FELIZ NAVIDAD!

Monday, December 26, 2011 5:43 PM

FELIZ NAVIDAD! My last nica Christmas :(
I’m really going to miss it. There is kind of a special feeling here especially in this season.

The tree lights were my fave colors—turquoise and orange!

I feel a lot of pressure to make this blog entry a good one since it will be one of the last ones posted here.. But really as I try to think about summing my whole mission up the only thing that I can think of is that this continues on. It isn’t just for right now. Life goes on and so does the plan and mission of God. It will only change slightly as I return home. My work has continued up till the end - we were able to baptize and confirm an 18-year-old named Josué this Sunday. Talk about a great gift to give the Lord for His birthday - entering into the waters of baptism!


Josué had been coming to church for a little bit, going to activities with the youth and stuff and then he began asking which of the 6 missionaries would be coming to his house to prep him for baptism. Josué had kind of a rocky adolescence but he came out of it and had begun to think about getting his life into order because it had been all over the place. He wanted to get into religion so that he could make something of himself and try to fix the mistakes that he has made. His friend introduced him to the church and he said that although he did not know hardly anything about God before that, now he has felt something fill up within him that he didn’t know needed to be filled. He is always punctual for his appointments with us and has kept his commitments. That was one indication to me that he was serious about a change in his life - we have the promise that if we ask with a pure heart, believing that we will receive an answer, we will. The spirit will make all things known unto us. He was nervous his baptismal day but so happy to have made the change in his life - he was baptized by a man who is preparing himself to serve a mission starting in a few months.

The baptism of Josué—he´s a special kid.

The cool lights here in Nagarote.

I love nica Christmas..

President and his family singing for us.. it was beautiful. I love that they share that as a family.. they are very united and a great example to me.

We came together to eat the most delicious turkey feast ever along with REAL mashed potatoes... sooo delicious.. I was very happy with my secret Santa gift, as well. We were told we had to use a certain amount of money, and my person was totally uncreative and just gave me the money. And I could not have been happier!!!

Some wacky Elders - the one in the middle is the guy that’s helping us out with my parents coming.

Elder Denton - we found it hilarious that his dad is subscribed to my blog and decided it was just necessary

to take and post a photo to celebrate it!

Hna. Watson - she had been my companion earlier in the change.

Bus ride back to León with the zone.

Pics from when Martin and Walter - converts - came to visit me to do a wedding that I needed to have done. It was really great seeing them and talking to them. They have made a lot of progress in this year - Martin is even the ward missionary leader now which he is super happy about because he loves missionary work.

In church Sunday we had a great attendance and a lot of people that haven’t been coming showed up. I gave the last talk I would ever give in Nicaragua in my service as a missionary and it was bittersweet. It was cool during church just to look around and see the faces of dear friends and practically family. I would see them and think of the progress that they had made in just the short time that we have been here. It’s hard to say what’s in store for them individually - one looks at where they’ve come from and then imagines what could be ahead. I think of where I’ve been and I see an immense journey ahead of every person that I’ve ever met. But in all this uncertainty and ups and downs there is one constant, which is Christ.

My two faves and I - My “daughter”, Hna. Garff, and my dear Hna. Decoursey. They weren’t going to be at the conference but I am so happy that they were. It was soo good to talk to them and also to Sister Barret, who is new here in the mission.

In the Christmas Conference I was filled with complete happiness and at the same time a good amount of sadness. I couldn’t stop smiling but at the same time I just wanted to cry—hahahaha. It’s so funny what the last change of the mission does to a person. I didn’t know what to feel but it overall was a positive feeling - a feeling that despite the sadness is one that I would give anything to feel all the time. This was one of the best Christmases I’ve ever had. This is a special place, these are special people, and I think most of all if I could share anything with you all it would be my gratitude because that’s what I most feel right now. It has been very difficult for me to be in this weird transitional-ish stage that they call the last change. It plays tricks with your mind! Although I’ve got the good intentions and desires to stay though, I know that it is time for me to go. The Lord needs me somewhere else in some other kind of mission. I am so thankful to God for giving me this opportunity to get to know Jesus Christ and His plan and His way a little bit more. I am so thankful for all the things the Lord has blessed us with as a family and for the way I have seen Him bless those that I have met here in Nicaragua. I will always miss this place - next week is going to be very difficult! My whole world will be turned upside down! But I know I will be alright because I know in whom I have trusted. I can honestly say that this has been the best year and a half of my life so far! Thanks for sharing it with me!

My final comp, Hna. Dávila, the president and his wife (my momma & dad), and I. I am going to miss them and their example dearly. President has said that he will never stop being a part of our lives. I couldn’t be happier to hear that.

The Spirit of the Mission

Monday, December 19, 2011 8:01 PM
I don’t really feel the Christmas spirit at all, even though there are lights everywhere here in Nagarote (I seriously couldn’t be in a better place than where I am), but that is not a sad thing. I feel the MISSION spirit. I am loving, loving, LOVING my time here. I really don’t want to come back. Sorry. But this whole mission thing is a great big miracle and who doesn’t want to be a part of that? I am more alive than ever. Every day is better, even though my time is ebbing away. So.. sad..

In the big news, this week I completed 18 months in the mission. The jokes are rolling about how I don’t have to work anymore cuz supposedly I have fulfilled what they called me here to do—haha. Nah, I am going strong as ever. We baptized another family Saturday - this guy had a very hard time leaving behind some things in his life but finally came to a point where he could be baptized. I feel pleased to be able to participate in this miracle in his life and to have seen his personal progress in my time here. Like everyone else, he has a long way to go but he has put his first foot forward now and I know that this step will help him to be all he can be.

I love this place. I love God and Jesus Christ and having the spirit in my life.














Merry Christmas!

More Changes in the Last Change

Monday, December 12, 2011 6:01 PM

This is going to be short.

Hna. Rippstein and her first member companion this change, Hna. Watson

The big news is.... I got another companion. Again. Hahaha. That’s a lot of companions for my last change. I hope this is the last one. She is AWESOME too….She is Sister Dávila and she is from a northern part in Nicaragua. She has only been a member for 8 months. But she is super cool and a great worker and a great companion. We get along together and we are working hard to make the most of my little time left here in my Nicaragua



Hna. Rippstein and her second member companion this change, Han. Davila

We have had some cool experiences. We had had a baptismal possibility for this Saturday, but he ended up drinking all week because his friends came nonstop. His excuse was that his fiancé will be graduating, he is celebrating his end of being a bachelor and get this - he was celebrating that he was changing his life forever through baptism. Oh dear. Sometimes things just don’t click in some minds. We also found this great family that turns out the guy was baptized 10 years ago but doesn’t remember much. However, the wife is all “when are we doing it?” and so yeaaaah, we are hoping a lot out of them and a few others. Also we dropped a marker on a map and went to contact that house (just trying a different strategy-hahaha) and it turns out it was a young family that the sisters before us had contacted but it was right before they got transferred and so they had no showed. They were happy to see us and so we are working with them.




Pics from P-day in Leon


The last change is crazy. You just don’t know what to feel and it’s a constant mix of peace and pressure and there is like a clock in your mind that hurts your brain every time it ticks. Luckily.. my mission isn’t going to end. It’s just going to change a little bit in a couple weeks.

An amazing find

Monday, December 5, 2011 5:59 PM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope it’s magical and that someone shoves cake in your face. I love you!!!!!

So one of the parts of the culture of our mission is that we do not come to Sacrament Meeting without bringing someone - investigator, recent convert, less-active, etc. So Sunday morning, all of our investigators, recent converts and less-active possibilities to go to church fell through an hour before church started. Why? Because 1 block from the church building was the Annual Quesillo Fair where they gave out free food and there were games and artisan goods and just general market stuffs. So everyone was there or going there. Yay. So we begin to contact. And 15 minutes before church started, we found an amazing family. The husband even came to the Christmas devotional and he was just blown away by everything and is totally stoked to read the Book of Mormon and investigate the church and everything.

Living the Dream

Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:08 PM

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AGAIN for those that missed it the last time and I want everyone to know I’m grateful for God and the things He does for me and everyone else. And I’m also thankful for smiles, good food, a family that loves me, and toilet paper. Ok… on to this week...

A friend told me once that God stretches you until you can’t take it anymore and then stretches you more. I believe that.

So, today I finally got my last companion. Changes were last Wednesday. I had been jumping around between various members - nothing set every day since and that was weird and difficult. It was like I didn’t belong anywhere. Hahaha-but now that has changed. I am now dividing the area we opened last change, finishing my mission with a Nicaraguan member. She isn’t a missionary yet; she is still waiting for her papers. She is also pure native Nicaraguan - she speaks a dialect in addition to Spanish and they had to fly her out from her pueblo on the east coast of this country - first time away from home and first time in this part of Nicaragua. SO I’m kind of training-prepping her and dividing the area and I’ve got SO MUCH TO DO. It’s great! We may even be baptizing this weekend. Cool beans. I can’t even sleep anymore-this last change has got me going crazy.

Fun story - we taught the gospel principles class Sunday about the Holy Spirit and asked the question about any time someone had had a spiritual experience, or how the spirit speaks to us or something like that. I had an investigator present; his name is Jose. We had taught him a month ago but he was drunk both times and then hung-over the last time we passed so we gave him a bit of time. We hadn’t visited him or anything for awhile-not until Saturday. Anyways, during the Sunday school class, when that question was asked, Jose shared his spiritual experience: He had been thinking about us and the things that we had taught him and baptism and he was thinking that he should go visit the church. He felt that that would be important. Well, a couple hours later, I showed up. And we taught him and invited him to church. And he came. 20 minutes early. And he is happy. I’m happy. The spirit works in simple ways.

People always say you`re fried at the end of your mission and talk about how I’m going home and stuff but I sincerely don’t feel any different. Yes the time is limited.. I have 1 month left. But I don’t feel it. I feel like I have maybe 8 months here. And that I’ll continue on. But it’s weird because at the same time I get this strange creeping feeling that my time in Nicaragua is passing-like I have played my part and now it is time for others to take the reins and me to bump up to the next level of the video game of life.

Many people talk about missions being hard, and they are, but life and putting into practice all the changes and beauty that one learns on a mission is also a great adventure. My last change and the situation I’m in presents great challenges, but I know that God has grand lessons to pack into this little time I have left. President said that it was indicated by the Lord that I end my mission here and that the Lord would take advantage of this time to teach me and I should learn those lessons with enthusiasm. I’m focused on the moment - making all my present actions count. I have so many ideas I want to realize this month and we just want to explode this area. I think Howard Hunter said `The conscious effort to do one`s part fully is the greatest element contributing to success.´ If we are willing, God takes it the rest of the way. All I know is, if an opportunity for growth presents itself in our lives, God will use it.

Courtney and a new hermana--she is AWESOME!!

Saying good bye to Hna. Tacam

Christmas in the mall....

the end of the water fight

Hna. Rippstein and Donald Duck

My main goal this last change, though, is this - to Live the Dream. Every day.

The Last Change

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 6:58 PM

Happy Turkey Day for all you that live where people actually eat turkey and celebrate this holiday!

I enter now into a strange phase of my mission - the last change.

All my mission has brought me up to this point.. This is where it counts more than ever! Instead of feeling dead and like giving up I have felt the opposite - alive, and more motivated than ever to make a difference. I think it’s interesting, too how one really doesn’t fully understand the power, authority and the difference we make as missionaries until the end. Sometimes I feel like I’m just now figuring out how to do this work, and I’m about to go home! But judging from what other folks say, that is pretty typical.

We have been teaching a few families but our main goal right now is fixing up the branch and finding new families and building relationships with the members through service. We`ve got a lot of big plans, and a lot of people to help. Most of the recent converts have been faltering recently due to challenges that have come their way or their negligence in the spiritual maintenance work. So we have to help them out with that. This Tuesday we will be having our own little Thanksgiving activity at the church (which is actually a house by the way) and expect great results out of it.

I had been reflecting about how to make the mission a part of my life forever and I think that I don’t have to worry about that cuz what I’ve learned is pretty much applicable to everything I think that could come. I hope that it is true that you think of your mission every single day afterwards because this is the experience of a lifetime. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I’m so happy and GRATEFUL God saw it needful for me to serve. I’ve changed completely; my future life has been saved and there is still more to learn! I look forward to seeing what the Lord will teach me these last 6 weeks. I’m also grateful for my family and friends that have supported me through emails, letters, packages and, most of all, PRAYERS. You all are so great and I’m glad to have been able to share this experience with you. I hope that in some small way I have been able to help y’all in return. I’m also grateful for Christ who provides the way to overcome every weakness we have and any challenge that comes in our way. I’m grateful that He has patience with me and that He cares to help me progress. I’m grateful for the plan that He has provided that He has revealed in these days that has guided me and gives me hope and wonder and happiness. I know that the commandments bring true freedom and happiness and I’m also grateful for them.

Pray and work hard, and this week forgive and forget, help others, talk to someone about God and read the scriptures every single day.

(Our DL took us horseback riding this P-day--it was awesome!)

Quick News Update

Monday, November 14, 2011 8:33 PM

Today’s news -

I had 4 months without baptizing a family. But I think it was worth the wait. We completed a family this week - and he isn't just a baptism, but a real convert. God worked a miracle in him! And I love this guy. He is one of the chosen ones that the scriptures talk about. I feel so blessed to participate in his process. I’m so happy. His name is Wilfredo, the baptism was stressless; he even shared his testimony…. God answered his prayers and the Book of Mormon made a huge difference. I feel a lot of peace with that. Really, it was the spirit that carried this whole process and it’s amazing how it works. I love God. I love the mission. I hope your week has gone well too!!

Well....hello?

Drinking milk "fresh from the cow"

Headed to the aforementioned baptism...

Courtney, the mission president, and his wife.