Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 12:05 PM

Hola Familia y Amigos. Today we get to find out if we have changes or not. I will probably be here for another change. I really like it here in Ciudad Sandino. It is a great area.

So Dad you asked about that candy I was requesting. I guess I had a pretty bad typo because I was trying to spell the candy Twizzlers. Maybe I should do some spelling checks before I send off my emails now. So ya he wanted Twizzlers, filled if you can.

And you asked about the word "Pilas" here it means to work hard or go the extra mile or like you said to put on the pressure. They use it a lot here in the mission. We also have another verb here called "jarron azul" which means to do anything to accomplish your goal. It comes from a short movie called "The Quest" which you can probably find on YouTube. It is really old and pretty funny.

Dad you always seem to find the strangest things to make you look small. It was a pretty funny picture. Thanks for the pictures of Elder Harmer too and ya, he was in our District and room in the MTC. That is funny the El Jardines guy still remembers us. Ya it is fine if Grandpa wants to write me, I have time.

So Mom I didn`t get very many pictures of our activity but here are two. We had over 500 people show up for it and it was pretty crazy. I was working in the bar and they just totally raided us and took everything. The Nicas are so crazy. The activity was called the Titanic so we built this really big Titanic inside of the chapel and the rooms around the building were like places in the boat. All of the missionaries and others helping got to dress up in sailor outfits that a sister made for us. We started it with the part of the movie where the Titanic starts up and takes off, projected up on the wall. We had a Bar, Fortune Telling room, Disco, Casino, Theater room, Dancing and others. We then had the boat crash and we had that part play on the projector while we shook the boat from inside. Everyone freaked out when the scene came up of the rats running down the hall. We had all the women and children leave for outside to get in the safety boats, while the husbands and men stayed inside. We talked about the importance of the family and everything. It turned out well and we got a lot of references.

A lot of this week was spent working on the Titanic. The raining season has about ended I think so now it it going to be just really hot and dry for 6 months till the wet season.

I don`t have much more to write now so I will be ending this letter. So I love you guys a lot. Talk to you next week.

Elder Ochs

Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 4:46 PM

Hola familia. So I keep trying to send pictures home but it always messes up. The computers here are really difficult sometimes. I got one that has a landscapish view.

OK, here are a few more pictures from our trip to Momotombo Volcano last P-Day.

That story about Brennan and Al sounds crazy. (They rolled over in a Jeep while on a hunting trip) I am glad they are alright though.

So I got my Halloween package this last Saturday and I liked it a lot. Those pictures were awesome of all the family. I really liked it alot.

About the Christmas package, there is a member here that works with us a lot and he asked us to tell our parents whenever they are about to send a package to put "Tears" in there because he loves them and they are nowhere to be found here. He said his favorite are the "filled ones"? So if it is possible that would be cool. Other than that I don`t really have any requests.

That is sad that Honey died =(.

The line that I mentioned in the last email that I thought was funny was when Elder Uchtdorf was beginning his talk about trees or something and then he said "But you are probably wondering what that has to do with planes." Just because that is usually he puts into his talks. Our family that we got to Conference is going along great and there is a possibility that they will be baptized this week. So we are going to put the pilas to get them prepared.

This last week has been a little crazy so I don`t remember too much and I didn`t write in my journal at all this last week. We have being telling people all about this activity we are going to have this Saturday called the Titanic. We are building a huge ship inside of the church with a iceberg and everything. They did it in Managua last month and it was a big success bringing investigators and less actives. I will try to send back pictures of it and how it goes.

The other day Elder Garcia and I were in one of our areas looking for new people. This area is up in the hills next to Lake Managua. We found this little dirt path that ran along the hill and we followed it. It ended up taking us to the tippy top of the hill and we had a really cool view of Managua, Lake Managua, Sandino and a bunch of other areas. The only problem is that I wasn`t carrying my camera because it wasn`t the safest place. We found a lot of new places we didn`t know was in our area so we will be working up there the next few weeks.

Other than that it has been really cool working here in Ciudad Sandino. I am having a lot of fun here and I really like the area. I am learning a lot here and I`m definitely changing. I can`t imagine living without this Gospel in my life and the comfort it brings me knowing that I am in the right church. We talk with so many people that are so lost and confused and I am here to help them find the truth. I am grateful for the Plan of Salvation that enables us to return again to our Heavenly Father with our families for the eternities. Just want to say that I love you all and adiós till next week.

Elder Ochs

Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 11:36 AM

Hi. So I don´t usually know how to start my emails because the first sentence is always the hardest. That was fine.

General Conference was so awesome. We got to see almost every talk. We missed the one when President Uchtdorf talked about pride during the Priesthood Session. He was about 30 seconds into his talk when the satellite lost reception for about 20 minutes because of the storm. It came back on just when Eyring stepped up. We got to watch all of them in English but there was ten of us Elders in one small room watching it on a normal TV. But it was really great and I have a lot to change. I would quote a line that Uchtdorf said on Sunday that was really funny but I don´t want to ruin it for you Mom and Dad. We also had one of our families come to the Conference and I was so glad. They already looked like members all dressed up with there little girl. We are definitely baptizing them.

So before General Conference during the week we had a Missionary Conference. We had interviews with Presidente Monestel. I passed and it was a fun Conference. We learned a lot about the importance of recent converts. They only have one year concentrated with the missionaries to get ready for the temple and that time is really precious.

This week the Zone Leaders bought some more turtle eggs for Hermana Gema to cook for our dinner because Elder Montierth has never tried them. Well it was pretty nasty again but he ate three eggs. I´m not sure why he didn´t just stop at one, haha. I didn´t realize the first time but we actually eat the premature turtle with his shell, nasty.

Speaking of food, our new lunch cita at the pharmacy makes a lot of good food. The only problem is that every time we eat all the food, she adds more the next time because she thinks we are still hungry. So from the original servings we got before they are now doubled and we are kind of shy to tell her that she is killing us. We will probably tell her today.

So we went and hiked the mountain across from Momotombo Volcano last Pday. It was awesome. I got a lot of cool pictures that I am trying to send. It reminded me a lot of scouts when we would go on those big hikes and be joking around the whole time. There was some pretty crazy views up there. The whole time there was a light sprinkle of misty rain so it kept us nice and cool but the trail was really muddy in spots. We didn´t have time to go to the very top to get a cool picture of Momotombo though.

My Spanish is coming along well. I am enjoying studying too. The water and electricity goes out at least once every day here but it is when we are out in the street so it doesn´t matter. At night it is always fine. The ketchup and rice thing is something they like here for some reason so yes we eat it with our rice. The rice doesn´t have any flavor so you have to change it up some way. It sounds you guys had a lot of fun up in Yosemite. It looks really cool. That Midget Wizard was really mystical, haha!! It made me laugh so hard. I was expecting a gnome or something.

I am loving it here in Nicaragua and I can´t wait for the stuff to come. I am definitely changing a lot about myself here and learning how to be more like Jesus. I am trying to be better than the day before everyday. Thanks for always loving and supporting me.

Love you much and Really Big Hearts.

Elder Ochs

Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 10:30 AM

Hey there, how is it going there? I´m doing fine here in Ciudad Sandino.

Hey Rachel, I forgot to tell you HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! last week because I forgot you don´t get my letter till the week after it is sent. So Happy Birthday and I would like to send you something but our budget is tight here, haha.

So that is really awesome that the next Survivor show will be here in Nicaragua. There aren´t any missionaries down in San Juan right now but who knows, they are opening up new areas every change so there is a possibility that I could be sent there. So the episodes are starting right now or is it the next one coming up?

The storms haven´t been that crazy here this past week but it still rains every day. It is a little windy today but not bad either.

So you said you wanted to know more about Elder Garcia. Well he is from El Salvador, his Dad is a Bishop, he has two little brothers. He was baptized when he was 10 years old. He has the exact same time in the mission as me. He reminds me a lot of Braydon. He is good at talking with people and has a lot of friends here in Sandino. We get along really well. I got him hooked on Big Lemón soda. He doesn´t like ketchup on his rice. So ya, he is pretty “chill” is best way to describe him.

I got a notice that you guys sent off a package in my email and a Halloween package sounds really awesome. I can´t wait.

Dad, I didn´t pick anything up at the market last week because they were closing their shops when we got there and we didn´t have very much time to look. We were just trying to get out of there in time because they were locking up the entire place with gates. I won´t be able to go today either because we are going hiking up in some mountains that supposedly has a pretty cool view. I will take pictures. I haven´t seen the video of Mark yet because the computer wasn´t able to download it but I will try again this week. Also the sound has been really low so I can´t really hear much. I don´t know if it was the computer or the video. That skit you did Dad sounds like it was pretty funny. Who were the lions? Poor deacons they were probably a little sore the next few days. That is really awesome about Brennan, tell " Nice interception". Maybe April has a video of it because she usually records them.

So yes here in South Nicaragua Mission we are totally focused on only teaching families right now. All of our investigators are families. Presidente Monestel told us that he doesn´t want us working with just kids, teens, single Moms or Dads, but families. He said he doesn´t care if the number of baptisms fall a little but as long as we are baptizing families. So now when we are in the streets that is all we look for. Ladies holding babies, guys sitting next to ladies, anything that points to families. The funny thing is that we are having more problems teaching the wives. The husbands are the more receptive ones, which is usually the other way around. So we have a goal of baptizing 5 families this month of October and I plan to complete it. I am really looking forward to the General Conference coming up and getting our investigators there to listen to the prophet.

Well Big Hearts and a good helping of Love on the side.

Elder Ochs

Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 12:36 PM

Hey I wrote a really long letter to you guys and then I accidentally discarded it and it wasn´t saved anywhere. So I can´t send much of an email today.

That is really cool that Rachel and Bruce are in the same area in Panama. I will keep an eye out for a crazy Nica return missionary.

I couldn´t get the video of Mark to download today. I'll try again later.

I was planning on taking out the $25 dollars for my birthday today for the market here in Ciudad Sandino. We are celebrating 8 months in the mission today with American pizza from PriceMart. Rachel only has 1 year left!

We have a new lunch lady at a local pharmacy here. It is too bad that we can only teach families now.

Thanks for everything and Love you all, every one.

Elder Ochs

Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 1:03 PM

Hey, so I am here in Ciudad Sandino for another change with Elder Garcia again. We also got a new Zone Leader. We have two greengo Zone Leaders here and that doesn´t usually happen, but it is cool. Especially because it is Elder Montierth from Managua. We used to go on divisions and what not all the time in Managua so that is awesome. So we also have a new area here called Xiloa which is where we went those Pdays to fish in the lake. Now there are 18 Missionaries in the zone and most of them are greengos haha. Ya Mom I really liked the card you guys sent. The dancing baby always cheers me up. The 20 hour thing with the Mission President wasn´t just us two but two zones so you don't have to worry why the Mission President was spending so much time with us. I have gotten a little off track reading the Old Testament because I have been studying a bunch of other stuff. That Zuccuni surprise actually sounds good now that I have been here haha. Living here has made me appreciate a lot of foods.

So this last week our Mission President has really put a emphasis on families. Our zone leaders set a new goal for all of the zone that we need to contact 10 new families everyday. We just have to talk to anyone that has a baby in there hands or a guy next to them. We have been working really hard to achieve this goal and there have definitely been results. Our agendas are full of people that we have to stop by and teach now, and the majority are only families. One lady we contacted Saturday night and then came with us Sunday the next day to church with her kid. Her name is Marta and now she is our new investigator. We are preparing a guy named Denis for baptism this Saturday to complete a family but first we are working with him to quit smoking. We are passing by every day to see how he is doing and to help him out. The Jehovah Witness family really likes us missionaries and they are opening up more to us now. Hopefully they can progress along and then the extended family.

So last night was a really crazy lightening storm. We were at our dinner cita when it hit and we were stuck in there a little while until there was a space of time when we could run to our house. The wind was blowing, lightening cracking all around, thunder booming, and a whole lot of rain. It was pretty cool. I am now washing my own clothes in a stone basin/sink thing. You put soap onto the clothes and then scrub it against the stone. It gets pretty clean and then we hang it up on the wires to dry. I usually wash what I need for the next day the night before and then let it dry over night. It isn´t that bad. I am also ironing them. It doesn´t really matter if your shirt isn´t completely dry because it will eventually get wet again some time during the day.

Well I am having a great time here in Ciudad Sandino. Thanks for helping and supporting me. Love you lots and Big Hearts

Elder Ochs

Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 12:42 PM

Hey family and friends. Here it is the last week before changes but I have a high possibility of staying here at least one more change.

So I got my Birthday package and thank you very, very, very much. I really like the goodies inside because you can´t find any of those things here. I am already using the memory flash card. Unfortunately I live with two other misssionaries and they have the only refigerator that I need to use to preserve my food. Whenever I go to get it they just stare at the box so I share with them, haha. I am fine with it because it makes them happy too and most of them have never gotten a package before in their mission. Elder Solorzano has already tried one of each candy I have and loves it. I really liked the card you sent me too, it makes me laugh every time I open it.

Mom keep working with Sheryl and your doing a great job. The video attachment of Steve wasn´t in this email but I did see his belly in the video of Cameron a few times. Those flags are really awesome looking and those photos of my room made me really trunky but I really liked them. I like all of the photos that you send to me so don´t worry about holding back. Ya it is alright that you eat Mexican food without me, haha. So they made a "Wimpy Kid" movie? The books are really funny also. I have a few of them on my shelf, and if not Anna has all of them. You need to send a picture of Aaron with his future wife. Tell Milo thanks for defending my dreams but if he can, take the mice with him because we got plenty here.

I am sending a few pictures of our apartment in Ciudad Sandino. Here is the front of our apartment, the hallway to our bedrooms, our Kitchen, our Study Room (with Elder Garcia), our bedroom, and our back porch. As you can see the rooms our very colorful.

So here in Sandino this last week wasn´t all that crazy but we did have 20 hours of training with our Mission President. That was pretty tiring but totally worth it. We learned a new way of teaching and studying so we have a lot to practice. It is no longer just going and teaching lessons but now we are teaching people. It makes it more difficult to do planning for them because it can change on the spot. We need to listen to what the Spirit wants us to teach. I will let you know how that goes as we work on it. We also learned how to put commitments with our investigators and a bunch of other stuff.

So we found a family of 7 the other day when looking for a certain soda at a pulperías, (a small stores with random stuff, usually it is on the front porch of a house.) The Mom is a Jehovas Witness but the rest of the family doesnt have a religion. She is a little tough but if we can get her to change the rest of the family will too. Her name is Nanci and her husband is Orlando. The nice part about teaching at the pulpería is that the family gives us snacks and drinks when we visit, yum yum. Now the Mission is putting a big focus on finding families.

I forgot to tell you last week but I finally memorized the Family Proclamation to the World in Spanish. I am pretty sure I am the only one that did it in the zone and I am not sure about the mission. But we are working hard here and thanks for all of your prayers for me while here in Nicaragua. I see the blessings here everyday and I really appreciate them

Love you Lots and Big Hearts

Elder Ochs