New Location by the Sea!

Rizo's Family Baptism

¡Nakisma! (That’s miskito (misquito) for how are you!)

I did change areas, we had changes last Wednesday and now I’m on the other side of Nicaragua right off the Caribbean Sea and a area called Puerto Cabezas! In a village called Bilwi! On the top east border of Nicaragua. How cool is that, I can see the Caribbean Sea two blocks away from our house!

Okay so we had changes and I found out were I was going, but me and two other Elders were going to the same area and needed to leave immediately! So right after changes they told us they were going to take us to the airport so the zone leaders took us to the air port and while we were waiting for our tickets they told us we can only bring 30lbs of stuff!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Ha-ha

So I had to take out all my stuff, clothes, underwear and everything at the airport to put in my smaller suitcase in front everyone! That is probably the worst thing. They told us we will be living on the bare necessities and that’s for freaking sure! So now I just have 30 lbs of clothes and I was kinda freaking out trying to figure what stuff I was going to need the most. Turns out their was a lot of stuff I forgot. I only brought 4 shirts and 3 pants IM SUCH AN IDIOT!!! Ha-ha I have my shoes and toiletries. But I forgot ties and socks!! aaaaaaaahBut everything is okay now.....

Well I’m here in Bilwi and it’s really humid here, more humid then Managua but I love it so much better! The people are really nice and they all look like African Americans. It’s so awesome!

I will explain a little what I saw as we were flying in. The first thing we noticed was THE CARIBEAN SEA!!! YEAH! and how wet and muddy it is. It rains practically every day here. When we got here we were met by 3 elders, Elder Carrazco from Honduras, Elder Solórzano from Ecuador, and my companion Elder Miranda de Chile. They were on BIKES!!!! YEAH THAT’S RIGHT WE HAVE BIKES!!! Yeah it’s so awesome here we share a house and all have bikes and these Elders are so cool. I have pics of all of them I will try to send so this letter will be kinda of short.

We have already baptized 5 people. The night I got here, we taught family Rizo and they accepted baptism this last Saturday! The Branch is awesome and the Branch president is our neighbor! I’m sorry this letter probably stinks and is hard to understand but so is this computer I’m using. I’m learning Miskito, its whole different language because almost everyone here speaks miskito!

HaySabe!! (Miskito for bye!)
Elder Buck

Thank you so much mom and dad for you letters about prayer!I probably won’t receive your package for another month or two because it first goes to the office in Managua and then they send it out to us here at the border!

Baptism!

In Gladis' Kitchen - She cooks all our meals for us!

P-day at the River where the District Leaders said we had to go.

Baptism Font In Nicaragua Church House
Elder Buck (Goliath), Brandi, Adela, Jenny, Elder Alonso & extra's.
Font filling with water. Elder Buck's Art Work

Hello Family!

Wow, Arizona still has the same weather...typical ha-ha. We are in the winter season right now, but really that doesn’t exist here because it’s never cold and there is no snow.

Yea! No one has to drive Carly anymore in the morning, that’s good that she will be able to drive herself to seminary and school. I heard that Brother Tryon was running in a Marathon this weekend, that’s awesome! GO BROTHER TRYON!! Wow that’s so awesome the Ellis Family was sealed in the temple too, that’s always something awesome to hear!

Mom, I hope your preparedness lesson goes well. Yes we are really so blessed as families in the U.S., its so sad people can’t have food storage here, let alone food for everyday. It’s hard too, to teach the people. This Sunday Elder Alonso & I taught Sunday School class about the creation and it was kind of boring - same stuff. So I thought I would help them think a little bit harder and started talking about neat creations for example: the humming bird. I was telling them how amazing it is that a bird like that can flap its wings 60 times a second or just fish and mammals in particular, all the neat creation under the sea, and all sorts of wonders. Their response were yawns, ya sure, and nothing else. Most the adult people here can’t even spell or read so it’s pretty hard, I feel bad cuz we can’t leave a Book of Mormon with someone who can’t read.

Yeah, the P-day cook out we had last week itself was interesting, yes those cowpie looking plates of food were refried beans lol. Our Zone Leaders are dictators, yesterday in text message they told us to be at a certain location at this time, bring 30 cordabas (money) and don’t murmur. :P

Oh well, what can we do...so today for P-day we woke up at 5:00 a.m. this morning and drove out really far away to this one area that had nothing but a river so we took some pictures and that was about it.

Good news, Adela and one of her daughters, Braydi, were baptized and confirmed members. Jenny, other daughter, will have baptism interview in 3 weeks. So that is awesome!! I’m really excited for them!

We have companion changes, Wednesday, and hopefully I will get to move to a new location!! I want to go somewhere new. I know almost everyone here ha-ha. As far as mission work goes, we are working everyday and we are trying to think of what we can do to work harder and more effectively.

Dad I need help. How do you receive answers after prayers?? I pray every morning and night with real intent...but I don’t feel anything or hear anything. Really having a hard time with prayer or knowing when I am receiving answers.

I love that rock in a lake expression that’s really cool to think of it that way, I really want to make a difference in the mission, I want to be something more then the typical missionary. I got to talk to my mission president, actually talk to him, he helped me out a lot with those guilty feelings you feel in the mission about not being enough or doing enough. I can tell he loves all the missionaries and me.

This is for Carver and Family: Hey thank you for your letter it’s good to hear everything is good. Yeah I heard about the dogs that’s cool. Love you all, take care my brother!

This is for Tanner & Family: Ha-ha yeah some of those companions GEEZ! It’s alright though, there is always going to be someone we won’t get along with in work, school, church. Its hard, but I’m trying to accept them for who they are and look at the good and not the bad. Ah, Kendal, I miss her and hope all is well I love you all.

Yes, I have been out for 6 MONTHS!! Muy rapido! Thank you for everything I’m going to send pics. I love you all and don’t need anything else sent to me right now. I JUST WISH I HAD MORE TIME TO WRITE!!!!

ELDER BUCK

Quick Update

I have not had good luck with the email down here the past couple of weeks. I start my letter home then the electricity goes out and I lose my letters and my writing time is up for the computers are back up again.

We have been teaching Adela and her two daughters and they all have a date for baptism set, so we are really happy for them and the good changes that have been made in their lives. We are still working with some other couples but most of them have children without marriage so we have to get them to agree to marriage first. That is crazy?!

I am sending pictures of our cookout at the church on our P-day. We had meat, beans, (looks like a fried cowpie) guacamole and pop. Got to love it! I am the only white boy as you can see. We also picked up an old guitar that both Elder Alonso and I both play. I am doing good, have not lost any weight because all my clothes still fit and loving the work.

Happy Birthday Dad, I love you!

I have all three legs of my stool under me! (prayer, scriptures, journal)

Sorry this is so short, but I love all of you!

Elder Buck

Blessings After Trial of Our Faith

Hi Family!

Still no rain in Arizona...that stinks..there is lots of rain here. Wow, school is about to start again and Carly will be a junior! CRAZY! If you could send me a CD of something to listen too, I was trying to upload hymns in spanish and the computer here deleted everything I had loaded on my iPod so I now have nothing approved to listen too.

In your letters, you know how you told me our faith would be tried before we will receive blessings--okay my faith has sure been tried the last month and right now we are definitely receiving those blessing this week, this week has been AWESOME.

Saturday we were looking for the home of an inactive member, we passed by a drunk man sitting on a log and he told us he wanted to hear the word of God, so we stopped to talk with him, but he was too drunk to understand what we were saying to him. We asked him were he lived and he pointed off in a direction so we told him we would stop by his home sometime and visit. We continued down the road looking for the members home and an old man started walking behind us, so my companion started to talk to him, then the drunk starts yelling to us the name of the old man we are talking too. We ask him if he knows the drunk man and he tells us his name and shows us were he lives and then leaves us.

We are standing in front of the drunk mans house and yell out "Buenas!" at the gate, and a girl about 16 years old comes out of the house to talk to us. I noticed a woman poking her head through the door opening so I yelled "Hola" and she waved back and came out by the girl. We told her who we were and she invited us in to talk to them. Her name is Adela and had not been to church since she was 15 years old and was probably close to 40 now. (Adela is the wife of the drunk man on the log)

We started to teach her and I was talking about faith in Jesus Christ and she stops us to tell us that 15 days ago she had been praying cuzs she is have a really hard time and needed help. I told her that is why my companion and I were there. We finished teaching her the lesson and invited her to church the next day, but she said she couldn't attend, BUT the next morning she was at church with her two girls. After church she asked if she could talk to Elder Alonso and I in private. We went into a room at the church and she starts to cry and told us her family is having many problems with her husband and they haven't eaten for awhile and she can hardly support her kids. She also told us, that if we had arrived at her house the day before, one hour later, she would have committed suicide....WOW...We then gave her a blessing of comfort. We talked with her daughters, they loved church and wanted to come back next week with Adela. It's pretty crazy to think if we had not gone to her house, she may have committed suicide.

We are also teaching a couple, Jose and Anna, they are 18 and 24 years old, and a cool guy named Jyro. He went to sacrament meeting with us and wants the lessons so hopefully he will accept repentance unto baptism.

Once again, thank you to all of you for everything and love you all! I wish I had more than 1 hour for emailing on the computer because they are slow as heck. Sorry I can't reply to everyone and everything but I'm going to try and send more pictures.

Love, Elder Buck
!

Setting and Reaching Goals

Hello Everyone!

Yes, it has been another long-hard week. Our goal was to meet all the recent converts and visit with them to see how their doing, keep them encouraged and keep them coming to church. Sadly, almost all of them are inactive now and going to other churches already. The fellowshipping of the converts is really most important. That is the thing I don't get all the active members of the wards are all converts so they know how it feels to be a new member. We have a lot of work to do!

We taught 30 lessons this week but no investigators will take the challenge to be baptized :/ They are stubborn in their currents religion and beliefs.

This week is the 30th Anniversary of the Nicaraguan Revolution and the Sandinista National Liberation Front so it has been pretty crazy with riots, screaming-drunk people in the streets, so that has been fun. On Sunday, we were in a part of the city that is more dangerous, because the men carry machetes and are usually drunk. We had a drunk man stop us to talk, in the mean time another drunk man came up behind me and put his hand in my pants back pocket, hoping to rob me. All I had in the pocket was a handkerchief, so when he realizes I have no wallet he tries to run away but I tripped him and he stumbled. Next thing we see is the drunk we were talking too starts beating up the drunk who fell down, so we just kind of walked away...:P

It has rained almost everyday this week so it is muggy and muddy. But I am trying to do what Jeffery R. Holland said in his talk to us at the MTC...support the good times and the bad times and just laugh about it. :)

I thank all of you for love and support to me. Thank you Dad for you letter, it has helped me out a ton!

I love you all!

Elder Buck

A Much Better Week!

Elder Alonso from Guatemala
They grow big caterpillars here!
The lush green countryside.
Pineapple field - they do not grow on trees! LOL
Julio, church member

Hola mi Familia!

Thank you so much for all of your love and support and your letters!

Carly, I first want to start with answering your letter. That is an awesome dream you had and that is an awesome way to think of the Savior. Carly you’re going to do awesome, your spirit is so strong, and you’re a hard worker in school. You keep it up. I love you. You keep doing everything your doing, listen to Mom and Dad they know what’s best for us. If anything I have learned, in these 5 months I have been out, is how kind, loving and supportive our parents are.

Thank you again for all your love and advice! This week has been a lot better, still having a real hard time with our investigators but I love being here. I have been in Nicaragua for 3 months and I can pretty much understand what everyone is saying and they can understand what I’m saying (finally!!) ha-ha

Oh it was so cool yesterday, we were over at the house of Familia Moya. They have a huge family but the mom she goes to church every Sunday and knows a lot but doesn’t want to be baptized. :/ She has 3 children who are baptized Geovany, Scarlet, and Henry. They are awesome, Scarlet is inactive right now but I found away to get her interested again in the church. Okay, so you know how I love spelling bee stuff. Ha-ha, it’s even funnier in Spanish. Since I know the Spanish alphabet I can spell the words, so yesterday we were over at their house only visiting. It was the Mom, Geovany and Scarlet, my companion and I. Before when we visited, I never really talked so they were kind of surprised when I started talking in Spanish. I was asking them questions of what they like to do to find out what we could do for family home evening next week. The mom was kind of interested in family home evening - not really, and Scarlet didn’t even want to do it. When I asked her what she likes to do she said "deletrear" which means to-spell and I was like "Oh cool, spell the word "dispensacion" which is dispensation. She spelled the word quickly and so I gave her a harder one. Then I told her I like to spell words too, so she gave me a word to spell and I did it quickly so they were really surprised. Ha-ha

Then we were having this completion with a list of words to spell and I got all of them right. I suggested "Hey, we should do a game next week for Noche de Hograr (family home evening)” and she was excited for that. I thought that was awesome, because during the spelling bee her whole family gathered around us to listen and watch us. They all want to participate next Monday night which is awesome cuz they didn’t want to participate before! I’m excited for next week!

Yesterday, Monday, was amazing we went to this awesome area outside of Managua. In a place called Jinotepe which is Beautiful. It’s so green and its how I imagined Nicaragua, I have included the pictures. We had a guide his name was Julio he’s really cool and a member of the church. That was awesome, we climbed this gigantic mountain, ate wild pineapple from the bush (ha-ha I thought pineapple grew on palm trees :P and watched the wild monkeys in the trees. It was amazing and the weather is perfect!

After the hike I got a haircut from a lady who is a member and she hacked the crap out of my hair ha-ha so I need to get it fixed. But that’s all the time I have, thank you again for everything, I love you all!

Elder Buck
p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENDAL!

The Reality is Sinking In...

Wow! I have been in the mission field for 5 months now. Crazy how fast time goes by. Yeah, I have to admitt I was a little discouraged in my last letter and this week didn't exactly go the way I throught it would either. I am struggling right now, I really try not to get discouraged so I don't feel worthless or I'm not doing enough. I guess it is Satan working on me with negative thoughts. Grrr...I'm mad at myself right now, I want to improve and I pray for help and forgiveness for shortcomings but I still feel like I'm a failure. I'm lost right now. I do get along well with my companion,he is awesome, he is always smiling and positive, I guess I should learn some things from him.

I am really feeling the physical challenges of walking 10-15 miles each day in the heat and humidity, I am pretty exhausted by the afternoon and my legs are weak which makes it hard to walk.

The familia Correa will not be getting baptized at this time. We have worked hard with them this week but they have some habits to stop and committments to make before they are ready. We have made other contacts this week but nobody is progressing at the moment.

Every week we have investigators who say they will go to church with us on Sunday so every Sunday we wake up and, eat breakfast, and go to all of our investigators houses to take them to church with us. But by Sunday morning they all have an excuse why they cannot go with us that day.

Monson is almost ready to leave for the MTC, I wish I could write to him so please tell him congratulations for me! Happy Birthday Kendal, and Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad.

I love all of you ... always!

Elder Buck

p.s. Note from Sandra: If anyone reading this post has had discouragement while serving a mission or other church calling, your positive feedback, personal experiences about how you endured or overcame your challenges could be emailed to Elder Buck. His email address is in the right hand column.