Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Easter Message

I love the atonement of Christ. God expects us to be perfect, but we aren't. But Christ's example gives us hope that we can be, and His sacrifice is the reason that we can repent to one day become perfect. 

There is so much work in God's kingdom and he needs so many hands. We are Chirst's hands, he needs us to help His children who aren't in His fold yet.

Thank you so much for the package! I love it! you guys are so thoughtful!

Here in Leon it has been Semana Santa. aka the hottest week of the year. Everyone left for the beach or had one of those little plastic kid pools out in front of their house. In the center of town they make carpets of colored sand that fill up the whole street and then have processions with Statues of Christ and I don't know what else because that's not my area, but pretty crazy stuff!

Remember that Rudy that got baptized a few weeks ago? Well, he didn't come to church AGAIN, so he couldn't get confirmed. AGAIN. He had problems with his wife on Sunday morning and he didn't show up. 

This morning I learned about the power of prayer. We had had kind of a rough past 2 weeks because we haven't had a lot of success with bringing people to church. Lots of people have accepted to be baptized, but they can't be baptized if they don't go to church. (= I listened to a talk by Elder Bednar in the morning about some principles of prayer and and later talked to God. More than anything else prayer helps us gain a more excellent vision. Helps us see the good things, the hand of the Lord , the ways He has worked in our lives and the assurance that He still will. It also helps us repent, change, and be humble.

I love you guys so much! God works miracles in our lives! The process of Converting to Christ is a fight of every day. God loves you and I do too!
Hermana Merrill

Earthquake in Nicaragua

(There was a 7.1 earthquake in Nicaragua last week.  It was centered near the city Nagarote about 20 miles from where Heather is.  She had done transfers in that city the week prior so she refers to that)

Terremoto (big earthquake)-- Where I am located there hasn't been any damage from the earthquakes that I have seen but it sure has been crazy to feel. It's quite interesting, the earth literally is moving.  It's like sitting in theater seats that move in crazy directions. Nagarote is where Hermana Alan and Hermana Cole are right now. (Remember about the miracle divisions I spoke about down there last week)  That's where there was the most damage, lots of houses there fell. None of the missionaries were hurt, I know that God protects us. 

Mom's questions:
Are you drinking enough water???  I drink so much water. the change from Mataglapa to here has been big. In Matagalpa I drank so much less then I do here 

Are you getting sunburned? Sunburnt in Nicaragua is something that one just can't avoid, but I do use sunscreen.

Does someone cook your main meal of the day, like in your other areas? yes


Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Lots of heat and success plus a 4 foot companion

Well, I'm back to the heat. I never can drink enough water. And this week was awesome. God is so great that if you believe in Him and never give up hope He always gives you miracles.

My companion has a really high voice and is 4 foot even and the cutest missionary ever (=. We saw lots of miracles this week. Her name's Hermana Tarax.

This week I did divisions with Hermana Alan, She's a really awesome missionary from Costa Rica that has been out on her mission only about 3 months but is super pilas. She has so much faith. The day we were together in her area we found three really awesome new families that all said they would go to church and we put baptismal dates with 2 of them and baptismal dates with another family on top of that, one that they were already teaching. Miracles happen when you believe and put your trust in God.

In our area, we also saw a lot of miracles. Three families came and watched conference and a cool family to complete (the husband of a member) got baptized. His name is Rudy. ( I can't really take credit for that one as I came this week, but baptisms are always good.) The other cool thing is that this family is a family of less-actives (mother in law, wife, and sisters in laws of Rudy). They went to conference because right after was the baptism of Rudy. They came back just so excited about the church, and "did you hear this that such a speaker said" and " I love this that another speaker said" and ... It was cool. The 9 year old son of Rudy wants to get baptized now as well and Rudy wants to perform the ordinance in 2 weeks after he receives the Priesthood. Funny: Rudy had to get baptized 5 times. (because first his legs and then his head and then... didn't go all the way into the water)

One of the families that came to church stayed for 2 sessions and then for the baptism as well. We're hoping the family that watched Rudy's baptism didn't get scared because he got baptized so many times (especially because she's pregnant).

Did I already tell you it's hot here? (= My house is really big. My other one was a really small room. This one has 3 rooms!

Hermana Merrill

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Spiritual Week and transferred to Leon

Mario got baptized this week! It was a really spiritual experience and he's so excited about this change in his life. His wife, Hermana Adriana, is our Amulek, such a great missionary.  Also the mom of a recent convert came to church this week and after she saw the baptism she said, "I want to be baptized, but maybe not today, but I would be ready as soon as next week." We tried to contain our sadness (=

Also the daughter of another less-active, the sister of Adriana, (aka the niece of Adriana) is going to get baptized next week.

BUT... I'm not going to be there. I´ll be in LEON. The hottest place in Nicaragua for the hottest time of the year. I'll be a Sister Training Leader with Hermana Tarax.

I'm really going to miss Matagalpa, the branch especially is super awesome here. All the members are so ready to help with anything.  The area I've served in here in Matagalpa is called Sor Maria, it's soo poor.  The people carry water to their houses in buckets (if they have money to buy it). But the faith of some of the people is incredible. When one of the recent converts doesn't have money for the bus (16 cents) he walks to church 30-60 minutes. It has  definitely been different than my other areas.  Also I really don't want to leave Hna Adraina.


Heather and her Companion Sister Morales


Heather's current and future companion
Sister Morales and Torax




But, Iré donde El Señor me mande. Allí me voy. (=
(I will go where the Lord sends me)

This week I had a really cool experience while we were on divisions. When I came to their area I realized they needed a lot of help. They really needed to find new investigators. So I proposed we fast for the day, so that we could have the help of the Lord in our efforts. Then we went to work and talked to everybody, absolutely everybody. At the end of the day we found and started teaching 2 new families and 10 people in total.  One of which was committed to go to church and the other that the wife had had a dream of the first vision a few days before. Our faith was built. God does do miracles, but we need to remember it is from Him that we receive them. When we put our trust in Him and then work to show Him our faith and dedication to His work, He gives us miracles. He will always work miracles because His people in Nicaragua (and in every part of the world) need them. He loves them. If we aren't seeing miracles it isn't because God isn't a God of Miracles, it is because we haven't exercised enough faith to receive them. 

Hermana Merrill

LOVE you all so much!
Is this just so Heather, or what?
Getting ready to zipline


Ziplining in Nicargua!

Heather, Sister Morales and Sosa