Week 31: 7 months!!!

Last Zone Meeting before transfers.

7 months!!! Crazy how fast time is flying by! This week went pretty well. On Tuesday my companion had to get an ingrown toenail removed.  He thought they were just going to take off the ingrown part, but they took the whole toenail off!!! It was looking pretty nasty! He can't really walk but he's a hard worker so we still went out and worked.  He just kinda scooted along and had to wear sandals.  It worked out for most of the week but on Sunday it was pouring down rain so his feet got soaked! 

I spoke at church on Sunday.  I spoke about how as members of the church we have a special light and we need to let our light shine and not hide it under a bushel.  Basically, 3 Nephi 12:14-16.

Ice Cream at Dos Pinos after radio session.

Our two baptisms fell through this week.  The first one fell through because our investigator went off to do an errand and just never came back.  Hopefully, he's OK we haven't heard from him since.  The other one was a lady that ended up having her baby this week.  We thought it was best not to bring the baby out in the wind and rain just to be baptized.

Anyway, everything is going well here, hope everyone is doing well back home.

Con Amor,

Elder Thackeray

Sand Flies! Natures super bug!

Week 30: No Power, No Water, and an Altercation

Already December! Where does the time go? Really crazy fast. 

Well, things are going well here but we have been without power and water since Friday so that's been fun haha. It's starting to get really hot here. I am exhausted after we played soccer in the heat. I'm dying haha. I'm gonna be looking black when I come back haha.

We went to visit a couple of our investigators but when we got there this drunk guy came out (our investigators' stepdad) and starts yelling, telling us to never come back to his house or he was going to meet us with a machete or his pistol. Then pulled his shirt up and he had like a little iron rod like he was getting ready to fight. Drunk people haha! He just kept yelling. I turned around and my companion was already gone half way down the road cause he was scared. But the guy followed me for a little bit and kept yelling and made a big scene in front of everyone so we couldn't do anything cool.

Answers: Spiritual experience this week was... hmm... hard to say this week was a tough grinding week. A lot of hard hearts, not a lot of people wanted to listen, but.our prayers were answered in that no one robbed our house because if you leave your house without turning the light on someone almost always robs it and for four days nobody robbed us.

I love how humble the people are here and how they live and are happy with almost nothing. It's quite impressive.

The food I miss from my last area is GALLO PINTO(Beans and Rice), I really miss a member who made the best gallo pinto../ it was the best.

Hope you guys have a good week.
Love,

Elder Thackeray

Week 29: Hurricane

We got a call on Tuesday that we had to go and buy food for a week and water for a month because we got news from the Area Seventy that a hurricane was coming and we needed to be prepared. We got our house prepped.We had all of the goods that we needed. Andddddddddddd it never came... it didn't even rain. We are having the best weather I have since I been here. haha.

Well, hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving. We went out as a zone and ate at a restaurant, definitely wasn't home but it was better than the regular beans and rice we have haha.

When I was on changes with Elder Samol, we had a noche de hermanamiento, we played baseball. It was a good time, I threw the ball and it accidentally hit a little kid in the head. I felt bad but he was fine.

It rained real hard on Friday, we thought the hurricane was coming, but again it never did.

Anyways, pretty normal week hope all is well.

Con amor,

Elder Thackeray

Week 28: Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week!!!!

We are going to celebrateThanksgiving by eating beans and rice, like always! Yeah, no such thing as that in Nicaragua! Man, I'd love some apple pie right now ha ha. Could you send that in a package? So far so good, starting to eat more now which is good. I was afraid that I had worms or something or malaria. One of our members got that and he's been throwing up for like three days.

Been a good week. My companion cracks me up sometimes. His laugh kills me... it's like an 80-year-old grandpa laugh haha, also he's like a little feminine when he walks he can't get his shoes dirty so sometimes he goes really slow because he has to take the perfect spot through the mud field. Even when he had rubber boots on sometimes he walks the same way. I'm like there's a reason you have rubber boots on... its so you can go through the mud without worrying about anything. If someone invites us to come to their church he gets really mad But I don't know why he gets mad because we invite everyone to our church they are just doing the same thing haha.

We're sending off for our turtle shell plaques today. Also, I got a ring Thackeray style it's got the brand on it and everything it looks pretty cool.

We basically didn't work in our area until Friday this week because of meetings and we had to do interviews and had baptisms and such. But on Friday we had a really good day... the Lord blessed us with a bunch of escogidos in our area so we were able to put 11 fechas for baptism. We were worried because we didn't really have any solid people for December but we found a bunch of families and such which was cool and a blessing.

Answers:

As for service we are performing,  I heard in April we are going to get to help dig wells for people's water.

The rules for the ocean: we can't go as a group like zone or district just individually but that's boring and I'm a ways away from the ocean in my area.

Things I like about my new companion. My new companion is super patient with people. I like his 80-year-old grandpa laugh and we have some cool deep conversations about the more in depth doctrine of the church, a lot from the teaching of Joseph Smith.

Favorite activity here is... well basically we just play soccer cause there isn't much else to do; haha.

Miskito is good I suppose. I'm trying to find an English to Miskito book because I guess it's easier for the gringos to learn it. Nakisma is how are you doing? Pine is good. Jisis crist is Jesus Christ. Tenk u is thank you there's a lot of words that are the same in English and Miskito just are spelled differently.

Hope all is going well.

Con Amor,

Elder Thackeray

Week 27: Six Months

No where in Puerto had internet yesterday in the afternoon so we had to write Tuesday again.

Well I've hit six months in the mission this past Friday. Things are going well here. People aren't as receptive in this area because there is literally a church on every corner. But it's a good time out here in Puerto.

There is a guy who makes stuff out of turtle shell like: rings, earrings, sunglasses. It's pretty cool, let me know if anyone wants something. I'll send some pics of one i got.

My belt no longer works. It's too big so hopefully there's a belt in the package hah? It takes about a month for packages to get here so everything for Christmas should be sent around this week or next. It's literally been pouring all week we've been in rubber boots the whole week. I feel like I'm back on the farm irrigating. I'll send a pic of one of the lakes we had to cross ha ha. It's pretty funny.

President came on Friday. We had a multi- zone meeting again. Well it was just a zone meeting with our zone in Puerto, it was good. It's always the best when we have those because we always eat something really good. I only ate half of my stuff because I haven't been real hungry this past  week. Also Hermana Poncillo came and checked our house, we passed with flying colors our house was dang near perfect!

On Sunday, it was pouring rain and we had to bring investigators to church but we were already late and the one we wanted to bring lived way the heck out there but we walked through the mud and rain and got here and got her to church. We had a feeling of the spirit strong after church so we asked our investigator who we had been teaching for a while and asked if she would like to be baptized right now and she said she would. So we were able to have a baptism on Sunday, truly a miracle of God. We had worked and worked all week and had really found no one positive but God blessed us with a little blessing to keep hope alive. It was quite amazing.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Con Amor,

Elder Thackeray

Week 26: Papusas

Well, the elections were here in Nicaragua so we were at the church making papusas and watching Charly for P-day but when the results of the election came out there were a bunch of crazy riots and stuff going on so we just had to go to our house. Also the main cyber was done so we finished writing today. Lots of chances to see miracles here. The people's hearts are harder in my new area than my last one because a lot of the people we have contacted and talked to aren't positive, which is way different than my last area. It's also a lot hotter and the power goes out every day, but I'm loving it here nonetheless. It is like our own mission everyone in the zone is pretty close which is cool. Trying to get the pic thing figured out. My camera isn't charging so until I figure that out we won't have any pictures. We went and visited this member who has a pet monkey named Chewy, that I guess a missionary bought and left it at their house when he left. 

Hope everything is going well there!

Con Amor,

Elder Thackeray

Week 25: No Letter

NO LETTER

Week 24: Puerto Cabeza

Well pretty decent week I would say.

We had changes on Sunday and now I'm in.... Puerto Cabezas. So I get to learn a new language called Moskito. It's over on the Atlantic coast. I took a plane to get here, it was like a little stick of gum haha. My new companion is Elder Martinez. He's from El Salvador. I don't know much about him because I just met him about 2 hours ago.

Puerto is super poor and is on the coast of the Caribbean.

From Lonely Planet: This impoverished Caribbean port town and ethnic melting pot sprawls along the coast and back into the scrubby pines on wide brick streets and red-earth roads, full of people and music, smiles and sideways glances. Old wooden churches, antique craftsman homes and ramshackle slums are knitted together with rusted sheet-metal fencing, coconut palms and mango trees. In a single stroll you’ll eavesdrop on loud jagged Miskito banter, rapid-fire español and lovely, lilting Caribbean English. Sure, this city has systemic problems (poverty, decay, crime), and its ramshackle infrastructure lags behind the rest of the country. But with tasty seafood, great-value historic lodging options, and seaside indigenous communities a boat ride away, it can also be as alluring as a sweet, yet slightly sketchy, new friend.Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/nicaragua/caribbean-coast/bilwi-puerto-cabezas/introduction#ixzz4YWu2m2fN

There's about 20 missionaries here, basically the best of the best, because we are completely away from everyone, so the president has to trust us the most because he's so far away haha. Puerto only has one cyber. Everybody is super poor here and their houses are wood built on stilts because I guess it floods a lot. The average a person stays here in Puerto is for about 9 to 10 months, so I'm gonna hit a year here and maybe more we'll see what happens.

It was kinda hard leaving my first area everyone was sad to see me go. We changed church to 11 and only had sacrament meeting because I had to leave to go to Esteli to catch a bus to Managua. One of the people I went with was my zone leader Elder Rowe, and this lady sat next to him on the bus and started talking to him and then asked if he wanted to get married haha. It was really funny. We got to Managua and just hung out at the AP's house for awhile shooting the bull. We only get to take one 30 pound bag to Puerto so I had to minimize everything then we went to bed way late because I was talking to all the people who are going home so I'm really tired right now. I got to take my first hot shower in months at the AP's house. It was quite refreshing, a real life changer. You don't realize how much you enjoy hot showers until you don't have one haha. I guess everyone gets sick in Puerto and loses a lot of weight so I'll probs come back weighing 170 haha. I can't send pictures this week because all my craps packed away so I'll send some next week if i can.

Answers for mom:

I would say my testimony of the power of prayer has grown a lot just seeing every day the blessings and help we receive every day its pretty cool.

Best part about the mission is learning Spanish. That is pretty sweet. I guess I'll learn Moskito too so ill be trilingual. Also, helping people change their lives for the good and just being able to see the change in people and the change of their hearts.

I usually share with members Mosiah 2:41 which talks about the benefits of following the commandments of god (dia de reposo) to just try and help people come to church. For investigators, I usually use Alma 7: 14-15 which talks about how you need to repent and enter the waters of baptism. 

Anyway, hope y'all are having a good week. Have a good week keep it up over there 

Con Amor,
Elder Thackeray

Week 23: Doug's Pizza

Buenas!

Well, I hit five months in the mish this past week. Things are going well.

The AP's, the President, and Hermana Poncillo came to our house to do interviews. President walked right in laid down in our hammock. He was like, "I like this house, Hermana Poncillo and I are gonna move here." We had a really good interview and he said I need to prepare myself to be a leader and a trainer in the mission so that was cool. Then he walked over to my desk and looked at my pictures and talked about what I want to do when I get older. I said I don't know exactly but I know I wanna be a coach and he said, "Oh a big famous coach. When you get back you need to invite me to the States and give me a front row seat so I can see one of your games."

Spence "my comp" left the phone in the bus haha so we were without a phone for about five days which was crappy but that's life I suppose.

For Pday/ our zone got together and played some games. We played basketball then steal the bacon and then we got some coconuts off the trees at the church and just chilled.

We are in the last week of the change so we will see whether or not me and Spence will stay together another change, He doubts it but we will see what happens. There's a chance I'll be training this next change so that will be interesting, to say the least. I'm hoping if I train I'll get a Latino just because I feel pretty good and about my progress with my Spanish but it'll get even better if I have to speak it all the time with a Latino comp. Well, we wukk see what happens.

For P-day we're going to go eat at this place called Doug's Pizza and just chill in Esteli.

I would say one way I have grown more or less is just the absolute reliance on prayer and also when things are crappy for a while just trying to find the little blessings and miracles in life to make it go better. Sometimes the days are hard but depending on what you focus on determines your day.

Things I see differently, hmmm, every day, knowing the scriptures more and more every day is pretty cool and I just keep learning new stuff about the gospel that is very interesting that's more or less deep doctrine. Mainly just learning the basics of the doctrine better and some new stuff I didn't know about. Learn something new every day.
Some funny things. Hmm,,, there's a lot of stuff that's like inside jokes between me and my companion or the people in my area so if I told you everything you thought was funny it'd be worthless. (You had to be there kind of things) But a couple things: when the President laid in our hammock,. Another day, we were walking down the street and we saw this bolo passed out naked on the side of the street; On divisions we were in Pali and I bought something and all I had left on me was 50 centavos which is the equivalent to like two pennies but this beggar was asking for money so I gave it to her and she threw it back at me. Such is life here in Nicaragua.

Hope y'all are having good weeks.

Love, 

Elder Thackeray

Week 22: No Letter

NO LETTER THIS WEEK....

Week 21: A Rented Bus

Buenas!

Well, this was pretty much a normal week!

We had a baptism fall through because our investigators baby got sick so she was in the hospital when we went to pick her up. So we went and visited her she'll get baptized sometime this month. The conference was good stuff. I didn't fall asleep once because it was so entertaining because it was like watching TV haha! Gotta takes your entertainment where you can get it down here in Nicaragua.

My favorite talks were The Sacrament Can Make us Holy by Elder Muers (great minds think a like mom). Also, I enjoyed Elder Holland's talk on home teaching, don't wait until the last day of the month to do your home or visiting teaching.

Conference weekend was good. Not many of our members came. We watched conference in Esteli which is like an hour away from Condega. We rented a bus to take us there. I think there were 13 that came in total. We are having problems getting people to church, everyone just has all these problems in their lives with one thing or another so they stop going. We tried explaining that you receive blessings when you go to church but they don't want to hear it I guess. All I can really do for them is pass by them and invite them to church.

Les amo!

Elder Thackeray

Week 20: Nica Style

Buenas!

Hope everything is going good. We were out out power for three days. On the third day, we went and asked the lady about it and she didn't know either so she asked the people. I guess they cut our power and everything because we didn't pay the electricity but they usually give us a receipt but they didn't this time. So that's why we were out of power. All our fridge defrosted so everything we had in there was ruined which wasn't much because we live Nica style which is you never buy extra food you have to live day by day haha.

Answers for Mom: 

Weather has been fairly decent not too much rain, except of Friday where it poured really hard. We were in Valle de Jesus which is like 3 miles from our house and it was a torrential down pour all the way home. Backpack, clothes, planner, everything was just soaking wet, but other than that the weather has been decent it's less hoy when it rains so that's good too haha.

My companion Elder Spence is from Riverton, Utah. Plays soccer but is a big Utah fan so it pains me to learn USC lost to them. Now I have to eat a bite of two month old Gallo pinto from the fridge. Come on USC how ya gonna do me like that? He's been out on the mission for 17 months. When he leaves in April I'll have a year.

Typical Sunday:

We get up go pass by all parties of members and investigators starting at like 7. Yes, our members if we don't pass by them they don't come to church that takes till about 11. Then we either call Chito, a member's husband, to help us take the chairs or sometimes he likes to drink so we just have to take the chairs ourselves. We rent the chairs from a pulperia. The house we have church in is kinda far away so when we have to take them ourselves, it sucks. So til about 1 we take the chairs to the building set it up. Move around a bunch of tables, sweep up, set up all the chairs, and sacrament and such. Go have a quick lunch come back at 1:45 call everyone make sure they are coming. Church starts at 2 but no one really comes until 2:30-2:40 have that till 5, take the chairs back to the pulperia, and go send numbers.

Yes, we have to talk a lot because most of the people just wanna show up and listen and not have to do anything. This place is really needy can't do anything without the missionaries, and everyone is always asking us for money so that gets annoying.

We had a baptism for Pelon. We have been teaching him forever and he always goes to church finally we got permission to baptize him.

Hope all of you are having a great week and that everything is going well.

Love,
Elder Thackeray

Week 19: GOOD MORNING VIETNAM

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!

The most important part of a speech is the opening line that's why I like to try out 4 or 5 until I get a good laugh! "Mitch explain to mom" haha I miss The Office!

You tell Calvin and Jack that's dang right never missed one practice or game in any sport my whole high school career even in baseball junior year where I was throwing up all day like everyone else in the family but I still went. #dedication

Time is flying crazy to think that at the end of this change I'll have 6 months in my mission.

Spanish is coming along just cherry, I feel like I'm picking it up really quick I can pretty much say most of the stuff I want to just need some work on the grammar but that's going good.

Our guy we baptized is Santiago super chosen and prepared by the Lord. We only found him 3 weeks ago the first time we talked to him after we finished teaching he asked if he could be baptized the next day. Amazing how many people every day that are prepared by the Lord.

Spiritual experience for the week for mom: it's the mission every day is a special experience. While on the divisions we were going to walk to Proyecto which is a long way out. It's the way we go when we visit less actives. We walked through and I had a feeling we should contact this one house, but it was a real rich nice house which we sometimes avoid because sometimes the people are prideful but we went and taught this lady who again is super prepared. She has a fecha for Octubre. Pretty cool when you follow the spirit and it leads to something amazing.

Wednesday we had the zone meeting and we always do a quien sois vos? Which is like a bunch of questions you just tell the zone about yourself. Usually we put a would you rather question and different stuff like that so we did that. Then we always talked about the investigators with fechas that we have stuff like that. Then we went on divisions I stayed in Condega with the new zone leader Renusso, who's from the Dominican Republic. All he says all day is panda because I guess that's his nickname he got from the rap song and because he's black but in a white shirt, haha.

Thursday we had the mission competition of putting fechas and invitations. We had 33 invitations and 5 fechas, which was one of the best but our zone did not win.

Saturday we had to get up at 5:30 because we had to go pick up our investigator at 7 for the baptism to go to Esteli so we did that in the morning. Everything went good. Before he had his interview my companion's like I'm worried because he is super peeles but I think he might have killed someone haha.

Sunday: had to pass by everyone as usual. One of our members said she would give a talk so we called her and asked her to wear a skirt or dress. She said okay, but when we were at church her family was all there and said shes not coming because she doesn't want to wear a dress or skirt. Being in charge of a church ain't no fun haha.

Monday we had a zone olympics, so we did a bunch of different activities. It was a good time. Then we went to eat and it was one of the hermanas birthdays so we sung it super loud all the people at the mall were like what are these people doing here haha.

Do I love the people yet? Hmm well sometimes yes sometimes they do things that make it really hard to love them things are just done a little different here haha. However, I respect that they literally have nothing-- dirt floors, no car, no enclosed house, but they are still happy with what they have. I saw some kids playing with a stick and hoop haha just like dad in the old days hahaha.

Hope y'all have a good week, remember I'm always prayin' for y'all.

Oh also another funny thing when we were passing by people, there is a little kid named Stick. He's 7 years old and his family is members so we are like, "Stick, you coming to church?" He said, "Ohh! I can't go I have to do some errands." 7 year old's these days haha

Con Amor,
Elder Thackeray

Week 18: Two Baptisms and a Marriage

Well, hit four months on Sunday so that's cool. We had changes today but staying with Elder Spence another change. It sucks having changes and someone leaves because it just screws up your P-day. So it's nice when it just stays the same. 

Well I'm gonna start with the story of Darwin and Mogoli. We have been teaching them for a little while but they needed to get married. So everyday we would go by and see if they would go take out their papers for marriage. Every day they said they would and then they would just give us a crappy excuse. This happened for like a week. Finally we sat them down and were like, Listen! What's up?" Finally they told us they just didn't have money for it. We were like why didn't you just tell us that in the beginning haha. So we got them the money they took out the papers. But Darwin had problem getting one because he needed two cedulas (passport mas o menos) to get it out. So we get them go back and the lady is in Managua so we can't get it out. So we are like nooo. Next day on changes with Elder Worden we went with him and finally got the paper out, but he said the lawyer we were gonna use left to Managua to; but he said he would figure it out, but we figured nothing would happen mainly because Nicas don't do nothing unless you do it with them. We had to go change back our companions. When we get back to Condega we get a call from Darwin and he said he got the lawyer, the testigos, all the stuff he needed. We were gonna have the marriage at 5. If he didn't take it upon himself we wouldn't have been able to have a marriage. He came in clutch. The marriage was on Friday and we were going to have the bautismales on Saturday so we were going good. Early Saturday morning we get a call from Mogloi saying she doesn't feel ready and needs more time. So we are like noo, well at least we still have Darwin. A few hours later we get a call from Darwin saying he doesn't want to be baptized either because the river is running to high. So we lost both of our possibilities withing a matter of hours super chupaso.

The senior couple, the Bell's stopped by to drop off a package for Spence, so they took us to go to their house but they weren't there so they told us an experience about how prayer softened hearts. So we had a prayer that their hearts would be softened and they would want to be baptized, so they dropped us off and we just waited at the house for them. Finally they showed up and we were throwing the casaca hard at them but they kept beating around the bush. Finally we got out of them they just didn't want to be baptized in the river, they wanted to be baptized in Esteli. So we are like okay lets go, so we packed up and left. The problem was that the last bus leaves Condega at 5:00 and it was 5:30. So we prayed there would be a bus to take us and just as we got there a bus came by because they were running the torch across Nicaragua, so the bus was late, so we had a ride to Esteli!!! We got the baptisms done but didn't have a way to get home because all the buses were done so we prayed again that we could find a way home. Right after another senior couple called us and asked if we needed any help because they heard about the baptism. So they were able to drive us and our investigators back to Condega. #prayerswork Every prayer we had that day was answered and we were able to baptize them. 

Things are going well down here Independence Day for Nicaragua is the 14th and 15th so there should be a big party for that mostly. It's in Managua because there's free buses to there. 

The other day we get stopped by this one guy when we were going home and he's like I have this stuff for you guys its real good. We figured when he was getting it that it was probably drugs but when he ripped open the bag it was just a bunch of weeds he picked from a field haha! He was like I'll give it to you for only 20 cords. We gave him a pamphlet and left. 

Elder Spence is from Utah, He played soccer at Riverton. I forgot to tell you guys last week during sacrament we started after we sung, Spence started giving his testimony and I was like shh hey shush stop. He was all mad like whattt?! He had started giving his testimony before we had the sacrament haha. He was pretty red and everyone had a good laugh about that haha.

We go to church in someone building where they work as like a tailor basically, every Sunday after we pass by all of our people we have to take 30 chairs there, clean out the place, and set everything up.

Jobs are but not limited to: branch president, home teacher, Sunday school teacher, priesthood teacher, relief society president, nursery leader etc... haha It's just starting up so we do absolutely everything. If the missionaries weren't here nothing would be done so sometimes it sucks just because like the members rely on us to do everything and don't wanna help us like give prayers talks stuff like that. Some days they get real annoying because everyone gets butt hurt if we don't pass by them everyday because that's what the missionaries before did. Also people here love to talk gossip about other people so we've been trying to deal with all that casaca. Sometimes its chupa trying to do all that because like we need to find and baptize people but then also take care of all the ward and stuff like that. 

Members basically give us the same thing. There's two kinds of food here: rice and beans or gallo pinto. They are the same thing just gallo pinto is basically just rice and beans mixed together instead of separate haha. 

Lessons learned so far:

• Well I'd say the biggest one is never trust a fart haha. 
• Someone's always got to be awake on the bus so you don't miss your stop. 
• Always invite people to be baptised the first contact. 
• Don't carry your cards with you in case you get robbed. 
• Don't waste time teaching people who don't want anything because there is millions of people prepared by the Lord every day so we as missionaries cant waist time teaching people who aren't prepared we gotta go find the people who are.

Anyways! Hope Y'all Have a good week!

Les Amo,

Elder Thackeray

Week 17: Pizza Hut???

Bueans! 

Well 17 weeks in and they havent sent me home yet so I would have to say things are going pretty good so far haha. Hope everything is going good at home. 

Scripture of the week- 3 Nephi 12:14-16 let your lights shine, share the gospel with someone this week!!!

Well I don't have much time to write. We spent most of the time in Esteli with some of the people in our zone, 3 people are dying. Zona Este Li donde los missioneros vienen a morir. We went and ate at Pizza Hut so that was good haha. When we were coming out of the house (we live on kinda a hill) and when my companion was walking he fell and slid and rolled down the hill. Oh man it was so funny! I couldn't control myself. He was pissed and didn't appreciate my laughing because he fell into some mud but I couldn't control myself. I was dying laughing haha.

More crazy Nica beliefs- Can't go outside after you iron because you will get sick. If you drink a cold drink and eat soup you will crack your teeth haha. I swear these people are crazy. My zone makes fun of the way I talk in English they say i have an accent, but such is life I suppose. It continues to rain super hard here. Always makes things suck to be all wet and when it rains nobody comes to church so that's a big bummer but it happens. 

It's been a while since we baptized, which is a bummer, but this week we should have anywhere from 2-5 baptisms, so looking forward to that! It's been like 4 weeks so that'll be nice if we can finally get some people in.

Hope everyone has a good week. Love to hear from ya!

Love,
Elder Thackeray

Week 16: Buenas Buenas son de pollo bien callientitos

Buenas Buenas son de pollo bien callientitos.

There's this guy on a bike that drives around Condega selling tamales and he has a voice recording that says this over and over pretty much all the members in Valle de Jesus have it memorized. But the tamales are really good and only 10 cords. You can't beat that. Sometimes I'll buy like 10 cause I don't wanna lose money on the deal. (Mitch) haha

This week went alright not great nothing terrible.

One of the guys in my zone is a real good running back from Hawaii he was going to play for BYU but Bronco left so now he's gonna play for Virginia pretty neat. Wayne Tuliapapa

I found this quote in the Ensign: "The doors of history turns on small hinges, so do peoples lives, the decisions we make determine our destiny."

Also 2 Nephi 26:33: God wants all to partake of his goodness if we don't open our mouth and talk about the gospel when we get the chance it could cost someone eternal happiness. Don't be afraid to open your mouth.

Tuesday: We had to go to another news meeting so we got to get up at 3 in the morning to catch a bus when we got on we were literally so close up against the people on the bus we should probably go talk to our mission president, haha. But seriously, like in the States there's a lot of order, it doesn't get to squished, you can't really have that many people in the aisles cause I think it's against the law. But that doesn't apply here in Nicaragua. They pack as many people as possible into a bus so they can maximize their profits so I barely am even on the bus literally standing on the steps getting into the bus squished in by about 100 people standing in the aisles and doorways. I had to ride that way to Esteli which is about an hour away. Once we got to Esteli a bunch of people got off so I had some breathing room then about 20 minutes left of the 3 hour bus ride we finally got to sit down in a seat so that was good. Anyway we get to the capilla still have a little bit so we just talked with people I went and talked to Carico and Spears. I feel bad for them they are having a difficult time picking up Spanish and Carico has a Latino companion that doesn't speak English which will be good for him. Spears hasn't baptised yet and that sucks really bad too because when you;re baptizing things just go easier-- your companion sucks less, the food's better, members are more fun and helpful, the bolos (drunks) in the street don't annoy you as much. But the meeting went fine. President had to send his first people home so he was not in a good mood. They macheted us about obedience the whole meeting. We wanted to take a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings after the meeting (in Managua they have some restaurants like that to my suprise), but we didn't have enough time. We went to the bus stop, got tickets, got a hotdog (that was a mistake). I'm not a big hot dog fan in the States and a Nica hot dog is.even worse. But after the long drive we finally made it home.

Wednesday: We had a district meeting. They kinda suck because like everyone in our zone and district are dead. 3 people go home this change, 2 the next, they are just kinda fried, which sucks. Hopefully this change we get some people with some ganas.

Friday: We had changes today elder Spencer came down to Condega. We had a good day. One of our investigators named Chito is gonna get baptized on the 10th. He has been an alcoholic his whole life but he's stopping which is awesome but it's making him really sick because he's not drinking. 

Elder Spencer gave me a tie I said I wanted when I first met him. It's a pretty sweet looking tie. Also when Scaggs left he gave me his Marilyn Monroe tie. It's pretty much pointless and there really is never a good time to wear it, but it's cool to have. Everyone we passed by today, investigators and members, all gave us stuff to eat by the end of the day we just had to take the stuff home with us because we were so full. Also it rained hard and my clothes were still drying so they're gonna stink now.

Saturday we went to Esteli to pick up Spence. We got there, get him, and we headed to the bus stop. We decided to take a bus to Yali which is a community past Condega because those buses are always less cramped. So we get on going good and all of a sudden we wake up and we are driving down a dirt road somewhere. We had gotten on the wrong bus. So they kicked us off and we just had to start walking and find a highway or something. We see a sign that says 15 km to Esteli, so we are like crap! We walk for about, oh I don't know maybe half way there, and this nice car (a Land Rover in Nicaragua?) gives us a ride back to the bus stop. That bus was just as crowded as the bus we took to Managua except it wasn't as nice and I was on the first step getting into the bus holding on to the bars on the outside all the way to Condega. Pretty sketch. But we made it back finally.

Sunday we had a conference in Esteli so we took everyone there in a bus; we had more people than I expected (about our average 26- 8 investigators). So we got to Esteli and pretty much doubled the people in church. It was weird seeing people in shirts and ties like usually it's just the missionaries and a couple other people. It was weird having church in an actual capilla because we just have it in a house. It was weird not having to do the sacrament, direct the meeting, or teach the classes, because that's what we usually do. It was just relaxing, just laid back and chilled. The senior couple there made us all sack lunches to take home so that was nice of them. Once we got home it just started pouring super hard again but the power didn't go out this time so that was good.

Anyways that's pretty much my week in a nutshell hope everyone is doing well. Have a good week! Love y'all!

Love, 
Elder Thackeray

Week 15: Nansita

Hola!

First, Dad if you are ever angry at your horse and think he is acting stupid remember Numbers 22: 27-34. Also, if you guys ever want to know what it's like eating food in Nicaragua sometimes, look up Jeremiah 4:19-21.

Well the power here some days really sucks. Last time when I was sending my email the power went out again right after I sent it. We haven't really had power like four days this week so that kinda sucks cause we come back to the house, it's late, we are tired, and we have to plan still but the powers out so that always puts a damper on the day. We worked hard this week like every week.

On Wednesday, we brought one of our recent converts with us to a leccion with one of our investagadores. We were going good on leccion 1 talking about when Christ established his church on the earth then our guy started talking and said Jesus healed somebody by taking dirt spitting in it and then put it on the guys eyes to heal them so I think we should all carry around a bag of dirt so we will always be ready to heal people. There's a lot of crazy beliefs people have down here. Like if you eat soup you can't have a drink too. Let me tell you, I hate soup and it still pains me to eat it every time a member gives it to me. Also it's hot as crap. Who eats soup at this temperature? They also think that you can't take a shower at night because your feet will fall asleep-- just weird stuff like that.

On Thursday we had a mission blitz whichever zone got the most fechas and invites won a dinner with prez well my companion and I went to work: 53 invites and 5 fechas; but the rest of our zone kinda sucks they are all dead 4 die this change I think so needless to say we didn't win. That sucked, I was looking forward to a good meal but nope ain't gonna happen.

Friday we passed by another recent convert named Rosa. She's real chill. One of the most faithful members. She always tries to give us this fruit juice called Nansita. It's disgusting, tastes like rotten fruit. I told her finally I couldn't drink it because it was so gross. She said fine, then gave the bag to my companion. They drink like soda juice and stuff out of like a plastic sandwich bag kinda funny. So he had to drink two bags and it's so gross so now every time we pass by, I ask if she has some Nansita juice for my companion because he loves it so much. He won't tell her he doesn't like it. He hates me more and more everytime I do that. Rosa is like the gossip Queen of Condega. She like tells us all the stuff we need to know. The missionaries before wasted a lot of time at members houses just chilling and we don't do that like we go by at least three times a week and they still are like sad cause we don't go by them enough. Hopefully they will soon realize we cant spend  all day with them every day. It's just different than the States. It's like the missionaries are like their only friends so some days that gets kinda annoying.

On Saturday we had our noche de hermanimiento we were just waiting for everyone to show up we played Red Rover Red Rover with all the little kids, it was a good time.

Sunday a lot of people were sick in valle de Jesus and it rained and Nicas don't do anyhing in the rain, so that made for a whopping 12 people in church. We had seven investigators so that was good. Then we had to take the chairs back in the rain-- that was fun. Then we went and visited the familia Ramirez. Things were going good then their kid Grillo came running in screaming slamming the door shut. Then we heard all this yelling and screaming outside. I guess these bolos (drunks) stole some stuff from these guys so the guys stole it back and ran off and hid in the house next to the Ramirez family, so the bolos were yelling and screaming and chucking rocks at the house. After about ten minutes they got bored and left. Also the dad of the Ramirez family put on a USC sweatshirt that he had so that was cool. I was like, "Hey! That's my team!"

Anyways hope all is going well back in the states. Love y'all mucho.

Love,
Elder Thackeray 

Week 14: And the Rain Came Tumbling Down

Buenas!  

Total tuanis aqui en Nicaragua. 

Happy late birthday to Dad! Hope everything is going good back in the states. Just know that I hate you all for being able to go to the cabin and swim. Every time we have a baptism in the river, I just want to jump in and and take a nice little swim. 

I had a weird dream that all of my friends got called to serve in the Nicargua Managua Norte mission and I was confused as to why they were all there. They explained that they were missionaries now. Super weird. 

It's been pretty much a torrential downpour here all week so that sucks. I hit three months in the mission, still a ways to go, just depending which way you look. If you look back time is flying by, if you look forward I still have forever; but everything is going good. Our investigators and miembros say my Spanish is getting better every day which is good because I would hope it's not getting worse. 

Tuesday: We had our district meeting our new zone leader brought fake mustaches and we all wore them. We didn't really get much done because we were laughing so hard the whole time. It was a super frito meeting. At the end we played a game called signs one of y'all probably played it. There's one person in the middle and everyone else is kinda in a circle. Everyone has a sign and you pass it around and the person has to try and find the person who had the sign. We had a good time then at night when we were going back home he found this bunny by our house so we tried to catch it to have as a pet but he ran through our gate. Then this guy came and said he lost his bunny so we had a wild rabbit chase for about 30 minutes. We finally caught him. 

Wednesday: We had changes. Elder Rowe came to Condega. He is freaking tall. I don't know how he makes it in this country. He's 6'6". Elder Spence and Spencer were together and everyone thinks they are brothers and have the same name. We were walking down the street and this dog was sleeping with his tongue out. I don't know why we thought it was so funny but we laughed forever. When we came back it turned out that the dog was just dead which made us laugh even harder. Rowe is chill. He was my MTC companion's dad. Anybody over six foot is just too big for this country. 

Thursday-Saturday: It literally just rained all day for the past three days. It's pretty miserable. The only good thing is that it was not as hot on Saturday. We didn't have our noche de hermanimiento (an activity we have with members and investigators) because it was raining so hard and if its raining Nicas don't do anything. They stay inside the whole time. 

Sunday: The Bell's came down to help us with our group because it's just starting. We had 30 people and 7 investigators, not terrible for Condega. 

Monday: I'll mark this up to the worst P-day of my mission, so far. First off, we didn't have any money so we were just hanging around Condega all day and then decided to go get some breakfast. Went out the door, shut it ,realized we forgot the keys. There's two locks on our property-- one for our door, one for the gate going out. So we were trapped outside our house but couldn't get out of our property. So we had to ninja kick the door down so we could get the keys, then had to get stuff to replace the lock. We had to have the lady who is a member come and clean our clothes and she brought her kids and they were super annoying and messing with all our crap. Then it started raining hard and they  couldn't leave because Nicas don't do anything in the rain. Also, all of our clothes stink because they got rained on. Then when we were writing the power went out. So that's why I didn't write. Worst P-day ever, mark it down. We just got power in Condega again on Tuesday.

But anyways hope all is well on the home front without me there to hold it down. 

Espero que ustedes tengan un buena semana.

Love, 
Elder Thackeray

Week 13: Introducing Elder Spence

Well not much went this week. My new companion is Elder Spence. We get along. We worked super hard this week and have a lot of possibilities for baptisms, 16! We just need quite a few to keep married. We have the opportunity to get the record of thirteen. Nothing to exciting to tell you guys. Not really anything extremely funny either. It'll be kind of a lame letter. 

One funny thing that happened today was we were playing soccer and someone kicked the ball. It hit someone's knee, went over the fence, and we watched it slowly roll out in the highway and get hit by a truck. It popped just like that P-day was over. It was just like the Sandlot. 

Also, you guys can complain all you want about the internet there but you don't know slow internet until you use a computer in a Nica cyber. 

I wish  I had more to tell you guys just a boring hard working week. Be grateful for what you have and remember that all things that happen to you will work together for your good in the end (D&C 98: 1-3). 

Love, 
Elder Thackeray

Week 12: One Transfer Down

Buenas!

I didn't get a chance to write yesterday because we had changes basically almost every companionship in the mission had a change, crazy! That's what happens with a new president. My companion is off to be a zone leader in Chinnedega. I'm going to miss him. He's a good missionary, probably gonna be an AP soon. I wish he could finish my training but oh well. My step-dad is Elder Spence. He seems pretty chill. 

Monday: On the way home from Esteli on the bus this guy started talking to me. He had studied six years at college in Wisconsin. So we were talking and he says, "I used to go to church but once I stopped giving them money they stopped praying for my family that ain't Christian man." He was awesome came to church and was like I'm going here from now on!

Tuesday: We had a reunion de nuevos in Managua. We had to get up at 3 am to make it there for the meeting. It was good, I got to see Carico and Spears. They are in the same zone in Chinnedga. It was a good meeting. On the way back our seats were broken, only held up by a string so that sucked. Worst three hours of my life. Carico's companion is our new zone leader. He's super tall, like 6'6". 

Wednesday: We had intercambios. I went with Spencer. We were going to Condega. I fell asleep and he bumped me on the arm. Usually when Scaggs did that it meant we had arrived. So I jump up, grab my stuff and have to have them stop the bus because it was still going. I get off, come to my senses, realize we are in San Pedro, a little community like five miles from Condega so we have to walk two miles to the next bus stop. It sucked, but we finally got back to Condega. 

Thursday: We have a t25 video so we do that in the morning and its freaking killer, so freaking sore, its ridiculous. We did the lower body workout and we could barely walk for like 3 days. It gets you going.

Friday: nothing really happened we had an early cita which never happen. After that we went to Pali and I got some fruit loops and milk. The milk says its 73 percent leche. It tastes like crap, the worst. 

Saturday: We were just waiting for the call to see if Scaggs got transferred. He didn't get anything. Finally after lunch we found out he was going and like most of our zone too. 

Sunday: We had a baptism with Crystobal. He was awesome and has been since the first time we taught him. He just moved here with his mom and his girlfriend and his girlfriend flagged us down and talked to us and introduced him. Ever since the problem was like they lived in the same house and in the same room like they said nothing was going on. It was gonna be hard because all her family is in Costa Rica like where was she gonna go but he couldn't get baptized if she lived there, but her mom got sick and needed help so she went back to Costa Rica. Kind of a blessing in disguise. A couple weeks ago we were talking about our missions and he's like once i get baptized and turn 18, I wanna go on a mission too. He is freaking awesome. Had his baptism at 10, went to church, then we went around to all the people Scaggs wanted to say goodbye to. Everyone was sad to see him go

Monday: We were in Esteli all day sending people off to changes. P-days suck if you or your companion get changed. 

My new companion is Elder Spence. We are still in Condega. 

Our church building is someone's work: Lopez Sports. They let us use it on Sunday's. I wish we had somebody who knew how to sing the songs correctly. It's pretty funny. There's some ahead, some behind, everybody is off key. 

Love, 
Elder Thackeray