It smells like fish.... Feliz Semana Santa!

Hello family! 

Can´t believe it´s already time for transfers again... This transfer flew by! It seems like each transfer goes by faster and faster. 

Goodbye to Hermana Maldonado

On Monday night when they called to tell us about transfers all of us sisters were huddled around the phone with it in on speaker waiting anxiously while Elder San Andres took his time telling us who was going and who was staying. The suspense! En fin, Hermana Maldonado and Hermana Ashcraft had transfers. I´m super happy to be staying here in Mezapa, I really do love it here! I´m now with Hermana Olivas de Nicaragua. 

Hello to new companion Hermana Olivas

It was funny, on the bus ride here she was sitting behind us and we were talking and joking and saying that we were going to be companions and would you look at that? Companions! We had a good laugh after. It seems like after having so many companions already, it´s a lot easier to adjust to a new companion. It doesn´t really matter who you´re with if you have love, patience and the same purpose :) She is a convert of 3 years - I love it!

This past week was full of lots of great experiences. On Tuesday we past the day with  a heat that I´ve NEVER experienced before in my life. It was sooooo hot. When we got back to the house for lunch and looked at the thermometer.... 122 degrees. 

122 degrees F'

Is that possible? Yikes! We´re melting here! haha but that night we had a pretty good break from the heat. We walked outside our apartment and there was sooooo much wind. It was a little eerie because in the distance we could see a wall of polvo (powder) coming towards us and then it would pass super quick in a swirly fashion (if you can picture what that would look like...) De repente (suddenly) the lights went out! It´s super dark here when there are no lights. There was a church down the street that had a concert going on and all of a sudden the music stopped and then a bunch of people went running... I personally was enjoying myself, the wind felt soooo nice. The next day it felt super chilly and when we looked at the thermometer? 102 degrees..... haha a bunch of people were repairing their roofs (since the majority are just tin slabs), and we passed a bunch of houses with big rocks that had been tossed on the roof to prevent the slabs from getting picked up with the wind. Apparently there had been a tornado! It left us without power and running water for a few days, but that´s what candles are for :)

Lately we have been finding some incredible people to teach! We are currently teaching a women, who wasn´t super religious but was receptive from day one. She is reading the Book of Mormon and when we asked her what she was learning she gaves us a complete resumen of 1 nephi:1-5 that went a little like this, "well I´m learning a lot about how much faith these people had back then. How Nephi´s dad Lehi told them they had to go back and get the plates from this man Laban which I get the impression he was pretty powerful, and how he still went even when his brothers beat him up about it. And then how another family came out with them in the desert but I can´t remember their name. If I came and told you we had to go live in that mountain because God told me to would you come with me??" we were almost speechless! Also the other day we were in Los Pinos when our citas fell through so we prayed to be led to someone that was prepared for us. Then we met a young mother whose husband is in the army. She told us that she just recently starting going to a church because she wanted to be closer to God. We taught her and then found out that her and her spouse are officially and legally wed! Hooray!!! That is sooo uncommon here. We came back another day when her husband was there and taught them both about eternal families and the spirit was so strong. Now they are both reading the Book of Mormon and preparing for baptism :) I really do love being a missionary. The happiest I am is when I´ve spent the day working as hard as I can and can come home satisfied that I´ve done my part. There really is no other joy to compare to it. 

The other day we contacted a woman and taught her about prayer. She seemed nervous and was hiding a fat lip with a rag for the first part of the lesson. In the end we asked her to say the prayer but she didn´t want to. In the end she finally agreed to say it and halfway through she broke down in tears and said one of the most sincere prayers I have heard. When she finished she opened up and let us know of the trials she was having. We were able to testify of her divine worth and gave her a Book of Mormon. She was going to move to a different pueblo the next day, but she was super excited to read it and we were able to give her number to the missionaries that are in that area. I hope they can find her!

This week in my personal study I´ve been learning about patience with Alma 32. Specifically verses 41 and 42. We always think about this chapter talking about how faith is like a seed we have to plant, but sometimes we forget what comes next. Once we plant the seed, we have to nourish it or it will die! Sometimes it´s hard to keep going when the blessings aren´t immediate or when the progress is slow, but if we can look forward to the fruit that we can have later on, if we can have patience and keep going, eventually we will be able to enjoy the fruits that come. It´s something that has been really helping me - I need to learn patience!!! And I need to be patient while I am learning patience!!! haha 

I hope that all is going well and that you enjoy this Easter weekend! This week is called Semana Santa. It´s a Catholic Holiday and the tradition is that they can´t eat meat. So everywhere you go there is fish... And it sure smells great.... haha but in the end let us always remember the amazing reality of Christ´s resurrecion and what he did for us. I´m so grateful for my Savior. Though He suffered and died for us, how wonderful it is to have the knowledge that He lives today! Let us do all we can to be close to Him and enjoy the happiness and peace He can give us. 

Love you all!

Hermana Bennett