This is Hard!

Written by Hermana Justyce Oliphant, serving in the Mexico Tuxtla Gutierrez Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Spanish.

Hello all!

Well I have been thinking about what to say, and I really don't know... I learn new things every day! I will be honest, this last week was pretty hard. I felt sad a ton! That's not good for missionary work. I could go on all day about things that kept going wrong...people wouldn't accept our visits, they wouldn't listen to us, our people with baptism dates decided they didn´t want to keep listening, I have blisters between my toes that hurt, my back hurts, blah! blah! blah! But then I realized that all of those things just don't matter! I am here to do the Lord's work, and this is where He wants me to be! Even though this week was one of the hardest yet, it was probably the closest I have felt to my Heavenly Father. I prayed so much this week!!! And my testimony of prayer is sooooo strong! I love talking with my Father in Heaven, because even though I cannot talk to my earthly parents, and I want to all the time, I can always talk to Him. He will always listen and always answer my questions!
I love the chapter in Preach My Gospel (chapter 6) on Christlike attributes. I study from that chapter all the time. I have been working on being more patient. It's definitely not easy! But I have noticed improvement!



Tamales!

Probably the best feeling ever is when we are at church and one of our investigators walks in by themselves! That means that they are there because they want to be there, and not because we talked them into going and picked them up... which we do a lot of the time. One brother came to sacrament meeting yesterday, and a sister investigator, her husband and us missionaries fasted that she will receive her answer about the church. She always comes to church, prays with her family, and reads the scriptures with her husband. She has also been visiting with missionaries for a long time. I hope that her fast helped her! We will visit her this week, and we have lunch with her every Friday.




We took this picture of our shoes when we stopped to rest after
being chased by an angry dog. I REALLY don't like the dogs here!

It is amazing how much the light of the gospel shines in peoples eyes...when they finally realize it's true, when they say their first prayers. It's so amazing, and I am just loving this work. Yes, it's cold. Yes, it's hard. Yes, my feet are swollen from walking and I sometimes get blisters between my toes. Yes, people reject us. And, yes, I get lots of people staring at me (because I am white). But I LOVE this gospel! And I love being a servant of the Lord. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else for the next 14-ish months. This has definitely been a huge change, but an even bigger blessing in my life.

I pray for you all everyday and have our family picture in my Libro De Mormón! Thank you for everything!

Love,
Hermana Oliphant

Locked Out?!?!