Ben's Mission to Nicaragua: Emergency Change...

Hola Hola!

I think that the only appropriate way to start this email is with yet another sarcastic funny story. After another day of working with members out there in good old Estelì, I got home at about 6 to study and what not because we didn't have anybody to work with. After about an hour of studying, I received a call from the zone leader, Elder Alvarado. He informed me that I was going to have emergency changes!!!! What the heck?! But honestly I hardly understood a word when he told me so I told him to tell my compa too and when it finally got explained to me, there was a little more than I bargained for!

I got transferred to Managua, the capital to be District Leader and to train someone who started their training this change.........what the heck..... I didn't even finish training. I still haven't either!!!! Super crazy, I still hardly even believe it right now as I am writing it. Anyway its true, but the weird thing is that they didn't change Rodriguez, who is the one with the medical problem of sorts. So yes, I had to pack up that night, and get everything ready to come here to Managua! And now I am a district leader that hasn't even finished his time of being trained....Anyway, my new compa is Elder Alvarado, and he has less than a month in the mission. haha yeah for reals. He is also from El Salvador, and he is a recent convert of almost exactly one year (a little more). He is super excited to do the work, as am I, because we're both newbies. The only difference is that I have 6 weeks more than him.

A quick pic with the new compa. He's cool!

My new house is actually smaller than the place I lived in in Estelì! haha and it's kind of worse conditions too.....so that should be interesting. I also no longer have hot water.... that is sometimes good sometimes bad. Sometimes it is nice to shower with cold water haha.

The New Crib. Nice big room, and don't you worry, the giant cockroach in the shower was included free ;)

The new area is humongous, I don't even know how to spell it its so big. It is really weird right now, because I don't know the area at all, and Elder Alvarado doesn't know the area super well either, so we are learning together to get to know the area, to train, and to get better. I almost imagine it like the times of Joseph Smith when the various people had to go on missions with some companion into a land that neither of them knew... maybe a little exaggerated. In my district, we are the only elders, and then there are three companionships of hermanas... its kind of interesting. haha

As far as things in Managua, it is super big, super busy, pretty up to date, but worst of all, it is really hot hot hot! And it isn't even the hottest area in the mission. To explain a little better, after my first day of work here on Wednesday, I was super super itchy by the end of the day and didn't really know why. At the end of the day I checked and found out that I literally had hives all over my body. ALL OVER MY BODY!!!! I think that I had some sort of allergic reaction to my sweat! Weird.

Oh also, random side note, the majority of my clothes are still in Esteli, because when I got the call that I was going to have to leave, it was Tuesday night, and the laundry appointment lady was literally in the middle of doing my laundry.... so everything was soaking wet!!! I hope I can get that somehow some way.... Just kidding I will probably get it this week. There are meetings here in Managua all the time so someone is going to bring it with them sooner or later.

We have been working really hard to get to know the area and the members this week. We used a ward list to encounter some of the members, and through our efforts, we found a lot of less actives. Basically everyone in the ward could be considered less active though. There are 264 people on the ward list, but the normal attendance at church is like 70 or 80. I am going to change that though! haha The leaders of the ward here are a lot more willing to help us than they were in Esteli. That will be nice!

Oh, here our lunch appointment is not all that we have!! We have dinner also!!! EVERY DAY! it is already planned in the schedule, so that is pretty cool. I just have to be careful because I will probably gain some weight here in this area.

The Mountain of food that really had no flavor..... it was an interesting lunch

Being district leader, I have my different responsibilities, but one of them is to conduct interviews. I have received 0 training on how to be district leader, but I am figuring it out along the way. I had my first baptismal interview for some of the hermanas in the district, so that was pretty cool, and I think everything went well... haha

Funny Story:

So when we got to a house of one of the recent converts here, they told us that they had a new pet turtle, and they got it after it fell out of the sky while it was raining. Clearly this was some huge joke right?! Turtles don't just fall out of the sky when it rains, like it is raining turtles or something.... So we brought it up in another situation sort of making fun of the people more or less, but the bishop of the ward told us that it's true!!!! Here when it rains, turtles and fish fall from the sky, but just little ones. They proceeded to explain the basic science of it, but I believed it. It is still really weird to think about...

The turtle that fell from the sky...

Spiritual Thought:

So I finished the Book of Mormon this week for the first time on the mission. That was super exciting, and looking back on it, I learned so many things that I had never learned in my time reading it in the past. So my spiritual thought is this. The Book of Mormon is amazing. You can read it however many times you want and you will always learn something new, or receive new personal revelation! Don't ever think that you have read it enough times! haha Sooooo read the Book of Mormon :)

Love you all, and be safe this week!

Elder Moser

Pics this week...