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.