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    

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!

New Week

Hey everyone!

Sorry for not writing next week, even though I actually did. Apparently there was some kind of mix up in the system and none of my emails and pictures sent. But the main news is that last Sunday we had a baptism! He`s 17, and so great. Just yesterday he received the Aaronic priesthood and is now a priest! He`s going to bless the sacrament next Sunday, and we`re all excited :)

We also got to listen to President and Hna Collado in a Multizone meeting. It was fabulous, as always. I learned so much that I`m so excited to put in to practice :)

I`m kind of in a hurry this week, but I just wanted to share some scriptures that I loved from my scripture study this week in Alma 29.

 6 Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called? //
 9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

What was his joy? Being able to bring souls unto God. And if we keep this eternal perspective in our minds, we should have no other desire. I`m so grateful for this opportunity I have to be here, to teach and be taught by these lovely souls here in Nicaragua. I hope all of you can find ways to be missionaries this week, whether full time or part time, it`s really the best.

I love you all!

Hermana Oliphant

Missionaries with Bryan Joven, a member who works with them preparing for a mission

Cute selfie pic

Scriptures Rock!

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for being on so late again...this is the last week! If I haven`t explained exactly why I`ve been going to Managua so much...sorry. It`s not a secret, haha. We just had another charla with a general authority today, and me and my comp were in the choir. So we went down every pday this month, basically. But now we`re free! The charla/conference was so great, though. Elder Craig C. Christensen of the seventy came down, and he actually speaks Spanish! His wife too. So we listened to them, a member of the area presidency, Pte. Alonzo, and his wife, and then the mission presidents for both the missions and their wives. It was such a lovely incredible experience. I always just feel the Spirit so strongly, and I just have this overwhelming urge to get out and go teach! It`s so nice to be able to hear so much from these general authorities, and get first-hand advice from these incredible people. Lots of excellent notes, and lots of things to put into practice :)

We`re kind of tired...so I`m not going to write much. This week has basically just been a week of working our tails off, trying to improve and share the gospel. Lots of self-reflection for me. Looking at the things I`m not doing well and need to change to be a better servant of the Lord. It`s been incredible, though. Putting more emphasis on my personal study has made such a difference. Go figure, haha ;)

My spiritual thought is from the Book of Mormon :) I read a verse in my personal study yesterday that really stood out to me. It`s in 1 Nephi 17.
 13 And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led.

What really stood out to me was where it says "inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led toward the promised land." In Spanish it translates a little differently. "...al grado que guardèis mis mandamientos, serèis conducidos hacia la tierra prometida." "Al grado" basically means something along the lines of "to the level." So I read "to the level of which you keep my commandments, you`ll be led to the promised land." So basically, the level of diligence we put into keeping the commandments is the level of guidance we`re going to receive from our Heavenly Father. If we want a lot of help, we need to be really diligent ;) Because we all receive blessings according to the commandments we keep. If we keep some, but not others, we receive a few blessings according to the ones we`re already keeping. But if we want ALL the blessings...we need to keep ALL the commandments. So if I want to be a great missionary, I need to be really dilligent in being exactly obedient ;) Kind of crazy how that works, right? I really do love this scripture, though. And the promise. He WILL lead us to the promise land. But after a period of trial. But once we reach this promised land, we`ll know that it was him who led us there. We`ll see his hand in our life if we just look. Never lose the faith. I know for sure that this promise is true for all of us :)

I love you all so much! I`ll send pictures next week, I actually have some...haha. Just keep reading them scriptures and keeping the Sabbath day holy...seriously. It helps. Just do it.

Feliz semana!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo!

Companions at mission Christmas Party

So, I apologize for my lack of emails these past couple weeks. Lots of traveling and craziness, so I haven`t had time to hop on the computer to tell y`all about my week :) But it has been an excellent Christmas time here in Sèbaco. Lots of food, miracles, rejections, presents, and happiness here in Nicaragua. Last Monday we had our mission Christmas party, and that was a blast to see all my friends and have a party. With President Collados permission and presence, we watched Minions, and we had a talent show. It was so fun, we laughed so hard, and just had a great time. And as our Christmas gift, they gave us a fruit basket of giant apples and grapes. It may not seem much to you, but those things are EXPENSIVE here, and I haven`t had a delicious apple in forever. Needless to say I`ve never been so excited to see an apple before in my life.

Sarah and Hermana Near on Christmas Day

This week we saw so many miracles! Found lots of people, but even though lots of them rejected or lied to us, we found our miracle family. It happened on accident because I needed to repare my shoes. Long story short, we ended up at their house and we taught them and the Spirit was so strong. We came back other days with members and the Spirit is just so powerful every time we`re there. They keep asking when we`ll come back, they have questions, they want to learn. They`re so fantastic, and they even came to church yesterday! It was a miracle that we got both of them, because he left for work because he said he had to. But he ended up talking to his boss and coming back, and he came for the first hour and we all crowded on a mototaxi and even got there before sacrament started and it was so great. Our literal Christmas miracle :) We`re going back with them after we finish up here, and I hope that they read the Book of Mormon together, and that they`ll ending up making the decision to be baptized.

Member family that hosted the missionaries on Christmas

For my spiritual thought, I wanted to share a part of 2 Nephi 26.
 23 For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness.

shadow posing

 24 He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.
 25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.
 26 Behold, hath he commanded any that they should depart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.
 27 Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance.
 28 Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.
I love this scripture. We are so loved, and we can`t even imagine it. Our father loves us so much that he gave his so that we could ALL participate of his salvation, and none of us are denied. We deny ourselves by not learning to live by his celestial standards. He gives us commandments, calls prophets, requires us to walk by faith, all for our benefit. He does EVERYTHING just for us. We are his purpose, just like it says in Moses.

Alright, time to go. But I hope you all have an excellent new year, and that you all write up some resolutions to go share the gospel! Ain`t no better joy ;) Okay. I love you all, have a great week!

Hermana Oliphant

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