Called to Serve

Called to Serve

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Numero 58 ~ New Puerto Branch ~ Camera broke

Hey fam! Another good week down here in Puerto Cabezas.
This week was pretty cool. This week we worked really hard and found some really cool people. We were able to help a lot of our investigadors progress more in the gospel. We found a super cool family this week and were helped them commit to a bautismal date to prepare for but the guy went out to the sea to work which is always a downer. That is the worst part about here is the dudes all go out to work in the sea and they dont come back for weeks at a time. We just have to adjust though.
The baptism we were going to have fell through. The girl was too scared of what her family was going to say if she did. She knew she had to do it and that this was the truth. I understand how she feels but the most important person in our life should be Jesus Christ.
At church this week we had 9 investigadors in church. It was really good because the most of the ones that went are the ones that we had dates with. Its the best feeling seeing your investigadors show up to church. It is a step of faith for them and it helps them grow closer to the Lord.
On Sunday, I found out that I got changes. I was super suprised because I was almost certain that I was going to stay in my area. I got moved the the Puerto Branch. My new comps name is Elder Maughan. He is a gringo and he is a cool dude. Actually last November, we did divisions together for one day and now we are comps. Another cool thing is that my new house is wayyyyy better than my last house that I had. Its always weird being changed because now I have to start all with new faces and new people. I am excited though it is going to be awesome.
One thing I learned this week is that we as missionaries need to be direct with the poeple here. I learned that if the people dont know why we are here and if we dont invite to act and promise them the blessings that God is willing to give us, no one will do anything and their faith wont grow. We need to be bold and help the people learn more about the Lord and to be able to enjoy the same blessings he does.
Thats what I got for you guys this week. A new start. I am excited. I will let you guys know how it goes this next week!
Love you all!
Elder Sherle
 
 

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Numero 57 ~ First contact in English

Hey fam!!! This week went by really fast. Almost too fast. I dont even really remember what happened. Ill throw down a couple thoughts though.
Emilio. Emilio didnt have time to move out of his house. So he didnt get baptised. His job right now is really demanding so he had no time this week outside of his job. Our branch president told us that Emilio is having a hard time taking the decision because he doesnt want to live his kids but his wife is really rude to him and wont marry him so he is living in a big sin. We are going to give him a little bit more time to make his decision. He is so cool though. I got faith in him.
This week was really good for us in finding new investigadors. We found some really cool families. We met this family from Honduras and they went to church and the wife came up to me and told me "Sorry that I was late, next week I will be on time". Anytime a new investigador tells you that it is always a good sign. We were able to put a couple other baptismal dates with a couple other cool people. We are doing good. We are getting better and better each week it seems like. We use our time really wisely and we are working hard. At the end of the week I am always so beat. Pdays come at the best time. They are a need.
Another family, Pedro and Anna, went to church this week too. Anna is the sister of a returned missionary from our ward that got back about a month ago. They are really cool. They are having problems in their relationship and so we are trying to help them realize how the gospel blesses the family and that if they live the gospel they will be happy and wont have so many problems. We are going to have a family home evening tonight it will be good.
On thursday we were walking around contacting a bunch of people and I contacted this dude and he started talking to me in english. He was actually speaking with me really well. It threw me off but I went with it and contacted him in english. It was so weird. I felt so different. It my first contact ever in all english. Its weird I had to translate from spanish to english in my mind haha.
Well, that was my week I guess. Thats what I got for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed it :)
I love you all. Have a great week!
Aysabe!
Elder Sherle

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Numero 56 ~ Puerto ~ Running Fast Falling Rats

Hey fam! How is everyone?

I am doing good here in Puerto. I guess I'll tell you a little bit about my week...

We were really busy this week. We had a lot of people to visit and spent a lot of time finding new investigadors. This week we found out that there was a part of area that we didnt know was ours so we got to go discovering over there this week. The place is called "Los Angeles", just for the name I know we are going to have some success there. We actually found a couple cool people over there. We found a guy named Linder. He came from Chinandega over here to Puerto Cabezas. His gf over there is a member of the church and he had been investigating the church but then he moved over here and when we contacted his house he was really happy to see us and was super positive. He really understood our message and was very open to learning more.

A funny story. We got into this house to teach and we start teaching and we start seeing 2 rats up by the roof start runnig around and chasing eachother and they were so big. It was so hard to stay concentrated on the lesson because she didnt notice because her back was to them but we could see them clearly and it was so gross. My comp hates rats and he freaks out when he sees one so image how he was hahha the funniest part is they were running so fast that one of the rats fell from the roof and landed in the chair right next to my comp literally like a foot from him and he jumps up and starts screaming and he grabbed me and hid behind my back hahahaha. He was behind my back for a good five minutes because he was so freaked out. We definitely lost the spirit in that lesson hahaha but it was pretty funny. Lets just say we wrapped up that lesson pretty fast and got out of there hahahah.

We saw a miracle this week. We had been working with this guy named Emilio this last month. He is awesome and wants to change his life. The thing is, he hasnt been able to progress much because his wife is a member of another church and refused to marry him so he is not able to be baptised because he still lives with her. Also, he has been working on sundays so we kind of stopped visiting him for about a week. But this sunday he showed up to church and he brought a friend too. He told us that this weekend he wanted to get baptised. So we need to help him move out of his house and find somewhere to stay. So that is our goal this week. I was so happy to see him go to church and see him happy.

So many litte miracles that the lord does for us.

I got a couple cool pics Im going to send. We went to the beach today for P-day!

Well, there are a couple highlights for you guys this week. Thats what I got for you guys!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Sherle







 

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Numero 55 Puerto~

hey fam!

Well this week went by super fast like always! It was a good week!

We worked really hard this week. We were really focused on getting our goals every day. We did good. Last night when we got home we were both really tired for the work we did. 

We saw some miracles this week. On that note that we worked hard, the people we had committed to church only a couple came and the rest were news that people presented to us at church and we have visits with them this week. We were super excited to see a brand new family in the church and they live in our area. It was a miracle because we didnt see the people that we had committed come to church but God always finds a way. He blessed us with that miracle which was pretty cool. 

Another cool thing that happened was when we started the week we didnt have anyone with a baptismal date and by the end of the week had 5 people with a baptismal date. God put us in the path of these people for us to help them. It was cool because all of them were brand new people and they accpeted to be baptised on the contact. That is one really cool thing about this mission is we can put baptismal dates in the contact. I guess it is because there are a lot of people here that are ready to accept the gospel in their lives. 

Hermana Karen is a lot better now. She was the one that had a stroke. She is feeling better and she is now back in her house and walking around and doing good. She healed really fast. She has therapy now but she was a lot better than what she was before. God works miracles. Its a beautiful thing. 

 

I got a new plaque this week too! My plaque was all dirty and nasty and you could barely even see the letters on my plaque and they finally sent me a new one so it was cool to actually be able to present myself as a missionary of "La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias" to people. I felt like a brand new missionary because my plaque now is so perfect and nice and clean. haha that was just a funny thought i had.

I hit 13 months yesterday. Wow. 13. Its going by fast. I cant believe I already have over than 3 months here in Puerto. I feel like time goes by so fast. Everyday is kind of the same so I am in a good little rythmn. 

Just want to leave with a shoutout to my sister, Raims, for completing her 17th birthday this last week! If you havent already, wish her a happy birthday and when you see her give a big hug for me! :) 

I love you guys! I hope you are all doing good! 

Always remember how much God loves us and wants us to be happy. This life is to be happy. 

Until next week

Elder Sherle
Riding on top of the bus
 

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Numero 54 ~ "Do your best and the Lord will do the rest"

Hey fam! Another week down! I cant believe we are already about to get into September!
This week was full of its ups and downs. Ill let you know what happened.
Well we did better this week with our contacts and we visited more the recent converts and the less actives. We taught about 65 lessons this week counting recent converts, less actives, and investigadors. We were pretty diligent and we stayed focused through the whole week so that was good. The weird this was that we kept running into a ton of Pastors. Its so funny when we talk with them because they always try to fight with us and bible bash. We have a good time with it though. haha
I was still feeling pretty sick though the week. The Hermana Barker told me to buy some antibiotics and so i have been on those. I finished them today and now I am finally feeling back to normal. It has been like 3 weeks feeling this pain in my stomach but now I am starting to feel better. I have gotten a lot better keeping everything clean and drinking good water.
President Nelson came to Managua on Saturday. Ya we couldnt go because we are too far away and the mission didnt want to pay for us to go over there. Messed up. Because we couldnt go, the zls made a nice breakfast (pancakes and smoothies) and so we ate before he spoke and then we got to listen. It was alright, the connection wasnt too good so we got disconnected a few times but his message was awesome. I took a lot of notes of what he said. He has a such a strong spirit with him and he is so happy. He told us that keeping the commandments dont restrain us, they liberate us. I have definitely seen that in my life. When we keep the commandments we are always filled with happiness.
One of our members in our area had a stroke this week on thursday. We went to the hospital and gave her a blessing on Saturday. On Sunday, her husband told us on sunday that she had gotten a lot better and that her face had stopped twitching. It was a cool little testimony of Priesthood power and how God works faith though people that believe in it. I think she might get out of the hospital today so we are praying for her.
We had a baptism planned for us on Sunday but it fell though. I dont know what happened because we saw her in the morning and talked to her and she was all good to go but then when we went back to the house in the afternoon to go with her to the church she was gone. She didnt answer her phone or anthing so we dont know what happened. I got pretty upset because everything went bad and then that was just the cherry on top. I guess it just wasnt meant to be. Maybe she will be ready later on.
We had to drop a bunch of people and now we dont have a ton of people progressing so this week will be a big week of finding the chosen people.
So that was a little bit of my week. Its ups and downs. I guess thats how life is. Ups and downs. Just got to keep the faith and move on.
"Do your best and the Lord will do the rest"
I love you guys so much! I hope you have a great week!
Elder Sherle