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