Happy Easter!!

I hope the Atonement of Jesus Christ was first and foremost in your minds and hearts yesterday :)

Elder Parrish, Hildebrando, and Elder Ayala

It couldn't have been a better Sunday for me because I was able to see Hildebrando get confirmed after his baptism yesterday! I am positive that the Lord has a lot of things prepared for Him. It is incredible the way the Lord shaped and prepared him for that day that we talked to him in front of his house. I have never felt more sure about the Lord's promises that "the field is white, already to harvest" (D&C 4:4) and "Yea, I will open the hearts of the people, and they will receive you" (D&C 31:7). Hildebrando was prepared by Heavenly Father and the Lord opened his heart and mind to accept the restored gospel. Never have I met an investigator with such a desire to learn and with the ability to retain and apply everything we taught to him. He is already learning about the priesthood through the branch members and the Gospel Principles manual that we gave him. Next week, he has an interview with the branch president to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. I feel like Hildebrando has already been a member for years, because every week at church he participates in the classes and surprises everybody with how spiritually smart he is! He continues to impress us and the branch members every week. Now we just need to gain the trust of his wife. I have faith that with the good example and strong testimony of Hildebrando, his wife will one day accept the gospel, as well. I can't help but think that Hildebrando is going to become a great leader in the Church here in Granada. I feel so blessed to have been the missionary that the Lord guided right to him.

This past week was pretty crazy as we were ending the month of March. As you probably remember the mission had a goal to baptize 60 families in the month of March. Unfortunately, the mission didn't quite reach the goal, but boy did we push ourselves and work for it. There were so many little miracles that happened! Elder Ayala and I would have baptized the husband of a part member family, but we are still waiting for his divorce papers to come through from his other wife so he can get married to his girlfriend (who he's been with for 8 years now).  It ended up taking longer than it was supposed to, and didn't get done by the end of March, but we will baptize him in April for sure! In the month of March, the mission baptized 41 families, 70 men over the age of 18, and 191 people in total. As far as I know, that's the highest amount of people baptized in one month in the time that I've been here. Zone Granada was the highest baptizing zone with 12 families baptized, 21 men over 18, and 50 people in total. ZONA GRANADA! Best zone in the mission :) Last month, the mission baptized like 19 families and around 100 people in total. So the month of March was definitely a month of miracles!

 

As much as I love Easter, I'm pretty happy that this week is over. This past week is a holiday for Nicaragua, and is known as "La Semana Santa" (Holy Week). It's a tradition that I think was started by the Catholic church to remember the death and resurrection of Christ. It's been celebrated for such a long time in Nicaragua that it's just become a holiday for everybody. The majority of the people don't work. Unfortunately, there are very few people who actually make the week "holy" by remembering Christ. Almost everyone just takes off to the beach to drink and party. It was hard, because we found a few of our investigators and branch members drunk in the streets. Everyday, we did our best to encourage everyone to remember Christ, and show their love and thankfulness for him through their obedience to his commandments.

 

Tomorrow, we have a multi-zone conference in Managua, where President Monestel will talk with us about the month of March. Elder Ayala and I have to give a power point presentation with graphs and such about how the zone has improved from January-March. It should be fun!

 

Oh, thank you for the Easter package! I got it last week but I forgot to tell you. Needless to say the Easter candy was long gone before Easter Sunday :)

 

I love you all very much! I can't even explain how excited I am for General Conference this week! I have learned to love and appreciate General Conference a lot more while being here on the mission. I know without a doubt that we are members of Christ's Church, and this upcoming weekend,m we will be privileged to listen to His prophet and the apostles that He has chosen to lead and guide us.

 

Love you all!