Last Week. Goodbye everyone!

Well, here we go. I didn´t really think this day would come, but here we are. Writing my last email as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It honestly doesn´t even feel real yet, but maybe it´ll hit me in these next few days ;)

I just wanted to share some of the awesome experiences that have happened in this past week! First of all, we´ve been experiencing a tumult of natural disasters lately. Well, just two. Well, three. A hurricane, an earthquake, and an active volcano threatening to erupt. But where I´m at, we haven´t been hit too hard. Just hearing a bit about everything. The hurricane passed more through the south part of the country and Costa Rica, and the earthquake had its epicenter in Masaya, or even more south. Which is pretty far away. And the volcano is somewhere over in that area as well. So don´t worry about me. I´m doing great up here in Tipitapa :)

Then, we´ve been working really hard with one of our investigators. Her name is Ana Julia, and she´s an older woman with 6 or 7 kids. She lives about half an hour away from where we normally work, but it´s still inside the area, and there´s an active member family over there, too. Another member who lives out there brought her to church last Sunday, and it´s been the most incredible experience working with her. She said that she almost got baptized in another church several years ago, but she felt something stop her. She felt that it wasn´t the right church. So she´s been looking for years. And her first day visiting the church with us, she felt this great peace. She felt something fill her heart, and she knew that this was what she was looking for, that this was the church that she needed to be baptized in. We´ve taught her the first three lessons (The Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, and The Gospel of Jesus Christ) and she´s accepted them wholeheartedly and with great humility and dedication. She´s helping us teach her children and their families, and she´s preparing to be baptized on the 10th of December :) I know I won´t be there, but honestly it´s been so incredible to meet her and see her grow. She´s been looking and searching for years and in a single day at church she found her answer. She´s going to be an incredible converted member, and I´m so happy that I got to be a part of her journey. Hermana Stubbs is going to send me pictures for sure, so I´ll make sure you guys can all see her :)

This past Saturday we had a baptism! It was a little miracle. Her name is Bertita and she just turned eight a couple weeks ago. Her parents aren´t members, but her two older sisters are recent converts, and they´ve been going to church for the past several months. She told us that she wanted to be baptized too, and the Branch President baptized her, and her whole family showed up to support her. She was so excited that she borrowed the white dress and the white shoes from her sister so she could show up all in white :) She doesn´t really have that many sins yet, but I could see the pureness of her heart as we took all the pictures and got her ready for her baptism. I know she´ll remember this day for the rest of her life, and I hope that one day her mom can join the church so they can all move forward together :)

We had special interchanges of companions this past Thursday :) I got to go back to my first zone (again) to work, but this time I was in Villa Venezuela. It was so fun working with Hermana Pehrson and I learned so much. We got along so well and we had an awesome day together! Then we finished the divisions with Pizza :) Pizza Hut it something I haven´t really missed from home, to be honest, haha.

And to finish off the week, I had my cumplemes 18  (I completed my 18 months) yesterday. Wow. Time flies by :) And to top it all off, the primary program was yesterday, and it was so cute. The primary is a decent size here in La Bocana. And so many less actives and investigators came to church. It was so wonderful to see the chapel full!

So I just want to share my last missionary testimony with you all :) I know that this is the restored church of Jesus Christ. I know it with all my heart. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and the best way to come closer to God. I know that the greatest miracle that we can ever witness or experience is that of conversion and forgiveness. Conversion to the gospel and forgiveness of our sins. Christ is the reason for everything, and if we truly believe and understand that, we can accomplish many wonderful things. You will never experience true peace until you come to rely wholly upon the Savior Jesus Christ. I love this work and this gospel. There is no better work than that of salvation. And be it full time, part time, or how ever much time you´ve got, missionary work is for all of us. Never stop sharing the gospel. Never stop sharing your testimony. I love you all so much. Thanks for all your prayers and your advice and your support. This past year and a half has changed my life, and I´ve been able to witness firsthand in my own life and in the lives of others the miracle of the atonement. I´ve been forgiven and made whole from my sins and mistakes and weaknesses, and so can you. And so can everyone else. Never lose hope :) Just keep searching. He loves you and will answer your prayers. 

I´ll see you all soon!

Love, Hermana Sarah Oliphant

Pics

1-3. Bertita´s baptism :)

4. Pizza hut!

5. Hermana Pehrson!

6. Goodbye Nicaragua 

Quick note and pictures

So I ain´t got time to write a thing so just share these pictures, one is in our Branch presidents house, then the other ones are from our adventures Today, we went to managua and hung out with the TLS. 

Tell everyone to read their Patriarchal blessing and be good and read the scriptures and pray. 

I love you!

Love, Hermana Oliphant

"I wanna be strong, so give me mountains to climb."

Real quick! This week was great. Our investigators are progressing and the members are so great in working with us! We´ve had a couple interesting experiences, and it was especially fun to go on divisions in Managua with Hna Lord, who´s still in her training. We had such a great time and I really love working with new missionaries. They´re on fire and want to serve and be obedient, and it´s the best feeling.

Today we had a fun pday as a district (with the ZLs) :) We filled up a piñata and played baseball with it, and then we had a water fight. 

There´s also a super special family in the branch. She has just given birth via c section and they´ve been having some stressful issues. But we and the members have been visiting them constantly and reminding them that trials are for our benefit, and they really are. They´re doing so great and I know they feel our love and support.

That´s one of the greatest things I´ve learned from my mission. Someone wise once told me that if I´m struggling, the Lord must really love me :) Each change brings it´s different trials, and this new area has been a bit of a struggle for me. But I´m fighting every day, and it´s like a song we´ve been listening to. "I know it won´t be easy, but give me mountains to climb. Give me rivers to cross..." Basically asking for trials. Because if we aren´t tried, we don´t get better. Instead of running away from difficulties, we need to face them head on with the help of the Lord. And we´ll see how much he´s willing to bless us. The Lord wants us to progress, so he gives us trials little by little, in exactly the way that we need in the moment :)

I love you all so so so much, and I hope you have a great week!

Love, Hermana Oliphant

Fotos

1. Our divisions group. My comp, Hna Baquedano (She´s my TL, and she also came with me on the mission :)), Me, and Hna Lord.

2. Me with the family I  mentioned. She´s called Anielka, the little girl is Candida, and the dad and son are both Cesar :D

3. PIÑATA

4. Our lovely invention to take the group pic

5. Us all wet after the water war

Quick Note

Sorry, really fast. Here´s my new comp :) Hermana Stubbs. Her parents are from Nicaragua but she was raised in Costa Rica, pretty cool :)

This week was pretty good. Meeting lots of new people. When I got here they had either baptized or dropped all their old investigators. So we´re starting from scratch. Kind of weird, knowing that I won´t be here to see most of these people get baptized, but I know that God always has miracles prepared for us when we´re obedient :)

The members are super cool. It´s still a branch, but it´s a bigger branch, and branch council is so organized, and the members visit each other. It´s beautiful, really :)

It´s also more dangerous here. Which has been an interesting experience. No scary experiences yet, but I´ve got a few more weeks here :)

I´ve been reading a lot of different books, and I can´t think of anything specific I´d like to share. I´d just like to challenge you all to read the Book of Mormon, and ask God sincerely if it´s true. I promise that a testimony and true understanding of the Book of Mormon and the restoration will bless your lives.

I love you all so much! Have a great week :)

Love, Hermana Oliphant

Miracles, Changes, and Temples

This week was very bittersweet. But I learned so much and I´m excited to start this next week :)

First of all, I had changes again! My last change and I get to see another part of Nicaragua :) I´m now in Tipitapa, my area is called Bocana. My companion is Hermana Stubbs, she´s from Costa Rica, and came with me on the mission. Which means that she´s going home a change after me, since I had extra time in the MTC. She also served in Nagarote, so we´ll have that to talk about :) I was actually really sad to leave everyone back in Zona León. My district all got changed, though, so it´s easier to accept that changes have to come every now and then. My two sons got major changes! Elder Packard is headed way up north to Ocotal and Elder Mower is training and is the new district leader! And Hermana Knowlton is also training! I´m so happy for her and I know that Nagarote is going to be so blessed with the hard work of Hermana Knowlton and her daughter :) I´m going to miss all the investigators and members so so so much. But I know they´ll keep going without me, and I´ve got lots of pictures and memories to last forever :)

We also had a Multizona with Pte and Hna Poncia this past week. He talked a lot about obedience, and I was really happy with the self-evaluation I gave myself as they were talking. I felt good. I can always get better, but I´m doing good. I want to keep being obedient and seeing the blessings, personally and in my area. I also had a moment to talk personally with President Poncio afterward, and it was incredible. I always feel the Spirit so strongly when I speak with him, and he always listens carefully and knows exactly what to say to help me feel better. I had a personal insight into what a lot of less-actives and investigators feel when we show up to visit them. We´re probably the most spiritual thing to happen to them all week! And sometimes they just don´t want to let us go :) But the beautiful thing is that if we all make personal study a priority, we can have spiritual experiences with our Heavenly Father every day.

It also rained a LOT. Like 4 days of Washington/Oregon type weather...I didn´t sweat, wore sweaters, and got very muddy for almost an entire week. But it was a nice break from the heat, even though I enjoy the toasty Nicaraguan sun :)

We also had a little miracle this week. Adriana got baptized! I don´t know if I´ve talked about her, and I don´t have pictures at the moment (sorry borrowing cameras is hard with changes). But she´s the girlfriend of a really active member, who is also best friends with the branch president :) We had all of them helping us and her out so much, and at the beginning of the week she wasn´t sure if she was going to do it, but on Thursday she said that she was ready to get baptized! After 4 months of going to church and 2 months of missionary discussions, she was finally baptized, and it was so great to see her grow :) The sad thing was having to say goodbye so soon after her baptism. But I know she´ll stay strong. She just loves the temple and I know she and her boyfriend have the temple (and missions!) in their goals, and I´m so excited to see the amazing things they do :)

Luis is also doing really good. His work is taking him to Chinandega a lot, and he´s having a hard time getting to church on Sunday, but he understands very well the importance of taking the Sacrament, and he carries his Book of Mormon with him every day at work :) we got to teach him about the temple and temple sealings last night. Giving him the (not so subtle) hint that he needs to find a wife and get sealed ;) He loved all of it and he´s committed to getting sealed in the temple! That´s why we have the gospel. To get to the temple and be sealed for time and for all eternity. I´m sure we´re all familiar with the words in DyC 132.

15 Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry her not by me nor by my word, and he covenant with her so long as he is in the world and she with him,their covenant and marriage are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out of the world...

 19 And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions,all heights and depths... it shall be done unto them in all things whatsoever my servant hath put upon them, in time, and through all eternity; and shall be of full force when they are out of the world; and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fulness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.

 20 Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all,because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them. 

And this is the purpose of everything. Like President Nelson said when he came to Nicaragua over a year ago: why go to a multicourse banquet and just eat the salad? Why not stay for dessert? We´ve got to endure to the end. We´ve got to participate in the temple blessings, then keep the covenants, and then see all the wonderful blessings that our Father in Heaven has in store for us. I love this gospel and I love being a missionary. I wish I could stay longer but some things just can´t last forever. I hope that I (and all of you guys) can be a better member missionary and a better example and light unto the world. A window into the love of our Savior Jesus Christ. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and don´t forget to always look for the silver lining in every situation :)

Love, Hermana Oliphant    

Short post and Pictures

Hey everyone!

Sorry, my time`s really short this week. We went to Leon and got back really late. This week was really good. We`ve been seeing so many miracles with our investigators. They`re having spiritual experiences and progressing so beautifully! They`re not quite ready for baptism yet, but we have a couple who are planning to get baptized in the next couple weeks, so we`re getting Nagarote ready for lots of baptisms in the next few months :)

Remember always how important the commandments are. They`re there to help us achieve celestial glory. It`s hard but so worth it.

Have a great week!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

Pics

1 y 2. Some chickens in our back yard. 

3-6. Our district! We ate pizza and played with water balloons as a zone today. Our district has gotten so close. I`m going to miss them all :) P.S. the two Americans are my sons. Perks for being an oldie on the mish.

Crazy conference weekend

Hello, Everyone!

This week indeed was crazy. I`ll give a brief rundown.

Tuesday my comp had a meeting for all the leaders in the mission. So I was in Managua on divisions, and guess what area I ended up going to? La 14. My very first area in the mission. It was so amazing to see some old members and old investigators. I showed the new sisters there a couple investigators I had, and one of them accepted a baptismal date! I got to say hi and bye to almost all the people I love there, and it was bittersweet to be back there and helping the other sisters find new investigators :)

Wednesday we had a zone meeting and there was another earthquake...in Momotombo again. Everyone in Nagarote felt it, and the house of the Elders in Momotombo fell down...so there`s that. But we were in Leon and so it wasn`t that strong. And we came back from the meeting so excited to talk to so many people, invite them all to be baptized and hand out Book of Mormons. It was a really good day :)

Thursday was weekly planning. And it was different because a couple sisters in the zone aren`t getting along super well, and they called my comp asking for help, so we had to deal with that. But the rest of the day was pretty normal. We decided in the night time that we were going to be even more exactly obedient, and finally have a normal awesome day, starting with going running in the morning. And that`s where all the craziness starts.

Friday. I wake up early, go to my backpack where my running clothes are at, reach in my hand (remember that I`m still half asleep at this moment) and I feel this giant prick on my ring finger that startles me half to death and knocks me on the floor...five seconds later and it`s still stinging and burning and I`m yelling and I realize it was a scorpion that stung me. I yank my ring off and me and my comp get to work on my backpack. Dumping everything out looking for the culprit. And finally, we found it. A giant, nasty scorpion sleeping calmly inside my running pants. So we shake it outside and kill it. We thought it was all over. And then I start feeling some pain in my lower back, on the left side. It`s the same as a back pain I get after sitting too long in hard chairs, so I figured I`d lay down and it`d go away. As I lay down, my finger swells up and my lips and tongue go numb, and my back pain just spreads. It spreads all the way to my lower stomach area as if I was having normal cramps. But it`s a constant pain that doesn`t subside, and it`s really strong. Both in my back and my abdomen. It`s honestly the worst pain I`ve ever felt in my life. I call the nurse, and she said I might have strained my back in my reaction to the sting. So I wait. Then pain gets worse. I start getting cold sweats, throwing up anything I try to eat, all the while enduring the pain. We had lots of sisters from next door who came over doing everything they could to help me. But nothing worked. Our branch president came over to give me a blessing, and then we go to the emergency room in the health center. They check me out, give me a shot for the pain, and then I wait a bit, and the pain disappeared. Just a little ache in my back. But after 4 hours of almost unbearable pain, it was finally gone, and I felt like skipping, quite honestly. During those hours I had a moment to consider what it would be like for Christ. He suffered all that and more in the garden of Gethsemane. I prayed very fervently that if it be His will, that he`d take the pain away. And after a few hours, he did. I especially got comfort in our branch president`s blessing. That this wouldn`t affect me in my mission, and that it would be a growing experience for me. So as I contact the nurse again, we decide I should head down to the hospital in Managua to see what`s up. She and her husband were down there anyways looking after another sister who was really sick, so we spent the whole afternoon with them. So we`re down there, and in between a urine sample, an ultrasound, and a CAT Scan, and LOTS of waiting, they tell me that I have a...wait for it...

Kidney Stone. That`s completely unrelated to the scorpion sting. So they give me medicine and send me home telling me that it should be out in five days. And I`m still waiting. But it was definitely an interesting experience for me. I learned a lot and have a newfound compassion for those who suffer from chronic pain. Because I definitely would not like to repeat that day.

Saturday was Conference. And after all the sessions, I was sleepy and in a whole bunch of pain, so we ended up staying home and I tried to hold very very still so I wouldn`t start hurting again x3

And yesterday was so great. We all went to conference as a branch, and we all had such great experiences. Because we could only watch it well in Leon, we took a giant bus and stayed the whole day, taking a sack lunch with us. Luis came and also another investigator who we`ve been teachings. Her name is Ninosga, and she brought her niece and her little boy, and I know she had a great time. And later that night there was another crazy lightning storm, the power went out, and we got soaking wet getting to a lesson. But even using cell phone flashlights and candles, the spirit was so strong as we testified about the restoration. I know the Lord needed us in that  house in that moment and not hiding from the storm in our home. 

Today we had a fun zone activity. Making tortas fritas, eating McDonalds, and telling crazy old mission stories. We all bonded and it was a great time, even if we got home a little late :)

I just learned so much from Conference. I hope to truly apply all the things I know I need to do better into my life. The mission has really been a training center for life, and I`m so lucky to be here. I`m strengthening my own dedication and testimony of the gospel by helping others doing it as well, and I know there`s always room for improvement. I invite you all to truly ponder the conference talks that stood out to you and think of one thing you want to do better. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love you all!

Love, Hermana Oliphant

Pics

1. Our delicious microwave lasagna...and pinolio, a corn and chocolate drink native to Nicaragua :)

2. The scorpion that started it all...sorry that we didn`t take pictures while I was in the hospital

3&4. Our branch eating lunch in between sessions at General Conference

5. Zone activity! Making tortas fritas. Basically fried sweet breads native to Uruguay. There`s an Uruguayan Elder in the zone.