So this week had several miracles and Enrique was one of the first. On Sunday morning we had seen him in the street as we were passing by to go with investigators to church, and we asked if he wanted us to come back and go with him to church, or if he would be good to just come alone. He said that he would just come alone, so we were all good there. When we finally show up at church, he wasn't there yet! So taking advantage of the fact that he lives close to the church, we ran to his house to see if he was still there! When we got there, his grandma said that he had left a little bit ago! So not knowing what to do other than return to the chapel, we started. But we decided that it would be a good idea to say a prayer too. So we sat down in the street, said a quick prayer, and as we turned the corner onto the street where the church is, we see Enrique walking in the distance entering into the chapel! Prayer answered immediately!
Aaron, a convert from back last May who I actually got to know through a few visits when I was in Ducuali, is back from his trip to Costa Rica! He went there to work about 2 months ago, and after just a bit of time, he decided that the conditions weren't what he wanted, especially because his wife, Karla could not go with him. So he is back! And when we passed by to visit, he greeted us with some Spanish Tortillas! Just like Bryanne made a few times!! So good. Aaron is actually a professional chef too, so he is really good at cooking! Tasty!
Here is the chef at work!
Here it is! So tasty and some chile jelly! Yum!
So this week we had an interesting encounter. Wednesday night we made some friends with some gangsters. Elder Neilson and I were teaching this 17 year old boy out on his from porch, his name is Bryan. And it was about 9:05 at night. Soooo we are finishing the lesson and we wanted a lesson 3 pamphlet to give to him to read, and neither of us had one. Out of nowhere we see Elder Boice and call him over go give us one. As he comes closer he asks us what he should do about the guys that were following them, and next thing you know this drunk guy who was following them gets in Neilson and my faces. He asked if we knew 'David' so I said yeah, just to please him. The guy turned and whistles to his friends. One friend, David, come to us, so now we are dealing with Javier and David. We probably should have left when Javier called David over, buuuut I wanted to get the pamphlet to Bryan and I also wanted to invite him to seminary. So we stuck around. They were telling us that it is dangerous to be there because of the drunks that walk around robbing people (they are the drunks that rob people) but while I distracted the bagos with Elder Boice, Elder Neilson invited Bryan to seminary and snuck around to Elder Boice to grab a pamphlet to give to Bryan, so he could go in his house. Then a member that lives nearby, a 65 year old woman named Adelina, came out with a big stick and told those bagos to go home and leave us alone.... They both left at that point, with pamphlets in hand :) haha! Honestly in the end it was kind of funny. But literally the whole time I was just trying to figure out how to invite Bryan to seminary and give him the pamphlet.
On Thursday, we were walking right in front of the church when this man who is always drunk and smoking came up to us. The interesting/cool thing about this guy is that he comes to church every week, and he is not a member! But the sad thing is that he is not always fully mentally capable because his constant drinking has given him problems even when he isn't drunk. But point of the story, is that we were walking in front of the chapel and he was walking the other direction towards us. When he reached us, the first thing he said was, "Brothers, I want to be baptized! Take me to be baptized right now. I want to do it right now." He kept repeating such phrases. Elder Boice and I kind of sat there confused. Obviously we weren't going to take him right then and there to get baptized, so we both sat there not knowing what to say. But here we are in our area with people begging us to be baptized! :)
On Friday night I actually had a really nice experience. I was out on divisions with our Leader missional and Elder Neilson was with another member. So we were walking and passing by a pulperia and I was hungry, so we stopped by and I asked if she had any torta, which is basically like sweet bread, consistency of like a cake or something. So she said they had it for 13 cords a slice. I didn't want to pay that much so I asked if she had any for cheaper because depending on the type it can be as cheap as like 5 cords sometimes. She told us to come in and look, so we did and she gave us each a piece of torta of the ones that cost 13 cords. I asked her, slightly confused and wondering if there was a misunderstanding, how much it would be. She said the 10 cords in my hand, took it and said that that was how much it costs. So obviously very thankful, We left that pulperia! Not 10 seconds later, these kids were yelling, "the lady is calling you! heyyyy the lady is calling you." Slightly worried that we did something wrong, we returned. She handed us two juices that cost 8 cords each, and told us that the amount that we gave her was enough for the juices as well! SO KIND! In the end she gave us 42 cords worth of stuff for only 10 cords that I was holding in my hand! It was something that literally made my day! And even my Leader Missional was blown away by the kindness! Awesome!
So this week is the 'Semana Santa' of holy week. And when there is vacation in Nicaragua there is party in Nicaragua. But typically, the parties in the Semana Santa take place where there are beaches, because it is hotter than Death Valley here. I am so grateful that I have gotten used to the heat now because if not I would be dying around here! I remember that last year around this time I felt like I was swimming all the time because it was so hot! But not anymore! Now I am better at not sweating. Hopefully I will be ready for the heat of Utah come winter time...haha!
So for the last little while we have been working a little bit with a young man named Jimmy. I think I had mentioned, but I will mention again. About 2 months ago, I asked a young man in the ward named Fidel to think of a friend and tell me his name. He immediately said "Jimmy", so I told him that he needed to invite Jimmy to church for that Sunday! He did it, but Jimmy didn't show up to church. He came up to me in church telling me that and I told him that he needed to keep trying. So about a week later, Jimmy shows up to seminary! And he starts in seminary for like 1 week and then we jumped in and started teaching him. When we first started teaching he told us clearly, "I don't want to get baptized, I am just curious to learn about your church." Yeah, we'll see how you feel about that in a few weeks :) haha! So he kept listening, and about 2 weeks ago all of a sudden he wanted to be baptized, but when he asked his Dad, he said he could not. So we created a plan with the Bishop who actually knows his dad and he went to talk to Jimmy's dad on Tuesday, and after he did, he informed us that Jimmy had permission to be baptized. Today about 2 hours ago Jimmy was baptized! The Spirit can work miracles if people just let it touch their hearts! Amazingly, in his time as a non-member, Jimmy was actually the first of the students of seminary to go around on his bike and pick up the other youth to go to seminary! He loves it, and has come to know that this is the true gospel! And his dad was able to come to the baptism, and says that he will be going tomorrow to see the confirmation as well! It may not be long before he gets converted too!
At the baptism of Jimmy. the one that baptized Jimmy is Guillermo Gutierrez.
Fidel with his friend Jimmy.
The baptism of Jimmy!
You may remember Jacobo from a few months ago. He is also getting baptized, tonight actually. But I will save his story for next week! The work is moving forward!
Love Elder Moser
