District Puerto!

So this week the first District, District Puerto Cabezas, was formed here in Nicaragua! All of the organizations have been put into place and I have felt a bit of weight lifted off of my shoulders.

Our Mission President came to speak with us, do interviews and organize the district. it was fantastic being trained and guided by our mission president as to how to become better missionaries and be lead to change. I love my mission. I know that may just sound wierd, but it is the truth. These experiences are amazing. And now 5 months of my mission have just passed me by! Wow.

While I was speaking with the President I told him how diffifcult it is to serve in a place where the church is not very well established, but that I love it here and that I love the people so much. He and I spoke for a little bit about the people and the culture. It was a good, short interview.

My comp and I are doing very well. Elder Johnson and I have been working very hard on visiting less-active recent converts. It is a lot of work to do, especially with the normal work that we have to do every day. Sometimes it seems like SO MUCH WORK, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Sure this may be a lot for a few missionaries to handle, I know that the Lord wouldn't have put us here if He knew that we couldn't handle it.

Thanks for the update on how all of you are. On my P-Days I love getting updates on the Fam, how you all are and how the world is (the relatively normal world).

I got the update from the church newsroom about the Groundbreaking and I almost cired. I just thought about how happy I would be if they announced a temple for Nicaragua (based on how much I love these people) and I thought about how much Dad loves Italy. So yeah. There were almost tears. :)

On Saturday night I was talkiong to a bishop from Managua, who had come to work on the Chapel here in Puerto. He and I were discussing the culture of the Gospel and the conflict with the culture here in this city. It was a nice chat that helped me understand that these people will change, little by little and adapt to the culture of the Gospel. He also gave me some great ideas to motivate the people to action here. ;)

Mom-The package can have ties, chocolate, socks, pens, etc. Those are great ideas!
Dad-I'll contact the chambón (lazy boy).

I love you all so much...and this week I'll be on top of things and actually remember my agenda...

Love, Elder Braden D. Bolton

More from Toni

Hi friends and family,

    I know this summer I have not been very good about keeping in touch with everyone or sending updates about me.  I've just been really busy with all the usual 'warmer-weather-at-last' chores and plenty of fun activities too.  Like me winning 6 bottles of wine in the Lucy look-alike contest at the grape stomp. My only complaint is not enough family time.  But the time we shared was great .... scenic and fun.  Some of the other stuff we've been busy with is below.

    Most of you know I was the 'guest of honor & featured speaker' at the Bosom Ball a couple of weeks ago. Last Weds. I spoke again at the tennis center for the Rally For The Cure. Then this Saturday was the big fashion show & tea party for breast cancer survivors & they have a hat contest.  I wore the huge pink hat I made 8 years ago for a costume & I've added lots of breast cancer related pics, cartoons, sayings, logos, etc to the veil.  I'll try to send a pic or check  my facebook pages later.

    If you had been there you could have watched me win lots of stuff!  My hat won First Prize, (an overnight stay at the casino/hotel) and there were LOTS of fancy hats there this year, plus I won the centerpiece because my program had the special mark on it, plus won a door prize of an angel/cherub about a foot tall, plus won a manicure but I gave that one away.  It was fun. Craig & another guy came down & joined us for drinks & a little gambling after the tea.  We walked over to the new hotel lobby and spa to get a price list since I won ANOTHER overnight stay plus $100 spa treatment 2 weeks ago at the chamber party.  I need to buy some lottery tickets!

    Yesterday we went to a 'cowboy golf' game at a local ranch.  It was a charity fund raiser also.  I used to think Craig was the only cowboy-stockbroker around here but THIS guy & his family live like cowboys! It was very blustery, cold, rainy, windy so I stayed in their house & watched TV while they all trudged around through the pasture & cow pies hitting muddy golf balls!

    As for my health, I'm about the same.  Had another nuclear bone scan last week, didn't hear the results yet but my CEA # is still going UP, which is the wrong direction.... 6 mo in a row now. :-(

    I'm going to the Slocum Center in Eugene tomorrow to get my feet checked (finally) cause I just about can't wear any kind of shoes and that sucks!  The bone scan tech said that they took an extra 'view' of my feet because "something is going on there". ... & they hurt all the time.

    We're still planning to go to the Tacoma area for Thanksgiving with Rick & Kim & all.  I thought at first that maybe both Leslie & Don would be there as well with spouse + but guess that's not going to happen.  Maybe next time.

    But first...We're going to Maui Nov. 12 to Nov 20 and staying with our friends, the Rinaldi's.  I'll send you kids more info on that later.... flight info, etc.  You know I'm scared already (a total of 5 friggin' flights!), but I'm sure we'll be fine... I'm just going to pretend that we are Angelina & Brad & that we fly all over the world constantly! LOL

    Guess that's enough for now.  Hope you are all well and happy!

    Keep in touch.... miss you, lots of love & hugs, Mom/ Toni

Long Letter

Toni, congratulations on all your many honors. I always thought you were pretty enough to be a movie star and now you are one.

Don't be afraid of flying! Just go and have a good time. Life is too short to worry about things like falling out of the air.

Whenever a plane flies, it is suspended in air which is too thick — far too dense — for the plane to fall through it. Even though you cannot see air, and thus cannot see how thick it is becoming, you do know you can’t pedal a bike much faster than twenty miles-per-hour; and yet, at five miles-per-hour, you walk across a room without being slowed by air at all.it is possible to go faster than the speed of sound, but as you come close to that speed, air becomes nearly as solid as a brick. And, even at the speed a plane accelerates to on the runway before taking off, air becomes as solid as jello.
Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, flying the rocket-powered X-1 airplane. However, until that day, scientists were not sure it was possible. The plane had previously gone right up to the threshold of the speed of sound and stopped accelerating. It was as if it had hit a wall. Thus, the term, the “sonic barrier”. As it turned out, it is possible to go faster than the speed of sound, but as you come close to that speed, air becomes nearly as solid as a brick. And, even at the speed a plane accelerates to on the runway before taking off, air becomes as solid as jello.

Whenever a plane flies, it is suspended in air which is too thick — far too dense — for the plane to fall through it. Even though you cannot see air, and thus cannot see how thick it is becoming, you do know you can’t pedal a bike much faster than twenty miles-per-hour; and yet, at five miles-per-hour, you walk across a room without being slowed by air at all.

Thus, considering what a dramatic difference, effortlessly moving across a floor at five miles-per-hour and unable to pedal faster than twenty miles-per-hour because of the air holding you back, it is easy to imagine how much “thicker” air is at forty miles-per-hour (as thick as water) or eighty miles-per-hour (as thick as oil), or one-hundred-twenty miles-per-hour (as thick as molasses). Just a bit faster, and air becomes, as far as the plane is concerned, a mass of jello which sits on the earth and rises on up above the earth twelve miles to the edge of space.

The airplane, once it reaches “jello-speed” stays suspended in this huge mass of jello that covers the earth as a twelve-mile thick blanket. Or, if you prefer, think of the earth as a huge jelly donut, with the jelly on the outside. That is what we fly it. But it is a misconception to even say fly. Really we don’t. We simply sit suspended in jello as engines push us forward in it.

magine you have a plate of jello in front of you. There is a cube of pineapple suspended in the jello.  You pick up the plate and shake the jello. You shake it hard, trying to dislodge it, and make it fall. It is impossible. You cannot do it. You can only make the pineapple shake in the same direction as you shake the jello which is holding the pineapple.

Replace the pineapple with a toy model airplane, an inch or two long. Again, try to shake the jello enough to cause the model airplane to come loose and plunge through the jello. Impossible.

The jello is so thick that the plane can ONLY move forward, and it can ONLY move forward because of tremendous power from the engines shoving the plane forward hard enough to CUT the jello so it can move at all.

While the plane is on the runway, it speeds up until – as far as the plane is concerned – the air is as thick as jello. THEN, once in air as thick as jello, the plane can ONLY go where it is pointed, pushed by the tremendous force of the engines. So, the nose is raised a bit above the horizon, and so the plane goes exactly where it is pointed. The nose continues slightly up until reaching the desired cruise altitude, and is then pointed at the horizon so the plane neither climbs nor descends. Then, when time to descend, the nose is pointed slightly down, and because it is going downhill, the engines are not needed for it to cut forward through the jello.

The plane can only go where it is pointed. Turbulence can only make the jello jiggle, and thus the plane jiggle. It cannot make the plane come loose from the jello-like air. It cannot make the plane fall. In fact, use your imagination and you will find you can’t imagine the plane — in jello — going any direction except where it is pointed.


An accident can only happen under two possibilities: 1. The plane is pointed wrong, such as at a mountain, or at some point when near the ground other than the runway (there are warnings, now, to prevent both; 2. The plane goes too slow and the air is no longer like jello (that never happens with an airliner because the pilots are professional and there are warnings if the plane starts to go too slow).


If difficulty persists with concern the plane could fall, you will need to actually buy some jello mix and a little plane, and some skewers to simulate the engines pushing the plane forward (place the skewers against the rear of the engines and push).