Numero 7 (i think)

This week was just as crazy as the last week, I am still trying to get used to all this culture stuff here! For example, it is rainy season right now and when it rains here, it is like a hurricane. So we get absolutely drenched and the roads turn into rivers, it is so cool! We had to go back to the house one day for like 15 mins just because we literally couldnt walk anywhere because every road was flooded! Oh and the power and water goes out a lot. So everyone at home is doing the "ice bucket challenge" or whatever and I am doing that because that is the only way I can shower some nights! So be grateful hahaa.

 

I still haven't gotten used to my companion and I being the only white guys everywhere we go. It is so funny some of the looks we get when people see us. The culture here is just so different. Everyone here don't really have cars, so they either take taxis or have motorcycles, and also there are a ton of wondering dogs everywhere. So we were walking down the street and this motorcycle just wrecks this dog. Runs over it and doesnt even stop, just kept driving. I was so sad for that poor dog in the road, I couldnt believe the dude on the motorcycle did that. The craziest part is that it didn't even phase my companion. No reaction from him, he had to explain to me that dogs get hit all the time...so sad.

 

The food here is hit and miss. Sometimes it is super bomb and the other times it is just the good ole beans and rice. I like it, but my stomach is not used to it yet hahaha. We only get fed lunch here too so I usually just eat cereal for breakfast and microwave 2 hot dogs every night for dinner when we get home. So I am already getting pretty skinny. But I love this place.

 

The work-Everyone was right when they said this would be the hardest thing I would ever do, but it feels so good to be completely exhausted when I get home. We have a marriage and a baptism set up on October 11, so I am pumped for that, and hopefully a baptism this saturday! The language is coming along. I get frustrated with it a lot but I have already gotten so much better since I have been here. The people here are so nice, which is a good thing and bad thing for us, because everyone will let us talk to them and share messages with them but they are always to nice to tell us no or tell us they dont want to have us anymore. So we have to sift through our investigators and find which ones really want to hear our message and which ones just want us there to talk to. A good and bad problem!

I love you all and thank you all for writing me. I hope everyone has a great week!

Adio

Elder Sherle

 

 

Numero 6 - Esteli

Well I made it! I don't even know where to start so much has happened today. So i got off the plane and they lost all of our luggage and we had to wait a couple days in Managua to get our luggage back. My companion is from California and he is only 3 months out, but his spanish is super good.

 Then I found out my area, my area is called Estelí and it is about 2 and a half hours north of managua. It is so jungly here and so poor its crazy! But the people here are so nice and so humble for what they have. Out here in the field we are so busy. We go from meeting to meeting all day preaching the gospel and helping members. I love it! I like being as busy as I am. We have a lot of investigators right now and this week we committed two people to be baptised next week, so I hope and pray they will be ready by then. Yesterday, we had a investigator waiting for the bus with us before church and right before we got on the bus he started smoking a cig, right in front of us hahaha. So we are going to have to talk to him about the word of wisdom a little bit. Oh and this girl Ami, Ami is an investigator and she has a little son. So we were teaching her and she just starts breast feeding right in front of us....in the middle of the lesson. It just got kind of awkward because it was like spiritual, but she was breast feeding. So weird. But just about everyone here will let us come inside and share a message, even if they have different beliefs. That is just how people are here.

Oh and the spanish here....so different from the MTC. I still can't even understand the people here because they talk super fast and they don't really pronounce anything and they don't use their "s" in words, so it is really hard to understand. All the teenagers here like me because my name is Sherle, and the keeper for Germany is named Shirley..so all the teenagers and little kids know me. It's pretty cool when I am walking down the street and they see me and all yell "Ayy Sherle!!" haha. A lot of people ask us for money all the time and it is kind of annoying. We just keep walking. 2 nights ago we almost got robbed. We were walking home and some kid came up to us and told us the guy at the end of the street was waiting to rob us, but we went a different way. So all good Mom:) I am learning so much already and my spanish is slowly getting better. I am kind of quiet in lessons because I don't really know the language and I get frustrated at that, but my comp always tells me it will come soon, so I am excited for that day. Well that is all for this week! I am having a great time and I already love this place so much! I hope everyone has a great week!

Adio

Elder Sherle

 

John and his companion with their Mission President and his wife.

 

John's letter - flying to Nicaragua

Happy Wednesday~
I just wanted to let you know that John flew to Nicaragua yesterday, 9/16. His p-day in Nic will be Mondays.

He arrived to the Mexico City airport around 1am. His flight left Mexico City around 5am, he then had an hour layover in El Salvador then arrive in Managua Nicaragua at 10am yesterday morning.

He was able to call us when he was at the airport waiting for his flight to leave. He sounds really good, a little home sick but very excited to get to Nicaragua. It was amazing to hear his voice. He called us at 4am and it was well worth getting up early to get his call! :-)

He said yesterday was Mexico's Independance day and he said they heard "fireworks and boms" going off all night. He says they can tell the difference between gun shots and fire works by.... what you hear after the loud noise. If you year the loud noise like a gun shot or fireworks and then hear police sirens then it was a gun shot. If you don't hear the sirens - it was fireworks.

He said the food was really gross in the MTC and knows that being in Nic for the next 23 months will be like being on a 23 month camping trip with not a lot of food. He said he is getting kinda skinny but was proud to report when playing ball this week he was able to reach the rim with both hands.

He told us that when they drive in Mexico City they just drive where ever they want... they have roads but no lanes. ha!

As we were talking to him a man came up to him and was asking him about the church. Randomly the call just ended. We were a little upset that we couldn't say good bye ... but were then thrilled that he was able to call us back when in El Salvador waiting for his plane to head to Nic.

He told us as the call ended, this man asked him about the church and John was able to give him the Book of Mormon and talk to him about the gospel. He gave him a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and pray about. John was able to answer some of his questions before the flight left.

He is well on his way getting to work.
"I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it."

We miss him terribly, but know he needs to be there.

Thank you all for your suport.
Lisa

Numero 5

Bienos Dias everyone!

I cannot believe this is my last p-day here! This week actually went by a lot faster than I thought it was! Yesterday was a good day, I found out my flight leaves this Tuesday at 6:20am and get to Nicaragua by 10am! We will leave the MTC at 2 am to get there early! I am so excited to get out in the field! Although my spanish is not very good, I am ready to get out there! The best part is I will actually be able to eat some normal food when I get to the airport, I hope they have a McDonalds or something! My Spanish has gotten so much better, I don't teach with notes anymore and can form decent sentences. Our lessons have gotten a lot better too. We have learned to relate every lesson to the investigator and teach for the investigator. I am so excited to get to teach a real investigator in less than a week! Yesterday, we had a really cool devotional by Elder Holland and he talked to us about conversion and the big thing he stressed is when we get home from our mission, we better have at least one convert to this church, and that convert should be the missionary. I love listening to his talks they always help answer questions I have. Other than that, there isn't much else. I hope all the studying pays off in the field. One thing we have been focusing on is loving the people. Our job as missionaries is to serve and love the people. One goal I have made before I leave it to just love every single person down there, and hopefully be able to share a message with them. It is pretty crazy to think that I could be teaching my first real lesson in a week! So if you couldn't tell, I am so ready to get out of here and get in the real world, and hopefully stop thinking about home as much haha. Anyways, I love you all and I hope everyone has a good week! I'm not going to send any pictures today because I'm just going to wait until I get down there, there isn't anything cool here.

Adios everyone, ¡Te quiero todo!

Elder Sherle

Numero 4

Ayyy everyone! How's is going?

This week went by really fast! Our schedule here is so busy that the days are going by faster and faster! It's awesome! This week was a good week for me because in my lessons I didnt use any notes for spanish! My whole lesson was out of memory! It was the coolest feeling because I knew what questions he was asking and I was able to answer them without looking at anything. Also, on Saturday, we got to teach real people that came into the CCM. There was this one dude who we had no idea what he was saying so we just nodded our heads hahah it was bad. But my teacher came up to me the other day and told me how much my spanish has improved and he can tell that I understand a lot.

In our class this week we got a little creative to pass some time when we had enough of studying. So we put a bunch of desks together and stacked scriptures in the middle and played hand ping-pong. Sometimes you got to find ways to get through the day, so that's what we did. It was pretty fun and you already know I was the champ of my district. We got away with it for a couple days and then a teacher walked in when we were playing and shut it down, but it was fun while it lasted.

I am learning a lot about the gospel as well. There are a lot of spiritual experiences here that make me feel so good. We have about 2 hours of personal study time where I just read scriptures and it helps so much.

Since everyday is pretty much the same, there is not much else to write. All I can say is there is a lot of work and a lot of studying, but I can see the benefits from it already. I am so excited to get into the real world in two weeks!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Sherle

 

John says he doesn't speak much English but is the best soccer player with mad skills there! He wanted to show this to Raimee.

here are a few things we were able to ask him about in emails back and forth:

John:
Oh mom, I forgot to talk about the food haha it is awful!! Mystery meat every single day.....it is hilarious, i might take a pic and send it to ya, just fyi;)

Mom:

Are you losing weight? Using your protein powder?

 

John:

My stomach has definitely shrunk because I used to eat like 2 or 3 plates every meal and now I finish only 1, which is probably good because there probably wont be as much food down in Nic. Im not using the powder yet, imma wait till I get down there

-------

Mom:

So do you think more in Spanish or English?  Do you feel your testimony getting stronger there?

John:

Its more like spanglish right now, poco a poco, little by little haha
Yes my testimony is getting stronger!