Final Zone and District Pictures before transferring to Leon

Tuesday, February 21st - Monday, February 27th

Well I'll start this off with just staying this. Ya me fui! I got transferred!!!!!

But hey I guess we start with the days again since I know my mother likes knowing the details.

So on Tuesday we had the meeting then we went to La 14 to start making our district shirts (well give them to the guy) so we were there then we walked like 40 minutes back to my area so we could lunch it up. But since my companion had to do splits with the other elders in La Polanco I went to lunch with Elder Price in my area. Though we were walking there and were super late, when one member said (like 5 houses away from my lunch people...after walking 40 minutes) Hey come here! We were like We wanna eat but we still went. Turns out the Austrian boyfriend of his sister was staying with them so we went there and had some Austrian chocolate, and chilled talking with them for like 40 minutes. It was super cool but strange. Then we went to lunch...and found our she's racist against the Guatemalans. So yeahhhh....

Wednesday yeah did splits again since my companion has to leave a whole lot to do interviews for the big baptism thing. Though the difference is I went with Elder Menezes. I missed doing stuff with him. I enjoy going with price, but I like going with both. While we were walking to meet back up with Lemus and Price, it was a bit late and we didn't see any moto taxies. So I was like let's walk. And he said let's walk to the cine where there are usually a lot of moto taxies. But it was the opposite direction. We went anyways and nothing. So we walked and met up with them almost at like 10 in the night, and like in the most dangerous area in our mission. But we had to get home. So as we were walking back we passed by the cyber cafe that we usually write to everyone at. And the guy there said hey wait up. He said would you guys like it if we took you back on our motorcycles. And we were like sure. He said he saw me walking with the Brazilian and thought hey it's getting really late and started to worry, so when we passed by again they took us back. It was a amazing tender mercy because the area gets really sketchy after 9. And yeah I'm glad that because I talked to that guy who owns the cyber a lot, and we are friends, he was kind enough to drive us back. Well him and his friend.

Thursday. Splits again...what A surprise. It isn't fishy or anything! But yeah with this we did a lot of work but at the same time we feel a bit lazy when we are all together. Like we wanna work but at the same time we don't.

Friday we started by cleaning and decorating the church. Man we cleaned a whole lot. Like dang. Why are the churches here always so dirty? But yeah got lots of the decorations ready for tomorrow. And later on splits, we walked a whole lot but we also went shopping for chicken!!!! Though Price didn't have his contacts or glasses so they had to go back. But we did bring 4 dinners to our house.

Saturday. Cleaned more and then came back and bam Tarde Blanca°! We wedded 3 couples, and baptized 17 people. Which is super cool because the mission record for most baptisms in 1 week was 16 so we broke a record! It was a ton of work and I felt so tired afterwards. But I felt good about it.  Also for the desserts they had doughnuts! So I have had 2 of the best doughnuts I have had here. Dang I want some more..... Though in the morning we got a call from the Assistant to the president. And so they said my companion will start the training for someone. So that means....well means that I have to go. I just didn't know where. And Elder Menezes got a call that he is going to Puerto Cabeza. So yeah that is awesome, but since they have to go in plane, they don't do stuff with other zones and it is usually a 9-12 month assignment. So I might not see him again until next year. Which is pretty sad since he is a super great friend. So out of the 4 companions Elder Price has had. 3 of them are in Puerto now. I wonder if that is supposed to mean something. Though we had them over for the night and yeah it was a nice thing - we were all tired in the morning, but it was good just to have a bit more time with the 4 of us because I feel really close to Price and Menezes and both Menezes and I are leaving.

Sunday: Got the news of where I was heading. Leon. The tourist city. So yeah from what I've heard (and yeah I am writing in Leon but I haven't been to my area yet) I have the beach area, and apparently a house right on the beach. Though it's a hard area for the missionaries because it's difficult to convert tourists.. But yeah. I also visited a couple of the members that I was the closest to. And then this morning, Jimmy drove me and my companion to the bus stop and yeah I got here. The place seems nice. It's hotter, but it's more of a desert, so I enjoy it. I just need to really remember to drink a ton of water. And yeah I have seen more whites here in 3 hours than 4 months in my other area! So yeah... I don't blame the people in the other area for staring at me. Wez be strange.

 

Love, Elder Vogt

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Q&A with the family:

 

1. I know change is hard (and that you have literally just barely gotten to Leon) but what are you feeling about being transferred?  Well this morning I was feeling really strange and kinda nervous and a bit sad to be leaving all the people behind there in Reparto Schick, but on the drive (I was with 2 missionaries. And I know like 5 missionaries here in Leon) And so yeah, the drive here was super pretty. Like everything was dead brown and had some hills, so it reminded me of Idaho. Haha, but yeah so I got here, and I'm feeling comfortable now. I'm in the tourist city, and my house (or so I've heard) we have a beach house more or less. But like I've seen so many white people here, it is super weird....

2.  I know you haven't known him long - but who's your new companion? Where is he from, how long has been out?  His name is Elder Sanchez from El Salvador. And he has been here one less transfer than me....So yeah he just finished training, and I basically just finished. So yeah let's do it. I've also heard we have a nucleus, not even a branch here. So I heard the weekly attendance for us is about 10 people on average. So yeah that should be something new.

3. I read that Leon is the second largest city in Nicaragua! and yes, touristy! So how many missionaries are there in Leon? Are there any actual wards or branches there or just that super tiny nucleus of 10 you told me? Leon is it's own zone. So we have like 16 missionaries here in Leon. And there are actual wards, and some have branches like the area Alfaro was in while here, but when Lemus was here he had a ward. The thing is since I'm on the beach, it's super more touristy, and you don't really convert tourists.

4. Congrats of 17 baptisms and breaking a record!! wowie!!! Did you and Lemus personally have one? who was it?

Yeah we had one and a wedding as well. The thing is we looked like we had like hardly any for our area with just one. But we were baptizing throughout the month when no one else was. So that transfer we had 5 baptisms. Like the most in our zone. So I feel good about that! Though man I was super tired at the end of the days, but that transfer just flew by super duper fast. But yeah.

5.Did you take a bus or some other transportation to get to Leon?

Yeah bus. It cost like 2 dollars. But here that was like. Well not a ton, but still felt expensive. And yeah 2 dollars for a 2.5 hour bus trip with our suitcases.

The two others that rode with me are both going to Leon, too. One sister from my zone in Villa flor too.

6. What does Tarde Blanca mean?

Well Tarde means afternoon, blanca is the color white. So yeah. White Afternoon - because everyone will be in white for the baptisms.

 

Tuesday, February 14th - Monday, Febrary 20th

So this week we had a big multi mission conference with every missionary in Nicaragua, and we had an Apostle, Elder Rasband speak. It was super awesome! I saw a bunch of friends, and we got to listen to an apostle. Like one of the holiest people on the world! It was awesome!  And he gave a great inspiring talk. There were 400 Missionaries there and every single one of us got to shake the Apostles hand. That was pretty cool.

 

We did a bunch of work, and yeah Elder Price and I one day had a hour and 15 minute lesson with this one lady to get permission for her son to be baptized. We also did a big Service project as a District this week. It was super hard work but fun.

 

We did a gift exchange thing for Valentine's Day. We got random names of the sisters and they got a random name from us, it was fun. I got my person a dope crucifix kinda jokingly and I got this cool knife.

 

Also I bought a hatchet, and a skull mask. I got them because they are awesome! The mask is like a mix between pottery and paper machet. And the hatchet is black and you can take it apart. 

 

We are getting things ready for this Saturday- We are having a big night of baptisms in the stake center. We plan on getting 25 people that day.

 

Thanks for everything everyone. Keep being awesome. 

 

Tuesday, February 7th - Monday, February 13th

Alright so let's start this off all normal like.

So Tuesday. Uh was a normal day. I went with elder price. And we walked to an appointment in the Juitas. (pronounced Ha whit ahs)

so that was like 40 minutes there. He wasn't there, but we told him we would meet up at the chapel. So that was another 40 minutes. So man we were tired. We got a giant area. Elder price was like Dang.

Wednesday, we had the ZLs come over to our area to do interviews for baptism, and get to know our people with dates for baptism. So while he was doing the interview with one person Elder ward took like 80 minutes. But hey finally she went from like no, to maybe, to yes.

Thursday we went to the area of another person to know their people since my comp is a DL -same with Friday though later in the night we had a noche de hermanamiento (aka: sort of like their Mutual night with a short message).

Saturday, We got a baptism down. It was kinda difficult, since my comp had to go to the stake center, and we didn't have the clothes in the morning, but everything worked out, and yeah. She wanted only 2 people at her baptism. Her sister and aunt that they live with. So it was the smallest I have had so far.

Sunday. Well we had a reunion in the stake center again. It was good. Though I was a bit discouraged, since earlier this transfer we had a ton of people for baptism this 25th but none went to the church so yeah we had to push those back. We are doing an activity this 25th with our zone where we want to get 25 people for that date. 

So 2 more things.

Tomorrow we will have a meeting with both the North and South Nicaraguan Missions - with like 300 missionaries. And we will have an Apostle there. We don't know who yet, but we are making guesses (my guess is that it'll be one of the newest 3). So we will spend the night at the ZLs house, and meet up early in the stake center, then take a bus there (we are renting the bus). The meeting is in Mission South, but still in Managua, so it's easy for us. 

And one thing that happened that was cool this week.

We have dinner on Tuesdays with this one family - Hermano y hermana Nicaragua. So he is active, and they have a son on his mission right now (he left like 3 weeks after I got here) but she hasn't gone to the church in 11 years. We we were talking with here for a while, and asked her last week. She said not this Sunday, but the next she promises. So this week she went and it was super awesome!

 

Love, Elder Vogt 

Tuesday, January 31st - Monday, February 6th

Alright hello everyone! How are you all?​

So as for this week, it started off like any other Tuesday. Well we worked, and did a zone meeting. Though the president and the Assistants all came, and yeah. So that was interesting.

This Thursday we received our new rules from the president. So more or less same 6:30 waking up, though we plan in the morning, less companionship study, and we are supposed to eat in our house at night a 9, unless we have a dinner appointment close to our house.

So Friday we had divisions, so we went and I went with a member Joseph, and talked with a mother of a kid (14 years old) who can be baptized but doesn't want to. We went with the kid's brother in law who is a member also.

Saturday we started to Fast (for Fast Sunday), but had an activity at the church, though nobody was over there, so yeah, me and my companion just ended up throwing rocks into a giant mango tree for about an hour and a half on a fasting stomach. We were able to get like 25 mangos down and harvested them for the Mango Salad we had on Sunday. We were dog tired later. Usually we have people showing up to these activities, so 2 days in a row with people not going to the activities is kinda weird. It was their Mutual night, playing football, but we were supposed to give a message, since supposedly they would bring a ton of investigators to play too.We were dog tired later.

Sunday, we churched it up, then afterwards ate soup...Soup here doesn't come in a coup bowl.....It comes in a giant dog bowl that is big enough for a family. Then later in the night we went to a member's house and I helped them build a table, and then we made a mango salad out of the mangos we labored over. I didn't eat the mango salad - I just ate my mango's plain. The salad that they like is with salt, lime juice, and hot sauce. It doesn't taste bad, but it's terrible for my teeth, and makes me feel like they're being dissolved. So I prefer mine plain.

Today (Monday) we went shopping in a market. I got a turtle shell ring, and then the Zone leaders took us out to lunch, because we won a competition.

As for a little spiritual thought. One thing that really touched me this week is the efforts of this one family. So they were a less active family when I first got here, but recently we got them to come to church, and he was talking with me, and he really wants to change and to better himself. Like I know many who say Yeah I'll go to church, and when it comes on Sunday always excuses, but we went over and did a family home evening with him, and are teaching them about different things. Like he said he didn't know how to fast, or stuff like that. He really wants to change and better his life and that of his family. So that was something really touching.

 

Love, Elder Vogt

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A few questions our family asked Seth this week:

1. You mentioned your zone had 5 of the 15 Best Companionship's - what exactly does that mean? What sort of Criteria is that? Have you ever gotten that? It's just number wise. And yeah I have before, though with the new rules they are going to stop doing it (since we don't keep track of as many numbers now). Though the last week we were doing it, I got the 2nd spot.

2. You mentioned about eating at home at 9pm unless you had dinner appointments, do you typically have them? We have them every day of the week, if they are far we need to bring the food back home and eat it, but all of ours are relatively close, so we won't change that much.

3. How are the Piano lessons going with the ward Pianist at lunch? They've been going good. I also learned a couple different things. Like you can tell Dad I learned Welcome home by coheed and cambria (well at least parts) on piano.

4. Spanish. We haven't really discussed it lately... how are you feeling with it? How much teaching/speaking during lessons are you doing? I can teach entire lessons, and I feel comfortable with it. Not like fluent or anything, but I feel comfortable. So that's a good thing.

5. Is it the same with the culture there? feeling more like you understand it and even though it's very different, things are starting to seem more "normal"?Yeah everything just feels normal. Though the biggest difference is the money.

Like we have 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 bills.

10 feels like a dollar

20 like 5 bucks

50 like 10

100 like 20

200 like 50

and 500 feels like a 100 dollar bill.

Though like sometimes places don't accept 100 cordoba bills, but then I'm like hey it's only 3 bucks. Like the money feels a lot different here. Like sometimes I'm like hey I don't need to buy a taxi, it's expensive. Though it's like 60 cents here...They have coins, 1, and 5, and we use them a lot too. Though they also have cents. And we don't use them.

6. You said that "10 feels like a dollar" does that mean 10 Cordoba's = $1 in US? No, 30 cords, is a dollar, though it just is treated more like one. Like we can buy stuff with like 1 or 2 cords, like snacks at the stores everywhere. And it's like hey I bought this for 6 cents! I'll take a pic with some of the money. I also wanna start a coin collection from many countries. I have one from Europe, one from the DR, and one from Guatemala.

7. And did I read that correctly - a taxi is like 60 cents!? Well it depends on how far. We can go in bus for 2.5 cords, or like 8 cents. Moto Taxi (doesn't go all too far, but still a good distance) for 10 cords each, like 30 cents each (though it feels like - Dang let's not, I don't wanna waste money!). And we hate taxis. Like if it's two of us, it's usually 30-40 cordobas each, but if we have more it's cheaper each. Like if we have 4 people (unless it's really far) it's usually 20 each. But it still feels like DANG a whole lot of money.  But yeah.

8. What's the thing you felt best about doing this week? As for the best thing. I think it was great that we were able to baptize when I thought we wouldn't be able to - just due to many problems.