El 23 of Marzo

the lord knows that i needed a filter for my testimony, and he found one in spanish. it's quite frustrating some days to try and share my testimony about some deep doctrine, and not be able to, but that's the thing: my job is not to teach the deep doctrine: its to share the simple truths of the doctrine, and let the spirit do the testifying of the other stuff.

i started teaching some of the jovenes piano lessons on Saturday, and the hope is that they bring their non-member friends as an opportunity to assimilate them into the gospel using music. i am soo excited, and it's a great opportunity to learn new words as well!

for all those that want to know what a day in the life of a Nicaragua Managua Sur missionary looks like, here is Tuesday of last week. We were supposed to have divisions this day, which means we were supposed to work with two other sisters, and split the work in the afternoon, but that fell through, so we ran from appointment to appointment, trying to get them all in. and by some great miracle of faith, it happened.

this cutie, is andres. he is the little boy of two recent converts, Elizabeth and Santiago, who are preparing to enter the temple in June. he is absolutely crazy, and loves me. he wanted to wear my plaque, but i only would let him hold it. so of course, we had to take a picture of the new Hermana Graves.

another great miracle this week: hermana asucena was cleared to be married! we found all the information we need for a divorce, and got it to a point that she could be married to hermano luis on saturday, and be married later that afternoon. it's kind of sad, but it was a quaint ceremony. she, her husband, one of her boys, two friends, and two of her sisters in law and their children. i am so glad for the blessing of the knowledge that my wedding can be for eternity and for the opportunity that i have to help hermana asucena have the same experience. her baptism had a small crowd, but that's exactly how she wanted it. she's so incredibly humble like that.

​these are my favorite nica food. they are called tostones, and they are fried green plantains. fried yellow plantains are sweet, and when fried are not my favorite. (the picture would not load)

there is one way back to live with God: living the gospel. as missionaries, we invite others to come unto Christ and receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. this is the same Church that was on the Earth in the times of Jesus. I know this to be true. the book is blue, the church is true, and i have the amazing opportunity to share this message with the whole wide world of Nicaragua.

i love you all, and wish you the best this week,

the tennessee hermana

El 9 de Marzo

i have figured out how i am going to countdown my mission, something that i really didn't want to do, but everyone here does it. i will be counting transfers, because months is too long, and there are waay too many weeks between me and home. transfers are six week periods in an area, and i will be with hermana gomez for two of them. i will spend another transfer here in loma linda after, so in total, i will spend about 4 months here in loma linda 1. this week marks one and a half transfers of the 12 i will have in my mission. woo hooo!

i have decided that missionary work is hard, but that i can do this. its very interesting to plan for 28 investigators on thursday morning and then have 13 fall through on their baptismal dates on sunday. but we did it, and we will be passing by every single house to let them know what happened. it's really hard to keep track of that many lessons, and what pamphlet you left for homework with which investigator, so god made planners. and thank goodness for that.

we will be holding three baptisms as a companionship on Saturday: Angel, Frank, and Emily. Emily is the most likely for this goal to actually happen, because Angel and Frank have kind of lost the flame for it all. we have appointments with both of them tonight to hopefully get them back over the flame, and to help them in their struggles and doubts. Emily is very excited to go, though. her original goal was the 21st, but we felt that she was ready, and friday afternoon talked with her and came to a decision to hold the baptism this week. she is really excited, very receptive of the doctrine, and totally on board for Saturday!!

a new word for the week: the spanish word for "burnt offerings" is holocaustos and i found this very depressing/interesting/disturbing because it looks likeHolocaust.

helado means "ice cream" in spanish, but in loma linda, helado is really just frozen juice. and it's amazing on a hot day!

i found out yesterday that the universitaria stake will be taking a temple excursion the end of june, and it will cost USD $37. to do the math for you, thats about 1,100 cords. a lot of money, but the stake will do fundraisers and such to help those who would like to attend, do so. i really would like asucena, frank, angel, and some of the other recent converts attend. because the temple is amazing. no questions asked.

it rained here on friday, and i thought i was going to die and go to heaven. it was probably around 70 degrees, light breeze, and very little humidity, and i was soo happy. hermana gomez was freezing, but i was in heaven!! and then it was hot the next morning, and i was dying of heat again. one day i'll get used to the heat

but that's all for this week, folks! 

thanks for your prayers. love you all!

hermana graves