Tuesday, December 31, 2013


Fireworks

A Christmas gift from the Branch President.

Monday, December 30, 2013

December 30, 2013

Well I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and that they will all have a Happy New Year as well!! Here, you can barely feel the difference in time. It didn't really feel like Christmas other than the fact that I was able to skype home and talk to the fam!! It was really awesome to soo how everyone is doing and to see that wonderful SNOW that ive been missing out on!! The weather here is still hot as ever and getting hotter everyday due to the fact that the rainy season is over. It just really sucks because its really windy too so all the dust just gets picked up and it gets thrown in our eyes. And it doesnt help that I have contacts so that makes things even funner. Lasik sime time after the mission?! uhhh yea!!

Well for all those that I wasnt able to talk to during Christmas, I was thinking about you!!!! I didnt do much for Christmas, just went to a dinner that my branch pres invited us too. We were out all the time talking to people and helping them understand the importance of Christmas!! It doesnt quite feel like christmas without the snow but ive got dust!!! good enough right?

Well this week I don't know what is going to happen due to the New Year but I guess we shall see!!! I don't have much to say this week but Happy New Years to everyone!!!!

''As we choose to follow Christ, we are changed—spiritually reborn, putting off 'the natural man' and becoming new. In our journey of discipleship… as we deny ourselves of all ungodliness we are filled with love, with no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. This mighty change in us is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and includes not only what we feel and desire, what we think and do, but also what we are becoming… reflected by a fundamental change in our very nature.''
--Elder Bednar

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."
--Thomas S Monson

¡¡¡Les Amo MUCHO!!!

Elder Daugherty

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Tuesday, December 24, 2013


Christmas dinner at the branch President's house.

In a taxi with the elders.

Monday, December 23, 2013


Headed home on the bus.

Elder E

We are the hands of Christ.

My son, Me, and Elder M (my trainer). Three generations.

Lounging by the pool.

Monday, December 16, 2013

December 16, 2013

Well another week has gone by here in Tipitapa. Currently I have about 7 and a half months here. Some may say its a long time and it is but there are some other missionaries that have more than a year in the same area. So I'm taking the time I have here and I'm making the best of it!!!

So during the week we did a few things I guess. We started teaching E and M's daughter, N and we put a baptismal date with her for the 28th of Dec. E is really excited because he will be able to baptize her when the date comes.

During the week, I went to visit some of the recent converts in my old area to see how they were doing and to remind them to go to church. The Hermanas had asked me to do it so I did. They also asked me to visit a lady that they were teaching to see if I could get her to commit to baptism. So I went to visit and she accepted us really friendly like and we started to talk and I invited her to be baptised. She told me that she was going to do it, but just not right now. She promised me that she was going to be baptised but she just didnt want to make that decision right now. I did all I could but I ended up asking her to at least pray and ask the Lord what she should do.. Wanna know what she told me? She told me she just doesnt want to pray at the moment. She feels that when she actually wants to pray or be baptised that she can just do it whenever she wants. When I asked her to pray, she sat back, thought for a bit and told me that she wants to wait but she reassured me that she will do it, just not now.... Weird lesson and I dont know how she is ever going to progress in the gospel if she doesnt pray or get baptised.

So we had a surprise meeting with Pres Collado on Friday. He came and talked to us about our areas and how we can become better and working with the members and such. It was really cool and I learned alot from it. He then pulled me aside after the meeting and asked me why I havent been baptising... :/ He wanted to know how in the past I used to baptise alot and now how I havent baptised since the end of Oct... And truely I have no idea why...

Well on saturday, we went to Loma Verde, another area in Tipitapa and did what we did last week in Ciudadela, visited less actives and recent converts and reminded them of the Branch Conference that was yesterday in Loma Verde. Yesterday in church, we were able to bring 7 people!!! We brought a family as well that we are teaching that we really want to baptise!!!

Things in Tipitapa are going really well and I am loving my time with Elder Q. He is such an awesome kid and he helps me every day to be better and work harder!!!

''Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than things. To catch the real meaning of the “spirit of Christmas,” we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the “Spirit of Christ.”''
--Pres. Thomas S. Monson

¡¡¡LES AMO MUCHO!!!

Elder Daugherty

Monday, December 9, 2013

December 9, 2013

Hey everyone and welcome to another weekly update from Elder Daugherty here in Nicaragua....

Well the week started off normal like any other week. Last Monday, we had planes to go have a Family Hoome Evening with some less actives that live close to our house. Well when we showed up, the guy hadnt returned from work yet so we had to cancel... that meant dinner too... So we went to our food cita and had to have her make some unexpected food for us. On Wednasday, Pres Collado called all the missionaries that have baptised alot in their missions together to talk about how we are doing it. There were about 35 of us in total. He wanted to know how is it that we are able to baptise alot and how can he teach it to the other missionaries in the mission. So he asked us all the baptisms we have had, how we did it, through what references, what methods we did it, etc.... He then took all this info and put it all together in a letter that he sent to all the missionaries in the mission.

So I've had set it as a goal of mine to take those things we we told our Pres about and I am going to teach them to Elder Q. Since he is really new in the mision, he is at a point where he is absorbing everything he sees and learns and repaeting it. That includes the bad things too. So I am taking my time to make sure he take in the good and spits out the bad. I dont want him to turn out like all the other comps I have had. I want him to become an even better misionary than I am. The Lord has given me this chance to help someone become someone that He needs in His work. I feel it as something the Lord needs/wants me to do to help me and so I can help Elder Q.

On Saturday, all the missionaries of the Zone Tipitapa went to Cuidadela, a city just outside Tipitapa where we went on divisions with the members and visited Les Actives, Recent Converts, and Members to remind them of the District Conference that happened yesterday in Cuidadela. It was pretty fun and we were able to visit a lot of people and remind them of the covenants that they have made with God and that they are really missed at church.

I love the work of the Lord and everything that has to do with it. Sometimes we think that the work is too hard and it is!! If it wasnt hard, how would we progress in this life?

''I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?''
--Elder Jeffrey R Holland

¡¡¡Les Amo Mucho!!!

Elder Daugherty

Monday, December 2, 2013

December 2, 2013

Ok lets start from the beginning... Last monday, you already know that I was in the office of the mission because I was getting a new comp, Elder P, who was my comp for a week. We worked hard that week and did our very best to get things done. But it is pretty hard to keep things going in your area when you keep getting new people that dont know what is going on and where everything is at. Its like trying to teach someone to do the job of 6 weeks in one. It doesnt work the best.

Well I got good news this past week. I am training a new missionary!!! His name is Elder Q. I hope that helps you pronounce it :) He is from Guatemala and is fresh from the MTC. He is always ready to get out and get going. Since the MTC, where he taught false people, he just wanted to leave to get teaching the real people and helping them progress!! He has this desire to work that very few missionaries have. It helps that he is new because his motive to work helps me want to work even harder to help him see success in his mission while he is with me.

Well last monday, I went to Managua where I receive training on how to train the new missionary. That night I spend the night in Managua with the Secretaries of the mission. In the morning on tuesday, I left to Pres Collado's house where I met my son, thats what we call the missionaries that we are training. There were only 2 new Elders that had come this change. My comp and another that you can see in the photo that I sent home. Due to the age change, the sisters are coming to our mission more than Elders. We had about 15 new Sisters come from Mexico, Guatemala, and Panama, I think... Well after I got back to my area that night, I got a call that they needed my help in Managua the next day. So I left my comp with an Elder that is a really hard worker and I went to Managua with Elder R, another gringo, to translate for a bunch of dentists and doctors that came down to Nicaragua to do all the dental work and exams that the future missionaries of Nicaragua need. So I went and was helping in the check up room where they were doing the basic clean and exam to see what needs to be done. About 10 mins later, they called me to go help Dr Porter and his wife up in Oral Surgery... I didnt nkow what I was getting myself into until I walked in the room. It was super cold because all the gringos had the A/C pumped to the highest setting and all the Nicaraguenses were dying of the cold. I dont know how many of you have had your wisdom teeth taken out, but Im sure they probably put you to sleep when they did it. Well I got to watch all of that stuff that you dont see while you are asleep. I saw alot of people from Villa Flor that were there to get stuff done. One kid, was getting his top 2 wisdom teeth out and was really anxious. He was moving alot and when they took the last one out, he accidently swallowed it.... The doctor was freaking out because noone has ever swallowed a tooth in the 23 years he has as a doctor. Well thats a first for him. Well 2 mins after, the kid threw the tooth up so things were ok. :) That was something that I wont forget. After all of that, I went back home and Ive been with my comp all week. So we have this new week together and we hope to work super hard!!! Love you guys!!!

“The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.”
– Confucius

¡¡¡Les Amo MUCHO!!!

Elder Daugherty