Transfers

    Well, I`ve decided I should just stop guessing about transfers cuz it`s never what you think it will be. I think sometimes President just likes to mess with our minds in the interviews haha. He didn't put elders in our ward, so it`s still two sets of sisters. I'm staying in my area and will be training. I had to write earlier today because this afternoon, I`m going to Managua for a training meeting and tomorrow we meet our greenies. All I know is that my greenie`s name is Hermana Castillo. Hermana Garcia is getting transferred to Managua and isn`t training after all, like I thought she would be, but I have the feeling she`ll train next transfer. If I stay with my greenie the whole 12 weeks of training, I`ll have had 7 and a half months in this area and will only have 5 months left in the mission. It`s very likely I`ll only serve in a total of 3 areas my whole mission. I`m glad I`m staying here because I like this area and the members are awesome and our house is awesome, but I`ll also be very ready to experience a new area after this training. I feel like I`ve learned a lot training Hna. Garcia and hope I can be an even better trainer this second time around. I`ll tell you all about Hermana Castillo next week!

    We've been hoping Reyna and her daughter would get baptized for the last two weeks, but she's been out of town this whole time and we have no idea when she`s coming back. She won`t answer our phone calls our texts. She went to visit the dad of her daughter, so maybe they decided to get back together again. This makes things complicated. We`ll see if she decides to come back. Her mom seems to think they are always off and on, sometimes together, other times fighting and separate, so who knows. 

   As for Reyna`s mom Marta and her boyfriend Juan. We`ve been teaching them for a while now and the had a baptismal date for August 23rd and were progressing really well, BUT Juan decided to up and go to El Salvador to look for work this week and said he probably won`t be back for a few months. He had told us he was thinking about going. He hasn`t had work since February. We did everthing we could to help him stay and prepare for baptism. What 3 more weeks to wait compared to the 6 months he`s already gone without a job? He said maybe he would get baptized there in El Salvador, but we said it would be so much more special if he and Marta took that step together as a family. We did a special fast for them on Thursday and were praying so hard that he would decided to stay, but alas, when we went to visit them on Friday, Marta gave us the awful news that he decided to go. We asked her if she still wanted to prepare for baptism and she said the Juan had asked her to wait so they could get married and baptised together when they get back. We were soooo sad! I really thought they were gonna be the family we baptize this month! They are SO prepared! But at least the have the desire to do so and I hope and pray with all my heart than they follow through when he gets back. I just hope Marta doesn`t lose enthusiasm for the gospel while he`s away. 

     On a brighter note, we did find a pretty positive family name Yohana and Marcos who accepted a baptismal date and have the desire to get married. They said they want to see a wedding and a baptism in our church first though. They`ve already visited the church a bunch of times with a relative of their who is a member. In the first lesson, Yohana asked, "When are you gonna come back again?" We said, "Friday?" and she said they would be home on Friday and then said, "Tomorrow?" She was so excited for us to keep teaching her. We ended up putting the appointment for Saturday so we could share a message and then take them to see a baptism in the church and they said that was fine, but when we arrived at their house on Saturday they weren`t home, and the others in the their house said they wouldn`t be back till Monday. ;( So they couldn`t come to church either, but I have hope that they`ll come this week. 

. We only had one investigator at church yesterday even though, again we had many people commited to coming. 

  Almost every single person here in Nicaragua that I ask, "Do you have faith in Jesus Christ" replies. "Yes" or "Of course", and almost everyone here BELIEVES in Christ, but I`ve come to the conclusion that very few actually have true faith in Him. Faith is manifested by works. But most of the people here thinks it`s sufficient to believe in Christ, recognize him as our Savior, and pray daily. They don`t see that if they really had faith in Christ they`d know that he was perfect, which means he never gave a commandment in vain. He wants us to keep ALL of his commandments. If not, he wouldn`t have given them. And if we truely have faith, we will be obedient to the commandments of Jesus Christ and show him our love. I hope I can strenthen my personal relationship with Jesus Christ so much so that my love for him is so evident in my testimony that it causes a conversion in the hearts of others. That they might DEVELOP that true faith, even if they don`t have it right now. Have a great week everyone! Much love, Hermana Hawkins