Post Christmas- Pre New Years Trunkies

HEY LOVELIES! So good to talk to you yesterday. That is like the understatement of the year. I loved every minute of it. Thanks for the encouragement and love and support! I love you guys. After we hung up i remembered something President had told us. He said when we call our families to have them feel better about your mission when they hang up than when they answered the phone. Did i do that yesterday?? Im not sure. Especially since I told whitney and Maddy about the guy who got killed right before i hung up. Sorry. Bad timing on my part. thats an ease into it subject. haha. So, since i spoke to you guys yesterday and already know what happened this week, i thought id tell you a few things of what ive been learning.
1. Heavenly Father is patient. I have just been overwhelmed with this fact. He is always there, just waiting to give us blessings, comfort,knowledge, or whatever we need-but he will not force us to do anything. So he just waits and waits and waits for us to ask. I know that prayer is literally speaking with our Father. It is powerful. I also knows that it is 2 sided. He will answer. Prayer is everything. I firmly believe that that is where the power in missionary work comes, because we are just constantly praying. A phrase ive heard here that has inspired me is "pray like it all depends on God, and then Work like it all depends on you." which brings us to number 2
2. Work. holy guacamole--this is way harder than i thought it would be. It is hard in every aspect. Physically, emotionally, mentally....i cant think of any other ways but ITS HARD! I feel like i am literally in the Refiners Fire. And wow, i have a ton of things to be better in. I am learning that if Heavenly Father wants you to learn something, you will learn it-one way or another. So you just have to try your best to try and figure out what that is, and then be better! (simple as that?) No its really hard. I am also learning however, that stress is not a bad thing. Stress helps us to be better.
3. The church is perfect-the people are not. Wow i am learning that no one is perfect. Especially not me. But everyone is trying. It is so sad to see people leave the church and all the blessings there in for something stupid. Like recent converts who quit coming to church after a year because the missionaries dont visit anymore. Or because they dont like the bishop. I love a quote that is on Shauna Young´s wall: "Heaven, dont miss it for the world." Dont miss out on eternity because of some little petty thing. Which leads me to another thing
4. Know for yourself. I believe this is the key to achieving eternal life. If you know it for yourself, if you truly understand all of the blessings and happiness you could have, you will live the gospel to the best of your ability, and therefore You will be happy. Your personal knowledge is the key. That is why it is so important to know for yourself. Know your Savior. Know how to repent. Know how to make and keep sacred covenants. Learn about the gospel. I think people sometimes dont understand the grand picture of it. I am just figuring it out a little by little. I guess this should go back in #3, but the church is Perfect. It was truly established by the Savior-it is perfect. Everything we do has a purpose. It is beautiful! I feel so extremely blessed to have been a part of it my whole life. I feel like I am learning so much about the gospel, and the more i learn the more I understand--Its true. I know it. I will never be able to doubt it. I know that its real. Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Atonement, the First Vision, Its real. And since Heavenly Father knows that we are so quick to doubt, He has told us-test me. Ask me-and I will tell you. I know that if you have any doubts, just ask Heavnly Father-and you will find out for yourself. What an amazing promise. How blessed are we right???? I feel just amazing lucky to be apart of it. Anywho, I hope that you all have a super awesome week! I love you all! -Hermana Barrett

Feliz Navidad!

Hola familia!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I cant believe its already here! So crazy. This week was...short. Funny story, I got bit by a dog on tuesday! Not very fun, I would not recommend it. Its not even a cool story or anything. We just walked up to Dora and Ceasers house, and like always their two dogs were chillin out front and then we walked up to their open door and Ruiz yelled Buenas! and i took a step to enter, and their third dog (who knew they had 3 dogs?!) Ran up and bit me on my right leg like almost behind my knee. like right on the side up there. it didnt hurt very bad, but it scared me alot because i didnt even see the stinkin thing! I just took a step then my leg hurt like a mother. and then Ceaser, sweet Ceaser, wanted to help me out, so he ran over to a pulperia (little store) and bought something to clean it with. and then I learned a cool new thing: Rubbing Alcohol+Bleeding Dog bite=muchisimo pain.But no one freak out because their dogs have their vaccinations. Im not foaming at the mouth or anything. Its totally fine now, just colorful. but im sending a picture of my leg now, and the first day it happened. You can totally see the red circle from all its stinkin teeth! Ouch!What else happened this week. OH YEAH! i got to call home to set up a time for christmas! Such a highlight of the week! It made me laugh so hard how you answered dad. "hello?" "Hey dad!! Whats up??" "Not much, How are you---WHO IS THIS?!" hahaha anyways for christmas we had a christmas activity as a mission, and They had me and Elder Arnold play the prelude music. at the activity we sang and played games and there was this huge slippin slide (good thing i spent an hour on my hair!) and then we had a christmas dinner of Turkey and rolls and mashed potatoes. SO GOOD. and So since i played the cello for them my comp and i got to stay in Managua for 2 nights (because the reunion was like half missionaries one day, the rest the next day..and i just HAD to go to both activities.) and president invited us to dinner at Porterhouse Steaks with him and his whole family, and all the missionaries who went home yesterday. It was SO NICE. like even for the states. how lucky am i right?? It was a really great christmas activity though. Super trunky. I am ready to talk to you guys. Man! I love christmas. Such a great reminder of the amazing love our Heavenly Father has for us. He gave us His son. What profound love. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son." The more I learn about the Savior: His characteristics and the truthfullness of His Mission, the more I understand the sentance-I stand all amazed. And then I ask myself: What am I going to give the Savior for Christmas? or more than that-what am i going to give up? How can i become more like Him? I have learned so much about The Savior here. and something I have learned-something I know now more than any other time in my life is that He lives. What comfort this sweet sentance gives. He Lives. I obviously dont have any money to give gifts to everyone. But I think that this is the best gift i could give the people of Nicaragua. The Knowledge that He lives. Because that is true, life can be better. So, that is what i will be doing this week...and for 14 more months--Spreading the good word! Merry Christmas Everyone!! Love you! -Hermana Barrett

What did Mr. Rogers say when he got hit by a car? It's a beautiful day on my neighbor's hood. HAHAHAHA (it gets me everytime)

Buenas Tardes Fam!I hope everyone is happy and healthy this week. I gotta tell you, I had a great week. We had another Miracle. Their Names are Dora and Ceaser. i know i told you about them before, but OH MY GOSH!! They are so cool!! Let me tell you, they are the first family I´ve had the privledge to find, teach and BAPTIZE.I think I already told you about how we found them, just wandering around and then i felt like we should knock a door, but when we got to the door all we heard was people fighting but we knocked anyways and Ceaser answered and (I am so excited to tell you I cant use more than one sentance.) and he was just like Oh! hermanas! come on in! and we were like You know who we are? and he was like Yeah, the missionaries! And so then we taught the first lesson.Everytime we went back something awesome happened. They would share something really personal and just let us in a little bit more, or they would make us milk and cookies, or once Dora was talking to us about the other church she was baptized in. I thought it was super cool. She was like: I never felt the spirit in that church. People would always start wailing or talking in tongues or fall to the ground with "the spirit". I dont think the spirit works like that. I think I feel it when you are here.---GOLDEN. It was such a priveledge to get to teach them. This baptism was way special because they were the first people I ever asked like straight up to be baptised. The other super cool thing that happened was that on wednesday we went to teach them with the DL´s and on our way there Dora passed us going the opposite direction with their kids. but we felt like we should still go teach Ceaser anyways. So we went and I taught the word of wisdom (another first) and we had decided to not talk about baptism again because they had said they didnt want to be pressured. So we were just talking after the lesson and we said something like--You are a son of God. He has sent you here to become the person you want to be. So what are you going to do? And he said--When is that baptism again?? And we were like This saturday! And he was like If Dora is ready, I am ready. So we came back the next day and told Dora that (apparently they dont talk at night??) and she was like--Well, Lets do it then! and so Saturday, The 10th of December (4 months to the day i came) We baptised a family. It was such an amazing experience. Ugh! I just love them! I am going to send you a picture of them, and then some pictures of this super huge tree that is out by their house. I thought it was so super cool! I could like fit in the roots. and there was this super huge spider nest right next to me. ugh! Anyways, that was my week! I have total faith that next week will be just as cool. Anyways, I love you guys--See ya! Hermana Barrettp.s. right now in the cyber where i am titanic music is playing in really corny spanish. it is so funny!

Life is Beautiful.

Good Afternoon everyone! I sure hope everyone is happy and healthy this week.This week i had the opportunity to go to Managua. (we had to go to managua-i didnt want to, because it is 3 hours away by bus, but Ruiz had to renew her Nicaraguan license) It was actually really fun though! But dude! Story! So we get there after the 3 hour bus ride, and sorry to be gross, but i had to go. and so we walk up to this little hut with a old lady infront of it. I thought she was in line for the bathroom or something. wrong-o. Cual numero? (what number??) And then i (not knowing to what she was refering) was like um...uno? apparently i guessed the wrong number cuz i didnt get any toilet paper. (again, sorry to be groady, but i have to tell someone!!!) then i went into "the bathroom".. Oh my gosh. HOVER OF MY LIFE. then i came out and had to pay 4 cordobas. what?!?! hahaha ENOUGH SAID. Then we went to the distribution center and i bought the last two ensigns in english! woot woot! rock on! Then we went to this El Salvador restraunt and got pupussas. I think thats how you spell it, but whatever--they were delicious. I have pictures,but my camera is dead. Tomorrow im going to Managua again for a meeting. awesome! (no, it will really be fun this time.)Remember Dora and Ceaser? They are still really cool. Actually now i think they are even cooler. We have found out some more about their lives. Man-they have both had really hard lives. They both had trouble with drugs, and consequently Dora was in jail for 2 years, and Ceaser was aswell for 10 years. But they both want to change. It is so cool to be able to tell them with full asurety that they can be forgiven for all their sins through baptism. (we already checked it out, they can both be baptised.) What an amazing atonement right? The gospel is so beautiful. It gives you a new chance with baptism, and then every week. It is easy to tell that Heavenly Father loves us, and he really wants us back. because he gave us every chance to repent. This experience with them has also made me SO grateful for my life. Wow. I have so many blessings. My life is easy. I´ve been given every benefit of life. Especially with having been raised in the gospel. My heart is full. I love you all, and I hope you have a great week! -Hermana Barrett

!!!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

Nicaragua !Semana Dos!

Hey Hey Familia! Hows it going in good ol Utah? Let me tell you a few things about Nicaragua. Turns out there is a sun here. The rain finally stopped!! Wohoo!! Because of this beautiful fact this week was much better. We are having trouble finding people to teach though! But a cool thing happened, our whole zone came and contacted in our area to help us find families. It was cool. we got like 8 new appointments. But then when we actually found these peoples houses (which oh my gosh is so hard here-they dont have addresses. They have directions. what is your address? Here is my address: Go to energy plant and then 3 cuadrants south and then 20 metres east where the avocado tree is. then its the pink house. Do you know how many avocado trees there are here? Another address, i kid you not, is: 4 cuads al oeste from where the mormon fell... I guess an Elder like fell off the sidewalk and slipped in the mud and totally faceplanted. and everyone remembers. hahaha) anyways (wow i get super sidetracked) once we find the people who said they were interested, they just lie to our faces. We had a good referencia from some elders- they said they were way interested. And so we hiked down into this little field with shacks and as we were walking down, we saw a guy see us and go into his house. then we found out that that was the house we were looking for, and went to it and his "esposa" came to door and we were like hey! other missionaries talked to you the other day right? and she was like yeah-what do you want? and we were like well, we´d like to teach you and your husband mas sobre la iglesia de Jesucristo. And she was like. oh, he is not here. and we go to another church. when the reference said that they didnt go to anychurch. It is really hard to teach here, because the people just tell you what you want to here....well some do... this lady was extremely honest...and rude. It sounds really bad, but the people here are liars. They will lie right to your face like it is absolutely nothing. Every sunday morning we wake up at 5:30 to gather the Mormon Battalion. Which is where we go and gather all of our recent converts and investigators who have committed to come to church. So around 7 we go and start knocking doors and recommit people to come to church. This week we went to all of our recent converts- there are 10- and asked them- hey, you are coming to church today right? it starts at nine (they know when it starts! recent converts only means that they have been a member under a year) and they say oh of course- i promise you, I swear ill be there. and then how many actually showed up? ONE! one and it was because we literally walked him there. His name is Herson. We went to his house to find him and his wife Juana, but they werent there. So we started walking to church, and then we found him throwing up on the side of the road--Totally drunk. Alot of our recent converts are having trouble with alcohol lately. I dont know whats the deal- but oh! it is so sad! anyways, we found him drunk and we´re like: Herson! What are you doing?? Dont you remember that you just made covenants with God? and he simply replied-Satan made me do it. Family and friends, can i please remind you that Satan cannot make you do anything? We all have our agency. We are all incharge of our actions. You can do or say or Be anything you want to be, because you have your agency. You are incharge. Again, it reminds me of that way tight poem from William Ernest Hemley---I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.--never forget you have the power! anyways, ill stop preaching to you guys now... Lets get trunky. The other day something cool happened, you guys may not think its cool, but i totally did. The other day I was doing my makeup in the bathroom, and I had to do a double take in the mirror, because i looked just like mom. Remember how she always made that face when she was putting on makeup? Like she would suck her cheeks in and stick out her lips? I totally did without thinking about it. How cool is that right? Pretty cool. That reminds me of a song from the broadway Lion king. I am sure you all remember it, I would bust that song like nobodies business. It is in the part where Simba is talking to Rafiki and Rafiki tells him to look into the water. He tells him he will see his father. He asks simba, what do you see? and Simba, severely disapointed answers-its just my reflection. And Rafiki tells him- He lives in you.--The song is called He lives in you. Here are some words- "He lives in you, He lives in me. He watches over everything we see. Into the water, Into the truth, In your reflection He lives in you.--I always think of this song when I miss mom. Her blood runs in my veins. I am her daughter. She taught me everything I know. She made me who I am. She will always live on in me. I will always be the daughter of Jenny Lynn Barrett. When i think of this, I remember my divine nature. Each of us are children of a divine Creator, Our Father in Heaven. That is our divine nature. He made us. God is our father. Our purpose in this life is to become like him. Can you imagine how different the world would be if when everyone looked in a mirror they saw their own divine nature? If we each remembered where we came from, and our purpose in life? We are literally his Children. I know i havent been out here very long, but I have learned so so much about our Heavenly Father. Especially how to talk to him. I have learned to talk to Him like the father He is. If any of you are having a hard time, or if you feel alone...just remember-He is always there. Just waiting.He is a God of patience and long-suffering. He will always be there for you. No matter how long your pride takes you to realize it. Pray to him. Learn to trust Him. There in you will find peace.wouldnt it be cool if i could talk like this in spanish?! I hate that i cant express myself! I am waking up every day at 6 just to get in a half hour more of spanish everyday. just fyi. Anyways, I sure love you guys! I hope you have a great week!!

Nicaragua!! Week 1

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

Guatamala- Week 5

Holy cow time is flyin!!! I cannot believe I am leaving for the field Monday!!! ahhh! Not gonna lie, im a little nervous!! But i loved loved loved what L Tom Perry said in conference. He quoted 1 John 4:18 which says: "There is no fear in love, for love casteth out fear" I love this so much! Because I dont know how, but all of the sudden I just love everyone. Everyone on the street is a brother, a sister, EVERYONE is a beloved daughter of Heavenly Father. I have been really nervous to go because, lets face it, spanish is hard. My world got rocked this last week with something called subjunctive, and then this week i learned adjective clause subjunctive and noun clause subjunctive and past subjunctive. Disgusting right? But I know that if i love these people as much as i possibly can, The way their Father loves them, then I have nothing to be afraid of. Somehow (If I am obedient) the spirit will touch them. OH! Cool story about this: This last monday we got to go tracting for the second time. Remember how last time i totally came home and totally cried because it was so hard and i couldnt understand anyone and they couldnt understand me? No? Oh, i probably didnt tell you that.... ANYWAYS I was totally dreading going this time because Last time i had my native companion. This time it was just me and sister blanco (hermana Holladay) (I think she may literally be half albino). Plus she is muy timido and doesnt talk to like anyone. I was feelin some pressure. Anyways luckily we had a spiritual buff up the day before with General conference and so i was filled with faith and we went and we talked to everyone and one hombre even said to me (en spanish) "Your spanish is very good!" THEN he turned to Hna Holladay and said (I laughed so hard later) You need to work a little harder. HAHAH she is so much better than me at spanish. It was way funny. She took it in jest, dont worry. Anyways, I know that i was only blessed with the gift of tongues in that instnace because i am being obedient. Weve heard it time and time again "If you follow my commandments you will prosper in the land" So it must be important eh? Pienso si. Oh, dad, youll be happy about this-after tracting monday they let me go to a Missionary nursing conference where all of the mission presidents wifes and all of the nurses for every mission get to go. How cool is that right? My mission presidents wife totally spoiled me. Her name is Hermana Steimle. She took me to lunch at this nice place and then to a bakery for the best cookies of my life. it was awesome!

Oh, another cool thing, today i got to go through the temple in spanish for the first time! I was so suprised how much i understood! Probably because the spirit was running rampant! But guess what! This is my last time going to the temple for the next 16 months! How?! Im not sure. Every week for months and then cold turkey? I think i will come to appreciate the temple much more. i would go into more details about that, but i have 2 minutes and need to get to business. I love you all, thank you so much for the support and emails! The church is true. :) -Hermana Barrett

Guatamala- Week 4

HOLA HOLA familia y amigos! Como estan este semana? I am doing really good this week. I got a new native companiera and her name is hermana Bobadilla. Sweet right? Hermana Holladay also got a native companion named hermana Uribe. I tell you what I think i found the latina version of myself. Hermana Uribe is SO COOL!!! she is a longboarder and she has a little sister that she just adores too and i dont know what it is about her, but we were just instant friends. Everynight we sit out in the hall and discuss our days and the other day i was in a little tiff with hermana holladay (we are good now, she was just being a little annoying...i probably was too) and she wrote me a note and it was like the sweetest thing ive ever read! she gave me the coolest scripture, but i left it in my room, so ill tell you next week.
I dont know what button i just hit, but i didnt mean to send that. Anyways, I am still loving Guatemala. Next week is my last week here! can you believe it? I sure cant. I am a little TERRIFIED to go into the actual field. Spanish is hard. I was just taught something that rocked my world-it is called subjunctive. I would tell you why it is so hard, but i dont even know how to explain it! My teacher was like....I dont want to scare you guys, but spanish is 85% subjunctive. Awesome. I have alot of work to do. I will tell you whats been on my mind lately. My second week here i heard another devotional talk from Elder Holland. In it he spoke of the time immedietly following the Saviors death. He told us about Peter, and what he did. I had never understood this story before. Peter went back to fishing, becuase thats all he had ever known. So they went fishing, and they were up all night fishing, and they didnt catch anything and then in the morning they saw a man on the shore and he said put your nets on the other side of the boat. so they did and they couldnt pull up the fish, because there were so many. Then Peter immedietly jumped off the boat because he knew it was the Savior. My favorite part of this story is the conversation on the shore between the Savior and Peter. Elder Holland said it like this. Jesus: Peter, do you love me more than you love fishing? more than boats? more than all you have? Peter:Yes i do love you more than these. Jesus: Peter, do you love me more than you love all you have? Peter:Yes, i do. I said i do. Jesus: (May i know say for the 3rd time-Peter was very sensitive about 3s at this time) Do you love me more than everything? Peter: Yes. I do. I love you. More than anything. (This is the moment when Peter became the great apostle) Jesus: Then feed my sheep. Right here elder holland said something i will never forget. He got firey and said that the Savior implied: "When i said leave your nets, I meant forever." Then Elder Holland said- Elders and sisters, never come home from your missions. "Called to serve, called to serve- I have heard that song so many times-but it means nothing if it is just for 2 years. Let your mission change you. Let it change your life. Love the Lord more than anything. More than Sin, more than any heartache. Feed His sheep." I love that SO much. I hope you guys can feel the power in his words. I sure can. I know that that is true. If we put all of our trust in the Lord, and do what he asks of us, He will not let us down. You can always rely on the Lord. I have been so extremely blessed. I just wanted to Say thank you for all of the love and support i feel from home. There are so many missionaries here who dont have anyone back home. My companion, Hna Bobadilla, has been a convert for 1.5 years and she is the only member. She is 25 and man, she has a strong testimony. It is hard to be out here alone, but She knows its true. It gives me great joy to be able to tell you all, that I know it is true as well. I feel so extremely blessed to be a missionary for the Lord. I know I am nothing. I have so so much to work on and so much to do. But i love the quote from President Hinckley- "You are not the best. But you are the best we have. You are the best the Lord has." The Lord is my strength. How lucky am I right? Wow! This is my churchiest email by far! But i just want you to know-I know its true. I know that Christ lives. I know he truly died for us. and I also know that he was ressurected and through his merits we can be an eternal family. What comfort this sweet sentance gives: I KNOW that my redeemer lives. Welp! Times up! I sure love you all though! Does it bug yall that i just email? some of my latina sisters are makingme feel bad for not being a better writer. sorry. Remember you are loved from Guatemala! Smile! if your sad-i love john 16:33 Be of good cheer! Love-Your Hermana Barrettolest scripture, but i left it in my room, so ill tell you next week.

Guatamala- Week 3

Hola Family!!

Not a very eventful week in Guatemala......just 5 earthquakes, someone has worms, and i got to go into the city for some shopping today. (!!!!)

First things first! Earthquake!!! At the CCM, we just had "tremors" but i tell you what--it was freaky!!! we were all just sitting in class and all of the sudden the room started shaking. Sounds stupid right? you know what an earthquake is. It just lasted a few seconds, but that was enough for me! we all just stopped talking and held onto our desks and watched each other wide eyed and the windows and watched everything shake. CRAZY!! then like half an hour later--it happened again? and then like 2 hours later it happened again when we were at lunch, and then at 10:30 while we were praying as sisters another little one happened. Everyone is fine here though. We all thought it was way cool and then we heard that 3 people died in Guatemala. So sad! But don't you worry, Everyone here is great. There are only 4 sisters at the CCM right now because all of our latinas left! It was so sad! My companiera wrote me a long letter and it looks really nice, but it is totally in Spanish, so I cant read it. Not gonna lie, this week has been an eye opener. turns out I really don't know Spanish. I have alot of work to do, and just 3 weeks to do it in! Time is flyin.
Segundo--Worms. Luckily I do not have worms. A few Elders do (and no one knows what from) but nope, I am good. We asked the Doctor how we can like avoid those fun-loving creatures, but the Dr. was like-"oh, everyone here has parasites by now. If you eat here, you have little friends." Awesome. I have enough friends. :) It is crazy to think about right??
Shopping today was SO fun!!! we went to an underground mercado and it was alot like the stores in Cabo, but much much cleaner like morality wise, and i bought a way cool dress and a jersey and such. Then after that we went to a way cool mayan museum and studied up on the people here before. We went to a huge relief map that was made like a hundred years ago and is 99% accurate. it was SO cool. Then at the museum they just had tons of amazing artifacts and paintings and statues and obsidian, it was amazing. Then we went to a mall that is nicer than any I've been to in Utah. It was like a new york mall. Amazing. I felt really out of place. I didn't think about it before so i just braided my hair this morning and wore one of those shirts Jodi got me (Remember how i had 4 of them and then only brought 2 because they are not the most attractive things? they are my favorite to wear. all of my companions are so jealous that i have them cuz they are so cute and easy out here!!) Anyways, i looked totally amish to all of the rich people at the mall. Oh well.
So, I am so so grateful that i probably wont have a car in Nicaragua. The roads are terrifying here!! Did you know that there is special motorcycle lane here? it is in between every other car. People are just driving so fast and running lights and just trying to get where they are going in the quickest time possible--scary!! I have never been so grateful for law enforcement. Crazy Nazi Nibley Cop, you keep doing your job, Ma'am.
Man, I am so tired! The work is hard, but i love it. (and I haven't even gotten to the field yet!) Have i told you about my amazing teachers here yet?? I think not. In the morning we have hermana Cruz, the afternoon Hermano Vasquez, and at night Hermana Alvarez. They are all so awesome. I think I've told you before, but there are a different breed of saints down here. Everyone who is a member is because they absolutely know its true, without a shadow of a doubt. I feel extremely blessed to be one of the 4 Norte sisters here partake of this awesomeness! Oh, have i told you that i havent met anyone going to my mission yet? I am hoping that there will be some in the group of newbies coming tomorrow. There are for sure no other Nortes going there though, because transfers are in 3 weeks, so i am just with latinos. Perfect! (Seriously, I cant believe how lucky i am!!) I love my district, i love the people, the food is still pretty good, and I hope you are all doing great. I love you each and i think i will be able to check your emails tomorrow, so keep me posted! I want to hear about your lives! Also, can you send me some pictures in your emails? Like Chelsey especially?? I've gotta see my little sobrina!! (Neice en español--I know her name!) Welp, Back to work! Smile! Love you all--Hermana Barrett

Guatamala- Week 2

Hola everyone!!! Whats crackalackin?? (i taught my latina companion how to say that and then barely caught her before she said that to the CCM president) oops! Man! This week was great. Everyweek is great in Guatemala. It was a bit harder though. Um we went tracting yesterday and it was SO HARD. "I dont think thats the language they taught me in the MTC!" They talk SO FAST!!! it was way hard. a very humbling experience. Lucky our leaders foresaw this and so they put us with our latina companions. Hermana Trochez as amazing! giving out pamphlets left and right closely followed by heartfelt testimonies! it was awesome. Not gonna lie, i was a bit discouraged. But then we came home and for the devotional last night we got to watch a talk from the MTC where Elder Bednar came and spoke. it was so amazing! He finished up by getting choked up and very seriously saying: You CAN do this. As an apostle of the Lord, i promise you that with his help, you can do this. So! now im feelin much better. Today I am feeling extremely blessed to be a Norte Sister here. Did i tell you that there are only 10 North american sisters in the whole CCM? And i get to be one of them. How blessed am I right? Our real investigator didnt show up last saturday-but we have hope for this Saturday! Oh, and i was sick on Monday. I went to breakfast and then i was like, woah...i need to lie down. and then i slept until 9:30 pm and then woke up for an hour, and then slept for the night. Wierd right? Im fine though. I guess I was just really tired! :) dont worry-seriously, Im great today! Want to know what Ive been thinking about all day? I will tell you. :) You know that song "If the Savior Stood beside me"? I have been thinking about it non stop. I realized that today that a representative of the Savior is literally beside me every moment of every day. Am I doing everything i can to act the way i should? I have some work to do! Remember how i like extremely love music. It has been a challenge. I always have a song in my head.And all the sudden i need to transition them to church songs. Its a challenge! CAN YOU BELIEVE IVE BEEN OUT TWO MONTHS ALREADY?? I sure cant. I remember Jodi told me that is what would happen. It would seem like i had forever and a day and then I would be out for 2 months in a snap. I hope my whole mission doesnt go this fast! Okay, so let me tell you about tracting in Guatemala. We all ran across the street and got on this way ghetto bus. I thought i was going to die. Like there were like WAY too many people on this bus (Personal space? what personal space??) and there were people hanging off the sides and everything, it was crazy. . Anyways, we head off on this jet powered bus (Speed limit?? Autobahn baby! How fast can you get there?) and then we finally get off in this little plaza and so we started off tracting and there was just garbage everywhere on the street and the people are all in dirty old clothes and are trying to sell you things, but hey, its a good way to start talking eh? The people are so poor here. They are so nice though! They will be working or whatever and you just walk up and they will stop and talk to you and share their feelings with you (complete stranger here) and UGH! i just love the people so much. I am so excited to get to know all the cute little Nica´s!! Anyways, then we wondered around for like 2 hours and i got so totally lost (again, luckily my latina companion was with me) and we finally found our way and then took the trip back. Im not sure why, but on the trip back we couldnt just get on the bus where we got off, so we had to walk all through town and like down this highway that didnt have a sidewalk and stuff. It looked really cool though! cuz it wasnt just me and my companiara, it was like 3 districts, so we were all walking down this highway single file and it stretched off for a long space of just missionaries. it was really cool. OH! another thing. Everyone has guns here! there are just guards out front of every building holding shotguns and just standing with their hands on their pistols. Kinda scary. They are really nice though. As we were walking through the city looking for our bus stop, i walked past a guard with a huge double barrel shotgun around his shoulders and he had one hand on his gun and the other hand was holding a "el evangelio de Jesucristo" folletto! (A gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet) It was so funny. If i didnt think he would shoot me i would have taken a picture. I hope ya´ll arent getting nervous because I am perfectly safe. I am following all of the mission rules and I have the Lord on my side. What could happen?!? (I´ll be careful. Dad, I can just hear you cringing) I¨m fine!!! I am just super duper grateful to be a sister missionary in central America. Life is great! Guys!! good job on the emails this week! i so appreciated them!!
Whitney!!! Congrats on your new job! so exciting!! (I had to skim over your emails because i had like 7 and no time!!)
Chelsey!! OH MY GOSH---CRAWLING?!! push her down! I need to be there! Totally kidding. THE OTHER THING YOU TOLD ME MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD!!!
Dad Thanks for the emails! I hope yall arent feeling bad that i dont write, but lets face it, im feelin pretty lazy. Emails are sufficient right??

Maddy--How come you havent even emailed me?!?! QUE PASA MUFASA?! I sure love you--smile a ton for me!!

I love you guys! thanks for the support and love, Im feelin it! Love, Hermana Barrett

Guatamala Week One

HOLA EVERYONE!!

I made it very safely to Guatemala a week ago. I dont know how to fit all my enthusiasm into one sentance but...I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The people are AMAZING. The saints here are a different kind of strong. Where do i start?

I got out of the guatemala airport (which wasa little scary because there wasa really bad rainstorm going on when i flew in) and i saw a sign that said "LDS SISTER MTC GUATEMALA" and these cute littleguatemalan men waving me down! then we got here and i was put with my companion. Guess who it is...hermana holladay again! yay!!! we are just a duo now, so i amlovin it. We also have 2 latina companions. Their namesare Hermana Trochez (who is my native companion) and Hermana Legal (who is hna holladays) They are so stinking cool! Hermana trochez is really sweet aaaaaaaaand she understands zero english. A cool thing about this CCM though is that the Norte´´s teach the latina´s spanish. This keyboard is in spanish and i dont know where the apostraphe is. just fyi. also, the space board is broken. awesome possum. The CCM (mtc) is SO NICE though! Like i like it way more than Provo. it is just one building with 3stories and a huge basketball/futbal court in the back. The food is DELICIOS. SO so sosos ososososo much better thn mexican food there. it is so flavorful and delightful. I havent been sick, but 2 of the older Nortes are just getting over E.Coli. awesome. eeeeeewwwwwww.

The teachers are all returned missionaries from the area who served in america, so they speakenglish. I think i was born to be a latina. I love everyonehere. They are so nice and lovingand strong sure, they are super touchy feely, but they are always so willingto help you with anything and everything.

Spanish is comingalong. Everyone keeps asking me how many years of spanish i took before,or the presidents wife´- hermana stimele just asked me where i learned to speak spanish. I said....ummm...here? and she was like-seriously! wow you are great! :) imsure she says that to everyone but i really enjoyedit.

Last night Hermana Trochez said the sweetest thing to me. Every night we sit together and write in our journals and sing and talk together, and so last night we did so, and she was helping me write a little note in spanish to Hermana Silva (another latina sister) and then we said goodnight and went to our seperate rooms...and then a few minutes later she came back and knockedon the door and she just said "you are a very special person" in her broken adorable english. it soundedmore like "ju rr a vedy spishal prrson" but oh my gosh it was the sweetest thing! I totally cried!

Today i had the amazing oportunity, like i will every wednesday, to go to the Guatemala Temple!! Oh my gosh it was so good. it is just super small and like everythingelse here they dont start on time (to get people to a devotional on time at7, they tell everyone it is at 6) but !! it was so great to be back in the temple. Today i really feltmom close when i was in the Celestial Room. I was just thinking about you guys and how we are sealed for eternity. What an amazing blessing. There is a sister from Nicaragua who just got endowed today because they dont have a temple in Nicaragua. it is a 24 hour drive to the closest temple from Nicaragua. I hope you will take every opportunity to go to the temple. It is everything. Get there. Do whatever you need to in your life to live worthy of those blessings.

Anyways.......the address here is
23 avenida 23-71

vista hermosa 1 zona 15

Guatemala- Guatemala C.A

You know, just incase you want to send anything...or whateva...

what else would you like to know? lets talk about the weather. haha Im serious. It is lovely here! It rainsalot, but i still dont think i really know what humidity is yet! It seriously is beautiful.. Okay, a little hotter than im used to, but the building totally has air conditioning, or else i would be dying. The thing that makes me a little worried isthat all of the missionaries from Nicaragua are freezing here. AKA it is super DUPER hot there. Awesome. Seriously, i have no complaints though. OH!! guess what. Everyone here gets to teach a fake investigator...but since hermana holladay and i speak better spanish than our class... we get to teach a real investigator!! Hername is Seleni and weget to teach her again on Saturday. I amso excited! We may have a baptism to talk about before i get to the field! Anyways, I sure Love you guys and i pray for you all the time. Smile! Love, Hermana Barrett