I love this work so much!

Morgan and Sis. Yepez in Antigua

He is an RM, she is 23 got baptized 2 weeks ago...they are awesome! THEY VISIT WITH US ALL THE TIME. We have lessons in their house, she has given away two Books of Mormon, she is powerful!

P-day with Pres and Sis. Brough

Morgan's mission has set a goal for 400 baptisms in the month of March! I asked her about it and she said, "We have the highest baptizing mission in Central America. Holllerrrr! hahaha But ya, 400 is a lot, but we know we will get it. It is only for the month of March, so we shall see, how week one goes. I am so excited about it. Satan is attacking because he knows we have this great goal, but after the trials come the blessings. So we are excited to see the fruits of our labors!! 400 BAPTISMS IN MARCH!!! whooo!!!!

"So this past week we had divisions 2 times with some sisters in the ward who are preparing for their missions. I LOVE DOING DIVISIONS! I was so nervous the first time, because I had to take the lead in everything, basically do everything, but I literally loved it! I just love the people here so much!!

"We spoke in Sacrament meeting this past week, taught Sunday School, and part of Relief Society. I don't know what happened, but I enjoy teaching...hahaha just kidding --- I do know what happened, I just love it! My Spanish is improving every day. I am able to communicate a little bit more than in just the gospel (language). I love it here. AH I just wish you all could meet the amazing people here. I never want to leave! This area is amazing. I am in love with this area. We have some amazing members who love to help us, we have some amazing people.

"I love this work so much. I am so grateful to be here. I am feeling so blessed. We are so, so excited for the miracles that we are going to see!! We are having hard time, but that just means we work harder, with more ANIMO (I think that is "encouragement"??) and with more faith, the miracles will come! We know that!! I know this is the work of the Lord. I regret more than anything not doing more when I was home. YOU guys, help out the missionaries in our area. Do all you can. As members of the church we have a great responsibility to share this joy, this knowledge that we have. We can't just sit and let our brothers and sisters fail. Alma 60:7,21. We have so many blessings, such a great knowledge and we should have a desire to share this message because of love, because we want everyone to know. D&C 6:33 D&C 88:81"

We had a baptism Saturday!

An amazing baptism!!

This is Morgans new area.

Morgan with the sisters in her district visiting Antigua!

 President and Sister Brough

Here is Morgan's letter for this week.  She sounds happy and things are going well for her and their mission.  (remember me=green; Morgan=red)

Lisa

Hello,

I have a questions, why is pday one day and email day is another.  Is that right, or do I misunderstand?

Thats right, i have p day monday and email tuesday after district meeting. Not sure why, i think we are the only mission in the whole world that does that! haha but thats ok, we are the only mission in Central America whose Baptism numbers are going up and not down, so thats cool!!

How was your President interview.  How was Antigua? What is your weather like - getting any warmer?

Interview was awesome! He is an amazing man and He told me he has no worries about me, it was a very encouraging letter. The weather is good!! The morning are a bit cold, especially when we have to be up at 4 am, but the days are warm usually, sometimes cloudy and sometimes rains a tiny bit, but the weather is amazing. Antigua was good. It was just the same, i didnt buy anything cause I have so much more time to do so, i just dont want to lug around a bunch of stuff my whole mission, but i will buy stuff for you all, dont you worry!!

Did you get your backpack fixed yet? I'm hoping you found one in Antigua---maybe you will have to get one next time you are in town.

No, but i fixed it with some yarn, so for now its all great! Im surviving with the backpack. Not to worry!

Did you see Amy Funk at the conference with Elder Cook?

YES!! I did, and at changes the last time, which was so fun! I LOVE SEEING HER! She called me Morg, and it was reallllly weird!! hahahahhahahah we just laughed about it!!

Lindsey left for China. She has a blog, so I will follow that. She had some cute photos on it this past week. She said she will be a pro at eating with chop sticks by the time she gets home, but she was off to a rough start with that.  lovesfromlinny.blogspot.com

I cant read it i dont think...im not sure, so im just not going to, to be safe!! You should send me some pics!!

I dropped a line to Becca.  She is cute.  I love reading her letters.  She has cute stories.  Or maybe it is the way she tells them...they are funny.  So are Christines.

She is awesome! LOVE THEM BOTH!!!

It would be fun for you to send a note to Jessie. She is in the MTC for a couple more weeks. She also has a blog: sisterjessiesmission.blogspot.com. if you want to check it out.

I wish i could i just dont think i can look at other websites. But I did email her!! She is so cute!!

Well, we love you.  We keep praying for you.  Take care!! How are your feet holding up?  Shoes doing good? Any sign of kidney stones again?  

I wear my crocs everyday!! They are like the only shoes that i feel great in....i feel bad saying that because we have spent so much money on shoes, but i figure id rather have my knee feel good than have a bad knee...so i switch to the other shoes every once in a while, but the crocs are my favorite...also, my feet and knee are dong amazing. It is a HUGE BLESSING AND MIRACLE! I know that. Literally i am doing great. I can run everywhere, i can walk faster than my comp.

How is your Spanish coming along?

My spanish is coming along! My comp is very impressed with it, she says i dont even have a norte accent. I can understand most of everything people say, in fact sometimes i cant remember words in english. I have to help my comp learn English and sometimes i just cant do it. hahah its kind of funny!!

LOVE YOUR GUTS! Take care of Morgan!!
Love you!
Mom

So this week was crazy!! WE HAD A BAPTISM SATURDAY!! Hermana Amelia! she is incredible. I think i told you about how she received her answer. Well the baptism was perfect. Everything went just perfectly. Also this week we had Attack of the Area. So our district came and we all were in our area for a day. the sisters did divisions, so i led the area with Hermana Guerra. It was really fun. I was nervous because i didnt think i would be able to find my way around, but i did, and everything was great. We found this new investigator...no we found 2, and it was just a really great day. The Elders found 11 new investigators! A FAMILY OF 8!! and so we are going to baptize. I dont know if i told you but we have a goal as a mission to have 400 baptisms in March. Satan is really attacking us. He doesnt want us to meet this goal at all!! But we know he has plans and we arent going to give in. We are going to work harder, with more diligence, and rely fully on the spirit. It is the only way. BUT WE ARE GOING TO BAPTIZE!!

Also we had divisions with the sister missionary trainers. But it was weird cause one of them came with me and my comp. But it was great! We had a great day. The trainer sister told me she is SO impressed with my spanish, and she said they arent worried about my comp and I at all!! It was a good day.

Anyways, ya its been kind of a hard week, but also a great week!! We had a p day with President Brough because our zone had the most success this past change...so we played sports...WHICH KILLED ME! We played soccer and i was the goalie cause I cant quite play with my knee...it killed me. I just wanted to play so bad! But my knee is a little more important than my pride...hahaha its been very humbling to not be able to play sports like i used to. Then Hermana Brough cooked lunch. SO GOOD!! then we played mafia with Pres and Hna brough!!

Oh we are going to start English classes. Theres so many kids here who just love to speak English with me....well they like me to teach them new words, so we decided to start English classes! So i will be teaching once a week!! Seriously though, the gift of tongues is real! So great!

What else....I was teaching this lady how to pray the other day and I said Va a dirigir al padre celestiall....she says, ok, Padre Especial...hahahhaha I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD!! She had a hard time understanding anything that I said! Another funny thing, the people here buy their clothes in these like mini DIs....all these Clothes from the states...and so they all have American words on them...this one man was wearing a shirt that said {im the big sister} hahaha too good. There was a stake dance this past week in the church, the same day as the baptism...so we had the loud music to interrupt the baptism, but the music was all in English. So i was the only one who could understand the words, and they werent very good songs, but the people here dont understand anything, and so they dont know that the songs are bad...hahahahaha its too strange though to hear all these songs...i was just humming hymns...same as in the buses...its awful to hear them! I just sing hymns to myself.

Anyways, I LOVE YOU GUYS! Im going to try to send some pics of the baptism!!

I know that when we are striving to do the will of our Father, Satan is going to attack, because he doesnt want us to succeed. He knows how true this church is, he knows how much power we as members have, and he will do anything in his power do destroy our faith. We cannot for one second let satan win. We need to stay strong, PRAY ALWAYS, and do what we know we should!!
Hermana Oliphant

This week was awesome!

Morgan didn't send a big letter this week. She sounds good though. They were in "Chimaltenango....not the office. Just where our zone always meets in the stake center." They were going to Antigua for p-day again (she was thrilled) and had President interviews (she is very excited for that, too) there on Monday instead.


Ok, this week was awesome!! I want to tell you about this lesson we had. The girls name is Amelia..she is 22 and her husband is a member. He is an RM. We were asking her about how she felt when she prayed about Joseph Smith....she was trying to descrbie this feeling and she just couldn't...but she practically quoted Doctrine and Covenants 9:8. So we read that with her and she was in shock. She told us she knew everything was true and she is getting baptized this Saturday!! She is amazing and I am so excited for her. This lesson was probably the most spiritual lessons I've been in so far.

So my Spanish is improving...really. My companion says I don't sound like a Norte....and she can understand everything. Which is so great. Makes me feel good! I wish I knew more words...but it will come. I can talk in gospel language, then when people have everyday conversations..I'm pretty lost, but its cool.

We had a lesson this week, we knelt to pray and as we left my comp was dying...so I asked what was wrong and she showed me her knee.....she knelt in baby poop that was on the floor! I WAS DYING LAUGHING! It was soooo funny!!

It has rained a bit this week! I am loving it. It isn"t hard rain or anything, but it feel so nice and refreshing. We will see how much I like it in a couple months when the streets are rivers! hahaha

What else....The people here are amazing. Oh there's this lady, she is a little special, and she was asking my name and I told her it is Hermana Oliphant....people here pronounce it like "ohleefont"....and I said my name, and then said, como Elefante....SHE DIED LAUGHING!! it was so funny!! hahahaha

I am loving it here!! I am amazed everyday at the strength my Savior gives me physically and spiritually. I know that if we rely on our savior he will help us with ANYTHING!! Literally anything!!

PLEASE HAVE FHE AND READ AND PRAY TOGETHER!! i want our family to be all together in the Celestial kingdom....I wont be happy if any one of you isn't there!! Praying for you always, and LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

Morgan

This Church News photo might have Morgan in it.

Look at that. This funny mom thinks her Sister missionary is in the photo. Brent, Ashley and I looked by ourselves and each chose the same person! Jeremy just thinks we are nuts!  I wish it wasn't so grainy - we could see better. But even the gal next to her in this picture looks like Morgan's new companion. FUN - just thinking it is her!

Give me your guesses!  I am going to ask her if she is in this picture on Monday!  It may not even be her - but it might?!?!?

Oh, if you want to see the whole article, here is the link:  

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/64386/Central-America-Hastening-the-work-of-salvation.html

This week was amazing!

Hello -

Here is Morgans email for this week. Look how tall she is to her companion.  I bet she feels like a giant in Guatemala.  She is happy, as usual, and seems to be doing well. A mission goal of 400 baptisms for the month of February! WOW! I cannot even imagine that! That sounds amazing and so hard, and she is just so sure they can do it! PMA = Positive Mental Attitude! Good for her! The Spanish to English talking thing is funny too! I didn't think she would be there already - sounds like she is!Thanks, again, for your friendships and support of Morgan!!

Lisa Oliphant

So this week was amazing. I forwarded you photos from our p-day yesterday. There is this family here from Canada and they were here to build an orphanage, but their project ran out of money, so they are just hanging here for a while. hahaha But they are amazing! And They fed us. BBQ! Chicken, steak, hot dogs, hamburgers....beans, potato salad! IT WAS SO DELICIOUS and so fun. They are an amazing family. They had us share a message with them after in English...I struggled...haha I kept trying to say things in Spanish! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH ANYMORE. I cant remember words...my comp will ask me things and I cant remember how it is in English! It's pretty funny!!

Anyway, the baptism!!!! Hermana CHAVELA! Cutest lady! The baptism was great. We have to go to Chimaltenango to the stake center where the font is, which is about 1 hour away and so we all get on a bus, all the members, the members here are amazing!! And we travel together to the stake center!! Everything went great! She had to do it twice and she struggled with it but it was great!

We have some amazing members here in this area. This one family, the mission leader and his wife and kids...LOVE THEM. He kind of reminds me of Jay J. ...like a lot actually! And his cute wife ate something and got a worm in her brain so she is a little off but she is SO FUNNY! I LOVE HER! And their amazing kids Lester and Leah. Ah I just love them. Lester just left for his mission to Mexico and Leah is too cute. I help her with her English homework sometimes and the people here. You guys would just love them!! Seriously.

We are going to Antigua again next week for zone p-day. I am way excited and we have interviews with Pres. Brough.

Today I contacted a lady on the bus that I thought was American but couldn't tell, so I contacted her in Spanish...she just just looked at me and said "I'm a Jew..." like kind of mean. It took all I had not to laugh...and all I could say was, well Hermana, you are always invited to the church!! haha anyways, ya contacting is fun. The people in this area are hard. They don't want anything!!

But we have some amazing investigators. I am so excited about them. Kimberly, Amelia, Maricela, Josue...they are so great! They will get baptized.

I don't know if I told you but our goal for baptisms in the month of March is 400...as a mission!! PRAY FOR US! I know we can do it! We are working hard to prepare for it and it is going to be an incredible month!!I am going to try right now to send pictures!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

I pray for you always and hope you are doing great! Keep smiling. We have the one thing that will bring us true joy...so never be anything but happy!! LOVE YOU!