Week 12 -- Cuidad Sandino

Mauricio's family

Wow. Your week has been a lot more interesting than mine, I'll say that much. Except for the fact that I'm in Nicaragua. Where it is still very much not cold. And yes, of course I want a picture of the Christmas tree. I may not be there to decorate it, but I do want to at least be able to see it. And think about it: after this Christmas tree, there's only one more that I won't be able to decorate. So it's almost exciting, I suppose? I'd also love to get a picture of Isaac's (my) room, once he's done with it. But yeah. I miss the snow, but I'm out doing the Lord's work, so I think it's a pretty fair trade-off. 

As for my week, we technichally didn't get a lot of work done, as far as the numbers say. But trust me when I say that we had a really, really busy week. First of all, we got 6 baptisms this week! Mauricio and his three kids (Brittany, Kenneth, and Jhazell), and Heyssell were Elder Elison's and mine investigators (and I got to baptize all of them!), and Elder HIronaka and Elder Seneca baptized Steve. And because E. Hironaka and Elison are Zone Leaders, all four of us spent a lot of time outside of our area, doing interviews, getting people excited for baptism, getting permission to baptize minors, and stuff along those lines. There were actually several times that I had to work with a member because E Elison was out doing zone business, and we needed someone working in our area. That was stressful for a few reasons (don't speak the language well, member doesn't speak English, I barely know the area, etc.), but those days actually ended up going pretty well. And as far as Thanksgiving goes, we didn't do much, but the mission gave each missionary 100 cordobas, so we got the zone together for some pizza in the chapel's cultural hall. It wasn't exactly as good as your cooking, but it made due. But yeah. That was my week. 

View from President Russell's house

A family we're teaching right now is Sylvia (Heyssell is actually her sister), Alejandro, and their three kids. They're awesome investigators, go to church every week, want to get baptized, but for them, we're waiting for a divorce with Alejandro's ex-wife. Like in the states, divorces take a LOT longer than marriages. But hopefully it'll go through in the next couple of weeks, so we can baptize them, and they can start planning for the temple, which is also something they want to do. All in all, they're a great family who can't wait to become members of the church. 

As for how the language is coming right now, I'm definitely still not fluent. A ton better than my first day, but I still have a long way to go. Basically, what's still really kicking my trash is the conversational Spanish. I can understand around 75% of the lessons, but when people just start talking to me, I get lost really easily. It can get kind of frustrating at times, but I can definitely say that I've seen the Lord's hand in my life, as far as Spanish goes. The gift of tounges is a very, very real thing, and I'm very, very grateful for it. 

Anyways, that's pretty much it for this week. Tomorrow December starts! I know that it'll be a good month. I love you all, and I'm always so glad when I get your letters each week! Thanks for all of your support!

Love,

Cooper