IM ALIVE!!! dont you worry. Let me tell you about my first adventures in Nicaragua.It all started last monday when i flew in. It was hard to leave the ccm because i loved the people so so much! anyways we got in at like 9 pm and then went to some dinner with presidente arredondo y su esposo. They are so stinkin cool! Just totally chill-joking around with the missionaries and within their family, i really like them. Anyways we got some food and then went to the house. Okay. The houses here are all in gates and then you go in, and it is just an empty room. No one has furniture and it is rare to even have a tv... or a floor for that matter. Anyways this house did have a floor and two other sisters live there. they werent very nice. They drug out two bare matresses (one for me, one for hna escudero who i traveled with) and slapped them down on the floor and said goodnight. Rudies. Anyways we went to bed and all was well. I need to tell you-Hna Escudero does not speak a lick of english. Okay so i wake up the next morning with hna escudero yelling at me while swatting at my bed (remember that cool thing how i cannot see without my glasses or contacts?? this was one of those precious moments) anyways she is yelling "mata lo! mata lo!!" which is to say "kill it! kill it!!" she is yelling this while swatting something at my bed. My first morning in Nicaragua- woke up with a scorpion in my bed. Nothing happened, and we did kill it, but Holy cow right?! kinda sets the tone for my mission. :) funny though right? Then we went contacting and holy guacamole. the people here are so so so so sos os poor. I was with Hna Menendez contacting in Managua and she was like come on we have an appointment! so we went and turned on this little dirt road (it shouldnt count as a road) and then we went into what looked like a barn yard to me. Like there was a huge bull, and chickens and just dirt everywhere and a few little barnlike huts and then to my suprise hermana menendez yells "Buenas!" infront of one of these little huts and a little kid comes and opens the door and i was thinking, oh...he is homeless and all alone. Nope His whole family lived in this little hut.just dirt floors and two mattresses crammed in this little tiny barn. Our appointment was with his mom who had a brand new baby. I totally cried walking away from the house because even though we were in this little hut in the dirt, we sang "I am a child of God" and the spirit was strong. We taught about the plan of salvation and how the gospel could Bless her life. I just got a slap in the face. We are so so so blessed. Anways, Then we had the change meeting and i met my Mama-Hermana Ruiz. She is so tuanis! I really like her. She is from El Salvador, and she doesnt speak any english, and she doesnt want to learn any. She is way nice though, and is always ready to laugh. She takes great care of me. She makes my breakfast and always walks infront of me to make sure it is safe before i go.(Im sending a bunch of pictures. She is in one with me and 2 other people. She is on the far right. some others are of my street here in Nicaragua, my house here, the food in the CCM guatemala, I have now forgotten what else-but i hope you like them!) We live in a little house behind the house of the branch president. I think im sending a little picture of his house too. He and his wife have two kinders and they own a little store. His wife feeds us lunch and dinner everyday and does our laundry. Sweet right? Want to know something else sweet? I am not allowed to eat ham! Perfect mission right? But let me tell you about the food. Everymorning we wake up and eat whatever we have. Today we had some bread and a gluglu. Sounds apetizing right? its just one of those drinks in a bag. Then for lunch we had guyopinto (i dont know how to spell that) and some sort of bologne type meat in a tomatoey sauce. It was actually pretty good. Then for dinner well have guyopinto again and bread and someother kind of meat. I love guyopinto though. Rico. Oh! let me tell you about my first time tracting in Nicaragua with Hermana Ruiz. First all My area is Esteli. It is in North Nica. It is like cold here! especially with the rain and wind from the hurricane in mexico or guatemala or whereever. There is SO much water. Next week ill send you a picture of the huge river where a street used to be. anyways, esteli is also up in the mountains. So our tracting is all in mud and like jungle. So she takes me up and down these dirt roads and then we are just walking through the brush and then we come to a river with like 2 pipes over it. It is raining and slick and then she just jumps up on these pipes and walks across gracefully. Hello! Remember your daughter? I have absolutely no balance on a dry day in the middle of a sidewalk. but somehow we got across and went and met our recent converts. Hermana Ruiz has no fear. It is pretty sweet. Sorry, i feel like I am totally babbling. Here is the address of the mission home. You can send any and all things there: (Tell chelsey before she has a fit)
Hermana Barrett
Nicaragua Managua North Mission
Edificio Discover 2D,Frente a Club TerrazaA.P.
360'0Managua, ManaguaNicaraguaC.A.
Lets see what else can i tellyall. The people here dont see the point of getting married. Everyone just lives together and has kids and its no big deal. They even call the other person their spouse. Something that is hard for me is that everyone is super blunt. When you are teaching them you just have to tell it like it is. Example. Hna Ruiz was teaching this couple and she straightup was just like-You are fornicating. You need to get married or you wont recieve the blessings of the gospel. And they werent really feeling the whole marraige thing-and so we are looking for new investigators! Contacting is so crazy here. You go up to the people and say "hey, do you go to church? no? well I am a missionary and i am here to invite you to church." Then if they say yes you say " well my other job as a missionary is to help people prepare themselves to be baptized. Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on this day?" You set a baptism date the first time you speak to them. If they dont agree to be baptized then you move on. Sounds bad right? There are just so many people here to work with that if they are not serious about being baptized then you can spend your time better if you know they are serious about it. I am not very good at being that super blunt so it is still hard for me. Along with the whole super blunt thing-they are not shy about problems they are having. One of our other investigators does not get the point of fidelity in marraige. Last night he told us that he has been with 8 other women. ¿¡OCHO?! ENSERIO? He has a baptismal date......so we have alot of work to do. Sorry, i feel like I am being really blunt with you guys. And Ive only been here a week! Some other cool Nica things- they dont say their S. like in counting instead of uno dos tres. it is uno do tre. como eta? adio. it is way confusing. another thing is that they point with their lips. It is the coolest thing ever and i am getting pretty good at it. Like just while their talking if they are talking about a person or something they will gesture towards them with their lips. it is the funniest thing to see. another thing is that when they dont understand you they scrunch up their noses. I dont like this as much because i get it alot. Funny thing- yesterday during two of our lessons the investigator asked Ruiz if i could understand anything and if i knew any spanish. Hahahah then Ruiz was like "yeah, she can understand everything." and then they would look at me and id just nod and say-yup, its true.then they would start talking to me really fast and then i cant understand anything, so i just look stupid. I can understand alot more than i can speak. its frustrating though! Also, no one can say my name. They try and it comes out like a really deep dark word like in the very back of your throat. and then they just give up and call me barrrt. it sounds way funny. I like it.Something im not a fan of in Nicaragua--some of these people have literally never seen a gringa before. so they just gawk at me and the guys are always whisteling and catcalling me. It was cool for like the first 5 minutes. Dont worry though, Hermana Ruiz stares them down (she has got a wicked sweet glare) and then they settle down. Like i said, She takes great care of me.¡¡Brian Dransfield!!---How the heck are ya?? I love getting your emails. I can tell you are an awesome missionary. Thanks for your example to me of how to work with the spirit. I so appreciate it! How much time do you have left? I bet you are slmost done, and I cannot believe it. Time is flying. It will be awesome when we can all hang out and talk about our missions.anways, i think that about covers it. Overall-i like it. I am just so so ready for the rain to end. It is draining to be wet all the time. But seriously, I love Nicaragua. Cant wait for this next week to begin. I love you all, and i am praying for you! I hope all is well in Good ol Utah. Smile!! And dont worry! Love- Hermana Barrett
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