LA TARDE BLANCA/RIP HOBBS October 24, 2016

Beloved ones, it is that time of the week again. I cannot believe that this week has finally come, my first change is over! Hobbs and I both agreed that this change flew right on by. Shout out to thee Elder Hobbs for breaking me like a horse and for being my training. I'll take care of those escogidos in Sor Maria brother. Also, shout out to Tanner and Maddie, coming up on the big 1st anniversary. How crazy is that? I love you guys, have fun in Disneyland you luckies. This week, we saw so many miracles. We ended up baptizing 5 of our investigators! I WAS SO PUMPED! Also, I received my new trainer about 2 hours ago. He's from the Dominican Republic and his name is Elder Mendez. We're already bros and we can't wait to work our butts off! Here's how the week rolled:

Tuesday was one of the only days I got to work in Sor Maria with Hobbs because we had so may divisions and splits and other things going on. It was an awesome day though, we found tons of chosen people!

Wednesday was just other hard work day. Elder Morrison from the Matagalpa area came over and worked with me in Sor Maria. Tons of bolos messed with us haha.

Thursday, had my first multi-zone conference in Esteli! President Poncio is the man. He spoke on the importance of having exact obedience and how we need to always be finding God's elect. Hermana Poncio shared the story of Cain and asked us who wanted to serve, God or Satan. Powerful it 'twas!

Friday I had splits with Morrison again in Matagalpa. Worked duro duro :)

Saturday was the miracle day. LA TARDE BLANCA! As a zone, we baptized 14 people all in the same night. I had never seen anything like it. Seeing all of those Nicas dressed in their all white, ready to take the step closer to the Savior really hit home with me. I love this Gospel and this work so much. Missionary sincerly changes your desires. My needs are honestly the least of worries when we are out working. It's beautiful. We baptized Hermana Kayling and her two kids, and Hermana Maryuri and her daughter. Quite the expereince for me! (Pictures below!)

Sunday was my final day with Hobbs. He gave an awesome testimony in our sacrament meeting. We took some photos and we went our own ways. The people were so sad to see him go, everyone wanted pictures with him haha! 

I am so grateful for this chance I have to be a representative of the Savior. Thank you all for the birthday shoutouts again, means a lot :) I hope you are getting stoked for Oct. 31st. Love you all! Brayden Out.

Elder Campbell

Scriptures:

1. 1 Nephi 11:22 "The most desirable thing."

2. Alma 5:13, 26-27 "I studied this chapter super hard this week. I invite you all to do the same! One of the most powerful and humbling chapters there is!"

Pictures:

1. The Crew ready 4 Baptism! (Maryuri is closest to me, Kayling is by Hobbs)

2. LA GENTE-TARDE BLANCA

3. Registro City

4. Maryuri, Sara, Hobbs, y Yo

5. RIP HOBBIT :( Stay Nectar

6. Ball like Wall

THE BIG 19! October 17, 2016

Family and friends, what is going on? First off, thank you to all you locos who wished me a happy birthday, much love for you all! I cannot believe my mother birthed me 19 long years ago. Thank you mother for everything you've done for me and the fam bam. I love you loads! Shout out to Elder Ogden for finally entering the field man, give them heaven! Elder Topham, I love you man. Don't get too fat eating all that fried good stuff. Finally, Kendyl Moss! Congrats on your call to Ecuador! I am so pumped for you. Spanish gang! Kam Abilla too for her call to Mexico. I'm so proud :) Another week, livin' the life in Nicaragua. Here's how she went:

Monday we played tons and tons of futbol. Elder Hobbs and I walked around Matagalpa and got the most ghetto haircuts. Beloved P-Days.

Tuesday, we had one of the biggest miracles. We ran into a lady who had missionaries sent to her 5 years ago but never got baptized because she split to the mountain to cut coffee during her investigation of the church. Elder Hobbs just had a feeling to contact her on the street and now she wants to get baptized this upcoming weekend. The Lord works in mysterious ways. Imagine how different it could've been if we didn't plan to be in that area at that time. I love life!

Wednesday we did splits and I worked with a returned missionary named Elvis. Some bolo kept stalking me and Elvis told him off. BRO!

Thursday morning I met some Jehovah's Witness from Alaska in the store. Super funny seeing another white dude here. After, Elder Hobbs and I thought we had parasites so we went to a lab and had to poop in a freaking cup! The good news though: Parasite free baby!

Friday I went on another split up to Jinotega. I didn't get to work much because the Elder I was with had to do interviews for baptisms all day. :( Still, Jinotega is the flippin' jungle so I got to see some cool views!

Saturday was the big day! I got a free cinnamon roll in the morning at this place called Yum Yum's, then we went over to lunch date's house in Sor Maria. SHE GOT A FLIPPIN' CAKE FOR MY BDAY! I had never been so happy in my whole life. A family, who has so little, cared enough for me to get a cake. Humbling moment that was for me. I love them so much! Tons of photos below! After, I just kind of forgot it was my birthday and hit the ground running. You just kind of forget about yourself and realize how important it is to serve the people and your companion. No better feeling! :)

Sunday we had such an awesome attendance at church! Hard working week paying off. Later, it rained SO HARD. The roads in Sor Maria were straight rivers. I had never seen anything like it. I just love it here so much. 

The Lord gives us special experiences to remind us of the importance of the work. I am so grateful for that. He continues to show me weakness though and ways I can improve. I am always extremely grateful for that. I'm seeing miracles, big and small, everyday. Nothing better than the mission. I love you all so much! I hope you had a killer week. Keep on keepin' on!

Elder Campbell 

Scriptures:

1. Acts 3:6 "Silver and gold, I have none. But this I have. CHILLS!"

2. 1 Peter 5:2 "Feed the flock among you."

3. 2 Nephi 29:6-9 "God loves all of his children. The Book of Mormon is proof of that."

4. Jeremiah 1:5 "Before God formed me in the belly 19 years ago, he knew me! :)"

Pictures:

1. Hobbs and his flippin' dolls. Can't believe he goes home this change :(

2. The Hernandez Fam :)

3 & 4. PASTEL TIEMPO

5. Pizza day, yo

6. That dang Cathedral again

STAYIN' HUNGRY October 10, 2016

WORKING HARD!!

People of the ol´ USA, how goes it? This is basically my life right now: Tin shacks, rain everyday, MUD, bolos, tons of hard work, crazy people, and a kick butt comp! Elder Hobbs is the hard working mule of Nicaragua. The dude goes home in 2 weeks, but he still gives it his all every single day. Grateful I got placed in a home with such a loving dad who provides. Shout out to Elder Koch up in Mexico! Getting close to the field big guy. Good luck man! And of course, shout out to my homies all over the world. Just like Elder Erickson said, ´´D&C 88:133 still applies´´ 

This is how the beloved week went:

Tuesday we had a meeting for all the new missionaries in the mission in Managua. We had to get up at 4 AM to catch a 5:15 bus to the city. Freakin´ loco, but the meeting was super awesome. President Ponocio and Hermana Ponocio are thee most loving, genuine people. They talked about the importance of becoming a consecrated missionary and giving your ALL for the Lord during your service. Inspiring it ´twas!

Wednesday we had District Meeting then worked our booties off in Sor Maria. I bought some Nica scripture cases from this member in Matagalpa. He showed me some samples of the drawings he does on them and they are DOPE! I should get them in the coming days. I´ll send some pictures :)

On Thursday, we hiked up to this pueblo way up in the mountains above Sor Maria. We got SO flippin´ muddy (rained super hard). We walk 35 minutes every night from Sor Maria to Matagalpa because there are no buses that pass at 9:00 at night. Some dude hooked us up with a ride in the bed of his truck thought! Blessed.

Friday we were supposed to have interviews with Pres. but he had an emergency in Managua so he had to split before we could talk with him. I was bummed, I was really looking forward to talking to him :(

Saturday we just worked so dang hard trying to find people to bring to church!

Sunday´s are a little bit loco. You get up super early and got to your area looking for people to bring to church. We ran all over our area searching for our people to get them to church. The problem was that Matagalpa had a baseball game in the city so nobody wanted to go to church. All of our investigators ended up bailing. We only had 18 in our meeting, but the Spirit was there (see my scripture below). We then went searching for people for the 2 o´clock meeting in Matagalpa. As we were looking for our last investigator, I just felt a little discouraged that everyone bailed on us. I even asked my comp if we did something wrong. He didn´t say anything and we just kept searching. Finally, at our last house, our investigator, Mauricio stayed true to his word. Plus, he invited a FRIEND. We were so pumped. I love the Lord and how he blesses us. He just expects us to work to the very end. Keep fighting and searching for those elect!

Funny story: I was hanging at the bus stop and some drunk wandered by and starting talking to us. He had a cool Cuba hat on, so I told him I liked it and he tried to GIVE it me! HA, I freakin´ love the Nicas. Thee nicest people, even when they have no idea what is going on. 

So ends another novel from Elder Campbell. Keep enjoying football and the American food. Halloween is dang close, get pumped for that! Is it going to be Trump or Hilary? Someone flippin´ tell me! Love you guys!

Elder Campbell

Scriptures:

Ether 12:32 ´´Heavenly Mansions baby´´

Moroni 7:47 ´´The classic! Charity!

Matt 18:20 ´´There I am in the middle of you.´´

Luke 22:54-62 ´´Imagine being Peter. Frick!´´

Revelations 21:1-4 ´´New Jerusalem. What a time it´ll be.´´

Pictures:

1. Caught up with good ol´ McCord!

2. The coolest little pueblo in those mtns.

3. MATAGALPA or GTF(flip)O

4. The Grand White Catholic Church (dang)

5. Chili Picantes with my dad. Ft. the new haircut

GC TO SAVE THE DAY October 3, 2016

Good people, how goes it? Another P-Day rolled around and I am so pumped to email! First of all, happy 2 months in the mission to me! Time flies when you are serving the Lord. :) Second, I hope General Conference was an experience for you guys to grow and learn from the Lord's servants. Nica's sure do love their baseball. Every group of kids in the street plays little pick up games of handball (baseball without a bat). Right now, the playoffs for the professional league are going on and that is all anyone watches at night. We found TONS of success at the end of this week!

Monday was beloved P-Day. We played lots of futbol and shopped a little bit at Maxipali (Nica Walmart). I bought a huge bag of crappy corn flakes to keep me going in the mornings. Missin' the endless cereal at the MTC in the mornings.. We found this shake place on P-Day that has changed our lives forever. The bolos love sleeping over there for some reason. They love to talk to 'los mormones' :)

Tuesday, Elder Hobbs had to go to Managua for a leaders meeting and I was with a member in Sor Maria for the ENTIRE day. He speaks super fast, so I just nodded my head and said lots of ''Si'' and ''exactamente''. He helped me find tons and tons of people though! This one dude starting going off on us about the Bible and I just sat back and watched. Juan Riso is a baller 

Wednesday I hit the sick wall. Just pushed on forward and we had lots of blessings!

Thursday morning we had to bring 2 new beds into our house, up that super sketchy spiral staircase and into our house. Hobbs wants to have more Elders stay at our house so we can do splits and wreck the people in Sor Maria with the Spirit!

Friday, Matagalpa beat Leon in baseball and the entire city was losing it. Fireworks, trucks full of people were yelling and honking horns, and everyone was celebrating. Super fun teaching lessons with fireworks! 

Saturday was GC day! We spent all week looking for people to bring to the sessions. We ended up in a Ciber (internet cafe) in Sor Maria watching Conference. Little tender mercy, I got to watch it in English. Ask and ye shall receive, amirite? Saturday I woke up with the craziest rash ALL over my body. Thanks a lot Nicaragua. My face even has it a little bit, and all of the Nicas were asking me if I was diseased. ''El Chele'' is a monster they would say haha! Love them to death!

Sunday was the day all the hard work payed off. Our investigator of 3 weeks and her family finally got baptized! What a special experience that was for us. It truly was a miracle they ended up getting baptized. Heavenly Father's hand was seen in every aspect of their progression! Listen to this: It took me 3 times to baptize Janeth (the mom). Her flippin' dress would come up to the surface every time, no matter what I did. Pretty sure she wanted to punch me in the face when I told her we had to do it again for the 3rd time. I felt pretty bad, but at the same time, it was hilarious :) We played baseball with her family after conference. I just love those Nicas!

I hope and pray you learned from GC! Lots and lots of good stuff from the bosses. This week was a trying one, but the beautiful thing about trials is that we draw nearer to Christ as we experience them. I love you all! Have a killer week!

Elder Campbell

Scriptures:

Jacob 5:70-71 ''We come closer to the Savior as we labor in his vineyard.''

Moroni 7:12-13 ''All good things come from God''

1 Samuel 15:22 ''To obey is greater than to sacrifice.'' read this this week. Thought about it for awhile.

John 8:6-7 ''He that is without sin.'' Love this story!

Pictures:

1 Game of Thrones

2 GC in the Ciber!

3 How you get all of the town the Conference. FLATBED!

4 Hermana Conny makes me lunch everyday. Her son Maycol is one cool dude!

6 ELDER RUSH and ELDER DE LEON

5 The baptism :)

LOVE FROM DOWN SOUTH September 26, 2016

Brayden's living quarters.  He's says it's the nicest in the mission and the biggest.

My beloved friends and family. Another week rolled on by, Hobbs and I are working like mules, and live couldn't be better! Hobbs is back in action after his little accident at the bus stop last week. I wish you could have seen my reaction when he passed out on that bench, bleeding all over. All fun and games here in Nicaragua! I'm learning so much about the culture and what it is like to live in a foreign country. EVERYTHING is different! These people live in thee humblest of conditions, yet are so kind and receptive. Most of the people we teach live in tiny tin shacks with dirt floors. Of course, they have their TVs with the baseball games playing and their smart phones and tablets (priorities). Funniest people! This week was awesome, I'm pumped to share about it. Shout out to my brother Jacob Hone, the big 27 this week! Couldn't ask for a better example in my life. AND, those twin boys, hittin' 6 months. Love them with all my heart :)

Tuesday, after out District Meeting, we headed on out to Sor Maria to get another week going. We talked to our locals and a few nuevos, then went on a trek to the higher parts of Sor Maria. We passed through a legit landfill and found a family that lives super close to it. Imagine teaching at the Jordan Landfill out by The Copper Mine 3 or 4 times a week. That is what this is. Flies everywhere, the smell is awful, and they just live happily. I tried to get a good picture, but lots of thugs hangout and sniff glue (hittin' that good rubber cement) up by the landfill, so I can't pull out my camera. 

On Wednesday, we went to a house of this 86 year old man named Fidel who has been a member for ages. We asked him if he wanted to become a Melchezidek Priesthood holder and he just blew up. I didn't understand anything, but Hobbs translated. "You boys are gonna come here and tell me I'm not going to church when I've gone longer than you've been alive? I fought in the war. Don't come tell me nothin' when I attend church every week." Haha good ol' Fidel with the machete. Picture of him below!

Thursday night, we were walking home from Sor Maria and tons of cops were running after a group of teenagers smoking Mary Jane. The cops only care about drugs here, ABSOLUTELY nothing else.

Friday I went on a split up to La Dalia to work with Elder Rodriguez for the day and night. La Dalia is an honest jungle, and I was pumped to go up! We didn't see any monkeys though :( It rained the entire night and we were super cold! Lovin' that Nica daily rain.

On Saturday, I came home! The buses here are thee most insane thing ever. People hop on at every stop and try selling you their homemade stuff. They all yell stuff in Spanish and shake it in your face. I like contacting on the buses though. Every person I talk to tells me they have no religion, then I say what church I represent and they tell me they are Catholic. Jerks ;) In Sor Maria, the power went out for like the 3rd time this week! Kind of sketchy walking around with zero light. 

Sunday, we only had 32 attend church. I was super bummed. The Evangelicals had some Bible celebration day, and tons of the members ditched our church for that. Sometimes I just want to slug Satan in the face. One of our investigators ditched church to go smoke some Mary Jane. We ran into him at the football field and he wasn't too happy to see us. Gosh dang Satan! Just those little things that get these people here. One of our investigators fed us Sunday night (I was nervous). The food turned out awesome and we had a sweet lesson!

I can't begin to tell you guys how awesome of an experience this has been so far! Already learning so many different things and how to really connect and work with people. The inward feelings are starting to disappear. I love it!

I hope you're enjoying fall! Watch General Conference this week thinking of me. I want to watch it in English SO bad! Jealously for sure. Much love for you all.

Elder Campbell

Scirptures:

Mosiah 4:27: "For it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. God only gives us what he knows we can handle!"

Jacob 3:1: "He will plead for your cause."

D&C 122:6-9: "A powerful little section for when you are struggling. Verse 8 is a thinker."

1 John 4:7-9: "Love :)"

2 Timothy 2:10-13: Endure all things for the elect's sake."

My tip for the week: "Try a little harder to be a little better." -GBH

Pictures:

1: Hittin' those cement weights (I can do like 3)

2: Elder Rod and Yo

3: Old man Fidel (not Castro)

4: Backpacking

6: The Men at Chile Picantes

5: Matagalpa! (zoom in on the cross at the top of the Mtn.)

WEEK ONE IN THE FIELD September 19. 2016

Elder Campbell still lives! The last email was a little over 9 days ago, I apologize for all of my fans out there. I arrived in Nicaragua exactly 1 week ago and it is quite the place. I go contacting every day in a jungle village called Sor Maria, it's the coolest little place! The Nicas are the kindest, humblest people. Every person I pass in the street will say 'Adios' or 'Buenas', even if they look like they are going to kill me. A little about the place: There are dogs EVERYWHERE! Bolos (drunks) try to talk to us at the bus stop and in the street about God and try touching and hugging us. Nothing better than messing with a Bolo right before you go contacting! ;) It rains every day in little spurts. Our area is solid dirt roads and jungle, so we get covered in mud! My trainer, Elder Hobbs from Idaho, has been in the mission for about 23 months. He dies a few days after my birthday.. BUT! What a first week this was. Here's the good stuff!

Sunday: Last day in the MTC! It was super hard saying goodbye to all the boys from the District. After the devotional from M. Russell Ballard (3 Apostles in 6 weeks!), we said one last district prayer in our classroom. I love the dudes so much. McCord and I spent most of the night packing our stuff so we would be ready to leave at 3:50. MTC was some of the funnest 6 weeks yet :)

Monday: We took TRAX up to the airport and were in Atlanta around noon. After, we got on our plane to Nicaragua! When we landed, President Poncio and his wife were waiting there with a couple missionaries from the office. He is the COOLEST little Guatemalan guy. He was joking with us and making fun of us and asking us all of these questions. We're gonna get along just fine! After, he took all the new missionaries to Pizza Hut. We went to the mission home and that is when it became real! I was actually in the mission. It hit home!

Tuesday: I met my daddy! Elder Hobbs from Idaho adopted me on 9/13/2016. He is a ZL, has about 23 months in the mission, and he loves to machete people during lessons. (Picture of us below!) We got assigned to the Matagalpa-Sor Maria area. We are currently re-opening it, so we have tons of work to do! We took a 2 hour bus to Matagalpa and then we went home to drop off my bags. We have to climb a sketchy three story spiral staircase to get into our house! It's quite the place. We DO have running water, but the room is infested with fleas. Let the adventure begin :) We went to members houses after, and I didn't understand a word. In the middle, Hobbs looks at me says, "Elder Campbell will now bear his testimony to you." It went well..!

Wednesday: We went out to Sor Maria and we went to work! We met tons of people, talked to investigators who investigated the church months ago before the area closed for awhile, and then we had our lunch. Hermana Conny makes us lunch every day and it is SO dang good. Blessed to have her!

Thursday: I had my first baptism! They asked me to baptize Arelene Espionza only after 4 days in the mission. I was super nervous, but it went really well! She was so happy after she came up after the water. We are already seeing tons of miracles in our area. I understand very little during our lessons, but I know my place! I say what I know when the time is right, and I am the designated baptism inviter. We have tons of dates set for the coming weeks :) I'll keep you guys updated!

Friday: We had a lesson with this 78 year old women and the craziest thing happened. She had been avoiding getting baptized for over a year, but Elder Hobbs and I asked her to say a prayer with us on her knees and ask God for an answer. As she was praying, she just started wailing. I couldn't understand one word, excpet 'Bauticeme', which means baptize me. She agreed to be baptized and set a date for the following day. It was insane! Miracle for sure. She told the other ZL during her interview that she received an asnwer during that prayer.

Saturday: We just worked like mules some more and contacted tons and tons of people. The members help us out SO much! Every day/night, we always have a member helping us teach. I love the Nicas so much!

Sunday: We had 62 people attend church. Sor Maria isn't even a branch yet, but if keep our attendence up, we'll a branch super soon! After church, we were waiting at a bus stop and Elder Hobbs was sitting down below the bus stop sign. He jumped up and sliced his head on it on accident! He started bleeding everyone and PASSED OUT. Here I am, can't speak a lick of Spanish, my comp is bleeding and passed out. Luckily, tons of people were helping me out! I tried calling someone on our cell phone but not one person picked up. A truck took us to a clinic and Hobbs got some stitches. Adventure or what?

Another email ended. I hope you all are enjoying that nice fall weather and football! Nothing better :) I love you guys so much! Twanies!

Elder Campbell

Scriptures:

Enos:1:15 "Receiving an answer"

3rd Nephi: 12:48 "Be perfect"

Matthew: 18:21-22 "Be quick to forgive."

Matthew 25:40 "Done it unto me."

Luke 13:24-28 "Imagine hearing this from Lord. Gives me chills."

3rd Nephi 21: 28-29 "We never walk alone."

Pictures: 

1: My new Daddy

2: The first baptism! :)

3: Sunset in Sor Maria

4: The Sor Maria almost branch

5 & 6: Thee Area

MATAGALPA September 14, 2016

I only have a few minutes to email, but I made it to Nicaragua with no problems! Met President Poncio at the Airport and he is awesome. He's super funny and has carries a really awesome Spirit with him.

My daddy (trainer) is Elder Hobbs from Idaho Falls. He's our ZL and he's super sick. We get along really well and I've already learned tons from his example. I understand maybe 20% of the conversation right now, they talk SO fast, but we have lots of work to do. We are in an area called Sor Maria near Matagalpa, so if you want to look it up on Google maps and check out my hometown, go for it! TONS of dogs just walking around, and it is super green. Our goal is to get 9 people committed to baptism this week.. They definitely need tons of Priesthood help (We are trying to make this area into a stake)

Well, that's all for right now! Wish we luck with Espanol, we have tons of lessons this afternoon. I'm so glad I got to talk to each of you indvidually, what a blessing that was. I love you guys so much. Be good! He lives!

Elder Campbell

Mission President Poncio and his wife and Brayden's companion, Elder Hobbs.