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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Week 4 Nicaragua
Wow. Its pretty much already been a month here in Nicaragua. Only a few more days. Happy Halloween everyone!
So this week was interesting, as always ha.
For one, we were almost robbed... almost. We were walking back to our house to grab a quick bite. We were walking along the main road with tons of cars and plenty of people walking. A group of about 8 turned from a sidestreet and we were walking together. I put my hand out to the guy walking next to me and said Hola Hermano. From the way he raised his hand, and shook mine with a slurred Hola amigo... I could tell he wasnt all there. Not sure from what, but he wasnt coherent. I didnt say anything more and he just started talking to us in a not so pleasant manner. He was asking us for stuff and Elder Garcia kept telling him we dont have any "No tengo" "No tiene", but obviously he wouldnt believe us... so he started yelling and threw his cigarette at E. Garcia which hit him in the back of the neck. We wakling quicker. He followed right off my shoulder. I wasnt looking at him to not encourage him and all the sudden I feel something moving in my back pocket with my wallet. I spin around and slap his hand away. He didnt grab the wallet, and just kept following us. I buttoned the pocket and we kept going, quicker. He kept pace and was right off my other shoulder and reached for me. I slapped his arm away again. He grabbed my backpack and a slapped his arm away. This whole time he was either just glaring at us or saying stuff I couldnt understand. After he grabbed the straps of my backpack, E Garcia looked at me and said "Corra" which means to run... So we did. The would be robber took a few stagger steps after us and laughed. We only ran about 10 seconds or so to put distance between us. And that was the end of that... Ha
Then a few days ago I woke up and my hands were massive. Haha. My CTR ring wouldnt fit on any of my fingers. The swelling went down just enough I could squeeze the ring onto my ring finger, but it wouldnt budge after that. Im not entirely sure why, but it was apparently some type of allergic reaction or some bug bite. I had a rashish thing down my forearms too. Probably from tracting in the jungle lol The next day my feet were swollen too. That was an interesting day to walk haha. Nevertheless, we walked and worked and yesterday my hands were normal when I awoke.
We had a zone meeting -normal called a zone conference- this Friday. My zone is really cool. They are all really supportive and super excited to be here. We shared some lessons and did some activities and ate crackers and took some photos.
So, we have a 12 week "in field training" booklet to continue in the manner of the MTC. Its just a book of assignments to slowly transistion the newbie into the field with "start contacts" "lead discussions" "answers questions during lessons" etc. One of the assignments is to have an activity in the ward to invite nonmembers and investigators to. E Garcia and I were talking about it and guess what our activity will be on!!!!!!! SWING DANCING!!! Hahahaha Yeah. So almost every night for the past 4 nights Ive been teaching him the follow part to be the girl. Haha Hes actually doing really well. The family we live with knows I danced before my mission and I mentioned the final dance I did with Rinna at Kats Korner and that the video is on facebook... So they watched it, a few times haha. So ive been able to dance here in the mission for the sake of inviting investigators. We have a flier and whatnot and the bishops permission. We brought it up the the ward counsel - which we as the missionaries had to organize... weird- and all the leaders of the organizations seemed enthused. The family we live with is going to get some of the songs I used to teach when I was home, so hopefullly they can find them. The dance will be on the 10th of Nov. And we are going to have a presentation of the church and a tour and what we believe too, not just the dance ha
On a less happy note, I gave a hard candy to a little girl during a lesson because she looked pretty sad (only 5 or 6 years I think is how many she has) ... and she started choking on it about 5 minutes later. We were watching the video of the restoration when she went to the brother we were teaching who just had a tooth yanked that morning, so he couldnt talk and he started smacking her back. Her mom rushed in and picked her up and wailed on her back. The grandma was yelling and the girl started breathing again. Im not sure whether she swallowed it or it came out, but I felt awful... We finished watching the video and at the end of the lesson the mom of the girl asked us about infant baptism. E Garcia said we will answer it when we come back and have studied it to find scriptures and she cursed at us. I didnt understand, but E Garcia told me after. So, wasnt a pleasant lesson... The girl is okay though.
Oh yeah, questions from my mom-
Elder Garcia has 16 months in the mission. Hes from Managua, but lived in Costa Rica. He is really awesome. We havent really butted heads at all. Just a little grumpy here and there in the morning, but we work well together. He sings well too haha
I write letters from various computer shops that have 10 or so computers each. 10 or 15 cordobas for an hour
3 months is the longest for a package, and yes mom, a donkey might be faster lol
Pouch mail and regular mail seem to be the best way to send me mail. Its difficult to read and type a lot in one hour.
Humidity is alright. Just sweat a lot... a good oceans worth depending on the day haha
And yes, we have found someone to wash our chonies.
Oh Aunt Lorrie and Selina! Thank you for the letters. I really enjoyed them and am glad to hear about the blessings in your lives.
Thats it for this week! Keep sending letters and dearelders! I love hearing from all of you!
-Elder Mann
Monday, October 22, 2012
Week 3 in Nicaragua
Hola! Firstly, Id like to congratulate my cousin Allie and Jono on their wedding! Super glad I was able to make it! I wish the best for you two!
This week has been really awesome haha for multiple reasons... and this email wont really be in any actual order because im trying to send pictures at the same time in another window... so!
The mode of transportations here are mainly taxis and buses as I said, but there are also motorcycles galore and horse drawn carts. Not fancy meant to be drawn carts, but a thing of metal or wood with sometimes uneven wheels smacked on the sides ha Its pretty interesting. My companion detests animals of pretty much all sorts, so anytime one goes past us he gets waaaaay out of the way and I get a good distance ahead of him while he waits until the horse (or cow) is clear ha
Oh, the place that I live in is called Masaya. Its about two hours southish of Managua, the main city. The house I actually live in is supposedly on google maps, but all I know is to tell the cab driver to go to the house Masimfa and then give him directions as we get closer.
I had a slip in my Spanish a few days ago for pretty much the first time. We saw a man cutting a bush on his fence with a machete, so we offered help and picked up what he cut off. We started talking and introduced ourselves, he is really nice. I asked if his wife was here. He said yes, so I asked if we could meet her, but I asked in this way ¨¿Podemos prestar su esposa?" which means "Can we borrow your wife?" instead of "presentar"... He said Of course and understood what I meant as my companion started laughing ridiculously after the man left to get his wife. Theyre both school teachers and really nice and we had a good short lesson with them. But other than that I have had a solid amount of compliments for how well I speak and how much I can understand ha I really appreciate it.
Oh, quite a few people here have been asking me about the microchip going in americans hands next year, but I dont know anything more than what the families here tell me. There are a lot of people saying the end of the world because of the boook of revelations and the prophecy in there, but yeah... a littl emore information would be helpful if that could be sent my way haha
Oh, MOm could you send me a recipe for something with the Herdez green salsa? They have in the Maxi Pali (walmart miniturized to the minimum- the "office supplies" consists of a few pencils and a few bottles of glue) and the family we live with wants me to make them something haha
We sang, my comp and I, in Sacrament. We sang "come thou fount" and himno 14 in spanish mixed. Haha it was actually pretty darn good if I do so say so myself. Almost every lesson we start with a hymn because my companion loves to sing, which I am SUPER GRATEFUL for... the songs in spanish have different meanings but are powerful nonetheless. So yes, we sang in English and im sure the majority couldnt understand it, but thats okay. I like the song. We both started off in tenor, because thats his voice range and ive been improving mine every day because I sing with him every day, and then I dropped to the bass after two verses to sing the last two dos octaves lower than him haha It sounds really cool. Wish we recorded it, but oh well.
I sent a picture of me washing my towel by hand. Holy mackeral that is ridiculous!!!! THe concrete washboard alone with how much you have to scrub the thing back and forth (hard, not wimpy like wiping the towel over it, but like trying to start a fire with it) made me tired. THen you soap it, scrub it, rinse off the surface soap and then spend 20 minutes scrubbing it until no bubbles come out. Then you rinse it more. Wring it. Squeeze it. Put it in a pictcher with some freshner thing for a while (i went to bed haha) and then hang it to dry. Phew! Im glad to pay a kind lady to wash all my clothes like that. Its ridiculous ha
Oh mom, could you also send a few envelopes and ibuprofen in the next package?
SPeaking of that! I received the package you sent in September today! Woohoo!! Hahaha I also ahve a number of cards and letters and dear elder. Thank you Tyson, Bamma, Julie, Mom and the Clements! Im sorry if you dont get a letter back until this time next year... but thats possible haha I loved the package, im with my district right now writing this email in an internet-electronics shop. We pay about 10 cordobas for an hour. roughly 23 cordobas is a dollar... Yeah. Im retiring here. Just joking, im oinly going to visit ha The package was fun, we all had a cookie because yesterday was my companions birthday (22)! The last one of his mission. We sang in church the song, and we had the baptism this weekend and im going to buy him icecream later today.
One of the interesting things that I suppose I should have expected is the whole "Bible! We have a Bible! There cannot be any more Bible!!" argument that people will stop us in the street to tell us. We actually contacted a Jehovas witness man, aged in his years, and were going to teach him the first lesson about the restauration of the book of mormon and he just kept saying the bible the bible and that we are going to review a couple passages of the bible. Wait, lets read this one more scripture here in the bible... We left soon after. He didnt want to receive our message. A man yesterday asked me what this evil spirit is that is here right now. I didnt understand, but he was calling us devils. He was also a bit intoxicated.
Oh, more gunshots last night. We were in the familys home that was just baptized and we were just singing hymn after hymn because we were all excited and their 6 year old girl kept humming different ones that she liked ha. While we were there with the door open (normal) people were throwing rocks at each other. Trying to seriously injure with big rocks too. About 3 minutes of that and then a gunshot. We shut the door and kept singing. Ten minutes later another gun shot. And then silence for about 15 minutes. We sang and talked then heard some yelling pretty close to the door. Another gun shot. Dust fell from the walls and ceiling and the door and window rattled ha. We were singing at that time and just kept singing. Pretty interesting. We stayed there for a bit llonger to make sure all was quiet. Didnt see anyone injured and we were all good. Ha
Yeah, this life is amazing. Its funny to think sometimes "I wonder what this person is doing right now?" and think of my parents or a friend and if theyre eating at their house or at school or something. I wouldnt want to be doing anything else right now. The joy when a person says "I feel something different, something peaceful when you two are talking to us" is unparalleled. This is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and I love every moment I have to share it.My family is amazing and know that I think of all of you every day and pray for you every morning and night.
Love to you all! (Hopefully you dont mind my long emails haha)
This week has been really awesome haha for multiple reasons... and this email wont really be in any actual order because im trying to send pictures at the same time in another window... so!
The mode of transportations here are mainly taxis and buses as I said, but there are also motorcycles galore and horse drawn carts. Not fancy meant to be drawn carts, but a thing of metal or wood with sometimes uneven wheels smacked on the sides ha Its pretty interesting. My companion detests animals of pretty much all sorts, so anytime one goes past us he gets waaaaay out of the way and I get a good distance ahead of him while he waits until the horse (or cow) is clear ha
Oh, the place that I live in is called Masaya. Its about two hours southish of Managua, the main city. The house I actually live in is supposedly on google maps, but all I know is to tell the cab driver to go to the house Masimfa and then give him directions as we get closer.
I had a slip in my Spanish a few days ago for pretty much the first time. We saw a man cutting a bush on his fence with a machete, so we offered help and picked up what he cut off. We started talking and introduced ourselves, he is really nice. I asked if his wife was here. He said yes, so I asked if we could meet her, but I asked in this way ¨¿Podemos prestar su esposa?" which means "Can we borrow your wife?" instead of "presentar"... He said Of course and understood what I meant as my companion started laughing ridiculously after the man left to get his wife. Theyre both school teachers and really nice and we had a good short lesson with them. But other than that I have had a solid amount of compliments for how well I speak and how much I can understand ha I really appreciate it.
Oh, quite a few people here have been asking me about the microchip going in americans hands next year, but I dont know anything more than what the families here tell me. There are a lot of people saying the end of the world because of the boook of revelations and the prophecy in there, but yeah... a littl emore information would be helpful if that could be sent my way haha
Oh, MOm could you send me a recipe for something with the Herdez green salsa? They have in the Maxi Pali (walmart miniturized to the minimum- the "office supplies" consists of a few pencils and a few bottles of glue) and the family we live with wants me to make them something haha
We sang, my comp and I, in Sacrament. We sang "come thou fount" and himno 14 in spanish mixed. Haha it was actually pretty darn good if I do so say so myself. Almost every lesson we start with a hymn because my companion loves to sing, which I am SUPER GRATEFUL for... the songs in spanish have different meanings but are powerful nonetheless. So yes, we sang in English and im sure the majority couldnt understand it, but thats okay. I like the song. We both started off in tenor, because thats his voice range and ive been improving mine every day because I sing with him every day, and then I dropped to the bass after two verses to sing the last two dos octaves lower than him haha It sounds really cool. Wish we recorded it, but oh well.
I sent a picture of me washing my towel by hand. Holy mackeral that is ridiculous!!!! THe concrete washboard alone with how much you have to scrub the thing back and forth (hard, not wimpy like wiping the towel over it, but like trying to start a fire with it) made me tired. THen you soap it, scrub it, rinse off the surface soap and then spend 20 minutes scrubbing it until no bubbles come out. Then you rinse it more. Wring it. Squeeze it. Put it in a pictcher with some freshner thing for a while (i went to bed haha) and then hang it to dry. Phew! Im glad to pay a kind lady to wash all my clothes like that. Its ridiculous ha
Oh mom, could you also send a few envelopes and ibuprofen in the next package?
SPeaking of that! I received the package you sent in September today! Woohoo!! Hahaha I also ahve a number of cards and letters and dear elder. Thank you Tyson, Bamma, Julie, Mom and the Clements! Im sorry if you dont get a letter back until this time next year... but thats possible haha I loved the package, im with my district right now writing this email in an internet-electronics shop. We pay about 10 cordobas for an hour. roughly 23 cordobas is a dollar... Yeah. Im retiring here. Just joking, im oinly going to visit ha The package was fun, we all had a cookie because yesterday was my companions birthday (22)! The last one of his mission. We sang in church the song, and we had the baptism this weekend and im going to buy him icecream later today.
One of the interesting things that I suppose I should have expected is the whole "Bible! We have a Bible! There cannot be any more Bible!!" argument that people will stop us in the street to tell us. We actually contacted a Jehovas witness man, aged in his years, and were going to teach him the first lesson about the restauration of the book of mormon and he just kept saying the bible the bible and that we are going to review a couple passages of the bible. Wait, lets read this one more scripture here in the bible... We left soon after. He didnt want to receive our message. A man yesterday asked me what this evil spirit is that is here right now. I didnt understand, but he was calling us devils. He was also a bit intoxicated.
Oh, more gunshots last night. We were in the familys home that was just baptized and we were just singing hymn after hymn because we were all excited and their 6 year old girl kept humming different ones that she liked ha. While we were there with the door open (normal) people were throwing rocks at each other. Trying to seriously injure with big rocks too. About 3 minutes of that and then a gunshot. We shut the door and kept singing. Ten minutes later another gun shot. And then silence for about 15 minutes. We sang and talked then heard some yelling pretty close to the door. Another gun shot. Dust fell from the walls and ceiling and the door and window rattled ha. We were singing at that time and just kept singing. Pretty interesting. We stayed there for a bit llonger to make sure all was quiet. Didnt see anyone injured and we were all good. Ha
Yeah, this life is amazing. Its funny to think sometimes "I wonder what this person is doing right now?" and think of my parents or a friend and if theyre eating at their house or at school or something. I wouldnt want to be doing anything else right now. The joy when a person says "I feel something different, something peaceful when you two are talking to us" is unparalleled. This is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and I love every moment I have to share it.My family is amazing and know that I think of all of you every day and pray for you every morning and night.
Love to you all! (Hopefully you dont mind my long emails haha)
Monday, October 15, 2012
Week 2 in Nicaragua!
Me walking through trail in the jungle/ pathway we use. Only a few parts of my area as jungly as that ha ha. Its kinda fun.
Here is a pic of a baby chick. We were teaching a recent convert and they were all over our feet, so Elder Garcias grabbed one and I took a picture with it. You can barely see the head in my hands haha
Hey! This week has been really awesome. I had my first baptism with a young family. I baptized the mom, Suyen, and her husband is going to be baptized this Saturday. It was really neat. The baptism service went well, we had a few speakers and a 'choir' which had a few people off key... but there was only about 6 people in it, so with a few people off key... the thought and heart was there for sure. I am starting to grow to appreciate an love the people here in Nicaragua. The culture is quite different, but enjoyable to learn. Ie asking people if they're married isn't offensive nor is asking for peoples ages, which we do almost every contact. Its interesting and fun. Also people set off fireworks throughout the entire day. Not flashy ones, but just ones that make noise or go bang. The entire day. A kid threw one a yard or two from my feet, not intentionally I think, and my left ear was ringing for a few minutes ha
Last Monday after I emailed we had a lesson. It was about 730 8 at night and we were in an investigators home. We were having a really good lesson and just after I recited the first vision of Joseph Smith where he saw God and Jesus Christ, a gun went off in the street. Then another. We just continued as if it were nothing... I stopped counting after 7 or 8 gun shots. Eventually we heard a siren and saw some cops barging around in a truck looking for people. We left soon after. The next night we were having another lesson, just up the street, and a few more gun shots rang out again. Only about 3 or 4 this time though. Ha, so yeah. That was a good jolly time. Were all safe and we didn't see anything horrific.
Well, speaking of the culture still, moms just feed their babies on the porches without any reservations or any worries at all. We were invited into a members home to give a sick little baby a priesthood blessing of health. She was screaming and crying, so the entire time our hands were on her head they were moving every which way. Like a cat trying to catch a laser pointer. Elder Garcías anointed the oil and sealed the blessing as well so we could continue to our next lesson quicker. In between the two, the mom who was sitting with the baby in her lap decided to try and make her baby stop crying by feeding her the good ole fashion way... while we were standing right there about to give the child a blessing. Yeah, a little different.
Oh, if you use Purina Puppy Food or Dog food, the factory is in my area. Just so you know.
This week really was good. We confirmed baptismal dates for a few families and three of our investigators attended church too. Church is a little different, but mostly the same ha I blessed the water for the sacrament. First time in Spanish woo! But it really was such a blessing to hear all the testimonies from the members about the gospel. We meet many interesting people as contacts or in lessons that squint their eyes at us and tell us 'the bible says ...' and that we are not good people and whatnot. Or we called out 'Buenas!' at a door and the man in the house instantly replied '¡SOMOS CATOLICO!' meaning 'were catholic' We just shrugged and smiled and kept walking ha ha
The bucket showers are something I actually look forward to because it is cold. Its nice to feel cold ha ha It hasn't rained a horrendous amount or even much at all, but there is still water in the air in the blessed form of humidity. My companion and most people I talk to, don't understand when I say that it is hot without the humidity at my house.
We haven't had a zone conference to receive the mail yet, but thank you for your prayers and for your kind thoughts. I'm really loving my experience here. Many times during the day I just have the opportunity to think 'Im a missionary' and I get really excited. ha ha
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Week 1 Nicaragua
I shower with a bucket.
Bueno.
This first week has been really amazing here in Nicaragua. This place is hideously beautiful, charmingly scary, richly poor and just plain odd. Haha I dont even know where my area is in relation to Managua. It takes two hours to travel there, thats all I know. No idea which direction or whatnot. I havent asked my companion that yet. Anyway, getting here was an adventure in itself. Cancelled flight Monday. Two super delayed fligths Tuesday (we ended up sleeping in the airport because the shuttles to the hotels stopped at 10 when it was 1230 when we finally got to the curb). We made it. Only one bag out of all of us was left in Miami, but he has it now.
The culture is super different, almost surreal. I felt like I was walking in a James Bond movie in a third world country because I guess I was. We only take taxis and buses and they are always filled to capacity. In fact, its hard to not touch the people surrounding you if you want to sit. The buses are sometimes 10 passenger vans with about 18 people in them (standing room only lol) with a guy hanging out the window yelling where we are going to try and pick up more people.
When we finally got to our area and then our home, I saw where Id be working for the next session of my life. We live with a member family and have our own room that has a bunk and a dresser with a mini fridge (I just bought boxed milk and cereal and finally found honey today). Then we use the front room with a few couches and two tables to study. Its actually pretty nice considering. The bathroom is the most interesting part I think. We dont have running water during the day, only in the morning, which it is only a drip then. So we turn on the shower in the morning to fill a janitor sized trash can that is in the shower to use as our water for the day. Theres two bucket in it. One to fill and wash our hands in and the other to dump water over our heads for showers and dump in the toilet after a... it has been used. Since thats the only water pressure, we also put the toilet paper in a trash can right next to the toilet, dont flush it haha. Its different, but interesting.
The area in which I live is super different from any other place I have ever been to. The majority of the homes have earth for floor and maybe one of what you could consider a room. All of them have tin roofs or tarps over them and tin walls or shantily tied together branches or sticks. Its super interesting the standard of living here. I used a hole in the ground with tent as tall as my shoulders as a bathroom the other day at the Bishops house... That was neat.
But yes, the people here are much more approachable. We have the areas where we only walk fast and avoid any eye contact, especially at night, but most of the time we talk to most people. The mission here is focused on finding families, so thats what we do. We look for parents and child and just walk up and talk to them. Oh yeah, since the houses are how they are, we dont knock necessarily. We just walk up and say 'bueno!' at the gate or beginning of their property. We have a HUGE area. Its really sweet actually. We have the variety from walking in literal junge with a truck path to walking in dirt roads surrounded by houses with floors (thats how I have learned to judge the quality of a home). All the members here are really nice and help us out plenty. One family in particular just loves working with us missionary (La familia Lira). Ive eaten pretty much everything that has been put in front of me since the day I got here because of my experience the first day. Apparently my companion pretty much only ate lunch before I came here. No breakfast, no dinner. So we didnt have any apointments to eat or food to eat in our mini fridge when I arrived. My dinner the first night was four ritz crackers haha But sicne then I have been well fed. And he is starting to eat dinner too. My bowel system has been working pretty well too, no major mishaps or irregularities.
We do have to find a new lady to wash our laundry though. We went tehre this morning to drop off another load and pick up the previous and she didnt really tell us why, but just that she wont do our laundry anymore. So this will be interesting the next few days to find someone haha
Spanishwise, my companion and almost every one I talk with is surprised at how well I speak for only having been here less than a week. The hard work in the MTC paid off! Understanding is a little more tricky because they drop the ends of the words and slur it all together like we do in English, but Im picking up more and more every day. My companion speaks a decent amount of English, but I havent talked to him in English yet and dont really plan to unless we are trying to translate something. Im grateful that he does so he can help me find the words I want to say. Hes from Managua and lived in Costa Rica for a while, working with some Americans to sell houses (thats where he was able to build his English pretty well in addition to school). He actually reminds me of my cousin JJ with how he looks and even just his personality. Very calm, quiet but loves to smile and share.
We have a baptism this weekend too! A young family is being baptized. The parents are, the daughter is only six. My Companion, Elder Garcias, told me I was going to do it haha That would be awesome to be able to have that experience, but its possible I will baptize one this week and he will baptize the husband next week. In addition to baptisms, Ive given two blessings in Spanish for health. People are talking as we are in a house or in the church and Im just looking trying to understand and I see my comp grab a chair and someone sit down and they both look at me. Bueno. Ha, its actually been really amazing. Every time we have given blessings (Ive given two so far and E. Garcia has given 3 I think) I feel really peaceful and am reminded that we are here as representatives of Jesus Christ and are here to bless the people.
I asked my mission president how long mail or packages take to get here and he told me an interesting time length. Guess. Alright, heres the answer: 3 months maybe. Thats what he said... so if you want to send me a christmas present... send it now! Ha and a birthday present (March 18), send that tomorrow lol. The packages and mail are sent to the mission home where they give it to the zone leaders and they give it to us every zone conference which is roughly every 2 weeks. Entonces, itll be a little difficult to reply quickly to your letters... and I only have an hour on the computer every week, so sorry if I dont reply. I will do my best!
We also receive 2300 cordobas, the money here, every 15 days. Its roughly 100 dollars. We have a chart for what its for regarding meals, laundry, etc and I could see how it would be easy to spend it all. Theres a pulperia (mini mini mini store ran out of someones home) almost every three or four houses with snacks and whatnot. Havent bought any of the chips or anything yet, but I will.
Well, thats all I have for you this week. Hopefully that gives you a picture of how my first week was.
Mom and Dad, I brought the wrong cord for the camera to send pictures... but it looks like I can put my card in this comp (I dont have really any pictures from here yet though)... and I guess you could send the water filterpitcher if you want. We use the bottle with a filter we got from the MTC pretty much, not really and cups and whatnot at home. That might change with each area though...
Love you all and hope all is well! Remember that Jesus Christ is your Savior and that this is His Church. He can help us in every single way and aspect of life if we ask Him and live righteously.
Love Elder Mann
Bueno.
This first week has been really amazing here in Nicaragua. This place is hideously beautiful, charmingly scary, richly poor and just plain odd. Haha I dont even know where my area is in relation to Managua. It takes two hours to travel there, thats all I know. No idea which direction or whatnot. I havent asked my companion that yet. Anyway, getting here was an adventure in itself. Cancelled flight Monday. Two super delayed fligths Tuesday (we ended up sleeping in the airport because the shuttles to the hotels stopped at 10 when it was 1230 when we finally got to the curb). We made it. Only one bag out of all of us was left in Miami, but he has it now.
The culture is super different, almost surreal. I felt like I was walking in a James Bond movie in a third world country because I guess I was. We only take taxis and buses and they are always filled to capacity. In fact, its hard to not touch the people surrounding you if you want to sit. The buses are sometimes 10 passenger vans with about 18 people in them (standing room only lol) with a guy hanging out the window yelling where we are going to try and pick up more people.
When we finally got to our area and then our home, I saw where Id be working for the next session of my life. We live with a member family and have our own room that has a bunk and a dresser with a mini fridge (I just bought boxed milk and cereal and finally found honey today). Then we use the front room with a few couches and two tables to study. Its actually pretty nice considering. The bathroom is the most interesting part I think. We dont have running water during the day, only in the morning, which it is only a drip then. So we turn on the shower in the morning to fill a janitor sized trash can that is in the shower to use as our water for the day. Theres two bucket in it. One to fill and wash our hands in and the other to dump water over our heads for showers and dump in the toilet after a... it has been used. Since thats the only water pressure, we also put the toilet paper in a trash can right next to the toilet, dont flush it haha. Its different, but interesting.
The area in which I live is super different from any other place I have ever been to. The majority of the homes have earth for floor and maybe one of what you could consider a room. All of them have tin roofs or tarps over them and tin walls or shantily tied together branches or sticks. Its super interesting the standard of living here. I used a hole in the ground with tent as tall as my shoulders as a bathroom the other day at the Bishops house... That was neat.
But yes, the people here are much more approachable. We have the areas where we only walk fast and avoid any eye contact, especially at night, but most of the time we talk to most people. The mission here is focused on finding families, so thats what we do. We look for parents and child and just walk up and talk to them. Oh yeah, since the houses are how they are, we dont knock necessarily. We just walk up and say 'bueno!' at the gate or beginning of their property. We have a HUGE area. Its really sweet actually. We have the variety from walking in literal junge with a truck path to walking in dirt roads surrounded by houses with floors (thats how I have learned to judge the quality of a home). All the members here are really nice and help us out plenty. One family in particular just loves working with us missionary (La familia Lira). Ive eaten pretty much everything that has been put in front of me since the day I got here because of my experience the first day. Apparently my companion pretty much only ate lunch before I came here. No breakfast, no dinner. So we didnt have any apointments to eat or food to eat in our mini fridge when I arrived. My dinner the first night was four ritz crackers haha But sicne then I have been well fed. And he is starting to eat dinner too. My bowel system has been working pretty well too, no major mishaps or irregularities.
We do have to find a new lady to wash our laundry though. We went tehre this morning to drop off another load and pick up the previous and she didnt really tell us why, but just that she wont do our laundry anymore. So this will be interesting the next few days to find someone haha
Spanishwise, my companion and almost every one I talk with is surprised at how well I speak for only having been here less than a week. The hard work in the MTC paid off! Understanding is a little more tricky because they drop the ends of the words and slur it all together like we do in English, but Im picking up more and more every day. My companion speaks a decent amount of English, but I havent talked to him in English yet and dont really plan to unless we are trying to translate something. Im grateful that he does so he can help me find the words I want to say. Hes from Managua and lived in Costa Rica for a while, working with some Americans to sell houses (thats where he was able to build his English pretty well in addition to school). He actually reminds me of my cousin JJ with how he looks and even just his personality. Very calm, quiet but loves to smile and share.
We have a baptism this weekend too! A young family is being baptized. The parents are, the daughter is only six. My Companion, Elder Garcias, told me I was going to do it haha That would be awesome to be able to have that experience, but its possible I will baptize one this week and he will baptize the husband next week. In addition to baptisms, Ive given two blessings in Spanish for health. People are talking as we are in a house or in the church and Im just looking trying to understand and I see my comp grab a chair and someone sit down and they both look at me. Bueno. Ha, its actually been really amazing. Every time we have given blessings (Ive given two so far and E. Garcia has given 3 I think) I feel really peaceful and am reminded that we are here as representatives of Jesus Christ and are here to bless the people.
I asked my mission president how long mail or packages take to get here and he told me an interesting time length. Guess. Alright, heres the answer: 3 months maybe. Thats what he said... so if you want to send me a christmas present... send it now! Ha and a birthday present (March 18), send that tomorrow lol. The packages and mail are sent to the mission home where they give it to the zone leaders and they give it to us every zone conference which is roughly every 2 weeks. Entonces, itll be a little difficult to reply quickly to your letters... and I only have an hour on the computer every week, so sorry if I dont reply. I will do my best!
We also receive 2300 cordobas, the money here, every 15 days. Its roughly 100 dollars. We have a chart for what its for regarding meals, laundry, etc and I could see how it would be easy to spend it all. Theres a pulperia (mini mini mini store ran out of someones home) almost every three or four houses with snacks and whatnot. Havent bought any of the chips or anything yet, but I will.
Well, thats all I have for you this week. Hopefully that gives you a picture of how my first week was.
Mom and Dad, I brought the wrong cord for the camera to send pictures... but it looks like I can put my card in this comp (I dont have really any pictures from here yet though)... and I guess you could send the water filterpitcher if you want. We use the bottle with a filter we got from the MTC pretty much, not really and cups and whatnot at home. That might change with each area though...
Love you all and hope all is well! Remember that Jesus Christ is your Savior and that this is His Church. He can help us in every single way and aspect of life if we ask Him and live righteously.
Love Elder Mann
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