Additional Thoughts for Week 3

* I talk in every lesson, I teach parts, and testify of others. But Elder Lopez does most of the teaching at this point.

* I am still eating primarily beans, rice and bananas - but we have varieties every once in a while. Some of the food is good, others I don't like so much. But I discovered I had a new talent in the MTC. I can swallow food whole. So if there is something I don't like or can't stomach. I swallow it whole as fast as I can. (I learned by having a contest with elder Simpson who could eat a pack of M&Ms the fastest. I could swallow the whole pack (single serving) instantly

* We have a baptism set for Saturday and several more scheduled for 2 weeks

* My companion/trainer leaves to go back home to Honduras in 3 weeks so I will be getting a new companion on December 6th

* Typically we spend most mornings in the apartment doing companion study and personal study. We go outside to get lunch and then leave straight from lunch to our appointments. We are out from 1-9pm.

* We teach the Gospel Doctrine class at church on Sundays (Lopez does most of the teaching for this)

* We do door-to-door tracting each day but most of our teaching time are referrals or set appointments

* It rains most days but it's not bad, even just walking in downpours isn't bad. Since we are used to always being wet. So it's a blessing.

* The people here are all really friendly and most are willing to listen, but not all are interested.

* I hear it's supposed to snow in Montana this week - Lucky!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want snow so much 

* Once I get back home, everything is going to seem so luxurious in the states, I'll be so grateful for everything. Even small things we don't think about like running water always available. We only have running water for 1 hour in the mornings. We have a large tub that we put under the shower and fill it up and usually have bucket showers with that. But probably a 75 gallon drum. So we fill that up and use that to flush too. It's cold water and we shower in the morning. But I kinda wish it was more room temperature. It's not bad though. 

*  Everyone here can make do with so little, and still be so nice and friendly. So complaining about stuff like slow internet, or having to drive 15 minutes to get into a near town to be able to buy something seems ridiculous. We are so blessed with what we have!

* I feel safe here - and actually we have 3 layers of protection, bars over our door, a small front patio with bars, and a courtyard with bars. I feel safe, and even when walking out late at night in the dark I feel safe. I heard from one of the members, like 10 years ago this was a dangerous area with gangs and everything but now it's one of the safest in Managua (my particular neighborhood of Reparto Schick)

* It is so Super hot and humid, but it'll make me appreciate the cold even more.

* There are 10 zones in the Nicaragua North mission. Most of them are a city (except for  Managua and Chinedega - they each have 2 zones). Each zone has 2 or possibly 3 Districts. Ours has 2 districts, and my District has 8 Missionaries. So we do a zone meeting every week. I heard once a month, but it has been every week. So we meet up at the stake center and do a little instructional thing then report numbers to our District. Elder Najera, (Na hair a) is our District Leader and I like him a lot. His companion has been here 9 weeks - Elder Menezes and he's from Brazil.

* In our apartment we have a stove and a microwave (the stove gets plugged in) but if we are hungry we usually just buy something from the store right across the street. There are little shops everywhere.

* Today I tried Nicaraguan Ice cream. It's like shaved ice with various thick syrups. It was pretty good. So imagine like a slushie with a thicker syrup

* Something weird here in this country is even though most people have like 20 year old tvs, most of them (even the poor ones) have really nice sound systems.

* And most everyone here has a smart phone. So it's just different. Like they make less money here. I think it was like 4 dollars a day. But things are a whole lot cheaper. We went to a restaurant and I got a meal that would probably cost like 8 dollars in the states and it was only around 2.50 here. 

* They like to feed you a lot here. Like for the bean soup we've had twice it's served in like giant dog bowl sized bowls.

* I must be one of the tallest people in the entire country. I don't think I've seen anyone taller than me so far. Most people are about a head or so shorter than I am, but I am getting used to having to duck a whole lot, so I don't hit my head on their doors or barbed wire.