August 26, 2013

Well I have hit the 1 year mark and now I am on the back side of the hill. Some would say that now its time to sit back and enjoy the ride down but I'm trying the best I can to grab on and slow down the descent!!! I want this time to go by fast but I don't want it to go by wasted.

So to take advantage of the time and use it well, the mission has helped and has made alot of new changes. With our new President, Pres Collado, there have been alot of new things that he and the Area Presidency have introduced into our mission and into the other missions in Central America. In our mission, the Pres has decided to put Hermanas (Sisters) into every zone in the mission. The Zone I am in right now is only Elders. There are about 2 or 3 other zones that are all Elders due to how dangerous the areas are and how well the zone does. Well with the new age change awhile back, the Area Presidency is trying to make our mission to be the first with 50% Sisters and 50% Elders. So they are working on spreading out the sisters into all of the different zones. Our zone is pretty excited and worried to receive Sisters this next week during changes. Tipitapa isn't that bad but it can be pretty dangerous for sisters at times. We know that this is something the Lord wants so we are excited to see the new results. The Area Presidency has decided as well to get rid of our Change Meetings every 6 weeks so we don't waste all that time going to a meeting in Managua.

So instead of having meetings every 6 weeks on Wednesday, they will be calling us on Sunday nights, telling us if we have changes or not, and those that have changes will use their P-Day (Monday) to get to their new area with their new companion. This gives us more time to be working in our areas if we don't have changes so that we don't have to travel all day to a meeting and wasting that time not preaching the gospel. In place of Change meetings, we will have Multi-Zone Meetings where a couple Zones will meet together ever once in a while and listen to the Mission Pres or to a Seventy. This week we get to go to Matagalpa again to listen to Elder Ochoa from the Seventy. I hope it will be a great learning experience!

So this week we were able to baptize a little girl! I know its not a family but people are important too! Her mom isn't a member but the rest of her family is. She just turned 8 about 3 weeks ago and she said that as one of her gifts for her birthday was to be baptized. She was super excited to be baptised and really wants her mom to get baptized one day.

This coming Monday is ''Changes'' so when I write home again next week, I might be in a different area, have a different companion, or stay here in Tipitapa, or a mix of those 3 options!!

A testimony is personal knowledge of spiritual truth obtained by revelation... True conversion is a change of beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God.

--- Elder David A. Bednar

¡¡¡Les Amo Mucho!!!

Elder Daugherty

August 26, 2013

This is a little girl we baptized. She asked to be baptized as a birthday present. Her mom is in the process of being baptized too.

August 19, 2013

We went to Matagalpa to have a meeting with the Mission Pres. 

Elder P. who is from my home Stake. 

Elder E in front of the bus we took to Matagalpa.

Some funny fotos we took.

Another baptism this week. 11 weeks in a row of baptisms!!

August 19, 2013

Well another week as flown by here in Tipitapa. The time doesn't seem to want to stay put and I am trying my very best to grab ahold of it and use it to my advantage. The cyber we are in is having problems with the Internet so lets see if I'm able to write all this in one place or if I have to go somewhere else to do it.

So this week we had some crazy stuff go on. On Wednesday, we went to Matagalpa to have a meeting with the Mission Pres. about some things in the mission. So we all had to wake up early and leave in a small bus to Matagalpa. It is about a 2-3 hour ride there in bus. We got to Matagalpa around 8 am and we had the meeting until about 5 or 6 pm. The meeting was to talk about the way we have been working and how we can fix or better the way we do things in the mission. After that, we headed back to Tipitapa which is 2-3 hours back. Well be decided to stop at a park in Matagalpa and eat some food. While we were there, I witnessed something pretty funny. A man was walking by the food stand where we were buying and 3 other guys were headed in the opposite direction toward him. The one man was holding a bottle of liquor. The other 3 all grouped around him, stole his liquor and walked off like nothing happened. The other guy was super angry, yelling and kicking at these 3 men that had just stolen his liquor. I was sad that he got robbed and no one did anything but at least they robbed him of something that he didn't need anyways. After that lovely experience, we got in the bus and headed home. We got back to Tipitapa at about 10 pm. It was pretty late and we had just spent a whole day in Matagalpa!!

Well throughout the week, we went contacting and we found another family that wanted to be baptized. So we taught them and we baptized them yesterday after church. We have been working pretty well in the area and we are finding more and more families that are wanting to change their lives. I love being able to do the work of the Lord amd boing able to be the person that He can trust to get the job done.

''The Spirit is the perfect Gentleman. He only comes when he is invited.''
---anonymous

¡¡¡Les Amo Mucho!!!

Elder Daugherty

August 12, 2013

We had the chance to baptize yet another family. If my count is correct, we have baptized 10 weeks in a row. Each and every one of these families have been awesome and I have experienced miracles with all of them.

August 12, 2013

Well we had another miralce happen here in Tipitapa. We had the chance to baptize yet another family. If my count is correct, we have baptized 10 weeks in a row. Each and every one of these families have been awesome and I have experienced miracle with all of them. Each of them had their different struggles and their different trials that we and the Lord helped them get through, not only making them stronger but making our faith grow as misisonaries and them as new members of the church. With the amount of success we are having, the Mission President has invited my comp and I to one of the leadership meetings and he wants us to teach everyone how we are able to have so much success.

The days are starting to fly by faster and faster now. I sit back and think about the days and what I have been doing and wonder why the time seems to slip through my fingers. It also makes me think about what I am doing with my time. I do catch myself sometimes sitting around when I could be studying or out working and I am really trying my best to always keep myself busy in the Work. But it also makes me think about the people that I could be missing in that time that Im not using. It makes me think about all the oppurtunities that I could be missing to change someones life or to bring them closer to the gospel. As I get closer to completing a year in the mission, I want to start to buff out the rough spots in the way I work and the way that I use my time and my energy. I want to strive to be my best and to follow the counsel of my leaders and the Lord.

''The poor use of time is a close cousin of idleness. As we follow the command to “cease to be idle” (D&C 88:124), we must be sure that being busy also equates to being productive. For example, it is wonderful to have the means of instant communication quite literally at our fingertips, but let us be sure that we do not become compulsive fingertip communicators. I sense that some are trapped in a new time-consuming addiction—one that enslaves us to be constantly checking and sending social messages and thus giving the false impression of being busy and productive.''
---IAN S. ARDERN Of the Seventy

¡¡¡Les Amo Mucho!!!

Elder Daugherty

August 5, 2013

This father and son were baptized. His wife is already a member but inactive. After working with this family for awhile we have been able to reactivate her and get her husband to start coming to church.

August 5, 2013

Well I would love to talk about all the crazy and awesome things that I did this week but there wasn't much. We did have the chance to baptize another family here. It is a family to complete meaning that part of the family are already members and that we are completing the couple so that both the husband and wife are members. This Sunday, we baptized Francisco and his son Francisco. His wife, Silvia is already a member but inactive. After working with this family for awhile we have been able to reactivate Silvia and get her husband to start coming to church.

They finally went to the work and changed the Branch President here in Tipitapa. As missionaries, we are really excited to have someone that is willing to work and actually wants to help us. The new Branch Pres is a man named Genaro Rivas and he is very organized and wants to work. We are looking forward to seeing the Branch grow and expand due to our work and progress with the new Branch Pres.

So one thing that I have been really worried about in my area is the amount of people that come to church and the amount that done come. We have about 150 people that come to church every Sunday. With out little chapel, we have to fill the halls with chairs so everyone can sit down during the meetings. But there are just about as many people that don't come to church. If we had everyone coming to church that are In the system of our Branch, we would have to do our meetings outside... or we would have to split the Branch into 2 different time periods. Its amazing to see how many are on the list of members and how many actually come to church. If you go to your bishops and ask them how many are in the ward and how many actually go, you will be surprised. Some wards are good at activating members that don't go but others really need help. If all of us could start helping those that don't go, imagine how full the church could be on Sundays!!!

“The willingness to forgive is a sign of spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire. Imagine a world filled with individuals willing both to apologize and to accept an apology. Is there any problem that could not be solved among people who possessed the humility and largeness of spirit and soul to do either -- or both -- when needed?”
~Pres. Gordan B., Hinkley

Les Amo Mucho!!!

Elder Daugherty