September 3, 2012

Hello family!!!! So this week was absolutely crazy!!!!!!!! First, though I am so glad to hear that Taylor was able to call home. Sounds like he is doing great and we will be talking to you again in no time! Christmas is just right around the block. So I have been praying extra hard for him today and I know that he will do just fine. He is a strong kid and if anyone can do it, he can. I am glad he has a buddy on the flight and that things are working out for him! That's awesome he found a pocket to hide money because I was a little scared for that.

So I just sent home another letter. and GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!! I received 2 packages this week!!!! Can I just tell you how excited that I was!!!! One was from the young women and one was from the family!!! I got so many great things and I was just a little happy camper!!! That package came soooo fast! I couldn't believe it. I received all this cute stuff from the young women. It had all these treats and cool things with little sayings on it and I was super happy. Please tell them thanks for me!! It really made my day! Then I got all of the hawaii stuff and all of those pictures and goodies and leis and all that cool monkey stuff!!!! Wow, i just sent a letter home about it. So it will explain a little bit more of my gratitude. But for now, THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!!! Such a great day.

So guess what happened this week... so many crazy things... So there was this lady that we contacted last week and we had a appointment with her this past wednesday... well, um... tuesday night we were working with one of the members and his name is Daniel and for some odd reason one of our appointments fell through, and so he was like... I have this strange feeling that we need to be somewhere right now... so we walked until he felt like we needed to stop. Then we turned and saw that this ceremony was going on and we got closer and we realized it was a viewing for someone who had just died! Low and behold it was Rosa!!! our investigator!!!!!!!!! yeah, she was super sick and she died in her bed the day before we were about to teach her our message. I was in complete shock. We were trying to comfort her daughter but we are happy because the lady who died had told us she would accept listening to our message and I think that was a good thing!!!!! Wow, so then... The next day, wednesday, instead of having our lesson with her we went to her funeral... in the CATHOLIC church!!!!! hahahahahahha I have never been inside a catholic church. But let's just say after that funeral I am super glad that I am LDS. A lot of other religions are completely different than ours. Which seperates us from the rest... which is way good. I like our church because the doctrine is the same everywhere. We all believe in the same things. Here in Nicaragua. there are 2 catholic churches that are like 10 minutes from each other but they both believe different things. So yeah. I am glad we belong to the one and only true church. Anyways, so about 2 months ago one of our appointments fell through and I told my old comp... hey we need to be in the park right now... so when we got there no one was there. Then we looked over at this bench and a guy was sitting there all alone. We were like, well ok, lets go at least talk to him... not knowing why. So there we gave him the whole first lesson and he was super interested so he said-- hey, I'll see you at church tomorrow... but he never showed. So then the other night we happened to be in this area by pure guidance because there is no way we would ever just be standing on that road. And we were wondering what we should do... and this is 2 months later with my new comp... and up walks Jose... he is the guy we taught. So we were like, hey we need to teach you more basically. So then the next day he shows up and he looks absolutely tired and he explained how he was up ALL night long thinking about his life and our message... then he said, how soon can I be baptized? Um, I was like, what?.... let me clean out my ears and see if I heard you right. But really. It was sweet! So he showed up to church yesterday and he has a goal to be baptized on the 22 of this month.

Also another funny story... ANOTHER one of our investigators we heard got in a huge car accident and she broke her pelvis and all and so we went over there with Daniel and I started looking at all of her wounds and you know how my sweet little stomach just cannot handle all of that stuff... Well, yeah guess what happened... everything started going black and then we said, we need to go, so who would you like to pray?... and she says... hermana Parker... wow, have I ever not wanted to pray!!! hahahah not that I didn't want to, but there was no way I was going to make it... so I said like the quickest prayer ever and then when I was done I couldn't see anything... everything was black. So I walked towards the bed where my comp was sitting and I basically threw myself down, and we were fasting, but I said, do you have a piece of candy!!! Hurry, I am almost gone!!! hahahaha she was like, what?? So then she got me some candy but I was fighting to stay there. I was about to pass out and I was sure that I was going to... I started praying to help me stay conscious and I was not giving up. So then we ran out of the house and I couldn't see any faces as I was shaking hands and just saying adios. Hahaha, but like, really they should have been saying adios to me, ya know. jk. But really it was so funny. Then we got out and I said, socio (which is a nick name for Daniel), I am going to pass out. He looked at me and grabbed me so that I wouldn't fall over and then he ran and got a chair and called for a taxi... by this time I was starting to gain back a little more oxygen. Anyways... it was sooooooooo funny after and now my comp and I just laugh about it. Also, I hope no more of our investigators get hurt this week! Such crazy luck this week. Anyways, We have the family Gonzalez who came to church yesterday and then we have an 8 year old girl and an 11 year old boy who are getting baptized on the 22, also. So, yeah if it all works out then September is our month! I think fam Gonzalez is almost ready to go through with this and then Jose and Josue... which is Joshua in spanish. And it's funny cuz he reminds me of josh. He's adorable!!!! And then Solangel. So yeah, we are working hard and it is a ton of fun. I love this work. Holy cow, do I love it!! I love my new comp and we get along just great. Everyone says I am training next change but we will see! So I just sent a package for Nathan and Josh for their birthdays so mom look for it and give it to them together. I would like if mom or dad opened it first because I wrote a seperate page for mom to tell her whose stuff is whose. Thanks for everything!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!! until next week! hermana Parker.