Hey guys!

Hey guys!

This week we saw quite a few miracles. It's amazing the way the Lord works. The story from this week goes like this:

There is a newly married couple from Utah, who is living here in Granada for a few months. The husband works from home on his computer,  so they decided to live in a different part of the world for a while! They decided on Nicaragua.A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. 

I don't think they could have made a better choice! They are both ex-missionaries. His name is Joseph, and he served his mission in Germany. Her name is Heidy, and she served in Croatia. They don't speak much Spanish, so the first couple weeks I helped them get around and translated a little bit for them. The branch president was really happy to have them here, and was looking for ways that they could help out. The husband now plays the piano each Sunday. A couple of weeks ago the branch president asked him and his wife if they could do a musical number in English with some of the missionaries. For the past couple weeks, we have been practicing 

This week, I was feeling a little better after being sick last week. The only thing that was bothering me was a sore throat. On Saturday after practicing the hymn with everyone, my throat started hurting me quite a bit and I started to lose my voice. My companion and I were worried because we were the only men who were going to sing! After practicing, we stopped by our house, so that I could take some medicine. After taking the medicine, we went to a little store down the street, so that I could buy some Halls cough drops. As soon as we left the store, a man passed us on his bike. When he saw us, he immediately stopped and turned around to come talk to us. He said, "Hey, you guys are Mormons right? Can I have a Book of Mormon?" We were a little caught off guard. He then introduced himself as Carlos, and explained to us that a few years ago missionaries had visited him and his family. They taught him about the gospel and he visited our church a few times, but he was never baptized. He lost contact with the missionaries, because he was forced to move and leave the town. In the move, he lost his Book of Mormon. He told us that he would like us to come visit him in his house and teach him again. We gave him a Book of Mormon, wrote his address down, and scheduled an appointment with him. We shared our testimonies with him, promising him that we would go visit him. As he rode away on his bike my companion and I looked at each other with our eyes wide open. We began to ask ourselves, would we have found him if we hadn't been buying cough drops in that exact moment? Would we have gone to the store if I hadn't had a sore throat? Was I supposed to have a sore throat on Saturday, so that we could find him? All I know is that God has a purpose in all he does. We were placed in Carlos' path at the perfect moment. Needless to say, we're really excited to visit him this week :) 

Yesterday morning I woke up and still couldn't talk very well. We got to church, and President Monestel showed up to our branch with his whole family! We had no idea that we were going to be singing for them as well. My companion and I got even more nervous, because I could barely talk, let alone SING. I said a small prayer before the musical number, and ate about a whole package of cough drops to help soothe my throat. We sang the hymn and everything went great. Joseph played the piano, Heidy sang with 4 other sister missionaries from the other branch, and Elder Ayala and I sang. It was another miracle! I was able to sing the hymn just fine. It's amazing how the Lord is always aware of us, even in the smallest of moments.

Tomorrow we have a conference in Managua with the whole mission. President Monestel and his family go back to Costa Rica on Friday and the new mission president and his wife, President and Sister Russell, get here Friday. It's going to be a sad, yet happy week at the same time.

Sister and President Monastel
at Mission Leaders Council

 

José and Maritza's daughter, Yaritza, was supposed to get baptized on Saturday, but he was out of town working, and we still need to prepare Yaritza a little more before her baptism.
 

We got to see the broadcast yesterday for new mission presidents and missionaries. I loved every minute of it. It was just what our branch and branch mission leader needed to hear! The branch members seem to be a lot more excited and motivated to help the missionaries. It is such a blessing to listen to a living prophet and apostles. There is no doubt in my mind that they are called of God! 

Love you all! Have a great week!