New Digs this week.

Time flies. But it also drags on. Our perception of time is a peculiar thing.

Crazy week. We moved houses last night. The stake president is the only person with a truck, so a member of the bishopric borrowed it and everyone showed up wearing their ties while we were in p-day clothes. But we moved everything in 30 minutes, it was great. Just not the trying to settle in later that night. But we made it!

Time is short as always. I love you all. I am so grateful for this chance to serve a mission. It is a blessing to see the things I need to work on. I have to rely on my Savior each day. I am learning how to be more patient. Every hard thing can be turned around and viewed as a blessing. A mission would not be nearly as incredible if it were easy.

We had some crazy and fun experiences, hopefully I get around to sharing them at some point. Today we played soccer, it was way cool. Playing sports as a missionary is awkward because I am afraid I will run into a male. We played inside the gym and the floor was slippery. No incidents thank goodness. But earlier in the week there was a ward activity and we played a game where everyone has to run and switch chairs. Those games scare me as a missionary. I do not try to win. But if an investigator trips and falls onto your legs and the stake president, two bishops, the zone leaders and district leader, and a tons of other people are watching... All you can do is let your eyes pop out of your head and laugh about it.

I love you all. The Savior is the center of everything. The Book of Mormon is powerful. The church is a means by which we can journey together back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. There is so much love that we can feel if we open up and let ourselves feel it.

Many prayers and hugs,

Hermana Fackrell

Lions, Volcanoes, and t.p., Oh My!

The weeks are flying by crazy fast. We are short on time today. There is a circus that came to León that has a lion, which I think is way cool. We see it in its cage as we walk by. Also we heard a volcano explode on Saturday night which was pretty cool. Living outside of the States is different for sure. The nicest bathroom I have ever used here was in a gas station. It made me so happy, and then I laughed at myself because I was so excited to use a gas station bathroom. Usually that is a downer in the states. There are all the little quirks like people do not flush toilet paper and not even the church house bathroom has paper towels. It is quite fun.

One thing I really enjoyed thinking about this week is how the the message of the Restoration is all about love. Heavenly Father loves all His children, so He called a prophet and restored the Church. Because it is only through the Restored Gospel that we can return to live with Him. And He loves us and wants us to be happy, so that is why He made the gospel so simple. It is like a path. If you enter the gate of baptism, all you have to do is keep walking and you will make it. Some people give up because it is hard, or turn around and walk back. The path gets sticky so we have to clean our shoes every now and then. But it is so simple, because He loves us. We can always get back on the path, we may just have to walk a little farther. I love the simplicity of the Gospel. Each day I feel a little sliver of the love that Heavenly Father has for all of His children. I am so excited to continue to grow closer and feel love love more often and more deeply. He is always waiting there with open arms, we just have to open up and let ourselves feel His love. 

I love you all and hope all is well. Read the Book of Mormon everyday. Sending lots of prayers and love to all,

Hermana Fackrell

(The struggle everyday of deciding how to pronounce my last name when I introduce myself, haha)

 Laundry Day

A foodie in Nicaragua

Yesterday we had a miracle baptism. My first! Of many, I hope. The date for this man had fallen through because of work. We got a call Saturday night, saying he wanted to be baptized in the morning! We pulled everything together, had the interview, and he was baptized about 12 hours after that phone call. It was a sweet miracle. This area is struggling and president sent us here to lift it. Nobody had baptized here in a while, and my companion was stressing. Everything always works out. And what matters is that we are working, and doing our best. The Lord always makes us the rest.

It is wonderful to see someone take the first step of baptism. It is so simple. The hard part is enduring to the end. Conversion is a lifelong process. We have to be diligent and use the Atonement each and every day.

The week has been full of many funny moments and many hard moments. One of the hardest things is remembering and applying what I know. Diligence brings about blessings for sure.

León, my area, is so dusty and hot this week. We had to go to Managua today, and it was so much cooler there. Which is crazy to me. We get so much dirt in the house, dust collects on my scriptures as I read them in the morning.

I love the people. We have some really wonderful members. There is one family that feeds us dinner every week and it is the best thing ever. Other than that we are never fed. I want to feed the missionaries every week when I get home. Because being a missionary is hard and not having to worry about dinner is kind of the greatest. 

 

Some of the cool things about Nicaragua are the frescoes.  Our lunch cita always gives us some.  The closest thing in the states is lemonade.  But it's so much better.  They make them with all kinds of fruit and sell them in plastic bags with straws.  Everything is in bags.  Refried beans come in bags. Oil, milk, you name it.  Also they have Pinot Linot (not sure how to spell it) which is a drink made our of corn and cacoa.  It sounds weird.  The best way to describe it is cornmeal and cocoa powder that you mix with water, ice, and sugar.  It sounds gross but it is way good! We also have drinks that are like strawberry flavored oat powder/ flour that you mix with milk.  Also sounds gross, but they are good.  I thought I wouldn't be  fan of the texture, but it's good.  I have forgotten what food exits other than rice and chicken.  That is what our lunch cita feeds us every day.  I don't mind having the same thing every day as much as I mind the 45 minute walk to her house every day.

So much to say, so little time. I love you all. Many prayers and much love.

-Hermana Fackrell

Week Two in Leon

In two words, wonderfully hard. Or something like that. I have never walked so much in my entire life. But we are working really hard. We had five investigators at church this week, which was a miracle actually because three of them were a family that we helped water their dirt one day and never even taught a lesson to (yet). (People water their dirt here.)

One fun thing about our house, other than that we shower outside in buckets, is that we sweep three times a day, and each time there is more dirt than you could think could ever find its way into a house.

My companion is amazing. We were number 2 in the zone for numbers, and it is all her, since I am still getting over my fear of talking to people in spanish. We talk to a lot of people, I just wonder how much more we could get done if we were not spending so much time walking from area to area within our area!

The thing that sticks out to me most from the week is that trials are a blessing. Life is hard. A mission is really hard. But God gives us trials so that we can learn and grow. For example, if I was able to speak Spanish fluently without putting in all the work, I would be missing out on so much (even though that would be really, really nice). Through trials we can deepen our trust in God, our faith, and we deepen our character. They may really not be fun in the moment, but atleast I am always grateful for them after the fact. There is always something to be learned from a trial.

I love you all. Never forget how important the Gospel is, and how much it will can bless us. I would not be here if I did not know from the bottom of my heart that this is true.

Prayers and love,
-Hermana Fackrell

 This is our "washing machine" all done by hand :)

First Week in Nicaragua

Wow. I have little time to write. Nicaragua is wonderful. I have a wonderful trainer. It still has not clicked in my mind that people do not speak English here. It is not as hard of an adjustment as I thought it would be though.

The people are wonderful. Everyone is willing to listen, but people say that of course they will come to church when they have no intent of ever doing it.

We had two baptisms scheduled for this week when I got here. Last week we found someone, I invited him to be baptized, he is really serious and is just golden. We rarely find people like him though. I am really excited. 

Nicaragua is great. My companion is amazing. I just need to be brave and open my mouth and talk to people in Spanish. I feel like my Spanish is a lot worse than it probably is. There are some members that try to talk to me and I have no idea what they are saying because I do not know how to talk about normal things like shoes or leather. But that is okay. I more or less understand things. Eventually the words will develop more meaning. 

This is a wonderful but hard experience. My area is gigantic, we walk all day. We have some recent converts that live about a 45 minute walk away. But I am really happy and I love it here, and am excited for all the good we are going to do. 

The Church is true, it is a huge blessing and changes lives. The Book of Mormon is incredible.

Seven weeks in the MTC is a LONG time!

Hola amigos y familia,

It is incredible what you can learn in such a short amount of time. The gift of tongues is so real. 

I am loving my mission so far. Things are going to change once I leave the MTC, and that will be a good thing. I am grateful for the experiences and challenges I have had so far. If the MTC had a hall of fame, my district would be on it for sure. Our branch president said he had never seen a district go through so many changes in all his years at the MTC. And that was before all the schedule goofs and the classroom changes and the last development. I won't go into all the oddities and irregular changes that have happened during these past six weeks, because that would take a while. But now we are an all-hermana district. The elders got transferred to another branch. So that's new and weird. 

We got our flight plans last night. We head to Nicaragua on the first of Feb. We only have nine days left! It's crazy. I am so excited. There are so many things I am learning and doing, and I am excited to continue to grow. I'll have to send pictures next week, since that will be my last p-day in the MTC. 

Everything is too perfectly coordinated and organized to work if the church was not true. The way everything falls into place and works out is miraculous. It is wonderful to be a missionary and see the gospel work in people's life. It is wonderful to be able to feel the spirit that is here. If you think how the spirit is invited when you invite missionaries into your home, just think how crazy it is to be around over a thousand missionaries every day. But I am ready to head to the field, because that is why I am here on a mission. I have learned what I need to learn, and am lucky enough to get an extra week to practice conjugating. I am excited to be out and helping people realize how much the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ will bless their lives. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is aware of us, He loves us, and He is always there for us. I would not want to be anywhere else right now, because I know this is the perfect thing for me to be doing. It feels like nothing I have ever done has been as important as what I am doing right now. This is kind of the most important work ever, and it is wonderful that Heavenly Father trusts us enough to be missionaries. 

I love you all,

-Hermana Fackrell

The Gift of Tongues

Hola familia y amigos,

On Monday we will be starting our sixth week in the MTC. It is just crazy. This has been a good experience. I feel like it is time for me to head to Nicaragua, but we don't leave until the 1st. I know that when I get to the field, that is when I'll learn to actually speak and teach. I will keep learning in the MTC, but when I leave is when I'll learn really fast. It will be a struggle, but it will be good. 

We had a wonderful experience teaching yesterday. Our investigator Jose has been reading and praying, and has developed a testimony. He shared an experience with prayer, and was crying and I just about cried too. He said how prayer was such a gift. It really is. We take these things for granted. It is wonderful to see someone change as they come closer to Christ. The Lord prepares people. We teach them the principles of the gospel, and help them understand what they need to do, but they need to go and learn for themselves. The spirit is the teacher. We just help them know what they need to do to grow closer to their Savior. And the difference it makes in their life is incredible. With this investigator, we started teaching him on our second week. It is crazy that they trust a couple of 19 year old girls with a person, when they barely know the language. It is also crazy even on that first lesson with him, we could sit for 30 minutes and speak with him and understand him and teach him, without a word on English being said. The gift of tongues is real. Our schedules got changed with the new year and we weren't able to teach him anymore. And then there were mix ups and more changes and new investigators. (Our district has had some unusual changes and stuff.) This week we got to teach Jose again, after not seeing him for weeks. Our last lesson with him he had agreed to be baptized, but couldn't accept our date without speaking to his wife. But then we were not able to teach him, until yesterday. He had been reading and praying and he agreed to be baptized. This is a real person that has been blessed by the gospel. This is something that you have to see with your eyes. Words cannot explain adequately how his countenance has changed and how much he has progressed. Reading and praying diligently is what made all the difference. Even after baptism it is vital to read and pray diligently. Even those who already have the blessing of the gospel in their life can be blessed from an increase in diligence. My purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ, members and non-members alike. I have my work cut out, but I know that as I am diligent the Lord will put people in my path that I can bless. 

The restored Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families and individuals. The difference it makes is incredible. We are so blessed. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve and hopefully be able to bless some lives. This is  a crazy opportunity, it is crazy to think that simple me can actually make a difference. But that is how powerful the Gospel is. It will change lives, and I can help people find that hope.

I am sending my love. I hope we all can be a little more diligent with reading from the Book of Mormon. It really will make a difference and bring blessings that cannot come any other way. 

-Hermana Fackrell