Today we had an activity with the missionaries in the zone. We played soccer and ate pizza. My companion and I organized a "most likely to be" activity where everyone had to vote which missionaries in the zone would be most likely to be billionaires, professional athletes, parents of 15 children, married to a Nicaraguan, etc. The zone voted me most likely to be a doctor...? What the heck haha. It was super funny.
Wednesday, I had a pretty funny experience while doing splits with Elder Sessions, one of the district leaders of the zone. Elder Sessions was in the MTC with me, and we're ending the mission together, so we've become really good friends! So while we were teaching a lesson to a family of investigators in Elder Session's area, it started to rain really hard. The family lives in a little alley way. As it began to rain harder and harder, the whole alley way filled up with water! We had to take off our shoes and socks, roll up our pants, and walk out of the alley way in the dirty, smelly water. We took pictures of it. (haha) It was a really funny experience. There's never a boring day in Nicaragua!
Everything went great this weekend with the baptisms of Jeffrey and Sandy. Here's their story (in summary):
We first met Jeffrey and Sandy about 6 weeks ago when they randomly showed up to church with their friend Steven who is a less active member. Steven had invited them a few days earlier to visit church on Sunday. So Sunday morning, Sandy and Jeffrey were driving to church and saw Steven walking down the road. They pulled over and told him to get in the car, because they were going to church. What they didn't realize at the time was that Steven was drunk. It wasn't until they pulled up to the church that they realized he was drunk, but it was too late to do anything about it because he just walked right in. He marched in and sat down with them on the FRONT ROW. Needless to say, it didn't take long for everyone to realize that Steven was completely wasted. He couldn't even sit up straight. I was just praying the whole sacrament meeting that Steven's friends would be able to feel the spirit.
After Sacrament meeting, my companion and I went up to meet them, and that's when they told us all that had happened. The bishop took Steven into his office and had a good talk with him! We introduced ourselves to them and they introduced themselves. Jeffrey is from Michigan. After retiring, he decided to fulfill his life-long dream of going to med school and becoming a doctor. He started studying in Costa Rica, but then decided to continue his schooling in Nicaragua, because it is cheaper. He is 70 years old!! He still jokes around though like he's a lot younger. Jeffrey has lived in Nicaragua for 4 years now, but only talks medical-related Spanish. He has children that all live in the United States. About a year, ago he married a Nicaraguan lady. He is definitely one of the most interesting guys I've ever met. He's always joking around and making fun of my English!
Sandy met Jeffrey while taking medical classes. They became really good friends, because Sandy speaks really good English and helped Jeffrey out a lot. Sandy is from Nicaragua and he is 30 years old. He is married and has one little daughter.
After their first Sunday in church, they told us that they really liked what they saw and felt, and wanted to keep coming. We didn't think they were going to come back because of the horrible example of their friend. However, the next Sunday they showed up again! They found out about the Institute classes being offered, and began to go to those on Fridays and Saturdays. We started teaching them the lessons, and they absorbed it all really quickly. They expressed to us their desire to give more time to their spiritual side of life. After a couple more weeks of us teaching them and coming to church, we put a baptismal date with them for the 19th of October. About a week and a half ago, we received a random call from Sandy saying that they had both received answers to their prayers and wanted to be baptized as soon as possible. I nearly dropped the phone! haha. What a miracle. Jeffrey told us that he had 2 dreams that for him were a clear answer that he needed to be baptized. Sandy told us that he had just felt in his heart that he needed to baptized, even though his mind was trying to talk him out of it. This past week, we taught them a few more things and they were interviewed for their baptism.
I forgot to mention that we taught Jeffrey and Sandy all of the lessons in English! I've never done something so difficult in my life. (haha.) Jeffrey told us that we have really thick accents, and that our English is terrible. (haha.) We need to work on that... The baptismal service on Saturday went great. They were both baptized by Alvaro Fernandez, the Elder Quorum President, and were confirmed yesterday.
It's amazing how the Lord prepares people to be baptized. It doesn't matter who they are or where they come from. As He said in John chapter 10:14, "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep..."
I love you guys! I hope the story of Jeffrey and Sandy will motivate you to share the gospel with those around you. Trust in the Lord and remember that he is always preparing someone to accept the gospel.
Until next week!
Elder Parrish
