Numero 31 ~ Ocotal

Yooo whats up everyone!

Well this week has been a great week for us. Actually this has been a week that I dont think I will ever forget in my mission. It was full of some cool stuff.

To start, we went to Managua this week and we listened to a guy named Bishop Davis and another guy named Elder Ochoa. They are some huge liders in the church. We went up to shake all their hands and Bishop Davis asked me where i was from and I said "Meridian, Idaho. There is a temple going up there" and his wife was right next to him and all she says to me was "Ya we know, my husband had something to do with that." haha I was like wow this dude must be pretty big in the church. He spoke to us a little bit about how we can make it through hard times and we can receive help and revelation through the scriptures. It was a good talk. Both of the missions were there and both presidents of the missions spoke, it was pretty cool. The spirit was very strong in the meeting. I also got to spend some time with all my friends from the mission too.

The next day we left with some members and they showed us around to some cool families that want us to teach them. They got us 8 new investigators this week and 4 of them already have dates to be baptised. Something that I have learned is that through the members of the church we can find those people that are waiting for us to give them this message. It was a day full of success, and we are going out again tomorrow. Also we have been working with this dude named Eucebio and we are working with him to be baptised this weekend so I am pumped for this next saturday to come. I am praying that he will get baptised this weekend.

Another cool thing that happened was we got down to Esteli for Stake Conference. The one cool thing about being in the zone of Esteli my whole mission is I knew almost all the people there and have grown so close to some many of them. I got to see Jaime and his family and everyone from Rosario and also got to see all my friends from Sebaco. It was cool. There was something that I will never forget in that conference. I dont know if you guys remember about Genaro. He was a less active when I was in Rosario and we reactivated him and my last sunday in Rosario he gave a talk. He is a good friend of mine and I got to see him there. Better than that though is he spoke in Stake Conference. He spoke about the journey he has had and how far he has come in the gospel. It was a very powerful talk full of the spirit. I was just listening and felt such a joy for him. Just three months ago he was completely inactive and now he is speaking in Stake Conference and next week he will be set apart to be the next President of the Branch in Rosario. Pretty cool. Pretty crazy to see how far he has come.

This week has be an awesome week full of memories that I will never forget. We are really seeing some cool things happen here in Nicaragua.

Thats all I got for you today guys. Hope you all have a great week!

Adio

Elder Sherle

 

this week is Craig's birthday - john sent a video shout out to his Dad.

 

Numero 30

¡Hola a todos! ¿Que tal?

Well I am getting used to this place here in Ocotal. For having to open up another area, it is definitely easier the second time. I love here in Ocotal. The branch is super tiny and the people are so goofy here. There are some super cool members too though. Almost the whole ward is recent converts and almost everyone is still brand new in the church. The president of the branch doesnt even have more than 4 years in the church. Its pretty cool. I hope I will be able to stay here for awhile especially because we are about to get into the hottest months of the year here in Nicaragua and here in Ocotal it doesnt get too hot so I hope I can stay up here and pass through these next few months and not have to deal with the crazy heat here. 

This week we had a multi-zone conference in Managua with our whole zone and two others called Matagalpa and Tipitapa. We met with Presidente the whole day and he talked to us about the work here and how we are doing with our goals on the year. Its crazy how much that dude knows about the gospel and i just love the way he motivates us. Our year goal for 2015 is to baptise 2400 people in the year. That is a pretty crazy number to think about but in this mission we can do it. He has told us what we have to do to be able to reach that goal and the secret is just to work as hard as we can and be completely focused on the work. 

We found some really cool people this week. I was on divisions with a new white kid that just got here in my area and so I had to do everything but we were able to have some really cool lessons with two new families. One family is an old investigator family. They were about to get baptised about a month ago but something happened and they stopped going to church. So we went there and had a really spiritual lesson with them and the dad came to church this week. We will be working with them really hard this week. The other family we found is brand new too so we are excited to be able to teach them this week.

One thing I learned this week is the difference between teaching and teaching with the spirit. A lot of times we just get in the habit of teaching people just to teach them instead of actually finding the needs of the people and helping them through the gospel of Christ. As I teach with the spirit, the people are way more receptive the message we have and are more willing to act on the impressions they feel. I dont know why but that was something that just stuck out to me this week and something that my comp and I are going to work on.

All in all a great week here. We are going to Managua again this week with both the missions in Nicaragua to listen to a Seventy come. I am really excited for that!

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

Nos vemos

Elder Sherle

Numero 29 ~ Ocotal

Well hey everyone! Sorry I didnt send out a big email last week. It was a crazy p-day and I didnt have much time to write so I wasnt able to send out a big email. 

My comp and I got changed last week to a place called Ocotal. It is super close to the border of Honduras. We both got moved up here and now we are opening up a new area again here in Ocotal. It is super nice here. It is not hot at all and the people are super nice. It is such a big difference from the people of Sebaco haha. There were already 4 missionaries here and we are 6. I am excited to be able to open up another area again with my comp. All of our last p-day we had to look for a house but we found a tiny little bedroom and bathroom that we are living in now. The good thing is its super clean. That was definitely something we wanted to change coming up here to Ocotal. It is super small but it doesnt matter to if because it is pretty clean. The one thing is that the water here is soooo cold. We always have cold water in all areas but here it is way colder than I have ever experienced. I have to work myself up some courage to be able to hop in the shower. Its good though, it wakes me up. 

 

The area here is even bigger than Sebaco. That is why I think they sent more missionaries here. It is separated from everyone. It is about 2 hours from Esteli and about 4 or 5 hours from Managua. The church only has 4 years here in Ocotal. We meet in a house. The house doesnt even have the plaque of the name of the church outside. We dont even have a pulpit in the sacrament meeting so the people who are giving talks just stand in front of everyone. I have always wanted to be in a branch this small. It is so crazy how everything is the exact same in a tiny little house as to my house where we have huge churches that are full of people, nothing changes. The person with the most time in the church here has about 4 years of being a member of the church. It is tiny here. I am excited to work with 6 missionaries here to be able to grow the branch here a little bit. The attendence this sunday wasnt bad though we had 50 people show up. 

Well I turned 19 this week too. I didnt do much, it was a pretty normal day. I rocked a new tie my mom sent me and ate a really big bowl of cereal so I feel like I celebrated pretty good haha. A birthday is just another day here in the mission, but it was good. It is crazy to think that I only have 1 birthday and 1 christmas left! Oh and I also hit 7 months this week too. The time is flying by. 

 

John lives on sugar cereal (and candy) when he is home

 I just want to give a shoutout to everyone that wished me happy birthday. Thank you so much! It was much appreciated! Thank you for remembering your boy down here in Nica!! haha

We are doing good here Elder Lainez and I. We are working hard up here in Ocotal. 

I love you all. I hope you guys have a great week!

Adio

Numero 28 ~ Ocotal

hey guys i got changed to a place called ocotal. its like right on the border of honduras. this place is wayyy different than the others. Oh and i am opening up another area here so we will see what happens. today has been crazy, we have had to find a house, move everything from sebaco to here, get to know the area a little bit and we have like no time to write. i will write a big letter next week!

Craig: Johnnyboy! You are like 4 hours from Managua. Are you still on?

John: ya they shut down sebaco. that place is just not ready for missionaries still. ya we are like 5 hours from managua. its soooo far away haha. This place is cool though. i am really excited to be here. just a little info.....there isnt a font here so they baptise in either a waterfall or a river....its one of the last places in the mission that still does that! I am pumped for that!

Craig: Did you get our package? How's your boy? Are you still training him?

John: ya im still with lainez. and there are 6 elders here now. we are opening up this area. we are the first ones to be in this area ever. crazy.

no i havent gotten the package. i hpoe to get it htis week!

Craig: I really hope you get it for your birthday. Use your money if you run out of it while trying to get cleaning supplies and stuff for the new place. I hope you get a better home. Are the 6 of you staying in the same building or spreading out?

John: we are all spread out. there is a kid here named elder rowe and he went to capital high school hahah. pretty crazy huh?

Craig: Yeah, that’s crazy. Cool though!!! Tell him Rocky just beat Capital for District Championship!!!

John: haha ya i already told him.....all he told me was "we will see what happens in state" haha he already knew