We received a training two weeks ago about how to being teaching and how to teach people not lessons. And we did it! It was an awesome lesson.

28 January 2013

Hola Familia,

how are you all doing?  

   Mom, I want to stay in Managua every night.  Masatepe is max. 40 minutes away and La Borgoña is like 20 minutes away.  You can pick whatever hotel.  Holiday Inn is close to San Juan.  I just know San Juan, carretera Masaya, and Miraflores a little better, but we can stay wherever.  Does the hotel have hot water and air conditioning?  That would be nice.  

    I´ll write another note in a minute.  Thanks for the letters mom and dad.  Tell Mallory congratulations for her mission call!  when does she report?  

love, mb

Also, we are thinking about reserving a room at Hotel Contempo which is south of the city.  Or in the south part of the city.  Do we want to stay in Managua every night? 

Yes, I think so.

 Do you want to drive over to the Carribean?

I hadn´t considered that very seriously, but that could be really fun actually.   

  Do you want to get released and go swimming? Or are you supposed to be a missionary while in the country? 

I think I would feel weird.  Maybe I´ll ask Pres. Monestel but I think I would like to be released in the states. 

Do people wear jeans, or is it too hot for that? 

People wear jeans but it´s kind of hot.  But you can. Khakis will probably be more comfortable but bring jeans too if you want.  Jeans are normal here. 

 Should I bring my keens? 

Sure and wear socks with them. 

 Will we be walking a lot?  

Um... I think my perception of "a lot" is kind of twisted.  But we won´t be walking a ton.  

We want to meet all your friends.  Is there anywhere you want to go other than where you served? 

Yes.  I want to go to Masaya because there´s a big market there to buy touristy stuff.  Also Granada is supposed to be really beautiful.  I want to go to the island of Ometepe.  Also San Juan del Sur is the crown jewel of Nicaragua and I would like to go too.  If we go to Bluefields or Corn Ïsland that would be interesting... I don´t know how long of a drive it is.  The missionaries that serve in Bluefields come and go in airplanes.  But I think that there has to be a road over there. :) 

 

Dad, there are districts in the south mission.  I don´t know if there are districts in the north mission.  Has anyone else gotten mission calls?   Have you told many people? 

  That´s great that you have lost 20 pounds.  Wow!  That´s really impressive.  Good job.  Sounds awesome. That´s good that your boss took the news well.  Don´t worry dad, I think I will still recognize you.  But when you see me... well,  I hope you recognize me.  I was looking at the picture I sent with my mission papers and... yeah  the mission changes everything.

Mom, thanks for the letter about ending my mission.  That helped me a lot.  Thanks for being a good mom.  :)   Thanks again for the package that you sent me.  I ate the chocolate embarrassingly fast.  Actually I´m not embarrassed that much... Less than a week.  But I shared with my companion.  :)  

Jose Dolores and Lizeth went to church this Sunday and they loved it!  We took two members to their house this week.  We taught the plan of salvation and Jose was just eating it up.  When we arrived he said that he was leaving to run an errand but he said, well it can wait for 30 minutes.   So we taught them both and when thirty minutes had passed I said, "hno, creo que ya se tiene que ir."  But he said, just ten more minutes.  as we were finishing the lesson his phone rang and he was talking, saying, "wait, I´m about to leave the house just hold on a minute."  So he sacrificed to stay.  And he loved the plan of salvation.  They both told us that they´ve been praying as a family and they´ve felt a lot more unity.  We´re excited for them.  

Yesterday we went to look for a cool family that we had contacted in the street.  They were home and received us really easily.   We received a training two weeks ago about how to being teaching and how to teach people not lessons.  And we did it!   It was an awesome lesson.  Martha had about a billion questions of the soul.  We didn´t teach any lesson.  We taught repentance, our life on earth, the gospel blesses families, the resurrection, the book of Mormon, prayer, the Holy Ghost.  Yeah it was crazy but awesome.  And at the end she asked us, do all the people you teach always go to the church?  And we were like, huh?  Finally, she said, look, when I was 16 my mom had just died and I was living with my little sister.  And the elders came to visit us.  And we went to church.  And I got baptized.  Her questions were: Was that okay to have gotten baptized even though I didn´t take it that seriously?  How can I know God´s plan for me?  (yes, she asked us that.  I was like..... WHAT!!!  That´s such an awesome question!!!)  Does God listen to the prayers of sinners?  If I go back to church do I have to get baptized again?  Is everyone going to be resurrected?  When I go to heaven will I have another chance to repent?  And her husband accepted a baptismal date.  He is really interested in knowing more too.   We didn´t challenge her to get baptized because she´s a member.  

Jefferson went to church too!  He hadn´t gone in a long time because he´s been drinking.  But he went back!  We haven´t taught Henry in about a week and a half.  He didn´t go to church this week.  

Well, I´m doing well.  Thanks for writing me. Hope you all are happy and enjoying life.  

If you get this and have more questions shoot me an email in the next five minutes.  

Love you all a lot.  Thanks so much for your support and for the encouraging words.  Good luck with getting ready to serve your mission!  And see you all soon.  Love, mb

21 January 2013

hey family,

   Hope you all are doing well.  

Write me a note if you can.  Happy Birthday Cheryl and happy birthday Tanner! 

Love you all, hna tew

Hey family,

   I´m doing good.  We are still working here in Miraflores.  This weekend was stake conference.  Henry came to church again.  I feel like we are missing something with him.  He comes to church and reads and prays, but his heart is closed.  He is a nice person but I don´t feel like we really know what is going on in his mind sometimes.  

   Mom, I got your package thanks.  I like the shirt but it doesn´t fit.  Thanks for the stickers and the candy and the deodorant. The credit card never got here. Quien sabe.... Thanks so much, Mom!   

   We have a new family... Jose Dolores and Lizeth.  They are evangelicals and they are great.  We found Lizeth last Sunday and taught lesson one and she accepted a baptism date and a book of Mormon.  We went back on Tuesday night with her husband and they both came to greet us at the gate.  The husband was super excited and almost nervous or something.  He had listened to the missionaries in Cuidad Sandino and he had read the LDM that we left with Lizeth.  So we taught lesson one again but didn´t get through all of it.  We showed them a teaching record (it´s a new thing the mission is doing,  we give a teaching record to our investigators and we help them to fill it out so they can see everything they are learning and what committments they have done and still have to do)  He works as a guard so he couldn´t go to church this sunday.  When we went back on Saturday he was like... We already got baptized in the Catholic church as babies, can we get baptized again?  YES!  Actually, you never got baptized.   Do I have to get married to get baptized? YES!  Dice... Jamás he pensado en casarme. haha  Can I go visit the church even if I don´t get baptized right away?  YES!   It was a neat lesson.  Hopefully they progress.  

   We started talking to Carlos and Francis again this week.  We still haven´t had a lesson but he told us why he stopped going to church and hopefully we can help them out still.  They are a really special family and I really hope that they get baptized.  

   Mom... about the package.  Yes, I know Elder Bateman.  If you want to bring down a package you can do it but only do it if it´s going to be easy.  And tell her not to send very much...   give her a limit. 

Okay...   this week has been a little hard because I don´t even know what I feel.  It´s just hard to finish the mission.  All I can say is that it´s painful.   

I wrote down a ton of things to tell you about when you come here.  

First... things to bring... 

Don´t buy anything new to come here. 

Don´t bring very many clothes. We can wash clothes. 

Bring pants, like jeans or slacks or khakis or whatever.  Don´t bring capris or shorts. The bugs will eat you alive.

You don´t need any jacket.  

Bring Sunday clothes for Wednesday morning and Sunday

Bring whatever shoes you like to walk in. 

Scissors 

a knife, because I want to eat pineapple and mangos and other great stuff

laptop

sunscreen, just a little bottle.  

bug spray 

Spanish scriptures 

don´t bring any jewelry

if dad has his GPS that would be cool 

camera

jumpdrive   

To do before you come here

    find out how to withdraw money, what the least expensive way is 

    tell the bank that you´re coming to Nicaragua 

    reserve the hotel, I was thinking holiday inn.  Can you check to see if it has internet access?  
    because we´re going to need to look at maps. 

    write down the mission´s number and the American embassy´s number just in case

When you come on Wednesday to pick me up, you need to wear Sunday clothes.  All the elders are going to wear suit coats, but dad you can just wear a white shirt and tie unless you want to come in a suit. There are going to be a ton of missionaries there.  This is the first transfer of the missionary boom so it might be a little crazy.  If you get a chance to talk to Pres and Sis Monestel (doubt it)  it will probably be for like 30 seconds.  Just shake hands with everyone and let the Latinos practice their English. :) if they want to All the new missionaries are there and their new companions. Also, all the missionaries that are being transferred are coming.  They are going to open a ton a new areas.  So it´s a meeting.  Pres and Hna Monestel speak and maybe someone else.  The missionaries that are going home bear their testimony and Pres. reads the names of the new missionaries.  At the end they announce transfers.  

On your free day, (by the way, try not to rent a really nice car... and try to get tinted windows... seriously.)  It´s not that it´s dangerous here, it´s just that all the cops pull over white people.  If you get pulled over just tell them that they´re being dishonest and that you´re going to call the American Embassy and that God will judge them for robbing.  And if they still bug you offer them 10 córdobas.   I´m kind of joking, but not really.  I was thinking that on your free day you could go to Leon, it´s part of the North mission or a beach.  Pochomil is really pretty, and La Boquita is supposed to be really nice too.  Just don´t go driving around Managua because there are a few sketchy spots.  You could go see Granada too.  It´s a really touristy place and I hear that it´s really beautiful.  Hey!  You could go to Bluefields!   

Anyway... that´s for you to think about...  

I´m really excited to see you all but I´m going to try to not think about it too much.  

I have a world map and I have all the countries where you can go colored.  Also, I found the July 2010 ensign in our house and made a list of all the missions that received new mission presidents.  Have we started betting yet?  I´m thinking Bolivia or Peru or Paraguay.

Hope you are doing well everyone.  I love you all a lot. Sorry for my trunky letter.  Paul, I hope you are feeling well.  Doug, good luck with the new job.  Mom, good luck with your Spanish! I am sure that I will be amazed at all you can say and understand when I see you.  Kyle, enjoy your free day.  Kevin, hope you find a house and that you enjoy your job.

Love, hna tew

14 January 2012

hey family.

I´m doing great.  Hope you all are doing well.  Thanks for the letter mom and dad.  Thanks for the picture Dani. 

Hope Paul gets to feeling better.

Write me a note.  I miss you all a lot.

Love, hna tew

Hello Family,

   Mom, sounds like you are keeping busy.  Tell Grandma Campbell I say hi and tell Grandma and Grandpa Tew that I say hi and I hope they get to feeling a lot better soon.  

  Dad, thanks for the letter.  Sounds like you are doing great. 

  Kevin, tell me how everything's going

  Cheryl,  how are you doing?

  Kyle, thanks for the note.  What are you doing in your classes?

  Douglas, hope you´re doing well.  Send me a note...

  Dani, hope you´re doing well.  Tell the munchkins hi for me.

  Pablito,  I hope you are feeling better and that you recover quickly.  I think the best medicine, according to the doctors here is drink pure lemon juice and soak the wound agua de mango.   Déle pues.  Ahí me avisa cualquier cosa.

   Our favorite moment from the week....  We were walking to the church and a hna de Leon asked me a question about English Grammar.  I was responding... depende... si... and a man that was walking past us stopped and said the following.... depende de que?  me quiero casar con vos, pelo de oro...  It was even funnier because this was one of probably three days in my mission that I wore my hair down (for the baptism) and I decided to wear contacts instead of glasses, and another drunk man had just made a comment about how I was his girlfriend.  So, hna de Leon said that I can either wear contacts or I can wear my hair down. But I can´t do both.  It was funny.  I feel more self conscious about how I look now...  my face is tan and my hair is burnt.  But whatever... 

  Carlos´ baptism was awesome!  Henry came and a lot of members came too.  We are working with members like crazy.  And I really like it.  Last night we had an FHE with our ward mission leader and it went really well.  He invited four people over and we had a great lesson.  It was a great experience.  Carlos´ family all says that he´s crazy for getting baptized again after being a pastor for 20 years, but he doesn´t care.  He invites everyone to go to church and to receive the lessons.   In his testimony after he got baptized he said. I already got baptized a long time ago.  But this time it felt different.  I feel really good.  I feel a lot of peace and a lot of confidence.  It was really sweet.  He told us that he went on a tour of the US to speak in conferences as a pastor.  And he said that he earned 30,000 dollars in a few months.  THAT IS A TON OF MONEY.  and I always doubt what he says but it always ends up being the truth.  We are excited for him.  Hopefully he can be a ward missionary! :)  

 We are working with the ward missionaries and they are working.. Things are going to improve! 

love you all,  I´m doing great.  I am enjoying my mission more that ever.  Hna de Leon is awesome and she´s probably my favorite comp.   

Last Monday we went Nica and made a life sized doll. Every New Year's Eve it´s tradicion to made an old man (hombre viejo) and stuff it with no sé que and fireworks. So we made una misionera vieja

The ward missionaries are finally waking up.  The ward is waking up too. I feel good because we are working with members.

7 January 2013

Highlights... One of our investigators, Carlos Garay who is more than 70 years old preached to a bus with the help of our ward mission leader.  When he told us it was hilarious.  Our ward mission leader, Mauricio told him, " Don´t tell the hermanas, because I think that it´s against the protocol to preach in a bus."  y cabal.  As Carlos was telling us the story, Mauricio passes by... "buenas!"  And Carlos says, "ay hermano... ya les dije... ay disculpe."   hahahahaha.  The best part is that they both said they felt really good preaching in the bus. And Mauricio shared a little of the experience in Fast and Testimony meeting. 

Henry is going to church.  We had an awesome lesson with him.  

We made a misionera vieja ,,., ya les explico.  

Write me a note. 

Love you all.  Wow Andrew looks super different.  Thanks for forwarding Dale´s email. 

hna tew 

Hey family,

  Mom, thanks for the letter.  Hna Bunting was in the internet place with me and her mom wrote her that you all have been talking.  Yeah, we´re in the same district and we go to the same church building.  She´s a really good missionary.  Thanks for the update.  I hope all your medical checkup stuff ... goes well?  is exciting?  ends quickly?    Sounds like you all are excited to serve a mission.   Also I really liked the Christmas letter and pictures.  

    Dad, thanks for the letter.  Hope you are doing well.  Sounds like you are busy with work.  I hope everything goes well.  Only two months more as stake president.  Will I be the last missionary that you release?   That´s great that there are a lot of missionaries.  Tell everyone that applies congratulations for me.  It seems like it would be better to quit earlier than later even though there are a lot of projects.  I´m only going to have two months with you because school starts in April.  So it would be nice to have more time with you in the house.  Congratulations with weight loss. It sounds like you are doing great.  Felicidades! 

   Kevin, hope your classes are going well.  I hope you enjoy teaching and that you enjoy the people you work with.  Where is your office and where do you teach?  What are you teaching?   

   Cheryl, that´s exciting that you are quitting!  Yeah!  I hope you can find a house and that everything goes well in the move.  Thanks for the letter.  Tell Kevin to write me about his new job. 

    Kyle, hope you´re enjoying MBA school.  Sounds like fun.  

   Doug, hello. write me a note... 

   Dani, hello thanks for the letter. I am excited to get to know David. 

   Pablito lindo, hello.  Good luck with the surgery I´ll be think of and praying for you! :)

   So we had a good week.  The ward missionaries are finally waking up.  The ward is waking up too.  I feel good because we are working with members.  We are inviting ourselves to have a family home evening in their houses with their nonmember friends.  We had a really good one last night with the Blandón family.  They helped us teach the lesson (we gave them a pamphlet of the restoration and assigned them parts to teach).   It was spiritual, but it´s kind of weird to teach in such a big group.  We´ll have to practice a bit more.  But it went really well.  

   Last Monday we went Nica and made a life sized doll.  Every New Year's Eve it´s tradicion to made an old man (hombre viejo)  and stuff it with no sé que and fireworks.  So we made una misionera vieja with one of my blouses that has a hole and with a sleeveless shirt that we converted into a skirt.  She has a name tag that says Hermana 2012.  We made so many jokes it was ridiculous.  We joked around with our district leader too:  "Elder Batz, my companion refused to leave the house!  I had to leave her there alone and go work."  "Elder Batz, we´re in a threesome now."  "Elder Batz, my companion won´t get out of bed.  I think she´s pretending not to hear me."  We also took pictures of us planning together.  She has a planner, pencil, the area book and the cell phone.  Anyone, the tradition is to burn the hombre viejo, and we were about to do it. I even had the flame.  But I just looked at hna de Leon and told her.  es que... me da pesar quemarla.  And she said that she felt the same.  So we decided to leave her there for a while longer. We´ll probably burn her on my last night.  Is that an apostate tradition?  

   Henry is understanding more.  He wants an answer from the Bible.  We kind of macheted him with some Moroni 7 and told him to have faith.  but we are excited that he is going to church and is reading from his Book of Mormon.  I hope he can keep progressing.  

  We are trying to reactivate recent converts because the retention is terrible.  They get baptized and go inactive.  But things will get better.

Love you all, 

hna tew