Orphan Zone

So this week was full of a lot of changes and learning. Remember how I go to Leon every Tuesday to meet with my zone? From now on were not going there anymore. Heres what happened. President Arredondo showed up unannounced at our zone meeting.  He usually doesnt come to zone meetings but felt like he needed to come to motivate us to work harder and find more families. He is such an amazing man and inspires me every time he talks. For a while I have felt like I have gotten into a routine of contacting people and sometimes lack the ability to testify of truths because the contacts need to be quick. I have known that I needed to change but didnt know how. President gave us some really good advice on testifying more to people. Sometimes we ask the Lord how to solve our weaknesses and sometimes your mission president just tells you what they are :). Im so grateful for the inspiration that my mission president receives to guide us as missionaries. President also said that Nagarote, Mateare, and Paz Centro are now not going to Leon every week and will just meet here in Nagarote. ITs kind of weird to be seperate from the zone. Our zone leaders cant come here anymore to help us so weve given ourselves the nickname- orphan zone.

I also have learned a lot about charity this week. My district leader, Elder Swanson (from Farmington Utah and has been in the mission 3 changes) shared the scriptures Moroni 7:40-48 about how we need to have hope. How do we have hope? We need to have faith and charity. Ive been trying to apply this lately and encourage you to read these and apply them too.

This week was crazy in Nicaragua- Nov. 2nd was The day of the dead here and everyone goes to the cemetery and puts flowers on graves of loved ones. The street smelled so good (rare) because so many vendors were selling flowers. My old district leader, Elder Balux, took his whole district to the cemetery and they set up a table and contacted people- I was so proud. Yesterday was crazy because people voted for the mayor. Nagarote is mostly conservative so there werent any fights but I heard lots of missionaries had to go in early in other areas because fights break out among the different political parties.

Xiomara is really progressing. She is reading the Book of Mormon, is praying,  and has come to church every Sunday. Were really praying that Javier can change too and they can get married, but he wont admit that he has a drinking problem. Alcohol is so addictive and I really hope he can let go of this vice. Were going to try to help him with this problem or help Xiomara get out of the situation.

We have been visiting a family of less active members lately- Jorge and Beverly. He has been a member of the church for 18 years and she has been one for 7, but when we found them a month ago and taught a lesson on temples and the priesthood, they barely knew what they were. They have come a long way in their knowledge and Jorge is going to talk to the branch president next week to prepare to receive the priesthood so he can baptize his son Jorge (11). Im really happy to see their progress.

I feel so blessed to have been born into a home that had the fulness of the gospel. I know that God speaks to prophets today and prophets lead us to believe in Christ and let this knowledge change us. If anyone is reading this and hasnt read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, I encourage you to do it, because it will change your life for the better.

I sure love you family!

Anne

Nagarotenan

Beloved Northamerican family,

Boy do I love you! Im glad to hear that everybody is safe and sound. Happy to hear that Wills bday party was a blast and am excited to hear how Janes play goes this week! Yes, as the subject says, Im now Nagaroteñan because I wasnt transferred out this week. At first when I heard I didnt have changes I was a little bit disappointed because I feel like I have contacted every house and am just not having success finding families that are interested in learning about the gospel. A little bit after I found out we were both staying, I started to focus on the positive....Im really excited to still have Hermana Chinchilla as a companion and know that there is more work for me to do here (obviously because I wasnt transferred). Hermana Chinchilla and I are going to make some new goals to help more less active members and recent converts come to church and find some more families to teach!

We have had a big struggle this week with finding people to teach. We found a really great couple named Veronica and Carlos and were really excited to teach them and their two girls. He has diabetes pretty serious and really wants to find the true church before he dies.  We taught them once and they were excited to go to church. I felt the spirit so strong when we were teaching them and thought they would for sure go. Then we came by on Sunday and they didnt come. When we came back in the night, Carlos said that we were really nice people so he wasnt going to lie to us anymore and say they are studying with Jehovahs witnesses and trying to find out if that is right and dont want to be confused studying lots of different religions. I was really disappointed because I felt so positive about them. We told them that we will always be passing by so if they want to learn more, were always here. Hopefully they will have a change of heart!

While we feel like Xiomara and Javier really want to change, we have a big challenge as we found out that Javier is an alcoholic (or if he isnt he is on the verge of being one). Xiomara told us when we were not there and said he is not himself when he gets drunk and becomes really mad, so the next day we came to teach the word of wisdom to try to help him. The problem was that we couldnt talk about his drinking problem because we didnt want him to get mad and take it out on Xiomara for telling us so we had to beat around the bush. When we asked him if he had a problem with any of the things in the word of wisdom, he said no. We have been reading the book of mormon with them in Alma 5 and talking a lot about repentance and are really hoping he will act on his desire to change. 

Ive almost finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish and its so great to look back on my progress from where Ive come since the CCM reading verses really slow and out loud to myself. While there are days where Im really frustrated with my ability to express myself quickly in Spanish I have come a long way and am so grateful for the help of the Lord!

While there are extremely hard days in the mission, I LOVE IT. Im learning so much about making and keeping goals, the blessings of obedience, and how loving others and following the spirit are two of the most important things we need to learn to do. Im so grateful for my knowledge of living prophets, the plan of salvation, and the gift of eternal life that the Savior offers us if only we do our part!

Im happy. Im Healthy. Nos vemos.

Hermana Pearson

I have a new Nephew! (October 22)

Hey family,

I cant tell you how excited I was that Max is a new member of the family. It was really fun for me to tell all of the investigators/members about his birth. I got to meet Jimena (Marias new baby) on Friday morning which I was really excited about. I just pretended she was Max :)

It has been a roller coaster with Juan Carlos and Juana this week. We went about every week to help them prepare for their marriage and baptism. There has been a definite change in Juan Carlos. He is always excited to see us and talk to us. We had some lessons with our zone leaders and them teaching about the blessings of marriage, baptism, and the word of wisdom. Juana has been ready for weeks to get baptized and married but Juan Carlos has let his fears take over and has decided he doesnt want to make the committment of marriage or baptism. I was pretty sad when he told us on Saturday that he doesnt want to go through with it anymore. Hermana Chinchilla and I tried to bring them to church on Sunday and they didnt want to go either. Juan Carlos just isnt progressing and doesnt have the faith to turn his sins over to the Lord. We have now taught them for about 2 months and they just arent ready. Needless to say, were really sad that we have to stop teaching them and hope missionaries will find them in the future when they are more prepared. The problem here is that people living together is such a problem. Most people live for years together with kids but arent married still and its normal. I have seen a lot lately how Satan uses fear to stop people from making changes for the better in their lives.

The good news is that we found a new family to teach last week named Siomara and Javier that have a cute little boy named Sebastian. We have now taught them the first two lessons and they went to church on Sunday. Talking about Sundays here.....I know that its the Sabbath Day of the week but for us it doesnt feel that way! We leave 2 hours before church starts, go on divisions with 2 girls that want to go on missions in the future, (like Becca :) ) and split up to remind/bring families to church and then do all we can to help them come....wash clothes, help make breakfast, clean, or just wait (because they usually wont come on their owns because people seem to be shy here). But yesterday, Siomara and Javier came to church and were going to have a family home evening with them and a family in the ward who are their neighbors. Theyre not married so I hope they can have  the desire to do so!

We have changes this week and everybody thinks that Im going to go. I really love Nagarote and the people here but am hoping for a change as I feel like I have contacted all the houses and walked the streets a zillion times (I know I havent but it feels like that after 4 months). Who knows what will happen, but the Lord knows what I need so Im ready for whatever he has in store for me.

Random tidbits......

1. Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America. That being said, sometimes people buy their clothes in BULK. They buy a huge pack of clothes of all different sizes and wear what they get. That being said, people tend to wear some shirts that are pretty random. For example, this week a man we were teaching had a shirt on that said,  "YW Camp 2006: The girl I should bee is up to me" with a cute little bumblebee below. I couldnt believe it.

2. I walked past an old man and said, "Adios" which is the custom here. He turned at me, stared, and "whistled." But he didnt have any teeth so it wasnt really a whistle.

3. Hermana Carmen (the woman that cooks for us) is hilarious. She is 60 years old but very young at heart. For example, she tells your mom jokes. She made a cake this week and asked her son how he thought it turned out. He said, "ok." She said, "Your mom." I died laughing.

I have been thinking alot about the scripture Alma 37:6 lately, "And the Lord God doth work by ^ameans to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very ^bsmall means the Lord doth^cconfound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." Its so true that the little things make a big difference. Heavenly Father promises us great blessing when we do the little things: read our scriptures daily, pray, fulfill our church callings, serve others, etc. But Satan is smart and works the same way placing small doubts in our minds to impede us from doing the little things. We just need to have the faith to conquer these doubts and make the sacrifice to put the small, most important things first and then all of the great blessings we can have will fall into place. 

I really cant believe that I have already been on my mission for 6 months. The time has flown. Im learning a lot about myself and how the gospel of Jesus Christ, once again restored to the earth, can change lives, if only we will let it. Jesus Christ lives, knows us personally, and wants us to be happy. Im so grateful for the gift he has given us to repent and change our lives for the better every day.  Im loving and praying for you!

Love,

Hermana Pearson

Another week in Nagarote!

Hey fam!

So its a given for most people that Im from the US here, but an investigator this week asked me if I was from Mexico. And the next day she forgot where I was from and said, "You're from Mexico right?" Have you ever met a Mexican with blue eyes? I haven't.

So to answer some of mom's questions.... there are about 40ish people that come to church every week. The church has had a branch in Nagarote for 15 years and there are about 3 families have been in the church that long. The other strong families that always come have been in the church for about 2 years. There are only 3 active complete families (husband, wife, kids) and the rest are single women, single men, or single women with children. Some of the single women and men are so inspiring. They never make excuses for not coming to church and are there every week. One example is Felipa. She is 85 years old and can't walk very well (she looks about 95 so Grandma and Grandpa you really look young for your age). She can't read and asked us to help her fill out her tithing slip this week. It was 5 cordobas (about 25 cents). I love the people here!

Butterfly whisperer?

We had so much hope to bring families to church this week and had about 5 families committed but weren't able to bring anyone because they all had excuses---someone went to visit their grandma at the last minute, another had a family member get sick, the water went out so people couldnt bathe before church....the list goes on. Satan is really good at making people do good things so they can't experience great blessings. We were a little bit frustrated after church and then we got stuck in a huge rain storm and walked through a river up to our calves in the middle of the street. Then the rain left and the hot sun came out. Then the sun left and the lights in the street went out when it was dark. And we laughed the whole time (okay maybe not the whole time but most of the time.....). We had a trial of our faith, but I know if we keep working hard this week we're going to see miracles! I love the quote that dad sent me from Elder Cristopherson, ¨"There is, however, a level of faith that not only governs our behavior but also empowers us to change what is and to make things happen that otherwise would not happen."

Im excited to watch general conference this week and hope you all are too. Love you all a whole bunch!

H. Pearson

Felipa!

Ants in my pants!

HOLA!

Well dad made a comment about the ants that I wrote about last week and said, "at least the ants arent in your pants." Unfortunately, his statement was incorrect and this has happened about 2 times. I know, TMI.

Well its about 80 to 90 degrees here every day so its definitely not feeling like fall. But as a reminder of this season Hermana Chinchilla and I ate caramel apples last night (and caramel covered oreos too.....thanks mom).

So I love Nicas(ppl from Nicaragua). They are so kind and loving and always accepting. Most of the time, even if people arent interested, they will listen to us, because to them it is a sin to reject the word of God. Others dont like to reject us bluntly so they do things like run into their house and hide every time we pass by, lie and say that someone is not home when we just saw them enter the house, or give us an address that doesnt exist to come and visit them at their house. This keeps things very interesting and lots of times make us laugh. 

We havent been successful in bringing any families to church for 2.5 months but yesterday Juan Carlos, Juana, and their 2 yr. old son Danny came to church! Having investigators and recent converts come to church is one of our biggest challenges here. I was so happy to see them come even though they only stayed for sacrament meeting. They are not married but really want to change their life and Im hoping we can continue to help them learn the blessings that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bring into their lives. 

I really have seen some miracles happen this week. They seem small but they are huge to me. Background information....before my mission 2 returned missionaries from  Nicaragua Kristen Lee and Michelle Crosland both showed me pictures and raved about how much they loved their missions. A couple of weeks ago I thought how great it would be to have the names of all their converts so I could find them again and help them rediscover how enduring to the end will bless their lives. Well I never did it. But this week we were contacting and met a man named Immanuel. He told us we could come visit him and also told us that his parents were married in our church and baptized. When we came back the next day we met his dad-Marcelino. Marcelino talked about how Hermana Crosland had taught him and his wife before their baptism and Hermana Lee had visited him for some time after Hermana Crosland left the area. We shared the message of The Restoration with them and the importance of taking the sacrament. Marcelino testified of every principle we taught and shared his feelings with his son. It was amazing to see the power of his testimony. Im hoping that we can teach Immanuel and his wife and help Marcelino and his wife come back to church. 

I know that I was called to serve in Nicaragua for a reason. I love Nagarote and I love the people here. These people are so humble and so often are struggling day to day to find work to pay for rice and beans for their family. We are so blessed to have what we do. I pray that we can work hard to follow the spirit and do everything we can do to love and serve others every day! I sure love you all and pray youre doing well. The church is true and our Savior loves each one of us!

Love,

Hermana Anne Pearson

Yesterday, one of the members invited a friend to church. They forgot to explain that we dont clap after talks. He only clapped after the first talk. We laughed pretty hard after sacrament meeting.

Im starting to forget how to pray in English. Hermana Chinchilla likes to correct me. Yikes.

New Companion...she's awesome!

Hey family!

Como estan? Well as you well now we had changes this week. I was nervous and excited to get a new companion. But now Im just HAPPY! My new companion is Hermana Chinchilla from Heredia, Costa Rica. We were roommates in the CCM in the Guatemala and were companions intransit from Guatemala to Nicaragua. We both freaked out (in a good way) when we found out we were companions. She has studied English since she was 9 and worked in a Marriott hotel before her mission so she is practically fluent in English. Its so cool because we have a secret language to speak when we dont want people to know what were talking about and I have my own personal dictionary with me all day so Im learning how to express all sorts of phrases in Spanish. Its really fun! And then we speak English when we are in the apartment so she can improve her accent more. She is such an amazing person. Her whole family are members but theyre converts. She started going to church when she was 12----went to seminary and church and was basically an active member but didnt get baptized until she was 21. Now she is 25 and serving a mission!

While Im really excited to be Hermana Chinchillas companion, the night of changes I was really nervous. I was really intimidated to teach her the area (I barely knew it by myself), be senior companion (talk on the phone in Spanish and all that jazz), and have to prioritize who we were going to teach, etc. With all these negative thoughts entering my mind and wondering how Im going to do this, I knew I had to pray for peace and comfort and the ability to do this. The next morning I woke up and I felt a little bit better but still nervous. Through out the day we worked really hard contacting, visiting members and investigators and trying to find our way around. By the end of the day I felt great. We have been working really hard. I really have a testimony that faith is a principle of action (aka hard work) and that the Lord magnifys those that are called. We're learning a lot together.

We're having a really hard time committing families to come to church but are going to work really hard this week to commit people to come! Were teaching a couple of families and hope people can progress soon. I know this church is true and that Jesus Christ lives and answers our prayers. When we have struggles we need to do all we can to find answers in the scriptures and through acting and the Lord will answer our prayers!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Anne

 Meet Hermana Chinchilla!  So happy to be with her!

PS Ants in Nicarauga are SOOOO smart. I put the oreos mom sent me in a plastic bag. They chewed through the plastic bag and 2 rolls of oreos and 1 granola bar wrapper. They got into my vitamins in a plastic bag this week too! And I found a couple in my peanut butter. HOW DO THEY DO IT? Im going to outsmart them. I will.

No I am not a 30 year old Jehovah's Witness!

Dear family,

I have a problem. The Jehovahs witnesses in Nagarote go contacting every week. They wear skirts and always have umbrellas. So we look like them and people think we are Jehovahs witnesses and dont want to talk to us. Sometimes I wish I was wearing a white shirt and black pants like the elders. And yes, everyone, except for members of the church, think that Im 30 years old. Alas.

Things are going better here in Nagarote. We have found some more families to teach and are now teaching 4 families. I still dont know them very well so Ill let you know more details later. We have transfers on Wednesday and my companion was already told that she is leaving the area. So Im going to have a new companion (my step mother as they call it in the mission). Im sad/nervous/excited all at the same time. Change is hard, but good.

We have struggled with some of our recent converts lately- helping them see the importance of taking the sacrament every week by attending church. I tried to explain the importance of the atonement and how we can be forgiven of our sins every week by taking the sacrament and had an aha moment. Sometimes I think we focus a lot on how the atonement only saves us after this life. While this is true and very critical to understand, I know that we can be saved through the atonement of Jesus Christ every day. With his sacrifice in mind, any sacrifice that we need to make to come closer to him is possible and worth it. I know that Jesus Christ lives and is there for us in every waking moment. We just need to work to have this knowledge with us on a more regular basis.

I know that this gospel is true and that we can truly change and become more perfect every day by living the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Anne