I can not believe how quickly time passes by! I feel like it was just monday yesterday! It just goes to show how important every single day is! This week was pretty good until sunday. Johanna was supposed to be baptized at 12 yesterday before church and she was super excited all week for it...as was I. We had even gone to the church early to fill the font with water which took about an hour because obviously there is no water in Matagalpa. So how do you fill the pila you might ask? With lots of buckets and helping hands carrying water from the water reserve that the church has about 3 blocks away from the building...up a hill and filling the pila as quickly as possible. it was actually fun because the Elders that were helping us made a competition to see out of the sisters and Elders who carried the most buckets of water. I am happy to report that the Hermanas won by 4 buckets! Oh ya!! So anyway we get the pila filled and everything ready to go and at about 11 Johanna calls me and says she can't be baptized. Long story short, her family kicked her out of the house for taking lessons from the missionaries and wanting to be baptized. She is still going to be baptized because she knows this Gospel is true...but she wants to find a place to live first. So that was really sad and super hard to hear...but she is hoping to be baptized, that is the good thing! The good news is our beautiful family is going to be baptized really soon! They are so great and making good progress! I love them so much! I am learning as a missionary how attached you get to your investigators and when they can't be baptized or something impedes them...It breaks your heart! There is really nothing to prevent that either. That's the life of a missionary. I am loving my area and all of the people here. The only thing that is a little rough that is going to take some getting used to is the heat. I have never been in heat like this before and i'm not going to lie...sweating all day everyday really gets to you after a while. It's ok though because I would not want to be anywhere else in my life right now. I see the Lord’s hand in my life everyday and most importantly I see His hand in the lives of these people here. I am so grateful for being able to feel His love and teach by the Spirit. I am amazed everyday at how much easier teaching can be...especially in Spanish...when you teach by the spirit. It is a priviledge to be a missionary and I intend to work hard everyday because the time passes by so quick. I hope you are all doing great and feeling the love of our Savior in your lives. Never forget that He knows each and every one of us personally and that knowledge can help us so much to press forward through all trials and difficulties that we have! Good luck this week to all and remember...if ever you come upon a Tarantula on your wall...they are more afraid of you than you are of them...ya that's what I keep telling myself!

Hermana Dickey

Soy Nica....

1. When you have to watch for falling banana branches that a woman chops off with her machete. There have been some close calls Haha!

2. When you just don't ask what it is that you are eating and or drinking. #FearFactor

Ummmm... is that a Parrot??

What a week!! I am pretty sure everyday just keeps getting hotter and hotter and I honestly didn't think that was even possible. This week was better than last week but this one for me was physically challenging. It starts catching up to you when everywhere you go is either up or down a mountain...not just a little hill...a mountain! Sometimes I wonder how my legs are even still moving...but sure enough they are! It's actually kind of awesome. This week we discovered an entire new part of our area that no one even new existed! It is up in the mountains but the only reason we found it was because we decided to take a different route one day to some investigators homes up in Lucedia and sure enough...it lead us to a whole new place of our area and believe it or not...we found a beautiful family there and I seriously love them with my whole heart! They were definitely prepared by the Lord before we found them! It is a dad a mom and their 3 kids! They Moms name is Madelina and the dads name is Alan...AND...they are married already which is Super rare to come upon here. They all came to church with us yesterday and they absolutely loved it! Madelina especially loved the "Soc Soc" (relief Society). We gave them a Book of Mormon a couple nights ago and they read and pray as a family every night! These people are the best! They accepted a fetcha for the 2nd of may so hopefulluy they keep coming to church with us! They are very excited about the Gospel and the message we have to share with them! I am so excited!! We also have a baptism for Johanna this week...FINALLY!! and we have a wedding for another family we found a couple weeks ago! This weekend should be a good one! I am doing really well and just trying to stay positive. It is so easy to get discouraged. I never would have thought 3 months ago that I would be showering with a bucket everyday, living under a tin roof, hiking up and down dirt mountains and boiling water just so I had something to drink...but then we come upon these families and to be honest the first thing I think about when I see investigators and ESPECIALLY these families, I picture them in their white baptism clothes and then their sweet family in the temple...being sealed for time and all eternity. That makes it all worth it and that is my motivation to work as hard as I possibly can. I know what miracles can be brought to people through the knowledge of this Gospel because I have experienced them myself. To me something important that we try and help these people understand is that no one is perfect. We are all sinners and we all make mistakes. The only one that is perfect is our Savior Jesus Christ and only through Him are we forgiven. Many people think that they are so far off the path of rightouseness that there is no way they can make it back...like they are just being lost in the darkness...but in reality those are the people that our father in Heaven is watching out for the most. Those are the type of people that we as missionaries are lead to and it is so amazing! Our Father in Heaven loves each and every one of us equally and individually. He knows us inside and out. He knows our joys, our sorrows, our trials and our souls. He knows what we are capable of and the potential that we have. That is what we help people to understand. No one is pefect...there is hope for everyone as long as we are willing to put forth the effort and try to change our lives. I know this is true because I have seen it. I love my savior so much! There isn't a doubt in my mind that this Gospel is true. I love this work with my whole heart and I am just trying to work as hard as I can because every single day counts! I love you all so much! Buenos Suerte!

Hermana Dickey

I know I’m a Nica because...

1. When I'm eating an enchilada my lunch cita made and bite into a bobby pin... I set the bobby pin aside and keep eating.

2. The rice and beans mixed together here has another name...Gallo Pinto

3. I am sitting in sacrament meeting and the woman in front of me has her parrot sitting on her shoulder.