el 8 de agosto del 2018

every once in a while, life comes running at you

and you get this funny feeling that you knew it was coming.

that's how i felt when i finally got my mission call.

it was a feeling that i didn't realize i was missing, but

one, that as soon as i felt it, knew i was looking for all along.

i was one of those people that didn't do research about my mission before setting off for the mtc.

i didn't even ask questions about what the mtc would be like. 

i decided to just go along for the ride, and let it take me where it would.

fast forward through the rollercoaster that was the mtc, 

and the first couple of weeks of my first "cambio" (or exchange) with my companion.

(for those of you who don't know, a mission is divided into sections, called exchanges,

usually six weeks long. every mission calls them something different, but 

being spanish-speaking, we called them cambios.)

my companion and i had had great success finding people to teach 

and helping people come unto christ. 

but i felt like we were lacking on something i felt like we, as missionaries,

should be taking a bigger effort to do: service for those in our area.

so we set off to an appointment one day, without really thinking too much about it.

andy, my precious andy, wasn't home, so we decided to spend some time

 meeting a few new people in the surrounding area.

we ended up behind a school not far from andy's home,

and i felt prompted to knock on a giant red door.

it was the only one on the whole street i felt like we should knock, too.

when i did, guess whose big, adorable black eyes answered the door?

andy.

andy had gone over to his grandma's house after school 

because she had been sick the last couple of days.

he would spend the afternoon in her company, 

before it got too dark and he couldn't make it back home safely.

when we got there, we spent some time with andy,

but something wasn't right. 

we felt the need to talk with andy's grandma and help her in her need.

as sister missionaries, we could only pray and ask in faith

that she would be healed, but there was something more we could do:

serve.

andy's grandma made a small comment about not being able to offer water

because all the cups and other possible cups were dirty.

that day was the day i learned the word traste,

the word the nicaraguans use to describe the dishes in general.

my companion and i spent an hour washing all of her dishes and putting them away with andy.

when we were done, she offered to make us jugo or refresco

but by then, we felt like our work there was done.

we excused ourselves, and went on our way.

little did i know, that andy's grandma was a less active member

and that andy had been begging her for months to come to church

(ever since he started taking the lessons, really).

the next sunday, guess who was sitting next to andy at church:

grandma.

in the remaining months i was there in loma linda,

grandma's health came and went. 

but andy never failed to come with grandma to church.

there are many times in my life, that i wonder what it would be like to go back to nicaragua

now that i have lived on my own again for two years.

a lot of things have changed, and a lot of things have not.

people would still view me as fachenta, or rich, because of my white female status.

i often dream though of yelling buenas over crude fences and doors of zinc.

of the smiles and cries and abrazos that would be inevitable when they recognized me.

i can't decided if i would want a party or just a few minutes at each home to catch up, pay my respects, and move on.

there really is no other way around it:

soy nica y nada me va a cambiar.

Leaving the MTC & Entering Nicaragua

no way is it february. and why do i say that? because it's literally 95 degrees here, every single day. all that has passed in a week and a half?                    

let's start with leaving the MTC:

leaving everyone behind was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

 

  saying good bye to the teachers. hermano ostler and hermano chambers. the best teachers they have at the MTC, if i had any say. they told me up front: the spanish you speak here is different from that spanish you will speak in your mission and i didn't understand how. but now I do. the nicaraguese use their tongues to speak, and drop the final s. no matter what they tell you in the US, it happens. sorry to burst that bubble.

these would be the one of the other hard things: saying good bye on sunday. elder muirbrook and elder jungers are my favorite companionship at the MTC. they just got it: your companion is your best friend, you have to love them and you get to love them and that's final. you might as well enjoy it. 

then of course, my favorite sister outside of my district: hermana nistler. she also just gets that we are here to do the Lord's work and this is His time. not ours anymore.

and then a picture of the district, where we all are acting ourselves for the most part...

ermana millett and hermana garcia, the other two sisters in the district c. got to show them some love.

an awful picture with the best branch presidency wife a sister could ask for. like really. hermana price is the best person for this calling. I LOVE her! she was such an amazing shoulder to cry on when i needed someone to talk to and my parents were too far away. love her to pieces.

this is where it all gets good: heading to nicaragua! four thirty in the morning report to the travel office. five fifteen, roll out of the parking lot to get to the airport. while unloading the truck of luggage, i heard "hermana graves" and there in a church van was Elder Graves. i screamed and waved, and said i was doing great. the lord knew i needed one last hug before i left for two years, so he let me hug my grandpa. he whipped around the circle again, i cried, he started crying, and then we took the world's worst selfie. then while checking in at the desk, i heard "there she is!" grandma was checking Sister Whitfield and her travel companions into the United terminal so that they could go home! the lord knew that i needed to talk to at least some family before i parted ways for the next 17 months. thank goodness!

getting to atlanta was the easy part, but it was all down hill from there. first, the atlanta airport doesn't have payphones any more so i wasn't able to call home. huge bummer. major bummer. the plane ended up changing terminals, and being delayed twice all before we loaded the plane. we were supposed to leave the ground at 5:59pm, and it was almost 7:30 by the time it was all said and done. needless to say, it was 12:30am Tuesday before i get to crawl into the bed at the mission home that night. 

the next morning was training, and it was given in spanish for the other sisters and elders that had come in that morning from the Guatemala mtc. they gave the english speakers headphones and had some elders translate for us. it was very interesting to say the very least... i got sick with an upset stomach that day, so i didn't really get to enjoy my first nicaraguan meal or the pizza that president bought. major bummer. 

transfers and the first day in the field. lots of missionaries, talks in spanish, and meeting my companion. i don't have a picture, but she does and i love her the mostest. hermana gomez is a God send and she doesn't speak a lot of english. 

this is the last picture i have with elder jungers before he went off to serve with two of the zone leaders, the others sisters were off with their companions, and i got to stay here, close to managua with hermana gomez.

the lord knew that i needed to stay close to the city, and gradually descend into third world territory. the people are still poor here in Loma Linda, but it could be worse. you can tell how weathly a family is by how much tin their home is made of, whether or not they have a car/motorcycle, and how well fed their dog is. dogs are everywhere here, and they always look underfed. 

i get whistled at here, for three reasons: i am above five four, have white skin, and if i do say so myself, am smokin' hot. lol, it's kind of degrading and has given a whole new meaning to the supposedly endearing term gordita. also when people find out that i am from the states, they guess two places: texas and utah, and they have no idea where Tennessee is. always, always great. 

the food here is hard to eat some days, because there is only so many times in a week you can have beans and rice. hermana gladis does an amazing job though, and even made spaghetti one night! 

our apartment here in loma linda is nice, by their standards. actual doors that lock, a toilet, running water, and a shower that usually gives out cold water. 

the hardest trial this week though is the blisters that have made their home on the bottom of my feet. right under the big toe on the pads, have developed the greatest blisters ever from wearing closed shoes for 10 hours every day in the humidity. ibuprofen and some gold bond will hopefully help the pain.

one quick goal: as a mission, we have been invited to have 2000 baptisms by the end of 2015. the zone with the most baptisms gets to spend the night in the mission home (which is like staying in a mansion by US standards). we as a zone want to have 70 baptisms, which is about 5 per set of missionaries for the month of march. with fuego in our hearts, we can do it!

i love you all, and this work is hard, but worth it. this is salvation after all!

el 6 de febrero- almost Nicaragua bound!

​ten days more.... what even!

one of the sisters in my district, {who will go unnamed}, needed to go on adventure for some underclothing that they don't sell here at the MTC, so Tuesday, instead of gym time, we got ADVENTURE TIME! We went to JCPenney's and almost all of us ended up taking something home... I got a new pair of black shoes to wear on Sunday, because I realized that all of my skirts are black, and I have one pair of black shoes.... the math didn't add up.

the first couple of weeks that we were here, the sun never showed its face, so I got in the habit that when I DID see the sun, I would run up and shout to the heavens "EL SOL!" {which is Spanish for "the sun!"}.

we have the fire, for those of you who don't read spanish. and we do! our district is -almost- ready for the real world, and we have been asked to share it with all. the p.s. note is "abran sus bocas" which translates to the command to "open your mouth!" it's a running joke with our teacher, hermano ostler. 

i found one of my friends from Jackson in the MTC this week, and I was so excited I screamed! Motra Shayla Henderson is here for 9 weeks, learning Albania to go and teach the people in the Adriactic North Mission. I didn't get a chance this week for a picture, and I only have one week left, so we best get our act together. :)

We sang "Sweet Hour of Prayer" this week in the devotional and one of the things that Brother Egget said really stuck out to me. He said something to the effect of "We need to make sure that our prayers are like an ATM transaction. 'Hey it's me (insert card); I want these blessings (tell the ATM how much you want), okay thanks! (remove card, take cash) and that's it.' And that really struck me. We need to make sure that we are making our prayers meaningful. 

Fast Sundays here at the MTC are like riding a spiritual wave. Between Mission Conference, District Meeting, and the Evening Devotional, you pretty much don't stand for every long, but it's amazing. You just learn soo much! 

We are drawing near to the end with our investigators, and with one, we almost had a "Come to Jesus!" moment. We have been teaching her for four weeks, two meetings each week, and I don't feel like she progressed as much as I think she could have. After our last lesson with her, I was feeling okay, a little downtrodden, but I finally realized what was missing. "Ella no tiene fuego!" I burst out. She doesn't have the fire! I have the fire of the Gospel inside me and I can't enfore those beliefs on others. I have to let them figure it out for themselves.

I know that this gospel is true. I know that with all my heart. The people here are amazing and are only here to help you learn and grow.

i love you all more than words, and thank you so much for your words of support.

nos vamos! hermana graves

el 30 de enero

Note: The Mom is a few weeks behind for posting.


this week was a rough one. the lord works in mysterious ways and i needed a humbling week.

sunday's devotional was awesome. stephen b. allen, the managing director of the missionary department, the man literally oversaw the writing of preach my gospel and the district (some of the training material that missionaries use). he is so awesome. i have so many great notes that i just wish i could share with all of you. but, these are the best ones:

-do not be your judge and jury

-polishing is sometimes painful, but He's turning you into someone He needs you to be.

-ask yourself: was the spirit the senior companion today? or the junior companion? or was he even in the companionship today?

elder irvine left the mtc on tuesday, and monday night he caught me outside of my dorm. after some well wishes, he looked me square in the eye and asked me: do you need anything from me? and it hit me, this elder has it figured out; what this mission is all about. it's not about us going out and sharing the gospel. it's about being the lord's hands. being in tune with the spirit and knowing what others need.

tuesday, larry kacher, from the second quorum of the seventy, came and it was another great devotional.

-what do you do to give yourself to the Lord?

-are you trusted of the Lord?

-make sure you represent the Lord to the missionaries, not the missionaries to the Lord.

-everything is done according to your faith.

-if the spirit is not present, i have the authority to invite the Spirit into the room.

 

hermana nistler loves this face, so we of course they had to do their best impressions...

the cutest sisters in the mtc: hermana cornell, hermana nistler, hermana garcia, hermana millett, himself, hermana garfield, and hermana smith

​

some of the elders in our zone. this is just so totally them.

elder coltrin, elder muirbrook, elder rue, elder jungers, elder ipson, elder poulson, and elder rankin

i love this gospel and i love the learning experiences that i am having here. it's going to be a great week. this church is true!

Golden

they say if you can make it to Sunday of your first week, you will be okay. and if you can make it to Wednesday, you will be golden. 

this week was kind of hard, but at the same time, I enjoyed it so much. Saturday was a blur of classes, Spanish and preparation. Sunday was the best day. Being apart of the largest Relief Society meeting in the world is a very neat experience. Especially when there are people from all over the world there.

​

​Hermana Garfield, myself, Hermana Smith, and Hermana Cornell during our Temple Walk.

 ​A few of the Elders that left on Monday... The middle two (Elders Mendoza and Elder Clemens) were our Zone Leaders. Great Elders.

​The Sisters of Branch 41. Sisters Butler, Richards, Laudie and Himle all left on Monday, so we are the four sisters in my district are the only ones left in our zone. sad day...

                                  ​We found the world map! So of course, we had to take pictures...

Can I just say how hard it is to say goodbye to people that you just met four days ago, but already love? We sang "God Be With You Til We Meet Again" in Spanish to the departing districts and it was one of the hardest things to do. I love and care for all of them and I want the best for them all!

Tuesday though, was one of the best days. I have been in the same room as an apostle (or apostles) four times in my life: a youth fireside with Elder Bednar, a stake conference with Elder Oaks, a Christmas Devotional at Temple Square, and the Devotional on Tuesday. There were several members of the 70 there, as well as Russell M. Nelson and his wife. Such a neat experience. As the MTC choir, we got the chance to sing one of the most beautiful arrangements of "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" I have ever sung. Plus, the devotional was broadcast to all of the MTCs around the world, so that's pretty neat.

We got a new investigator on Monday, and I totally love her! Maribel is not a member, but she "understands" more English so she helps us a little bit more with our English to Spanish translations. I get a little bit frustrated with my Spanish sometimes because I used to be able to speak better Spanish, but I lost a lot of my vocabulary. I have to work at it, but I'm building my vocab back up again.

Last night was one of the highlights of my MTC experience so far. As a district, we spend 2 hours getting to know each other better. We talked favorite movies, fun facts about ourselves, and then secrets. We also went around and told everyone in our district something that we love about them, and it was one of the most amazing experiences. We all got to know each other on a much deeper emotional level, and it was fantastic. I love these Elders and Hermanas like family and I know that we were put together in this district to help each other grow and to share the burdens that we have.

We went to the temple again as a zone, and I absolutely love the temple. It's just an amazing place to be when you have a question in your heart, or when you just need a little bit of relaxation. I got to see Moe, a friend's fiance, in the session, and it was great to catch up. She's busy planning a wedding and going to school, but she still asked if there was anything that I needed that she could call and ask my parents for. I love having friends like that!  

I know that is gospel is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God and that he was chosen to begin the last dispensation on this Earth. The Book of Mormon holds the answers to all of our questions, if we just ask God for guidance. Christ came here to help us be able to return to live with Him and Heavenly Father in the eternities. This is where I am supposed to be. The people of Nicaragua need me, and I will do all I can now to prepare to help them in any way I can. Until next week!

Elder Muirbrook and Elder Jungers

Elder Rankin and Elder Jagneaux

First letter from the MTC

****Note from Mom (who is updating this blog): Janelle sent this email last Friday. It was a bit of a surprise as we were expecting a Monday or Tuesday p-day. I will do better at posting her emails the same day she sends them.****

before i begin, i need to let you know of a FREE (yes, free) way to write me while i am here in the MTC. it's called DearElder.com. using the information from my MTC mailing address, you can send me a letter or note that I will get that day! i will have to wait until p-day to write you back, but it can get it then and there!

i had originally thought that my p-days would be on mondays or tuesdays, but our zone's pday is going to be on friday. hence, why i am writing you today!!

so, how did the week go?

tuesday everything went super smoothly with airplanes and layovers. i didn't get everything i wanted to get done on the plane, but am i okay with the fact that i got some good sleep. i miss my afternoon nap. hahahaha there is a lot of information to learn in just a few short weeks, and they don't waste any time getting you into the espanol. by two o'clock on wednesday, i had already started speaking spanish and the instructor didn't say more than about three words at a time in english. total immersion helps the spanish.

wednesday was great! i got to see Sister Kah in the Ogden mission home, while she and her companion tried to get her companion's luggage out of the impound lot! i won't bore you with the details, but it really is a funny story now that we are a couple days away from it...

that night was a throw into the deep end of the pool in the hopes that we could swim. lots of spanish, and some amazing elders and sisters from the district headed out on monday, i was feeling a little bit on edge.

by thursday afternoon, i was wound tight with anxiety. the language wasn't coming back, i was exhausted, and i was anxious over our lesson that we have to teach in spanish tonight. thankfully, we got to spend some time in the gym, and i am feeling much better. it's amazing what exercise does for the body.

hermana garfield will be my companion while i am here in the MTC, and she's a cutie. she's from grands pass, oregon and is one of nine children. she's currently the senior companion, so i get to follow in her capable footsteps here in about three weeks. she, along with hma cornell and elder jungers will be going to the same mission i will, so we will all leave the MTC on the same day, visa's permitting. the other three elders and remaining sister in our district will be headed to the new york new york north mission at the end of these six weeks. they like to say that they got the lucky end of the draw because they don't have to worry about gross water, or living without certain first world comforts... elder jungers and elder muirbrook (our current district leader) are companions, along with elders rankin and jagneaux (pronounced jag-no). hma. cornell and hma. smith (the sister going to new york) are companions as well. i love these people already. we kind of have an advantage over the other districts because we are the coolest hahahaha

(me and my new companion, Hermana Garfield)

spanish. spanish. spanish. while we are in class, its as much espanol as possible, and we try our best to speak it outside of class as well. two days here and i can say a simple testimony and say most of my prayers in spanish. spanglish is getting easier to use, and they actually prefer you use it so that our teachers can let us know what words we want/need to know! we all get overly excited when the meeting is going to be in english, because it is mentally difficult right now to think in spanish. i just don't have the vocabulary any more. it's coming back, but it's definitely not what it was in high school (props to senora maldonado!) i found out yesterday that i have to have a talk prepared in spanish for sacrament meeting on sunday... no pressure! it only needs to be about five minutes long, and our district probably won't be picked on to speak because this will be our first sunday in the MTC, but they want us to have them prepared so that we can use them in the field. because heavens knows, that they will get used... many, many times. they don't announce who will be speaking until after the sacrament has been given and so you have about thirty seconds, or five minutes notice.
​​

i know that this work is the lord's and that i have been called to do his work. there are people in nicaragua that need my testimony and i will do all in my power to be ready to teach those people. and when i am not enough, i know that the Spirit and the Lord will make up the difference. i know that as long as i am striving to be the best hermana graves that i can be, the lord will bless me to be the best missionary and servant of the lord i can be. this work is not for the faint of heart, but i can do hard things. 

thank you call for the support that you have given me in making and following through with this decision. thank you for all of your amazing advice and your amazing examples.

best of wishes for the coming week,

hermana graves

On my way to being a missionary

December 12th: Atlanta, Georgia temple for endowment session.

                     January 5th: Set apart by the Stake President as a full-time missionary for
                                            The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

                                 January 6th: Leaving Knoxville, TN for Salt Lake City, UT.
                                  (A teary Good-bye and long hugs proceeded this picture.)

Aunt Stephanie serving as companion after picking me up from the SLC airport.

Open House hosted by Grandma & Grandpa Graves