Ben's Mission to Nicaragua: Shaking in my Boots all over Nicaragua

Well this was a really short week! We had many days dedicated to meetings this week and they took longer than we even thought. On Tuesday we were back in good old Esteli for a multi-zone conference with Esteli, Ocotal, y Matagalpa. Most of my good buddies from the mission are in those zones. Of course I have got a few others in other zones, but a lot of the missionaries from those zones are good friends, like Elder Hirschi, Jacobsen, Hobbs, Ferrin, Chen, Alfaro, Knight, Choque, Sotay and so on! Lots from those zones. The focus of the meetings is to fully present the plan of the mission for this year! Our main focus in the plan of the mission is to remember the things that we have learned in the last year or so from the visits of general authorities. They always come with good revelation for us in the mission and we seem to be great and diligent at applying it for about 2-3 months, and then we kind of leave it behind or forget to continue with it. President has such an awesome way to teach and keep the missionaries interested. He always has some little activity or game to express a principle. But Elder Boice and I also had our moments to teach and that is always cool. Oddly enough I kind of like it haha. But then on Friday we headed to Chinandega for the multi-zone conference with Chinandega, Chinandega Oeste, and Leon. We ended up getting home pretty late because they are both a 2 hour drive from Managua. Actually Esteli is a little further. But in Chinandega, Hermana Collado decided that she was in the mood for a really nice dinner! So we headed out to Corinto and had dinner at this place called Espana. Holy good! I got some stuffed chicken, and it was heavenly! And Sister Collado got a fried fish, and let me have a bit, and it was also super tasty! I recommend it to anyone that is ever in Corinto. But anyway, lots of traveling this week!

Dinner in corinto after the multizone conference!

I got stuffed chicken and it was so good!

Elder Boice chose a 1.5 lb fish to eat haha it was actually really good! He let me have a little bit!

The scenery of the restaurant!

The church in Central America has implemented an activity that is done weekly called noche de hermanamiento. And sometimes it is great, and other times it is kind of boring. So this week, it was the elders quorum turn, and they blew it away! Such a fun evening! The idea of the activity is that people enjoy themselves but also have an opportunity to feel the Spirit. So what did they do this week? They put on a little play! It was great, a bunch of 20-60 year old men acting out the parable of the meditator! (Not sure if that is a direct translation or not, I don't remember what it is in English.) But it was quite the enjoyable event! And there were refreshments! Who wouldn't be happy with that? If we keep having activities like that one, more people will come for sure!

Some pictures from the play of the Elders Quorum.

A picture with the cast after the show!

So this week we have really been looking for new investigators and it has been a bit of a struggle. We have some great investigators, but we want to have more people to teach so we have been looking! On Thursday, out of nowhere a man yelled out "Elders" in a complete gringo accent. After looking for this mysterious voice, we discovered that a man named Enrique and his wife were visiting from Miami. He is a less active and his wife isn't a member. So we talked to him for a bit, and tried to get him excited to come back to church, and then he presented us to his family who lives here in Nicaragua. That was a really cool experience, especially in this time that we were really looking for new investigators. Elders Neilson, Ramirez and Cuevas (our new comp for a bit) went yesterday to teach them and actually put a baptismal goal with some of them! Nice one!

Today we played some soccer with Enrique! He is one of the new investigators from yesterday! He showed up and a few others from the ward to play some soccer! It was a blast! I really enjoy playing soccer, and I can see that every time I go to play I am getting a little better little by little! But after we were finished we had to go talk to a member and when we found him, he was contacting a friend of his and inviting him to the Stake Conference we are going to have today and tomorrow! Sweet! There are just some small little blessings coming in! I love it!

I don't think I mentioned, but last week there was another earthquake! I feel like I respond so incorrectly in the face of an earthquake, because instead of finding shelter like a madman, I seem to always just sit there in awe that I am in another earthquake. So for this one, (I think if I remember right it was like a 4.1 or something) Elder Boice and I were sitting enjoying from a hole in the wall burger shop that we love ( I think I have already talked about it, Gadea's Burgers) and it started to shake and Boice and I just look at each other and smile! And then it stopped......I honestly think that they are pretty cool. That is Sacramento talking though, because I have never actually felt an earthquake before the mission!

So something that President Collado talked about this week in the meetings that we had was about how sometimes we misinterpret the principle of faith, thinking that if we have "enough faith" that we will always have our desires come to pass. Or that we blame failures on "a lack of faith." But success is not 100% determined on a level of someones faith. If it is not the will of God, than it won't happen no matter how much faith we have! For example, one time someone was sick and prayed to the Lord that he would take the sickness away from him. But the Lord responded that he had not learned yet what he was to learn so he continued sick. That was not because he didn't have faith, but because it wasn't what the Lord wanted in the moment! Just remember, faith is trusting in the Lord, holding to the rod in times of trouble. It doesn't mean that there will not be troubles, or that we can cast the troubles away when they come. Strengthen your faith in Christ ALWAYS!!

Love, Elder Moser

Other pics this week...

All of the boys in our Nicaragua baseball jerseys. I am slightly jealous of the one that Elder Ramirez has from Puerto Cabezas...

This is how they mix their cement here. And to make it go further, they add a lot of sand and rocks into the concrete mix. Then they make it into a volcano looking thing and then mix it little by little! I did it a few times in Puerto, but never actually took a picture until now!