Changes All Around!

Buenas tardes todos! I don´t have much to say about this week. We´ve been having a lot of trouble finding people who were ready to keep commitments, and so we´re down to almost no investigators, because we´ve had to drop them. That´s probably one of the saddest things, having to drop someone even when you think they´ll change, or when you think that have so much potential, but they´re not keeping their commitments. They´re not reading, praying, not going to church, or still drinking or smoking. You love them so much, but you have to let them go for now, because they´re still not quite ready. Don´t forget about them, just don´t focus your attention on them. Because we´ve been promised that there is a family waiting for us here in our area, we just have to find them :)

And transfers! My first transfer has just happened. I have a new companion now, her name is Hermana Palencia, and she´s honestly just the sweetest thing. She´s from El Salvador, and she´s been out about a year now. She´s so great, and I remember her from my first week here. We were on divisions because both of our comps were in the leaders meeting the mission has every month, and we got super super lost. It was my third day here, and I could barely communicate with her, and I was on the verge of tears most of the day. x3 But now I speak Spanish and we´re officially companions, and I´m seriously so excited. So excited. I have a feeling we´re going to do a lot of good here in La 14.

So I got my hands on the Liahona from October, and I read a really good article. It´s called "Finish with your torch still lit" By President Uchtdorf. I had a hard week this week (I feel like I´ve been having a lot of hard weeks...it happens on a mission, haha), and I read this article when I really needed it the most. There´s a part that I really like, and it says, "As long as we continue to rise up and move toward our Savior, we win the race with our torches burning brightly. For the torch is not about us or about what we do. It is about the Savior of the world. And that is a Light that can never be dimmed. It is a Light that swallows the darkness, heals our wounds, and blazes even in the midst of the deepest sorrow and unfathomable darkness. It is a Light that surpasses understanding. May each of us finish the path we have begun. And with the help of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, we will finish joyfully and with our torches still lit." I just love that so much. Don´t let your trials get you down. And don´t ever think that your torch is burnt out. Because it only burns out if you let it. Just keep going, and keep smiling, and everything will work out the way it´s supposed to.

Lots of love,

Hermana Oliphant

Another week in the life of a future Nica!

So I´m done counting weeks...it takes too much energy and I think getting up in the week 30´s and such is a little much. So I´m changing it up :) I´ve almost got 4 months down in my mission. 14 left! Mi compa has 14 now, and goes home in 4 x3 So she´s starting to get a little trunky. And it´s making me trunky suuuuper bad. Which is ridiculous. I´ve still got half my life left to live here :)

So, this week feels like it lasted a life time, and also no time at all. It´s super super weird. But it was really good. I went on LOTS of divisions this week. 3, to be exact. Which is more than I´ve ever had in a single week :) But they were all good.

 

I haven´t got a lot of time, so I´ll get to the good stuff.

Soon I get to get my cedula! Woohoo. Or basically my Nicaraguan ID card, saying that I´m nica. I had to wait 3 months after I got here, and that´s in 2 weeks! So, in a couple weeks I won´t be American anymore, officially. Sorry guys.

 

This Wednesday we had an interesting zone activity. We´ve been struggling a little bit as a zone lately. We had an awesome month in August, baptizing over 30 people. Which is more than we´ve ever done. But because we baptized everyone in August, we didn´t leave anyone for September ;) So it´s been a little slow. So President Collado came and talked to us, just saying, "I know you can be better! We´re going to try something. Right now you have about 30 investigators with a baptismal date. We´re going to go on inter-zone divisions, and you and your new companions are going to think of a goal of faith. How many investigators can you commit to baptism today?" So that´s what we did, with the main number being 3. So with 10 companionships, we all commited to commit 30 more people to baptism that day. Something we´ve never done before. But, we did it. As a zone, we commited 34 people. In one day! It was incredible and inspiring, honestly. What we can do if we have faith and work toward our worthy goals. 

I´ve been having super good days lately. I´m a naturally shy person, so contacting people makes me super nervous. But on Friday, I just kept walking up to everyone and talking to them like it was nothing, with no fear at all whatsoever. I surprised myself, and then remembered that it was from the Lord. I for sure didn´t have that strength before, but when I promised that I´d try harder to get out of my comfort zone, I was given the strength I needed to get the job done. I felt so empowered and happy that I was doing all I could to be the mouthpiece of the Lord and share the gospel with the world.

I did some good studying on the Atonement. And I´ve never understood before how exactly Christ suffering and dying for us actually worked as the atonement. Why did it have to be like that exactly? Why was that the only way? Why did He have to be perfect? And then I was reading from the teachings of Joseph Fielding Smith (in Spanish), when a phrase caught my attention: (I can´t remember exactly how it went, but it was a letter to his son. It said something like:) "Estaba pensando mucho en lo que hizo Jesucristo por mí." Which means, "I was thinking a lot about what Jesus Christ did for me." Now, in English, the word "for" has a lot of different meanings. But in Spanish, there are two ways to say "for." "Para," which is used as more of gifts, like you made something for someone, or it can also mean "in order to." And then there´s "por." That means, "in place of," "because of." And, all of these definitions can fit to "for" in English. I always assumed that when we say, "Christ suffered for my sins." it applied to the first definition. Or, like, Christ suffered in order to atone for my sins. But that´s not it at all. Now that I´ve realized it, it´s seems so painfully obvious. Christ suffered because of my sins, in my place. It had to be done that way. He had to feel the pain, the weakness, because we were destined to be weak. He had to die, because we were going to die, too. But because of his role as the son of God, he could do it all so we couldn´t have to, so that we could pay our meager sum of money that we had, for Him to pay the debt in full in the way that He could. Our sins are erased, because he already paid them. We will be resurrected, because Christ, through his own power, overcame death first. But as I´m saying and thinking all this, I´m just thinking, "Duh. That´s what they´ve been telling me this whole time. Christ is our lawyer and mediator with the Father. In did it all in place of us." I just never really understood it until that moment that I took into account the different meanings of "for." I really love the new insights I receive by reading in Spanish. It´s so interesting how differently we understand things based on the way it´s expressed in a different language. I love it.

To conclude, I read some cool verses in the new testament about both missionary work and love. In John 15:8-18,26-27. Take a look :)

That´s all for this week :) Thanks for the prayers and love and support, as always. I´m so glad I have this opportunity. I really am. I also learned a bit this week about how little time I really have to have the power and authority I do as a missionary. I should never take it for granted, or waste a precious second of the Lord´s time that I´ve been given. I hope I can apply this to heart during the day as I´m working :)

Have an amazing week!

Love, Hermana Oliphant

P.S. Sorry, no more pictures this week. I really never do anything interesting. I´ll try to get something for next week ;)

Week 10!

I also forgot to mention a couple weeks ago that I made it to my 3 month mark! In just two weeks I´ll have been on my mission for 4 months. Only 14 left ;) Honestly it´s crazy how the time flies, and I´m going to stop talking about it starting now because I think we all realize that for missionaries time just doesn´t exist the way it does for everyone else.

This week has been interesting for sure. Lots of emotional challenges. I´ve learned that patience, what it truly means, and humility are not my strong suits. I already kind of knew that but I got to see it thrown in my face a little more. x3 But just like it says in Ether 12:27, we are shown our weaknesses so we can be humbled, come onto Christ, and be made stronger through the atonement of Christ. And like it says, also, in Hebrews 12:5-7, 11 we receive chastening (or knowledge of our faults) because our Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to improve. So I´m just working on studying these two things, and a few others; what they really mean, and then prayerfully applying them to my life. I definitely challenge each of you to take a look at the things that you´re probably not that great at. We´re here on this earth to improve, right? And what´s the best place to go for help to improve? Our father in Heaven :) He can help us in ways that others can´t. And if we are sufficiently humble to want to improve ourselves, he´ll help us out. We don´t have to be embarrassed about being imperfect because, let´s be honest. No one is. And if they seem to be perfect they´re just really good at pretending :)

 

This week´s also been interesting because of the build up to today, La 14 de Septiembre. Or, Nicaragua´s independence day. People have celebrations for that ALL week long here. And that means lots of drinking. And lots of drunk guys wandering around. I had a couple interesting experiences with that, for sure. Nothing bad, but they gave me a chuckle. We were in a lesson and this one guy was begging for water and telling us how drunk he was. But he was also speaking English. I got to hear some lovely words that I hadn´t heard since I left the states. x3 Oh how I haven´t missed those swear words. 

And we also ended up having a lesson with a couple of guys who were probably high on something other than alcohol. We were teaching some recent converts outside near a spot where all the drunks like to hang out, and a couple saw us and decided to join us. They were relatively respectful, and as we prayed (most people here say their own prayers out loud during the main ones) one of them mentioned his daughter, and so Hna Miza and I asked him what he wants for his family. Of course he said happiness. So we gave them two of them a pamphlet on the word of wisdom and left them there to celebrate how they pleased. I´ll be surprised if they remember our lesson with them, but hey, the Lord moves in mysterious ways. If they´re ready to change their lives, I´m down to help them out. We´ll have to see where that goes :)

 

So other than the massive amount of rain we´ve had, and discovering a new part of our area that none of us new existed, this week´s been relatively normal :) We´re struggling on finding people who are really ready to commit to the gospel and be baptized. People are so ready to accept baptism initially, but then they disappear off the face of the planet, or they don´t feel like coming to church, and so we have to drop them because they haven´t been progressing. That´s honestly one of the saddest things for me. Now that I understand the language better, my main struggle is dealing with the sadness that comes from watching people reject the gospel. Especially the members that I can see falling inactive. I wish I could give them my testimony and the feelings I have. I try, but if they´re not willing to do anything, there´s not much I can do to change them. I can pray and share my testimony, and try not to get discouraged. But it really does hurt my, almost physically, to think that so many people won´t be able to experience the happiness and peace that I and so many others have felt. But that´s the part of being a missionary that comes naturally. You see lots of happy endings, but lots of sad ones too. Just always remember how blessed we are as members to have this happiness. I want to also challenge you all to go our of your way to share the gospel this week. No one will ever be offended by your testimony. And you really never know who´s struggling and needs the hand of Christ in their life. And, you know, help out your local missionaries. They work hard, and it´s harder than you think to actually find people to teach. They love references, I promise:)

Alright, that´s all the time I have. I hope you all have an excellent week. Remember how lucky you are, share the gospel, be humble, and be safe, always. I love you all, and thank you for your prayers and support. It means the world.

- Hermana Oliphant

Semana 9...oh wow!

9 weeks and 2 months later...oh my goodness where did the time go. I seriously felt like last Monday was yesterday. This is actually kind of terrifying.

So what happened this week? I put my first fecha! Or, in other words, I asked someone to be baptized, and he said yes! It was the first time that someone had actually accepted the invitation when I extended it. I was actually really surprised, because we had just contacted him, but he felt the Spirit and was ready and said yes, so hey, I´m all down for it. It felt so good.

 

I tried turtle for the first time. It was actually really good. Super tough, but flavorful. I highly recommend it :)

 

We had an interesting experience with an investigator this week. He used to be taught by the missionaries, but they stopped visiting him. We´re like, hey, let´s go teach him. We found out why the missionaries before stopped going. What he basically wanted to do was listen to us talk, and then drill us with questions and try and get us to argue, or to prove us wrong. It was really irritating, listening to him ramble about how the bible doesn´t say anything about the church disappearing from the earth (it does, but, you know. We´re not supposed to bible bash ;)). It just gave me a headache. But Hna Miza did really well, and just bore her testimony, and did her best to leave on a good note and get out of there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, there are people like that. But all we can do is bear testimony, and try our best to leave them with no bad memories of us. We still are representatives of Jesus Christ, whether people are ready to accept His word into their lives. That definitely was an interesting experience.

 

Oh, and another funny story. We had an investigator with a baptismal date when I got here, but he stopped reading and going to church so we dropped him. We randomly decided to go visit him again, and while we talked, we found out something very important. He doesn´t speak much Spanish. He´s from Puerto Cabeza, which is up in the north-east part of Nicaragua, where they speak Miskito. Some people also speak Spanish and English there, but he happened to only speak Miskito and was learning Spanish. So, basically, the reason he wasn´t progressing was because he wasn´t understanding us. Hna Miza was so frustrated with herself. "4 months! We´ve been teaching him for 4 months and I had no clue!" It was pretty funny, but now we know and we have members in the ward who speak Miskito, so we´ll be able to teach him again and hopefully he´ll get baptized soon :)

 

So, we found a special Book of Mormon in the copies to give out. I carry one with me to use, and to give to people if we find someone positive, and we were in a lesson with a RC. She´s 10, and super cute. We left her something to read in Mosiah, and I was looking it up to read with her. And then I burst out laughing. Why? Because that special BoM didn´t have Mosiah 4. It did have Mosiah 11-27 twice. right next to a single page of the book of Alma. And we have two of those bad copies of the BoM. I literally just laughed out loud for 5 minutes in that lesson. With our RC and Hna Miza of course. I just wanted to preach the gospel. Be gone, Satanás!

 

So, I did some good studying on Charity. It´s more than just love. I´d share all I know about it, but then I´d deny you all the opportunity to study it for yourselves ;) Plus I´ve only got an hour on here, so you know. Priorities.

 

I also read this really awesome little book on missionary work. It´s called Member Missionary Work: Finding the Elect of God. It´s not published by the church, but it´s this random talk given by Brother Scott Marshall. It´s amazing. Honestly, reading that book converted me to the gospel again. President Collado gave it to me when we were studying with other companionships, and it´s a super fast read. I´m not sure how to find it, but if you don´t mind knowing the dirty secrets of missionary work, and coming to have an intellectual testimony of the gospel, give it a read. You won´t regret it.

 

I also reread the conference talk from last April on Music and the Gospel. We can teach our kids (or investigators) how to dance, but if we don´t also teach them how to hear the music for themselves, they´re going to quit dancing eventually. I absolutely adore this talk, so go ahead and read it again. I think it´s on the front page of lds.org right now.

 

Alright. Time to go. Thank you for all your prayers and love and support. I feel it every day. Have a good week, and remember always how much you are loved by our Heavenly Father. 

Feliz semana!

- Hermana Oliphant

 

Sarah's Neighborhood, La 14

Our Heritage in Spanish, current personal study

Sarah and Hermana Near on divisions while their comps were at training

 

Hola Todos!

Wow, it`s already been another week?? Crazy sauce. Enserio, el tiempo pasa súper rapido aquí. No sé cómo ganar más...haha. No voy a preocuparme...tengo un montón de tiempo aca en Nicaragua. Voy a disfrutar todo. [Note from Mom: Translation--"Seriously, time goes by super fast here. I do not know how to earn more...haha. I will not worry...I have a lot of time here in Nicaragua. I will enjoy it."]

For those who already know Spanish, or for those who are interested in learning ;) Spanish is an awesome language. I love that I get the opportunity to learn it :)

 

So lots of things have been going on this week. Lots of finding people, lots of being let down by people who say they´re going to church that don´t show up...lots of house hunting (President says that we need a room/apartment/house that can fit four beds, since Hermana Miza is the STL [Sister Training Leader]...so you know. Gotta look. No luck so far), and lots of being a missionary. But the highlights of my week have been super awesome, and the main one was the appearance of President Russell M. Nelson at a conference for the missionaries on Saturday :) He´s been traveling all over central America lately, teaching and giving devotionals and such. I also got to be in the choir at the missionary meeting :) We sung Lead, Kindly Light (or, Divina Luz), and it was awesome. I love the meaning of the words in Spanish more than in English. It`s just a beautiful testimony of how much we really need the light of Christ in our lives. 

 

Anyways, President Nelson. It was incredible. He shook all of our hands, and he called me by my name when I got to him, and he looked right into my eyes and all I could see was pure love. And when he spoke, the Spirit was so strong. He really is called of God. He was the mouthpiece of the Lord in that room, and I will testify of that for the rest of my life. Our prophets, seers and revelators truly are such. We are so privileged to have the truth here on the earth, and that we have men worthy enough to hold the priesthood and receive revelation. We members don`t realize what we have. We really don`t. Why on earth would we have missionaries if it wasn`t important? Read 2 Ne. 2:6-8. Maybe 9. Not sure. But yeah. Right there is why we have missionaries. Don`t forget how blessed you are to have that truth in your life.

 

[Another Mom Note: In a separate letter to me, she included this about meeting President Nelson. "It was amazing. We all got to shake his hand, and when I got to him, he looked at me and said, "Hello, Sister Oliphant. Thanks for being here." Or something like that, as he looked right into my eyes. Oh man, that was cool. And when he spoke...holy cow. He is a prophet of God, Mom. Not THE prophet yet, but he was the mouthpiece of the Lord Jesus Christ for us in that little capilla in Antigrasia, Managua. I felt it with every ounce of my being, and I got to listen to his words specifically for us missionaries in Nicaragua, and I got to shake his hand and have him call me by name. It was incredible. So worth waking up at 3:30 in the morning ;)"]

 

Some other cool stuff that happened: We got to go have companionship study with President Collado and some other missionaries. It was super great, and I left with a newfound energy to just be an even better missionary. Studying with the mission president can do that ;) It`s so hard, but being a missionary is the best and most rewarding thing a young adult could do with their life. I`m serious. Being here is the best. I`m trying to treasure every moment, but it feels like trying to hold sand in your hands. You feel like you`ve got it, but it just keeps going, no matter how hard you try. 

Or maybe it feels like soap. You`ve got it and then it`s gone. And then you slip on it. 

 

Nah, missionary work is better than soap.

 

We also had a really cool experience. It was almost time to go back to the house, and we both randomly decided to stop by the house of a less active. We`ve been visiting her recently, and she´s happy to have us, but still isn´t going to church. When we showed up to her house, her daughter was there. So we´re all, Oh, cool. Here, have a hymn. So we sung a hymn. It`s Jesús, Mi Gran Amor. I can`t remember what it´s called in English, but it´s relatively well known. [Mom note: It is Jesus, Lover of My Soul.]

So we sung it and talked about it. Then we asked her daughter what she thought. She told us that she was over here with her mom because she was struggling and needed someone to talk to. And we showed up right in time with a perfect hymn and perfect thoughts. She´s just like, "Who are you guys?" Hna Miza just said, "We´re missionaries. We´re here to help people and follow the Spirit." It was so awesome. I´m so glad we did listen to the Spirit so we could help her in the time she needed it.

 

Okay, my spiritual thought of the week. I´ve been reading in the Liahona for August (I snagged one in English!), and I read a fantastic article on The Family, A Proclamation to the World. It´s called "The Proclamation on the Family: Transcending the Cultural Confusion" by Elder Bruce C. Hafen. It`s incredible. Lots of statistics, doctrine, and a little bit of sass that seriously made me laugh out loud. It`s awesome. And really enlightening, honestly, on just how important the family is. Not just in the church, but for society, and the world. Read it. Seriously. It`s the best use of your time :) Just read the whole Ensign. It`s amazing.

 

Alright all. Time to go. I love you, and I hope you´re all doing well. Thank you for  your love and your prayers. I feel them. I´m learning so much, and I´m so happy to be here. Treasure your loved ones and your blessings. Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are so incredible. Never forget to take time to thank them for all they do. 

¡Feliz semana!

Att. Hermana Oliphant