Well, April has come and gone--much faster than I expected or wanted it to--but that's just how the mission is sometimes!

 

Everything is fantastic with my companion and I. We continue seeing miracles and the Lord is blessing us. Yesterday was great because we brought 3 families to church! We are going to baptize a couple of families in May for sure. I got to speak yesterday in sacrament meeting about missionary work, which was fun. Giving talks in Spanish is a lot different than in English! For some reason, I didn't feel nervous at all and hardly had to use any notes. The Spirit really helped guide me with what I needed to say.

 

This week was definitely adventurous. It seemed like all the drunk guys were out to get us this week! First, we were walking down the road contacting and a drunk guy came up behind us and tapped us on the shoulder. He told us that he wanted our help to stop drinking. We told him that we wanted to write down his name and address, so that we could go visit him and his family later that week. He said,"NO! You need to come to my house right now and help me and my family. My wife is at the house right now. I only live a block away.  Let's go." We felt like we should follow him, and meet his family to see how we could help them. We got to his house, and started talking to him and his wife. His wife was really nice and let us in. She told us that her husband had become addicted to alcohol, and hadn't stopped drinking since January. He immediately started yelling at her, and got a little violent. She seemed a little too used to it, and it quickly become obvious that she had been suffering a lot of physical and verbal abuse. While the husband walked around the house babbling to himself in a drunken stupor, we talked to his wife about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and shared our testimonies with her that God was aware of her trials and would always watch over her if she would become closer to Him. We would have liked to stay longer and help the poor lady out, but her husband was completely out of control and didn't want to listen to us. He went into the kitchen and came out with a machete threatening to "shoot us" if we didn't get out of his house. We had a quick prayer with his wife, and got out of there as fast as we could. I have come to realize in the mission that God has a purpose in all that he does. We needed to lift and strengthen that daughter of our Heavenly Father that day. When we left the house, her countanance had completely changed. Her faith had grown, and she was confident that Christ would help her overcome her situation.

 

The second close encounter came a couple days later. We were sitting in the park early one morning waiting for the mayor´s office to open up so we could turn some papers in for some missionaries. As we were sitting there, a drunk guy came up and just started yelling at me. He had almost no clothes on, and was carrying a big trash bag full of soda cans and bottles. He started yelling at me, saying that I was from the CIA and that I needed to leave Nicaragua. I tried to explain to him that I was missionary, but he didn't want to listen. He lifted his big bag up above his head, and I thought for a second he was going to throw it at me, but then he put it down and started pretending to punch me. After a couple minutes, lots of other people in the park who knew him told him to go away and leave us alone. You just don't see these kinds of things in Brigham City, Utah! The Lord sure does protect his missionaries :)

 

I love of the words of the Savior in Matthew 9:12-13, "But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them.  They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.  But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

 

All I know is that despite their many imperfections, I love the Nicaraguan people! And I can feel how much our Heavenly Father loves them too. They need His restored gospel. And I feel so blessed to be one of the many missionaries who can share it with them :)