Nicaragua

Sister Parker's zone from the MTC

Elder Tyler Kuhlman (from Hurricane, behind me), Other missionaries and me in Guatemala

So first I want to talk about how my last few days at mtc were. ummmmm amazing. I absolutely LOVED the mtc. So great and I made ssssssssssssooooooooooooo many good friends who i will love my whole life. So my district and I sang come thou fount in sacrament. it made every one cry. the spirit was so strong and we practiced a lot. I have learned to sing more because come to find out I have a good voice says most people haha. so now Im not afraid to sing. When I finally left I cried and cried. Our district had a testimony meeting and I cried so hard. ok so then we got on a plane and flew to San Salvador... which is BEAUTIFUL by the way. Then off to Nicaragua. it took FOREVER and I was exhausted. Pres and his fam met us and took us to Mcdonalds and treated us. It was fantastic!!! Um can I just say I did not expect this heat. hahahahahah first thing I thought was oh dad would just love this heat... and it was 9 at night hahha. So yeah we got a hotel and I was with hermana Creel from Cali who I met day one and it was great. We went tracting the next day with random people and they of course dont speak english. but I went around bearing my testimony like a mad man. Then the next day I received my trainer... which was wednesday... I got my new area which is cooler than most of Nicaragua and i am with my trainer for 12 weeks. Yes we study language an hour every day. and you guessed it... NO one here speaks engish. hahahaha sooooooooo thursday was just overwhelming but it is honestly getting better. My comp is awesome the people are amazing. SERIOUSLY every one here is nice. I get a ton of attention here cuz I am white so that is funny. People yell GRingo everywhere I go. The taxis here are hilarious and we take one every night because we dont live in our area. so we walk to our area and then take a taxi back around 8. We pay people to do our laundry and to feed us all of our meals except breakfast. its nice. So there is an elder that got called to St George in 2 months. Look for Elder LArsen. He came with his family to get his brother, so my first day was his brothers last day on the mission. I told him you would have him over for dinner if you see him.. nice family. I hope you guys can come here when I am done. You will love it. Its so beautiful. I love it. it rains literally every single day here. I love the rain because its not so hot. haha. yes i have feet tan lines already from my shoes. it looks cool though. So our first day for cambios... which is changes in English we all got together and I saw Tyler Ewell hahaha We both looked at each other and were shocked it was fun to talk to him. He has like 4 months left. He is doing great and knows Spanish very well. I cannot wait to know this language. I want to talk to these people but it stops me from completely expressing myself. my journal is my best friend and i write every thig i feel in the journal. It helps a lot. Did I mention it is hot here? hahah yes its burning. people never have dry faces. just dripping sweat like its not big deal. I am still known as Spiderman here because Peter Parker its hilarious. you need to bring the family here though if you can. I want you to see it!!!! Today I saw my first monkey. I flipped out and everyone looked at me like I was crazy haahahaha. But who cares because it was cute and it was my miracle today. Made me so happy. So funny but at the Mtc everyone asked me if I was a Barbie and everyone called me Barbie I was famous for 2 months. So let me tell you a little story about this strange land called Nicaragua.... um no one here has floors. the rich people have tile and its way nice but its like a public bathroom tile. haha not like ours. and they just have chicken coop fencing to make rooms. they all have a set of plastic chairs so when they invite you in they go and get them because they are all stacked and lay them out for us. I have probably taught every lesson so far with my comp. we have an investigador getting baptized on this next saturday. Her name is Glenda. Anyways... Nicaragua... um my apartment on the first day had a full on lizard crawling on the wall... I guess its normal cuz last night there were 6 and now Im not scared of them. Showers are always cold. always... no exceptions. um a rat got into my cough drops and had a party in my suit case with them. haha it was actually quite funny my comp and i just laughed. i guess everything has to be in the fridge ha. yes I am a new missionary alright. Um I counted and I have 31 bug bites so far. and that is with my bug spray. Mostly around my ankles. Not bad just itch every now and then. I am a healthy soul. I am happy and in my patriarchal blessing it says one of my gifts is joy and I see that now more than ever. So women nurse their babies here with no privacy. it was so weird the first time but now I am used to it. They dont cover or anything just nurse and nurse and nurse. Its so funny. Anyways I will try to send a pic. I love you so much!!!!! thanks for everything hermana parker