Ethan's Mission to Nicaragua

  Sent: Monday, February 25, 2013 2:39 PM To: Jim And Sandy Bever Subject: Hello! Beunas Tardes! I had a really good week this week and am planning on having another one this week as well. We (Elder Paz) and I baptized two youth two days ago (here's their pictures), they're both really cool. The little boy (Isreal is his name) was so excited for his baptism (even if it doesn't look like it in the picture) that he was all ready to leave for the church 3 hours early. The girl (named Rosa) was pretty upset this week because she wanted Elder Paz to baptize her, but we can't so we weren't sure if she was going to show up or not, but she did and was baptized by her uncle. (Oh I'm not sure ifl told you, but the missionaries in our mission can't baptize. Its a rule by Pres. Monestel to help the members have better relationships with the converts, he has a point) Anyway, we had a nice (slightly crazy) baptismal service Saturday because we baptized 7 as a dist...

  Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 9:31 AM To: Jim And Sandy Bever Subject: Happy Pday! Hi! So Sundays are definently the longest day of the week. Our church starts at 2 and we go on divisions with priesthood holders all of the morning to get people to church ( which we did as we had 3 families , 4 priesthood holders, and 8 investigators in total in church yesterday). I ended up teaching the gospel doctrine class and the Elder' s quorum too so I pulled those out of nowhere and went with it. I think they actually turned out pretty well because no one fell asleep and I think they even laughed a couple of times (not sure if they were laughing at me or at my jokes). So Pday really is a holiday every week for 1lllss10nanes. I've been meaning to tell you for the last couple of weeks about the family photo that I carry around with me to show people about you all. Its gotten some pretty funny comments. Its the photo of us at Grandma Hansen's wedding and the one we took in the ...

  Sent: Monday, February 11, 2013 1:16 PM To: Jim And Sandy Bever Subject: Hi from Granada, Nicaragua! Hello! So I had transfers Wednesday and I am now in a town called Granada. Its really different to be here. My area is on the outskirts of a tourist town that is on lake Nicaragua (I think its called) and the church has about 20 years here so the members are a little stronger and the branch here is much bigger too. If you get a chance, google Granada, its nice in places. My companion ' s name is Elder Paz and he's from Guatemala. (that makes 1 Argentenian, and 3 Guatemalans) He's a good missionary and he knows why he ' s here . He ' s a little more lively than Elder Garcia was so its fun to have a change. The area here is generally more successful than my old one and I ' m really excited to be here. Yesterday we met for the first time as a branch and I played the piano for them and gave a talk as well, so I think everyone should know who I am by now. We e...

  Sent: Monday, February 04, 2013 11:08 AM To: Jim And Sandy Bever Subject: Hello from Nicaragua! Well hello, It was nice to get your emails as always. I'm sitting in a cyber infront of some university here in Managua waiting for pictures to develope and trying not to suffer too much from the heat. Managua is always hotter than our area. My companion went to get his residence this morning so we've been here ever sense . To respond to questions, the food here is all fried and there ' s a place a half block down from our house in Ticuantepe that makes papusas and we are frequent customers there. I highly doubt that they're the same as in El Salvador, because its really fried and comes in a little plastic baggie . (everything here is fried and comes in a little plastic baggie) But anyway the customery dish for Nicaragua is called Gallo Pinto. They eat it here for breakfast, lunch and dinner and every time inbetween. (they even sell it in McDonald's). It ' s r...

Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 11:36 AM To: Jim And Sandy Bever Subject: Hello! Thanks for the emails! Stephen sent me his email and I replied to it. I'm really excited for him . Elder Garcia says that he thinks its pretty warm there. So we had a pretty good week here in Ticuantepe, we're getting pretty close to the end of the transfer and my training with Elder Garcia. We have changes a week from Wednesday so this week is really important to baptize our investigators. Supposedly we're going to have a baptismal service as a zone with president monestel this Friday , I think there's like a dozen or so that we' re preparing for friday. Here's a picture of one of the ladies we' re teaching. Her name's Madely and she says that we' re her angles ... I believe her. She's really special and has been prepared for us to find and teach her at just the righ time in her life. Her father was the lead general for Nicaragua before the war here and so when...

  Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 11:01 AM To: Jim And Sandy Bever Subject: Packages Came! Hello there! It was nice to hear from you all this week! So I have good news, packages came on Friday! Mom: you can stop worring now. I got yours and Jaycee and Teresha' s! They were just what I needed. My feet feel wonderful even after walking 8 miles every day , I look forward to growing my Christmas tree in September, I already ate all of the food, my companion likes the stickers and photos , I haven't made snow yet , but I do think that the T-shirt from Thomas is pretty cool. Tell Jaycee that even ifl did give her grief for color coordinating her apartment at BYU, she (and my beloved aunt) do have good taste in colors and in this case the cool tie that I got. But I am really grateful for the thought that was put into sending me so much cool stuff , I don't think anyone in the mission got better stuff for Christmas than me. So it sounds like its dark and gloomy as usual at hom...

  Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 11:36 AM To: Jim And Sandy Bever Subject: Hi from your Missionary! Hello everyone! Sorry I wasn't able to send pictures last week of my Christmas Festivities, but I was able to rob my companion ' s camera where he has all of the good pictures. As you can see we did eat a ton. (I '11 send the other pictures in another email here in a minute). So it sounds like things are getting back to normal there at home and in Provo. Thanks for all of theemails! I did receive the letter you sent Sis. Monestel at the Zone Conference and it was perfect. It was funny, they handed the letters out all at once after we had a gift exchange and the whole room went silent as we were reading our letters from our families. Then you'd hear an occasional sniffle here and there and then it just got worse from there, so they said, "okay that's enough of that" and we moved on the the next activity. But it was really nice to get that from you all. ...