home.  but we kept on yelling and finally we heard someone say, "ya voy!"  Carlos came out dripping wet because he had been taking a shower.  He was shivering as he unlocked the door.  haha.  Yay!   He is such a cool guy. 

   I think the most heartbreaking moments on my mission have been when I`ve seen my investigators get drunk.  This week one of them got drunk and when people are drunk a lot of times they start speaking in English.   He said, "help me, help me please."  There are so many problems with alcohol here in Nicaragua.  

   Joselyn is 15 and she went to church this Sunday too.  Her uncle is a member.  We invited her to get baptized and she said that she would pray about it.  The next time we asked her about her prayers and she said that she has felt good and that she feels that she needs to get baptized.  Yay!  

   Danilo is doing great.  He is always at church and he has friends and is going strong! 

   The devotional was great last night.  When Pres. Uchtdorf started talking about when he starts to feel that Christmas is coming... when he feels the cold air... Hna Real and I laughed because we felt the cold air from the air conditioning in the stake center.   Yep,  sure is cold.  The devotional was great.  I really liked the message about receiving gifts and loving EVERYONE.  and of course the music was great. 

     Well, Hna Real goes home on Dec 19.  So she only has like two weeks left.  We`ve had a few moments of tribulation but she`s really great and we have learned a lot from each other.  Algo mas, algo mas...   

   This week we went with a recent convert and asked for water.  His daughter went to the fridge to get us water and Jaime said, no get the other water because it`s colder.  So he got us the coldest water and poured it into our water bottles.  My bottle didn`t get filled all the way so he took out another bottle that was partway frozen and filled up my bottle the rest of the way.  The water dripped out slowly because it was 3/4 frozen.  But the people here are so good.  They are so kind.  Sometimes I tell Hna Real, I don`t know if I`m going to like Americans because they aren`t very nice.  But I know I will like Americans. :)  I miss American culture.  Like the way we live.   Yesterday in the devotional when they showed the video of the girl that was delivering cookies I was thinking about how much those cookies cost and how much rice and beans you could buy with that money.  The people are so poor here.  Sometimes I forget how poor they are until I see videos of little girls offering cookies to their neighbors.   

  But anyway.  Hope you all are doing well and that everyone is happy. Hermanos, Escribidme y seréis bendecidos. Hermanos, adios.  

I´ve been reading the LdM  a lot lately.  Central America is supposed to finish the BoM by April.  I´m trying to finish by Dec 31.  I´m doing okay.  I´m like 3 or 4 days behind, but hopefully I´ll make a little progress today.   

   Pray for Carlos and Francis.  Carlos has a non profit org. that makes wheelchairs.  It´s pretty cool.  

Love you all!    Get cold for me!  

Love, hna tew