February 24, 2014

Ok fam and friends!!! This is the end of my second week here in Chichigalpa. This week has been really long yet productive!! We have been working with a family that is preparing to be baptised but we don't know if it will be happening since he is always working!! He didn't go to church on Sunday due to his work....

There are 2 big companies that are located here in Chichigalpa. We have the Flor de Caña which makes all the liquor and we have the Ingenio that produces sugar cane and ships it all over Nicaragua and the world I imagine.. And everyone in Chichigalpa seems to work there. I don't really know what the work schedule is like at the Flor de Caña but at the Ingenio, they work 12 hour shifts that change week to week. So one week, they work from 6am to 6pm and then the next week, they work from 6pm to 6am. And on the weekends, they work an 18 shift to get the new work shift started easier... but the people all have different entry times so one guy might work from 4 to 4 and another might work 7 to 7 or another from 5 to 5... it is really complicated and makes it really hard to teach the people we find throughout the week. We might find one family to teach and not be able to teach then until a week and a half later.

I love being in a ward again!! The members love us and they are always trying to help us!! We have dinner every night with the members, and I am starting to get fat because of it!! 133 lbs... haha I know that doesn't seem like much but I didn't weight that much before the mission. The food is pretty good even though they give us Gallo Pinto (rice and beans mixed) most of the time. The people are really loving here and I love it!!

“Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best—better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than His. We can grow in faith only if we are willing to wait patiently for God's purposes and patterns to unfold in our lives, on His timetable.”
― Neal A. Maxwell

¡¡¡Les Amo MUCHO!!!

Elder Daugherty

February 24, 2014

Us gringos eating at Pizza Hut.

February 17, 2014

Friends, family and any others!!! The weather here in Chichigalpa is amazing... AMAZINGLY HOT!!! Sometimes I walk out of the house, just after showering and getting ready to leave and I wonder whats the point, I just get soaked in sweat walking to eat lunch! But the heat wont keep me from going out into the mission field!!

So lets get a sum up of the week here in Chichi.. On tuesday, we went and got to know the Stake Pres and his family. I remember them when I used to be in Chinandega in the beginning of my mission. They remembered me too and were super excited to have me in the ward. Later we went by the meet the Bishop and his family. When we got there and when he found out that I had just left Tipitapa, he called the District Pres of Tipitapa and asked him if he recommended me. The District Pres told him that Im a hard worker and that he was happy with my work. So I got off on the right foot with my leaders. Even more, when I get to my email today, Pres Collado had sent me a message saying that the Stake Pres of Chichigalpa had called him and told him that he is happy that I am here and that he is content with the work that he sees so far. I just want to thank my parents, for teaching me to be responsable so that others can see that they can depend on me! I wouldnt have been able to be someone the leaders of the church are happy with if it wasnt for them!!

Other than that, we spend all week going around and getting to know all the people and families that we have teaching. We also got to know the recent converts and got to see how they were doing and what help they need. From what I can see here, the ward needs alot of help with reactivating the less actives. They have about 800 something people baptised in the church here but only about 120 that are active. Im going to take what I learned from Tipitapa and see what we can do here. The priesthood holders need to do their visits and the releif society need to be more loving and stop gossiping. :) Alot of people dont go to church because they have problems with other people in the ward. Its hard to get someone to come back to church if they dont wanna go for someone at church that offended them. That seems like something normal here.

The Church is a missionary church. What good does it make to work so hard for something (baptisms) if we cant seem to keep a hold of it? Thats why the members play such a key part in the work of the Lord. Without your help, we literally couldnt do anything. Well we could try but it wouldnt work very well. If we all could work together, the work would progress faster and be more effective!!!!

Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” The Savior has admonished, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” I ask: Can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer—with Mother Teresa—“No; we cannot”

--Pres. Thomas S. Monson

¡¡¡Les Amo MUCHO!!!

Elder Daugherty

February 17, 2014

My new companion.

February 17, 2014

Graffiti that says "Los Mormones"

The Branch President of Tipitapa and his wife and their son and daughter-in-law.

February 10, 2014

Alright everyone... This past week was alittle crazy. First off, we started the week by finding alot of new people to teach which was really exciting. It is always really awesome to find new people to teach because you get to watch as the spirit acts in their lives. You get to see how they change when they really want to follow Christ and live His teachings. And I love answering the questions that they have about the church or gospel related subjects. When they dont ask questions, its hard to see what they really want to know, but when they ask things, it gives us something to work off.

So this week, I also got informed that I had emergency changes. That means that I got changed before the normal change date. The ZLs told me Friday night so I had all day Saturday and Sunday after church to go and visit all of Tipitapa to say bye to everyone I knew. It was hard to say bye to E and S and their kids. And E and M were pretty sad that I had to go. THe Branch Pres and his wife have been really loving to me while ive been here and I love them so much!! His wife cried when I left. I was on the verg of tears all day. I feel like Tipitapa is like home to me. I walk in the street and I know everyone that passes and we all have our little stories together. I feel alittle weird here since its a new area that I dont know but the change will be good for me. So I just got here in my new area with my new comp. His name is Elder T from Las Vegas. He is finishing his mission in the next 7 weeks so I will be with him while he finishes. We are in Chichigalpa, Chinandega. I know alittle bit of the area since I used to be in Chinandega when I started my mission but it is going to be awesome to get to know it better and work here!! Im going to miss Tipitapa, a part of my heart will stay there. Love the Work!!!!

"The tests of life are tailored for our own best interests, and all will face the burdens best suited to their own mortal experience. In the end we will realize that God is merciful as well as just and that all the rules are fair. We can be reassured that our challenges will be the ones we needed, and conquering them will bring blessings we could have received in no other way."
~ Jeffrey R. Holland

¡¡¡Les Amo Mucho!!!

Elder Daugherty 

February 3, 2014

Wow.... this week went by alittle too fast for my liking. At the beginning of this week, my comp and I were able to contact a family that were really interested in our message and told us that they were going to go to church no matter what!! Well Sunday came and went, and they still havent been to church... That is really hard to deal with sometimes. When you spend all your time telling someone about the blessings of obedience to the commandments and hear them promise you that they are going to go to church to get these blessings... and they dont go... It seems to be like that weekly. We have had alot of days this week where all our appointments have been cancelled because we showed up and no one was there or they didnt want to hear our message or other excuses. It was hard to keep working but thats where the members have helped me alot. The members of Tipitapa, who all know me due to the 9 months that I have in Tipitapa at this moment, have been helping us alot, more than usual. They have been going out with us to appointments alot and helping us find people to teach each week. This week was super cool for that reason.

So I don't know if you remember E. We baptised him and his wife in July. Well the other day, he got up in priesthood and told us a story. Now that he is a member of the Church, he talks to all his buddies at work about the church. Well one of his best friends, who lives in Chinandega, was really interested, so E decided to teach him about the gospel. Well after several weeks, E talked to his friend about baptism and set a baptismal date with him. He then took his friend to the missionaries in that area, and basically told the missionaries to interview him so he could get baptised on that day. So E really did all the work of the missionaries for them. That is what I call ''Every member a missionary.'' I love the fact that we were able to help E and his family find the gospel and gain the blessings in their lives and even more that they are passing it along to others. I love this gospel!!!

Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord's vineyard, to bring souls unto him.
--Thomas S. Monson

"Decide to do something that will have eternal consequences. Few things have greater eternal consequence than blessing generations by bringing one person into the gospel."
-- Elder Richard G. Scott

LES AMO MUCHO!!!

Elder Daugherty