Turn Turn Turn

Dear mom and everybody,

Well that's just too bad that BYU had to go lose to Utah on a last second play, but I guess it was their turn to lose on the last second play. Oh well I don't get too much crap from the Ute fans down here;)

Well time for the big news. I just found out that I have to leave this area on Wednesday. I am getting transferred and right as it looked like we are getting ready to have some great stuff in December. The last change I never thought I would miss this area, but I guess that was just the fear talking. This change has been a lot better. We found a lot of good people that are progressing slowly but are progressing and there is a definate upside to not getting robbed this change:)

The saddest part is that I don't get to keep teaching Luis. It was awesome last Monday night. I guess I should start before that. Luis said that he was confused about whether he wanted to join the mormons or the Jehova's Witnesses (BYU-UtahX50^2). He said that Sunday the 28th he was going to checkout the JWs church and see what he thought. We didn't think that he was very interested in our church anymore. It was heartbreaking. But last Monday night, I was on divisions with an Elder Beus. We went out to contact a few houses before dinner. We contacted one house and another black teenager came out. We started talking with him. We said that we were from the LDS church and then he says "Oh my cousin is going to that church and I want to go with him one these weeks." Well that kind of response is always welcome to missionaries no matter who the coulsin is. We asked him who his cousin was and he told us "Carlos Luis Flores." I kindof lost my train of thought right then in amazement. We made arragements that we can return and maybe teach them together sometime, but the best thing that kid said was that his cousin (Luis) liked our church! Oh man it was a shot of hope.

The next day we had divisions again and I got to go with a Latino for the first time so far in the mission. We went and visited Luis and true to form Luis asked a lot of questions that I know how to answer in Enlish, but I just had to rely on the spirit and my comp to help me make sense in Spanish. We spent a while there teaching and answering questions. and then we left. When me and Elder Skinner went back friday he said that he couldn't do it that day but that he had read. We asked about going to church on Sunday and he said he still wanted to see what the Jehova's Witnesses had to offer. So now it's just more of the waiting game until we go with him tomorrow.

Well that's the big story from Honduras this week.

I love you all, and thanks Matz, Melanie and Davy for writing:)

Love,

Elder Neiswender

Holy War

Dear mom and everyone else,

first no I haven't met the dowings yet. but Ill keep an eye out.

So a lot of you are probably thinking that in the subject line I am referring to the BYU-UTAH game coming up in a few weeks. While I have a deep rooted passion for sports and the byu utah rivalry, I am using the Holy War to refer to a different rivalry.

I have always loved rivalries. The feel. the passion. the tension. The exhilaration of your team winning and the crushing blow of your team losing. One thing that I always try to do is not let a loss in a rivalry effect me to much. Because let's face it if BYU loses it's not really the end of the world.

The rivalry I'm talking about has been around since before the world. The rivalry between our enemy, Satan and our biggest ally, Jesus Christ. I have never seen the thin line of choice as clear as I did the other night with one of our investigators. He knows that the gospel is true and the the book of mormon is true. He knows it and he has told us. He just is very scared to go to church because he is afraid that he will see a girl that he dated a few years ago. He is sixteen and this huge black kid. he is taller than me. I have only met with him a few times but I feel like I love him like my brother.

I've seen the forces of Christ mounting behind him from the missionaries. But at the same time he has the forces of Satan mounting against him to bring him down. I felt like there were two huge armies facing one another ready to fight with everything and he was right In the middle of it. I could see that seen clear as day. I knew that he had a choice to make. I felt that if he went to church this week he would be alright and love the church and make the right choice of eternal life. but if he didn't go to church he would stray and be destroyed by the opposing side. I could see it.

Needless to say that by halfway through sacrament meeting and not having seen him come in I was very disappointed and resigned to take a loss. I felt like one of my best friends just chose the the wrong side. Then all of the sudden Luis walked through the door. I could feel the spirit so strong and I knew that he could feel it too. It was amazing. The closing hymn was the Spirit of God and I got to play the piano for it. The feeling there was amazing. I can't describe it but I know that in this case, in this game, in this battle, Jesus Christ just won.

The only thing I can ask in this email, and I ask it to the person who is reading it, is never be the reason someone is scared to go to church. If you think you have hurt someone, apologize. If you have been wronged by someone, forgive them and move on. I am sorry to anyone that I have wronged and I ask for your forgiveness. If you are reading this, know that I love you and never want to hurt you.

Sincerely,

Elder Neiswender

Piano Lessons

Dear Mom and everybody,

Oh man I love those Searle boys. My comps probably know more about how awesome Austin Searle is than they know about any of my other friends. Those boys always know how to make you laugh and smile no matter how you are feeling.

First off for Christmas. If you could send me the red book of hymn arrangements that I have. I can't remember who they are by, but I think his first name is David. Speaking of David. If you wouldn't mind sending the David Lanz book down that Vicki gave me a few years ago. And then the Jon Schmidt book that has the song All of Me in it. I learned that song right before I left, but I can only remember the first half of it to the great disappointment of many people down here. I haven't gotten the Halloween package yet because we are all going to the office this week for our interviews with president. I go on Thursday so I will be able to get the package then. I guess I can always find uses for new socks:) The ones I have now are holding up fine, but they have only been through two months of Honduras so far lol:) A sweater would be nice. It's been getting kindof cold the past week at nights and a sweater would be great:) Oh and could you let me know how much money I have in my account? That's all I can think of for Christmas right now:)

First, speaking of the piano music and everything. It was awesome. So I was getting frustrated with my comp because he kept making me feel like I should know everything in Spanish that instant and that if I didn't get it right away it was because I didn't have faith. And I shouldn't get frustrated because the language is easy. Oh man I was frustrated. But then he wanted me to teach him how to play the piano...Oh that made me happy. I realized I had two choices when I said yes. I could play the couple of yanni songs that I know and so that learning the piano was easy and blah blah blah, or I could try to be the bigger man and smile and help him along with love. Oh decisions. I finally decided to smile and help him along with love. And when he got frustrated with learning the piano I would tell him to take a five minute break and get a drink. He took the advice and then he started being a lot more patcient with my Spanish. It feels so much better than just getting revenge:)

The next story is about this guy who is about dad's age and his family. The family is him his wife and his two daughters. They have been teaching this family since before I got here. but in the time with my last comp we baptised the Dad (Calixto) and his two daughters, but his wife just doesn't want to break tradition. It was so cute yesterday. We were just talking with him when his wife wasn't there and we asked if we could pray before we leave. He said of course then we asked if there was anything specific we should mention in our prayer. He asked that would could ask a blessing that his wife could go to church. It was the biggest act of love I have seen here. The family here isn't very important so it was great to see a guy who really wanted to be with his family forever through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's all for this week.

Love,

Elder Neiswender