Hello!

Hey, everyone. I`m warning you now that this keyboard is terrible...so excuse any typos. They`re not my fault.

This week has been pure party time here in Nagarote. They`re celebrating their patron Catholic saint Santiago (James), and that means fireworks, fairs, carnivals, bull riding, horse shows, parades, and alcohol. All day every day for the month. So that`s a little frustrating. But we`re making the best of it, and thankfully most of our members and investigators aren`t into that kind of stuff :)

We`re working really hard with some young women Emenin, Raquel, and Francis. All very different. All wanting to be baptized, but not sure exactly how to go about it. We`ve been learning so much from each of them, and it`s been a pleasure to know them and to teach them the restored gospel, and I pray every day that I can do it a little better each day :)

A scripture that really stood out to me this week was in Mosiah 16.

 9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

Just ponder on what that truly means. The light of Christ and the life of those who love and follow Him will never ever end. Choose the good side, and be valiant in that choice. Don`t be afraid to stand out and be different. Because if you try to blend in with the world, you`re going to go where the rest of the world goes. Take a look at where the world is headed and choose today to be different. Being different and standing out from the world, and even from other missionaries every now and then has been one of the hardest parts of my mission. But I promise that it`s the best life because it`s one companioned by the Holy Ghost :)  I love you all so much. Have a great week!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

Fotos

Relief society and yw and my awesome gorgeous companion!

We ran a ton and then made banana pancakes to regain the calories ;)

Zone activity with awesome t-shirts and a piñata!

Hey!

Lo siento todos! It´s been a while. And I´ve also not got a lot of time today, but I still wanted to send fotos real quick and tell you all a bit about my week!

We´ve been working hard, but my companion´s been a little sick, so we had to go to Leon. But she´s doing alright just gotta take her pills ;) We´ve met lots of cool new people, it´s just hard to get them to keep their commitments. They love to listen to us, but reading, praying, and going to church is a whole other ball game. But it´s honestly been a privilege to see the power of missionary authority in action, to see the change in people as we talk to them and teach them about the gospel. The only thing I want is to help them truly change their lives and make it not just to the waters of baptism, but also to the temple, to be sealed together as eternal families. 

Today I was just reading in 2 Nephi 32. It´s short, and I love it so much. Something I got out of it was the main things we can do after baptism (other than going to church) is reading the scriptures and praying. Because through these three means, we can have the Holy Ghost with us. And if we have the Spirit with us, we don´t have to wonder what we´re supposed to do. The Spirit will make those things plain unto us if we´re ready to receive them. My only invitation for you all is to keep yourselves worthy of the Spirit, and you´ll see miracles this week. Questions answered problems solved, and new mysteries learned :)

I love you all so so much. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

1. Picture from our multizona when we met our new mission president

2. Nica pic

3. The two jovenes who do divisions with us EVERY SUNDAY to help us take investigators to church. They´re the bomb.

4. (Almost) All the priesthoods in our branch :) We have a cool little branch here in Nagarote. Just gotta make it a ward!

And . . . even more Pictures!

1-4 El Mirador. We got to climb up a little tower on top of the hill and see all of Nagarote...even to the Managua lake, and the volcano, Momtotombo.

5. The statue in Central Park of a lady selling quesillos. It`s a traditional dish here and it`s made of a tortilla, cheese that`s similar to mozzarella, some kind of onions and vinegar, and cream/mayonnaise. SO GOOD. But...it made me sick. So...no more quesillos. But I promise it`s the most delicious thing on the planet.

Even More Pictures!

Being touristy in all the different parts of Nagarote.

El Paseo la Biblia. It`s got a bunch of different scriptures, one from each book in the bible. It`s super beautiful, and I copied down all the verses to mark them in my scriptures :)

More Pictures

This batch is all prepping for a massive water fight with the landlord's son. :)

Hey everyone :)

I hope your week`s been great! Sorry for not writing last week. We went out of town and got back a little late...but these past two weeks have been super great.

We`ve been meeting and finding a lot of new investigators, and it`s been so fun. 

It`s been such a pleasure to preach the gospel here, and lately, I`ve been less afraid to call people out and stand up for my beliefs. Because some people (including myself) just need someone to tell them that they need to shape up. And it`s been great. My comp and I work really well together. We`re both super committed to being obedient and to work intelligently. The area had been struggling before because of my comp`s last companion, but we`ve been shaping it up and our DL told us that "Nagarote es la freakin ley!" Which means that our area is the bomb dot com. That always feels good to hear :) The only real struggle is that people don`t like to make commitments, or keep them. So getting them to church is hard. But they love learning, and I love helping them understand the truthfulness of the gospel. I just hope that the Lord can keep leading us to the people who are truly ready to accept Christ in their lives. And sometimes we don`t even know when they`re ready. We taught one lady this week who, at first seemed super unpositive. She was making lots of excuses about how she couldn`t go to church, but she received us in her house. Then we talked about the restoration, and when we compared Joseph Smith`s search for the truth to her own personal curiosity, her eyes lit up. And suddenly she was interested, and the Spirit was so strong. It was so beautiful, and that`s the kind of thing the gospel can do. Light eyes and fill holes we didn`t even realize were missing. 

Something sad and happy is the Pte and Hermana Collado are going home. They've finished their three years and we`ve gotten our new mission president! His name is Pte. Poncio, and we get to meet him this Wednesday in a multizona. I`m so sad to see the Collados leave, but I`m thrilled to meet our new mission president and see what kind of new miracles we can receive here in Nicaragua :)

This week, I`ve been studying a lot about faith. I`ve started Personal Progress over (in Spanish), and I`ve been reading all the scriptures and studying on what it truly means to have faith. And especially how to apply it. This week was particularly hard because we worked so hard this week and none of our investigators came to church. I was feeling a little discouraged, then I remembered a story I heard somewhere. There was a man, and the Lord told the man to push a giant boulder. He pushed on it, all day, every day, for a long time. But it never moved. Then one day, the man got mad. And the Lord told him, "I told you to push the rock. I didn`t say it would move." And he points out how much stronger he is, and all the things he`s gained from his years pushing on a rock. And that`s what faith is. Even when it seems completely pointless, it`s being obedient and keeping the commandments because we trust in the Lord`s plan for us. And that`s helped me out a lot this week. We get discouraged because we don`t move the rock, but if we remember that we were just asked to push it, it gets a little easier to just keep going, and to keep building those muscles :) Hebrews 10:35-36 is also a great scripture.

I love you all so much. Thanks for everything, and I hope you have a great week!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

Ps...lots of fotos. You`re welcome.

P.P.S. Happy 4th of July! (sorry, we don`t really celebrate it here, but I feel the national pride in my heart :))

Pics.

1. Me And my comp a couple weeks ago at our last multizona with Pte Collado...finally you get to see her!

2. Me with Pte/Hna Collado and their kids...so sad to say goodbye ;(

3. Straightened my hair...holla

4. A few members of the branch Nagarote!

5. Just a selfie of the day...in pants

Sarah and New Comp

Sarah and President and Sister Collado and family

Straight Hair!

Some members of the branch

In pants!