First Preparation Day (P-Day) in Mission

WOW! So I had to wake up at 2:00 in the morning to leave for the airport. We got there, got on our plane, flew to Atlanta Georgia and then waited 4 hours for another plane. When we were on the plane for Nicaragua I got my first taste of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. An hour from when we were supposed to land a man comes up to all of us missionaries and asks us, If this plane were going down and I was a drug addict what would your message be to me in 60 sec. One of the sisters we were traveling with answered it beautifully talking of Christ and then the man started to ask us other questions and then the sister referenced the Book of Mormon and the man said, that´s the problem with you guys, you don't use the Holy Bible. We then explained to him that we do and then all of a sudden he was ripping into us. He seemed so friendly at first and now he was telling us what´s what. I then understood what it was like for Christ when he was rejected....instead he wasn´t mad. When we landed in Nicaragua it was warm and the air was MOIST!! I have never experienced anything like that before! We got picked up by President and we slept at the mission home.

 I got assigned to my trainer Hermana Gomez from Guatemala. She´s from Alapa? in Guatemala. I can't understand about 80% of what she´s says to me because she speaks so fast. Plus here in Nicaragua everyone cuts their words short or doesn´t say the S at the end of the word. She´s probably one of the most patient people I have ever met. We got to the house and then went out to work right off the bat. So let me tell you a little about Nicaragua, there are bars on every door and window, there are tons of dogs in the streets but you don't want to touch them, people sweep dirt and trash in front of their house all the time, it´s hot and humid, there are these things called Pulparia´s on every corner where they sell snacks and drinks(like a gas station but way smaller). Everyone here drinks Coke, and it is amazing compared to the Coke that´s in the United States, and everyone has a TV. We´ll be teaching an investigator in a house that´s one room with a dirt floor and they are so poor but they have a tv, even though they're really old tvs. The food here is really basic, just rice and beans at every meal and plantains cooked different ways. They also have this cheese that everyone likes to eat at meals and it´s usually fried but it tastes weird and salty, I don't like it but oh well. In the streets for transportation people have dirt bikes with seats attached to the front to drive people around like taxi´s.  Oh yeah there are taxi´s everywhere! Also there are horses that pull wooden carts for transportation. In houses we´ll see pictures of people but they have cropped themselves out and changed the background. I want to tell you so much more but it is a totally different world! And they drink coke in BAGS! and chocolate milk and juice! They also have this stuff called Leche Agria which is milk that has been left out in the sun and is basically curdled and nasty and we´re told not to drink it, EVER! No diarrhea yet but the streets are filthy, dogs pooping everywhere, kids peeing on the side of the street, trash and poop is everywhere and it´s awesome!  We only take cold showers due to the fact that it´s a third world country. The driving here is ridiculous I forgot to mention, that there are no speed limits and everyone honks at everyone but no one gets offended! They drive so crazy! We also washed out cloths in a thing called a pila. Everyone has one and they use it for everything. Washing the dishes, washing cloths, washing kids.

The lessons are going well, my companion mostly teaches and then at the end looks at me and says, testifica, which tells me to bear my testimony on the subject. Our investigators are awesome! My zone is in Managua and my area Linda Vista.

Love you all!

Hermana Partridge

The house that we live in which is the nicest house out of all the missionaries that live in Nicaragua. I live with the Sister leaders and the sister nurse.

Me my companion who is next to me and then Hermana Greenhalg who is the nurse, and then Hermana De Leon. Love these Hermanas!

This is me with a glow in the dark lollipop in my mouth given to me by Cristofer who is next to me, he is hilarious. I also have a bag of Coke in my hand.

We found a lake! Which nobody knew was around in the area!

This is Jose who is one of the kids of the investigators.

 

This is the pila that I was talking about, we wash our clothes in it and then hang them up to dry.