Another week in Nicaragua

So I´m out of time this week but it´s been pretty slow anyways. Everyone´s started the Christmas fiestas, haha. Lots of lights and decorating and parties. Christmas here is basically the same, but lots more Catholic statues of Christ and the Virgin Mary. The norm.

I´ve been falling in love with teaching, and just helping people understand the Restoration and the Plan of Salvacion. Especially the Restoration. Just going over it over and over again really helps me understand it better and gain a testimony of how much God loves us, and how inspired everything about the Book of Mormon, the Restoration, and everything is. I love it so much. I also read 2 Nephi 9 this week in my studies, and It was so powerful. I hope you all get a chance to read it and ponder it. It´s kind of long, and it covers a LOT, but take it piece by piece, and it´s a really beautiful and wonderful chapter of the Book of Mormon. 

 

We had an interesting experience this week. We were looking for a reference, and we contacted a house to ask for directions. My companion said, "Sorry to bother you sir, but..." and he´s just like "No, it´s no bother, the word of God is always welcome." and went inside to pull out chairs. We´re just like, well cool. Guess he was ready for us, haha. Turns out he was very very drunk, and basically cried and told us that he was struggling to stop drinking, and that we were his angels sent to save him. We said a few things, gave him a pamphlet, and promised to come back later when he wasn´t drunk so we could actually teach him a lesson. But we went back and he was asleep, and we haven´t been able to visit him since. But we felt in the moment we contacted him that we were supposed to meet him. He turned out to be the brother of the person we were looking for, and so we´re definitely going back again. The Lord definitely knows how to guide us when we´re working under his authority. I´m so glad to have this opportunity to help his children learn about the plan he has for each one of us.
I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving, and I hope your preparations for Christmas go smoothly, and remember to keep Christ in Christmas :) I love you all, feliz semana!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

Eating interesting foods

Hola todos! We went to Estelí today, and this week was pretty slow, so this´ll be a pretty short letter. Just more walking, talking to people, teaching, getting to know this massive area. I´ve also got a picture this week! I´m not sure how good the quality is, since for some reason my camera is only taking blurry pictures.

I got to give a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday. I didn´t know about it until 7 am that morning, with church starting at 9. And I didn´t have time to prepare anything, since we had to run around to bring investigators to church. I also didn´t have a topic. So I just picked a couple of related Liahona articles I had found in my search of cool things in old Liahonas. I based it off of "Living with Real Intent" from this October, and just talked about how we need to always have a goal in mind, to keep an eternal perspective, and never stop doing good things of our own free will. I felt the Spirit so strongly, and I knew that the Spirit guided me to know what to say. I urged all of the members to go to the temple, because there´s a trip to Honduras in the district at the beginning of December. Not many are planning on going, and I just urged them with all my heart to go. Because I´m so beyond jealous that they can go to the temple, and I´m over here dying because I want to go so bad and have to wait another year. It´s so far, an 8 hour bus ride, but I´d hop right on that thing if I could. I can´t wait until I can go to the temple again ;) Please treasure that wonderful sacred building. Go as often as you can. Go for me, haha.

 

So also, I ate chicken heart. I didn´t know what it was at first. It´s called Titile, or Piedra. It´s a part of the chicken´s chest cavity, including cartilage and part of it´s heart. They wouldn´t tell me what it was, it looked like some kind of sea food, but I ate it and it was pretty good. Then I learned later what it was. First time I´ve ever eaten anything crazy over here ;) The people are pretty tame with their food, but they eat all of the animal. They don´t understand why we throw their organs away, haha. 

So yeah. I hope you all have an excellent week. Strive for the temple! Keep the commandments! You´ll be so blessed if you do, I promise! That´s really the secret to life. I know it is.

Att. Hermana Oliphant

First week en Sébaco!

This week´s been pretty exhausting. My area really is huge, and the entire city of Sébaco ours! Oh my first day we went up a really steep hill, and there was a gorgeous view of the valley. My comp turned to me and said, "Take a good look, Hermana." And I´m just like...why? Then she responds, "This is your area. The whole thing." And she now only has 3 weeks to show it all to me. But I´ve seriously been helped out by the Lord this week. I´m learning my area so fast. For those who know me, I´m not super good with self-navigation. And I was pretty worried, but I´ve been helped out so much this week, and it´s really strengthened my testimony of prayer and hardwork (and paying attention when we walk).

It´s also super different, because it´s a branch here instead of a ward. There´s about 50 faithful members, but they´re so great. Everyone here is so warm and loving and has accepted me like part of the family. I´m so excited to get to know it even better!

 

Something interesting is also that people are much more fascinated by the fact that I´m a chela, or white. People are always staring at me, as if they´ve never seen a gringa before, and all the little kids I´ve met are so fascinated with the fact that I can speak English. All of them. Back in Managua no one really cared, and so getting here and having little kids all over me going "Talk English! Talk English!" And asking me a bajillion questions is super cool, and kind of exhausting. I´ve never been interrogated so much in my life, haha. But they´re so cute. 

 

And my apartment is much bigger than our old room in Managua. Much bigger. I don´t have pictures of it yet, but I´ll get there. And we do have a shower, (but honestly I wouldn´t mind bucket showering, it´s kind of relaxing), but no one here really has a washing machine...so we hand wash all our own clothes. Which I also don´t really mind. I´ve been washing little batches in the morning throughout this week, since I brought a massive load of dirty clothes from Managua, and then this morning I finally got to washing everything else. And after 2 hours of scrubbing and rinsing and washing and wringing, I finished washing all my clothes. And when I was hanging them up to dry, the clothes line broke. Sooooo I went and rinsed everything off again. Exhausted, but hurrying to get the things that fell into my bucket of bleach (yeah I bleach my own whites). And as I went to hang everything up on our OTHER clothes line, that one broke too, again dumping all my wet clothes in the durt. So, frustrated, exhausted, and feeling a little feverish (I´m really bad at keeping hydrated), I dumped all my wet clothes in the pila(the thing we use to wash clothes, see picture) and went to take a nap, haha :) Hermana Méndez and I basically spent all day cleaning our apartment, but it smells super good now :) I enjoy the cleanness. 

 

I´ve been doing lots of reading on temple covenants and sealings (I´m not trunky I swear), and the more I read, the more I understand how important it is to strive for the temple. It really is the single most important thing we could do, is go to the temple to make those sacred covenants, and then keep them! Remember 2 Nefi 31:19-20. I´ve only got it in Spanish, so you´ll have to translate. "Y ahora bien, amados hermanos míos, después de haber entrado en esta estrecha y angosta senda(here it´s talking about baptism, but I think it can apply to temple covenants as well), quisiera preguntar si ya quedó hecho todo. He aquí, os digo que no; porque no habéis llegado hasta aquí sino por la palabra de Cristo, con fe inquebrantable en él, confiando integramente en los méritos de aquel que es poderoso para salvar. Por tanto, devéis seguir adelante con firmeza en Cristo, teniendo un fulgor perfecto de esperanza y amor por Dios y por todos los hombres. Por tanto, si marcháis adelante, deleitándoos en la palabra de Cristo, y perseveráis hasta el fin, he aquí, así dice el Padre: Tendréis la vida eterna." [19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.

 20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.]

Once we´ve made these covenants, we can´t quit! We´ve got to stay for dessert. Don´t just eat the salad and then say you´re good. We need to remember and keep these covenants that we´ve made, and then and only then can we have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.

 

So that´s about all for this week. I´ll attach some of the fotos of me and Hermana Palencia running around saying goodbye to everyone last week. I hope you all have an excellent week, and read your scriptures. It´s the small things that make all the difference. I love you all, and I hope you all have an awesome week!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

final selfies

final selfies as companions

La Familia Aguirre! We reactivated them and baptized their niece Adela, and they´re still going strong! I´m going to miss them so much.

Jefferson. He´s 18, and less active. We´ve been visiting with him trying to get him back to church, and we got pretty close. He´s my bud. He even speaks a little English, haha. I´mma miss him too :)

La Familia Paredez! He´s in the stake Presidency in Villa Flor, and his wife and daughter. And Elián, his nephew, who got baptized earlier this year, and he´s super excited to get the priesthood!

Hermana Mayra, her daughter in law, and two of her grandkids. Her daughter in law isn´t a member, but we´ve been using the slow and steady method with her. But they´re a super cool family (the ones who fed us lunch every day and washed our clothes), and I´m definitely going to miss them :)

 

Changes have arrived!

Last zone activity in La 14

I´ve finally moved to a new area! It´s called Sébaco and it´s in the department of Matagalpa, in the zone Estelí. It´s actually pretty cool over here, which is so weird after 4 months of sweltering heat. But it´s so beautiful and I´ve fallen in love with my area. Which is good, because I have to get to know it really fast since my new companion, Hermana Mendez, is going home this next cambio. And this next cambio is only 4 weeks instead of 6 weeks so missionaries aren´t coming right during Christmas, so I´ve only got 4 weeks with her to learn this GIANT area, and all the people and everything. But I´m so excited. I´m so sad to leave behind all the wonderful friends I´ve made in La 14, but I know I´m here because the Lord wants me to be here, and I´ll go where He wants me to go. Por donde me mande, iré!

Also, they´re closing La 14. There´ll be Elders working in there de vez en cuando (now and then), but there aren´t missionaries assigned to the barrio (ward). I hate having to leave all of our investigators and recent converts, but Hermana Palencia is still close by in a neighboring area in the same zone, so she can go visit our investigators and keep them animados! I know they´ll all be alright. We have some awesome members in that ward, and they´ll keep the work going, for sure.

 

In my last week in La 14, I just had some awesome experiences. I got to feel the Spirit work through me when I open my mouth. It´s exhilarating to start talking and just feel the words flow so effortlessly and perfectly with a peace and Spirit that practically screams that it´s the Lord talking. It´s such an honor to be able to be his mouthpiece to these people, to be able to help and guide these lovely people in a camino (way) that will lead them to true happiness. I just saw so many small miracles this week because I listened to the Spirit. One of the great things about being on a mission is learning to word hard, of course, even when you don´t want to, but also learning how to recognize and follow the promptings of the Spirit. You don´t always see the results of that decision immediately, but when you do it feels like a slap in the face when you realize that, wow, that´s how it works.

 

Thanks for all your prayers and love and support. I can´t believe I already have 5 months on the mission! Almost a third of my mission. I´ve still got a year to go, but I´m so excited to learn and work and teach and baptize and reactivate these incredible people of Nicaragua!

Hasta la proxima!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

 

(If you want to see the church map to get an idea of where Sarah is at, click here.)

Hola todos!!

So this week has been a little slow, but we´re still working hard! It went by so fast because we went on a LOT of divisions, or intercambios...or exchanges. Not sure how to say it in english. But lots of traveling around, and it´s always fun to work in other areas to meet new people.

We had a super awesome ward council meeting this week, and we´ve got so many plans for bringing less actives back to church and inviting new people to investigate the church, and it was just so fun to see the ward council actively involved in the missionary work. Because after being here, I realized just how much we depend on the members to get anything done. The whole ward is responsible for the missionary work, not just the full time missionaries. It helps us out so much when we have people excited about it, and it´s made me want to be a better member missionary when I get back home :) We´ll see how that goes, haha. But really, I just never want to stop contributing to the edificación de la iglesia!

 

Today was also really fun because we had a zone activity for the last p-day of the cambio (transfer period). Lots of running around buying things to make cake, and then lots of getting wet with water balloons! And sack racing and getting sunburnt and nica cake! And chips and coke for lunch. The best. I´ll see if I can throw in some pictures for you guys :) It might take until next week...sorry. 

 

My spiritual thought. I just went back and reread all of the general conference talks from April of this year, and I loved the talk by Elder L. Whitney Clayton. There was one part that really stuck out to me near the end. I don´t remember it word for word, but it was basically talking about how we don´t choose to believe any more than we choose to pray or pay tithing. Having faith is a choice, and a choice we need to make for the rest of our lives.

 

Sometimes it´s hard to have faith in the midst of doubts. But if we just remember Pres. Uchtdorf´s advice to doubt our doubts before our faith, and choose to have faith even when it seems everything is telling you not to, we´ll be blessed with the reassurance and a testimony. God has promised this to us. I just hope you all can press forward in your faith, even when there are doubts, because we will never cease to have these doubts. It happens. But what matters most is how we respond to these, and we are so blessed when we choose to actively pursue this faith that we desire. 

I love you all, and have a fabulous week!

Love, Hermana Oliphant

Hola todos!

I was totally about to start writing this letter in Spanish...the transition is really hard sometimes.

This week has been really really slow. We`re trying to find new investigators, and work really really hard to get them to come to church and progress. Or, read the scriptures and their assignments and pray. We`re trying, but it`s still hard. It never gets easy. Once you figure out how to be a missionary, and learn the language, you just understand even more how hard it is to help people gain a testimony of this gospel. They need to be ready, and you need to do all you possibly can to help them feel the Spirit. But when you find that pair, it`s so worth it. Even though it`s hard in so many ways that I`d ever thought it would be, I wouldn`t want to be anywhere else. I`ve felt the Spirit confirm to me so many times that I NEED to be here. Not only for what I have the potential to do here, but for all the ways I`m learning and growing here. I needed this so badly, and I`m so grateful for every second I`ve been able to spend here in Nicaragua, serving the Lord, and working and teaching in His name.

We had a visit from Elder Snow of the Seventy, Elder Alonzo of the Seventy also (area Seventy) and Brother Turley. Elder Snow and Brother Turley are the historians of the church, and Elder Alonzo is one of our area seventies here in Central America. They had a devotional/meeting with all of us missionaries in Nicaragua this Saturday and it was so good. I also loved listening to their wives talk, and I just love the Spirit these representatives of the Lord and the church bring. It`s such a privilege to hear from these general authorities :) They talked a lot about missionary work, obviously, and how we need to treasure this time, and record it! I`m starting to get a little lazy about my journal entries, but I`m determined to fix it.

My Spiritual thought. There`s a general conference talk from April of 2015 by Elder Christofferson that I loved. "Why Marriage, Why Family" I just love these talks. They always explain the plan of salvation, and the divine role that marriage plays in this plan. I love the understanding I receive from these talks. My favorite part is a quote from a Christian martyr from the early 1900`s named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He wrote in a letter to his niece, talking about marriage, "Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal--it is a status, an office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and man...So love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God." I just love that. I love that peace that comes from the understanding that marriage isn`t to please us. It is a divinely instituted part of the plan of salvation, and nothing else can change that, no matter what anyone says. 

Stay true to your testimonies of the gospel, and always remember that the words of the living prophets and apostles mean more to us than the words of dead prophets. They are here for us personally, and they will never lead us astray. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your fears, and you will receive a testimony. I promise you that. It`s happened to me several times in my life, and on my mission. We all need a little reminder every now and then ;)

I love you all. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts and kind words. Remember your faith, and where it came from, and keep an eternal perspective. Have a great week!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

And Yet Another Week

This week felt super slow and super fast at the same time...I don´t know how that happens! :)

But this week was pretty good. We´re having some problems finding people, but that´s how it goes, right? We´re working hard to help our investigators feel the Spirit and keep their commitments! Because if they´re not keeping commitments with us, they won´t keep them with God. And that´s something we´re really working on helping them understand. But we do have some new families that we´re so excited about. They have some real potential, and I know that they can truly find the answer to their questions if they´re willing to put their part.

We also have a couple of less active young men that we´ve been visiting with. Since I got here. They´re both struggling hard core with their testimonies and bad influences. We´ve been trying to help them for months to no avail. But finally this week, in both of them, I saw a change in their eyes. They had actually done the reading we assigned them. And you could tell. We´re still trying to get them to church, but it´s something. Just like a story in the Liahona from a while ago called "The Rescue of the Hummingbird" (or "Hummingbird Rescue". Sorry, it´s in Spanish) By William Hoggan. I´m not sure which issue, but read it. In all your efforts to bring your friends to the church or to bring them back, never discount a single thing you do for them, because it´s making a difference. That´s what the Spirit does. That´s how the Lord works. Sometimes he works big miracles, but not often. Pray for them. Share your testimony or a scripture with them. Help out the missionaries ;) But seriously, you have no idea how much of a difference you can make just by sharing your testimony. Every little drop of sugar water is saving that hummingbird. You just can´t tell until it wakes up again. Never lose faith, and never get stressed or worried or afraid for them. That gets rid of love, and the Spirit, too. (vease también, 1 John 4:18)

I hope you all can do your part to also make the Sabbath a delight, filled only with the things that help you draw nearer unto God and that help you feel the Spirit.

Feliz semana! Los quiero un montón. Gracias por todo!

Att. Hermana Oliphant

We made cake today for Hna Hatt´s birthday! (Nica style...without measuring utinsels. Or hot pads. Pouring oil in a waterbottle to measure it. You know.)

Cute little pastries from a baby shower this week (homemade!)

Birthday selfies!