Small and Simple: Letter #26

Dear lovies,

Yes, I'm still here in Jinotega. We'll find out tomorrow night if we have changes. For one part I hope I have changes because I want to go to the change conference to see all the newbies and get the package you sent and get away from the things that are eating me here, but for the other part I don't want a new companion. Hna. Aguilar and I have so much fun working together and I would love to have the priviledge of "killing" her. She came from the MTC together with 3 other hermanas (Hna. Bustillos is one of them, my trainer) and Pres. Fraatz basically forced all of them to extend their missions nearly two months. They all completed 18 months the 4th of March and aren't leaving until the 19th of April. So I hope we can stay together for four more weeks but I don't think it's likely. I'll let you know next week where I am and who I'm with.

The weather in Jinotega is super hot in the day and gets cool at night. It hasn't been super cold for a few weeks. But semana santa (passion week) is supposed to be the hottest week of the year in all of Central America so it would be nice to be in the coolest area (Jinotega) for that week, but we'll see.

We had a good week of finding and teaching, but unfortunately all the baptisms we had lined up for this week fell through. Raul got really sick on thursday and still had a fever and wasn't doing great Saturday and Sunday so we are postponing his baptism until next week. Elizabeth and her 8-year-old son were going to be baptized too but she just has a lot of fears that have to do with her family (the part that aren't members), so we don't know when she finally put aside her fears and follow the Lord. But I did have some cool experiences teaching and we found some great new investigators.

This week we stopped by the house of an investigator named Isaac. I don't know if I've written about him, but he's about 60, knows the bible really well and is active in his own church (I can't remember if it's evangelical or what), but we taught him the first lesson a couple weeks ago and gave him a Book of Mormon with the commitment to read 3 Ne 11 and pray about it and come to church last sunday. But when he didn't come to church last week and we showed up this week and he hadn't done anything, I was disappointed. So Hna. Aguilar started to lay it down. I listened in awe as she bore a bold and powerful witness of the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. It was the kind of testimony that you can't just ignore or cast aside, the kind of testimony that is not apologetic in the least, straight forward and full of the spirit. Then I added my witness that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the kindom of God on the earth and that it is the only church that has the power to perform the saving ordinances of baptism with the authority of God. I bore testimony of the veracity of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith and told Isaac that if he doesn't ask the Lord in earnest, than he will never know the truth of our words. It was exhilirating, and a spiritual high different from any other. And the cool part is that he came to church yesterday. Hopefully he will find his answer that the Book of Mormon is true soon. I'm excited to meet with him again this week.

Now for some sad news. The first counsellor in the branch presidency, Hno. Felipe, works as a night guard for some sort of offices I think. Saturday night, a lady that he had seen walk by and say hello for quite a few days, stopped by and offered him a drink. Hno. Felipe is the kind of person that can't offend anyone, a super kind and gentle old guy. So he accepted the
drink through the window. Well, it turns out the drink was drugged and when he was passed out the theives forced the door and robbed the place. Sunday morning his wife got worried because he hadn't come home and was late for his 7:00am meeting in the church so she went and found him unconscious on the floor. He's still in the hospital in and out of consciousness and the doctors said that the drugs have affected his heart. They still don't know what they gave him but it's pretty bad and we're all praying for him. Sorry to end on a sad note...

I love you all a lot. I'm glad you got my package a while ago but I can't believe no one liked the Pinol. Nicaragua is famous for that stuff. In fact a nickname for Nicas is Pinoleros. I'm going to bring a bunch home in my suitcase! Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to pick up your package at the change conference. Loves.

Being a missionary is the best thing in the world - when we are obedient, the Lord speaks through our mouths to take the truth to the world.

Love, Hna. Crosland