A parrot of some members that live next door to us. He loves to walk on my shoulders.

Elder E. and I chilling on my bed because it's super hot and I have the fan. :)

A family of pigeons that moved into a paper box we made in the tree outside our house.

April 29, 2013

Okey Doke.... what did I do this week.... Well I work, work, work, slept, ate occasionally, and prayed and studied. My days don't get very different but they do get pretty exciting sometimes. When you walk the streets full of tons of people from different religions, drunks, gays, dogs, musas, etc... its makes my days pretty awesome.

Let me tell you a few of the experiences I have had with these few things of Nicaragua. Lets start with the different religions. There are a lot of people are are really stubborn about their religion and don't want anyone to try to change it or talk against it. One time, we were looking for a address and normally we ask the people where things are because they know the area better than we do. We went up to the nearest house at the time, and said ''Buenas!!''. That is the custom to ''knock doors''. Well the people inside immediately said, ''NO!!! We're Evangelicals!! Go Away!!''. We stated that we were just looking for a address and if they could help us. Their attitude changed fast and they gladly helped us find the house we were looking for. That's the thing about the people here that already are strong in another church. If you ask them for help, they will help you like you were their best friend but the moment you start to talk about the gospel, they shut you down and usually in a harsh way backed up with scriptures. That's hard to deal with but I still love these people!!

Drunks... I don't know what else to say other than that. I believed that I have talked about drunks before in the last letters. But the drunks here are pretty funny. They usually like to ask us for money or pamphlets about the Word of Wisdom. I pretty sure they use them to smoke their drugs though... We see them every day, more on weekends, sleeping in the gutters, chilling with other drunks, laughing at nothing, and yelling at women that walk by. My areas wouldn't be the way they are without the drunks. They make the area!!!

Gays, and Musas. I'm going to do these 2 together because they usually do the same things. Groups of these people are almost always in groups or sitting with family outside their houses. When we pass, we try to say hi to everyone but sometimes it is hard to get everyone. Well when we pass musas or gays, they like to make little kissey sounds and say sweet little phrases. Or we will say bye to them and they will say bye back but in a really flirty way. We usually just laugh and keep on walking. The kinds of people here make me laugh a lot but hey, we are all sons and daughters of God and we all have the things we need to change in our lives. Sorry for all of you that think I'm perfect, but, I'm not. Actually, no one is.. So I guess we're all even in one way.

Dogs... Well for those of you that have been to Mexico, or any other country where the conditions aren't the best, you will see that there is an unusual amount of dogs. The dogs here, breed like hamsters so there are tons of them in all shapes, sizes, and breeds. Well the other day, we were visiting a house of a Recent Convert and they have 2 really big dogs. One of them is usually hooked up in the back because it would probably eat me if he wasn't. The other is named Max and he is a really big yellow lab with a gimpy leg. He was hit by a truck a long time ago and it healed at a weird angle and he just deals with it. Well I was talking to my Recent Convert and   Max was sitting next to me. All of the sudden, my RC started to yell and freak out. Max decided to mark my shoe as part of his territory. Lucky it was only my shoe so it wasn't too bad but it was pretty funny. The RC family teased me for the rest of the night for it. The digs here will get in really big fights if other dogs enter their territory and they bark ALL NIGHT LONG!! Try sleeping in that!!

Well I hope you enjoyed those experiences and that they enlightened your day!! Time for a spiritual quote!!

"Sometimes the Lord calms the storm, and sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms the child."
---John H. Groberg

¡¡¡¡Les Amo MUCHO!!!!

ELDER DAUGHERTY

It was this elder's birthday so we smashed egg on his head.

April 22, 2013

Well!! lets start off with some noticias!! I complete 8 months in the mission today!! I have completed a 3rd of my mission and I have loved every bit of it! It is amazing how fast the time has flown by and how much I have accomplished here in Nicaragua. Pres. Gordon B. Hinkley said this... “In this work there must be commitment. There must be devotion. We are engaged in a great eternal struggle that concerns the very souls of the sons and daughters of God. We are not losing. We are winning. We will continue to win if we will be faithful and true. We can do it. We must do it. We will do it. There is nothing the Lord has asked of us that in faith we cannot accomplish.” Here in Nicaragua, there must be commitment, devotion, and lots and lots of work. If I am not working like I should be, I am losing those chances that I have as a missionary to share the gospel with someone else that needs it or that the Lord has prepared for me, especially for me. I try my hardest to be prepared spiritually and physically to go where the Lord wants me to go and to talk to those that the Lord puts in my way.

So this week.... well nothing too exciting happened. I did have an awesome experience with a Recent Convert though. He was talking to us about some problems he had with work. His boss wanted him to work on Sunday last week. So my RC(recent convert) worked a lot on Saturday and ditched his job on Sunday so he could go to church. His boss didn't like that very much. My RC talked to his boss and his boss was alright with what had happened but wanted him to work on Sunday again, yesterday. So my RC quit his job because he wants to go to church. He told me he did it because he had made a promise with the Lord when he was baptized that he would be obedient and that if his boss didn't understand that, then he wasn't going to be working for him anymore. So he has been looking for work really hard lately. He talked to the Elders Quorum Pres and he is helping my RC get some help through the church to find a new job. He was talking to me and told me that he had put all his trust in the Lord and just waited for the Lord to help him out and do his part. Well the Lord has started to bless him a lot!! A lot more than he thinks actually. I love to see when people actually realize the blessings of the Lord in their life. And when they want to keep being obedient so they can receive more blessings. The standard Nica (Nicaraguense) way is to talk and not act. A lot of people here are all words and no action. We have a lot of families that say they want to go to church or hear our message. And then when we show up to teach them or take them to church, they aren't there or are busy that they cant go anymore. A lot of people do it on purpose though and its really hard for us to waste time on people who don't want to progress. But we deal with what we have and we thank the Lord that He has given us the little yet very valuable  people that are ready to accept the will of the Lord and follow his commandments. I love this mission and the work that I am doing here!!

“After all that has been said, our greatest and most important duty is to preach the gospel.”
---Joseph Smith

¡¡¡¡Les Quiero MUCHISIMO!!!!

ELDER DAUGHERTY

April 15, 2013

Ok fam.... Whats up with ya'll? It is super hot, hotter than usual here in Nicaragua. Especially here in this computer lab where there is only 1 fan that all 12 people in here are sharing. But hey!! Just imagine how good the weather is that you guys have and be grateful for it! I am actually looking forward to the rain season to come. It should be coming in the first couple weeks of May!! A small birthday gift for me! The Mango season is slowly dying out. I used to be able to just pick mangos off the street and eat them for dinner and be full. There are still alot of mangos but not as much as there used to be. I'm not a big fan of them anyways... By the way Mom, in comment of your story of drinking your soup and your chocolate milk through the bags, I do that daily here. The Nicaraguans are really big on recycling. There are always people around collecting bottles to get money to support their families. So the people use plastic bags for almost everything here. Whenever I buy a soda or water, they take the bottle out of the fridge and empty it into a bag so they can use the bottle to get some money back. They make Popsicles in plastic bags, spices, tortillas, etc. So that's funny that Sam said that was weird, to me, that's normal.

Ok, so down to business. This week went pretty good. During the week, I worked with my companion to get people set up to go to church. We weren't able to get M baptized this week because her and M are having some relationship problems. This is the family that I talked about last week where we only baptized the husband. We are working really hard with them so that they have a better relationship and so that M will be able to get baptized sometime soon. I've been thinking about the family lately and how important it is.
In The Family A Proclamation to the World, it says in the first paragraph, ''WE, THE FIRST PRESIDENCY and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.''
It is plain to see that the family is ordained of God and that it is CENTRAL to the Plan that God has for us in this life and the next.

''The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.''
This is the step that is the hardest to teach the people of Nicaragua. They just don't want to wait til they can go to the Temple to get those blessings and be able to better their family forever.

''THE FAMILY is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.''
Again the family is ordained of God. And then it states of important marraige is to God. That kids need to be raised in a family that is within the laws of matrimony, with a father and mother that are faithful, that teach their kids about the teachings of Jesus Christ and they will achieve happiness. And their family will have success when they are based on those things.

''WE CALL UPON responsible citizens and officers of  government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.''
This is also the hard part. The other churches and relgions that are here in Nicaragua dont stress the importance of the Family like we do. They dont really stress it at all... How can people follow the commandments of the Lord if their church leaders arent taeching it?

I like this quote by Elder L. Tom Perry about the Family.

“President Brigham Young explained that our families are not yet ours. The Lord has committed them to us to see how we will treat them. Only if we are faithful will they be given to us forever. What we do on earth determines whether or not we will be worthy to become heavenly parents.”

I know that if we follow the commandments of the Lord and center our families in Jesus Christ and we use the Atonement in our lives daIly, we WILL receive the blessings that we are promised by the hand of the Lord.

¡¡¡Les Quiero MUCHO!!!

ELDER DAUGHERTY

April 8, 2013

OK!!!! Now for aquick updatefromElderDaughertyon the crappycomputerhe hasto use. Im going to leave that sentence like that so that you guys can see how crappy it really is.....

So we had a baptism!!! His name is M and he is super cool!!! So remember the family I talked about last week? Well we were able to marry them on Saturday and baptize one of them. We had such a long, complicated, awesome day with them. Its a long story that I would love to tell but I lack time and a better computer. So we just finished the Conference weekend. And Unfortunately, I was not able to watch many of the sessions. I was able to watch most of the Priesthood Session and most of the Sunday Sessions but not as much as I would like. And its still hard for me to understand Spanish at times. When the speakers were talking about the Gospel, I understood pretty well,but as soon as they start with stories,my understanding drops dramatically. I'm working really hard to better my understanding of the outside world Spanish and how I can use it but it is still a lot of work. So I am downloading the talks so that I can listen and study them later in English. I hope all of you enjoyed Conference and learned from it. I wanna know that you all learned!! I love that we have the chance to listen the the prophet every 6 months and to hear the word of the Lord and what he wants from us.He is able to tell us what we need to improve on and what we need to be doing to help ourselves and those around us. We know that a prophet is called of God and that he is able to help us go in the way that the Lord wants us to go. He helps us become closer to God and Jesus Christ through his teachings and though the Atonement of the Lord. He shows us how we can use it to better our lives and souls.

''The same priesthood power that created worlds, galaxies, and the universe can and should be part of our lives to succor, strengthen, and bless our families, our friends, and our neighbors—in other words, to do the things that the Savior would do if He were ministering among us today. And the primary purpose of this priesthood power is to bless, sanctify, and purify us so we can live together with our families in the presence of heavenly parents, bound by priesthood sealings, participating in the marvelous work of God and Jesus Christ in forever expanding Their light and glory.''

--Elder M. Russell Ballard

¡¡¡Les Quiero MUCHO!!!

ELDER DAUGHERTY

Their wedding.

His baptism.

A neighbors Boa.

We baptized this guy. 

These are the kids of the lady that cooks us food everyday. They are so cute and love it when we come over to eat.

April 1, 2013

So me and my comp had a sit down and we laid out what we were going to do as a companionship and how we can help the people that we are here for. It went really well and now we are working so well together!! So this week, Tuesday to be exact, we went out contacting with A, the second counselor to the bishop in our ward. We were walking by a house where 2 ladies were sitting outside and we decided to contact them. Normally we would have past them but A thought it would be a good idea. So we talked to them and they didn't seem very positive but A said that we were going to pass by the next day to teach them a lesson. So the next day, we stopped by just because we didn't have much else to do. It turned out that there were 6 people in the family waiting for us to show up so we could teach them. We taught them the first lesson about the Restoration and they loved it. They ask a ton of questions and we do our best to answer them all. We have taught them about 4 times this past week and every time we have taught them, the Spirit it so strong that the whole family starts crying. We have had almost everyone in the family say the closing pray and every time they do it, they start to cry because they feel something that they didn't know how to describe. Because we are in a mission that baptizes families, we were really looking for a family with these people. Well we found out that there are 3 Families that live in that house and we didn't know about it until yesterday!!! We were able to bring one of those families to church along with some of the single people. They really loved church and they always want to know more!! So guess what?! We put a goal with them. A goal to the BAPTIZED!! This Saturday after the conference sessions!! They are all really excited and we are working with the rest of the families so that they can be able to participate in the blessings that the others are receiving. My comp and I are super pumped to be working with this family and to be helping them to complete the commandments of God so that they can have a eternal happiness. I love this family and I really want to help them to gain that eternal salvation that they are able to gain when they follow the Lord and do the things they need to do to become closer to Him.

“God is the Father of our spirits. We are literally His children, and He loves us. We lived as spirit children of our Father in Heaven before we were born on this earth. We were not, however, like our Heavenly Father, nor could we ever become like Him and enjoy all the blessings that He enjoys without the experience of living in mortality with a physical body. God’s whole purpose—His work and His glory—is to enable each of us to enjoy all His blessings. He has provided a perfect plan to accomplish His purpose. We understood and accepted this plan before we came to the earth”      --ELder L. Tom Perry

¡¡¡Les Quiero MUCHO!!!

ELDER DAUGHERTY

Enjoying the candy my family sent me! :)

We baptized these three kids.

The boy in the middle is nicknamed Iron-man. When he was 3 yrs old, he was hit by a bus. The whole left side of his body was crushed and his limbs were bent in the wrong directions. The hubcap from the bus hit his head and tore a huge chunk out of the top of hie head and his left eye. He is now 8 yrs old and the smartest little kid. He plays like a normal kid also, you can't even tell he was involved in a tragic accident. He has a fake eye and some scars. It is a miracle that he is still alive.