Hola todos!

I was totally about to start writing this letter in Spanish...the transition is really hard sometimes.

This week has been really really slow. We`re trying to find new investigators, and work really really hard to get them to come to church and progress. Or, read the scriptures and their assignments and pray. We`re trying, but it`s still hard. It never gets easy. Once you figure out how to be a missionary, and learn the language, you just understand even more how hard it is to help people gain a testimony of this gospel. They need to be ready, and you need to do all you possibly can to help them feel the Spirit. But when you find that pair, it`s so worth it. Even though it`s hard in so many ways that I`d ever thought it would be, I wouldn`t want to be anywhere else. I`ve felt the Spirit confirm to me so many times that I NEED to be here. Not only for what I have the potential to do here, but for all the ways I`m learning and growing here. I needed this so badly, and I`m so grateful for every second I`ve been able to spend here in Nicaragua, serving the Lord, and working and teaching in His name.

We had a visit from Elder Snow of the Seventy, Elder Alonzo of the Seventy also (area Seventy) and Brother Turley. Elder Snow and Brother Turley are the historians of the church, and Elder Alonzo is one of our area seventies here in Central America. They had a devotional/meeting with all of us missionaries in Nicaragua this Saturday and it was so good. I also loved listening to their wives talk, and I just love the Spirit these representatives of the Lord and the church bring. It`s such a privilege to hear from these general authorities :) They talked a lot about missionary work, obviously, and how we need to treasure this time, and record it! I`m starting to get a little lazy about my journal entries, but I`m determined to fix it.

My Spiritual thought. There`s a general conference talk from April of 2015 by Elder Christofferson that I loved. "Why Marriage, Why Family" I just love these talks. They always explain the plan of salvation, and the divine role that marriage plays in this plan. I love the understanding I receive from these talks. My favorite part is a quote from a Christian martyr from the early 1900`s named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He wrote in a letter to his niece, talking about marriage, "Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal--it is a status, an office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and man...So love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God." I just love that. I love that peace that comes from the understanding that marriage isn`t to please us. It is a divinely instituted part of the plan of salvation, and nothing else can change that, no matter what anyone says. 

Stay true to your testimonies of the gospel, and always remember that the words of the living prophets and apostles mean more to us than the words of dead prophets. They are here for us personally, and they will never lead us astray. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your fears, and you will receive a testimony. I promise you that. It`s happened to me several times in my life, and on my mission. We all need a little reminder every now and then ;)

I love you all. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts and kind words. Remember your faith, and where it came from, and keep an eternal perspective. Have a great week!

Att. Hermana Oliphant