!!!THANKSGIV........just another week in the beautiful NICARAGUA!

Alli and another sister from the states

Thanksgiving Dinner

Hola hola everyone! I hope you guys all had a lovely thanksgiving. We had a great week here in Esteli. We had changes this week! Not gonna lie, it feels pretty great to not be the newest gringa anymore. FWA HAHAHA. Thats right, there is officially someone that speaks worse spanish than me. IT IS POSSIBLE. ¡tuanis! This week we did alot of contacting. We found this guy named Ignasio (NACHO) JUST LIKE THE MOVIE. how cool is that right? Not gonna lie, as I walked away i turned around and yelled "Adios NACCCCHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" it took me back. Anyways, about this guy. He has been taught by missionaries like 4 times. The problem here is that He is trying to learn english. and he speaks pretty good, so i was talking with him in English like-Do you know that this church is true? And he was like-yeah, i do. And so i got real excited and i was like-dude then why are you not baptized?? And he was like--The missionaries never taught me English.----wait, what? what on earth does that have to do with you getting baptized? Then he explained-The missionaries came and taught me about the church or whatever, but how is that going to bless my life. If you want to help me, teach me english. The missionaries always said they were going to, but they never did. That is why I am not a member. If the people cant keep their word and teach me english then they dont have the authority to teach church either." I kinda machetied him alot. I was like "I am a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am not here to teach you english. I am here to teach you the gospel of Jesus Christ. That knowledge will bless your life, and the lives of your family infinitely more than english will. Do you think people in America are always happy? Do you think life is so much better there than here? I am here to tell you it is not. You can be happy here, and the way to that happiness is through making and keeping promises with Heavenly Father. If you know the church is true, then you should be baptized. That is the first step to happiness." That seemed to do the trick. We will be going back to teach tonight. I´ll keep ya´ll posted. ;D Yesterday was kinda a cool day too. For primary we watched the video of when nephi had to return to get the gold plates. and there is a scene right after Lehi recieves revelation that they need to leave jerusalem and he goes and shakes Nephi to wake him up. Okay, this scene made me super trunky. It like slapped me in the face with memories. I immedietly thought of October 5th of last year, when Dad woke up and found mom in like a coma-ish state (when the funk hit the fan) and then He immedietly came and woke me up. Okkkkay...thats enough--needless to say i was kinda sad yesterday. So i was praying alot. ´Father, please help me to be happy. Help us to find a family to teach so i can have someone else to focus on.´ So then we went to work. We were tracting for like an hour and a half and it was just meeting and saying goodbye to people. No one was interested. BUT THEN. :D We walked up to this house and we could just hear a husband and wife fighting, but the spirit told me to knock anyways. So we did. and The husband, Ceaser, came to the door like "oh, come on in hermanas." and we were totally shocked. You know who we are? and he was like- Yeah, youve been here before.... --Fun fact, WE HAVE NEVER BEEN TO THAT HOUSE. Ruiz didnt even know that this street was part of our area. How crazy is that right? after talking with them for a bit we found out that like a year ago some sisters had contacted there--but they recognized us as those missionaries. How wierd right? So we talked with Ceaser and his wife Dora and ugh! they are just great people. vamos a poner un fecha tan pronto. oh crap, i dont know how to say that in english. lets see here. we are going to ask a date soon? like ask them to be baptized soon? we are going to put a date soon? i dont know. I am way excited about them though. Happy thanksgiving! Not gonna lie, Thanksgiving in Nicaragua--nothing to write home about. HAHA! oh man i crack myself up.---I just went to a planning meeting, and then hermana Atkisson rushed in and was like "BARRETT!!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!" I had totally forgotten. after she told me though i was yet again trunky. i think that is going to happen alot in the next month. another thing that me puse trunky was when i heard that song "baby i love your way" by Peter Frampton. such a good song. aaaaaanyways. im sending a picture of my riquisimo thanksgiving dinner (Gullo-pinto, huevos y un tortilla) and the other is of me and Hermana Arredondo (My amazing mission president´s wife.) UGH! SHE IS SO COOL! Something i was studying this week is virtue. Let garnish thy thoughts unceasingly. Ive heard it a million times. Its so wierd how the mission like makes thing make sense. I love D&C 121: 45 and expecially 46. here she is:
45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.
Look at that. The holy ghost with be with you always AND WITHOUT EFFORT IT WILL JUST FLOW UNTO YOU FOREVER. I was thinking-do you think president Monson has to fight and struggle to feel the spirit? no. I am sure he has learned this characteristic of christ. this is something i will be working on the rest of my mission. trying to focus on virtuous thoughts. and also following the spirit. I heard an amazing talk from President Bednar when i was in the mtc. He said "the number one question i get asked by members is: How do i know when i recieve promptings from the spirit, or if it is just my own thoughts?--My answer will probably suprise you---QUIT WORRYING ABOUT IT. Be a good boy-be a good girl. Keep your commandments and Heavenly Father will lead you where you need to be." I thought that was so super cool. I hope that we can all be a little more virtous this week!
I sure love you all!
Hermana Barrett

Just another day in Paradise...

¡Hola Hola Familia!How is everything going up yonder? Nice and cold and wintery and stormy? Not gonna lie, the weather is beautiful here. Last night it got a little chilly though-almost 65 degrees. I almost had to put on a long sleeve shirt. hahaha almost. :D This week was pretty chill. Just contacting and contacting and contacting. Looking for the chosen. We almost had a baptism. again that stinking word:almost. The problem there is that the wife doesnt want to get married. The husband, Domingo, Has come to church twice on his own accord and is ready to get baptised. But He was just like "whatever she wants to do is fine with me". His wife, Marabeili, is way shy and doesnt really like to talk or be the center of attention, so when we were teaching she got really uncomfortable and just wouldnt talk. So then the next day we went back to check up on if she had made up her mind yet. We got there and yelled the customary "Buenas!" and then we just heard shushed voices and shuffling around and then Their daughter, Antonia, answered the door. Antonia is 16 and has been going to another church for the last 7 years. She doesnt want anything to do with our church, and so when she answered the door we were a little shocked. But then we realized why. She was just like My mom doesnt want to get married or baptized. And we were like, can we talk to her? She told us she wasnt there. and then we asked for Domingo, and she told us he was sleeping. How sad right? People are just afraid to take on any responsibility here. We are also having a really hard time in our branch for that reason as well. Recent converts will come and get excited about the church and then the President will give them a calling, and then they will stop coming to church-because they just hate responsibility. They are also afraid to teach classes. Okay, I dont really blame them on that one. Who likes to teach? I sure dont, i get nervous and my hands shake every talk or lesson I ever give. But that is how I am learning. That is something i am figuring out alot here. Stess is not always a bad thing. Too much stress for alot of time can make you really sick because your body cant be in that state for very long. But just a little bit of stress helps you to grow. Like spanish for example. Lets be honest here, spanish is hard. Sometimes i will really feel spanish.Like in our lesson last night for example. I thought it was going great. We were teaching the restoration to Victor y Sareili and i had just finished teaching them about how when Christ came to the earth He established His church with 4 pillars:A prophet and 12 apostles, the Priesthood, Revelation, and the scriptures, and then i explained how we have all of these pillars in the church today and then my companion took over to reiterate the point. And she was like so when Christ was killed what happened to the pillars of His church? (they fell, and that is why we needed a restoration) and Victor was like "What pillars? I have no idea what the cheila (white girl) just said" ....CHUPA. What is the point in telling you this story???...Oh i remember. Spanish is hard. But I am not going to learn it unless i practice. Sure they had no clue what i was saying, but maybe the next family will. Life is all about learning how to become the person you want to be. The person Heavenly Father knows you can be. That is why we have trials and hard things in our life. To help us to grow. Heavenly Father knows the divine potential that each of us have. I was reading in Jesus the Christ this week (Amazing book--Who knew?) and i found something i had always wondered about but never knew. Did you know that Christ also had the veil of forgetfullness placed on His mind when He came to earth? Do you know what that means? He had to find out who He was, just like all of us do. He didnt know His divine role. He learned who He was little by little. Wow, right? That is the same thing each of us do every day. Every day we are learning and growing. Now what you are learning is up to you. Are you learning to be more like our savior? Or are you learning to be more like Man? That is something I have been thinking about this week-Am I working towards being the person Heavenly Father wants me to be? I dont know, but I am trying. And that is what its all about. Trying. That is why we go to church every week to take the sacrament-because we are trying to be more worthy. That is why we have our family and personal scripture study every day-because we are trying to learn how to be more like Christ. That is why I wake up every day at a ridiculously early hour, because I am trying to find the Lord´s chosen. Heavenly Father knows we are not perfect. That is why he just asks us to try. He just wants our best effort, and then when we still fall short of perfect, We have a Savior to make up the rest. The Great Mediator, Jesus Christ. That is how we become Perfected through Christ. How great is this gospel right? I am lovin it! I hope you guys can see how much I love and appreciate this gospel. It is seriously everything to me. I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is the only true church on the Earth today. I know that this is literally the Church of Jesus Christ. The church that He established when he was on this earth. I feel amazingly blessed to be a part of it. Have a great week family and friends! Love you all! Thanks for all the support and love, I´m feelin it. :D -Hermana Barrrrrt

Nicaragua- Ephesians 4:5 "One Lord, One Faith, ONE BAPTISM"

The wedding

The twins in their house

Me and Ruiz in the bus

(she smiles sometimes, just not in this picture)

Freddy y familia

Dearest darlingest Familia y amigos, Hola!!! Como estan?! Thanks for all your emails and prayers--they payed off this week. I am very happy to report that this week we had our first baptism...aka- I witnessed a miracle.We were having a really hard time because we were contacting and contacting and contacting and we would find familias to teach and they would fall the same week. It is so frustrating! Anyways Our whole zone is experiencing the same thing. The ZLs eat with us everyday and last friday night they came in just so so bummed because No one in the zone was going to baptize the following day (saturday the 12th). This is Elder Molina´s last change and he is just so super stressed becuase he was going to have to report that our entire zone only baptized one family. So Ruiz and I were praying so hard to find just one family to baptize. So Saturday we were planning and we decided to start the day off with visiting 4 of ourrecent converts and then contacting all night. So studying and lunch we went to our Recent converts, namely Brian and Junior. They are twins. They live with their mom and sister and occasionally Their mom´s "friend" comes and stays with them too. His name is Freddy. He has been taught by 3 different sets of missionaries and they always set a date for the wedding and the baptism and he never shows up. So we got to their house and neither Ruiz or I know when we started talking about baptism and marriage, but somehow we got on the subject and We were like "okay, its 2 oclock now, and the baptismal service is at 4. You have plenty of time!" and he was like "okay, I´ll get baptized, but just not today. How about next saturday?" Heard that one before... "No, lets do this today!" "But im sick." "okay then we´ll call the elders and they can give you a blessing." So the Elders came and gave him a blessing and then interviewed him for baptism. Afterward they said-okay, he is pretty set on not being baptized today, but he swears he will do it tomorrow. Okay, this guy has promised to get baptized like 5 other times-so Ruiz and I were super stressed. We went and got some balloons and bought a cake and the whole time we were just praying that he would keep his word. Ruiz told me "If he really comes it will be a miracle". Okay so Sunday morning comes-the baptism was set for 7am because church starts at 9 and with Nica time that meant it would start at 8. So we woke up at 530 to be at their house by 630. and we get there and No one had even showered yet. The mom, Maria, was luckily up and ironing. So we got everyone else up and got them going. we didnt leave their house until 7:30 and only after they promised to be right behind us. So we got back to the church at 7:45 and waited. 8 comes and go-no Freddy. 8:15 we were frantically calling their cellphones-no answer, no answer, no answer. Finally they answered-lo and behold, Now Maria is having second thoughts, then we heard a swear word and they hung up. On the brink of tears Ruiz and i started marching back to their house to bring them to their baptism. so we get like a quarter of the way there and they call back-okay okay, we´re coming. But just to hurry them along we kept walking. Then we got 3/4ths (they live 20 minutes from the church) the way there and we saw a sight i´ll never forget. Here comes Freddy on his motorcycle with Maria, Elisabeth, and Junior riding behind him. It was so cool to see them finally acting on their commitments. Anyways so they stopped and were like We told you! And then they kept on going to the church-but then Ruiz and I were 15 minutes from the church! So just picture this-they drive past us and then Ruiz and I look at eachother and just start booking it behind them. Can you just picture it? Here I am this huge white girl running as fast as I can down this dirt road with a little black el salvadorañean chasing me down. I am positive we looked so funny. anyways we got there and it went great. Married and Baptized and because he completed a family-Our zone leaders get to report 2 families. woot woot. IT WAS SO COOL. You know that scripture in D&C 18:15 that says "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" Not gonna lie-It feels pretty stinkin good. But now I´ve got a feva. and the only cure-is bringing more souls to God through baptism. :D You thought i was going to say "More cowbell" huh. ¡¡Wrong-o!!Guess what else i did on sunday? I gave my first talk in sacrament meeting--of course in spanish. It was pretty sweet! Not terrifying and excrutiating horrible like i thought it was going to be. Yesterday was way awesome too. We had a super p-day. That is where all of the sisters in the whole mission get together and cook and do yoga and eat and talk about REALLY important and pertinent things for the mission. like who we will marry and how many kids we will have. it was way fun. It was at the house of President Arredondo who turns out is super fachenta (LOADED) and ¡hombre! I love their family.they are so loving and patient and funny. It was way fun to meet the other misionaras too. There are 32 sister missionaries in all and now i am friends with almost all of them (I couldnt talk to all of them. :) Okay, Now the moment i have been dreading for months. I have to tell you something. I almost entitled this email "Ham: The ultimate change of heart." Here in Nicaragua, I cannot afford to be picky about food. Remember how i said we are not allowed to eat Ham? Well its cool if we eat it in church and like with the president. Guess what they served at the Meeting. Just straight up ham. I have eaten it a few other times on the mission but it was always mixed into something so I have been justifying it. Nope-Yesterday it was just baked ham rolled up with pinapple and cheese. The worst part? It was delicious. I really like it. crazy right? Oh well- I feel like i am changing alot. I guess thats just a fun part of the deal-eating crow. hahaanyways, this is my weekly report. I hope you are all having such a great time in the snow and freezingness! I am getting way tan. Yesterday it was like oh my heck beautiful. not to the point of sweating, but just on the brink. :D ENJOY THE SNOW!! FWAHAHAHA!
Love-Hermana Barrett

Nicaragua- Week 4

Hola Hola Familia! Como estan? What a week! Sorry I am not writing until today--Nicaragua had elections on sunday. I didnt tell you last week cuz i didnt want you to freak out. But now the danger has passed, so i can tell you about it right? I think yes. Well have you all heard of Daniel Ortega? Not a kosher dude. He is the president here and he just got re-elected. Anyways because of the elections it was really dangerous to be a gringa-well it was really dangerous for everyone because all the Nicas were stressing over who they wanted to be Pres, and they were violent! Last week someone got machete-ed in some church a few cuads from my house. Then last week i was awoken by gunshots at 3am. Awesome. Anyways you just dont want to call atention to yourself, and unfortunately i am a whole different color. But President Arredondo recognized that so on sunday we all had to be in our houses by 6pm and then we couldnt go into the streets on Monday. So monday we all went like 3 blocks from our house to the chapel and played cards and basketball and baseball and it was way chill and fun, but then the whole zone got so distracted that we forgot to leave before dark....oops. We were in the street and started to walk home when this lady walked past us and whispered to me--shhh-cheila (white girl) no ir esta manera, ellos son pagando personas mas arriba (dont go this way, they are hitting people up there.) and sure enough we looked and there were guys with sticks and bats and stuff just hitting eachother because everyone was drunk. We got a taxi and everything was fine.ANYWAYS Today is way chill. All the Nicas are sober again so dont you even worry. Isnt it cool how the Lord is protecting me because I am doing what i should, Dad? DONT WORRY. I had a waaaaaay fun experience this week. I finally understand what it means to eat everything you are given. Luckily it wasnt anything too wierd. It was just aaroz con leche (rice and milk) like dad eats sometime. My investigator was just way sketchy on the milk, so it was just like way disgusting mushy rice and the texture made me so sick. I made it through the lesson though and then after when we were walking home I was like-Ruiz! Wait. I need to throw up.- And she started laughing because she thought i was kidding and then I started throwing up alot in the street. and then she stopped laughing. haha. Guess what else happened this week!! It was the highlight of my whole week*------I FINALLY DREAMT IN SPANISH! YES! I had a dream that Ruiz and i were contacting on the street we met these people that were just golden. It was awesome. Right now we have 2 progressing families. Last sunday we were rounding everyone up for church and we went to an investigators and were like-Domingo! Are you coming to church this week? and he was like...yeah sure. and alot of people say that and then dont come so we werent really expecting him to be there, especially since we werent walking with him-but he came! How cool is that! Today we are going to poner un fecha with him to be baptized on the 12th. Hopefully next week i will be sending my first baptism pictures! Because we have another family that we have committed to be baptized on the 12th too. ahh I am so nervous and excited to see what happens! It is kind of scary, but i am just going to do everything in my power to make it happen. Well, that was my week. Hope you like it. Oh I am also sending a few pictures. The first is of Elder Molina, Elder Consoliver (our ZLs) and STUART. and the other 3 are just of me in different areas we were in. Please note how stinkin tan I am! To finish, I just wanted to talk for a minute about President Monson. Yesterday when we werent allowed to leave our house i watched that movie on his life called On the Lords Errand. If you guys havent seen it i would highly reccomend it. (It is really upsetting me that i am forgetting how to spell in English. That was always something i prided myself on...) I have such great respect and admiration for President Monson. I know that he is truly a prophet of God. You can tell that he was chosen to be something great from a very young age, and He did everything in his power to be the person Heavenly Father wanted him to be. He was continually doing the Lord´s work. Something that really made me think was when it was talking about how whenever he recieved a prompting to do anything he learned to do it without question or waiting. He just promptly obeyed to the spirit. I really need to learn how to do this. I feel like right now since i have a trainer its kind of cool to see how the whole prompting-acting thing works. Like we were in a lesson with some investigators last week and we were talking about the restoration and the book of mormon, and all the sudden i just thought-We need to ask them to be baptized on the twelvth. and then i waited. because--dude! It is scary for me to just ask someone to be baptized because sometimes i think, man i dont want to mess up the lesson if they say no, or I dont know exactly how to say that politely in spanish--- but right when i started to wait i heard Hermana Ruiz say--We are preparing a baptismal service for the 12th. will you prepare yourselves to be baptized on that day? and they said they werent ready--but i learned alot from that. Hermana Ruiz heard the same spirit i did, and she acted. This is something I am working on. Because really, it is ridiculus to pray and pray and pray to have the spirit, and then not act on the promptings you recieve! It is like saying I am so hungry. Dad please give me some food so i can eat. I am starving. And then your Father gives you a nice juicy steak with grandpa barretts mashed potatoes (I am drooling.) and then you just sit there and stare at it. I need to learn to act! its also like the scripture in James chapter 2---faith without works is dead. My recent converts who are having a hard time right now with drinking. We found 5 of our 15 converts totally smashed the other day. One of them is named Ramon. He keeps telling me Sister Barrett I know that Heavenly Father can help me overcome my temptations. I know that I can do better. And then he drinks. Then we go back and He tells me again. Sister Barrett please pray with me that i can overcome my temptation to drink. I know i shouldnt. And then he does it again. Luckily for each of us, God is a patient. That is something I am learning alot out here. No matter how many times we fail and then try and then fail again, Heavenly Father is always there, waiting for us to get it right. That is why I keep trying. Have a great week everyone! Love ya´ll! smile! -Hermana Barrett