Buenas tardes todos!

So this week was pretty great. On Thursday we had a multizone conference, and it was honestly just fantastic. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and I learned so so much about how to be a better missionary. We were urged to use the Book of Mormon more. We read a quote from one of the apostles that basically said that we can`t start teaching our investigators until they have a Book of Mormon in their hands. We hadn`t been using the Book of Mormon that much, but they handed us giant boxes full of soft-back copies and we`re supposed to use the whole box in a couple months. Not wasting them, but teaching with them, and helping our investigators to progress by reading it. It just helped me even more in my testimony of the Book of Mormon, and how powerful it is in teaching and converting. We watched the story of Parley P. Pratt, and his conversion. Basically, he followed another church to New York, and there he met someone who had a copy of the Book of Mormon, and showed it to him, and told him the story. Pratt was intrigued, and once he got the book, read the whole thing in one night. Then he new he had to find Joseph Smith and join his church. Isn`t that incredible? He didn`t even need a missionary. Just that book was enough. Not saying we don`t need missionaries, but we need to rely more on the power that`s already been placed in our hands for us, instead of trying to convince everyone that they need to get baptized. I loved it, and I`m so excited to continue teaching more from the Book of Mormon.
And now I have a funny story. So my old companion just went home this week, so I new I`d be getting a new companion this change. So on Sunday, my comp and another sister from Matagalpa would be going to Managua together for their final interview, and her companion, Hermana Near, would be staying with me in Sèbaco. While we were here, Hermana Near got a call from her zone leader saying that she was closing her area, and she was going to have changes too. Basically, that meant running over to catch a bus to Matagalpa so she could pack and say goodbye to some people. And clean the house and take care of keys and everything. Thankfully there are still Elders in her area, so we just had to hand them the keys to the apartment and they`d take care of the rest. So, in the middle of our running around Matagalpa, my zone leader called me and said that Hermana Near and I were actually going to be companions!! We both laughed, saying that we knew it. We both did have a hunch, but now we knew for sure. That meant, also, that we didn`t have to take the long bus to Managua to pick up our new companions, because we were already together! We just had to finish packing and taking care of a few other details before we came back here to Sèbaco. One of those things was getting the keys to the apartment and her phone to the Elders in the ward, and they were going to meet us at the bus station. But as soon as our taxi (with a BUNCH of suitcases and bags) pulled into the station, we had people yelling at us, asking us where we were going. We said "Sèbaco," and so they just threw our suitcases on top of the bus and yelled at us to get on because the bus was leaving. I hoped on with my mountain of things and got settled, and I realized that Hermana Near hadn`t gotten on the bus, and it started to leave! So I ran to the door, and asked her what she was doing, and she reminded me that we were supposed to wait for the Elders. I didn`t know what to do, so I told her to get on, because that`s where our stuff was. So she got on, and called the Elders and said that they were going to have to get everything another time. They told her that that wasn`t possible, and that we NEEDED to get off the bus. So we headed to the front of the bus and told the driver that we needed to get off and we needed our stuff. So all the guys were all irritated, so the let us off (and I bumped into a bunch of people on that crowded bus...sorry guys. They were laughing at all the stuff I had. Not my fault, haha). And they chucked our luggage off the top of the bus, and also some random bags of plants and flowers and things that were up there too, that they somehow thought were ours...and then it left. We just stood there, thankfully near a gas station so we could tell the Elders where to meet us, and felt so bad for that poor lady who lost her bags filled with things she was probably going to sell. But we couldn`t do anything about it...so we left them there, hoping that maybe she`d think to come back and look. I`m going to be praying for that, for sure. Al fin, the Elders found us, took the keys and phone, laughed at how much stuff we had, and let us catch the next bus that came by where we were. And then, settled on the bus, a little calmer, we realized that we didn`t give the Elders the rent money, or the number of the landlord. We`ll deal with that later. Maybe they`ll find the number on the phone.
Then we got back to the house in TWO mototaxis, then started cleaning our crazy mess of an apartment.
And that was my p-day. Crazy and stressful, but amusing. A day I`m never going to forget, for sure. And we`re so excited to be companions, even though saying goodbye was really hard.
I`m out of time, but hopefully you all enjoyed my story. Lesson learned: Plan things out a little better. But as missionaries, we sure do get pretty good at winging it. We can handle ourselves here, right? ;)
Alright, I hope you all have a great week. I didn`t get to watch the Christmas devotional, but I hope you all take the time to watch it and enjoy it. I`ll sure do my best to get a hold on it :) I love you all, and remember to read the Book of Mormon! You WILL gain a testimony of how important it is in your life, and to the church. I promise.
Love, Hermana Oliphant