Conference in Estelli

Woohoo! Today we went to Managua and I am officially here in Nicaragua legally! :) its about time right...haha.

This week we had the baptism of a man named Santos! We met him in a contact and he is like another grandpa. For some reason i like working with men that age? probably because the are easy to talk to. They remind me of Boppy :) Poor Santos was a little sick the day of his baptism but he still did it! He is awesome.

And YAY this week we had an area conference on Sunday in Esteli. It was a broadcast for all of Central America. My wonderful members here in Ocotal got to travel to the church building! Everyone LOVED seeing a sign that actually had the name of the church. It was so cute :) They loved it.

Because we had to go to Managua today we did divisions in Esteli yesterday. I worked with my TL Hermana Gabriel (she goes home in 3 weeks!!) and something funny happened. Something crazy always happens when we have divisions. So we are teaching one of her investigators and he is standing in the doorway and behind him we see this woman. When we ask who she is he just like shrugs it off and we are like ok? but keep teaching. We start teaching and he comes to look at the folleto, takes one step forward, and this girls just bolts out of the house. She saw her chance and took it! She starts running so fast and looks back with this huge smile on her face. Gabriel and I are like what? And then the investigator just takes off right behind her..so they are just booking it down the street and we are like what just happened...we are standing outside this house and we cant really leave because we cant leave houses solo here in nicaragua. that is a no no. but its ok because he comes back like five minutes later and it turns out that the girl had stolen his phone out of his house! haha. he went off and told us that he is nice to everyone and that that is what he gets for trusting the people. haha it was super funny. :)

ANYWAYS I love the mission! Hope you all have a great week!

--

Hermana Willes

Santo's Baptism

Conference in Estelli

I love my companion!

Ran into elders from my MTC
district at the government building

At the conference with Karina

All I Do Every Day is Talk About the Gospel. LOVE IT.

Well this week was kind of CRAZY! I got to work with my old comp on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday my companion, Hermana Marquez, got back from Managua and we got news from President that we would be in a trio! Super crazy!

On Thursday morning we had a baptism! Yay! Her name is Marianna. She is the sister of a recent convert here in Ocotal and she was so excited to be baptized. We did it in the morning and she was all ready to go when we picked her up! 

After the baptism we got so more news..my dear Wally bear had to leave Ocotal! We spent most of the day taking her to our recent convert’s homes so she could say goodbye. Hard stuff. It was hard to say goobye to my best friend but I know that we will be friends for the eternities!

Things have been a little crazy here in Ocotal but I am LOVING being a missionary. Today technically I hit 5 months being a missionary! It has flown by and Ive decided I’m going to stop counting because when I hit 6 months I have less than a year left...I love testifying of Christ every day. I was thinking last night and I thought..all I do every day is talk about the gospel. LOVE IT. Even though these past couple weeks have been crazy, I love this country that has stolen my heart. I love Ocotal and my sweet companion! 

Hope you all have a great week!

-- 

Hermana Willy

Mariana's (in white) baptism

Saying Goodbye with Hermana Wcalborn to Melvin
Melvin has the priesthood now and is passing the
sacrament every week. He has even baptized two people.
Woohoo! Go Melvin!

Hard saying goodbye to my Wally.
(Sarah's half smile/half cry face :) 

The Lord is Helping Me Everyday!

This week was so crazy! We had a multizone meeting in Esteli and I learned SO much. President Collado and his wife are so inspired. And we got to see a real church building! It is so fun to go to Esteli so we can see the sign outside the churches..because everyone here is so confused that our little house doesn’t say the name of the church. hehe :)

We had a crazy day today! There are some E changes here in Ocotal so I will be working with my old companion Hermana Wally until tomorrow when her new companion gets here! Yay! 

I had a lot of different emotions this week but I am just giving it my all and I know that the Lord is helping me every day. I know that serving a mission was the best decision I have ever made. :) It has been CRAZY training and not seeing as much success as I saw before, but I am still seeing miracles EVERY DAY! 

I also gave my first talk in sacrament..don’t know how I avoided it for this long but I was sooooo nervous. It was really not very good but at least I didn’t throw up or have the runs! :)

Love you all!

--

Hermana Willes

Our zone with a member who is leaving to go work in Costa Rica

A real church!!! Yay!!

I Love The Spirit!

Another week has gone by? What is this thing called life?

This week was so crazy! First I did divisions with my old comp, Hermana Wally! It was SO fun to see all my converts. It had only been two weeks but it felt like eternity. We stood in the kitchen and cried in the morning as we talked about how we will be best friends for life! I love my Wally Bear.

When we went to Melvin’s house he told us, I may have the blood of a latino, but I have the heart of a gringo. :) I laughed so hard. I love Melvin!

We found a mouse in our house this week..one morning before study I was walking over to our sink and I heard something. Flashback to when I was little and we had a mouse in our house in California. Then I found poop all inside my suitcase (i had left it open with all my clothes) from the little bugger! My clothes make a nice home I guess. We thought he was gone but we saw him last night...so this week we have big plans, Marquez and I :)

I used my first Nica bathroom this week! We were out working and I turned to Marquez and I told her I couldnt wait...so we stopped at a random house and used their facilities..lets just say thanks for underclothing that absorbs liquid right up! :) haha

Happy Valentines Day to everyone!!! This week I got AMAZING packages from my beautiful Mom so I was able to eat american chocolate! Way better than any Valentine.. :) Some of the chocolate was shaped like lips and When my companion had some she goes, this kiss is like a real kiss..QUE RICO! (thats a phrase in spanish like how delicious? I dont know...haha) It was really funny. Sometimes spanish is funnier...

I hope everyone is doing amazing! This week we had so many lessons full of the spirit! I love teaching the First Lesson because it is such a powerful message. We met a guy named Andy that didnt believe in God and now he wants to be baptized! I LOVE THE SPIRIT.

Love you all!!! 

From the best place in the world,

Hermana Willes

Happy Valentine's Day!

Learning to love soccer!

Packages...Yay!

Those chocolate lips...

With Hermana Marquez

Spending the day with Hermana Wally

I LOVE THE MISSION!

This week was so hard but like so good. Pretty much like every day in the mission! I LOVE THE MISSION.

Yesterday in church one of our recent converts, Bayardo, shared his testimony! I cried like my dad. so many tears of joy! And our other recent convert, Melvin, pássed the sacrament! And two others, Lorenzo and Edwin, received the Priesthood!! It was one of the greatest moments. I am so proud of them! We are building the church here in Octal!

So yes I am TRAINING! haha but I only have 4 more weeks in the mission than she does. Hermana Marquez is from El Salvador and I love her so much. Her english is really good too so sometimes (almost never) we get to speak in English! We were at a member’s house this week and they gave us a drink and while they were talking she turns to me and says, ¨I dont like it!´ in English. It was SO cute. I love her so much!

Also this week while we were working my recent convert, Karina Lagos, who I love so much, saw me in the street and yelled ¨Hermana Willy!!¨ I don’t work in her area anymore so I hadn’t seen her all week and she starts sprinting towards me and gave me the biggest hug ever! It was so cute.

This week was hard because I am working in a different part of Ocotal and I am really bad with directions in english..so you can only imagine in Spanish. But I know the Lord is blessing me EVERY day and really when you are a missionary it is easy to get down. But when you look at all the blessings, you realize how amazing the mission really is. There are moments in lessons where I just think, I dont think I have ever been this happy before in my whole life! The More you teach the basics about why we are here on the earth and about how we are all one team trying to make it back as one celestial family, the more I realize that this is the best decision I have made in my whole life. Yes it is hard, but BOY IS IT GREAT.

Love you all!

--

Hermana Willes

Zone OCOTAL!!! The best zone in the mission
and of all the world!!! (so many latinos...Yay Spanish!)

Herman Walborn and I teaching The Plan of Salvation
 in church on Sunday

4 Months!!

Well....WE HAD CHANGES! Woohoo. And big news! I had a baby girl! And shes a latina! Here in the mission when someone trains a missionary the trainer is the mom and the new missionary is the child :) This change I will be finishing the training of Hermana Marquez (she got here the last change.)  Hermana Marquez is from El Salvador and is super sweet.  We get along really well and she does understand some english so I know that will help. I will be staying in Ocotal but will be working in another area! I am so excited to have more time in Ocotal and oh boy is my spanish gonna get better! :)

This week our baptism bailed..but we hope that she will get baptized this week. Things are still going great here in Ocotal and the mission is the best! I don't really know what to write about this week..hehe.

Hope everyone is doing great! Love you all!

--

Hermana Willes

Moving....

I Love Being a Missionary!

My Favorite Recent convert--Karina!

Karina's son Jaciel.  I LOVE HIM!

I Love the little kids!!

I Love Being a Missionary!

This week was so CRAZY and so amazing.

We were able to baptize THREE amazing people. Cristian, Edwin, and Lorenzo. All three of them are incredible and we baptized 16 people in our zone this week! Yay! The people here are amazing and prepared.

We also got to listen to a broadcast AND President Christensen from the 70 came to speak to us yesterday. (reason why we are writing today). They are really having us focus on teaching repentance and baptizing converts. I am thinking a lot about what it means to be converted. I love being a missionary so much because constantly I am reminded of what I need to improve on. I think repentance is so important because each day we can focus on what we can improve, which will only deepen our conversion in the gospel. Because really, the goal is to become like our Heavenly Father, not just to live with Him.

This week I have been reminded how much I love being a missionary. Not a day goes by that I dont thank Heavenly Father for this opportunity. This week we have changes and so I think Ill be starting a new chapter in my mission, which makes me kind of scared. But I also have complete faith in the Lord that I will always be growing here in Nicaragua..because that really is the purpose in this life! I have learned so much from my amazing trainer and companion Hermana Wally. I have learned the true importance of Charity and giving all you can to this important work.

I love you all so much! Each of you have helped me get to this point and I am forever grateful! The gospel is SO true and it is the thing that makes me the very happiest.

-- 

Hermana Willes

This week's baptism: Christian, Edwin and Lorenzo

Conference with President Christensen of the Seventy

With the Hermanas!

My scripture case with our mission theme