Monday, June 27, 2016

el 27 de junio

these are the promised pictures from last week. sorry there are two options for cybers, and one doesn't like to read my camera's memory card.

first, the picture of my two zone leaders. as prescribed in the missionary handbook our zone leaders come and do divisions with us every couple of weeks. small zone, the shorter the cycle in between visits. this time, we went and visited celeste, a recent convert, and we had planned to read the book of mormon with her. now let's think. we are in nicaragua. the nicaraguans speak spanish. and the latin missionaries learn english, and are encouraged to read the book of mormon allowed. so one elder pulls out his english book of mormon, and while we took turns reading, he followed along in english the best he could... it was quite the show, really.


the next two are pictures from cutting down mamones. they are a sour fruit, about the texture of a soft grape. you open the carcuss and then put the whole pinkish/orange seed in your month. you peel away the meaty, juicy part and spit out the seed. yummm... we helped a couple of converts cut them down with huge bamboo stick with a hook on the end. fun!


the last one is a crazy picture of my companion. she fell asleep on the chair, and so she got a picture taken of. fair game.

lots of love
hermana graves

her letter for this week

my favorite scripture this week was something that as a little hard to swallow actually. in this point, the missouri saints are suffering great tribulations from the government and the leadership had traveled to kirkland to inquire of the prophet what the lord would have them do. joseph received these words in response, and they are a level five machete for obedience....


doctrine and covenants 101:2-9
I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them, where with they have been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions; Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels. Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified. Behold, I say unto you, there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore by these things they polluted their inheritances. They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble. In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me. Verily I say unto you, notwithstanding their sins, my bowels are filled with compassion towards them. I will not utterly cast them off; and in the day of wrath I will remember mercy.

i am absolutely in love with hermana paola. every once in a while, as a missionary you reach the need of change in your diet. having changes every three months would be great; a new lunch appointment, new contacts. but since i have been here for four months, and i only have three weeks left... there weren't a lot of options. because we moved houses, we had to find a lunch appointment a little bit closer to the house, and we found a sister willing to do so. paola cooked for the missionaries before, and is sent from heaven. i eat the whole plate every day. there goes the ten pounds i lost since coming here! this plate was probably my favorite, because it reminded me of my mom's potato cheese soup. almost exactly on the nail!


these week was a little temper mental the weather, and i was able to capture the sky before the heavens opened up and it started to pour!

proof for mom and aunt stephanie that i learned how to put my hair up nice. look how light it's gotten too! (ps steph, i will need a layer trim when i get back!)


the worst part about dying as a missionary is your last zone meeting. you get to share your testimony for the last time, and you then get picked on the whole...zone...meeting. since i am one of the two sisters in the zone, the elders took their fair swing at all the bad "dying" jokes that you can think of. they made a nice little tomb for me and everything. i also included a picture of the last district... hermana vasquez and i, elder lopez and elder carbajal (zone leaders), elder patzan and elder coc (la borgona). 



the last pictures of little sophia. in each area, i have met a little sophia that has become close to my heart. this little sophia is the granddaughter of my old lunch appointment who is very close to my heart. sophia's mom, juli, is about three years younger than i am, and has become a closer friend. sophia has a fascination with my plaque, and just my plaque!, so we had to take a memorial picture.


sunday we had a sacrament meeting talking about the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy. as missionaries, you get really good a listening and doodling at the same time, so i included yesterday's doodle as well. 

with all my love,
hermana graves

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