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