EMAIL... Week 17

Hola All!
The weeks are crazy busy and flying by!  "Changes" were a lot smoother this time and we enjoyed having Hermana M stay with us Sunday night until her new companion arrived Monday! Both in this companionship only speak Spanish, so I will have to stretch. Hna. M is learning though, and we only get to work with them 1 day a week and have them to lunch on Mondays. The more I have to hear and try to speak Spanish, the better! We are missing Hna. Z, as she is now serving as a Sister Leader, which is the female version of an AP. She is awesome and will do well!
With "changes" comes the opportunity to work with new young missionaries. This branch has Elders and they are awesome as well. One is from Dominican Republic and the new one is from Ogden, UT. (English speaker! Heavenly Father knows my limitations!) We have been visiting with them 2 days this week, and they are fabulous! Their approach is different from the Hermanas, but just as effective. We are already loving the people we have met in the branch, and see great opportunities to assist in the growth and progress of individuals and families. My favorite visit of the week was to the mother of Marvin. Marvin and his family are in the first branch we served in, and we started visiting them our very first week here. We have been able to visit with Marvin and his family almost weekly since we arrived and they are great people, who we have developed a very sweet relationship with. We love them and they know it! Marvin's parents were sealed in the temple and have remained active. Marvin's father passed away this year, having served in many leadership callings. We had met his mother at a meeting in the branch, and she was delighted and gracious to greet us when we arrived with the missionaries. We sang, prayed, talked, shared a scripture, sang, and she prayed at the end. Her Spanish is beautiful and I could understand most of what she said. We told her that we want to help Marvin and his family get to the temple, and she emotionally told us that she knew that we could totally contribute to that happening. Last night we went to see Marvin and Blanca with the Hermanas. Lee showed "Because of Him" in Spanish. We were all touched, even Blanca, who has been attending her former church. Lee told them how much we love them and that Heavenly Father loves them. He told them that the Branch needs them and their strength. We challenged them to come back and be totally active and committed. Marvin committed verbally and Blanca nodded her head many times. Lots of tears and hugs. We are having a family home evening with them again next week.
We have District Conference tomorrow, so lots of company and people to feed. We are singing in the choir, which will be very interesting as we have only had 1 practice with the whole choir and 5 of us Thursday. We have practice tomorrow at 8 with the piano. We shall see! Practices have started 40-45 minutes late, and we showed up for 2 others that never happened. That's Nicaragua!
We love it and we love all of you! Thanks for being the wonderful people you are in our lives!
Love,
Elder and Hermana Koelliker