Monday, April 25, 2011

Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 1:55 PM

So this week was really cool here in Nicaragua. The baptism for Mario Pilarte went great and the whole family came. The one that is dressed in white in the photo is Mario and the the rest is his family that are all members already. Mario has probably been my coolest investigator and baptism here in the mission. He has completely changed and everyone was surprised that he did. They still dont believe it. He and his family are all happy now and complete.

This Sunday at church we got Juan Silva there and also another family that I thought wouldn't come. I almost didn't recognize them when they walked up to me. I was kind of in shock for a little bit. The Husband has collected books from the Church for years and has read them all. Like The Book of Mormon, "Jesus the Christ", "A Marvelous Work And A Wonder", "The Articles of Faith" and others, including a stack of Liahonas. He isn't a member though but he knows that the church is true. We put the baptismal date for the 14th of May. Erica is still taking her time but is progressing.

Tell Ryan that I am up for dressing as Bat Thumb if he dresses up as Blue Jay haha.

Those pictures are awesome of the family. It sounds like Hunter and Samantha had a real good time. Hey is Hunter still playing video games a lot? If so let him know that I can get almost any game for any system here for a dollar each. I am already preparing a package to send home of a lot of games.

Well I love you guys a ton and I want to hear from you guys next week too with pictures.

Elder Ochs

Monday, April 18, 2011

Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 12:38 PM

Hey, I always seem to be running short on time when I start writing the family. I usually reply to the others first and save the big email for last, but I have been getting emails from several people now. That Golf cart looks pretty fun. How fast can it get going? Have you tried driving it around yet. The tires are a little bald so I would be a little careful taking turns on the grass. Hunter and Samantha have grown a lot. A little too fast. See what you can do Dad to slow them down alright.

Actually I have been sending Israel some emails and he is doing great in Florida. His first companion was the AP the change before so he is pilas and they are working. Cara Pinckney is going on a mission, that is awesome. Let me know where she is going once she gets her calling.

I am sending a picture of Elder Cacacho so you can see what he is like. Guess what Dad, he is a computer nerd too. And yes he does get made of for his name a lot here, but he is cool about it. They don't mention it as the translation that your thinking of but a chocolate drink here called Cacao. He is one of my favorite drinks. Or they will repeat the Caca- part a few times. But I get the same for my name too. Elder Oops, Hopes, or some other weird pronunciation. Nicas like to tease so you get used to it. But Elder Cacacho is really cool and we are doing great here.

The Easter package hasn't gotten here yet but it they usually make it just fine so don't worry.

Here is also a picture of a parrot I saw while on divisions in Xiloa. It was just out and about. I wanted to take a picture with him but the owner said that he bites. You don't have to take much of a look to notice the chompers he has, so I just took it from the fence.


I made a cover for my agenda to protect it
. Maybe you won't understand it that well if you haven't seen the reference. To explain, there are a lot of Evangelical churches here and they are crazy and really annoying. They have huge speakers, electric pianos, guitars, and microphones with crazy people behind every one of these instruments. (I am not sure what the guy behind the speakers is doing, maybe turning the volume all the way up) So I wanted to make a laminated illustration about the formation of the Evangelical churches. I will send the reference later.

Here is just another random picture of me.

I bought some awesome new pens that really improved my ability to draw paintings. It has worked wonders for me, look for yourselves. Let me know if your interested on taking your doodles to the next level.

Elder Cacacho and I did service this week helping a less active member build his house. It is a cement home and he wanted to make the roof higher. His wife isn't a member, yet, so we are in hopes of interesting her in the Gospel at the same time. They are really cool also. Mario Pilarte is getting ready for his baptism this Saturday so we are excited about that. Juan Silva is still having problems drinking so he needs to wait a little bit. There are others here and there also working at it.

Well I love you guys lots and Big Hearts.

Elder Ochs

Monday, April 11, 2011

Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 1:30 PM

Hola Familia. So I was able to read the email from last week last week it just took some time to come so I read at the end of my time. I don´t know why but it takes a little bit of time sometimes to get here. So a bunch of stuff happened this last week over there. That is awesome to hear about the wedding for Aaron. Hopefully it all went well. The pictures were really cool to see also. I am glad that you made it there and back alright, and it sounds like Grandma had a good time too.

Man the Oakdale Parade, it sounds like they went all out this year . A guy was on top of a trailer with a horse cracking a whip with one arm, that means he wasn´t holding on to the reins or anything.

So I have a few pictures to send you this week. This is one of me helping out at our dinner cita's place. This is one of the Baptism of Daniel that I told you about last week. The last one is of our district last P-Day.

So I am here for another change again but with a new companion. His name is Elder Cacacho. He is from Guatemala and he is the only member in his family. He is really cool and I am learning a lot from him. I thought I was doing good as a missionary until he was my companion. We both have the same time in the mission so that is really cool too. We work really well together and it is all cool.

This week Mario Pilarte came to church and a few others. He is doing really awesome. We have his baptism planned for the 23rd of abril.

I am loving it out here on the mission and I am going to miss these people when I go. I am just trying to work hard and do all that I can so that I can make the most of the short time that I have here. Keep praying for my investigators and me and I wil be praying for you guys.

Love you tons and I can´t wait to hear from you next week.

Elder Ochs
Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 10:13 AM

Entonces, this week was pretty good here in Bello Amanecer. The General Conference was amazing. Mainly this week we have been working to bring people to the Conference but only one came. At least it was a complete family. I also didn't get to see the last session because all of the power went out for exactly 2 to 4 which was when the Conference was on. That stunk. I will see if I can watch it on the computer. We did have a lot of members that brought us food between the two sessions so that was really cool. It felt to me like a big family reunion just walking and talking with everyone and eating. I am really going to miss this place when I leave. My time is probably due here and we will hear today if we have changes. I already sent off a package with agendas, journal, nick nacks, money from here, and other little stuff. It cost about $15 to send it all. I still plan to send more stuff too. I want to wait till I go to a cool place to start buying stuff and sending stuff home. Where I am at now doesn't really have that much stuff.

The picture I am sending is of us eating a soup that is called "Indio Viejo" which means "Old Indian". I do not know why it is called that but it is gross no matter the facial expression on my face is.

I guess I am writing too early because I haven't gotten your email yet so I can't respond to much.

Not too many exciting things happened this week, just working with our investigators and helping them progress. We didn't find any new people nor references.

I love you guys lots and lots and Big Hearts.

Elder Ochs