Saw My First Rooster Fight

Hey ya´ll this past week wasn't that exciting but it was a good week. 

-Monday was P-day and we slept and I was happy! 

-Tuesday my companion and the other Hermana Leader that I live with went to a different part of Nicaragua to work with some other Sisters who are struggling. So it was just me and Hermana Sapon working two different areas. 

-Wednesday, we had a Multi Zone with Elder Ochoa and it was an amazing experience! I loved the stories that he told and how we need to teach repentance. 

-Thursday was normal.

-Friday was normal 

-Saturday was awesome and a struggle! Aminta the little old lady that has attitude got baptized! when she came out of the water she was yelling "Wahoo"! It was hilarious because she only has one tooth and she was smiling and laughing so hard! Then we went looking for Linneth who was also supposed to be baptized but later on in the day. Half way through the baptism of Aminta she texted us saying that she couldn't be baptized because her grandmother said that she was Evangelist and wasn't ready for something like that. Linneth is 20 years old and has two kids.

Aminta's baptism

Javier with his iguana

 

So we found her and talked to her for an hour and she just kept giving us excuses and then the ZL showed up and talked to her for an hour more and she just kept giving excuses and finally we had to drop her. 

-Sunday, I saw my first Cock fight or Rooster fight. Was a little crazy but the rest of the day was good!

 Hermana Partridge

 

Shortest Letter Ever...

This week was great, almost got robbed, brought our taxi driver to church, and Aminta passed her interview to be baptized!

Hermana Partridge

Special Letter to the Family-Longest Letter Ever!

This past week there was something wrong with the myldsmail, so we didn't receive any contact from Sister Partridge via email.  But we did receive a long letter that we will share some of what she has to say:
     I read The Book of Mormon in Spanish, and now I can understand almost everything I read. Wahoo!
     Carlos, one of our converts is doing great!  He reads The Book of Mormon everyday and tells us what he reads. The Bishop has talked to him about receiving the priesthood and he feels honored.
My Spanish is slowly getting better. I can understand most of what is said to me, but there are still verbs I don't know & a ton of vocabulary.  Poco a Poco. It'll get better.
     I'm beginning to realize the lessons that I'm learning but first off I want to say that trusting in the Lord is the best thing we can do for our lives but it's also the hardest because sometimes we wonder why didn't I get this job I wanted or I didn't get into the school I wanted or something of the sort but from experience and stories he does that because there is something better for us ahead.
     Well Mom you asked what I do on a daily basis. Let me tell you. 
6:30 a.m. Wake up
6:30-7:00 exercise
7:00-8:00 get ready (shower, do whatever you need to do)
8:00-9:00 personal study
9:00-11:00 companionship study
11:00-12:00 language study
12:00-1:00 lunch
1:00-9:00 Work and when I mean work, I mean we
 work like horses.  We have appointments every half an hour and we contact in between.  Everyday we have a goal we have to try and complete, 2 lessons with a member present, 6 other lessons (investigators), 2 recent converts and 2 less actives.  The work is what I thought it would be.  I knew I would have to work hard and I actually enjoy the work.
     You know you've been in the mission a long time when you start dreaming about teaching lessons in your sleep.  I finally had a dream in Spanish!  I was so happy!
     I have a long way to go and a lot to learn!  I'm also kinda nervous because now I'm not in training and I have the responsibility to baptize and I don't know if my Spanish is good enough or if I can teach very well.  Seriously, I just need to have faith that everything will be OK and that the Lord will help me.
I looked up every scripture about putting your trust in the Lord, which did bring me peace.  Every person in the Bible and the Book of Mormon that put their trust in the Lord, overcame every obstacle but they did have challenges.
    So far the lessons I have learned here are to:
-serve others and forget yourself
- put your trust in the Lord
-Fasting and Prayer have power...you have to pray a lot
-Patience and long suffering
-so many others I can't remember.
     The thing is every lesson isn't a one time experience of learning,  for the rest of my life, I think I'll continue to learn these.
Serve those around you so you don't look back and think "What could I have done more?" Do it now!   I also learned that you can't wait for your situation to change, you have to do something to change your situation and don't think "Well I'll be happy when this happens... Life's too short to live with regrets, today, we can change our situation, we can be happy today!
     I'll probably have to be reminded of this a lot on my mission, so when times get hard and I e-mail you about it, please remind me.
So yesterday, 1/21/16, was the first day with my new companion.  Her name is Hna. Perez and I think she's about 4'11".  She's super small but she's always smiling and she loves the work which will help my excitement and animo.  
     I feel so much peace in my life right now.  Yesterday I felt like a real missionary! We contacted houses and I was able to answer difficult questions people had.  It's seriously a miracle, it's like overnight my Spanish improved ten fold and I can understand people so much better!  Hna. Perez is awesome! We make a good team.
      So the woman from Switzerland that was yelling at me in English about the church in Nicaragua was a good learning experience.  At first, I was shocked that she was yelling at me and the things she was saying.  Then, after 5 minutes I had to try not to laugh because this woman kept going and she was so mad and I couldn't understand why a church could make someone this angry if it didn't affect their life.  So today in my "Stand a Little Taller" book by Pres. Hinckley about counsel and inspiration for each day of the year, in today's date I read this:  "Return Good for Evil"  "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. - Matthew 5:11
     I also remember that Joseph Smith's name will be known for good and evil.  But I didn't feel any hate towards this woman. I pitied her because if a person can have so much hate for something like that must need more love.  Who knows but she taught me a good lesson.
     The rest of the message of Gordon B. Hinckley says, "Draw comfort from the words of the Master when we as a church are spoken of by those whose lives are torn with hate.  They lash out at one thing and another.  They manufacture and spread vile falsehoods behind which there is not a shred of truth.  There is nothing new about this.  But we shall go forward, returning good for evil, being helpful and kind and generous."
     It was a nice B-day!  In the morning we had a multi Mission Conference where Elder Craig C. Christensen and Jose L. Alonso from the Seventy talked to us about why we are here and it's to teach repentance and bring people unto Christ.  It was a good spiritual experience for me because they said we need to help less actives come back and make the temple their goal.  Hna. Perez is great!  We joke around and talk a lot and she smiles when we walk, and when she talks to people.  We had breakfast at Hna. Ivi's house because she invited me over for my birthday and we had pancakes!  She's so nice and the other day Hna. Wendy and Oscar gave me a present which was a nice backpack with Merry Christmas on it.  It was a huge sacrifice for them to give me that because they live in a dirt floor house.
Today, I want to talk about a lesson that I will be learning my whole mission.  And it's something that I'm going to try and not do and that is gossip.  Here the Hermana's compare and talk about each other.  Gossip can hurt people.  If I'm going to gossip then it's only going to be good things about the person.  Sometimes as members we can't help but talk about people.  I want to challenge everyone to stop gossiping, even if it's about ourselves.
My Spanish is so much better!  I can talk to people without having to think about what I am going to say before.  Well, with some words I have to think, but I'm getting better.  My feet feel like they're going to fall off!  So much walking!
Hna. Perez and I are getting along just fine.  We'll buy each other stuff to eat here and there. And every night she says "buenas noches" or "te quiero" and sometimes she'll tell me in English and in the mornings "buenas dias."  And she loves mangos.  We eat them everyday!
P-DAY!  Finally I get to sleep!!  This past week was crazy!!  All week Pastors wanted to Bible bash with us.  I am so amazed at the silly doctrine people teach, and also how a pastor can twist a verse in the Bible to the way he wants it.  Oh well.  So this past week Pres. raised the numbers.  Now we have to bring 7 investigators to church each Sunday.  Teach 2 lessons a day with a member and 6 or 7 other lessons along with 5 recent converts or less active members per day.  I've been talking to my friends in other missions and they tell me they have goals but not numbers, they have to complete everyday.  Our mission is the only mission that does this.  Perhaps with the new mission Pres. he'll change it because it's hard to have a spiritual lesson when you're trying to complete numbers everyday.  Oh well, I'm doing good here in the mission and it's been a good day so far.
So yesterday I tried to mail the letter but couldn't because it didn't have the return address.  So one more day of writing.  Today, so far we visited Aminta and old lady w/spunk.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and she accepted it and said she'll read it.  She's super positivo!  Now I'm sitting here waiting to eat lunch which turns out to be soup...hot soup on a hot day...yipee  Oh well I'm just so happy that I'm serving a mission.  Some days I realize "I'm a missionary...like I've always wanted to be!!" It's a great feeling!
Love,
Hermana Partridge

I'm Learning Patience

The title of my email is I´m learning patience because this week I was not patient at all with some of my converts. I realized that I am learning a huge lesson in patience. which is so hard!! Oh well I think every lesson in patience is hard.

WOW!! This week was a hard week but a great week as well. CRAZY!! Tuesday we were trying to find new investigators and we visited one of my converts (my second baptism) and sadly we found him drunken asleep on the floor of his house. Please pray for him he still goes to church and wants to change but it´s hard for him.

Taxi Selfie

 

Then on Wednesday, we had interviews with President which happen every 3 months. My interview went really well and since our apartment was clean we got these huge, thick, chocolatety, rich brownies! I was so happy I cried! I love chocolate! On Friday, we had a third companion for the day. Her name is Hns. Hansack and she´s from Bluefields, Nicaragua and she finished serving her mission in Honduras so that was fun to be in a trio for a day. 

We have this investigator named Aminta who is this spunky old lady with one tooth and crazy hair and I love her!! Every visit she lists off the ten commandments and then the top two most important and ends with Amen and Amen. She loves the commandments so it´s easy to get her to go to church with us. The only thing is she has problems with her hips and tail bone, they hurt her so much. She´s freakin awesome!

Our investigator, Aminta.

Walter's baptism

 

Hurray for Walter!

Saturday we had a baptism of Walter but we couldn't find him!! so we were freaking out the whole day and finally at 8:30 at night we found him! So Sunday early in the morning he was baptized and confirmed and we only had two investigators at church. The week before President had raised the numbers of how many investigators we had to have in church so now we have to have 7 investigators and everyday we have to teach 4 lessons with a member and 4 other lessons and visit 5 less active or recent converts and contact 26 people. 

And today we had P-DAY!! I was so happy! We ordered Pizza hut and wrote letters so prepare to receive one family! If you would like to receive a letter email me your address!

We ate Pizza Hut

 

I love you all! You guys are always in my prayers!

Hermana Partridge

Birthday and more Rice and Beans!

HA!! This past week was crazy! Monday was my birthday and we woke up at 5:30 because we had a Multi Mission meeting with the Nicaragua mission of the north and south! My companion wrote in my agenda " Feliz cumpleanos chelita bonita, le quiero" She´s so awesome! Let´s just say it was a humble birthday and I loved it!

Tuesday we ate pancakes at Hermana Ivi´s house for my birthday and then we went and visited this old lady who is extremely funny!! Every lesson she´s lists off the Ten Commandments and when we brought her to church she was still half asleep and her hair was crazy! She´s a hoot! Also I met my first Atheist person on Tuesday which is rare because everyone here believes in that the blood of Christ has power and a whole bunch of other sayings about the blood of Christ. We asked him what the most important thing was to him in his life and he replied angrily and bitterly "Nothing, not even my kids because were all going to die and there´s going to be nothing after" How sad is your life!!!!! 

Wednesday, I worked with Hermana Sapon while the other Hermanas had divisions.

Thursday, I felt like my feet were going to fall off but that´s normal so we're all good here. 

So Saturday we woke up expecting to have 3 baptisms and so we pass by Javier´s house and he´s ready to go and is so excited! Then we passed by the house of Rosa the wife of one of our converts and the music was turned up loud and she wouldn't come out and talk to us. Her cousin then told us that she doesn´t want to be baptized and that she´s been lying to us the whole time. Then Rosa came out and started to make a bunch of excuses and she started saying bad words and so after that we left. BUT!! All was well because Javier was baptized!! He is seriously awesome!! Because of him we have 5 references from him and 3 came to church with us on Sunday!

Javier's Baptism

Hermana Ivi's Family

2nd Companion in Mission Field Hermana Perez

 

I´m doing really good here! Thank you so much for all your prayers!

Hermana Partridge