Monday, July 2, 2012

Managua

Well! Happy P-day to all of you!  It sure is a lovely day!

Welp, I finally ended up in Managua. The one place i never wanted to serve...but guess what---I LOVE IT!  It is such a challenge because EVERYONE has already heard about the church and all have prejudices to the members.. so in contacts we have like 30 seconds to change their perspective. My companions name is Hermana Aragòn. She has 4 months in the mission. She is from Guatemala and shes super sweet. She supports me in all my crazy ideas- i feel like i can do anything! (except slack off) haha.  We have been contacting and trying to find families like crazy.  Something wierd for me is that we are the only sisters in Managua. In all of my other zones there was at least 2 other companionships of sisters. But here its just us too with a load full of elders.They are so funny! and super competive. This last week we had a competition in the zone to see who could contact the most families and the ZLs would pay the cyber on monday for those who won---The ZLs are paying for my cyber today. fwa hahaha we won!  Yesterday we had 5 investigators in church. it was great! No families though...we will be working this week to lograr eso.

We are going to have a baptism this saturday! His name is Julio. He has been taught for a while now but he never wanted to take the commitment. But last sunday his dad passed away. We went to his funeral on monday and set up an appointment for thursday.  That appointment was so great! The spirit was really strong and I felt very strongly impressed to give him the batismal challenge. He accepted no problems, came to church sunday and to noche de hermanamiento and he is going to get baptized on saturday! It is so amazing to see how The Lord prepares people!

We had another really cool story in a guy named Michael. He will be getting baptized soon, Im not positive when though. We were contacting in Las Torres (a more dangerous part of our area) DURING THE DAY (so its not as dangerous) and a lady called us over to her. So we went over cuz it was a lady with a baby (what is she going to do?) and she told us she was a member and her husband is not. So we taught her and her husband, Greyner. Super wierd name right? Anyways we went back 2 days later and Greyner`s brother Michael was there. He started asking us questions about the church and we taught lesson one and then when it was over he shared an experience with us. Greyner and Michael dont know their father and when Michael was 12 and Greyner was like 8 their drunk mom abandoned them. So Michael was left to fend for his little brother (and he has a little sister too). He said at first it was really hard and one particularly hard day 2 guys came to his house in White shirts and ties. He said They prayed and sang with them and helped him to feel better, like there was hope. He said he felt something different when he talked to them. The missionaries gave him the address of the church and didnt come back. But Michael lost their address and was super sad, but couldnt ever find that church again.  Until this last week. After he told this experience he said, I still remember the feeling i felt with those 2 missionaries, and I havent felt it again, until right now.  It was so cool! Then I passed by their house on sunday morning and he came to church (He brought my and the member i was with, 5 recent converts, 1 investigator and 2 minus actives and 3 kids in a little trailer behind his motor cycle. IT WAS HILARIOUS. So ghetto. Just imagine. A guy pulls up on a motorcycle with a trailer behind, then 11 people pile out of it. hahaha the members were laughing so hard.) Anyways we got to church and he sat by me. It was testimony meeting and he asked me...Who are these people speaking? and i told him ..you know members with something to share. and he was like. anyone can go up? and i was like...yeah... and he was like... can i go up?... i was a little nervous because i have had some really awkward experiences with investigators saying things in group meetings.. but the spirit told me that it was alright. So he goes up there and was just like "I just wanted to thank all of you for encouraging me to be a better person. Thank you for this feeling. I want to keep feeling like this." it was so sweet! Then he proceeded to ask me...what do i have to do to be baptized?? GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR. I just havent put a fecha with him yet because he is married and i havent met his wife yet. She is a Jehovahs witness. We are going tomorrow so we`ll see how that goes.

As you can tell, Managua is a city of Miracles. Nothing progresses in this work without the hand of the Lord. I know i have only been here 2 weeks, But i have felt the spirit more here than in any other area. I dont know if that is just because I am learning how to recognize it or what. But i love Managua! Its going to be a great week! Love you guys!-Hermana Barrett

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