Nicaragua

Elder Watts with President and Sister Brown

 OK, I want to write everything, but I have like a million emails in my inbox, so well see how far I get. Also, the apostrophe key is broken so forgive the bad grammar. I absolutely love Nicaragua, but it may not sound like it as I begin to describe everything, just remember that deep down I have nothing but love for this country. There were 13 of us cheles (gringos) that arrived Monday night. Tuesday morning, the mission welcomed 15 Latinos from the Guatemala MTC. Overall, the mission is about 2/3 Latino and 1/3 Chele. Tuesday, we received mission specific training and Wednesday morning, we met our trainers and departed. My trainer, Elder Cardona is from Guatemala. All of the Latino missionaries here come from Central America, south of Mexico, minus a handful from the Dominican Republic and a couple Brasilians. My companion knows three words in English: freak, flip, and fetch, which I'm sure he picked up from the American missionaries here.

New missionaries with Pres. and Sis. Brown

We are in Ciudad Sandino, about an hour and a half trip from Managua. I've learned that Nicaragua is the safest Central American country (mostly because people are too poor to afford guns). Nevertheless, our area is the most dangerous in the area. One of the neighborhoods here is called Sidia. It's pretty much Nicaraguan Compton. We don't go there at night, and when we do go there, my companion makes me take off my very simple looking 8 dollar watch. Sidia looks like a bit of a dump - trash is everywhere, and houses look more like shacks than houses, even compared to the humble, two room cement floor model that is found throughout the city. I have yet to see a glass window here. Mostly people just have gaps in the wall and they've just gotten used to bugs and dust all through the house. I have not seen anything more advanced in the air conditioning department than electric fans. It's only been a week and I can't remember what it's like to not be hot every minute of every day. It's supposed to be the rainy season, but since I've arrived, all I've seen is a 10 minute pouring, Tuesday night in Managua.

Elder Watts y Elder Cardona

Spanish here is awful! After days of just assuming it was because I didn't speak the language, I finally decided that I'm not the problem. I can understand and converse just fine with my Guatemalan companion. But here, the letter "s" just doesn't exist and they drop endings of words wherever they can. Even my native speaking companion said he had to ask people to repeat themselves for his first month. One example is dos, two, is pronounced do, and doce, twelve, is pronounced dos. I am so lost every time these guys start talking. 

The first thing my companion told me is you're going to get fat. Little did I know... I eat white rice with every meal, usually with beans, but you can always count on white rice. Coke here is cheaper than purified water and missionaries here probably drink it at least daily, if not more. The food here is way good, and we have a lady in the ward that cooks lunch for us daily for just 600 cordobas a quincena (15 day period in between getting more money on our cards). The exchange rate is about 30 cords to a dollar, though 30 cords will go a lot further here than a dollar in America. We are given 2400 cords per quincena, which after paying 600 for our food, and 200 to the lady that does our laundry, we are still left with way more than what is necessary to live. 

When I arrived, this area only had 1 investigator who is literally impossible to find. We've been by her house a bunch without luck. We have since taught the first lesson to four families and they've all agreed to prepare to be baptized and read the Book of Mormon. The spirit was incredible in each of those lessons, and somehow I was able to understand enough Nicaraguan to follow along. I'll know by Wednesday which of them actually read and prayed. 

Alright, well, hopefully I'll have time to respond to your individual emails later today, but, for now, this is it.  Shout out to Mom who gets to edit this mess.

Love you all, thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
Elder Stephen Watts

Here's a couple more interesting facts that Elder Watts included in answer to our questions:

There's about a dozen missionaries in the city, but our district only includes my companion and one other companionship. I forgot to add, with the exception of Sidia, the people here are all incredibly obese. I wonder if they know how bad their diet is. It's way shocking to see how large they are while living such humble lives.
Also, some fun Nicaraguan slang:
twanies: cool
Salvage: Savage (cool)
chele: white boy

We are in a house, it's got a bedroom that's just big enough for two beds, and a living room. We have a small fridge and a microwave, two desks, 2 chairs, and a wardrobe that we share. The church is the nicest building here. It has ceiling fans in each room, and a bunch in the sacrament room. There is a piano, but it doesn't work. Outside, there's a big grass field, and a paved court with basketball and soccer goals. We played basketball on Friday with a bunch of the elders, then today we had a chance to play soccer for about an hour, then ultimate frisbee for about an hour with other elders in our city. I was delighted to find that basketball is a pretty big deal here, about equal to soccer, but baseball trumps them all. Some members were very proud to show me that the starting pitcher from the Rangers, I think, was a Nicaraguan. 

Week 2

This week I've learned that God IS willing to use me as an instrument in bringing to pass His work and glory. I have had many opportunities to teach lessons and lead spiritual thoughts in the church before, but never found that I was an exceptional gospel teacher. After the past two days, I know that God will indeed help me to know what to say, and He will send His spirit to accompany my lessons.

My district with one of my teachers, Hermano Clayton

To begin my experiences, my companion and I were asked to teach both Priesthood, and the zone meeting yesterday. We began preparing our lessons on Thursday, in zone meeting we taught about the doctrine of Christ, and in Priesthood, we taught about receiving and recognizing personal revelation. On Saturday, I couldn't help but notice that the new guys in the zone (we welcomed 5 new Elders on Wednesday) were having a tough time adjusting to missionary life. I had no idea if it was the language, depression, homesickness, etc, I just knew they were struggling. I was prompted to pray and ask if there was something I could do to help them out. Now at the time, I probably couldn't have told you it was a prompting, I just wanted to help, I guess that's just how the spirit operates. I felt impressed to lead a zone study session, and used time that I had previously set aside for preparing lessons for Sunday, to prepare some scriptures and thoughts. I made a little scripture chase where I showed many instances where God proved His promise found in D&C 84:88, "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." I showed them how Enoch, Moses, And David all felt inadequate, weak, and alone. (Exo 3:11 Exo 4:10-12 1 Samuel 17:43-45 Moses 6:31-32). Later on, one Elder shared D&C 31. Another discussed how Gordon B. Hinckley nearly returned home from his mission early.

With the new elders in our district:
Gomez, me, Auman, Stock, Eng, Smith, and Fragoso

As I began sharing these scriptures, some of the other boys on our floor (all headed to the Philippians) found their way into our room. They entered at an awkward time and were talking amongst themselves which made it difficult for me to get my message across. But they paid attention as I bore my testimony that God was with us, and he will strengthen us as we endeavor to build up His kingdom. Then one of those missionaries added their testimony to mine and as he was talking the Spirit entered the room stronger than I had ever anticipated nor expected. Most of the missionaries in the room proceeded to share some thoughts and bear testimony. One of the most powerful thoughts came from one of the new Elders who had previously been involved in a popular Latino gang called the Sureños (I think). He has tattoos up and down both arms, holes in his ears where gauges used to be, heavily greased hair, and no one exactly knows his backstory. Needless to say, he was powerfully equipped with faith unto repentance (Alma 34:15-16). Another one of our new Elders shared that he had suffered from chronic migraines before his mission and was relying on the Lord's help to make it through his mission. It was evident to me that he had faith to be healed (D&C 46:19). After an hour, we were finally able to end the meeting; there were no dry eyes in the room. I knew by the spirit that those struggling new missionaries heard and felt exactly what they needed to hear and feel that night. More importantly, I learned that a living God, will do everything He can to bless His servants. I testify that all of our weaknesses, challenges, and inadequacies will all be taken care of, because God so loved the world.

That Sunday, I had felt blessed that the spirit had abided with us, but feared that we were unprepared to teach both of our lessons that day. By the end of each of them, the messages that we were attempting to explain were so clear. I could tell that the spirit was in the room, teaching the gospel truths to us. Remember how I said I don't feel like a great teacher? Well, after leading three powerful lessons in the last two days, I still don't feel like a good teacher. But I know that if I can continue to have a desire to help others grow in the gospel, then God will continue to send His spirit to guide my words, and to touch the hearts of all who are under the sound of my voice.

As for my life as a missionary, everything is going great! While I do miss you all, there is little room for homesickness as the work requires complete focus. I received my travel plans and can I just say how excited I am to get to Nicaragua! I don't think I've ever been this excited for anything in life. It was a little tricky trying to come back to Earth and focus on my studies to be honest. I leave at 3:30 AM next Monday morning (so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for the next two weeks). I am going to Managua with 13 other missionaries! Crazy! Though some might be going to the North mission. I will have a 5 hour layover in Atlanta, plus two 4 hour plane rides, and I should arrive in Managua at 8:00 Monday night. Thanks for sending emails throughout the week, they are very nice to read.

I love you all!

Elder Stephen Watts

Hello from the MTC

Hey all! Thanks for the updates. I have an iPad for my stay at the MTC, so I can read your emails nightly, but have to wait until p-day to respond.

The MTC has been great! My district is all of the advanced Spanish people that entered the MTC on Wednesday, and there is a whole spectrum of language ability. I am on the low end, but not the worst.

Our district is huge, 4 elders and 8 sisters. We make up half of the zone. There are only three gringos in the zone, my companion, me, and Hermana Hurley. Hermana Hurley and Elder Ngatuvai are both in my district and going to Managua South with me. My companion, Elder Auman, is from San Francisco and is going Spanish speaking to Sydney Australia.

MTC District

Many of the missionaries in our zone are here on green cards, so they were called Spanish speaking within the US to keep their legality. There is only one Hermana that struggles to speak English, but she does alright. This makes it difficult to resist the temptation to speak English. Class is in Spanish, church and meetings with the branch presidency are in Spanglish, and devos and other trainings for new missionaries are in English. So all together, I've only had to struggle with Spanish half of the time.

Using the Ipads for a selfie

My companion and I are amazing friends already, and we are tight with Ngatuvai and Meraz (the other elder in the district). This has made the MTC incredibly fun. Also, it's crazy how many friends I've seen here from BYU and elsewhere. I can't stand up in the lunchroom without instantly running into an old friend. I love it!

Everyone lives in the old buildings and has class in the new ones. The new ones are super nice and our classroom is on the fifth floor and has a giant window. We have a sweet view of Provo.

On Thursday my companion was called to be our district leader and me, the senior companion. Then on Sunday, one of the elders in our zone found out he was leaving early for the field. Elder Auman and I were asked to be the zone leaders and Elder Meraz was asked to take over as district leader.

Elder Ngatuvai, Elder Watts, Elder Auman, Elder Meraz

Most people I talked to before coming here have talked about feeling lonely, anxious, nervous, or otherwise not well their first night in the MTC. I haven't felt any of that since before I was set apart as a missionary. Ever since last Sunday, I've felt overwhelmingly comfortable with my call to serve as a missionary. I know that God is with me, and that I am in the right spot. I know that this church is true and I cannot wait to share that message with the people of Nicaragua.

Here's a sweet story: one of the brothers, I'm pretty sure a counselor in the bishopric of the other branch on our floor, was mission president in Honduras. He was telling a story in the lobby on our floor. I guess there was a convert who wanted to be baptized, but needed to interview with the president because he had killed someone before. I guess this was a common occurrence for mission presidents in Honduras . The president asked how many people he had killed. He said he stopped counting. The president asked, was it about 50, 100? The convert said it was more than that. He said when he was 8 years old, he was living on the streets without a mother or father. Someone offered him a lot of money to be an assassin. He took the offer. He found he was good at sniping, and could kill without people knowing who he was, or where he was. This kept him alive. When he was 18, he was going to "work" and was stopped by an angel. He proceeded to perfectly describe the angel Moroni telling him to stop what he was doing. He threw his gun in the dumpster right there and has never touched a gun since. The president sent a request to the first presidency and they authorized his baptism. He was baptized at the age of 46 and became an incredible member of the church. I get shivers as I recount this episode. I know that the Lord's work will go forward no matter what, until the day the Savior comes again. 

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. 

I love you,

Elder Stephen Watts