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