Tornado over Lake Managua

Well, rainy season has been hitting us pretty strong this week! It's rained at least a little bit every day. It's nice because it keeps the temperature down, but bad because it makes it even more humid than it already is! I bought an umbrella a couple weeks ago, and it broke today in the wind and rain. That just goes to show how strong the rain can be here sometimes!

This past weekend was great. Jose and Maritza were baptized, and also Maria, an older lady that lives alone with her kids and grandkids. I've talked a little bit about José and Maritza in my past letters but I'll try and give a more detailed story about them...

 

We first found José and Maritza one night as we were contacting in the street. (I think in English, they call it tracting, right? I don't remember.  Ha ha.)  Anyway, we were walking down the road, and we saw them both sitting outside their house. My companion noticed them there first, and we decided to go talk to them. As we introduced ourselves and talked a little bit about our purpose as missionaries, José immediately started trying to speak English with me. We set up an appointment to return and left. We went back a couple days later, and got to know a little bit about them. We found out that José knew English, because he had lived in the U.S. for over 10 years, and worked for a company as a chef in hotels. He was always getting moved around by his boss to different parts of the U.S., and has lived in New York, Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles and many other cities. They have one 6 year old son together, and Maritza has a 9 year old daughter from a different relationship that lives with her and José. When we first started teaching them, they didn't have a very good relationship and were constantly arguing. Even when we'd be teaching them, they would sometimes just randomly start arguing about small little things. They were interested in the church and our message, but had no intentions of getting married. As we began to teach them the missionary lessons, we first began to see huge changes in José. He received an answer to his prayers, and began to read the Book of Mormon like crazy. When we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, he immediately started to live it.  Maritza took a little longer to accept the Word of Wisdom and forgive José for the past. However, as she began to read the Book of Mormon and pray with José, she realized that he really had become a new person, and that if the Lord was willing to forgive him, then she should be too. The Lord blessed her with the strength to live the Word of Wisdome and the courage to forgive. After a few weeks they both wanted to be baptized, but were still undecided about marriage. We worked with them a lot and through their prayers and study they realized that they needed to be married to keep a commandment of the Lord and receive the blessings that they desire in their home. The marriage and baptism went relatively smoothly even though Maritza was really nervous. We helped her say a prayer and take deep breaths, and she was able to go through with it all. The branch president and his wife were a really big help. They live a few houses down the street from José and Maritza, which worked out perfectly because we were always able to do family home evenings with them all. José and Maritza even asked them to be their witnesses in their wedding!

 

Maria was a reference from a recent convert in our branch, who happens to be her grandson. The missionaries had visited her about a year ago, but she said they had transfers, and the new missionaries who got to the area never went to visit her. From the very first time we started teaching her, she was really positive. We asked her to say the closing prayer after our first visit, and in her prayer she asked Heavenly Father to never take away the missionaries from her again, because she wanted to keep learning more about Him, and she always feels peace and happiness whenever the missionaries visit her. We taught Maria the lessons, and she understood everything very well. She is very humble and kind. She has come to church for about 5 weeks straight now and has developed a really good relationship with the Relief Society sisters. There is no doubt in my mind that she will endure as long as she has fellowshipping from the branch members and continues reading the scriptures.

 

This week has been so fulfilling as we have gotten to see some of the fruits of our labors. It is such a blessing to help the Lord in the gathering of His sheep. I know this work is of God! I feel Him leading and guiding my companion and me every day.

 

I'm pumped about McKay's mission call! I can't believe he's leaving next month. I put TONS of pictures on 4shared from the mission activity and also the baptisms.

 

Love you all! Talk to you next week.