My area is called San Lucas Toliman and our district is called Aguas de Mormon. Lake Atitlan is what we expect to be the Waters of Mormon.

Here is the letter I have been waiting all week for. I have just been wondering where in Guatemala is Morgan...now I know and it sounds like she is doing better since leaving last week. She explains why it was so hard --- makes me cry - it's a mom thing!!!

Heyson and Ema. Such a hard goodbye. They are like my little brothers!!

Victor and Jasmin.

Amy's investigator sent her with a bunch of her old clothes to say goodbye. 

HAHAHA SOOO FUNNY. Good lookinnn right!?

Hermana Mimi, our old cook and her family and Arjona. Arjona is the one in the middle next to me.

 

Our lime tree out the front door.

 "My beautiful area."

Hermana Vasquez 

  

  Hermana Vasquez, Morgan and Moroni (a guy from her last area)

What cute pictures. I hope they love school (I sent first day of school photos to her!). Ashley is going to have arms of steeeeel from the crutches. Hope they are loving every second. K embarrassing question, Ashley is going to be in 8th or 9th grade? and Jeremy in 10th? Thats so embarrassing. But time flies on the mission and i dont even know how old i am! haha

Ok so first things first. I will admit i have been homesick. Homesick for Proyectos and Alamedsas. For my old area. It was a hard few days saying good bye to everyone. I wont tell you about everything. Just a few. The paca family, Tommys family, gave me a necklace. This really pretty heart necklace with diamonds It was really sweet. They hunted us down in proyectos to see if we could go visit them for a bit before i left. Then gave my this necklace all crying. 

With Heyson. Hardest goodbye. He is like my little brother. Since he doesnt live in our area i called him tuesday morning before he left for school to see if he could come to proyectos so we could visit him. He said he didnt think he could make it. When i told him i was leaving and thats why i wanted him to come he said he would come right after school without a doubt. As he walked up to us he was crying. He told me he had been crying ever since i calle dhim that morning. All through school. We both cried all through the lesson. Judge me. But i cant tell you how hard it really is to say goodbye to the people you love and have grown to know in very special ways. He is very special for me.

I didnt get to see marisol and angel cause they live a little farther but i called them tuesday night and as i told htem i was leaving marisol just started to bawl. Literally bawl. She couldnt even talk to her. Angel just kept asking me who he needed to call to ask for permission for me to stay just until their baptism. They were both so so sad. Ah, it was a very hard couple of days. It was hard for me to leave. Even Hermana Zamacona, it was hard for me to leave her. I really love her. She is like a sister to me. But i am glad she is who is staying in proyectos. She will take care of the people!!

Marisol, Angel will be married the 30 and baptized the 31 with tommy on the 31.

Well now that ive left Amatitlan, I am here on top of the world. Literally up here in the mountains a million miles away from EVERYONE!! My area is called San Lucas Toliman and our district is caled Aguas de Mormon. Lake Atitlan is right here in my area and it is beautiful. Lake Atitlan is what we expect to be the Waters of Mormon. This area is so peaceful. I literally have never been in an area so tranquil. I dont know if thats a word but i mean peaceful. The people here area amazing. Most of them dont have lights. Dont have water. They have to walk to the lake to get water. The people live shoeless basically. Well the majority. Every day i get to hike the mountain to go find our investigators. Literally, its like mountain hiking each day. I LOVE IT. Spencer, you would literally love it here. I have no doubt of that!!! The one thing that surprised me is that i have a warm shower. Warm is relatively speaking. I have had a freezing cold shower for the past forever. Since January its been a cooooollllld shower. But now its warm. But now i feel guilty because the people here hardly every have water to even shower.

It is definitely different here. The people are very distinct. The majority speak katchikel...i dont know how you spell it....so i might learn a few new words in that language, but they do speak spanish as well. There is a pair of elders here in my district however that have to learn a new language...they will bei in their area pretty much the whole mission because the people in their area speak this weird language that isnt even written. Which is way cool. The people here all wear their typical guatemalan clothing. Its called Tipica. It is so cool. I am sitting here listening to the people speak katchikel....ahahaha and dont understand a word But it is such a beautiful place. I am in love for real already.

The little kids are the best. We enter the little villages and they come runnninggg! They love my hair. They touch it and smell it and then say, "yup, smells like curly hair!" hahah i dont really know what curly hair smells like but its cute. I have never had a problem with the mission rules, but one i wish i could change is about hugging and holding the kids. We cant hug the little boys, but we cant hold any kids. I just want to hug and hold them all. I literally just love them so much!!

The other day we went to lunch. The lady brought out this plate full of rice and this weird looking meat or veggie. I couldn't tell what ti was...it had like 3 layers...fat, meat, and hair...or something like it! Turns out it was cow stomach....i think...i dont even know...but it was disgusting. I ate some...gave the rest to the dog when we left the house without anyone seeing. My companion and i did detective work to get it to the dog. It was awful. but it did eat some of it. You would be proud!!

I get to play the piano every sunday here. I am super excited for that. I will tell you about one investigator. I dont really know many people still. My companion doesn't really know the area very well or the members or the investigators...i feel like we are kind of starting from scratch here...but there is this one little girl Angelica. She is 13. She is in church every week and this week her dad finally gave her permission to be baptized. So we are planning for this weekend. We shall see. She lives in this small village san juan. We have the main part which is san lucas, then like 8 little villages that are a part of the area. Some like 45 minues away, and others closer. So we go to those regularly.

It rained here the other day...it hadnt rained here in the mountains for a long time apparently...well when it rains it pours. aka a river of water up to my knees that we were walking in. In the mud...because its just mud streets...hahaha we were laughing the whole time!! it was quite fun. It is really cold here though.. Like way cold. During the day its ok, but during the morning and the night it is way cold. But is is beautiful here. The people are wonderful.... I love them so much already!!

I finished the Book of Mormon..all the way through in spanish my last day in alamedas. What an incredible book. I know without a doubt that the book is true. That it answers the questions that we have in life. The spirit teaches through the book fo mromon. I know without a doubt that as we read it, we come to know Christ better. READ IT ALL. I just started again. Lets all do it together!

LOVE YOU ALL!!
HERMANA OLIPHANT

"...its been hard. But nothing TOO hard. Just worth it."

Delicious little fruits.

(Obviously this photo didn't download right! #1)

The houses here are LITTLE.

(Obviously this photo didn't download right! #2)

This is Marisol y Angel

My girl Yolanda and her sister and step father!

Thomasa and Jorge

Me and Sonja. She is soo cool!

(Obviously this photo didn't download right! #3)

My friends at the Macarone. The wonderful Evans and Claudia!! The pizza place. 

They always give us extra cheese and pepperoni for freeee! Claudia cried when I told her I had changes!

Rosemary and her family!! LOVE THEM!

My girl Elisa...one day we will see her famous playing soccer! and Dana who is a member!

Brenda and her kids Katerine, Carlos and Angel. Angel almost cried when I told him I was leaving. 

He said...AWWW NO SE VAYA. Or in other words, DONT GO! and then ran out the house!

SILVA and WILMER. Silva wants me to marry Wilmer...hahhaa she also told us 

she lied to us the first day and told us her name was Sandra. But its really Silvia. 

She decided to tell us the truth because decided she liked us!

Tommy and his family!! Tommy is the kid on the opposite end of me who is going to be baptized.

The zone - (I believe!)

"El Distrito Poderoso"

"The Mighty District"

Here is Morgans letter from this week. I wrote her Monday and sent the letter, but I was not aware that it only went into my draft box---so, she didn't get a letter from me this week. I felt terrible. I have sent it now, so next week she will wish she didn't tell me she didn't get a letter because there will be two! At least she will know I really did write her! She sounds good - sad about transfers, but good!

(I am not fixing her spelling this week - sometimes you all just need to see what I have to decipher. This week is one of those weeks! =} She really just types so fast she doesn't take time to check it at all!! And, that is okay!)
Lisa


Well I didnt receive a letter for week whatever number it is. but its ok. I will just explain to you all about whats been going on here.So i told you about how i fell off the curb. Wel i cant tell you how grateful i am for the many miracles i see every day. My knee is increasingly getting better. I am back to my normal walking speed. I am grateful for that, i dont feel like such a waste of time. I can actually work with ugency again. My knee feels a little odd still, but i would go with 95 percent perfect. I am grateful for the prayers and for the miracles. My Heavenly Father is aware of me and for that I am extremely grateful.

I have to tell you about an amazing family. They had been listening to the Elders back in like october until like february. Well the elders left the area and they never heard from the missionaries again. Well we found them the other day. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE. The husband has a Quad, he used to go out and do visits with the elders. They are great. Their only problem right now is that the wife is working sundays. Carol and Enrique are going to be a miracle family here in Proyectos. I know that! Wow, so many miracles have been happening and so many are going to occur in the next few weeks here. I am excited for the progress of the area.

So turns out Tommys mom is actually a member. Slowly we are learning more and more about Tommy. Its amazing. He didnt go to church sunday with us because he went to visit his mom, so we had to push his baptism date back til the 31. But he is excited and he is doing great. He started to get a little teary when I told him i was being transferred. Which made it really hard for me. I did really good at trying not to cry. No one noticed. I have a cold so they just thought i was sniffing due to the stuffy nose. Good timing to get a cold right!? haha He was really disappointed. But I know that he will be a great, strong member. He is a great example to me. One of the happiest kids ive ever met..

The other day we were talking with a less active man in his door when this family walked up to us and asked if we were from the mormon church. Linda and Ezequiel are their names. Well we explained to them who we are and they asked when we could visit them. We told them to give us 5 minutes. So we finished with the less active and went to their house where they were waiting for us at the table. Well, they are from El Salvador. They moved here a year ago and they had talked with missionaries there in El Salvador but since theyve been here in Guatemala they havent talked with any. Well we went and visited them. THEY ARE INCREDIBLE. They loveee to talk, so we have to control the lesson really well, but they are two little miracles. They are so cute. I am excited for them.

Ana Lucia told us she wants to get baptized. She just wants her daughter to get baptized with her. Her dauighter Camila is being a little stubborn. She grew up in the catholic church and i think she is just afraid of the change. Well Ana Lucia told us she will be baptized but she will do it with her daughter. So we are praying a lot for Hermanita Camila to have a change of heart. I know she will. We just need to see another miracle. But i know HEavenly Father is a God of Miracles so we will see them.

Wel its true, I am being transferred tomorrow. I cried like a little baby when they told me. I didnt think it would be so hard, ok ya i did. I LOVE the people in this are. I would live here in a heart beat. I am just in love with them all. It has been reallly hard saying ggood bye to people. I wont get to say good by e to Marisol and Angel before I leave, but i kind of had a feeling i would be leaving so at least I got a picture on Sunday with them. Also, I called Heyson today in the morning and told him and he was super sad. He doesnt live here in our area, but he told me he was going to come today so he could say goodbye. Ay, he was crying on the phone, i just love that little guy. HE really is an incredible kid. I cant express enough how grateful i am for the opportnity that my Father in Heaven gave me to be able to be in this area. I leanrned more in my time in tis area than i ever imagined. I have learned to really love the people. That is what makes it so hard for me to leave. But i know another wonderful adventure will coe.

I have some funny and weird experiences i can tell you about.

For teh past 4 months here in Proyectos there has been this man, and every day ! literally every day, and every time we walk past he started yelling at me to try to get my attention. Lets keep in mind hes probably like 35 or 40, there are a million people in proyectos, and he has no shame. He is always yelling Canchita, deme su numero. Como te llamas? Solo deme mi un oportunidad. Or in english. HEy white girl. Give me your number. Whats your name. Just give me a chance. hahahaha ah I always just ignore him. But he has no shame and all of proyectos just laughs as we walk by. WEll yesterday he was doing it again and we were talking to a family and all the sudden this little 10 year old kid walks up to me with a half sheet of paper and says, El quiere que le llama. and hadns me a piece of papaer with the guys phone number on it. ay no. I just looked and the kid and said gracias pero no. And we walked away. As we turned the corner we diedddd laughing. But they man just needs to move on. ha too funny.

In church on sunday we had some random guy in sacrament meeting. When we walked in he was just sitting there all alone. So we went to talk to him and we thought he was maybe an investigator from the elders. so we got talking to him and he told us his name and such and then all the sudden he looks at me and says...Soy Dragon....aka im a dragon. At that point we knew he was on drugs. We went to go talk to other people. We look up on the stand and he is up theret aking his shirt off. So we went to go tell him to put his shirt on and he did...but put his head in the arm hole. So he had his face covered like a mask and then like a cape on the back. Ayyy no. The elders showed up and sat with him during sacrament meeting where he was making car noises, talking about the devils water, and chicken and meat and it was reallly uncumfortable. The elderfs finally took him out side and he stayed out there. IT was really odd.

I can promise you that the mission is the best time of my whole life. I havec never been so happy. I am grateful for every experience. Even as hard as the changes are, i know that they are worth it. We learn new things through our experiences. I am grateful for the spirit and the guidance of the spirit and for all the miracles we have seen through the spirit. I know the Lord has perfect timing. I know that when we see trials, only better things come. IT has been a hard week. With my knee, getting a pretty nasty cold including fever, having transfers...its been hard. But nothing TOO hard. Just worth it. I am so grateful for every experience. For every trial. For every miracle. I love the scriptures. I love my savior. I love you allll!!

Hermana Oliphant

HOW DID YOU DECIPHERING HER SOMEWHAT JUMBLED UP WORDS? 

IF YOU NEED HELP, LET ME KNOW - I WILL DECIPHER FOR YOU!

"THE SPIRIT IS THE BEST COMPANION I HAVE EVER HAD."

Here is Morgan's letter from Wednesday! I think she will be okay! Her surgery knee was giving her a problem, but it sounds like she isn't worried about it at all. I asked her not to ignore it and make sure she takes care of it!

Lisa

"Amy's family went to Disneyland and sent some goodies! hahaha" 

(Maybe for Amy's one year celebration?!?!?)

Magda and her cute kids.

At the zoo with Hermana Newman (MTC companion)

Remember the foot fungus - these are the promised photos-gross! Sorry!!

Hello,
I am afraid they will change your email day to today, so I wanted to at least send you a small note to say hello.

I have some photos to send you of Alex leaving for Washington this morning. I have to send them to my email before I can send them to you.

We haven't had anything too exciting happen this week. Spencer, I think, may have finally sold the Honda. That is good.

We had Heidi over for dinner last night with Levi and Sawyer. It was supposed to be their whole family --- but Kate and Oliver were still asleep so Justin stayed home with them. I felt bad. They were bringing Ashley back - she helped with the kids all week, and we invited them for dinner, or to meet them half way. They were all coming but didn't get to.

During dinner, Shelley and Taryn stopped by and Julie and Blake and Seth and Eli - so it was fun. We wrote little notes to Alex and Diane Buma took them to him at the airport today! Eli has been in Hawaii with Nathaniel the last 10 days and they were just on their way home from picking him up. He was so happy to be back with his family. That was a positive experience for him.

Julie got to talk to Alex and she said he sounded good. He was very excited to leave the MTC. He didn't love that much at all!

Well, this is sooo boring. I just don't really know what else to tell you.

Spencer is getting ready to start school on the 20th.

WE LOVE YOU! I Hope you have had a great week. I hope your contacts with investigators have been positive ones. I hope that you have good results from those visits. I am still hoping that you get to stay another transfer, but, you're right, if you go there is a reason.

Take care of Morgan - how is your health (feet still good??)? Please be careful what you eat and drink. I want you happy AND HEALTHY for the rest of your mission! Well and after that too!

Love you Morga! Tell us EVERYTHING! We want to hear it all!

Love you!
Mom

HI FAMILY!!!!
Well it has been quite the week! I cant wait to tell you. I don't have tons of time, but i will try and get it all in!! I DID SEND SPENCER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISH!! I am so sorry you didn't get it!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! i don't know if you changed emails or what but i never get responses and now i am thinking you never get my emails?

I am so glad Alex is finally in Washington. I know he is going to enjoy it way more than the MTC. I am sure of it! What a great missionary he will be.

Marisol and Angel are set for the 30 to get married and the 31 to be baptized. THEY ARE SO EXCITED! and so are we!!

TOMMY IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON THE 24!! We are sooo excited. He went to church Sunday. We went to go pick him up at his house and knocked on the door at 730 am. Well he came to the door rubbing his eyes. He had just woken up. We told him we would wait for him. 5 minutes later he left and we went to church. Turns out that a little over a year ago he had been to church with the missionaries when he was living with his mom. Now he lives with his aunt and uncle. Well he accepted to be baptized and he is so cool and excited!! What an incredibly prepared young 14 year old.

The other day this girl asked me if i could help her with an interview she had to do for her school. She had to do it in English. IT WAS SO FUNNY. I felt bad, but i couldn't understand anything she was trying to say to me. But we ended the interview and taught a lesson. It was a good lesson!! We will see what happens with the cute girl!!
The other day Hermana Funk completed 1 year in the mission. We went to pizza hut. The 4 of us and we bought this pizza that has 16 portions. HUGE. Well we ate it all in 15 minutes. We have urgency in the work which includes our eating. You will see in a couple of months...we eat fast here!!! hahaha but, it was a really good pizza.

The other day we found this man. Renee. He is like 50 or so. Well we were teaching his mom Olivia, but Olivia hides from us now. The other day Renee told us she was sleeping but that he wanted to listen. So we taught him. He is incredibly prepared. About a year ago he received a Book of Mormon from some elders, but they never taught him, he just received it in the street. She he has never talked to missionaries for real. He has family that are members. His older sister and her family are all members. Well yesterday he told us as he prayed he felt very strongly that he needed to go to church. That he would know for sure that the church was true as he went to church. At the end of the lesson he said, its interesting. My sister is a member, and has never taken 10 minutes to sit down and explain to me a little bit about her church. 

WHAT A LESSON I LEARNED. Wow! There are people there ready and prepared, and sometimes we just don't say anything. I invite all of you to look around. There are people who don't know what they don't have. We just need to open our mouths so they can know what they are missing. The people are there, we just have to find them. The spirit is preparing them. I can testify of that. The mission is amazing. President Markham told us that the miracle of the mission is the spirit. It is so true. We are missionaries do nothing more than share what we know to be true. The spirit does ALL the work. The amazing people that we have been finding are just prepared by the spirit. Tommy, Marisol and Angel, Renee, and Ana Lucia. They all had the seed planted earlier by family and friends and now look where they are. All preparing to be baptized. WE plant the seed as family members and friends, THE SPIRIT WORKS HARD, then they make the decision. It is an incredible to to experience. I know for a fact that this is not my work. This is the work of the Lord and i have the opportunity to help in it. In Jacob 5 verse 72 we learn that. It is the Lord vineyard and we get to help, and he is right there with us the whole way. What a great thing.

Yesterday we went to Santa Lucia. We woke up at 330 am to get there for a zone conference. Santa Lucia is the coast. IT was a LONGGG bus ride and hot. but it was well worth it. The zone conference was amazing and i learned so much. I learned so many things i need to do to improve. So many things i need to change. Ah, I just love the mission. I am so grateful for the chance my Father in Heaven gave me to train. The 12 week training is coming to an end. This is the last week. Changes are in 1 week from today. We will see what happens, but i trust the Lord. I know that whatever happens is meant to happen.

Not much else to say this week. I am sorry.- It doesn't seem super exciting but i promise that it is the best. We are seeing miracles left and right. THE SPIRIT IS THE BEST COMPANION I HAVE EVER HAD.
Love you all so much!!
HERMANA OLIPHANT

After Monday night I wrote Morgan another note because our boring week changed - in one foot step . Here is my note and her response.

On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 9:30 AM, Lisa Oliphant <balfoliphant@comcast.net> wrote:

So instead of things staying boring, Ashley decides to fall off a curb last night! She has probably broken her foot. We will go to Dr Lyman hopefully Thursday to find out for sure! X-rays! She was walking with friends home from Maverick. I thought they were watching Shark Week at her friends HOUSE!

That's what we get for not having family night... Right? I know!

Say a prayer it will be ok---if it's what Bro Dahl thinks it is, (a Jones fracture) it is the hardest foot injury to heal. Ahhhhh! I like boring better!!!!! Pretty much the same thing Jer did to his hand, but in her foot!

Love you, from your whiny family, and
Mom
ASH WE ARE TWINS. I fell off a curb Monday too. I will tell you the story quick. Please don't worry, i am fine. I fell off, i don't even know how, and my knee popped and hurt and i was reallllly worried. The whole day i was in a lot of pain, and just wanted to cry. Well Tuesday morning we had to wake up at 330 and we were in a bus for 2 and a half hours...lotsss of prayers we said. My knee was stiff and sore and it was not looking good. Well i stepped off the bus, and my knee popped again. But this was a great pop, because i could bend my leg after and the pain wasn't so strong. Í asked my district leader for a blessing. The pain has been going down and down each day and as I continue to pray i find peace. I will be honest I was REALLY worried. I cried in the bathroom all morning worried about the results. But I literally feel at peace. There is nothing wrong with my knee. I know its just fine. Prayers are appreciated, but I PROMISE I AM FINE!! DO not worry. I feel bad for Ash. I will be praying for her. Tell her to pray a lot. I KNOW PRAYERS ARE POWER. I have seen more miracles in my life than i ever could have imagined! LOVE YOU. Funny part of this story, yesterday we knock on a door and there are two guys down at the end of the street. Two teens and Hermana Zamacona says they are talking about you. I was like, Nah, they aren't. Well i turned around and one of them was showing his friend exactly how i fell and they were laughing their heads off. I just laughed and smiled! hahahahahaha
Morgan

Is this your surgery knee?
I hope it is okay! Don't ignore it - take care of it. Put deep blue on too maybe!
Mom

Ya its the surgery knee. but its all good I am taking care of it!! I'm not. I promise. I know i don't want any worse problems, but i really feel fine. It is getting better each second!!!
Morgan

Each second? Now you are just saying what you want your worrier mom to hear! I can read between those lines my friend!! =)
Mom

No i am not kidding. Every one keeps telling me i am a walking miracle. Trust me. Its real!
Morgan

What a week of miracles.

Here is Morgans letter from Tuesday! Don't be so shocked it came so early...I got a reminder to send this one out - that's why its so soon! =) It is a great letter - the note at the end is yucky, but a good story! Thanks for your love, support and prayers for Morgan. She feels them every day! (Remember, my comments are in green, hers are in red!)

Lisa
Photos attached are of her Zone going to the zoo. She said - "Check out Hermana Hansen's skirt" (they are wearing the exact same skirt!) I said "Does she shop at Burlington Coat Factory?" "Morgan said, "She is from California!"

Hello,
How was the zoo? Do we get pictures this week? Who went with you to the zoo? Was there a lot of different animals than there are at our zoo?

The animals are pretty much all the same. hahaha it was fun though. I sent pics. I hope they came through!!

How has your week been? Better than last week? Everyone loves how positive you are - you say it was an awful week, and then you say but after bad things come good things. I had lots of comments about that positive attitude.

I CAN TESTIFY WITH 100 percent SEGURIDAD (safety?- maybe she means I can safely say--100%) THAT AFTER THE BAD COMES THE GOOD. What a week of miracles. cant wait to tell it all. I will tell it all at the end.

Do you need anything?

I dont need anything. I am doing great. Seriouslly so grateful. Prayers that i dont get transferred this next change so i can be here for all the exciting things, but if i do get transferred i know it is what is best. I just have to selfishly say i hope i get to stay 1 change more. With hermana Zamacona!

How are your investigators? What happened with Arjona, and how about Sergio?

I will tell it all at the very end. GET EXCITEDDD!!

Are you really thinking that you will be transferred. I was thinking about that a lot, and the thing is, my dear, you said when you left your last area that you couldn't leave because of how much you love those people and could stand to leave them. Now here you are, in the same situation and you feel the same way. You will feel that way about every area that you are in. I wish you could stay there one more transfer at least so that you can continue to work with all those people. Especially Sergio that prayed for you to stay so he can go to church with you in September. I don't think it would hurt to have you be there a bit longer. But you know that it is inspiration that took you there and inspiration will take you from there. FAITH! And you have an abundance of faith! You wll be awesome where ever you are.

I had been praying that i wouldn't be transferred, then decided that was too selfish. Now i am praying i can be at peace with whatever happens at transfers.

We love you so much. You are a great example to so many people. They love your letters and you just radiate happiness in your letters. STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY -- love you!
Mom

OK I AM READY.
Just fyi quick, we will be emailing next Wednesday due to a zone conference Tuesday!

Saturday we called Marisol and Angel to tell them we found an abogado (I looked it up = lawyer)...i cant think of the word in english...so they can get married. Well Angel told me he had been calculating that they are going to be married the 30th of august. then in church on sunday they told us they needed to talk to us and they said they had been thinking...they said, if we get married saturday can we just get baptized the next day, on sunday. OF COURSEEEE!!! HELLLLLOOO MIRACLE. It is amazing. I can testify that the spirit works on these people. We felt as if we had done everything. We didnt know what else to do. So we prayed and fasted a lot, and we had a miracle. The spirit worked on these people. What an amazing thing.

I told you about Ana Lucia, the sister in law of the 70. Well this past week we went to visit her and she told us she knows the church is true. She has had contact with the church for 25 years. She told us her conversion story basically, and she knows. Her challenges are her husband...doesn't want anything to do with any church, and also she doesn't feel like she can keep all the commandments yet....so prayers for Ana Lucia would be great. She is aamazinggg!!!

OK LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE AMAZING PACA FAMILY. Their name isnt really paca. They work in a paca...which is a little clothing store. like clothes from the states that they sell really cheap. We found them a lonnggg time ago. Just knocking on a door next to them. Well , ahhhi wish i had more time. Basically it is another testimony of the spirit working on the people. The other night when we went to visit them. The dad, who is actually a less active told us they had been thinking about us a lot. They knew it was all true because they are living the answer. They said us coming to them was their answer. They talk about how we came into their lives in the perfect timing. The father Julio was baptized a long time ago and told us he was beginning to remember. Patricia the mother is told us she knows because she has prayed and felt it. Their son Kirby wants to serve a mission, and their nephew Tomy loves it all. Ah i cant get this cute family out of my mind. They are amazing. I just love them so much!!!

We have this cute investigator jaqueline who we have contacted in the street like 9 million times and finally we found her in the street again and we said can we go to your house right now and share a message with you and your husband. We went. THEY ARE AMAZING. The next day we went with jaqueline and she said, i dont know what it is, but believe me, every time i talk to you two i feel a peace. I love it! She prayed, we were in the street sitting down in the road, and she prayed to know if jose smith was a prophet. It was the most sincere prayer i have ever heard. THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG. in the middle of the street. What miracle.

Sergio is sooo cool Well the other day we called him and some random man picked up his phone. He told me he had just bought the phone....LIES. He had just stolen the phone. We were bummed cause had no way to get a hold of sergio. It was 830 later that night and had an appointment down at the very end of proyectos, and the lady wasnt home. I said well theres a reason we are down here, lets find out why. We both felt to go visit sergio. We did. He was home. Told us his phone had been stolen the night before, but we found him. He is doing so well. The spirit is just guiding every foot step.

Arjona wasnt in church again. He has been sick, but we are visiting him tonight.

I told you about Victor and how he came to church , well this past sunday he didnt come cause he had to go visit his dad, but his little sister did and she brought 2 of her little friends. SHE LOVEEEED IT! The primary just included her so well.

I can testify that this is the LORDS work. In Jacob it talks about how it is the vineyard of the lord and we are only here working in his vineyard. sometimes it is easy to forget that and we think he will help us in this work...but the truth of it is that it is his work and we are just helping him. The spriit guides every step. As we live worthy of it. I cant express to you my love for my Savior. I cant express to you the joy i am feeling here in Guatemala. I dont want it to end. EVER. The best part is that it doesnt have it. WE are children of god. WE have a sacred calling in this life. WE can share this gospel with EVERYONE. WE need to do it. We follow Christ decision by decision, action by action.

Funny stories...
The people keep their animals aka chickens and dogs on their roofs...well the other day a chicken jumped off the roof and almost landed on my companion.

We were teaching Kirby, heres the conversation:

Zamacona...como empezamos la oracion?...how do we start the prayer?
Kirby....con ganas y felicidad!!...with desires and happiness!!
She wanted him to answer Padre Celestial, or Heavenly Father


Also, teaching kirby, my watched beeped telling us it was 9. o clock. Kirby says....and now the bombs going to go off....those americans and their bombs....hahahhahaha WHAT!!

I am sure there is more. Dont worry, i am writing EVERYTHING in my journal. I wish i had more time but i gotta go! LOVE YOU ALL. Im serious. You are amazing!
Hermana Oliphant

Here is another note she sent me while online on Tuesday: GROSS!! -- poor thing!

She said, "Did I tell you about my foot fungus?"

I said WHAT????????????????

Here is her reply:

I got a foot fungus from walking in shoes with holes in them i think. I have had it for about a month and i didnt know what to do. The nurse gave me a cream to put on it but it didnt help. It just got worse and worse....it was hurting really bad. Like it hurt to walk. I couldnt walk on my foot, i was walking on the side of my foot a lot. Well i was praying and praying. Not for the pain, nothing like that, i just wanted to be able to work hard, and i felt like the pain was impeding that, well one day i felt strongly to put bacitracin on it. or however you spell it. Well guess what, bacitracin makes me DUH!! In 2 days it was completely gone. I am telling you. MIRACLE. This fungus was all over my heel, the pad of my foot and all my toes, and on both feet....IT IS COMPLETELY GONE!!!!

I took a picture of it, i will send one day or show you in a couple months. I dont have my camera cord today, but it was pretty gross...and SMELLED AWFUL. Well i told the nurse about the magic bacitracin and she is just in awe. She said TONS of missionaries have it...so she is way excited!!

I guess one day we will get a gross photo of that!

(Her comment of Bacitracin makes my duh is a family joke --I'll explain if you want to know or maybe you should ask Spencer!! I'll explain quick. When Spencer was little he got hurt pretty bad, we were told to use Bacitracin because it encourages "epithelization" by a doctor (when Brent cut off one of his fingers) but Spencer cried when we tried to put it on his owey and said "Bacitracin makes me duh!" Just crying and crying -- so funny It is like neosporin but better!)

It can't be from the holey shoes if "lots of other missionaries have it too! Maybe the yucky water they walk in during this raining season!?!?!?

DILIGENCE AND OBEDIENCE WITH EXACTNESS ARE THE KEY TO SUCCESS.

Here is Morgan's letter from this past Monday! This whole first part if me describing our week to her. We got to go to our nephew's farewell in the morning, and then to Morgan's mission president's homecoming later in the day! I had to tell her all about it! It was great! So sorry for the Sunday travel log!!! No photos this week! =[
Lisa


So what an awesome Sunday we had. I cannot tell you how great it was. It started at 9 am with Alex's farewell shared with Chase Manning. We got up early to cook breakfast casseroles that were basically french toast. They had to cook for 45 mins so we cooked early so we could be to church on time. Of course, with two of them speaking, we left about 8:20. Chase was first, then their ward choir sang I Need Thee Every Hour. Olivia Abbott played the violin with them --- it was awesome.

Then Alex spoke and can I just say --- he was awesome. Brent said it was the best, bar none missionary talk he has ever heard. He really did a good job. He talked about his testimony of prayer and then why he chose to go on a mission. He told some great experiences. He touched a lot of people.

I hope you recorded it. I have always admired Alex. He is an incredible person and I know he will be an AMAZING missionary.

We saw Hannah and I gave her a hug. She is really cute with us. I saw Matty at church! We didn't get to talk, but we waved. Bro. Popp asked about you again - the Stake President! The bishop! They always ask about you when we see them. I quite enjoy telling them that Wednesday is an important day for me as your mom.

I don't even want to talk about Wednesday...but we are going to the zoo tomorrow to celebrate...haha well not really for that, but we are going to the zoo. I cant even explain to you my feeling about completing half my mission. It makes me sad. it makes me sick. But it makes so much happy to be able to look back at all the amazing experiences.

We went to Alex's house for a little while, and then Dad and I took off and went to WELLSVILLE. It was a long drive, but soooo worth it. We got to go listen to the Brough's homecoming talk. I was so excited that we were able to go. There was about a thousand missionaries there. I couldn't believe it. We were sitting on the back row before the meeting started and had to pull our legs in the whole time because there was so many people standing there talking and hugging, etc. All of a sudden, this missionary stands up, and I said, there she is. Brent said, yup! It was only about 3 minutes before it starts, and I went up to her. Guess who??? I walked up to her and I said were you Morgan Oliphant's trainer?? She said yes! I start crying (you know tearing up), and I said, I'm her mom! She threw her arms around me and we hugged for a long time. I apologized for being such a baby. And then we talked for a minute and she said how much she loves you, how what an awesome missionary you are, and how she just thought so highly of you. All I could say was she loved you too. Then I thanked her for all that she did for you. It was so great to talk to her. She looks much different in person than in Guatemala photos. She was cute with Dad and I --- I pointed to Dad and said that is her dad. She said I would love to meet him too - and she went right back and hugged him too. She was so nice as she talked about you, she made dad teary too!

STOP IT: HERMANA COLEMAN!! I love that girl. I am so glad you got to meet her! What a special girl she is to me.

After the great meeting, Ganzi, then Sis. then Pres., Dad and I both went right up to the front and up on the stand. No one else was going up there really, so I apologized and said I am usually not that pushy, but I needed to come and say hello. I said, I am Morgan Oliphant's Mom. President Brough got a little bit teary, and he said "I want to see her when she gets home!" He told us what a great missionary you are, how hard working and how obedient you are with their messages of obedience with exactness message that he talked about. He was very complimentary of you, Morgan.

I LOVE THAT FAMILY MORE THAN YOU CAN KNOW. What an amazing man. I admire President Brough. Don't be surprised when he is a general authority in a few years.

Then we went over and talked to Sis. Brough. I told her the same "I am not pushy story" but that i wanted to introduce myself and told her who we were. She said, she loved you, and she said you as parents never need to worry if the mission president and his wife love the missionaries. She also told us what an great missionary you are and how hard working you are and mostly the same thing he said. They love you Morga. I cannot wait for you to see them again. I will drive you up there sometime and we will let you say hello, again.

I will see them when I am home! I CANT WAIT!!

I caught Ganzie (their daughter who went to Guatemala with them at the age of 14) - said hello, told her who we were, she said you are an amazing missionary and how much she loves you, and ended with OH, and I LOVE HER HAIR. I love it, she said. It was funny. She was nice, too!

SHE is so cute. An amazing example for me.

Just before it ended, I was thinking I should have called the Funk's and invited them to go to! I don't know if they would have, but we didn't see them there - we didn't really look much! It was very crowded.

Hermana Newman really wanted her mom to be able to go with you. Did you see her there?

It was a great meeting day for us. I am so glad we got to see both of them. Both meetings were just really worth it. But, we didn't see anyone there...sorry!

The Brough's talked about how they always said what a blessing - when someone called and talked about their "problems" --- blisters, etc. They would say what a blessing that you worked so hard. He talked about how he wanted the missionaries to suffer because they turned to Christ in those times. I understand more, now, of what that meant and what it was all about. I didn't love the idea when I first heard it, but it made more sense to me.

So much sense and so amazing. What a great family.

So, we went to Wicked Wednesday, it was good, and sooo fun to be with all the family that went with us. We had Karen, Brig, Lincoln Melissa (her sister and husband), Gma and Gpa Spencer, Julie, Blake, Alex, Gma Vicki, Aunt Elise and Uncle Don. Then we also had Tammy, Melanie, Michael and Jesse North. IT WAS AWESOME!

FUN NIGHT!!!

Thursday for Pioneer Day, that's the day the boys got home from Trek - like at 10, but they actually came home at 845 cuz they walked faster, then Friday night was Tim McGraw.

Trek, what a great experience.

It was a fun week, but it was a GREAT Sunday.

Spencer and Jeremy both enjoyed Trek. Spencer ended up being an Uncle. Wish we would have known, cuz we wouldn't have had to gather all the PA stuff if we knew that! Oh well!

Spencer - hopefully he will tell you, but he starts a new job tomorrow, still at Back Country, but he has to be there at 6 am until 2:30 pm.

Okay - I have talked WAAAYYYY too much. We want to hear about your week - all of it. I really wanted to share this Sunday with you. If you can listen to cd's, I could try and send you a CD of the two meetings, or, I will have them when you get home and you can listen then. Alex goes to the MTC on Wednesday at 1:30. He, hopefully, will write you, but he won't know you are on Monday - actually I am going to tell him right now, he will want to send you a note, and you can send him one too!

He emailed me. I did email him, and I cant wait for him. As for CDs, don't send them. no time, nowhere to listen to them. But in 9 months that's the first things ill do!!

We love you Morga! We pray for you still - every prayer! Be safe, be healthy, and be successful. Obedient to exactness! That is a great idea. It is a protection for you as well I understand!

Tell us about your investigators! How is Heyson this week. All is well still? I was glad to hear you found Dennis? Is that going any better now? How did you meeting with the boy whose father didn't want you to come anymore--Osmar? Edgar? did he come to church with his new shoes? Pres. Pineda and his wife sound great! Alva? Abilia? Hope i am spelling and remembering right!

Take care of Morgan - be careful at the zoo! I hope it is a great experience. I was wishing I knew some of those missionaries---But I didn't really know who they were and so we didn't really talk to anyone!

LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Be happy!
Mom

What a WILD week! I cant tell you it has been a struggle of a week. We just didn't have TONS of great successful days...so we thought. But every time we had an appointment fall through, or someone break up with us...which is what we say when they don't want to listen anymore, we reminded ourselves that something good was coming. And it always did. What miracles we see each day. I have really been trying to work on my hope. Something good always come after. We have a goal in august of having 70 baptism in the zone. IT is a very high goal, but we Are SO excited because we have so many amazing investigators very well prepared!!

The other day we had an awful day. Like everything fell through. At 8 we had an appointment with Arjona...haha we were in the LAST street of Proyectos waiting for him at a members house...well he finally showed up at 825....we weren't super happy with him...but we got talking and he has really changed. He is really trying. He has changed from poco a poco to ire y hare. I WILL GO AND DO. He literally says that when we talk to him about different commandments. Well at the end of the lesson, law of chastity, he goes, and what happens if we have had problems with that...we explained the miracle of repentance and that with the baptism he can be clean and he says...
Arjona: Solo me falta un bautismo....i just need to be baptized
me: si hermano, estamos preparando un servicio bautismal por este 10 de agosto...seguira el ejemplo de jesucrist y se preparara para ser bautizado este fecha...
arjona: he looked at me for a few second with the little grin and laughed a bit and says...YES! What time?

HOLY COW. What a miracle. His big problem is his dad. His dad is evangelical...and he gets nervous of what his dad says and thinks....so Sundays he goes to work with his dad and he is afraid to tell him no. So we are praying a lot for that and that he can get over the word of wisdom problems.

This week we have woken up at 400 am every day. except for one day i think...WE ARE TIRED. But we are seeing so many miracles.

We found SERGIO!! He is seriously so cool. We are trying to get him to church. But he studies Sundays.
Conversation.
Serigio: What do i have to do to get baptized. like the requirements.
We explained and then also said he had to go to church 3 times.
Sergio: So if ive been going to church in a different area for the past month i can get baptized?
WE JUST STARED AT HIM FOR LIKE A MINUTE. Trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or if he was kidding.
He was like so can i get baptized. We were dyingggg!!!
He says, no its not true i just wanted to know.
Then we had been talking about how we always have transfers and he goes, well I am going to pray that you will still be her ein September so I can go to church with you when I finish school in September. Well he said the prayer at the end and really did pray for it.

Heyson got confirmed on Sunday. On Friday he went and visited Victor with us. Well he invited Victor to mutual. The next day they were going to go play soccer at the church. Well victor said he wanted to go. Saturday night we found the young men walking down the street and asked them how it went. They told us victor went...and GOT IN A FIGHT WITH SOMEONE. WHAT!?!? Our sweet little 13 year old investigator went to mutual and got in a fight with a member. Like punching. I WAS DYING. We get to church Sunday and guess who was there...at 730...half hour before church starts....VICTOR AND HEYSON. Sitting there on the front row just waiting. YES OUR LITTLE 13 YEAR OLD CONVERT IS PASSING FOR OUR INVESTIGATOR TO BRING HIM TO CHURCH. They are so amazing. The young men in this ward are amazing. Victor is friend with all of them and they just make him feel like a thousand bucks. It just made us so happy to see them all there together. So amazing.

WE received a reference from a member. IT is the lady named Ana Lucia Barrios. Well yesterday we went to visit her. Turns out her brother in law is Elder Cardon...of the 70. This Ana Lucia is amazing. She has listened a little bit to the missionaries for like 25 years but never rreallllly super interested. Well i know the spirit has been preparing her. SHE IS SO PREPARED. Her and her cute daughter Camilla. They are so amazing. I know they will be baptized. I am so excited for them. She got in a car accident 4 years ago...she cant bend her one ankle...she has lots of problems with her one leg....but she in incredible. SO EXCITED!!

Saturday we went to Palin...an area about 45 minutes from Proyectos and we did an attack of the area. This ward has 1000 members, but only 250 going to church. So we went to go visit everyone and their dog. The ward is going to be split, they just are working hard to be able to do so. It was interesting and fun to be in a new area, but we had appointments that we missed because they kept us there longer than we thought they would. We went to planes de barcinas after at like 700...well at 730 the buses don't pass to go back to Proyectos...so we went with faith that a member would be able to bring us back. WE RANNN THROUGH THIS RESIDENTIAL AREA. HILLS AND HUGE. RAN to get to this appointment. Also, this day the phone decided it didn't want to work, so we couldn't call the family to tell them we were going to be late. So we get there and in the end, it was a crazy day, but it was a success. The family we visited was a family that showed up to church with a less active family, so we finally got to visit them. Estuardo and Marcela. They are way cool and way interested. We are seeing things grow and seeing miracles always.

This week we had some funny experiences. One time we knocked on this guys door and he yelled QUIEN? WE were like BUENOS DIAS HERMANO!! He finally came to the door...wrapped in a towel with shampoo in his hair and his body...he told us now wasn't a great time and to return another day. He shut the door and we just died laughing...it was so funny.

I can tell you the mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I cant believe how time flies. But I AM LOVING EVERY SECOND. I know that what happens is what is supposed to happen and the lord hand is in all things. DILIGENCE AND OBEDIENCE WITH EXACTNESS ARE THE KEY TO SUCCESS. It gives us power. I know that i am right where I am supposed to be. It makes me sick to think it all has to end soon. That I could be leaving this area in like 2 weeks. The people here are a part of my family and I love them with all of my heart. I feel like I have so much to do here in this area still and I can't wait to see all the miracles that are to come. Keep being amazing and help out the missionaries. PRAY TO KNOW WHO YOU CAN SHARE YOUR TESTIMONIES WITH. Share the Book of Mormon with a friend. Bring someone to church. Go on visits with the missionaries. OFFER TO LET THE MISSIONARIES TEACH IN YOUR HOUSE.

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!
Hermana Oliphant

I THEN ASKED:
On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 4:12 PM, Lisa Oliphant <balfoliphant@comcast.net> wrote:

What do you mean when you say our member is passing for our investigator??


From: "Oliphant, Morgan" <morgan.oliphant@myldsmail.net>
To: "Lisa Oliphant" <balfoliphant@comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2014 1:14:45 PM
Subject: Re: EMAIL #39 for week of July 27, 2014

He went to his house and picked him up to go to church together!! He passed by his house to go to church with him and bring him along!