Chickens and Faith

Hey everyone!

I´m glad you all enjoyed my funny stories...especially with the pig. That was definitely an adventure to remember. I have another funny animal story, but I´ll get to that in a moment.

This week was pretty normal. Still working hard. Meeting new people, putting more fechas...being lied to and catcalled...the normal stuff ;) But seriously, I wouldn´t trade it for the world. Being a missionary is a blast, in the memories you make and also in the things you learn and the miracles you see. Highly recommend. See my last email for more details ;) Something in especial I´ve learned is that the only cure for exhaustion is to keep working. It sounds counter-productive, but it´s true. I´ve had SO many days where I just don´t want to get out of bed, let alone leave the house to walk around in the hot sun for hours. But I always do (sometimes griping more than I should), and by the end of the day I´m not ready to stop :) Something magical happens when you get to work and just feel that spirit of missionary work. It´s addictive.

 

So we have one investigator who is so great! He´s already read so much of the Book of Mormon on his own, and he loves it. Our super pilas member of the branch works with him, and they´re already great friends. He is helping him so much with his conversion, and he came to church by himself this week. His name is Juan Carlos, and he is the most open and receptive investigator I´ve ever had. He wants to take the baptism thing slowly, so it probably won´t be me and Hermana Near that baptize him, but I really hope that he continues to progress, and we can help him on that journey for as long as we´re here to do it :) 

 

So a couple funny stories...animal one first. On the very crowded bus to Managua today, I randomly start hearing some strangled clucking noises. We all start looking around, and see a bag moving, as if there´s something struggling inside of it, right next to Hermana Near´s feet. It took us a second to realize that there was a live chicken trapped inside that bag...just chilling on the floor of the bus. I guess that´s one way to transport animals...just tie them in a bag and bring it with you on the bus, haha.

 

Second story. We have a lot of people comment about how we look...as is the Nica culture and our very-whiteness. But one time it just caught us off-guard. We went to a pulpería to get some snacks, and as we stop by the window, this middle aged man says to us with a straight face and a slightly-amused tone, "Wow, look at these two beautiful women. Do you live close by?" We both stood there, speechless, not knowing how to respond to him. So he took that to mean as though we don´t speak Spanish, haha. Oh, don´t worry. We do. But he said he´d be sure to teach us Spanish before we left Sébaco...we´ll still have to see about that.

 

So, now on to the spiritual stuff. I´ve had some great personal study and personal spiritual experiences about faith and the atonement. And just some great reading of the Book of Mormon. I´m short on time, so I´ll share them really quick. This first one is in 1 Nephi 2.

 19 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me,saying: Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart.
 20 And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea,even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands.

Something that I realized (especially after dealing with all the opinions of people here saying that faith is just a belief in Christ) is that faith without actions truly is dead. Nephi wasn´t blessed because of his belief in Christ; that does nothing. Satan believes in Christ, but he´s not blessed purely for that. Nephi was blessed because his belief led him to humble his heart and search diligently for Christ, which led him to keeping the commandments. Isn´t that what repentance is? Nephi was blessed for his faith that led to repentance, and that´s what we all want. We all want miracles to happen, and repentance is one of them. But the Lord can´t work miracles in our lives if we don´t give him anything to work with. I learned this the other morning when we were running. I wasn´t feeling it, so I prayed for Him to help make me a better runner. That was fine, but when my comp started running up and down our giant hill we go to, I was standing there, not wanting to run the hill. As I sat there, I realized that if I´m not running, the Lord can´t make me better. If I want him to make me a better runner, I need to give him something to work with; I need to start running. So I did, and he made me a better runner. This spoke a lot to me about how faith truly is a belief-propelled action. When I have faith, I know something is possible, so I´ll do my best work to make it happen, and the Lord will do the rest. 

To finish, I wanted to share something a member said the other day in an investigator lesson. "The Lord gives us trials to see how obedient we are."

Never let your trials get you down. Don´t let Satan win! Trials are a part of our existence, but we choose how to respond. We can continue to exercise our faith and be obedient, or we can falter and fail. Keep on the straight and narrow path, and all will work out just fine :)
I love you all so much, and I hope you have a fantastic week!

Love, Hermana Oliphant