Pics from Birthday week

Happy 21 Birthday in Nicaragua!  

Birthday dinner in her new dress.

Yeah she said she only crossed it once.

Matching with her Sister’s AP.  

Pizza for an early birthday celebration!

Topped with a brownie

They decorated her room on her birthday.

Breann teaching a statue in the park.

Good news!  He is getting baptized!

Birthday week!

Well Family!!!! Here I am one year older and wiser too, haha just kidding I am still the same old me. Just now when people ask me how old I am I have to remember that I can't just say 20. Hahaha Anyways this week was quite the adventure...

Tuesday we headed to an area called San Ramon, it is part of our district and the elders there haven't had a baptism in about 2 months so the whole district went to their area to try to help them find some new people to teach. While we were there Hermana Morales and I found three super awesome families for them to teach and they were really excited. But as we were waiting for the bus to go back to Matagalpa we found the statue of the man sitting on a bench so that is where we took those funny fotos if you see them haha. 

Wednesday we got up early and headed off to Esteli, I dropped my companion off there because she really wanted to work in Esteli and I came back with the Hermana Taufoou. She was in the MTC with me and it is the first time I actually got to work with someone that has my same time, so I was super stoked... but at lunch time my companion called me and this is how the conversation went.. I am going to translate it to english don't worry. 

"Hey Willy,"

"Hey Morales whats up?"
" I have some interesting news for you"

"Well that sounds exciting, what happened?" 

"So remember how this week is semana Santa?"
"yeah?"

"Well there aren't going to be buses from Esteli to Matagalpa until Saturday..."

"hmmm well that is interesting news isn't it"

"ya and the last bus from here leaves at 5:30"

So Hna Taufoou and I hopped on a bus to Esteli real fast to bring my companion back to our area. We only had 2 hours to work in our area. That night I recieved another interesting phone call...

"Hey Willy!!"
"Hey Hermana Raymond wazup gurlllllll!!!!"

"ah nothin much just callin because we want to do divisiones with you guys tomorrow. You are going to come here to Managua and my companion is going to go to your area. But you are going to be here Thursday and Friday and then Saturday morning we will switch back."

"ya ok :) I will go where you send me"

So bright and early Thursday morning we got on a bus to go to Managua. When I got there Hermana Raymond sent her companion (Hermana Miller) with my companion back to Matagalpa and we hopped in a different taxi. That is where I had another interesting converstion...

"So do you know why we called you here willy?"

"ummm not really I thought just to do divisions like normal.."

"Well that yes, but also we need your help, today you are going to go to "so and so" area and we need you to go find new families with this hermana and put baptism dates with them."

"Uhhh... well ok you put me in an area and I will work"

"well duh that is why we called you in!" 

hahahaha So that day I headed to do divisions with Hermana Ferrin. She is super awesome and we found 3 new families for them to teach!! While I was there I decided I would reward us with some cokes. So I bought us some cokes and as we were walking down the street we went to go contact a famliy. They looked at us SUPER weird and said "WHY ARE YOU DRINKING COKE?!?!?! ARENT YOU MORMONS!!!" To which I replied calmly and told them that we can drink coke. Then they tried to tell me that I was wrong... hahaha... fighting with a missionary about what we believe... silly people. Ok we weren't fighting it was a loving discussion but still I found it humorous. 

Friday I got back with Hermana Raymond when she got to the house of hermana Ferrin we realized that we were 100% matching... same exact skirt with the same color of shirt. We had a good laugh about it because it was a total accident. Then we went to her district meeting and when I got there I remembered that Elder Vivas is her district leader (he was my first DL) so it was super fun to be in another one of his district meetings haha brought back some good memories. Then Hermana Raymond took me to Pizza hut to celebrate my birthday a little early :) She even bought me a brownie... I felt super weird being in a nice restraunt again but it was a good time. Hehe. Lets see then we got to work like normal, with a lot of people asking us if we were sisters, to which we replied that yes. So we just passed the "hottest week of the year" and I was super excited because I thought I was going to pass it in Matagalpa but I got sent to Managua hahaha but it was super funny because you would walk down the street and 7 of 10 houses would have a blow up pool outside of their house and the whole family, and neighbors, would just be chilling in their pool!!!!! Seriously EVERYONE was chillin in a pool outside of their house. It made contacting easy but a little awkward at the same time. just talking with everyone as they sat in their plasitc pools. Haha. That night Hermana Raymond woke me up at midnight to celebrate my birthday a little. We made mashed potatoes from a box and they were pretty tasty haha. 

Saturday I headed back to Matagalpa. 3 hours in a bus haha if someone would have told me a year ago that I would be spending my 21st birthday in  Nicaragua I wouldn't have believed you!!! But I am so grateful that I am here :) we got to work like normal when I got home and that night we went and got some tip top (it is just like KFC) my DL Elder Lopez wanted me to feel at home so we went there hahaha I am not sure why he thinks that fried chicken would make me feel at home ;)  All in all it was a really great birthday!!! I enjoyed myself!!! 

A little update on our investigators, Mario and Juana are getting all prepared for their wedding and baptism this Saturday and Judith for this Sunday after church. We wanted to baptise the kids of Mario and Juana with them on Saturday but they didn't come to church yesterday so we will see what happens. We are still here working hard and hoping that more people will be home this week. Almost all of Matagalpa left to go to the beach this week so it was a little bit of a hard week to work but all is well here in the land that I love. This week I will be hitting my half way mark. Time sure does fly, I know that before I know it I will be sitting on a plane with a million different feelings. SO I don't want to have any regrets, even though I am tired I am going to give this last half all I have. I want to be like the guy that ran the mile in 4 minutes. When I cross that finish line I want to be so so so exhausted!!! I am going to give it my all :) Thank you to all of you that sent me happy birthday emails!!!!! I love you all and miss you tons!!!!

Hermana Willardson

From the mountains

Hey there family!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHACE!!!!

Sorry about the stinky letter last week we literally only had a little to write and I needed to write President and everything so it was a bit of a rush. Anyway I don't really remember what day happened what so I am just going to explain all of the week and we will see if it makes sense. Haha but my companion doesn't speak english now so I have no one to practice with so if my english isn't good dont judge. 

Alright so last Sunday night I knew I was going to have changes, don't ask me how it was just a sixth sense. Anyway we were saying goodbye to some families and we were with the Chavez family when we got a call from the APs. So we answered and they told my daughter she was going to be one of 2 new trainers so I was pretty excited. She was nervous but I was excited. Then it hit me that that meant that I had to say goodbye to Nagarote... that was awful. It was the first time that I had to go tell people that I had served and grown to love that I wasn't going to be around.. Ya anyway that wasn't fun. So monday we had to go to Managua to drop off my daughter for a new trainers meeting. Then on that night we had our last night together at the house of the nurse. I told her a lot of things that I think will help her be a good trainer. That was also a sad night. I have grown to love all of my companions so much but it is definitely different when you are a trainer because you pass through a lot of stuff together. I hope I get the chance to train again. I really loved it. Anyway they let me know that I would be going to Matagalpa, I was excited because everyone wants to come here. So on Tuesday I went to the chapel in Managua and met my new companion. I knew her from my first transfer but I had never gotten to work with her. I had heard only good things so I was excited. SO we jumped on a bus and headed for 3 hours to Matagalpa. The first day was a little tough because it is 100% mountain so 100% hiking. All the time!! And we all know how much I love hiking right... hahaha so the first day I got to drag my luggage up a huge hill and that was exciting haha. Anyway that day my companion tried to show me all of the area and I was so lost haha because I am super good with directions and all... hehehe. That night when we went to go sleep I got super super super cold. It is definitely cold here... I actually have a cold because of the temperature change. I am gonna need to buy some sweaters hahaha. Anyway... what was I saying... oh ya. So Wednesday we were walking learning the area and we contacted this old man that wasn't interested but I asked him if he knew anyone that could benefit from our message and he gave us a reference for a family named Juana and Mario. SO we went to go teach them, turns out they have been looking for a church to be baptized and married in...well lucky for them that is my specialty haha. It was AWESOME to see that we could get a sweet reference from someone that wasn't positive at all. We have plans to marry and baptize this family on the 19th for my birthday. Pray that all will go well :)

Thursday we headed back to Managua for a leaders conference. There President told meat I waould not just be in charge of helping the Hermanas in Matagalpa but in Esteli as well. Another responsibility that I am happy to have. :) I am glad that President trusts me to give me these responsibilities. Also I know that they help me work harder. Even though I am really tired haha these mountains are killin me. Anyway on the bus ride back there wasn't anyone hardly. We left Managua at about 7:00 and didn't get back until 10:00 and  the whole bus ride they were playing english classics on the tv. Elder Ochoa (quick explination Elder Ochoa was my Zone Leader in Leon and I was his TL for the whole time I was there, he got transfered to Matagalpa as ZL and I got transfered here as TL so we get to work together still haha. funny funny.) Anyway he is from Guatemala but he knew EVERY SINGLE SONG that played so we had a good time singing Celine Dion, Billy Joel and other classics. 

Friday was a day of a lot of work to get things ready for Conference weekend (which is like Christmas weekend in the mission.) We went with every single investigator, Convert and Less Active... literally RUNNING up and down these mountains, not let me assure you that these aren't hills they are mountains. I was pretty tired but the Lord is definitely blessing me with sufficient energie to work. We got to go listen to all of the conferences which was a blessing. There were some amazing talks don't you think? There were some that I know were specifically for me. I love Conference. Anyway we were working really hard because in my first area my Zone Leader (Elder Fusichella Woot woot) made us a promise that everyone that he has ever taken to conference has gotten baptized. This happened my first conference too so I knew it was true. So saturday rolled around and we didn't have anyone come with us because they could all only come on Sunday so we did a special fast to help us have good results on Sunday. Family, Friends and who ever else reads these letters, Fasts work!!!!!!

Sunday morning we had 3 families come with us to conference and the talks were INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! I am super excited to see what happens with these families. One of them is a family where the wife is a member and the husband isn't. He only speaks English too so that has been interesting to try to teach him because I dont know english hahaha. The other family is/are the people that we live with. He is Jewish which is also something new for me because I have never tought a Jew before and the third family was Juana and Mario. We also had Misline which is a joven that wants to be baptized this week and her mom. It was a great turn out and we saw miracles. I love Matagalpa and I am really excited to get my feet down on the area and start working. Anyway I hope you all know I love you so much and I will promise to be a better writer. HEY CONGRATULATIONS TO MY COUSIN CLARE!!!!! Hawaii doesn't know whats coming!!! Hit them hard girl!!!

Love you all

Hermana Willardson

Saying goodbye to Nagarote

Breann and H. Alan

A cathedral in Leon

Saying goodbye to Family Chavez

Goodbye Nagarote

Sometimes Breann gets a little thirsty.

Saying goodbye to Nagarote

Bueno familia... Here is the big news of the week. I had transfers and I will now be serving in Matagalpa. It is the mountain area of Nicaragua and it is really beautiful. I am really excited to go work there. Now I am not saying that it was easy to leave Nagarote but I am learning that in the mission, almost nothing is really my decision haha. I get to put my trust 100% in the Lord and see where the journey takes me. It is the best!!! I get to see lots of surprises. My daughter is going to train!!!! WOOOOHOOOO I AM A GRANDMA!!!! I feel really young to have a grandaughter already but thats just how things work I guess haha. This letter is going to be a quick one because I don't have tons of time to write today. So just know I will send you a bigger better letter next week but we just got a lot to do today. So if I don't write you back don't hate me. I will write next week!!! I love you all and I will be sure to send photos!! 

Hermana Willardson