Tuesday, July 28, 2015

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!



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