Well, I have to say it was awesome and
brought joy to me to see my sweet family yesterday!!! I really have the best
family ever. I'm very grateful to Our Father to have a
great family and to know that we can live forever as a family. Its crazy to
think that in 12 days I will only have one year left in the greatest mission in
the world!!!
It is changes this week, but I feel like I'm
going to be here forever. So, I don’t
think any of my companions or myself will have changes. Our zone is awesome
right now we have 29 baptisms this month, but looks like we can have maybe 30
more baptisms by the end of this month.
Everyone looked awesome and Chloe my
companion from El Salvador thinks your really cute haha!!! And Halle you’re so
sweet and cute as well. Tyler your getting ripped dude, haha, freak dude! (Oh
yea Eric said everyone one says dude and that he is trying not to say it!)
I want to say I miss you all very much. I
would like to challenge you guys to have a family home evening with a family
who are not members or who are a less active family. Invite the missionaries
maybe haha;)
I LOVE YOU GUYS BE SAFE!!!!!!
We had a great Mother's Day
call with Eric yesterday. He was super happy and seemed very content. He says
that now that he is a ZL he can print out our emails and that he does read all
of them each week. His email time writing letters back however, is even more
limited. He said that his P-days are very short. They don't start until after
they finish their morning schedule which is 11am and when they finally head over to the
computer cafés all the other missionaries
write their letters before the ZLs write theirs. Then they write a letter to the mission president and then have only a small amount time to write
other letters. He expressed that he appreciates all the letters and that he
loves getting them, but he just can't write everyone back. So thank you for
your support. I know he appreciates it.
He talked about that his
current area, Las Palmas being a suburb of the city of Managua. He
says it’s like second world country. His last area was more in the jungle and
was like a third world country. He said when he was in his last area Belle Amancer
that they usually didn't have water after 7:00. They had a large container they
would fill up and then would use a bucket to shower. When all else failed they would go
to another companionship house to shower. He said his current house is part
of a restaurant. He lives with three other missionaries, which include the other Zone Leader
and his companion and then Eric and his companion. They have their own bathroom
and there is a wall that separates them and the restaurant.
Elder Hironaka seemed very happy,
confident and comfortable. We got to meet the other three missionaries. The
funny thing was that Eric is the shortest of the four. Nicaraguans are shorter than the average American and Eric is considered very tall there. He says since he is the shortest he has
to sleep on the top bunk. We asked him about the different things he was eating and he
said he was offered an unusual dish that was basically cooked animal
blood. He did not eat it as he said it's the only thing that the
missionaries are not allowed to eat. So we are happy he dodged that one. Thankfully
he is never been sick even though he eats a lot of crazy things.
He said that the mission’s
year goal for baptisms is 1000 and they are almost halfway there. They
challenge people to baptism right when they meet them. Then of course they have
to teach them the lessons have past an interview and attend church at least a few
times. A lot more people commit than who actually follow through but he has had a lot
of success. He said it's cool because he has seen people who have had Word
of Wisdom problems and other life problems be able to totally turn themselves
around and get baptized and have their lives blessed. This includes finding a
job and providing for their families. Listening to him you could tell that
his faith has increased.
He feels that the time is
moving quickly and he can't believe he will soon be at his year mark. We loved
talking to him and it was the best Mother's Day ever.
Thank you for all of your
love, prayers and support, Susan
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