Well it´s been a very busy week. Very busy. Cambios suck. On Monday I had to get all the food and crap for the new missionary training which includes breakfast, dinner, lunch, snacks, drinks. I had to do my financial presentation for the training during lunch and I had to do all of it while coordinating divisions with other missionaries because my companion was out with chicken pox and was unable to contribute. So that was fun. Then on Tuesday was actual changes which was horrible for many of the same reasons. My comp has been in the house since Saturday and we had to bring in a "mini-missionary" (a member preparing to serve a mission that acts as a missionary for about a week at a time when you need them). So yesterday I had to give a crap load of reimbursements, coordinate lunch for the new missionaries and their trainers, and lunch for the departing missionaries. I also had to figure out how to set up the translators for the new gringo missionaries and some wireless microphones, but my stage crew experience really helped with that. On Monday night we were in the office until 2:30 in the morning doing things preparatory for changes like getting everything ready for the new houses that would be needed for new areas, updating phone lists and president´s board etc. So changes finished on Tuesday and it was actually really rewarding to look back at changes and realize just how much we had done to help out and make them a success. And then we went out and worked. Oh and I had changes too. But it wasn't a big deal because I just moved from San Judas II to San Judas III which is next door to my old area. It´s just way smaller and scarier than my old area. But it´s had a lot of success in the past so I´m excited. Elder Jungers got a new companion, Elder Petty, for him to train as the new General Secretary. I got put with Elder Aitken, who is the materials secretary. He only has one change more than me. He got put in the office last change so I already know him fairly well. He´s from St George. Elder Petty, Aitken, and Jungers were all together in San Rafael a few changes ago so it´ll be a pretty crazy house with all of their shenanagans haha. It´ll be fun :)
Maria Del Carmen got baptized on Friday. The baptism was at a time where there weren't really any members home to be able to baptize her so I got to do it. I was worried that I would kill her if I shoved her too hard under the water but she was fine. We couldn't find a key for the chapel either because the guy we use was in the hospital so we were searching around for a key and before we picked up Maria and we showed up to the chapel like half an hour early to see if anyone was by chance already inside but no one was inside and it was locked. But Maria was outside. She showed up to her baptism an hour early and just patiently waited outside in the shade. Right after the baptism we went to the hospital for Elder Jungers who we already thought had chicken pox and we went to the same doctor I've been going to for my Bronchitis. She confirmed that it was chicken pox. So he had to wait in the house from that point on. She also listened to my lungs while we were there and said they sounded good. I only cough now if I forget to take my medicine (which doesn't happen often).
On Sunday since my comp was out of the picture and couldn't go to church I went out in the morning with Elder Hironaka (an AP) to bring people to church. Maria Del Carmen was ready an hour early for her confirmation and we sent her off, Rosa was ready and we got her off without a problem. We went to Fabricio and his sister and the two kids who I had committed the night before with Elder Hughes and Fabricio and his sister had left and only one of the kids was home. So we decided we´d take what we could get and we got the kid, Justin, to go and took him to the house of the other kid to get him to go but the other one didn't want to go even though us, his friend, and his mom were encouraging him very strongly to go. Then we went to Maria who went last week with a member and she was already in a dress so we had high hopes but she refused to go because her super catholic mom was back in town and got mad at her for listening to us. She kind of just dropped us right there. It ended up being kind of a tough Sunday and week because the preparation stuff for changes and the baptism greatly limited the time we had to work in the area. But we interviewed Rosa on Sunday and we´re planning on baptizing her on Saturday. But now it will be Elder Jungers and Petty that baptize her. It doesn't matter who gets credit though, as long as she gets baptized.
For Pday today after we studied we slept and slept after only two hours of sleep the night before. Then we went to Masaya to the huge market there and I bought some cool Barcelona Jersey´s and he bought a new backpack. Then we went to Mirador Catarina where we looked out over the laguna de apoyo, the lake with the bluest water in Nicaragua (which is'´t really saying anything because most lakes here have pretty brown and nasty water). It was really cool but everything there was super expensive because it´s a pretty touristy place. Out on the other side of the lagoon we could see Granada and past it lake Nicaragua. I´ve still never been to Granada but I´d like to sometime. I´m sure I´ll get the chance sometime in my mission.
I don´t really know much about the investigators in my new area yet. I know that it´s not been too successful this last month but we´re going to work really hard to turn that around. I´m excited to be with Elder Aitken because he´s a hard worker and both of us are still fairly young on the mission and enthusiastic and wanting to work hard. It´s different because up until now I've been with much older, more experienced missionaries so I´m excited for the change.
Mom, I can definitely relate to your frustrations and stress with getting crap together for the wedding haha. Good job running dad, it sounds like you´re going to do great in the marathon that´s coming up. Which marathon is it? Utah Valley?
Good luck with the final wedding preparation this week. Hopefully you get my letters that I sent this week.
Love you!!
Elder Smith
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