April 28th

Well hello there family!
This week was a pretty great one if I do say so myself.. but it had its fair share of emotions, I guess thats what I get for being a girl hehe. SO I will start this letter off with a joke... ok I have been sitting here for about 5 minutes trying to think about a joke and I can't think of one haha. I should just delete this whole sentance... but I am not going to.
ANYWAY!!! Tuesday was an interesting day.. we are starting this new thing in the mission where we get certified to teach. If you pass the certification you get this cool little card. Anyway all of the leaders need to be certified (obviously.) So on Tuesday we had to head down to Managua to all get certified. To be certified we had to teach 3 lessons and in these three lessons we were teaching the other leaders and the APs were judging us. INTIMIDATING??? maybe a little. haha. SO they actually judged us pretty hard and only 3 companionships passed. All of them Hermanas haha... So I got my certification and it felt pretty sweet. But it was a little stressfull. Haha. Then we missed the last express bus so we had to go in the one that takes 3 hours.. we got in at about 7:00 hahaha needless to say I took a nice nap. When I woke up it was just the zone leaders and us in the whole bus and we still had about an hour left in the ride. So we all took our own row and it wasn't that bad anymore haha. They love to play OLD american music on the buses so mom and dad when I come home I will be able to jam with you!!! haha.

(right now I have to look at my agenda because I do not recall what I did this week.)

Wednesday in the morning we got all of the paper work ready for Mario and Juana so they could get married and baptised (that is a good story that I will tell you later) and then we had an AMAZING lesson with Judith. She has been reading the book of Mormon and sometimes I honestly think she knows more than I do. She was an investigator that was sent to me as a miracle. A 100% blessing. She has become one of my best friends and I am just so grateful that God let me teach her. She is one of a kind. I know she is going to help this branch a lot too. She is wonderful. I know she is going straight to heaven. Anyway, then we had a "noche de hermanamiento" that the elders were supposed to teach... but their bus got in a car accident and they were super late.. SO Morales and I got to teach a message to everyone and we hadn't prepared anything haha luckily I have been studying conference talks so I knew what I could talk about and it actually tearned out really good. That is the blessing of a missionary... haha. This day we were walking to an appointment and this random lady was like hey muchachas I sell popsicles!!! So we were like oh thanks good to know!! Then almost instantly I got this hardcore craving for a popsicle so I was like hey lets go get one!!! While we were buying we did a little contacting and found out that she actually used to be a member and her husbands brother was baptized recently in the other branch and her husband is now really interested in the church. She also told us that her husband had another brother that lived close and that we should go visit him. So we were like sweet!!!! Can we come back and teach yall tomorrow!!! They said yes. Then the last bus was about to leave so we booked it outta there.
Thursday we did divisions with some members so that we could cover more ground and get work done. We went with these two families that I talked about and another family that was a reference from a member and they are all SUPER receptive!!!! We put baptism dates with all of them and they are all now progressing just great :) It was a miracle... It was preparing us for what happened later that night. We went to go see Mario and Juana and get the final things ready for saturday for their baptism and wedding. And when we got there I imidiately felt that the spirit had changed in the house.. They then told us that their old pastor had come to their house and told them a bunch of crap about the Mormons and they didn't want anything to do with us... I was a little caught off guard and my companion started fighting with them. So I took her arm and said "lets pray and go." So we didn't fight with them because I knew it wouldn't do anything. We told them we would come back tomorrow so we prayed and got outta there. It was pretty sad to see them fall... but I still have hope for them.

Friday in the morning we prepared a lesson for Juana and Mario to try to save them. We got to their house and told them that we had been thinking a lot about them and we loved them which is why we want them to know the truthfulness of the gospel. We had a really powerfull lesson and at the end of it they told us that they knew we were right but that they just wanted a little more time to think about all of it. So we are giving them a little more time. But I know that they are going to do it someday. Pray for them please!!!

Saturday in the morning I surprised my companion with pancakes in the morning and then we started getting stuff ready for the baptism of Judith!!! She is just the best. Her baptism was really spiritual and after she was baptised she shared her testimony and it made me so so so grateful that I get to be here. Helping people like her change their lives and feeling the love and joy that the gospel brings. There is nothing quite like seeing someone you have come to love get dressed in white. If I could be a missionary forever I think I would. I am so grateful to have been blessed with the opportunity to be here, especially in Nicaragua where the people are so incredible. I have no doubt that the mission has changed my life forever and I will always be grateful to my Father in Heaven for this chance He has given me to not only help others find the truth but to be able to find it myself. 

I hope you all have a fantastic week and we will be chatting soon :)
Love you all!!

Hermana Willardson