Hey everyone I hope this was a great week for all of you! It was a good one for me! I am pretty much tired of sweating...but hey...things could be worse! So on Saturday we had a baptism of an amazing lady named Wendy! We found her about 3 weeks ago and she just accepted the Gospel so quickly! The second lesson we had with her she told us she knew the church was true because of the parts of the Book of Mormon she read and because she accepted our invitation and prayed about it! It truely is the spirit that converts people! This week comin up we have a couple more baptisms as well and I am VERY excited! They will be on friday though because saturday is FINALLY the meeting we have all been waiting for! President Nelson from the Quorum of the twelve Apostles is coming to speak to all of the missionaries in the entire country of Nicaragua! I don't know why...I am secretly hoping it is because he is going to announce a temple here...but who knows! That would be amazing! But anyways...I am leading a choir of about 45 missionaries infront of President Nelson and while I am both excited and very happy...I am so nervous! More nervous than I have ever been in my whole life! The choir is going to be really good though! Today we had our last ensayo and it went really well! President Collado and President Russel from the south mission came to hear it and make sure everything was set up and they both LOVED it so hopefully President Nelson will too! Saturday could not come fast enough! Anyways thats all the exciting news I have! This week during my studies I found this quote in Preach my Gospel that says "True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the Gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior." (Boyd K. Packer) How true that is! The more we learn the Doctrine of Christ, the Doctrine of the the Gospel our behavior, attitudes and understanding will improve and be strengthened quicker and more effectively.

I hope everyone has a great week this week!

Hermana Dickey

P.s...I really hate cocroaches

Hey folks! I hope this has been a great week for all of you! This past week was pretty great for me and just a little less hot...but not a lot! On saturday we were going to have the baptism of Thelma...but when we showed up to her house saturday afternoon to help her get to the church...she wasn't home. Her daughter was home and told us friday night she got really sick and was in the hospital. I just wanted to cry becuase she was so excited to be baptized. I really just don't like satan at all! We have gone back to her house a few times since then to see if she came home yet but she is still in the hospital. Not really sure what happened to her but I am just hoping everything is ok!

Story time!! On wednesday afternoon my companion and I were walking up and down the streets contacting people in their homes, trying to find some new people who were really prepared and ready to accept the Gospel. We were walking and walking and not having much success when a man...large in stature for lack of a better term, walks up to us and tells us right there in the street to teach him something about the Gospel. So of course we sat down on some concrete blocks with him in the middle of the street and started teaching him lesson one right there. We sang a hymn and prayed too! Everything was going really well and he was SUPER positive. I was feeling really good about the whole thing and he had some very good questions. We finished the lesson and I left him with a lesson 1 pamphlet. Right before we got up to leave he asked me to remind him of my name. I told him my name was Hermana Dickey and I wrote my name and Hermana Nicholls name on the back of his pamphlet. He thanked us and put his hand out for us to shake it before we left. My comp shook his hand and turned to walk away...then I shook his hand and he proceded to not only shake my hand...but kiss my hand also and profess his love for me...soooo ya that happened. Not really sure what we are gonna do with him at this point because he has potential...but we will see! All I know is we will be brining a member with us next time! Haha! 

Another funny story that happened this morning! We got on the bus to travel to Altacracia to have our first choir practice for the meeting we will be having at the end of this month. We got on route 163 at 6 in the morning to get there a little early so I cold practice with the pianist a little. So there we are...two sister missionaries sitting on an insanely full bus...when a man with a squirrel on his shoulder gets on and sits in the seat infront of us! Ummmm excuse me sir is that your pet? The thing had a collar on and everything...and a name tag! Just when you think you have seen it all! Haha! I love this country!!

I am so grateful to be a missionary. I know this is where I need to be and the time is passing by so quick. I love this Gospel with my whole heart and I know it is true...without any doubt. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet chosen of God and I know that it is only through our Savior Jesuus Christ that we can repent of our sins, to be clean to return to live with our Father in Heaven again! I hope everyone has a great week!

Hermana Dickey

Well folks...another week come and gone...Have I ever mentioned how fast time is going by! Pretty sure I have like a billion times...but it`s true! So this past week was pretty good. We had a lot of success and this week we have several baptisms planned! I am VERY excited! My companion and I came up with a plan to motivate ourselves to keep walking throughout the day. Sometimes we stop just for a second to take a break...especially when we are walking from one end of our area to the other and man once you stop and sit down it is REALLY dificult to get motivation to stand up and walk again. So my comp and I came up with something called "The Final Countdown". We start at 10 and countdown and as soon as we get to 1 we stand up and start walking. It gives us time to mentally prepare ourselves and it works like a charm! 

While yes we had success this week...it was not an easy one for me. On tuesday afternoon I was informed by my Mission President that my Grandpa Stringer had passed away that morning...but in the comforts of his own home and surrounded by family. I was allowed to talk to my family for a little bit and while yes we had our laughs...we also shared some tears. I remembered this week the last time I saw my grandpa before I left and if only I had known in that moment that it would be the last time I would hug him here on this earth...I would have cherished it much longer. How grateful are we for the knowledge of Eternal Families and the Plan of Salvation. What brings peace to my heart is the Atonement of Jesus Christ and our Father in Heavens plan for each and everyone of us, His children. My heart ached just a little...only at the fact I was here in the mission field and couldn't be with my family. However, our Father in Heaven took the ultimate sacrifice, sufferinfg for us, that we may gain eternal life and Everlasting happinnes in the Presence of our Father in Heaven... Through our faithfuness and obedience. My grandpa was an amazing person and a HUGE example to me. If I can be half as great as he was I will be doing pretty good. I know I will see my Grandpa again...but until that joyful reunion...he will be very lovd...and very missed.

I hope you all have an amazing week this week!

Hermana Dickey

Soy Nica:

1. Dad can`t sneak fake,plastic cockroaches into the shower to freak me out anymore...that is a normal thing now...except they are real! Sorry!

2. Making Brownies on an electric stove top...lets just say as long as it's cooked so I dont get salmonila (however you spell that) then Brownies are brownies!

3. I HATE THE BUSES!!! I think the name of the game is how many people you can fit onto one transit bus...not a fan of that game. Hermana Dickey still has a thing called personal space!

IT IS SO HOT HERE!!!!! I mean I know I am in Nicaragua people...but holy cow it is hot! I remember when I was at BYU-I I would hop from biulding to biulding on my way home just so I didn`t have to be outside in the cold. Here my companion and I hop from shade spot to shade spot just so we don`t have the sun on us! It is actually really funny! We make a game out of it sometimes. Haha! 

So this week was very successful! We put a ton of fechas with people and I am feeling really good for this month. Right now the mission has a goal to baptize 306 people so that when the Apostol comes at the end of this month we have some good results to show. I am so excited because it has given all the missionaries motivation to work even harder and we are doing really great! I seriously love being a missionary so much! It is tough work and I am not a huge fan of sweating (Thank goodness for cold showers) but Vale la Pena. My companion Hermana Nicholls is doing really great. We have SO MUCH FUN together and it makes the work 10 times better. We laugh and make jokes and then by the time we get to the next appointment we are focused and ready to teach because we take our minds off of how hot it is or how far we have to walk...and that is saying a lot because sometimes that is not easy to do! This week we are supposed to have a baptism of a sweet little lady named Thelma. I am super excited for her because she wants to be baptized so bad...but she is having some health problems right now and is hardly ever home when we pass by because she is in the hospital. I am just praying that everything will work out!

Funny story of the week!! So last week we hardly had any money left from the beginning of the month to buy food at the store so we bought a few things...but not a lot! The food we did buy lasted about 3 days and that was it! We have a member in our ward who cooks us lunch everyday so there is no problem there...but dinner we are normally on our own to cook something in the house...and by "cook" I mean boil hot water and make Ramen. Haha! Anyways we didn`t even have money to buy that so for the rest of the week we lived off of what we had left which consisted of Wheat bread, Chocolate frosting and yogurt. What would you all do with those items? Needless to say we got really creative! Today we bought a bunch of stuff and I am very excted to cook some real food!

This past week I have been thinking a lot about the Atonement of our savior. As a missionary you go through times when it is really great to be a missionary and times when you are just ready to be done...because it is not easy. How is it that we press on when our hearts are as weak as our shoes. Where can we fnd reassurance when perfect plans and minds set on success result in empty homes and disappointment. These are just a few questions I have thought to myslef more than once. We are literally handing people the key to true and everlasting happiness...only to be rejected. Why aren`t people more willing to listen to us? Why aren`t more people just lining up at the baptism font? Why is this so hard?...Well I would imagine that we aren`t the first ones to ask that question. Our savior Jesus Christ was rejected by His friend who he trusted. He was despised and rejected of men, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisment of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed" (Mosiah 14:5). Our Savior suffered much more. So much that he cried to His father on the cross, calling for relief "Father take this cup from me!" But he knew it had to be done..because Salvation does not come cheap. If it was so hard for him why would it be easy for us. I believe that in order to obtain such a precious gift as salvation, eternal life...we have to be willing to endure the hardships. Is it easy to be disappointed? YES! Is it easy to walk around all day just to arrive at someones house and find out they aren`t home? NO! But we are representatives of Jesus Christ. We are proclaming this Gospel unto all nations. If any of us thought that bringing salvation to His children was easy...think of our Savior Jesus Christ because salvation does not come cheap.

I Love this Gospel with my whole soul and I will be eternally grateful for my savior Jesus Christ. It is through His sacrifice and His example that I am able to endure. He suffered much more just to bring slavation to the children of God. I hope you all have a great week and always seek to remember the Atonement of our savior. Remember that salvation does not come cheap.

Hermana Dickey