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

TODAY I`M 21!!!!!

Carmen Raye Partridge was born 21 years ago today.  Happy Birthday Sweet Missionary! (OK, I'm her mother and have to say something here to celebrate this wonderful woman!) : )

So there is something wrong with my memory in my camera so no photos for a while. 

Anyway this past week we had changes on Wednesday and I got a new companion. Her name is Hermana Perez and she`s about 4`10 and she`s from Guatemala! She`s seriously the sweetest thing in the world but is so persistent with people. She has 3 more months in the mission.

This week was weird and I say that because on Thursday we were talking with a convert and a friend and this truck pulls up and out steps a women about 45 years old and she looks like a Gringa. She started to talk to our convert in English because our convert can speak English but her accent was super different. When I asked her where she was from she said she was from Switzerland and that she had married a Nicaraguenza. Our convert then asked her if she had heard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and her whole demeanor changed. She then started to yell at me in English how Joseph Smith stole horses and how she`s been in our temple in Oregon and has seen that we marry more than one person and how people have done research and she went on and on and on for about a good 15 minutes of me just sitting their while this lady from Switzerland yelled at me in English in the country Nicaragua. Go figure.  She didn't stop for a breath until someone interrupted her and we were able to sneak away before she could say anything else. 

Friday, I tested to see if I had any parasites and thank heavens the results came back negative! Yesterday, however we witnessed a crash. A taxi hit a motocyclist and the man broke his leg and the bone was sticking out. The sad thing is as missionaries we can't go help him or get involved since there were so many people around. But the man seemed OK thank goodness.

So this week was pretty eventful.  A phrase that has been so profound for me is what President Hinckley's dad said to him. "Forget yourself and go to work!" I think that we can all apply this to every phase in our life. We need to forget ourselves and go to work helping others.

Again, my companion from the MTC has another profound message that I would like to share with you.

(I'm reminded of the words of a young boy, shouting up into the sky towards something much larger than himself, "You are who you choose to be!"  Who do you choose to be? Do you choose to be someone who never quite decides anything for yourself? Do you choose to be someone who chooses not to follow what is right in order to satisfy what is easier or fun?

Or do you choose to be someone who takes your fate in your own hands and does something with it? Someone who actively does what you know to be right because you know it, you have worked for that knowledge and you cannot deny it?

"Shake thyself from the dust..." (3 Nephi 20:37)

I think even people of faith so often deny what is true because it is so easy to do so. It is so easy to ignore the promptings of the spirit. It is so easy to convince yourself that it isn't a big deal. It is so easy to say that it doesn't matter that much. It is so easy to say it isn't true.

For "it is by grace that we are saved," We hear that a lot. So maybe it is okay. Whatever you're waiting on, whatever you're denying. Except there's a second part to the verse, because "it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23)

"After all we can do." What have I done?

Christ as saved us. But if we are standing in a hole, trapped because of our condition, a condition of sin of imperfection of humanity, then Christ is the person standing at the top, having lowered down a ladder. Hallelujah there's a ladder! We are saved! Except what are you going to do now?

Believe it or not many of us just stand there, starring at the ladder, thinking, "oh how wonderful it is that my Savior has sent me a ladder!" But what are ladders even for? Climbing. You have to climb the ladder! Crazy thought itsn't it? Because the ladder itself cannot suffice. If you don't use it it's just a few slabs of wood glued together. But if you climb it, it is salvation! You can leave the darkness and enter into the light of the noonday sun, who is Christ.

But you have to choose. Choose who you're going to be. Are you someone who climbs the ladder? Or simply someone who stares at the ladder doing nothing with it? And perhaps even worse someone who cries out, who curses God, or who refuses to believe because you have not done your part to figure out what the ladder is for?

In reality this analogy doesn't really work. Because lowering a ladder down a dark whole to save someone is way to easy. What Christ did was literally impossible for anyone except Him. And even for Him it was much to bare. But for the sake of the ability of human comprehension I'm going to say a ladder will do for now. (Though a rope that Christ must hold from the top may even be better.)

"For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come..." (Helaman 14:15)

I promise you the ladder is there. And I can promise you if you climb it Christ will be there at the top. I'm not saying it'll be easy. And I'm not even saying your life will get any easier when you feel like you've climbed it. Because there are many battles to overcome, life is still life. But it will be worth it. You will find joy and you can have peace knowing that in the final days you will find rest with God.

I can also promise that if you do nothing you are giving Satan all the ammunition he needs to get at you. He'll use it. I know it. I've seen it. I have seen and heard of people's lives being racked with inexpressible horror because they didn't move forward. If you have to view it as running from Satan, do that. Give it all you've got.

Preferably, you can see it as walking towards God. It's not easy. It's probably a very long ladder and you get tired and feel like you can't go on, but you can it's possible, there will be help and love along the way. Your eternity starts now, it'll be worth it.)

Love you all,

Hermana Partridge

A Day at the Beach

HA! This week was full of lessons that I needed to learn that I can't describe!

First, let me start out by saying that this past week we didn´t have P-day because on Wednesday we went to San Juan del Sur!!! Well what we thought would be San Juan del Sur turned out to be Playa Gigante which is a small little beach but it was still freaking awesome to see the beach and sea! We woke up at 4:30 Wednesday morning and took a taxi to the church where we met up with other missionaries and then we had a 4 hour bus ride to Playa Gigante and arrived around 11:30. After we got there we ate Hamburgers and got to socialize with the other Hermanas. Then we changed our clothes and went onto the beach and played soccer, broom hockey, and ultimate frisbee. Broom hockey was us just brushing a bunch of sand all over the place which was funny and Soccer was us kicking sand at each other. It was a good day! The only thing I was super sad about was that we couldn´t put our feet in the water. Every time a ball went into the water the elders would just stand at the edge of the water and finally a man got the balls for us and I´m sure he was like "why can't they touch the water?" They must be weird. It was a good day! 

Playa Gigante with my companions!

This past week we had a baptism! His name is Alcide and he is so sweet!! He is hilarious, he´s always like " Hermana Party, you are my friend?" and he always has a smile! 

This picture is of me at Playa Gigante!

  

Another beautiful picture of the  beach.

This is a statue in the middle of a park of the Mother Mary. It´s Catholic town here! This is a city by the beach where we stopped at super quick.

Rice and beans for days!

2,158 baptisms this year!! Highest baptizing mission in the world right now and president told us that our goal for this year is 2,600! Freak!

My first companion sent me this email and I loved it so much I want you all to read it. Please take the time because it changes everything about your week!

This morning I listened to President Uchtdorf's talk, "A Summer with Great-Aunt Rose." It's about a young girl named Eva who has to spend a summer living with her Great-Aunt Rose while her mother recovers from a surgery. At first she doesn't like it at all. She didn't want to go, she wanted to stay with her parents and her friends for the summer, not go far off into the country to live with Rose. However she goes, but pays little attention to her aunt and spends much of her time as far away from her as possible.

Eventually however she noticed something. President Uchtdorf says:
"Over time, Eva made a surprising discovery: Great-Aunt Rose was quite possibly the happiest person she had ever known!
But how could that be?
What did she have to be happy about?
She had never married, she had no children, she had no one to keep her company except that creepy cat, and she had a hard time doing simple things like tying her shoes and walking up stairs."

The answer, as Great-Aunt Rose put it, “There is enough that doesn’t go right in life, so anyone can work themselves into a puddle of pessimism and a mess of melancholy. But I know people who, even when things don’t work out, focus on the wonders and miracles of life. These folks are the happiest people I know.”

She continues saying, "God didn’t design us to be sad. He created us to have joy! So if we trust Him, He will help us to notice the good, bright, hopeful things of life. And sure enough, the world will become brighter. No, it doesn’t happen instantly, but honestly, how many good things do? Seems to me that the best things, like homemade bread or orange marmalade, take patience and work.”

Our lives are far from perfect. You can look at your life and look at all the things that have gone wrong and pity yourself or call out for attention, but none of that will ever make you happy.

So what is supposed to make you happy? Well as Great-Aunt Rose says:
“Faith,” Aunt Rose smiled. “I discovered faith. And faith led to hope. And faith and hope gave me confidence that one day everything would make sense, that because of the Savior, all the wrongs would be made right. After that, I saw that the path before me wasn’t as dreary and dusty as I had thought. I began to notice the bright blues, the verdant greens, and the fiery reds, and I decided I had a choice—I could hang my head and drag my feet on the dusty road of self-pity, or I could have a little faith, put on a bright dress, slip on my dancing shoes, and skip down the path of life, singing as I went.”

I just really loved that talk. It's one that has stuck in my mind since I first heard it, and I thought I'd share the highlights with you.

My favorite part is that "God didn't design us to be sad." Your life isn't meant to be a series of sad events and unhappy feelings strung together. It's meant to be filled with happiness. Turn a crying moment into a laughing moment. Find a positive spin, even if it seems ridiculous, when everything has gone wrong.

And have a little faith. “Now is part of eternity. It doesn’t only begin after we die! Faith and hope will open your eyes to the happiness that is placed before you."

A Life of Change

This past week was crazy!!! So we had emergency changes last week because I live with the Sister leaders and my companion is one of them and one sister had to come live with us due to her companion being disobedient and so now it´s just Hermana Gomez my companion and trainer, Hermana Morales the other Sister leader and now trainer because the sister that came to live with us is still in trainer, her name is Hermana Sapon. She´s lived with us for 2 weeks now but this past week Hna. Gomez and Hna. Morales had to go to Masaya on Wensday to check up on some sisters and so it was kind of an unusual situation because both Hna. Sapon and I are still in training and this never happens but we taught together and worked together all Wednsday and then all of Thursday due to the Sister leaders having Consejos with President. We completed in both areas and people I couldnt understand before, I can now understand!! The gift of tongues is so real it´s not even funny. 

So the Hna´s came back Thursday night and we had a Wedding of a women that wants to be baptized but one hour before the wedding we called the abogada(lawyer or judge) and asked if he was ready and he said yes but then half an hour before the wedding he called and said he couldnt come. So we were calling and 5 min. before the wedding was supposed to happen we were able to find one that didnt cost so much! So that was a miracle! I was seriously praying the whole time. 

So next week we have transfers and Hna. Gomez is going to die which means she´s going home after serving for 18 months!! I´ll be getting a new companion!! Also a member told us that the names of the new mission presidents came out and he said that Mark S. Brown is going to be the new president of Nicaragua Manauga Sur mission!

It´s funny because people here call me Hermana Party, Hermana Patricia, or Hermana Partige. 

Carlos is doing so good! He reads The Book of Mormon everyday! I love him so much! 

Rice and beans for days!! 

Love you all so much!! I wont be able to send pictures today but I love you all!

Hermana Partridge

THE AMAZING POWER OF FASTING!

Carlos's Baptism

A pulperia is where you can buy drinks and junk food and other stuff but I saw this and had to take a picture!

This is Santiago who is a convert. Before, he smoked Marajuana everyday and now he´s clean and hasn´t smoked since. It´s been about 4 months now, he´s really awesome!

To start the new year off I didn't sleep because people outside were setting off so many fireworks at 12:00 at night, and when I say fireworks I mean bombs. They don't have the same kind of fireworks, its like someones being shot bombs and it makes you deaf for about 30 sec. There was so many! That was January 1 here. Then on the second of January we had a baptism! This man was a miracle and is the kind of investigator everyone looks for. His name is Carlos. He´s about 78 years old and accepted everything we taught him. The day before his baptism he said, "I´ve been thinking a lot about you ladies and what your doing....it's all service right.........I want to serve a mission, I´ll go to Salvador, Costa Rica anywhere the Lord sends me!" This man is seriously the most awesome investigator! It was a good way to start off the year. 

So I just want to testify of the power of fasting. It wasn't even fast Sunday but I needed Heavenly fathers help and so I fasted last Tuesday and I just want to say that I´ve never studied fast and prayer so much in my life. I read every scripture about fasting and prayer and seriously every hour I was praying to Heavenly Father. If you're fasting and you really want it, you´ll be praying all the day long for it. I just want to testify that the Lord answered my prayers and fast; and, I know that when we have faith he does make miracles happen! 

I love you all and hope to hear from all of you! 

Hermana Partridge

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! FELIZ ANO NUEVO!!