That's My King

Video: That's My King

My New Companion!

January 21, 2013 More Changes!!

Ok, so you all probably want to know what happened at the Change Meeting. Well.... guess what!? I had changes again! So now I am in a new area with a new companion!! From what I have heard, is that it is really rare for a Missionary to have changed so much in his first 3 changes. Usually they will stay in an area for at least 2 changes or have the same companion for 2 changes. So a lot of the missionaries thought it was weird that I had changes again. So I got changed to Villa Flor, Villa Venezuela. It is part of the main city of Managua. So it is really hot now and I am back to sweating like crazy!! And my new companion is Elder M from Salvador. He has been in the mission for a year and is a hard worker! I was excited to get changes but I was really sad too. I was excited because I was able to get a new companion that is willing and ready to work. But I was sad because I worked so hard in La Dalia to get new families and get them ready to be baptized. And then they took me out. But I realize that these changes are inspired of God and I know that if He has put me in Villa Venezuela, it is for a reason. So I will take this change and do all that I can with it! I am excited to work with my new companion in our area and bring others unto Christ!!
 So this past week has been really hectic. So Wednesday (Change Meeting) all of Matagalpa took a bus to Managua for the Meeting. After the meeting, I asked my new companion what bus we would be taking to get to our area and he looked at me all funny and started to laugh. He said that we don't take a bus... I was really confused because usually we take buses to our new area. He then said, we take a taxi because our area is only 15 mins away from where we meet to have the meetings. I felt a little dumb at that moment but that is what we did, we carried my stuff out to the curb and called a taxi. We showed up in our area 15 mins later and my comp showed me to my new home for this change. We showed up to a house that looked really nice and we walked in. Then we walked into a little side room that had a bunk bed, 2 desks, a fridge, dresser, sink, and shower all crammed into it. Welcome to your new room, he said!! Then he continued to tell me to not unpack because we would probably be moving to a different house. The Mission Pres added 2 more Missionaries into our area and they don't have a house to stay in. So for the next 3 days, we looked all over our area for a new house to rent out for the missionaries to stay. We finally found one and me and my comp moved into this new house. We are renting the whole house instead of just a small room. The other missionaries in our area are staying in our old room and will be joining us at the beginning of this coming month. We still haven't moved in to the house all the way since all we have right now in mattresses on the floor and hammocks and our stuff. We should be receiving beds and dressers and all that stuff sometime this week from the mission. So after we got the whole house situation figured out, we went out and started to get to know that area since I have no idea where things are and I want to know where the Recent Converts are and where the members live, and all the families that we are teaching! So we went out walking all day the past few days to get to know the area. And one of the families that we are teaching has a Gma that lives with them that has been taking the lessons with the family. So when we went to teach the other day, we had a prompting to give her the baptism interview. So our ZLs (Zone Leaders) came and gave her the interview and they said that she is ready for baptism, she just needs to go to church before she can be baptized. So we committed her to go to church on Sunday. On Sunday, we passed by her house in the morning and reminded her of the meeting and said she was going to show up but she was going to wait at the house until her nephew showed up to watch the kids that were there. So we told her that we would wait for her at the church. We then went to get more people to come the church with us and we sat down in the meeting, waiting and waiting for this Hermana to show up. We were super anxious until she walked in right as the sacrament was about to start. We took a breath and the church meeting followed as normal. (It is super weird to be in a sacrament meeting with more than 10 people!) After the church meeting, we got the font filled and got the baptism ready! And guess what!? I got to baptize her!! WWHHOOAA! I had to do it twice because she kicked her foot up during the first one. But after the baptism, we ask her  to share her testimony and how she felt after the baptism. She told us how she know how this is the first step that we need to take to enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:5) and that she could see the hand of God in her life every day. She is such a spiritual woman and I can’t wait for her to get confirmed next week in church. This makes my count of baptisms up to 4 now! I hope to raise that number this change with my comp and my new area. I can feel that the Lord has a lot in store for me here!
 Also today, I went to the Migration place to get my Cedular card. It is pretty much and ID Card for Nicaragua. So now I am officially Nicaraguense!! I don't quite fit the site of a Nica but I feel it in my heart!!
 Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have done “all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23). He is with us every step of the way.
 ¡¡¡Les Amo!!!
ELDER DAUGHERTY

Our new family!! They are super cool and love having us over to eat or talk about the Gospel.

So we made the cookies!!

They didn't turn out in to the best shaped things but they still tasted good!! Thanks Aunt Teresa!!

Jan 14, 2013

OK!! So now to let you all know how my week went! So we had a new record this week!! 14 people at church! Yes, 3 of them were little kids about 4 years old but they still count! We also brought a new family to church as well! Remember D y D from the last letter? Well they decided to come to church with us yesterday!! When we showed up to get them all ready to go to church, they were almost finished and ready to go! We were a little surprised by that because usually we have to get the families up and moving to get ready for church but they had woken up a little earlier and gotten ready for church! This type of motivation and desire to seek after the things of God is what we love to see in the families that we teach. And each Sunday is a test of their faith to see if they really want to feel the spirit and receive the blessing of obeying the commandments of the Lord. It’s a lot of work for us on Sunday mornings because we wake up earlier than normal to get out on the street inviting people to come to church! And it feels really good when we start heading to church with families that want to come. But it’s really hard when we don’t have anyone with us. So we try super hard each and every week to get people to know the importance of attending church and the blessings they can receive. So this week went by really fast and now a new change is coming! We have a Change Meeting this Wednesday! I probably won’t get a new companion but I will be working harder with I'm because he is really lazy... And since he is the senior companion, I can’t really do much but be with him and study while he does his own thing. I try talking to him but he doesn’t seem to really care. So with this change meeting, if I am still with Elder L, I will be enforcing the rules more with I’m because when he is lazy, it not only affects me, it effects all of La Dalia. Plus, I don’t want his bad habits to rub off on me. Hopefully I can help him to see the importance of the work and what he needs to do to be a better missionary. So these past couple days, I have been listening to some church hymns on the piano and I REALLY regret not staying with my piano skills. Every Sunday, we sing the hymns in church without the piano because no one knows how to play. So whoever made me slack off on my piano lessons and not stay on track... oh yea, that was me. I had the choice of staying with my lesson and keeping up with the skills but I decided to slack off. And now I can see where that got me!! If anyone reading this is playing a musical instrument, I envy you. All I know is that when I get back, I will be learning to play the piano again!! So don’t let me forget!! Also I’ve been thinking a lot about the mission and how it can change someone’s life. I was talk in the MTC and before the mission that the way I schedule myself and the way that I act during the mission will be how I will be after the mission. So I am trying as hard as I can to be doing the Lords will and trying to be the person He wants me to be! I know that when I submit myself to his will, that I will be blessed more than I can imagine and that I will become a tool in His hands. I want so badly to be the person that He can rely on to get things done and to be a faithful servant. I strive every day to feel his spirit in my life more and to be able to sense what He would want me to do throughout the day. I try to know what people to talk to, what to say, and exactly how to say it since I am learning Spanish still. Speaking of Spanish, I am speaking better and better every day. I still struggle to say certain words but I can pretty much understand everything and have a conversation with someone without having a problem. Which has been making my days better knowing that I don’t have to worry too much about my ability to speak Spanish. Also with thinking about the mission, I’ve been thinking about the way the missionaries teach in this mission. All of the missionaries try super hard to get people and families baptized as fast as possible. Nicaragua is known for having a lot of baptisms. But it is also known for the horrible retention. The missionaries here baptized the people so fast but never have time to teach them enough for them to want to stay with the church. It’s really hard for me to teach the same way as all the other missionaries because I want all those that I will baptize to stay active and strong in the church. I was talking to A y I the other day through email, and they are loving being a part of the church in Chinandega. I want all the people I baptize to feel that same joy and WANT to go to church and WANT to feel the spirit. I try to get all those that I teach to feel the spirit and have a desire to seek after the things of God and receive the blessings from doing so. I’ve got a lot of time ahead of me so I will continue to learn and submit myself to the will of the Lord.

''Two men can do anything as long as one of them is the Lord''

¡¡¡Les Amo!!!

ELDER DAUGHERTY

A puppy that was in the back of a truck when we hitched a ride with someone. It kept trying to snuggle up to me. It was cute!

La Chela finally had her Chanchitos!! She had 10 piggies but she accidently killed one of them while she was
trying to get up after the birth. So she has 9. 4 boys and 5 girls. 

While I was holding the piggy, it was whinning and crying and Chela didnt like

that. But she was in a little patio in front of the house that was blocked

off in the front. She went through the house and around the back to the

front and charged me. Scared me to death but I put the piggy back just in

time to keep from being ran over by an angry momma pig!!

A photo someone had in their house that we contacted. The dog with the pool stick that is stabbing the table is Kip, The dog kinda hiding in the background is Jagger. The big Bull Dog is Elder Ure. The dog with the glasses is Adam. And the one with the pool stick and the cigar is Mark. Ignore the cigar, it was just in the picture :)

The branch President and his wife.

The Hospital that is in La Dalia. Its super small and has some bad service but that's about as good as it gets here in La Dalia.

Our church here in La Dalia.

The chapel in our church.

The sacrament table and pulpit in our church.

The baptismal font in our church.

My companion and I in front of the church.

A bright orange bird that was eating bananas outside the branch President's house.

A cookie mix Aunt Teresa sent me!!!

Week of Success!!

No, we didn’t have any baptisms... BUT we did find a few new families to teach and they are progressing awesomely!! Ok so I received a package this week from Aunt Teresa and Uncle Jon. It contained a letter wishing me a Merry Christmas!! A peanut butter cup Christmas tree, a candy cane full of M&Ms and a bag of Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix!! The M&Ms didn’t make it too well and were a little melted all over the inside of the bag and the Peanut Butter Cup wasn’t in the shape of a Christmas tree either. So I licked the inside of the package clean and separated plastic from peanut butter cup and enjoyed every bit of it!! And I plan of making the cookies at a house of one of our families tonight and I plan on taking photos so be ready to see those next week! Thanks so much Larson Clan!! I'll try to find time to send you a letter this week! or an email but I don’t know your email... SO! Maybe you could help me with that! I also got about 18 letters!! 4 real letters and 14 DearElders. A few of them were sent to me when I was leaving the MTC and I just got them so it was funny to read letters that were a little old. :) And a lot of the DearElders were the forwarded letters of Elder Larson in Tokyo Japan. He seems to be having a blast on the other side of the world!! I pray for him to have success in his labors in the work of the Lord. Of the real letters I received, I got 2 from Aunt Ginger, one of which is her Stake conference notes (which I hope she copied because there were very insightful), and the other is a Valentine Letter! I didn’t think I would get it this early!! Well, Happy Valentine’s Day Gingo!!! Love you!! I also got a letter from Stephanie Jensen and Mileaha Boldt!! I will try to respond to all sometime this week!

Now for the weekly update!! So we had 11 people some to church this week!! Almost the same as last week but at least it is 2 digits! But the best part is that we had a family and an investigator that we are teaching come! 3 people who are now members in the church! That is the first time that has happened since I have been in La Dalia!! But we didn’t have any recent converts show up.... That’s the hard part, getting people to keep coming. But we had success this week and we are super excited to have some baptisms soon, hopefully. So we haven’t had a chance to visit F y A since last week. So we don’t know how they are doing or what. And they haven’t showed up to church for the past 2 Sundays. But we didn’t find a few new families, like I said, that we are teaching now. The family that came to church on Sunday is super cool! They are F y R and their little boy Al. We found them while contacting in a neighborhood that is somewhat rich. They answered the door and invited us in. We talked to them for a little bit and asked us to come back another day to talk to them some more. So we have been visiting them for the past 2 weeks and we will be inviting them to be baptized pretty soon. They don’t go to any other churches and really liked the meeting on Sunday. They really liked the idea of the Plan of Salvation and being together forever! So we are super excited to have them! The other person that came to church, her name is D. She has been visiting with the Missionaries for 2 years now and just told us the other night that she wants to be baptized and work on becoming a better person in this life. She came to church because she really likes the messages that are shared and she loves the feeling. But she has a little problem. Her boyfriend right now, who she wants to marry, is married to another person. He isn’t with her anymore but in order for her to get baptized; he needs to get a divorce so he can get married to her. This may take a lot longer than we like because we want them to be baptized as a family so we need to talk to him and get him excited to be baptized as well but he is always working. WORK WORK WORK, this is the one thing that is the hardest to work around here in La Dalia. Everyone works, especially the Men. They are either working with their own jobs, like a shop or shoe store or whatever or they are off harvesting coffee beans. And here, a day off work doesn’t really exist. So people work every single day. This is why it is so hard to find families during the day because they aren’t together. They are during the night but by then, it’s too late for us to be teaching people. We also found a family, D y D with their 2 little kids. They live in the same type of house as F y A and I think it may be a little smaller. But they were being taught by the missionaries that were here before us but when we visited them the first day here in La Dalia, they wanted time to think and to take a break from the missionaries. But the other day, we were passing by and Dan called us over and we talked to them and now they are really positive!! Although Dan was a little drunk when we talked to him, we used it to our advantage and made some commitments with him that we followed up on when he was sober. They are progressing well, but Dan works a lot and it’s hard to find them when they are together to teach a lesson. Another family, R y S, we found them while contacting on the edge of La Dalia. They live at the top of this really muddy hill so it was a struggle getting to the house, especially when it was raining. They don’t go to any churches and are really interested in the church, we invited them to be baptized but they said that they want to now more and actually go to church before they commit to that. They weren’t able to go this past Sunday because they go out of town on Sundays to sell stuff in another city. So it might be a little difficult to get them to come to church but we will figure something out. Even though we had a little bit of failure with some of our other families, we are super excited that we had success with some of them! The work here in La Dalia is moving, slowly, but it’s moving!! I’m so grateful for the chance to be here in Nicaragua, La Dalia and to be among the people that I have the change to change.

“A missionary leaves his family for 2 years so that other families can be together forever!”

¡¡¡Les Amo!!!

ELDER DAUGHERTY