el 22 de Febrero

I will start off by saying sorry that you received lots of emails this week, but 
myldsmail supposedly freaked out. All is well in Zion, well almost.

This week was a long one, but mostly because we didn't have a normal schedule. 

Monday we spent all day cleaning the house for interviews, and then Tuesday we 

spent all afternoon in the Stake Center in Jinotepe waiting for interviews and things 

of that sort. My interview was something that I needed to hear, and was a huge eye 

opener to the things that I still have to change. Wednesday and Thursday were, 

thankfully, normal, and Friday we spent a great part of the afternoon with our possibility 

for this weekend, giving him the commandment download. Pray that Carlos stays strong 

with his commitment to keep the Word of Wisdom, please?

I did not get transferred, but transfers aren't for a few more weeks. The day after Mom's 

birthday will be the faithful day to know if I will be leaving El Rosario. 

My companion continues to be having lots of health problems. Her stomach continues to 

hurt, and her voice has completely disappearted. We (well, I) pray each time we pray 

together that she gets better, knowing that the Lord will answer the humble servant's 

prayer in his timing. 

Our biggest success, is that we had a successful baptismal interview. We will have the 

opportunity to help Carlos be baptized this Saturday, with the hopes of having another 

as well. The Elders came and helped us (after getting semi-lost in the El Rosario Backwoods) 

and failed several times to make contact while attempting to high five. I decided it was funny 

enough to take a picture... Elder Sanchez is from El Salvador, and he's our District Leader. 

Elder Mattaalii is my faithful Zone Leader and he's from LA, California. (He's a BYU fan... ewwww)

A tender mercy was my interview with President Russell. He made some good points of

things that I need to change to change my stress level. He asked me, "How much more 

does He need to put on your shoulders before you come unto Him?"  And that's the question 

that I would like to do to all of you... How much more does He have to put on our plates 

before we ask for His help?

Nelson may have to take the prize for favorite person. We called him on Thursday and he 

made all the changes so that he could come back to El Rosario to talk with us. We called

 him again last night, and he's keeping all the commandments. Now to just help him get baptized....

A favorite scripture goes along a little with the question... hebrews 2:18

::For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.::

a favorite thing i ate: tuna noodle salad. we changed lunch citas, and this sister has been 

great to give us new things. this was straight out of my childhood, so i was all good.

i love you all and wish for the best!

hermana graves

The Elders' failed high five, and the delicious lunch!

el 06 de Abril

this week i finished the book of mormon as a missionary, and can i say who cool is it to read the book of mormon as a missionary!? it's so amazing to see and listen to the gift of the Holy Ghost that allows all things to be brought to your rememberance, especially when you read it in English inthe morning and can find it in Spanish a few hours later. hermana gomez and i are starting something with the youth here: read the book of mormon in 90 days, or complete it by the 30th of june. its going to be a stretch for some of them, but most of them have only read chapters of it, not all of it from cover to cover. all of them are converts, so we are going to help them build and fortify their testimony of the book of mormon to help them find the answers to lives questions. this is something to help the ward, which is really struggling, so if you're the praying type, *hint hint*

my marcas or suntan lines are getting progressively worse or darker, however you want to look at the glass, and hermana gomez loves to show them to everyone the contrast between my white skin and my not-so-white skin. the line on my neck is probably the best one, because most of my shirts are cut the same way. my feet are getting pretty great too.

   

we had cambios or exchanges this week, which means that we got a new district leader, elder mateo, and a new sister in our district Sister Boulton. elder mateo is from the dominican republic and speaks very quickly. sister boulton is front tooele utah and will leave the same time that hermana gomez will. how sad! we got a few fresh greengos this week in our zone, and it kind of helped me see how much i have really learned and how far i have come. there are times that its really hard to see your progress, but then you lean down to help another, and see how far you can reach. almost all of the people here have nice things to say about my spanish, and that my accent is great. hermana gomez doesn't like to speak to some of the greengos here because their american accent gets in the way. that is my goal, not to sound like a greengo, and so far, so good.

the story behind this: carlos loco, the son of hermana gladis, has a fake eye, and elder mateo and carlos have a great relationship (in three days, mind you). carlos said, here do you want to see my eye!? so, of course elder mateo had to touch it and look at it... eeww gross!

this is the great hermana gladis, hard at work, making the world's best spanish casserole ever. 

​a new pictures of hermana gomez and i. yesterday it started to rain while we were out contacting, but we trudged onward, and ended up seeking refuge in the house of a recent convert, Frank. his abuelo was home, and we got to kind of share photos and wait out the rain. its really nice here when we have rain, and surprisingly i dried quickly.

conference this week was interesting. we as nic man sur missionaries have to bring four investigators to each session of conference in order to stay and listen. we had two planned for each one of the saturday sessions, but both of them fell through with about an hour to spare because of material needs. sunday was great though! we had five investigators in the morning session, and were able to stay and watch the afternoon session without investigators. it was kind of hard because it was all in spanish, but thankfully the spirit works great miracles in the hearts of saints, and i was able to understand a little bit. sister boulton was astonished that i was getting anything out of conference, because apparently she didn't get anything out of her first one, and she had three months in the mission by that point. for all those to know, i did not understand the spanish talk, although i tried very hard to pay attention and get something. i love that they scanned over the stand, and you get to kind of see all of the attitudes and personalities of the apostles. LOVE IT!! something else that i noticed, was that the mormon tabernacle choir has acquired some fairly young singers, which is awesome!.

easter is a great big holiday here, and takes up the whole week before easter sunday. everybody goes home to mom and dad, which means that loma linda was awfully quiet. which means bad things for numbers. but thankfully, we were able to work and have some success. we had to start work an hour early and return to the house an hour early because the borrachos or drunks come out really early. lets just say, that i can see why we have studies in the mornings and not at night.

1.What has been your biggest challenge this week? finding people to talk to!!

2. What has been your biggest concern? having families and people to teach

3. What has been your biggest success? having five people at general conference!

4. Who has been your favorite person this week? Why? jeffery r holland, because even in spanish, the man has great power.

5. What has been your most significant tender mercy? having the opportunity to even sit and listen to general conference, and being able to sing and listen to the hymns. there is just great power in music.

6. What are you looking forward to this coming week? actually having people in the streets to talk with, after a week of nobody...

7. Do you have a goal set for this coming week? this week i have a goal to do an act of service, something small, for someone each day.

8.Which scripture has had the biggest impact on you this week? doctrine and covenants 6:32-37:  Verily, verily, I say unto you, as I said unto my disciples, where two or three are gathered together in my name, as touching one thing, behold, there will I be in themidst of them—even so am I in the midst of you. Fear not to do good, my sons, for whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap; therefore, if ye sow good ye shall also reap good for your reward. Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail. Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sinno more; perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you. Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not. Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit thekingdom of heaven. Amen.

may god be with you til i write again

hermana graves