el 27 de Julio

this week... i will apologize in advance. there will be no photos 
until next week. i forgot to bring me adapter for my memory 
card! whoops!

this week was different. celebrating a birthday in the mission is 

the weirdest thing, because there is no cake, no presents wrapped 

in bows or wrapping paper, and no family. but then you have 

some gems like maria, ana maria and maryuri, who love you, and 

it makes it a little bit better! maria, ana maria, and maryuri are 

grandma, mom, and daughter, respectively. maryuri has the same 

birthday as me, and amidst the torrential downpour outside, maria 

and ana maria prepared a birthday lunch, almost exactly like one 

from hermana gladiz's kitchen. i'll sent a picture next week! i 

decided to share the gummy bears i got in my birthday package, 

because who needs five pounds of gummy bears to themselves? 

not me! turns out that gummy bears are a relatively new thing to 

nicas, and it was a lot of fun to introduce them to Lisbeth, Teresa, 

Geovanny, and Moises. 

something that we are really struggling with is our companionship, 

so if you could include us in your prayers, that could be of a lot 

of help.

a sweet tender mercy? rain for my birthday. i know that sounds 

weird, but it reminded me that even when the weather is hard, 

and the streets are full of water and trash, i can still have a smile 

on my face, because i am the lord's servant. rain or shine, the work 

goes on, and there is no other option. the storm was really bad, 

and reminded me a lot of the thunderstorms we have in tennessee 

in the spring. i will miss another spring in tennessee, but the summer 

storms are almost as wonderful. it reminds me of the primary song,

:i like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain and ponder on the 

beauty of an earth made clean again. i want my life to be as clean as 

earth right after rain.
i want to be the best i can and live with god again.::

i want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain. there is no other 

better smell than the air after a good rain. the rain brings turmoil, but 

the calm after the storm is always the most comforting.

some goals... do the laundry today! and not have to work about it 

tomorrow, or during the week. also serve my companion. change the 

way i think to make it a more positive companionship and develop that 

christlike attribute of charity and love. 

i love you all more than words!

hermana graves

el 20 de Julio

this week was a rollercoaster. friday i got sick, with one of those 

moments that you just want to curl up in a ball, and never move. 

but the thought of curling up in a ball is painful, and it was just 

awful. i took some pepto bismol and some tums to help relieve 

the pressure in my stomach, but it just got worse and by lunch-

time i was in tears from the pain. i called the enfermera (or the 

mission nurse) and she prescribed me some drugs to buy at the 

pharmacy. they didn't immediately take away the pain, but they 

definitely helped! by saturday afternoon, i was in one piece again, 

ready to go to work. 

our biggest challenge continues to be bringing six people to 

church. this sunday we can blame a nationwide party in 

managua for the foundation day of one of their policital parties. 

the political party pays for the gas so that the buses can bring 

people to managua. starting saturday night, every two hours of

 so, a train of buses left for managua to gather, so that sunday 

afternoon they could be present when the president spoke. can

i tell you how frustrating it is, and how spiritually devestating it 

is to only bring two people to church when another set of 

missionaries brought 14?! yeah, it's very humbling. and my

 investigators aren't going to know what hit them when the

 machete drops this week. 

our goals for this week: work with the members.

a favorite person: the sweet enfermera who was calm, when i was 

in pain. she sent me a message with the drugs names, because 

there was no hope of me writing the names down correctly.

a sweet moment this week... yesterday i was sitting in sacrament 

meeting in the middle of four little kids, a recent convert and his 

brother, and our two investigators. they are only ten years old, 

so it was difficult for them to pay attention, so i handed them 

my gospel principles book and for the strength of youth so that 

they could look at the pictures. one of our investigators, about 

five minutes later, asked me "hermana, que es este?" which is 

spanish for "sister, what is this?" which pointing to a picture 

of the salt lake temple. i quietly explained that it was a temple, 

a sacred place that she could enter when she was baptized. 

she sweetly asked me for the book so that she could have the 

picture. i told her that it was my book, but if she would like, 

i could give her another picture of the same temple for her 

own. sweet little girl, wants to be baptized but a mother who 

baptized her catholic, doesn't want to let her get baptized 

again. prayers?

speaking of prayers... it's something we do about ten bajillion 

times a day. and i was reading today in luke, about the last 

supper. the Lord turns to simon peter and says, 

::but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when 
thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.::

the lord has prayed for us, that we may be strong. and 

have the strength one day, to lift another. 

food for thought.

lots of love, 

hermana graves

our district!

elder agustin (guatemala, district leader), 

elder jungers (california)

hermana day (idaho), hermana quezda (el salvador); 

hermana martinez (el salvador) and me; 

hermana suret (guatemala), hermana mejia (guatemala)

Here are some pictures of Janelle's apartment

in Granada, Nicaragua

a real shower!

el 13 de Julio

woo! another week, really? sitting down, thinking about all the 

adventures i have had, i can see where all the time is going, but at 

the same time, yikes! slow down already!

a big success... getting over an upset tummy. this week, just for a 

couple of days, i got a little rumblies in my tumblies, and thanks to 

some good ol' pepto bismol and some tums, i am back on track. 

no fever, need to worry.

our biggest challenge... sunday night we had to have 12 lessons with 

investigators, 8 lessons with converts or less actives, and 40 contacts 

to complete with the standards of excellency. and what did we do? 

completed with almost all of our lessons, all of our contacts, and 

almost all of our recent converts. here, after nine oclock, everyone is 

in bed, doors closed and ready for bed... so it's kind of hard to find 

converts to talk with... and do you want to know why we were so in 

the pit with numbers? because we had a multi-zone meeting!

thursday we woke up at 4:30am, travelled an hour in a bus to get to 
managua, and spent all day with President and Sister Russell, learning 
and practicing, and doing a lot of listening. we even got special 
permission to watch Meet the Mormons in Spanish! i almost
 understood all of it, but thanks to having seen it two times before in 
the MTC, i had a basic understand of what was going on... of course, 
photos had to be taken, because i saw sister garfield!

here, we dress up real nice for activities like that, so of course i had 

to wear my $1 skirt, and my new shirt!

i also received my medallion, which certifies that i successfully 

completed my training as a missionary, almost three months late, 

but we won't talk about that.

a tender mercy... this week we found a brother of an investigator 

with lots of desires to learn and understand the church. he came to 

church, and was a little confused because the speakers got a little 

baptist-preacher like, but we ended up having a great discussion 

afterwards, and he is now on the path for a baptism the eighth of 

august!

my favorite person this week, would be my mother. she taught me 

so many wonderful things in my childhood, and i am so glad that i 

was able to be born into a home where the gospel is so intertwined

 into everything. there is no other way to live the gospel... 

it's a way of life.

::For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that 

humbleth himself shall be exalted.:: 

something that i am working always to do, is to emmulate more the 

attribute of christ. i am, after all, his representative, and i need to be 

more like him in every way. him that is humble will be exalted, and 

those who stand tall in pride, will be struck down and humbled 

forcefully.

i love you all, thank you all for your support!

hermana martinez and i send our love!

​the tennessee hermana

el 6 de Julio

this week was a very humbling one. we have a set of
standards that we are expected to complete, and one of the 
those is bringing six investigators to church. i don't want to 
sound proud, but sometimes i feel like we as missionaries 
here have a higher set of standards than the missionaries in 
the states. they have their own set of problems, i know, but 
looking through some of my other friends' emails, it makes 
me feel proud to be here in nicaragua working as hard as i 
do. this week was humbling because we only had two people 
at church. of the 25 people we normally have committed to 
come, i am used to bringing at least 6 (if not 8) people to 
church. we literally rang the bell to bring two. it was literally 
extremely humbling to realize that although we can work all 
week long, and we can fight to have them come, sunday 
morning and afternoon really is a magnifying glass 
underneath the sun. being rejected on the doorstep with 
taxi money in hand  is very, very discouraging. especially
 because for some people, "next sunday" never comes. 

my agenda this transfer has a picture of the temple on it, a 

constant reminder that my work here in nicaragua isn't 
complete until these members enter into the temple and 
make their own temple covenants with the Lord. one sister 
here has been fighting to make it to the temple for over 15 
years, and this august will be making the trip to costa rica to 
surprise her son and daughter-in-law, and go through the 
temple. it's so amazing to see the joy that she has, when she 
thinks of that goal that is almost here. 

a big success was finally finding out what was keeping us from 

shifting gears together. sorry for the metaphors this week, they 

don't really translate very well into spanish sometimes... working 

with some leaders, sister martinez and i worked through some 

problems we were having, and now we are back at square one, 

ready to leave the blocks together.

this week's scripture is found in both doctrine and covenants 

15:4-6, and the following section (word for word) in 16:4-6...

::For many times you have desired of me to know that which 

would be of the most worth unto you. Behold, blessed are you 

for this thing, and for speaking my words which I have given 

you according to my commandments. And now, behold, I say 

unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto 

you will be to declare repentance unto  this people, that you 

may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with 

them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.::

many times i have asked the lord what my purpose, why i am 

here in this specific area, and this scripture gave me the comfort 

to know that my purpose here is the same in every area, preach 

the gospel of repentance to the lost and fallen sheep.

this week we are planning on focusing our studies on being
more and more unified, teaching with the power and authority 
of our holy calling.

and because it was the fourth of july, of course i had to wear 

red, white and blue. and of course with the stars and stripes! 
one of my zone leaders  is from LA, so he called me and wished 
me a happy independence day. the people here (this could 
sound bad) but didn't really care that it was any other day than 
a saturday. and that's okay with me. we will just have to have a 
grand party a couple days late next year!

one year from today, i will be sitting with the other sisters and 

elders in  the mission home, wondering what i am going to do 

without my plaque and authority to preach the gospel. but not 

to worry, i still have lots of time to work and play here!

lots of love, hermana graves

el 29 de Junio

welcome to the land of the catholics!

this week was one of the easier changes in my misson; the
change from loma linda to pancasan, however, was not as 
easy. tuesday afternoon was full of goodbyes, and hurrying 
to run from one end of town to the other to say goodbye to 
members, converts, and still try and fit in the things that we 
have to do normally. the hardest goodbyes were with elizabeth, 
andy and emily. i made emily a little missionary plaque so that 
she can remember to always help bring her less active parents 
to church. to prepare one day to be a missionary when she will 
have to walk a lot further to bring a whole lot more people to 
church. 

so this is hermana martinez, my new companion! 
(note from Mom: the picture didn't load)

she is only a few months older than me (better than my other 
companions, who were 24 and 22, respectively) and is from San 
Salvador, El Salvador. for those of you who don't know where 
that is, you're with me. i have long ago forgotten my mental map 
of central america that i memorized in high school spanish class. 
hermana martinez was actually the mtc companion of hermana 

gomez, which makes her the third of about 6 sisters from that 
group that i have been companions with... what a treat!

​this is about how all of the main streets are here in granada...
house, house, house, huge catholic church, rich house, house, 
house, huge rich house. the more neighborhood like roads, 
are still rather rich, although they are a little bit more humble. 
i miss my loma linda houses of metal. the opportunity to 
change places and learn a new set of tricks is something that i 
was almost anticipating, but actually being here was almost a 
dream for the first couple of nights. but here we are! a new set 
of friends, and a whole new set of challenges. the streets here are 
flat (hallelujah!) and so, my long lost friends, the calluses, are back 
in full force. thanks to an early birthday present, i have some saving 
graces, but here's to high hopes that they heal faster than last time.

a great scripture for this week... let's go with mark 2:17
::When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have 
no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call 
the righteous, but sinners to repentance.:: the lord came to help us 
all, because all of us in one form or another are that sick and 
afflicted. the sinners are the ones invited to come unto him, and 
follow him. the righteous will have their reward.

some new foods this week include beet lemonade. it was very
interesting, and something that i haven't quite made up my mind 
about yet.... a work in progress.

this week has been a whirlwind of new experiences, a tiny little church
building, like the stereotypical central american church building (fans 
attached to the walls to provide some reprieve from the heat, an 
electric piano, and only about four classrooms in total). a new branch 
president, who is very ready and willing to retain the new members of 
the church. we are working right now on our SIMY (i don't know what it 
stands for, i just know that it's the converts of the last 18 months who 
came to church), because it's seriously lacking... here we go to work!

hermana graves

el 22 de Junio

our greatest success this week would have to be having 52
lessons with investigators, and 28 lessons with converts or 
less actives. (the standard here is 50 lessons with investigators  
and 28 lessons with less actives or converts. usually we hit 
right at the 50 and 28 mark, but this week, we surpassed it.

::a note about our daily work:: each day, we have to contact
24 people,  have 7 lessons with  investigators, 4 lessons with 
recent converts, and place a baptismal date with three people. 
that's each day. with about nine hours of work and one hour 
of break time. break that down into half hour segments into 
18 segments, and we have a full plate. but we get it all done, 
thanks to the good old man upstairs.

one thing that we are really working hard on right now, is our
retention of the new converts. latin america is famous for 
having a plentitude of baptisms, but far and in between is the 
member that once they are baptized, stays faithful all his life. 
we are working right now on making all things possible for the 
nicaragua managua south mission to have this success in 
retaining our converts; making sure all the lights are flashing 
green so that they make it to the right path.

a great tender mercy was finding gloria, a señorita who lives
alone with her oldest son and his children. we were out looking 
for a less active and we stopped to ask for directions (sounds like 
the start of a good country song, right?) and we ended up having 
a short lesson with her to introduce her to the church. we set a time 
to come back a couple of days later and her demeanor had changed. 
for the better. we found out that she is really worried about a family 
situation, and we promised her that this message would bring her 
peace and guidance. she accepted the invitation to be baptized, and 
made the promise to come to church two days later. we called her 
sunday morning and she was on her way to the church building. 
arriving with a friend! she felt the truth of the gospel light, and is 
already looking to help us with the missionary work.

my goals for this week include finding the gusto to do our morning
exercise more effectively. i love my morning stretches, but we 
should be doing more than a couple of yoga poses.... here's to good 

exercise!

this week a favorite scripture is in john 10:27

::My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me::

the lord has offered us sufficient comfort, if we are only willing to
come and follow him. all faith needs a little action.

my favorite person this week is hermana maria jose, who on short
notice allowed us to come into her home and make us food. 
hermana gladis has some family in town that doesn't like that she is 
still making  food for the missionaries (she's almost 80) and so we 
had to leave for a month while they are here. it's so weird not to 
see her and have a great ol' mama gladis hug every day!

but until next week, here is a picture of my zone!

i'm in the middle, with the yellow skirt. we are all matching
as companions, so it's easy to pick out who is with whom.

what could be my final picture with hermana gladis... tears!

until i write again, may the lord be with you

hermana graves​

el 15 de Junio

this week was an adventure, but all missionaries can testify, that it's always 
an adventure.

our biggest challenge this week was working through the rain. having the
spunk and the energy to work through torrential downpours is a little rough
on the soul, but we did it!

a big concern right now is that our teaching pool is really small, and we should
be working with more people than we are. this week will be almost pure new
investigators if we play our cards right!

a big success, helping michael make his dreams come true and get baptized
this week. also, helping roberto each day remember his promise to live the
 word of wisdom. we started out calling him each day, but by the end of the
week, he started calling us to let us know that he had stayed strong that day.
here come the baptismal waters! 

elder velasquez, the young men's president (kevin) and michael. an older
gentleman in the ward gave michael a tie, and we had to re-tie the dang
thing four times to get it to sit right. but he was soo excited for it!

my favorite person this week is president russell. we had the opportunity to
have an interview, and it was great to see the progress that i am making. it
was really hard to pray in english, and i ended up slipping into spanish in
the middle of the prayer. between the two of us, we had to think really hard
to talk in english. we looked at my numbers and talked about ways that i can
be a better companion. he thinks that i have a lot of potential to be a leader
 in the mission, and i simply told him that i am here to do the lord's work.
where he needs me, i will go. 

for a significant tender mercy, see the story above about roberto.

this week i am not looking forward to preparing to say goodbye. we find out
next tuesday if loma linda 1 will see any changes, and i really hope not. but
the feeling has been the same since i started this change, that my time is
coming to a close here in loma linda. give me two weeks and i will tell you
how close i really am to knowing myself.

the greatest scripture this week is one that has been on the back of my
planner for the past month. lucas 24:5-6

::Why seek ye the living among the dead?
He is not here, but is risen::

with the comment, seek him. 

at first, i thought it was talking about Christ, and really the intention is of that.
but it hit me with another application: our investigators. we search and search
and work and work to help people come unto Christ. but some seeds we aren't
meant to harvest. we are meant only to help them grow to a point. and like the
 parable of the forgotten harvest, to leave field for a while. why look for the
living investigators among those who aren't progressing. there aren't there,
but walk among another crowd, another field.

seek them. and we shall find.

hermana graves

el 08 de Junio

what a week, but one worthwhile.

we really struggled this week to manage our time well, and partly
due to the fact that douglas, who we will discuss later, lives in the 
other extreme of our area, and is like a wandering dog, not always 
in the house. and as part of it all, we have to visit our investigators 
each day the week before their baptism because the spirit of 
temptation is the strongest, so we chased the wandering dog each 
day and helped him find a home to stay in the Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints.

after sunday, we were really concerned about hermanos roberto
and veronica, a couple who are investigating the church. roberto 
has problems with alcohol, and for fifteen days he resisted all of 
the temptations to drink. but last sunday morning, all ready for 
church, he sat with liquor in his hands. so, saturday we gave him 
this: 

his personal calendar to count the coming 21 days to his baptismal
date. here, investigators have to attend church three times, and go 
for at least two weeks without alcohol or cigarettes before they can 
be baptized, hence the importance of the coming three weeks and 
his recovery from this addiction.​

another great success, would have to include helping this little
guy into the waters of baptism, as the pioneer of his family. his 
brother will be baptized next week, and his parents are starting 
to open up to listening to our message for themselves, so we 
may have a  wedding--baptism party again! (no Photo)

jose daniel and me, all ready for his confirmation the next day!
(picture didn't load from her)

a great tender mercy here is not having a fault of food. the
people here are humble, and also willing to share with us. they 
understand the principle that daniel taught, that if they share 
with the Lord's servants, they too will be blessed with the 
nourishment they need. this is usually what we receive for dinner:

eggs, rice, beans, and bread. something simple to show their
simple offering.

hermano neftali makes the list this week as favorite person,
because he cares enough to travel a great distance to travel 
another great distance to visit investigators. a great ward 
mission leader!

this week i did a little study about the cross that christ asks us
to take upon ourselves in matthew 10:38-39

::And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not
worthy of me. He who seeketh to find his life shall lose it: and he 
that sacrificeth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth 
you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that 
sent me.::

but what is this cross that we are asked to take? we read later in
matthew 16:24-26

::Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. And 
now for a man to take up his cross, is to deny himself all 
ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and keep my commandments. 
Break not my commandments for to save your lives; for whosoever 
will save his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come. And 
whosoever will lose his life in this world, for my sake, shall find it in 
the world to come. Therefore, forsake the world, and save your souls; 
for what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and  lose 
his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?::

take up our cross, deny yourself all ungodliness, keep the
commandments of the lord. 

and the next part is probably my favorite: break not my
commandments for to save your lives. for whosoever will save 
his life in this world, shall lose it in the world to come. 

the lord invites us to take upon us our own responsibility and
take action. our salvation is individual. 

james e. talmadge says

::a cross was a symbol of ignominy, extreme suffering, and death.
however, should they lose their lives for His sake, they would find 
life eternal.::

the lord's grand promise is life eternal. take up your cross, and
come to him.

hermana graves