Merry Christmas!!

Dear Mom and everyone else,

Well it's Christmas time in Honduras. I think back to the festivites
and the fun that I've had in Christmases past. We have had some pretty
crazy Christmases. Honestly my favorite memories about Christmas time
is delivering the presents to the neighbors houses, doing sub for
santa with the priests, and going and shoveling snow for random people
in the ward with Ryan on random Sunday nights when it snows.
Remembering these times of service make me glad that I am here serving
my fellow man. A lot of elders get homesick during this time of being
away from the family. To be completely honest, as much as I miss being
with the family for Christmas I wouldn't rather be anywhere than right
here teaching the gospel to those who need it. Going around and
knockin on peoples door all day everyday I would think that we would
more people that are already members of the church. I know in Utah it
seems like everyother house is members. But here we can contact all
day and not find a member of the church. It really makes me realize
how much work there is to do and how little time to do it. What really
helps the work move along is help from the members. I would encourage
all of you to help the work of the Lord move as fast as possible and
help the people that need the word.
Thanks mom for the music. I had a really cool experience with the
piano the other day. Wednesday a whole bunch of the zones got to meet
with president and listen to him. After we listened to him there was a
talent show. Each zone had some talent prepared. Our talent was that
one of the sisters in the zone who played the guitar and sang the
first noel. After the talent show the AP got up and said that we would
all move back into the chapel and listen to Elder Neiswender play the
piano! Surprise to Elder Neiswender:) I guess our zone leaders told
the aps that I would play the piano but they forgot to tell the person
playing the piano. Luckily I have kept Marching Season polished over
these months. So I decided to play Marching Season. More background
about the people in the mission. The Latins and the North Americans
don't get along in big groups. There are a few that intermingle, but
for the most part if people aren't in integrated companionships they
hardly talk to members of the other race. It's something that needs to
be worked on I know. It was really cool, I got up there and played
Marching Season and I messed up and of course I was devestated, but
luckily nobody has ever heard that song so they all thought it was
part of the song:) But afterwards everybody kept coming up to me and
telling me good job and one Latin that I personally had problems
getting along with came up and told me that he had "never heard
anybody play the piano like that before." It made me realize that the
Lord works through strange means to bring to pass even small things
like if to Elders in a zone get along. It was really fun to play and
then have a really cool experience like that after. It shows that the
Lord really does care about little things.
I'm going to be able to skype! I talked to President and he said it
was ok. We are going to be able to do it at 10:00 am here so it will
be 9:00 am there in Utah:) I look foreward to seeing everybody again
and Merry Christmas:)
love,
Elder Neiswender

Las Flores

Dear Mom and everyone else,

Things here in Las Flores are great! The zone I am in is called
villaneueva so Dad you can look it up on google maps. My comp got sick
on tuesday so we didn't get anything done that day.

Honestly we are looking at this week as one of those trial weeks that
people talk about. It started out looking good. We are on an awesome
streak of door contacting. We haven't got a whole lot of numbers on
the door contacting because people keep answering and giving us return
appointments:) We are on an 11 door streak. 11 Straight people that we
have contacted has invited us back to here more as a family and one
family let us come in and teach them the first lesson on that first
visit so we were pumped. All of Friday Saturday and Sunday were packed
with return appointments from the people we contacted. We were both
looking foreward to it a lot.

But I was reminded of a talk by President (might have been just Elder)
Eyering in conference a few years back when he told a story from his
childhood. he said he was having a rough time and he went to his dad
to talk about it and his dad told him "remember, this too shall pass".
A little while later he said that things were going really great and
he went and told his dad about how great things were going and his dad
told him, "remember, this too shall pass." Oh man did that ever happen
to us this past week. We were having all this success and the
all...and yes I mean ALL but one appointment fell on those three days.
Nobody was in their house when they said they would be. It was very
hard. 15 appointments in three days that fell. But oh well "this too
shall pass."

Me and my comp get along real well. It started off a little rough, but
now we are great friends. We just keep working hard and supporting
each other through the hard times and celebrating through the great
times. The only thing with him is that whenever I try to do something
to improve myself he starts acting like I'm just trying to be better
than every one else. I never realized that the hardest place to try
and be obedient is on your mission. But we get a lot of good lessons
in when the people are there. And that's all that really matters:)

As for the story that Kristi is supposed to tell me. I hope I find out
soon because I am very confused by that first paragraph:)

Well that's all that I have for this week. I'll work on getting
pictures for you from this new area. It is way pretty:)
Love,

Elder Neiswender

Transfer

Dear Mom and Everyone else,
Well I got tranferred this past week to a new area. This area is
called Las Flores, the flowers. It is a lot prettier than my other
area since this one is out of the city. I get a chance to get away
from all the pollution and everything. but I haven't been able to see
it all clear and sunny because it has rained everyday since I have
been here. There is so much mud. But it is fun:) The house that I get
to live in now is about as big as the piano with a all down the middle
of it. It is tiny, but the upside is that it has A/C instead of just a
couple of portable fans. The work is great here. I have been here for
a week and we already hope to get three baptisms this next weekend. I
really hope it goes through. It's always a good way to start off an
area with a baptism:)
Now for the bad news. The day before I left my last area I went to
different places to say goodbye to everybody. I wanted to go say
goodbye to Luis and encourage him to keep reading and praying. So we
went to his house, and called his name three times and he didn't come.
Finally on the fourth time he came out, but he didn't even open the
gate to talk to us so we got to talk to him through the gate. He told
us that he had read the Book of Mormon and that from a history point
of veiw it from what he read it seemed true (He got through 1 Nephi
2). But he didn't believe that it was the word of God. His mom also
told him that he could choose for himself but that if he chose the
Mormons then the house would be divided. Oh man I wanted to talk to
that mother, but she wasn't there. He said that he was going to join
the other church. It just about broke my heart, and I think he saw it
because he kept asking if we were still friends. We said yes but that
I was leaving the next day and he looked sad. Luckily he asked if he
could keep his BOM. hopefully he keeps reading and one day he won't
care what his family says and he will join the church...Hopefully.

The goodnews is that we got to see the Christmas devotional last
night. And yes I saw Dad on TV!! It was good to see you again Dad!
Even though when they showed you was when you were looking down at you
music like you lost your place:) Oh well it was just great to see you.

No I haven't gotten the package with music yet. I'm sure that right
now it's at the mission office. Now I just have to wait for them to
bring it to my area. I don't know if you already sent the Christmas
package, but if you haven't I keep forgeting that I don't have
pictures of my family or my friends. That would be something that I
would really like if you get a chance.

Well that's all for this week,
Love forever,
Elder Neiswender

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

First Baptism Story

Dear Mom and everybody,

That's awesome about Kristi!!! Not going to lie it really stunk having to wait till today to find out about her. But I am relieved to hear that she is doing fine. Make sure she knows I was praying for her.

Haha I'm glad the kids had fun with the pinata. I actually got to see them made here in honduras. It was fun to see. My first comp went home on wednesday. thats when we had changes. And I got my comp and he is from...California!!!!! Yes, they sent me another North American so I still havent had the whole learn Spanish or die, but the Spanish is coming along alright. I can carry on conversations pretty good now. It was annoying at first. I feel like he thinks I should know it all right away, and if I ask him for help then he tells me like I'm stupid. I'm going to talk to him about that one lol, But he is fun to talk to. Oh and he told me that we CAN use Skype for when we call home on Christmas so I am going to look into that more:)

So I don't think I told you the whole story about my first baptism here. I got to baptize the three youth that we taught. Thing about them...They lived in the house that we were trying to contact my second here when I got robbed. When finally decided to go back two weeks later they let us in and said that they were waiting for missionaries to baptize them and they had been to church a whole bunch of times!! It was good to see some success from perseverance :)

Well That's all for this week,

Talk to you all next week:)

Love,

Elder Neiswender