The 4th of July in December?

It's December. I'm a little bit confused right now. How is it already December? Like what the heck? I hit six months in ten days. It's already December! What the heck! Hahahahaha it's super super weird here in Nicaragua. Obviously it's still pretty hot, but the people play with fireworks down here right now. I swear it's the 4th of July or something! It's super weird!

This week was another great week! The most important..... Elias got baptized! Wahoooooooooo! This is honestly a miracle of the Lord, and I am so unbelievably grateful for it. This young fella opened the doors to heaven on Saturday. Such a great moment. And even better, he got confirmed the next day (yes this can be a struggle sometimes in this mission)! Now his daughter is going to get baptized this week! We're super happy with this.

I'll be honest, this mission is really, really hard. The goal of baptisms for the year is 1800. Yes 1800. Right now we are 175 short going into December. It's going to be tough but I think we should be able to do it. But here in the mission there is SOOO much pressure to baptize and have good numbers, so you have to work extremely hard all day every single day to have success. And not just numbers, effective numbers! So it's lots of fun! Gotta love the pressure!

Last week we had transfers, and there's a new AP in town! His name is.... Elder Collado! My trainer, who has only eleven months in the mission, is the new AP! If that doesn't show how freaking sick he is, I don't know what does! I was so happy for him when I heard, and now I get to work with him sometimes here in the area (I've actually been missing him a lot lately). That's some other cool news I guess :)

On Thursday we had a little Thanksgiving dinner as a Zone! The food wasn't good, but it was a fun experience to spend a little time with the missionaries :) Elder Mataalii (from the MTC) and Elder Shephard (also from the MTC) are both in my Zone. It's always great to remember the memories and catch up :)

Just one quick little thing, and this will show you all a little bit about the Nicaraguans here :) We contacted a lady who was from some weird named (no one has ever heard of it) church. We asked her why there are so many churches in the world, and she said she doesn't know because the Savior only left 2 on the Earth when he was here (first super weird response). Then she told us those churches are the Catholic and Evangelical church. So basically this lady believes that there are only two true churches but doesn't actually attend either of them. The Nicaraguans :) I love them to death :)

I love you all so much and like always I'm super grateful for all the examples! Read the Book of Mormon! Even putting all my focus on investigators, it's continuing to change my life every day. Read, Pray, Serve. And Love!

Love,

Elder Merrill 

Elias' Baptism

Football on P-day