Inferno

Hola famila y amigos! Holy cow, Nicaragua is an inferno. It's now summer here and I feel like I'm standing too close to a fireplace. But at least I'm not in Chinandega like Hna. Salinas, because it's even hotter in that area. Every night my comp and I return to the casa totally exhausted. I haven't been slacking off on my journal,but I don't have the energy to stay up and write in it. People are so unreliable here; it's really frustrating. So many people promised they'd come to church this Sunday and never came. A bunch of people make appointments to have us teach them, but then when we walk all the way to their house, they aren't even home. Few people here have cell phones and even the ones who do rarely answer when we call them to remind them about a lesson or church. We only had one investigator in the church on Sunday and only one recent convert of 19 showed up. Boy do we have our work cut out for us. The retention rate here is so low. Why can people just understand the importance of going to church every Sunday? It's hard. Last Monday night, we had a lesson with Thomasa and Roger and were about it set a baptismal date when this lady (a friend of Thomasa's) walked in and ruined everything. (Everyone here leaves their door open when they're home so people just walk right in). This lady was Evagelica and started asking questions and showing her dislike for our religion and then her and Thomasa started disputing over the bible and we couldn't feel the spirit so we left. Erg, it's so frustrating because Roger is so humble and he has expressed a desire to be baptized, but he won't do it without Thomasa. She is so stubborn and prideful. We fasted this week that she would have a change of heart and humble herself before God. Tonight we're gonna have another lesson with them and we're hoping we can set a baptismal date. We're teaching this 15-year-old girl named Jennifer who is gonna be baptized this Wednesday. She's just great. She's reading the Book of Mormon and going to church and last week she shared a scripture with us that she'd found in the Book of Mormon and really liked : Mosiah 2:41. We thought it was so cool that she found that scripture herself. Her parents don't care to listen to the lessons or come to church and say they won't even come to her baptism, but they say they'll give permission if she wants to be baptized. It's sad that they don't even care to learn about something thatmeans somuch to their daughter. We have 3 other investigators with baptismal dates for this Sunday, but one of them we have to move because she hasn't been to church yet and one of the others might not happen because her husband doesn't want her to go to church, but we're hoping the third one (a guy named Marlo) still happens. We're trying to look forward with faith! I got my Nicaragua cedula (visa) so I'm officially a resident here for a year. I'm probably forgetting a bunch of other things that happened this week, but I'm out of time so I'll write more next week. Love you all!!!!! Con mucho amor, Hermana Hawkins
P.s. On dropbox there are also some pics of us playing with a ward member's baby rabbits, a picture of a homemade doll man that's people here make as a tradition and then set on fire on New Year's Eve, some pics of my district and Zone from last transfer, a pic of the giant tarantula
(will be posted to blog shortly)