el 25 de Enero

this week was really nice here. it was chilly, and i actually wore a long 

sleeved sweater all day one day. the people here say that colder weather 

is still to come, so i am in heaven!

a favorite scripture from this week... 

2 nephi 10:13
::and he that fighteth against zion shall perish, saith god.::

a tender mercy. that we actually got a p-day today. we went to managua 

this morning for a conference with elder craig christiansen from the 

presidency of the seventy. it was really nice to hear his councel, but it 

would have been even better if i could have gotten a little bit more sleep.

 i only got about four hours of solid sleep last night... yeah....

a favorite person. hermana garfield. she´s in the same district as me again 

and it´s been really cool to chat and catch up. she´s with one of the other 

sisters who was in our new meeting, and it´s been really fun to share experiences 

and catch up. there just isn´t enough said through an email....

goals for this week: work with the members. i am tired of saying it, but we have 

to do it. too many weeks without success...

we had a really rough experience when our baptismal possibility went from positive, 

to shaky, to complete belly flop in a course of twelve hours. we went in on saturday 

morning to set up everything and he said he wanted to do it later in the evening, so 

we went along with it. we showed up a few minutes early, and he had left the house. 

two hours of searching and waiting and he didn´t come home. needless to say we had 

to swallow some rough pills from exhausted leaders and it was rough. if you have a 

spare prayer, keep us in them.

sorry for the lack of pictures. just a crazy week. but i love you all!

hermana graves

el 18 de Enero

this week was fun. we went to san juan del sur, or playa gigante to be more 

specific. we had lots of fun, and even made pancakes the morning of to be 

all ready to go. i loved it though. i found that one of the sisters who came 

with me here to nicaragua from the states, had to go home for some health 

problems. if you could get hermana cornell in your prayers, i am sure that 

would mean a lot. i got to chat it up with the sisters that i haven´t seen in a 

while, and take a three generation picture with my daughter. the last one that

 i will be able to take because mom dies on thursday.... which means that i am

 just one change closer to my own flight home. what is that!?

my companion´s spanish moving along. just keep praying. it´s hard to do 

sometimes.

a big success though. she actually said phrases without looking at me or 

doubting what she said. it was a little miracle. #proudmommymoment

a tender mercy. we were able to get a fecha and an baptismal interview put 

together for an eternal investigator. it is something that could still use a lot of 

prayers, but please. just keep yamil in your prayers as well.

a favorite scripture. john 16:33
::In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome 

the world.::

i loved working with our zone leaders and having fun with our whole mission on 

wednesday. it´s great to have a personal connection with our elders and sisters in 

our district so that we can all be helpful one to another. but this picture turned out 

pretty sick of my favorite person, hermana naumu.

goals: have a baptism. complete with the normas. work with the members.

pretty much normal.

lots of love from sunny nicaragua.

hermana graves

because who doesn´t like a good ol´ el sol picture at the beach.. 

el 11 de Enero

thanks for all of your prayers, i really have gained a strong testimony about 

the power of prayer since i have gotten out on the mission. absolutely nothing 

that can take it´s place. we had.... wait for it.... ten investigators in church. 

absolutely fantastic to see the blessings of hard work and trust in the lord. 

now to just have the same success this next week!

we don´t have p-day today, because wednesday we are going to the beach!

 i will explain more next week with pictures!

my companion´s spanish continues to progress. if you are the praying kind, it´s 

always nice to have a little bit of extra help. we are getting along great, even though

 she is someone completely opposite of what i am.

but really great news guys.... my memory is all clean and healthy and not a bug in 

sight! with all my pictures present and accounted for! i am soo excited! also found 

out that i have taken over three thousand pictures on my mission... yea, that's 250 

pictures a month roughly. and i still have a ton of room left on my camera!

most tender mercy... yikes. there were a lot. but probably having ten investigators 

in church and having the members´ help every step of the way. there are not enough 

words to exhort every one of you to do your part to help your missionaries bring 

people to church, fellowship, or even sit with your investigators. it makes everything 

so much easier as a missionary when the missionaries and the ward can work in unity 

to bring people to Christ. there is no other alternative.

one of my favorite scriptures from this week... 2 nephi 31:20-21

::ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of 

hope, and a love of God and of all men.Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting 

upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall 

have eternal life. And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is 

none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom 

of God.::

it´s a powerful scripture that teaches us the power of enduring to the end. there really 

is no other way to enter into the kingdom of heaven. just through our obedience and 

our steadfastness in Christ.

some goals... speak spanish to sister naumu. read the scriputres at night, and don´t fall 

asleep after we plan. it´s killing my neck and i wake up before the alarm which drives me 

nuts!

i love you all!

a couple of the delicious plates of food we have eaten this week!

hermana graves

el 4 de Enero

feliz ano nuevo, everybody!

well that was fun. this week, there wasn't a letter from mom, 

so i will just have to wing it. 

this week was a little crazy, because they celebrate here a crazy 

little thing called the new year, with fireworks in a dummy, and 

horses and bulls. yeah, it was crazy!

my sd card got a virus, so i'm currently praying that a member can clean 

my year's worth of pictures and save them. they are my only copy so 

i hope that all goes well!

my favorite person this week... a little girl whose name is adriana. we had 

a good, long needed laugh when she lost a one cordaba coin, about the 

size of a quarter, where the sun don't shine. it was really funny because 

she's only about two years old and just didn't understand.... 

a favorite scripture, from 2 thessalonians 3:7

::For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not 
ourselves disorderly among you::

please take a moment to realize that paul used sarcasm in the bible. 

this made my day.

a most tender mercy. i had a great experience with a fulfillment of a promise given 

to me in various blessing i have received in preparation for my mission. saturday 

afternoon we were headed out to visit a convert when i had the feeling of someone 

pulling on my backpack from behind. i knew that my companion was a few steps 

behind me, so it wasn't a thief. the thoughts then came to stop. i stopped and then

 my companion did as well. i looked at her, and said "i have the feeling we should 

leave. what do you think?" it didn't take her more than fifteen seconds to look around,

 and make the quickest three sixty i have ever seen. we don't know why we weren't 

supposed to go down the path, but we were told not to and we were protected. 

we are struggling right now to bring people to church, so if you are the praying type,

 pray that we can find people that are going to progress and that our investigators 

keep their commitments. i know that these things are sent here for a reason, and that 

i was called to be a missionary here, specifically for a purpose.

as i complete a year away from home, it has caused me to place a lot of thinking into 

what i want to do with what i have left of a mission. i feel like there is a lot of things still 

to do, and i know that i have not fought the final fight.

i love you all, hermana graves

happy new year from the district!

cowboys and bulls my friends...

el 28 de Diciembre

hello family!

this past week was a blast. we did have to sacrifice a pday to go 

to managua for the mission´s christmas party, but it was worth it. 

it was almost like an oprah winfrey type setting with our christmas 

presents, but now we have peanut butter and jelly, a microwave, a cool 

little thing for our desks, a bicolor marking pencil and so much more! 

best part was that we got to spend a couple of hours in pday clothes, 

and three other sister decided to bring their A game. we kind of bashed 

a little on an elder that goes to byu, but we had fun. plus, for christmas 

eve we pierced sister naumu´s ears at a member´s house so that was super 

fun. don´t worry, all was clean and sanitary!

my favorite part leading up to christmas weekend was the anxiety of 

christmas. the people here are super christian, so there was just christmas 

everywhere. they made a huge deal out of putting baby jesus in the manger 

in the nativity in the park and everything. the energy was super awesome.

a favorite person... hermana naumu. i don´t know what i would have done 

with a latin companion for christmas. it was just so much easier to handle. 

we made christmas pancakes and hot chocolate, we talked in English to our 

families. and it was just great. couldn´t have asked for a better companion 

for the christmas season.

a favorite scripture: doctrine and convenants 6: 14-15

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for 
thou hast inquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou
 hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst 
not have come to the place where thou art at this time. Behold, thou knowest 
that thou hast inquired of meand I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee
 these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the 
Spirit of truth;

blessed art thou for what thou hast done. 

a most tender mercy. hermana mariela came and showed us around el naranjo, 

a tiny little deserted area while sick. a couple of weeks ago she had an accident 

with some hot water that left some pretty deep burns, but she sacrificed to come 

walking with us into the intermost parts of our area. bless her!

a great success... i didn´t cry while talking with my family. love you!

weekly goals. i have a goal not to say everything that comes into my head. i have 

gotten myself into some awkward positions, so i have made the resolution to try 

not to just speak, but to think first.

i love you guys so much. thank you for all of your support and for all those that 

will be present at the wedding tomorrow, tell my sister i love her.

hermana graves

Christmas Day

Today we got to skype with our missionary! She sounds like a native
with her accent. It took some doing to get together online. The power
went off at the house she was at to skype. Then her companion went
first. We finally got connected and had Grandma and Grandpa Bingham
skyping in too from Texas.  We were at Aunt Teniel's house for Christmas
and the kids thought it was great to see Janelle on the TV.

It was good to see her and hear her voice!
Best Christmas present EVER!!

el 21 de Diciembre

this week. was great. just almost picture perfect.

a favorite person this week... keiling. she is a sister in the ward 

who is the same age as i am and she´s a great reality check sometimes. 

i know that i am not the perfect teacher, and she´s helping me realize that 

i can do this and that i can survive these next ten days. being away from 

rachel is kind of hard, and seeing all the bridals just make it all really, really

 real. i love my family, but yikes! reality check for me... and keiling has 

been great. 

favorite scripture... please read 1 nephi 15:24-25. the word of god is your 

salvation. end of sentence.

the training is going great! we found a very large beetle this friday and he 

decided to die in our front lawn shortly after taking this picture. funny thing 

is we found another one not very far away who was dead also. i don´t know 

what kind of beetle he was, but he was a big one. hermana naumu had her first 

nacatamale, in true christmas spirit.

i got into the christmas spirit, and put this over tomorrow´s plans, because 

of the christmas devotional type thing we are going to have tomorrow. here, 

meeting in managua = all day thing = no work for sister naumu and sister graves.

a biggest challenge, getting to guiquiliapa, a little town in our area. it´s got a 

couple of less actives, and like any good missionary does, you try and active as 

many members as possible and baptize the nine+ year old kids. got to 

love re-activation! 

i love you guys all and i especially love this time of season. make sure to send 

me lots of pictures for christmas, and i am still missing lots of family pictures... 

love you all..

hermama graves