Ben's Mission to Nicaragua: Hola from Esteli! August 18, 2014

Family and friends,

This was a good week! So basically this week we worked pretty hard to find some new investigators and also spent time gaining more confidence of the members to help us in our work. And that started on Monday, last week. We were at the house of the President of the Branch, and his son lives directly next door, so afterward, we payed a visit to his son Alejandro (sometimes it brings to my mind the lady gaga song... I don't know how I feel about that). Alejandro is a very active member in our branch with his wife, and so we were just paying them a visit, but there was something significant about this visit. After visiting for a little bit, they invited us to have some dinner!! That has never happened with the members that have been in the ward for a while. Whenever we were invited to eat dinner it was at the house of a recent convert, but now with Elder Rodriguez, things are changing. We have a better relationship with all of them! That was a pretty exciting moment.

Also we were invited to eat at the house of Gabriel and Maria Jose and their family yesterday night (Sunday) to help celebrate the birthday of Gabriel JR. While we were there, two couples in the ward visited them to teach them a lesson, but that is not the point at the moment, the point is that we were set up through some cunning words of Elder Rodriguez to have dinner for the next two Sundays at the houses of these two couples! So basically our reputation here in the branch is already getting better.

Elder Rodriguez!!! we were eating dinner at Gabriel´s house!

They're crazy

I don't know if I have already explained, but we have a lunch appointment that we pay for, and then we have to fend for ourselves when we want dinner and breakfast. So most of the time I don't really eat either of those meals, I just eat snack kind of stuff because that is mostly what they have here. But lately when we are heading home we have been eating at this place that serves rotisserie chicken for super cheap, so my eating has improved!

Tuesday I had the opportunity for the first time to work with Elder Alvarado, one of the Zone Leaders. After a long day of contacting and trying to find the chosen people that are ready to hear the Gospel, we ended the day with a few new investigators. One is worth mentioning in the moment. The parents are Jose and Jamilet, and the kids are Margarita(22), Lionel(20), Francisco(19), and I think Jason(18). The dad, Jose is actually already a member and when we found them initially, the parents were home listening to a Jehovah's Witness. But as soon as we arrived, Jamilet began intently listening to our message! Not much happened with the JW, she tried to bash us a bit, and we listened politely, after all was over, we offered a prayer and left. When we returned to teach more we discovered that Jose was baptized in the States, and he was super excited to come back to church. He couldn't come this Sunday, but he was well committed to come the next (this upcoming). So through this, also his family was actually pretty positive about coming with him to church! So that was a super positive find this week!

We had a multi-zone meeting this Thursday in Matagalpa, and a lot was taught, but the biggest thing that I took from it was from a story. The story was centered on the fact that as missionaries, we cannot be afraid of anything, or to talk to anyone, because we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we have been set apart to do His work. Elder Uchdorf gives a talk about an Elder Strong who was this kind of missionary. From the moment he got off the plane in his mission, he was 100% dedicated to serving the Lord. He did everything right and had soo much success. He was never assistant to the President or Zone leader, but he trained many missionaries. In a mission where it was common to baptize 2-3 people over the course of a two year service, he baptized more than 100 people. I know that I have room to improve with the idea of not being afraid of anything. My biggest problem is that I am afraid that I am not going to be able understand people sometimes, but I have made it a goal to put that out of my mind and think more on how I can help the people I am serving. That was a really great boost for me.

So at the end of the week, we always kind of measure our "success of the week" in the number of investigators we had at church, and also the attendance at church for the week. Lets just say this wasn't a great week for either of those...We had Dahomi again( she is going to baptized this coming Saturday), and she brought a friend which was really cool, so that was good, but we didn't have any other investigators that we worked with this week at church. Also the attendance during sacrament meeting was down like 25 people from what we had last week, so all in all, not our best week. I was just a biiiiit disappointed, but then something really cool happened Sunday night.

I briefly mentioned it but not in much detail. While we were at dinner with Gabriel and Maria Jose, two couples came to visit them. They weren't able to attend church that Sunday because they were sick and stuff like that, so these members were coming to check up on them. They invited us to stay, so we did, and they taught a super cool and powerful little spiritual thought. Now yes, Gabriel and Maria Jose are strong members and they only didn't go to church cause they had a good excuse, but the point is that the members of the branch were helping them out and checking up on them. This gave me hope that we actually have members in the branch that want to help us in the work. Soooo this is kind of my thought for the week.

Spiritual Thought:

I don't remember which prophet said it, but the quote is , "Every Member a Missionary". This is a small quote with a large demand. Looking back on my life before the mission, I was a terrible missionary, I'll be the first to admit it. But now that I am on a mission, I see with different eyes the importance of the help of the members in the work of the missionaries. Can the missionaries do it on their own? Yes, yes they can. But it is a million times harder!!! There is a reason that the prophets have been saying for some time now that every member is a missionary, and that is because they need to help. Having investigators that are friends with a member of the church makes the work so much easier, and having members that are willing to get to know your investigators does the same. So, my spiritual thought is more of a challenge at this point. Think about what you can do to help the missionaries this week, month, year, and more. I will help you start. Think about some friends that you have that you think would maybe be accepting to talk to the missionaries for a bit, and also make some time to go out with the missionaries and get to know at least one of their investigators. Maybe you can make time to visit that particular investigator with the missionaries frequently, and you can be the difference in that person feeling comfortable at church. That is my challenge :)

Have a great week and be safe!

Love Elder Moser

Pictures this week...

So there is a really rich area in our area, and we decided to try to contact in it this week... Lets just say that those people have hard hearts... haha the only ones that gave us the time of day to say hello were the people that didn't even live there. They were just the ones taking care of the houses while the people were away working. But the area is super cool and there are more houses being built there all the time. I think that this city is in the process of developing to become a nicer area.

One of the nicest houses in the area.

Just a pic from the church building in Matagalpa. The area is super cool there and the building is super nice, nicer than the one we have in Esteli by a looooot. Maybe I will serve in that area one day? haha