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