Sister Sarah Oliphant serving in the Nicaragua Managua North mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from May 2015 through November 2016

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Hey!

Hey everyone!
So I`m a little short on time this week, but this week has been relatively normal. We`re still working on helping our large family get to church, and its a struggle. BUT, we got to see the 13 year old daughter get baptized! She was baptized when she was 8, but somehow her records got deleted, so she had to get baptized again. But, she`s been pretty inactive and rebellious lately. But with lots of love and the Spirit, she`s been coming back to church and was so happy to get baptized again. I love seeing the miracle of conversion on the mission.

I don`t have a scripture today, but I just want to encourage all of you to sincerely pray to your Heavenly Father today. Kneel down on the ground. Pray to know if he`s there. To know if he loves you and is aware of you. Plead forgiveness for your sins and the help you need to stay strong and resist temptation. Plead for the blessings you need. Then stop and listen. Feel. I promise you that if you do that, you will feel something. I promise you that the moment you kneel down to sincerely pray to your Father in Heaven, even if you`ve already down it before, He will answer you again. Or if you didn`t receive an answer the first time, He`ll bless your faith and diligence with an answer if you keep trying. But I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and is waiting for us to exercise our faith and come unto Him.

I love you all so much. I hope you have an amazing week!
Att. Hermana Oliphant
P.S. no pictures because the computer isn`t cooperating. Sorry! Next week!

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Another week passing by way too fast...

Hey everyone!
This week has been pretty normal. No more scorpions, thank goodness. Lots of visits with less actives, and I`ve been able to see so many miracles from that. One family in particular we`ve been focusing on have started to go to church, little by little. And 12 people live there. 10 are members, and 2 have baptismal dates :) The family is super crazy, and it`s kind of draining going there, but I love every second we can spend with every member of that great family. I know the Lord has great things in store for them, and I know that with the help of the Spirit, we can help them all become closer to Christ, and truly converted to this incredible gospel.
My scripture of the week is in Mosiah 1.

3 And he also taught them concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, saying: My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God.
 6 O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes.
 7 And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers.
Always remember what a great blessing the scriptures are. Read them, ponder them, and pray to know of their surety and how to better apply it in your lives. I love you all so much, and I hope you have a wonderful week :)
Att. Hermana Oliphant


A member's pet (!?)

Part of a family they are working to reactivate

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Crazy Week!

Hermanas Arias and Oliphant
 Hey everyone! I`m so sorry for not writing last week. I ended up traveling to Managua on Monday, and then ended up staying the night. I hadn`t even brought clothes or toothpaste or anything! It was a very exciting adventure running around Managua, and what`s more, the night before on Sunday, we were up late helping a sick member of the ward (with permission), so I was just super exhausted.
This week's been pretty normal. We had a multi-stake

Chinandega Zone Activity
Zone Activity
Chinandega YW activity
conference with all of central America, broadcasted from Salt Lake, this Sunday. So great. And we were able to bring 4 investigators, which was super great.
We`ve had some interesting experiences these past 2 weeks. Full of scorpions, flooding the apartment, investigators who just think we`re pretty, and some real talk as companions. It`s been crazy hot, too. So hot that at night, once I`ve finished my cold shower, I start sweating even before I`ve dried off. Craziness.
Aaaaaand we have scorpions, and one literally almost stung me. I was laying on my bed with my arm on the wall, and suddenly my comp screamed at me to get off my bed, so I jump/roll off, and there`s a GIANT scorpion that was crawling toward my arm. We killed it with a baseball bat.
And we think we`re seeing more scorpions because we accidentally flooded our house the other day...there wasn`t water, and we left the tap on on accident. Lots of stuff got wet. Hopefully the mouse hole too.
And the work goes on as normal. Talking to people. Teaching them the word of God, and slowly but surely gaining my own testimony of how true it is and how much our lives would be blessed if we could just trust God and keep the commandments. But we`re all pretty weak. 2 Nephi 4 has helped me a lot :)
I love you all so much, and I hope your week is fantastic and spiritual and stress free! At least as stress free as it can be.
Love, Hermana Oliphant
(P.S. I`ve officially hit 9 months on the mission...halfway done!)