Monday, October 26, 2015

Week 73: Baptism and Multi-Mission‏

Dear family and friends,

I cannot believe how time is flying!  How is it even possible that Monday has come again?!

Let´s talk about the best news of the week: Luis Ivan got baptized!!  He is such a good man.  For the past five weeks, he has come to church early on his bicycle with his four-year-old daughter Rosita sitting on the middle bar.  We spent time on Monday and Wednesday running around trying to gather the final papers for his wedding only to find out on Thursday that Rosa is cheating on him and drinking alcohol, so he opted to separate rather than get married.  Oh, disobedience to the commandments ruins families and breaks hearts!  But Hno. Luis is so humble and faithful, and he loves his little girl.  Rosita refuses to stay with anybody else during the day, so he has had to take her to his night job guarding a ¨finca¨ (little ranch/orchard/farm thing) where she sleeps on the floor.  Luis arrived early to his baptism and brought his 84-year-old father.  It was a short and sweet service.  Angela, his neighbor and our investigator, came to see!  Her comment to us afterward warmed my heart as well: ¨Thank you for not giving up on me.¨ And all the ward keeps asking her when she´s getting baptized, too!  She answers, ¨¡Ya pronto!¨ (Soon!)

The other major thing that happened this week was another multi-mission conference (North and South), this time with Elder Steven E. Snow and his wife, accompanied by Brother Turley, both from the Church History Department.  They talked about the importance of keeping a record of our missions, learning from every experience, and gaining a greater vision of the work.  I loved what Elder Snow said: we should not get caught up in the everyday chores of missionary work.  If we increase our faith, we will find the people who are prepared!

Here´s the crazy/wonderful part of the multi-mission conferece: We had to board the bus with the rest of the zone at 4:30 AM.  We got to the church in Managua at 5:50 AM.  Therefore, we had four hours to catch up with other missionaries and study scriptures before the 10:00 conference!  I got to see, hug, and talk to Hna. McArthur, Hna. Quezada, Hna. Alexa Ortiz from OHS, Hna. Lord, Hna. Lagos, Hna. Reeve, and more!  I love those women!  And guess what... Ligia got baptized in Las Flores!

We´re randomly having a bunch of less-actives that we´ve visited start coming to church again!  And one of these humble families received the blessings right after they obeyed: they came home from church and someone gave them a chicken.  Be obedient and the blessings come!

A few quick funny moments to share before I sign off:

-As we waited outside the church for Angela to come to the baptism, a semi truck rolled by.  I noticed it had a circus logo on it.  The back of the truck was just a bar cage and contained at least three lions and a leopard.  Hna. Garfield and I just stared at the truck and then at each other... what in the world?!  Just another day in Nicaragua!

-On Sunday evening, we went to visit an investigator (an adult man) who hadn´t gone to church.  I saw him peek out behind the door as we climbed the steps.  He immediately turned and ran down the hall to hide from us. ¨Buenas!  Buenas!  BUENAS!" Nothing.  I was laughing too hard to be frustrated!

-It started POURING rain at 8:50 one night as we headed home.  We flat-out ran about four blocks to our house and probably looked pretty awesome in the process.

-While contacting a man holding a large chicken: ¨My sister just gifted me this chicken.  What a blessing from God, right?  Here, hold it!  Heft it!"  Okay... so I held the chicken. Wow, not going to lie, that is quite a nice, plump, heavy chicken!  I love Nicaragua.

Life is great and I´m loving the mission!  I know that God has prepared His children to hear this message - it´s just up to us to be obedient, work hard, and have the faith to find them!

Love you all!

-Hermana Hansen

Photos: Luis´ baptism!

Volleyball with the zone in our matching shirts!


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