Hola Familia!

This has been one of the busiest weeks so far and one of the slowest! On Sunday last week I had to sing and speak in Sacrament meeting which was actually not as bad as I thought, but still hard. At the MTC the Branch President doesn't assign speakers until he announces your name at the pulpit on sunday morning after the sacrament is passed...so if you don't have a talk prepared whether you are speaking or not...goodluck! My talk was on how we can have faith in Christ and I basically just shared one big testimony on how having faith in Christ has blessed my life because I know how to bear my testimony in Spanish REALLY well! Haha! Only 11 days left in the MTC and I'm so....well...Scared and Excited! At some moments in the day I am super excited and can't wait to start teaching others in Nicaragua...and then other moments I remember how bad my Spanish is! Haha! All-in-all I am very excited! 6 weeks is going by very fast but almost to fast! It seems like just yesterday Lynette and Tyler and Jenn and the girls dropped me off! Now in less than two weeks I will be bustin' out of here! Bring it On!!! Yesterday was my last lesson with Maria in TRC and I am sorry to say, but Maria just WAS NOT going to listen to us! Yesterday in our lesson we taught her the importance of the Book of Mormon and the importance of prayer and at the end I bore my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I told her what I felt she needed to hear through my testimony. That Maria has a Father in Heaven who loves her so much and wants her to receive his Gospel. I explained to her how much the Gospel blesses the lives of the people who choose to follow him and his example through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. I finished and she got super mad and told me I was just trying to corrupt her and persuade her into feeling guilty for not wanting the gospel in her life! She told me it was stupid for me to even believe that God loves us and she told me how stupid I was for believing that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that...wait for it...THE ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST DOES NOT EXIST!!! I left that lesson feeling so defeated and shot down! Every lesson we have had with Maria we bring up Christs atoning sacrifice not only for all of us...but for Maria personally! I was so upset because she lead us to believe that she knew the Book of Mormon was true and that the Atonement of Jesus Christ was real! I don't know what will happen with Maria in the future...but what I do know is that there will be people like this in the field, who will mock me for what I believe, but you wanna know something, I DO NOT CARE! My focus as a missionary is to teach people through the spirit of God to help them come unto Christ. I can not make people have an open heart. I can not make Maria believe what i'm teaching her is true. Some people just are not ready to receive such a gift as the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives yet and I think Maria is one of those people! She was not going to let the spirit we brought and felt in our lessons effect her and it was obvious, even more so now! I will continue to pray for Maria because I know she wants to know the truth, why else would she be so defensive to change in her life! I can't wait to get to Nicaragua after that though! I learned so much from Maria's chastisement! Not everyone we teach is going to be inviting to the message we share! Often times when we teach other people in the MTC every one is always super welcoming to missionaries. They are very inviting and always understand what we teach them and ask them to do, but in reality, I think there are going to be many times when we come upon people like Maria who just don't want anything to do with it! I am so grateful for Maria! She gave me a whole new perspective on the life of a missionary! Yes there will be investigators who are ready to receive the Gospel, but there will also be many who will break your heart because they are not! This is why missions are not for the weak of heart...especially if your'e a girl...*cough, cough*! I hope all is well for everyone wherever you are! This Gospel is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and I am so lucky to have the re confirmed to me every day! Thank you all for your love and support and for your prayers! I am blessed and protected through them! Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador y Redentor y por medio nosotros podemos saber la verdad de todas cosas! Buenos suerte mis amigos!

Love, Hermana Dickey