The Ensign Never Gets Old

Dear Mom and Everyone else,

I will try taping a picture of Jesus on the bag and see if that works:)

I guess I have done bad at telling you about my wonderful comp Elder Rodriguez from El Salvador. This kid is a stud. He is a convert of about four years and is anxious to share his newfound gospel with the people here in Honduras. He is kind of weird, but then I realized I'm kind of weird too so we get along great:) I love talking with him because he talks to me! He is always testifiing to the people that he knows that this stuff is true. I love working with him. And Dad just to answer your question...He is 5 bajilion time better than Marcia. My only regret is that this is an area where the people have trained for 20 years to not like the mormons. Many times we go contact a house and right off the bat they tell us that they don't like the mormon church. But they never give us a reason, just that they don't like it. Oh if only they knew the blessings that came from the Church of Jesus Christ.

There is a scene from the movie Night at the Museum that I have been comparing to the work here that makes me chuckle. It's when the little cowboys and the little romans are letting the air out of the tire of bad guy's van and it shows them giving every thing they have and from their level it seems so dramatic and then it zooms out and the van still looks the same and you really can't tell that anything is going on. I would recommend that you watch it. It makes me laugh every time:) Anyway that's how I have felt the past little while, but finally we are starting to see some results which makes me way happy. And I found out that Elder Beus and his other comp are baptizing a lot of the people that I left behind and all the wedding that I didn't get to see are all happening so that has made me extremely happy.

As for my earlier emails about feeling a little bit distanced from the Lords. Or not being able to feel the Spirit like I wanted......

This week I went on divisions to another area. While I was there the Elder that I was with was taking a shower and I was thinking what I should do till he got out. That's when the Ensign sitting on the table caught my attention. Imediately I felt drawn to it. It was from 2007. The opening article was by President Faust, it talked about never giving any space to that wiley fow Satan. He trys everything he can, but we just have to be strong. The next article was by Elder Scott. I can't remember much of what he talked about, but there was a line there where he gives thanks to a God who lets us struggle and gain knowledge piece by piece. That line hit me. I felt like these past six weeks I had been getting little pieces of the comfort that I was longing for, but it never lasted and it was driving me crazy. After reading the article I remember how much I love the Ensign. I really learned to love it in my time with Elder Marcia. Because that's when I had a LOT of time to read it lol. I remembered then that the time I felt closest to the Lord was when I had a steady diet of The Book of Mormon and the Ensign.

Saturday night I searched through the huge stack of Liahonas and Ensigns and pulled out all the English ones (it's just not quite the same in Spanish). I found a copy of the ensign from 1988!!!!! That thing is older than Madison!!! I decided to read it and the opening article was from a member of the First Presidencey that is still familiar to me. President Monson. It talked about the pioneers and the sacrifices that they made and how they were drivin and driven from place to place until they found a place which the Lord had prepared for them. After reading a few more articles that were written before I was even born it was about 10:15 and time to get ready for bed. But I have never felt the prompting so strongly to pray before in my life. I couldn't resist it. So I bowed before my God and even before I had said anything the familiar feeling that I have missed so much came rushing back to me with such force that couldn't help but crying. I didn't even have to say anything. He knew what I wanted and what I needed and in that night I recieved what I have been searching for in these past 6 weeks.

1988 was a long time ago. But really the Ensigns is modern day scripture. Read it and I promise you that it will never get old.

Sincerely,

A much happier Elder Neiswender

Update

Dear mom and everyone else,

There aren't really any cool stories from this past week. Just one. And I guess it is pretty cool:) We have been teaching a guy named Miguel since before I got here. He is a way cool guy. He is 21 really loves the church. He says that from the first time he went he really loved it. He has wanted to get baptized for the past few weeks but his mom has been giving him some trouble. We've been going with him everyday trying to help him make the choice. Finally on Thursday he agreed to be baptized on Saturday! Which meant last minute phone calls to the distict leader to have him come out and do a quick interview Friday and then Saturday the baptism!! And is all worked out great! He was way way excited to get baptized. And now he wants to serve a mission:)

Other great news for the Branch of Coyoles is that they are going to start building a chaple tomorrow! By the way meeting in a chaple is a whole lot better than meeting in a rented house.

Oh and I found out for myself why mud brick ovens are so effective. Some memebers live in a house made of mud and we went there one day. We walked in and I felt like I was going to day. I have been in some hot houses here but nothing like that. I literally felt like a slab of meeting being over cooked again and again in there. It felt great getting out and into the normal 100 degree heat. lol.

This week and of course during the whole mission I have realized something. The moment I stop reading the Book of Mormon or praying sincerely for a day, I feel less and less like and effective missionary. But every time I open that book and read it I am filled with peace and comfort and love for my Savior. There is nothing else that has been able to do that for me. There are times now that get home and run to the Book of Mormon because I just can't wait to feel that comfort again. Try it out people it really works.

I just realized that conference is in a month and I am way stoked!!! I love conference time:) Time to get some questions ready.

I love you all and yes dad I forgive you this week for not letting me know how BYU and Utah did but next week I won't be so forgiving:)

Love,

Elder Neiswender

Switch It Up

Dear mom and everyone else,

First things first. I feel very ashamed by my family. They go camping, have a fire, and hotdogs...And what do they do???? They grill the hot dogs instead of roasting them over a fire!!! lol. I love you family. Sounds like you had a fantastic week filled with lots of fun activities. The week here was pretty bland. I pretty much already knew that I am going to leave Santiago on Wednesday because I have been here six months. But now it is official. Next email I send will be from a spot of Honduras where I have never been.

I have a fear and I{m pretty sure that it is a fear held by any missionary that ever cared for anybody in an area that he has been in, that after I leave, the people that I have come to love will fall away. It is a pretty big problem here in Honduras. The missionaries make great friends have lots of baptisms, but when the missionary leaves, their converts slowly fade away into inactivity. So since I have been blessed to have a pretty good idea that I was leaving beforehand (unlike the last two times I got transferred as complete surprises) I have been busting my brains out trying to think of a way to keep this from happening to the people that I have come to love. After much soul searching, studying, and praying, pondering and a lot more ...ings, I finally came up with the answer which was monumentaly...simple. It{s what we learn in missionary training 101. Day one in boot camp. The very key of our religion. We had convince these people of the importance of the Book of Mormon. Easier said than done in a group of people where to them the BOOk of Mormon is a mere side note to the Bible and other books. Heck these people would read any other LDS book they could get their hands on except the Book of Mormon. But after 6 solid weeks of shoving (I mean inviting) The Book of Mormon into their lives...I think it might have worked. At least with one person. Every week we hold a class for the new preisthood holders in the branch aka all the priesthood holders in the branch and allow them to ask questions and then help them understand things. This last week Elder Beus and I had a wizbang Book of Mormon class ready using the whole arch and the keystone example, and were even going to have one of the members try to prove our religion right without the Book of Mormon. So we get to the class on Wednesday and we got a grand total of 3 priesthood members. But we did it anyway.

Oddly enough the brother who volunteered to try to prove the church right was Natalio Paz. A convert of 11 months but had just been married and baptized that week. Complete stud. Anyway he gets up and is talking to me about how this is the true church because of charity, love, and he even used the church organization and everything except what we were looking for. Poor guy, I thought he was going to cry. Finally he mentioned in passing the Key. So giving him a break I let him end there. After that we explained the importance of the Book of Mormon to these 3 men. We invited them to put the Bible down for a time and read the Book of Mormon instead. Leaving the meeting we did not think that it had worked. Then two days later, Chino, great guy, comes up to us and starts asking us questions that he had during his first two days of reading the Book of Mormon. He said that he has put the Bible down for a time (short time becuase the Bible is still important) and is reading the Book of Mormon. Hopefully he will keep reading, but I won{t be there to find out.

I love you family, and give you once again that there is a God, and He is a Loving God, and that there is a book that can change your life called the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Read it. If you already have...read it again....and again....and again.

Until my next area,

Elder Neiswender

Hillbilies in Honduras

Dear Mom and everyone else,

It´s great to hear that you and Kristi had a great time in Peru. I´ve always wnated to see Macchu Picchu. My whole life!!!! Ok so there aren´t even 20 in my long life yet, but almost!!! It still hasn´t sunk in yet that I will be 20 years old in my next email. Wow. But at least for a couple of years I have wanted to see Machu Pichu and those crazy places. I just have one question. We have a firepit now? When did that show up? Oh and before I forget, yes I did take some money out of my account last month.
Not much has really happened this week. I just love seeing the difference in the area with a hard working comp. The thing about Central American missions (or at least Honduran) missions is that you don´t have to work super hard to get baptisms. There are elders here who don´t do jack squat and haul in baptisms, trust me, I lived with one for three months. A lot of elders just get content and lay off the rules. But from what I have learned from the General Authorities that speak to the missionaries and all the friends that are on missions, that´s not the way it´s supposed to be. So I always had the vision of how awesome it would be with two elders that just work their tales off without looking down the nose at the ones that don´t quite seem to get (very annoying, but there are those missionaries). I{m finally getting to see it. Elder Beus has a way of inspiring me to work even harder without saying a word. It is awesome, and while numbers don´t really matter, it is fun to see how much the area has changed and exploded since Elder Beus got here.
First off I just have to tell you about something that I didn{t really think I would see in Honduras, and even more what I never thought I would see in church. We found this man named Pacundo (I still have trouble saying it). He is an very old man whose house is surrounded by trees even though he still lives in the middle of the town. It´s weird, when we go there I feel like I am at the cabin of some old mountain hermit or hillbilly. All he does all day is lay in his hammock, his thumb is cut off halfway down, the ground is covered in beer bottles (the strong stuff too), he lives with another grumpy old man, and when we went to pick him up for church he told us, "Just let me drink my coffee first, it{s almost ready." as he put out his cigarette. Never in my life would I expect to see this man in church. Oh how the Lord loves to prove men wrong. Halfway through sacrament guess who walks into the little house where we have church...PACUNDO!!!! And oh man did he love it. He kept asking when we were going back to visit him. All the members commented on having him in church to us. Actually yesterday a lot of people that the members have been working with for years finally came to chruch. It was really quite fun to have all the members come up and tell us thank you. Thing is, we can{t take any credit because all we did was pass by and invite them. The Lord has His time. We just have to be ready so that he might reward us with a sliver of credit in the last days.
I love you all and hope everything is going great back there for you all!
Love,
Elder Neiswender

Respect

Dear Mom and Everyone else,

Thank you all for all your love and support over the past few weeks. I relize it might be rude to say, but I have been taught not to lie, I am excited for Wednesday. Elder Marcia gets his wish of going home and I get a new comp who hopefully shows respect for people. I don´t know where me and him went wrong, but just know that I don´t care who my next comp is, he is going to be my favorite right from the get-go. A lot of elders in the zone see how Elder Marcia treats people like dirt and ask how I went 3 months without hitting him. I can honestly say that I prayed in the morning, mid-day, night, and a few times inbetween for patience and love, and I think it worked.

I found the thing that really got under my skin about this guy, and it is something that has angered me only once, and it is something that I learned from having 4 older sisters, a great sister in law and a fantastic mom. Marcia has absolutely NO respect for women. My wonderful sisters, sister in law and mom, have always taught to to respect woman. It is something that I have tried for a while to practice. Now, as can testify my boy Brad Johnson, there are few things that make me more angry than when a man (if he deserves that title) mistreats a woman. There is no reason for it. There is no gain from it. There is only sadness from it. This part of the email is to the guys that will recieve this. GIVE PROPER REPESCT TO WOMEN!

This part is for the women that will recieve this email. To my Madison, Melanie, Kristi, Vicki, Danielle, Mom, Kaitlin, Grandma N. and Grandma O. and any aunts cousins or any other reading. One of the few things that make me more angry than a man who mistreats a woman is when that self same woman accepts the abuse in anyform and laughs. There are times for laughter and there are funny jokes. Be wise in knowing where the line between joking and reality lies. DEMAND RESPECT! There is no reason to accept insults from low down men (and I use that title loosely). Have the courage to tell them how you feel and how they should treat you. I have seen first-hand young women down here broken down, nearly to tears, by cold unfeeling men. Yes even one man who carried the title Elder. Don´t let this happen. Don´t degrade yourselves. You are far to precious to our Heavenly Father to think of yourselves as below us men.

I´m sorry if this email sounds like a chastisement, but it is what I feel. It´s shouldn´t taken hard because the people I know that are reading it already follow this advice. This is only a warning for the future. Please give respect where respect is due, and if it is not due, help that person to earn it. I can´t remember who origionally gave this quote but I heard it in sunday school a long time ago. It refers directly to high school, but involves life as a whole. "Popularity ends on yearbook day. Respect lasts forever."

I love you all, and hope for the very best in all your endeavors.

Love,

Elder Neiswender

Work Work Work

Dear Mom and everyone else,

Well there´s not a lot to say this week since I just talked to you guys yesterday. Oh and thanks Tim for coming over and talking for a few minutes! I don´t think that my family minded too much (?).

I read Elder Simper´s letter about the sacrament and I have to agree 100 % with it. Last week, due to poor plan, and quick decision making, by someone who is bad at making snap decisions, I followed my comp from one church building to the next, and we ended up missing the sacrament. No, I was not happy. This week when I took the sacrament, I remembered that it had been two weeks since I had taken it. It felt so good. It was as if I could feel it working right there, like the way that Elder Simper described it. It was amazing.

I also had the opportunity to bless the sacrament yesterday which was fun because the guy that I was partnered with to bless with has only been a member for about a year. He asked if I had ever blessed the sacrament before. I said yes but that didn´t stop him from explaining how it sould be done. It was cool to see how dedicated he was to seeing it done right. It´s been really cool seeing the progress that this little branch has been making. A lot more members have had the chance to confirm converts and even give the priesthood, so they are learning for themselves and gaining confidence and most important, faith and testimonies. The branch works hard with us because really, there is nothing else to do in this little place. But hey, I don´t care about the reasons, I just like working with cool members.

I hope that all focus on going out of your comfort zone and grow and grow and grow. because that´s how it works. My old companion Elder Ellett is a muscular man, and I know that he didn´t get those muscles by sitting there watching tv all day. he had to work. It might be hard, but it always pays off in the end!

Hopeyou all have great weeks!

Love,

Elder Neiswender

A Little Old Man on the Mountain

Dear Mom and everyone else,

I forgot to tell you guys last week, but here is a cool story. So two and a half weeks ago, we get a reference for an old man who lives up on the mountain. Not THE old man on the mountain because there are about fifty old guys that live on this same mountain. Anyway, for us as missionaries, it takes about twenty minutes to half an hour to walk to his house, for normal people, at least an hour. Yes, missionaries walk faster than most people. Anyway, we teach this guy once, and he falls in love with the part about how Jesus Christ organized his church, and kept telling us "Nobody ever explained this to me before." Then we told him how we have the same organization and he about fell off his chair. He walked the hour to church and loved it, but left before we got a chance to talk to him about baptism. We passed him a few days later when we were walking around the mountain. We asked him if he had prayed about baptism and he just tells us simply, "Yes, I have already made the pact with God, so I am going to get baptized." Then on the next Sunday (last Sunday) he comes up and just asks me out of the blue when the next baptismal service was, so I told him this (two days ago) Saturday. "OK" he said "I am going to get baptized that day." And that little old man from the mountain did it. He got baptized this Saturday and the whole time had a huge smile on his face. But there was a little bit of an awkward story from the baptism itself.

I got to organize the agenda of the service, so I decided to call on a non member friend of the guy getting baptized, to give the opening prayer. Just a quick preview to religion in Honduras, there are a TON of different churches, and some of them do or say things in prayers or in testimonies that are supposed to be saved for sacred ordinences. Some of them shout Halleluja all the time or end every prayer in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost. Well this little old guy (like I said, lots of old guys) and he gives a 3 minute introduction to his prayer, also not uncommon here. We finally start praying and I don´t know why but I opened my eyes during the prayer and saw that little old guy praying his heart out with his are put to the square!!!!!! I just about lost it laughing. I know it´s a sacred thing that you´re not supposed to make fun of but that little man just doesn´t know that he´s not supposed to do that! We´ll have to teach him about that one real quick:)

Other than that things have been going alright. We had our regular interviews with President on Firday. His advice to me...Just let Elder Marcia end his mission thinking that he ended good. I love that man, he understands what´s going on and understands the truth when he hears it.

Oh, mom and Kristi...Just remember that when you are in Lima, Peru, I´m here in Lima, Honduras!!! And I can´t wait to talk to you all on Sunday, I should be able to call Sunday in the afternoon around 3.

I love you all and thank you all for everything!

Love,

Elder Neiswender