Elder Christensen Mission Conference

       This week has been filled with much spiritual direction and counsel. I direct my thoughts to the mission conference we had this last Monday with Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy. This great servant of God directed this devotional to the meaning and purpose of the worldwide missionary training broadcast that was held this last Wednesday. He expressed the divine importance of "Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts." As missionaries we are inclined to sometimes get caught up in the whims and woes that are the gospel doctrines and truths and forget the meaning of helping others turn to Christ in true repentance and conversion. We find that many of the people we teach and baptize soon fall away from the church and its teachings. Why is that? because we as servants of the Lord and instruments in His hands forget to teach the Key Doctrines of Faith and Repentance focusing only on that which is baptism and confirmation. although very necessary parts of the Plan of Salvation, if we do not teach our investigators to repent not only before baptism, but afterwards and for the rest of their lives, they cannot reach the plains of what is salvation and perfection through the Infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that as I strive to keep my gospel covenants and strive to help others realize it as well, I will not only baptize more, but increase the quality of those that are baptized. I know that these are divine promises of the Lord given by His true servants.
     Other news, three of the investigators I was teaching in my old area got baptized this week! What a miracle! Their names are Cristian, Jennifer, and Lucia. All were references given to us by recent converts! Just goes to show that you never know who is ready to be baptized no matter how young they are! So all the youth out there who arent sure if they should introduce their friends to the missionaries, dont be afraid! The Lord works in miraculous ways!

New Beginnings

     This week has been a little interesting as we had transfers this Wednesday. I got a new companion and a new area, but I am still here in the office. With transfers and new beginnings, my heart is saddened at the thought of all the awesome investigators I'm leaving behind. I had many friends in that area, but I am also excited for the opportunity to start over and do things well. My companion was actually trained in this area and a year later he is back. so we have lots of motivation to "throw fire" as they would say.

San Juan del Sur, Welcome 2016!

        This last week has been as crazy as possible. With San Juan del Sur on Wednesday, things have been so crazy here in the office. We spent pretty much all of this week running around doing errands for the activity. The activity was a huge success and the whole mission had a wonderful time. I got the chance to flip hamburgers and set up all the games on the beach for the activity. it was really cool to be on the beach but also really weird because we couldn't dunk in the water and it was really hot! For those of you who don't know, at the beginning of the year President Russell put a baptismal goal for the mission at 2,060 baptisms. Many doubted and said it was madness. never ever has this mission baptized that many in one year. Well, the end of the year came and we ended up with 2,158 baptisms for 2015! what a miracle! all of our hard work paid off. So, as a reward President took the whole mission to San Juan del Sur, which is the place with the best beaches.

        He also announced the new goal for 2016. The new goal for the mission is 2600 baptisms! It sounds crazy but I know that if we have faith and trust in ourselves and our leaders that the Lord will bless us! There are so many people out there in Nicaragua who have been prepared by the Lords hand to receive the gospel at this time. I know the Lord is merciful and good. I know that the power of the holy priesthood is real and that we are directed and guided by Jesus Christ himself. 2015 may have not been the funnest year of my life, but I have grown and matured to greater lengths. The Lord has seen fit to challenge me, and I hope to be able to rise to them all and overcome. Thank you all for supporting me this last year. So bring it on 2016, im ready for you!

Elder Alejandro Lim

Hello Friends and Family!
This is John speaking. I've updated AJ's blog all the way up to this week as part of a project for one of my BYU classes. I also plan on making some kind of visual message (Picture or video) to go with his updates every week. The weeks that he doesn't send an email I will use a simple message from one of his previous messages. Thanks for loving my brother and I look forward to what he will teach us in the next year!

12th December 2015
I know things may seem hard right now but don't be sad! We have eternity! A lot of times I get caught up in the moment and don't think about the bigger picture. It's hard to have that vision, but I know if we have a vision we can get through anything. Just hold on to the joys and blessings of life!

The Lord Leads Us

     This week we had a cool little miracle. We were walking down a street one day at about late afternoon and this street we usually dont go down very often but that day we decided to take that route to another lesson. as we rounded the corner man came running out of one of the houses and called us over. we came over and he told us that he wanted to hear from us, that he had an uncle in the states who was a member and that he had told him to look for the mormon missionaries. so that night we talked with him and placed a baptismal date with him. that night we also met the rest of his family who were all interested and very open as well. a few days later we came back and taught the whole family this time and they all accepted baptismal date. there were about 5 of them. and there are some others who live there who we havent been able to talk to yet. but thats the miracle of the week!