el 4 de abril

ya'll ready for this? it's almost been another month... what is this, people. reality is getting closer and the closer and closer it gets the scarier life after the mission gets.

this past week was a hard working week. we had the goal to attend all four general sessions of general conference and almost made it. we were able to bring a total of nine investigators to church this weekend and it was completely a spiritual experience. lots of circles to get enough investigators to be in a session (in the nicaragua managua south mission, in order to stay in a conference session, you have to have four investigators with you, excluding sunday morning). i had the sincere desire to sustain the prophet in general conference as a missionary, but was not able to do it. God knows why He sends us trials.

preparing investigators for conference is quite an adventure. for a lot of them it's just simply explaining that it's a giant worldwide conference, where the lord's prophet shares with us His divine revelation. we had to explain that it would be a little different than normal, but that it would be even more spiritual for the same reason. we committed investigators to each session, trying to help them see that something that someone would say would answer which ever question or doubt they had. and a lot of investigators saw the blessings.

being able to hear the prophet's short words was such a calming experience. my heart was joyous for the four countries who will receive new temples in the coming months and years. we all continue to pray for a temple in nicaragua, but there is a lot of growth to be done first.

we are working on finding new investigators. general conference really is a make it or break it for investigators. if they don't come to general conference it's a little bit harder for them to believe the words of a latter day prophet. but if they can hear the words of the prophet from his very own mouth, it's a lot easier for them to feel the spirit.

this week we had gallo pinto, pizza hut pizza, cow liver dressed in tomato sauce and onions, and then a green vegetable stuffed with crumbly nica cheese, fried in eggs. (picture attached of last mentioned plate).

today we had lots of fun playing soccer and basketball as a mini zone. this is my smallest zone yet, only having 12 missionaries in total, 2 sisters, 8 normal elders, and the 2 assistants to president. makes for small pday activities and even smaller zone meetings. two enormous pizzas were bought between six of us and we ate all 24 slices and a 3 liter of seven up by ourselves....

the zone minus the aps

2 john 1:6

::And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.::

sister hussey and a less active, joaquin, enjoying some nicaragua propaganda.

elder de leon (the taller elder) completed 18 months in the mission so he dressed up as a sister. it resulted in several questions about how we could work in skirts all day, why we were makeup, why we use earrings, and everything else in between... ooh elders. the other elder, elder mateo, is just crazy and wanted to see if the skirt fit....

i hope that this letter finds you all in well being. i love you more than words.

hermana graves

pizza is my saving grace.