Hola Mundo!!

I hope you all had yet another wonderful week and even more importantly a great Easter! Easter here is quite the event I must say but really cool! People here make these float type things with a statue of Jesus on the Cross on them and carry them around the town with a BILLION people following behind them singing! It is actually cool to see but the Mormon missionaries walking around through those crowds get a little more attention than I would like.

So today is monday and we had changes....and you will never guess where I got sent to...MATAGALPA!!!!! WHOOHOO!!! I am so excited! When I got the phone call last night I was so shocked! I don't know if any of you remeber but I started my mission in this Zone and now with only two changes left I will be finishing here. I am also training. My companion is Hermana De Leon from guatemala and she is so amazing...quiet but super cute! We are going to get along just fine! Today I have already seen some people that I got to know really well almost a year ago when I was here and do you know what every single one of them has said...You speak spanish now!! Haha! I may have been a little quiet when I was here a year ago!

Nothing to exciting going on yet...I was sad to leave my golden family behind and the quiroz family...but they are in good hands with my last companion. This week I did get stung by a scorpion..haha! We were helping this cute little old lady move some dirt from one side of her house to the other and as I was kicking some rocks away so I could shovel up some dirt I felt something pinch me on the side of my foot and all I saw was the dumb little tail and stinger of a scorpion stuck into the side of my poor little foot! NOT COOL MAN!!! I called the nurse just to ask her if I should be worried or not..all she asked me was what the color was of the scorpion..it was a little brown one..and told me I would be fine, I would just get really dizzy for a while and boy was she right!!! I am pretty sure I looked like one of the drunk guys that is always walking around on the street corners! It wore off though towards the end of the day and the next day I as good as knew! Good times! I hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Dickey

Hey everyone I hope it was yet another great week for everyone! I hear that the weather at home is not to great..but just a little pick me up for all of you at home who are tired of the rain...it is currently 100 degrees with 90% humidity...I would take the rain any day! This week also starts the hottest week of the year...the week of Semana Santa! I really don't understand why this week always is so hot but I remember last year dying at this time too!

So quick update on my life... Gissell and Yerson got baptized!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!! It was such a great weekend. Friday afternoon Gissell was baptized by her boyfriend (who is in the mission) and the service was so amazing! We prepared a video to share after the ordinance and the spirit was really strong. Then on Saturday evening Yerson got baptized by his cousin and that too was just as amazing! I am so grateful for the miracles that were worked in helping these two young people enter into the waters of baptism. It is always so amazing to me how such young people have the desire to follow their savior Jesus Christ.

This week is going to be a great one I just know it! We found some really cool people last week that I am really excited to go and teach. In fact we found a super cute family! The Quiroz Family! They are a little family of 5 who are seriously another miracle. The day we found them was a day when my companion and I really put our faith to the test. That morning of during our final planning session my companion and I decided that we were going to find a chosen family that day. We both came up with about 3 different parts of our area that we could go contact and decided that in one of those 3 places we were going to find that family of 5. We then kneeled down and asked Heavenly Father which area had the family of 5 prepared for us. We finished the prayer and my companion and I both felt we needed to go to an area where we went almost everyday and try there. It was kind of wierd that that is what we had felt because we were always there, but we followed the promptings of the spirit. That day we went to the Rotunda and just started walking down the street with hearts and minds open to the promptings of the spirit when all of the sudden this little tiny inflatable ball rolls out in front of me and I stopped to pick it up. I gave it to the little boy who came chasing after it. The mom and the dad sitting outside in their lawn chairs thanked me and that is when we noticed the two parents and 3 kids all playing outside. We took the opportunity to get to know them and then we taught them. They were SUPER awesome! Tonight we have an appointment with them and I am super excited to see what happens! I love this Gospel so much and I love being a missionary. The longer I have been out the more my purpose as a missionary and as a member of this Gospel has stuck to me! We are here to invite others to come unto christ and to be baptized in His name...not to convince and not to persuade..,to invite and help. I Testify that this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, that He lives, That God lives and that someday we will all return to live with him again through faith, love, repentance and obedience. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Hermana Dickey

Buenos Días mis queridos amigos! 

I hope this week has been yet another great week for all and that you were all able to see the hand of the Lord at some point or another. For my companion and I...we definitely did! On Tuesday last week we passed by as normal for our "Golden Family" to share a message with them about the Plan of Salvation. We arrived to their house only to find it empty...COMPLETELY VACIO PEOPLE!!!! I was so shocked that that had happened to us again! We had finally found another chosen Family...helped them feel the spirit...brought them to church with us twice just to show up and find that they had moved! The worst part was that they didn't have a cell phone or any way to stay in touch...so my companion and I had no idea what had happened to them. That was like a hard "Kick to the face" for me...but I had to keep working with a smile on my face and with motivation to find others who the Lord had chosen for us to find that day. We kept on working and at around 5:30 we were on our way to an appointment that we had scheduled. On the way we decided to go a different route than normal...because there is always a long way and a short way. So this particular day at that particular time we felt the impression to go the long way. On the way my companion and I were having a conversation and chatting when we passed by a girl named Gissel who we had contacted about 4 weeks ago. She is a 19 year old who didn't live in our area for a while but was always visiting her boyfriend(Who haappens to be the bishops son) and who had recieved all of the lessons from missionaries before and had been to church a billion times...but never got baptized for fear of her mother. Well this particular day we found her again at her boyfriends house because he had just left for the mission the day before. We went inside and shared a message with her when all of the sudden she just says " Can I be baptized next Friday?" WHAT!!! UMMM for sure you can be baptized next Friday! I tried holding my composure I promise. At that Very moment I knew the Lord was blessing us for our past efforts. So Gisel is getting batized this Friday! 

Another Miracle...Yesterday we were in sacrament meeting listening to the speakers when a joven (youth) comes over to me and says " Hermanas there is a guy outside that wants to see you. He says he knows you". So we got up quietly and walked outside..Who was this mysterious man...HERMANA PEDRO PABLO!! The dad of the "Golden Family". He had come looking for us at church because he remembered what time it started and wanted to talk to us. We ended up finding out where they were living now, they bought a cell phone so we got their number! It was great! They don't live in our area now but we were able to send other missionaries to their house!

Last Miracle...Also yesterday at church we noticed there was a guy there who we had never seen before. After sacrament meeting we introduced ourselves to him. His name is Yerson. He was living in Leon but now lives in our area. He was an investigator of some missionaries in Leon and came to church with his niece. He said the missionaries in Leon never put a fecha (date to be baptized) with him but he said he wanted to get baptized. He too said "Hermanas can I get baptized next saturday": FOR SURE!!! Again had to hold my composure.

So Moral of the story...the Lord will always bless us for our efforts if we are obedient and working hard. I hope you all have an amazing week!

Hermana Dickey

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had yet another fantastic week and were able to see so many blessings. For me it was a pretty good one. We have really been working hard with Hermano Marlon this week. We saw him on his tricycle on wedensday and he was super excited. He had a huge smile on his face and everything. So we stopped to talk to him and see what all the excitement was about. He said " Hermanas I am on my way to church!" We both knew that there weren't any activities going on at the church that night so we were a little confused. I asked him...in english.."Really where are you headed to?" He was on his way to an evangelical concert thing to sing and worship God. Alright you know that’s cool and all...but don't go and get yourself confused Marlon! I didn't say that to him but I was thinking it. He ended up going every night from wednesday to sunday...but he came to church with us yesterday too so that was great! We are going to have a lesson with him tonight to get some things clarified. We have also found another choice family people! Every time we see them its like a beam of light shines down on them and the choir starts singng the Hallelujah chorus! Super great people! The dad’s name is Pedro Pablo and the wife is Hermana Sujei. They came to church with us yesterday and pedro Pablo is also about halfway through the Book of Mormon now and they are really preparing so they can be married and baptized on the 16th of this month! I am so excited for them!

This week during my personal study in the morning I came across a scripture in 2 Nephi that I REALLY loved and have had in my mind all week. It is found in 2 Nephi 9:18 which says:

" 18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel,they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the  world, and their joy shall be full forever." 

As I pondered on that scripture it first made me think of Christ and his atoning sacrifice. How he had to carry His own cross, Stumbling, falling, being spit upon and mocked at to what he knew and was to become His sudden death. But everytime He fell He got up and kept going. That to me in and of itself is an example of courage...but reading this scripture helped me put some things into perspective a little more. We, being those that this scripture speaks, the holy ones of israel, have in our own lives endured our own crosses. We face sin, rejection, heartache, and sadness..but we "Despise the shame of it". When we fall we get back up just like He did and by the courage that we have to keep pushing forward we will "inherit the kingdom of God...and their joy shall be full forever." I am so grateful for the Savior and his atoning sacrifice. For His matchless love and great example. Have a wonderful week Everyone!

Love, Hermana Dickey

Hey everyone!! First of all I am really sorry that you didn't get an email from me last week. I was a little busy and didn't have anytime to write. But I hope you all had an amazing week! This week for me was yet another great one...but the sad thing is that I feel like they just keep coming and going…THAT I am not a fan of.

So some sad news…The menezes family moved to a different area so we had to give the missionaries in that area the reference and they got baptized there. It pretty much broke my heart that I didn't personally get to see them enter the waters of baptism but at least I know that they made those covenants and that in a year they will be able to become an eternal family. As of Marlon...the guy I told you about who showed up to church on his own, well he is progressng really well. I did divisions with a sister in my zone who also happens to be from Oregon so when we went by to teach Marlon we taught him in English...That was so wierd and way harder than I thought it was going to be!! Spanglsih was definitely a part of that lesson but he likes it when we teach him in English, I explained to him we wouldn't always be able to do that becuase My companion doesn't speak English...but either way he understands. I am just amazed as to how bad my English has become. All in all I am just really loving being a missionary. Everyday I wake up so full of joy...full of the spirit, ready to share the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ to all those who are willing to listen. Being able to share my testimony in spanish all dday everday has really been a HUGE blessing to me. Seeing the Gospel change the lives of so many people is something indescribable and so real. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else or doing anything else. I hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Dickey