May 26, 2014 (Granada Nicaragua)

This week was a crazy one!! This last Saturday my Zone baptized 9 people and had three weddings (mine was one of them) President Russell and Hermana Russell came to our baptism!! Our couple almost didn’t get married because Satan is a big bully! They got their house taken away and lost some of the Wedding papers Hermana Anna said nope I am done I am not doing this I looked and her and said do you have faith in Jesus or Satan annnnd she got married I kind of Machetera her but President said we CANNOT let our investigators make bad decisions 

First the Wedding...

Then the Baptism and a happy family with the Hermana's.

7 of the nine getting baptized this day.

Also funny story but super sad.... One companionship of sisters in my Zone were supposed to have a baptism but the guy got scared in the font and jumped out and ran for his life out of the church. The Zone Leaders chased after him INTO OUR AREA and got lost and didn’t think to call us for help.....oh dear elders....

This week we were doing daying planning and relaxing outside at the end of our day and the people we live with were all down stairs outside and all the sudden all of them started screaming.... My companion and I ran to see what was up and there was a HUGE ox running through the street... oh man Nicaragua is awesome hahaha 

We have an investigator he is 28 years old and he is always wanting to impress my companion and I and this last Sunday he texted our mission leader and said please tell the sisters I can’t go to church I am in Managua but our mission leader didn’t tell us that so we were calling and calling and calling him and he called and said I am coming I just need to take a taxi so this poor guy shows up to the church and is RUNNING and he falls.... oh man.... I almost died he got up and said Hermanas Hermanas Hermanas I am here!! 

There is a lady in our Branch that doesn’t have a leg and she lives WAY WAY WAY out in the middle of nowhere but she WALKS with here crutch thingies to work EVERY SUNDAY if that isn’t inspiration I don’t know what is!! 

The enchiladas here are WAY WAY WAY different than in the US hahaha WAY different but SUPER good one of my favorite foods!! I love Nicaraguan food! Well most of it :) 

Well I love the work here and hope you are all doing well and staying safe and happy! Serve your fellow men and love the Lord!! More from me next week!! Love you all!

4 Hermana's that started their missions in Nicaragua at the same time.

Jessica wrote "fired" fish but not sure if she meant "fried" fish.  ???

Hermana Ana and Eloisa.  Some of Jessica's favorite people right now.

 

May 19, 2014 (Granada Nicaragua)

This week was a strange one! It was a good one but super strange!! Every day this week we met someone or something happened that was just way out of the ordinary! Which was fun for us!! 

We are hoping and praying this week the wedding papers actually come in and Our investigator wont drink that is what we have a HUGE problem down here with is Alcohol everyone drinks it and they don’t want to stop it is rough but my companion and I have been blessed the poor Elders in our branch Elder Collado(Costa Rica) y Elder Barlow(Utah) have it super rough they have an investigator that comes to church every Sunday to drink and they were talking to him about the mission rules and what not and he asked "Can the Sisters have boyfriends" and the Elders of course said No and he was super mad and he got super serious and said " I don’t like that rule!!" The Elders asked why and he said "because I like the white one with the big green eyes!" The Elders died laughing and their investigator didn’t know what was funny. They later told us this story and they give me crap every chance they can.... Crazies hahahaha! 

Then in the Basic Doctrines class on Sunday, the teacher said and all of us are Lamanites and everyone said yeah except Hermana Udall she can’t be she’s white..... psh hahahahahaha. It was pretty funny....

This coming week we have Multi Zonas.... where three Zones get together and play games and do practices and have classes and eat food....and watch videos from each zone oh man our video is going to be interesting.. All of the companionships had to make their own videos about their companionships.....hehe it should be interesting. 

I HAVE A HUGE NICARAGUAN FLAG hehehehe whoo hoo. I just need a US flag and there it is! So down here there are a lot of hammocks made out of US flags......huh... Don’t really know what to think of that but every time I see one I sing the National Anthem in my head but my head tries to translate it into Spanish and well.....it’s just not the same.

One of our investigators has the Chicken Pox....EEEEEEK hahaha I hope and pray for some odd reason I don’t get them again that would just be awful!! 

I finish my training in three weeks.... which means AMI AND JORDON ARE ABOUT TO HAVE THE BABY!!! Whoooooo hooo, but about my training, I am getting scared! Haha.. I hate not knowing what is going to happen in my life or where I am going to be living and with who... I am learning patience and to trust in the Lord.. I love my mission! 

 

I love this work and I LOVE seeing the change in people’s lives when they read the Book of Mormon and come to church the church is true!! I love it and everything about it!!!! More next week!! 

May 12, 2014 (Granada Nicaragua)

Hola Hola everyone!! Another week has flown by I am in week 9 here in Nicaragua!! It doesn’t feel that long I am almost done with my training which means I will be changing cities OR companions OR I will be staying the same! Who knows!! I have loved Granada and the people here!! 

HERE COMES THE RAIN!!! The rainy season is coming!! I am so excited but then I don’t want it because I LOVE LOVE LOVE rain but here when it rains it only gets hotter!! BUT rain is awesome. 

This past week I had to go to Managua in a bus..... The buses here are something else and for those who get car sick it is just one huge joy ride hahahahaha. BUT I made it! I had to go because I am almost done with training so they are just seeing where we are in everything. It was fun we were in an air conditioned building!! Oh man Air conditioning is sent straight from heaven!! They gave us McDonalds afterwards.....hahahhaah I gotta say THAT I don’t miss from the states haha. 

Our wedding and Baptism is this weekend WHOO HOO!!!! We get to eat cake..... Cake is REALLY rare here and super AWESOME but I still have to say PIE will always be better 

It was wonderful seeing my family yesterday I got so nervous I forgot how to speak English but I loved seeing them! Anyone that sees my family give them a huge hug for me!! 

Group SKYPE shot.

Hermana & Name Tag Skyping

Hermana Udall Skyping Mothers day 2014

 

For P-DAY today we took a tour around Central here in Granada and saw all the HUGE Catholic churches they are soooo pretty! 

 

Church

Church

Horse Drawn Cart Tour

"Skittle" hands from Hermana Jessica

 

 I love you all and hope all is well!!! 

May 5, 2014 (Granada Nicaragua)

Hermana Udall doing her laundry!  :)

Laundry Day!

 

 

Nosotros tenemos una Matrimonio y Bautismo!!! We have a wedding and a baptism!!! He is an investigator and she is a member we hope this Saturday to be able to have a wedding and a Baptism! But Satan seems to hate families so we will be visiting them almost every day this week.

IT RAINED YESTERDAY!!! It was awesome while it was raining it felt cold and nice because it was at night but today is suuuuuper hot!! Haha the wet roads just steam but right now outside it looks like it will rain again. I still love the rain!! 

I am happy here at times God try’s my faith and I just want to curl up in a ball but I have learned to be patient just a little bit longer because right after the trial of our faith we see miracles Ether 12 I love the gospel and I know it is hard because the truth is never easy and is ALWAYS has opposition. I know this church is true because every time Satan gets a chance he pokes at it with a hot stick like that will make a difference haha nothing happens to rocks if you poke them with a hot stick they get a little charred but they are rocks....they are awesome...just like the gospel..

It is May!! As of today I have 3 months! It is crazy to me this time three months ago I was on a plane headed for Mexico City. I have changed a lot and I have grown closer to the gospel which for me is a miracle. I love love love the work of the Lord

This is a short one I am sorry about that but I just want you all to know I believe I believe I believe. I know Jesus lived and died for all of us every second of His life he spent for others never for Himself let us all try to be more like Him!! I love you all!!!

April 28, 2014 (Granada Nicaragua)

Well everyone another week and another month have gone it seems like the time in Nicaragua is in Fast Forward I love it here!! It is HARD but so awesome... and hot it is really hot.... but FABULOUS!! 

SO here are some things that happened this week!! 

We were eating at a member’s house and their daughter walked in that we had never met and we were getting to know here and we found out she was inactive so we proceeded to ask why. She is a sixteen year old girl and this was her answer... "Well I am married and my husband isn’t LDS so I don’t go" WHAT THE WHAT a la grande! Ah man that is a crazy thought getting married at 16....but down here that is normal....

We got a contact from our district leaders this week and we went to contact him, when we contacted him he started speaking to me in English and it took me a long time to think oh wait this is English!! We taught him the whole lesson IN ENGLISH it was the hardest thing I have ever done in my whole life! He asked me to say the prayer and I said it in Spanglish because every time I would start speaking in English I would switch over to Spanish! My wonderful companion did her best and she did really well!! 

So down here I braid my hair basically every day of my life. I didn’t think it was such a big deal but no one down here knows how to french braid so I have been teaching a lot! They love it!! whoo hoo its fun!! 

These first few months have been hard but worth it I can already see my desires changing and my thoughts and feelings are changing it is crazy what happens when you full out hand your life over to the Lord he takes something broken bruised smushed and torn and he doesn’t just fix it he makes it better! I am so grateful for him and for this opportunity I have to wear his name on a little black badge next to mine for 18 months!! My love for the scriptures has increased so much and my love for other people as well it is awesome!! 

I have been blessed with the gift of tongues it has humbled me that he chose me to give this gift to. Some people don’t get this amazing gift but I did I love the Spanish Language and the Spanish people they live so differently than we do but you can tell we all have the light of Christ in us that just needs to be found and strengthened! We can strengthen it by going to church reading scriptures and all those wonderful things we learned in Primary but another one is SHARING IT WITH OTHERS!! Members of the church are the backbone in missionary work without you what we do doesn’t stick so please work with the missionaries and with investigators!! Share your testimony and lead by example!! 

Well this week we had just gotten back to our house after a long day and we were giving one last lesson to the people that live with us and ALL the lights shut off in our whole area. Street lights and EVERYTHING including our fans eeeeek!! Thank Heavenly Father that we were at our house already. Come to find out a transformer had blown so we didn’t have lights yesterday either so it was hard to get the members to church because there weren’t any fans!  We also didn’t have water....which made it even HARDER to get members and investigators to church because they didn’t want people to see them because they hadn’t taken a shower... what a silly reason not to receive blessings.... Right after the lights went out though there were two BIG FLASHES of lightning ohhh man it looked super awesome but it was kinda scary!! Today we have lights but no water. Tomorrow we are praying and hoping for water.

We were walking home and we had the Elders Quorum with us all three of them we had just finished a crazy lesson and we said hello to this lady and the boys were talking to each other so my companion and I started talking to her... When she talking back she was talking to us like you talk to babies hhahahahah oh man it was funny she looked and me and said in a baby voice and how old are you cutie?? I said 20 and she said oh oh oh how cute you cute little baby and she grabbed my hands and oh man I was trying to not laugh she turned to my companion and she kept touching her face and patting her belly oh man alive it was interesting... 

Everyone here wants to speak English so everyone that knows a few words speaks them and those that were shy about it are finally not and they talk a lot to me in English it is fun!! 

I love the work and hope all is well at home! For all of you getting ready to graduate! CONGRATS!!! And good luck!! 

I love all of you and wish you the best!!!

Zone Elders and Sisters working in Granada Nicaragua

 

LtoR Galvez, Escobar, Sorenson, Udall, Gonzales, Gutierrez
Piviral, Tambriz, and Avila.

April 21, 2014 (Granada Nicaragua)

I had my first baptism!!! I know this gospel is true true true!! 




Hermana Avila, Yena Gomez, Hermana Udall

Yelena Gomez at the Baptismal Font

Hermana Udall, Hermana Avila, Yelena Gomez, Hermano Bosco.

 

 

So the earthquakes have slowed down which is awesome! And we made it through "Semana Santa"!!! Life should become a little more normal! 

We had an investigator this week look up things about our church on the internet..... bad plan now he is super confused and we went to teach him with the whole priests quorum (all three of them) and we talked to him about a LOT of things I hate when they are doing well doing well doing well and then all the sudden they aren’t It is the hardest part about the work. 

We also have another investigator that is baptized but hasn’t been confirmed. He promised the Zone Leaders he would be at church this last Sunday but when we went to get him he wasn’t there.... BUSTED. So that night we went to his house well we sent a Sister from the branch to see if he was there and just didn’t want to talk to us he was there so we went and talked to him and the Zone leaders showed up.... he looked like he was going to die.... Oh man we talked to his mom and not only is Kevin going to be there Sunday but so is his mother! AWESOME 

I had interviews with President Russell this week we have them every three months... My companion had me all nervous she said he checks everything your planner and my lesson plans EVERYTHING but I got in there and we talked and we said a prayer and we got up to leave and he still hadn’t checked mine so I said President... do you want to look at the Area Book and my agenda? he laughed and said Sister Udall keeping me honest I don’t think I have to check yours I knew from the first moment I met you that you would be an outstanding missionary but I will look just to be fair to everyone else so he then looked through my agenda and was talking about how fun my P-Days sound....He is awesome!!! 

Well I hope that everyone is Keeping the Faith and Sharing It with others! All is well here in Nicaragua I haven’t melted.....YET but I am loving it and hope you are all doing well!!! 

 

Beautiful Sunset in Nicaragua!

Hermana Udall at TURTLE this week (on the right).  Didn't like it much. :)

 

 

April 14, 2014 (Granada Nicaragua)

I am alive everyone for those of you that heard about the earthquakes down here there are a ton but so far so good the towns that are closer to the volcano have it worse! But so far I am safe! 

Hermana's Garcia, Perez, Avila, and Udall

This week has been crazy! Divisions was fun I went to a place called Diriamba where I almost froze because my body is used to the heat because Granada is one of the hottest places in southern Nicaragua because we live so close to Lake Managua. Diriamba is a lot colder so I was actually freezing and it was like 89 to 93 degrees outside haha just think of what will happen when I get home... Morgan said it snowed a little last night so I am really going to freeze haha yay! Granada has become my home away from home I really missed it and my companion! When I came back I was so happy to see my crazy little town well not so little and all its crazy people!! 

In Diriamba I took THE COLDEST shower I have EVER taken in my life it was like swimming in Becker Lake after there was 2 feet of snow on the ground BAH! Crazy!! 

Well the day I got back from Divisions I was walking and walking and walking and we had to walk over this little hill and all the sudden my powers of Grace came out and I fell....hahaha oops anyway I cut my leg pretty good I just stood up and didn’t really scream or anything I calmly told my comp Sister I should probably go clean this and she started screaming and running around it was very funny so we went to the primary presidents house because she was right there close she washed it with water then we went to a little pharmacy place to get stuff to clean it and all they had was rubbing alcohol and boy did that feel awesome! but my Mother is a super smart lady and in my package she sent Neosporin (that is not how you spell that) so I use that and it is kinds starting to get better I went to a members house and she put this purple stuff on my cut that reminded me of branding cattle and so now my leg is purple awesome huh. 

Using Neosporin Mom sent in birthday package!  :)

Looks like purple medicine Grandpa Udall used to use on the cattle!  Ha ha.

 

This week my companion and I worked a day with The zone Leader Elder Howe from Utah and Elder Segura from Costa Rica and they helped us so much it was a long day but all in all it was good the Elders like to talk so they taught most of the lessons haha crazy people coming into our area and taking over haha just kidding it was good though! They helped a lot. 

My first baptism is on Saturday!! I am so excited she is so ready to be baptized it’s crazy!! We also have another baptism date for next Saturday and we are hoping he pulls through but he is having a rough time makes my heart hurt but at least he is still trying! 

This coming week we have interviews in Masaya on Thursday which should be interesting President Russell was in my branch on Sunday and he saw my leg and got super serious I thought I was in trouble but he said you are one of the tough sisters you will be okay Sister Russell just started freaking out haha she said I don’t have a Band-Aid but you are the first person I have seen that needed one! 

I love this work and these people they are fantastic! I am working hard and praying A LOT my Spanish is getting better and better every day and I know it is the Lord blessing me! Please those of you that know of the gospel share it and those of you that don’t know come to know it will help you so much!! I love you all and wish you the Best!! Take care till next week! And please pray for the people of Central America! 

"Semana Santa" that I described last week.  This was outside our apartment window.