Life is a Highway!

Hello!!! Okay wow did this week just flyyy by. Seriously it was like yesterday that I wrote you guys. I hope you all had a wonderful week and had a fun time talking in the singles ward yesterday. I was definitely thinking of you all and was happy that I didn't have to speak. I would rather speak in Spanish with a small group of Nicas :)...mainly because a lot of people still don't understand me so I can just get up there and say whatever I want haha. Anyways, this week was pretty crazy! First, P-days are suppose to be your break day right? WRONG. Well, not for me at least. So we started washing our own clothes. Well, today I washed my clothes from the past two weeks...with a pila...which took 3 flipping hours. Can I just say i am dying? Like literally my arms hurt so bad. You know that pain in your arms after rock climbing? Multiply that by ten and that is what I am feeling right now. So ENJOY your washing machines people!

Our ride home from church- in the back of a Pickup Truck

Anyways, with this new change, my comp and I set some goals for the change. Our goals were focused on eating healthier and exercising because we have been struggling in this two areas. We try to get up every morning at 6 to exercise and we have been pretty successful! With the new change, we had a zone meeting in Esteli on Wednesday to meet all of the newbies in the zone. There wasn't a ton of new changes, only like 4 in the zone and one of them is a new elder in Dario because Elder Coffey finished his mission. The new Elder is Elder Gomez and he is from Utah! He actually lives right by A-Fresh and Wendy's? Small world. Well when the zone meeting ended, we (us sisters and 4 elders in my area) were walking to the bus station when a member and his wife drove by in his truck and offered us a ride. Be missionaries, not wanting to spend money, we gladly accepted. Mom and Dad, don't kill me, but we hopped in the back of a pickup truck, went on the freeway at probably 70 mph and went back to our area. hahaha the whole time I was thinking "if Mom and Dad saw me right now they would die." It was so much fun! Other than my face was numb from my hair hitting my face for an hour and a half. Seriously my life is the best!

Okay this is my paragraph of random facts. So first I love my new house! It seriously is so nice and the woman and her family that lives there are the best. They always make us food which makes us happy:) Mom you would approve! And the view from my window is gorgeous. Another random fact for the week is that I met an 110 year old man! 110! I have never met anyone older than 90 before so I thought it was pretty cool. This man is the dad of a member and he looks and act likes he is in his late 80s. We asked him his secret and he just smiled and laughed...so either the secret is laugh in life or he didn't hear us.

Teaching English

My area!

So a lot of people here in Dario have asked us missionaries about teaching an English class. After talking about it with my comp, we decided to try out teaching an English class and see if anyone would show up. The class started at 3 pm on Saturday and after waiting 40 minute, with no one showing up, we decided to leave. Well I went to the bathroom first and when I opened the door to leave the bathroom, the church was FILLED with people. hahaha my face was pretty priceless, it was pure shock, then terror and fear of the thought that I have to teach all of these people by myself! (my comp doesn't know English). A bunch of kids from the ages of six to eighteen came and there were about 13 to 15 people! I taught the alphabet and everything went very well. I actually loved teaching the class and am excited for this Saturday to teach! It was so cute, none of the kids could say my name so everyone just called me "teacher". I am hoping we will be able to find some families to teach through these kids that are assisting my class. 

Cutest twins ever!

This week was kinda a rough week teaching. None of our investigators are progressing and no one will come to church or accept a baptism date. My leaders have sent texts everyday encouraging us to put baptism dates and it has been so frustrating that I haven't been to fulfill this goal. I definitely have been working on patience this week. Especially with my investigators. I  am pretty sure I have told you guys about them in a past email. So the dad, is reading the BOM, reading general conference talks and has read all the pamphlets we leave but he refuses to come to church. I had a humility check this week in one of the lessons when he told us we need to have patience with him because it is hard for him to leave behind all of his beliefs like the virgin maria. As my family, you know that I am not the most patient of people so this week has been pretty humbling for me. In Predicad Mi Evangelio, everything is centered on patience and humility. I need to be patient with the language and be humble for the help of my Father in Heaven. I need patience with my investigators. I need to be humble so I can have the direction of the Spirit. This week I realized I have been pretty prideful in this work: I was struggling to feel the spirit when I was teaching and felt alone in this work. I was depending more on my strength than relying on my Father in Heaven in this work. This week I was struggling to feel the spirit and felt distant from my Heavenly Father. In Ether 12:27 we read, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them." As we come to Christ, we see our faults because our Savior is perfect. However, through the grace of him, we can overcome our weaknesses and become more like him. I have learned a lot this week that I can't do this work without the help from my Savior and my Father in Heaven. This truly is the work of the Lord and it is a blessing that he allows me to take apart of it!

Hna Zepeda and I

Well I hope you all know how much I love you all!! I pray for all of you everyday and think about you during my day. hope you have a wonderful week and I can't wait to hear about your week next week! 

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

Hermana Howell