Happy Halloweeeeeeeennnn!

 

I hope everyone is excited for Halloween this year. Personally, I'm interested to see how Halloween is celebrated here in Nicaragua. From what I've heard, it's pretty much a day for people to just party. I'm not sure if kids walk around collecting candy...but I doubt it! These past few days there have been a lot of religious groups going around town protesting Halloween. They say that Halloween is of the devil, and that it only causes problems and encourages children to hide from who they really are. I'm not sure I agree completely...but it's been interesting to see all the people protesting and trying to convince everyone to not celebrate Halloween. I'll have to let you all know what Halloween was like in next week's email. Today for Pday, we are going to carve pumpkins as an office. So be expecting a picture of a terrifying pumpkin soon...

As for our investigators...well I think the Lord is trying to test our faith a little bit and help us learn patience. This week, the family of Jaime and Ana, who had a baptismal date for the 10th of November, had some serious problems. Yesterday, we stopped by their house to have a lesson with them and nobody was there at all. We were slightly confused and so we asked one of their neighbors who was outside where the family went. According to the neighbor: Thursday night Jaime left the house and then came back completely drunk. He and Ana got in a huge fight and Jaime started beating her. Luckily, there was a male cousin of the family there that pulled Jaime off of her. Then, Jaime got mad at the cousin of the family and picked up a machete and started swinging at him. The male cousin ran away and called the police, but when the police got there, Jaime had already run off. Supposedly the whole story was on the news Thursday night, and Ana was crying, saying that she was never going to talk to him again, and that they were leaving. So, now Jaime is on the run from the police and the rest of the family left. Needless to say, we are heartbroken. Unfortunately, when someone is addicted to alcohol or any harmful substance it slowly starts to have more and more power over them until they basically lose their ability to control themselves. Last night, my companion and I were pretty discouraged about it. None of the family members have a phone, so we are just going to have to keep passing by the house to see if Ana and her kids come back. It has been hard for us because we were making such progress with that family.

We have a few investigators that are progressing and continue reading the Book of Mormon. At this point in time, we are just excited to get out there and find new people to teach. We have been in the process of gaining the trust of the members, and they have been a lot more excited to do missionary work with us! We know that we will be able to have success if we are just patient and let the Lord guide us.

Well, I love and miss you all!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!