Learning to Trust

Well!! This week has been interesting in Estelí. We started the week off
with having 3 families teaching. And so we set a goal to have 5 famlies
teaching....and then our 3 families fell one by one. It was really sad
because one of them even told us "Yeah, we know the book of mormon is the
word of god. We know this is the true church....but our church is true
too." Then we kindly but very directly explained that their church does not
have the authority. And then they told us that it didnt matter to them. It
was still true. Whatever. Some people need help.
I am learning something very important though. I read a talk called
"the Fourth Missionary" Which is AMAZING. in it it says that the only way
to be successful in this life and especially in your mission is to give
everything over to Heavenly Father. Your stresses and worries, past actions
and future hopes, and more than anything your heart and mind. I am learning
to just trust the Lord with it all. I have been really stressed lately
because I got a new companion...who knew that would be so hard? But I am
learning that the more I just trust God, the easier it is. The more i
trust the easier it is to find joy in every step.
And now a little about mycompanioon. Her name is Hermana Pastran. She is
from Costa Rica and has 9 months in the mish. She is really into Anime and
Twilight and x box games..iknow right? Ifeel like I am getting really blunt
but I asked her.. I was like..."are you emo?" and she was like "No! I just
act like one!" What does that even mean?! She is way sweet though and
follows the rules like nobodies business. Super Pilas. I am learning alot
from her. It feels like amore equal companionship than it did with Ruiz.
She is seriously an amazing missionary. We are having a trial finding
people to teach though! So this next week will be a fun week of "getting to
know you"---contacting! Yay!! Oh, and one more thing about Pastran! She is
4' 10" I finally just broke down and measured her. she is tiny!! Oh well.
Oh guess what! This wednesday an apostle is coming to Managua! Russel M.
Nelson is coming! I am so excited to hear his words of wisdom. I´ll be sure
to hook you all up next week! Sorry i dont have much to say...just kinda
figuring out how the mission is! Anyways, have a great week!ª! -Hermana
Barrett

¡¡Feliz año nuevo!!

Querido Family y Friends,Hola Hola! Man what a fun week huh?? Happy New Years!! I cannot believe it is already here. The Nicas celebrate the new years with FIREWORKS. a ton of fireworks. I am sending a few pictures of me and "El Viejo" Or the Old Man. I guess that is a saying in the states too right? like the old man is dying and a baby is being born or something? Im actually still not sure if its a saying or a old tradition or what. Whatever. Anyways every household (who can afford it) makes a scarecrow like thing and then fills it chalk full of fireworks. And then at Midnight they all blow them up. So....I totally went to bed at the usual 10:30 and then at midnight i thought a war broke out or something. It was SO LOUD!! Like the explosions started and the next thing i knew i was out of my bed and panicking! ...I dont acually remember getting up--it super scared me! Oh Well.......Also for new years we had 3 dinners!! Like thats all everyone wanted to do is feed us. oh and i accidentally drank some alcohol.(do you like how i just snuck that in there?)---- LET ME EXPLAIN.--- One of our active members who comes every week, Fransisco, gave me some eggnog. And i took a little swig when He gave it to me and then i heard Ruiz say-"This smells funny!" oops. Then Fransisco was like "There is only a little bit of Alcohol in it.-8 ounces!" Okay, I dont know alot about cuantity of alcohol--but that sounds like A TON to me!!! ah well. You live and learn. :D I believe it was a transgression because i didnt know it was in there. Yup. Case closed. haha.So what else is going on in good old Nicaragua? not a whole lot. I made some goals this week. Lets talk about that. :D Elder M. Russell Ballard said that we make goals so that we can step by step achieve our divine potential. He Said without goals we can never become the people that God knows we can be. So to set goals we should ponder what we want to become, and then we set goals accordingly to become that person.And then We Pray, and promise Heavenly Father we will do all we can to achieve these goals. These worthy Goals. M. Russel Ballard also said-"If your goals are righteous, then go for them." Then with help of Heavenly Father, We practice self discipline and fight to make our goals realities. And then He said this "We have to have faith. We have to have faith in God. We have to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, how desperately we have to have faith in ourselves." Have faith that you can change. With the Atonement of Jesus Christ and some self discipline- everyone can change. Sure, It will be hard--but you can do it. Everyone has room to be better. SO....i hope everyone has set their goals for 2012! How wierd is it that I will be in the mission field for THE ENTIRE YEAR?! super wierd. Im kinda wigging out about it! It is going to be a great year though. I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!!-Hermana Barrett