July 18th: Servicio

Hola Familia,

This Saturday there was a service where we waere taking dirt from a mountain to make room for a house. In sacrament meeting we had the three people with baptismal dates for july arrive. Arisel, who has a son to be baptized with her this coming saturday (if she doesn't give birth first), she arrived late, so we were getting pretty nervous. But the other is the son of a less active family who is 9, and the three (mom, daughter and son) arrived, so we were pretty happy yesteday.

We had divisions with the zone leaders, and that was fun. we had some good experiences, like teaching a father-in-training (he just seemed to talk about everything in general, we didn't get to share much doctrine). With my zl, we also found another kitten, cold in the rain. we took it back to hte house to bathe it and give it food. This is my second kitten, since sunday elder pac and I had found one and had kept it as well, for 4 days! It was fun and )I will include photos as well (i don't remember if i mentioned the kitten last week.)

Concerning time, I have 3 minutes left, so I will finish organizing music again (my folder get very diaorganized) but until next week...

Love,

Elder Niendorf

July 11th: Pday Again...

Hola Familia,

Well, this week was interesting in a few things. As you might see the rain came, at first pretty hard and in a next photo you see the river that formed outside of our house. At one point the rain suddenly began leaking a lot onto my bed and we had to put pots and containers and rush to move off the extra stuffs I had on my bed. This week we also crossed a small river. A member had a reference for us, so we decided to take off our sockes and shoes to take the shortcut to get there with her from her house...

Saturday we had again service where we helped the family on the hill move more dirt, and I had a good time because I was actually able to do some of the digging. At one point I threw a javelin-like tool at the wall and some of the dirt caved in, it was pretty cool.

Our investigator who WAS going to get baptized this coming Saturday didn't come to church, so we are going to have to move it back a week. She still feels a bit unsure, but I think everything will work out alright. Concerning English Classes, only one student showed up again, so this coming week may be the last week....

With a family that we are teaching, the baby was super happy when we were teaching, and started biting everything, his dad, the couch, a book, my comp. and it was pretty funny. Sunday we adopted a stray kitten, as seen in the photo. We plan on cleaning her up a bit and trying to find a home. Se llama Liana.

Love you tons,

Elder Niendorf

No Habia Cambios

Hola Familia!

I am still here in Torrijos Carter, in the Zone of San Isirdro with Elder Pac, which I think was just perfect. Here, there really aren't towns. The general name for all this area would beSan Miguelito, the same as where I was over a year ago. To get to Allbrook, the terminal or central hub for all the buses in the country, it takes about an hour, but this area basically melts into to city. I really like this area.

We had a baptism! Sonia Robinson in the photo. I baptized her, and yesterday my companion confirmed her. The member that was going to do it left this weekend because a family member died, so we missionaries were the only others that she knows well...Oh, the Mission President had to come to do the baptismal interview, and took a picture for the blog. But it was a new experience, because we found out during the baptism that she has fear of water. She started panicking, which made me nervous, but after we started singing hymns, she relaxed enough to do the baptism; we had to do it kneeling, but after everything she said it was an 'experiencia bonita' and she shared her testimony yesterday!

Anyways, love you all tons.

Love,

Elder Niendorf

last Pday of the transfer

Hola Familia!

This week we sort of lost a positive family because they will be moving to the province of Darien, where the church can't be due to the drug trafficking problem. But on the other hand, this Saturday will be the baptism of Sonia, and she is excited/nervous about it. We also put another baptismal date for the 17th with a 26 year mother. She is pregnant, and we found out afterwards that her delivery date should be the 20th...so it might be a double baptism! jk...Her family are members, she was the only one who hadn't been baptized.

I did my first baptismal interview with a 9 yr old boy named Hyrum (like Joseph Smith's brother) and as you may have guessed his family are already members, and everything turned out well.

The fotos are of several things I don't remember all of them, but they include the temple, my comp burning his tie at 6 months, etc...

Love you all,

Elder Niendorf

A New Week

Hola Familia,

I can hardly believe that there is only one week left in the transfer. My companion and I are trying to work effectively, but we end up having some adventures as well. On Wednesday we went contacting in some hills, and crossed a little river. We kept looking for a way to get back over to a place called Nueva Libia, but as we popped out onto a street I recognized the bus stop nearby as the one the Zone Leaders (and other companionship in that area) stop at to go to their lunch appointment! It was fun. The next day I did divisions with someone from that area, I pointed to him the point where we got lost, and that night was the Fathers Day activity, which started almost two hours late.

On Friday we got to go to the Temple! A recent convert was going to go, so the Bishop invited us and we got permission from President Ward. We went to a session and got back to our house a bit late, but it was pretty cool being there with the ward because we are usually there as missionaries (Like tomorrow we are going as a Zone to the Temple.) There was food provided, and a member has a Samsung Galaxy phone and showed us the latest episode of Naruto! That was pretty cool.

Satuday we put a baptismal date! with the woman that had come to church 3 times (she was visiting familiy yesterday and did not come). Sonia is about 35 I'd say. She had had an experience hearing about eternal family relationships in church, and had something like a personal revelation that she might marry someone in this church. She had already known the message was true, but that thought of getting married made her nervous and maybe was why she didn't accept the date before...

Yesterday was Día de los Padres, so on just about every holiday most people buy cajas of beer, and put on their music very loud, and we almost had nothing to do yesterday. But we got invited to eat cake and ice cream at a birthday party (our second one this week!)

The photos are: two of Fathers day activity in the church(I am in one of them), one of the birthday party, and one we took today of my First district as district leader (and one showing it was a Hannah Montana birthday party).

I love you all. I hope you are doing well. I don't remember my password for BYUI, and I forgot to look for it last night...But if I am going to transfer to BYU provo, Hna Ward said I will just have to sign up on their website like normal, or something like that. One of these weeks I will ask for extra time on internet to look more into it...

Love you all,

Elder Niendorf

June 13th, 2011: New PDay Again

Hola Familia,

This week hasn't provided many fruits. Most of our appointments have fallen, and we had low numbers. but We continue working. My companion likes to teach an talk a lot. The bad thing about that is that sometimes he doesn't let me come in to share sometimes. Nevertheless I think he is turning out to be my favorite companion so far. We get along pretty well, and I wouldn't mind passing another transfer with him.

My companion is pretty good at starting lessons and overcoming awkward situations, moving them back toward the lesson, things that I can do but which is difficult for me to accomplish well. He is also good at giutar (his family and/or friends had a band).
Mostly during our companionship study we converse about sections in PreachMyGospel. A lot of times we end up talking theology about something in D&C or other canonical books, which is fun.
One thing that was interesting during a lesson I had during a lesson while we were on divisions was when we conversed with a less active member. she mentioned somethings that were causing her to fell down, unhappy and stuff, including going to church. We almost didn't get to converse with her because she is the kind of person who is reluctant to open up. I decided to pass a few moments not saying anything, and right as I started saying "Well, it's about time to go, who'll say the closing prayer" she started talking at the same time, sharing something.

Well, This computer won't reach my card either... If I cant move to another computer, I willl definitely send some next week (good ones too). Hey, I got permission to update myFacebook and personal email from the president, so I will end for now...I love you all.

Love,

Elder Niendorf

June 6th, 2011: Hola Familia

Bueno, This has been an interesting week. One of our invesitgators arrived to church, and she is still positive, but she seems to want to progress slowly. I can't remember stories to tell you guys most of the time, especially since most weeks are exactly the same as the week before.

We did a service moving dirt Saturday morning, and that was pretty fun. I like digging. Two other elders came to help widen a pathway up to a house so they came get ready to make it a concrete path. Yesterday my comanion and I had our wallets stolen in the path right next to two churches (the true church and a false one). That was a fun experience, and it has given me some cool perspective. but don't worry about me. I love this area, not because of anything special other than I find it somewhat easy to work here.

Healthwise, I had a cold for a few days, my head still hurts, but other than that I am well again. I did speak in church the first Sunday of this change with my companion. I love you all. I hope you have a good week. I will try to write more in these letters...Oh, and this computer doesn't read my sd card for pictures...

Love,

Elder Niendorf