I went to Bluefields!

 

Its good to hear from you all and it sounds like things went pretty well during the week. I had a really good week too it was just really busy. First of all, I got your second package! It was funny because they were both sent on the same date (Nov. 20), but one got here in the first part of December and the other now a month later. Thank you for all of the Christmas Candy, it was a little old but I lovingly ate it anyway :) I also got the Gunter´s Christmas Card. Tell them thank you for me and that I was very grateful for getting it. I hope they are doing well.

So this week we made our crazy trip out to Bluefields! It was really interesting and fun to be in a place so different. The motor boat ride was a little sketchy but it sure made the trip more interesting. I never want to ride another bus again... but that´s the way it is here after our 4 hour bus ride out to the river we went up. Bluefields is full of narrow streets/sidewalks with the majority of those who live there having really dark skin. They all speak Creol and it was fun for me to learn how to understand it. More than anything, the people there are more loving and caring than I have yet met on my mission and you can definitely feel the Southern Hospitality reflected in the culture there. The missionaries there are having a lot of success (my son is serving there), so it was fun to help them paint their house and do divisions with them.

We got back on Thursday and we had interviews with President Russell. It has been fun to see how much he has changed in these short 6 months that he´s been here. He is a really good mission president and we get along well. Elder Tadiello and I received a new companion named Elder Hernandez! He is with us so that we can help him be more obedient :) But really he´ll be a help for us to be able to work more with the missionaries in our zone. Because the zone here is so spread out, President also gave us permission to travel by ourselves when we have to go to the other districts. Tomorrow for the first time in over a year and a half when I go on divisions I will be alone... I´m not sure how that will be.

I took out some money to put a new sole on my shoes the other day and I also bought a new belt. That´s so sad that I´m telling you that, but those have been my major expenses in the last couple of days.

Here are some pictures of our trip, I think a couple of them are from the boat trip and others of what I ate while I was there. (When it started to rain while we were on the boat, they just threw a piece of plastic over us and as we flew up the river with the wind it made the trip really annoying). I did eat turtle though (I think that´s illegal at home), and had Gallo Pinto (the traditional Nicaraguan dish) but with Coconut. I liked it a lot. Also they make really good homemade bread in Bluefields so we bought some coconut bread and something called Pan Bon which is like a fruit cake type thing. I liked it too.

Well that´s about all I have for this week,

Love

Elder Bever