At a huge mall outside of our mission. The bishop called our mission president and got permission to take us there.

Elder P. He looks like a mix of Kip and Wesley off of Princess Bride. He's really cool.

The sewage canals that we walk by everyday.

What I eat for dinner most nights.

March 25, 2013

Hola familia!!!!

So guess what!? I didn't get changed again! So I am still in Villa Venezuela!! I really like it here but the area is still a little difficult. But my comp had changes so Elder G left. He got moved to a different area that is still within our Zone so I get to see him during meetings and such. He has been my most favorite comp so far in the mission. I have a new comp. Elder C. He is from Guatemala. He has about 18 or 19 months in the mission. I don't know for sure because he wont tell me. Every time I or anyone else asks, he tells them he has about 5 months. He has a really good teaching method but from what I have figured out lately is that he wont work on his own. So if I don't work, he wont work. If I just sat in the house all day, he would do the same with no problem at all. Also, if he doesn't get to do what he wants to do, he will sit around and be super lazy until he gets it. I have only been with him for a few days but you can learn a lot about someone in such little time. But I figure if the Lord wants me to be with a companion like this, he either wants me to help him or he wants me to learn something, or both. I don't know but I am trying hard to know what the Lord wants for me in my life. Sometimes my mind wanders to home and I start to think about the future and what things I would like to do or things I need to do after I get home and I start to get a little stressed about what may happen after I got home. But I stop and think about my purpose as a missionary. I am here to the people of Nicaragua, not for myself. I am here, specifically in Villa Venezuela, Villa Flor, where that are people here, waiting for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to change their lives. I know that when I put my trust in the Lord that He will provide for me no matter what happens in my life. And that is what I am here to teach people to do too. That they can put their trust in the Lord and that He will help them no matter what. What is hard, is getting them to take that leap of faith and doing it. It is hard to wait for the blessings in our lives, especially the visible blessings. The people of Nicaragua have a hard time with that. Having the faith to trust the Lord long enough that they will be able to see the blessings that come from it. Because the moment they see those blessings, they stick to the truth because they know where they can find help and relief. I like this quote by Pres Monson because it is so true!! When we do our part, the power of God can change our lives forever.

''When faith replaces doubt, when selfless service eliminates selfish striving, the power of God brings to pass His purposes."
--Pres. Thomas S. Monson

¡¡¡Les Quiero Muchisimo!!!

ELDER DAUGHERTY

Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple Dedication

                                             Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple Dedication

March18, 2013

OK!! So just to start my week, we had a lot of crazy and sad experiences. One of our recent convert families decided to split up because she thought that he came home drunk on Monday. It’s a really complicated story that has to deal with both of them not getting along with the other persons family. So we have had to deal with that all week and a bunch of other crap that has been going on in the mission. There was a lawyer that all the missionaries used to marry the people that need it. This lawyer has been working with the missionaries for the past 3 years. Well recently we found out that all the work he has been doing with marriages and divorces, was all fake. He was making false documents and giving them to these families. I don't know how he got away with it for so long but now we have to go back to all the families that he worked with and get them married and divorced again because it wasn't done right the first time. That is another long and complicated story. Also, my old companion, Elder M, I believe that he is going home. He bought his own phone and was talking to young women in the ward and to women that we were teaching. Another word for young women that flirt with the missionaries is ''Musas''. I might have already shared this but my old comp was doing this while he was with me and I didn't know it. He was making plans to get together with one of the musas that we were teaching and preparing for baptism. He was planning on going to a party with her and after, going to someone’s house so that they could be alone. And he was telling her that after he finished his mission, he was going to come back for her to bring her back to Salvador with him. So that caused a lot of unnecessary crap in my area where my comp and I got mixed into. So after all this crazy stuff, Sunday came. And I don't know if any of you guys knew but the Temple in Tegucigalpa, Honduras was dedicated. So all Sunday, we went to all 3 sessions of the Dedicatory prayers. It was really cool. Elder Holland and Elder Uchdorf were there. They conducted the session in English and had a Translator there to speak Spanish to the people. All 3 sessions were really good but I liked the last one the best. Elder Holland was giving the last talk before the last dedicatory pray. Elder Holland bore his testimony in Spanish that the Savior lives and that the Temple there in Honduras was what the Lord wanted. And that without temples, we cannot feel the joy, peace, and happiness we get in life. I felt the spirit so strongly that I was almost crying. He is a prophet called of God and bore it in a language that was not his own, but of the language of the sons of God. I truly know that Temples are key in the work of the Lord and that we can feel so much closer to God and the Lord when we are in them. I can’t wait until Nicaragua gets a temple and how blessed the people will be with it in their lives. I love the work of the Lord and I am so happy to be here in Nicaragua to prepare the people for a Temple someday.
¡¡¡Les Quiero Mucho!!!
ELDER DAUGHERTY

We went to Pizza Hut today. We feel like we're in the states when we eat there.

My new companion.

A spider we found hiding in our bathroom. he reminded me a lot of Armaghoma.

Dinner we made for the family that we weren't able to baptize.

So I got your package and one from Steph!! I will save the hat for sure!! Tell the guys that all the other Elders are super jealous that I got a LoZ hat and they kept trying to steal it from me.

March 11, 2013

Dale pues!! Tiempo para Elder Daugherty!!

Ok so this week wasn't as good as others but it was alright! So on Tuesday, we went to teach G and his family. He was there ready to learn with his Moskito Bible in hand. But this time I came prepared... I brought one of the Zone Leaders with me who is from Guatemala who knows the Bible way better than I do right now. The purpose of this visit was to see if G really wanted to be baptized or if he just wanted to play around with religions, which a lot of people do here. So we showed up and started the lesson with a prayer. After, we started to read about the Seventh Day stuff in the Bible because G wanted to know what day is the Sabbath Day and how can we know. After we started to read, we had to explain to him the Jehovah is Jesus Christ, not God. He had a really hard time understanding it and started to fight us about it. The thing is that the Bible he has in Miskito is translated wrong. Whenever it says Jehovah is says ''Dawan'' which is the say word for God in Miskito. So all his life, he has grown up reading that Dawan is Jehovah, or God. So it was really hard for him to change his thinking about the Trinity. It didn't really work so we moved on to a different subject, about the Seventh Day. There are a lot of scriptures that say that the Seventh day is the last day of the week but we all know that Jesus taught the Apostles that they should gather on the first day of the week and part the bread and water (sacrament) and that day should be the Sabbath Day. After we tried to explain to him this, he stated that the apostles were only men, and men are not perfect. So he believed that when the apostles gathered on the first day of the week, it was because they just did that as a group and not under the instruction of the Master. It is hard to teach someone who does not want to listen. So to make a long story a little shorter, we asked him what his intentions were with the church. He said that he was trying out the different churches to see what one he liked the best. After teaching him a bit more, he decided that he couldn't make those changes in his life or his beliefs and that it would be better if he stayed with his Seventh Day church and the things that they taught. So we had to drop them because he refused to believe the simple teachings in the Bible. It’s really interesting to see how different people interpret the teaching in the Bible and how they form their churches around it. It’s really weird to be walking down the street and see one of the many churches here having a gathering a prayer or party, I don't know exactly what to call it because it certainly isn't what I'm used to. A lot of the churches here have bands or people that come to play guitar or piano during their meetings. There is one church down the street from our church that has huge performances, like plays, about 3 times a week. You can hear any of these meetings about 4 blocks away from where they actually are.

But despite all the chaos and craziness that is going on in our Zone and is our area, we are moving forward, constantly looking for new people to bring to the knowledge of the church. By the way, Thank you so much Gpa and Gma Daugherty for your letters!! I love reading them; I wish I had more time to write back! And Gpa and Gma Poulsen, I got your letters and the talks you sent me. I wish I had time to write you guys too and answer all your questions! I love you all and hope everything is going good back at home.

“The standard of truth has been erected; No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”
--Joseph Smith, History of the Church

¡¡¡Les quiero mucho!!!

Elder Daugherty

March 4, 2013

Ok familia!!
So this week was pretty interesting. I don't know if you remember the Miskito family that I talked about last week but they came to church again! That means that they have completed one of the requirements to be baptized. So we will be talking to them a lot his week and preparing them to be baptized on Saturday. G, the man of the family has a lot of questions about the Bible and it’s really had for me to answer them sometimes. I really wish the Church would put a little more emphasis on the Bible for the kids that are growing up in the church because in my case, I don't know all that much about the Bible. I mean I know that stories and all but other than that, I never really knew that much until I came to Nicaragua and realized that I needed to know these things so that I could teach the people from a book of scripture that they are used to. Here, it is a lot easier to teach someone using the Bible first and then slowly start using the Book of Mormon after we have explained the First vision and about the Prophet Joseph Smith. But before that, we normally don't use the Book of Mormon at all in our lessons. So with G, all he wants to study from is the Bible. And when he asks me questions, I try my very best to answer them. His latest question was about the Seventh Day Church and why the Seventh Day is mentioned so much in the Old and New Testament. I can’t quite tell if he wants to know why the name of the church he is going to is in the scriptures so much or if he is asking about the seventh day being the Sabbath Day... I don't know for sure but I will be finding out sometime this week. His wife still has a hard time understanding what we teach but we are starting to work with the ward so someone that knows her language can come teach with us. G explains everything we teach to him, to her after we leave so she is understanding but I guess I knew how she feels, not knowing how to communicate with anyone and feeling as if you’re an outsider. I try to talk to her with what little Miskito I have learned from G but it’s only about ''How are you?'' and ''I’m doing fine''. It’s not much but I can see in her eyes that she likes it when we at least try to speak with her. We are always looking for new families to teach and new people that want to listen to our message. Its hard work but I love this work. This is the work of the Lord and I feel so blessed and honored to be here, in Nicaragua, serving Him. I don't know where I would be if I wasn't here right now. Probably behind a desk at college or behind a computer goofing off online, who knows? All I know is that I am super happy that I am here and that I made the decision to teach others about the knowledge that I have. I have the ability to share this with others and I love seeing their faces when they learn something that they never knew, especially about our Heavenly Father and His plan for us in this life and the one after.

"A True Disciple of Christ Will Always be Remembered, For Changing Another's Life."
--Anonymous

¡¡¡Les Quiero Muschisimo!!!