Week #9 - What. A. Week.

(The picture was taken on 30 July 2014....exactly two months tomorrow!!)

This week has been CRAZY! Crazy good of course. Last Monday I was having a hard day, and pretty much last week was hard for me. We had FHE with a family in our ward and it totally made my whole day! The Father, Hermano Pereyra is the taxi driver for the whole mission. He. Is. An. Angel. Actually, his whole family are angels. I just love them!!! 

When we got to their house, he was telling me that when he saw me, he knew that I was needed in this ward-- he called me an angel. It seriously made me tear up a little. These people are so sweet. I also have so much love for their daughter, Astrella. She is 6 and always wears my name badge. She says: "Soy Hermana Murphy!!!!!" It is so darn cute. I love her. Anyways, as we were leaving, he told me that I was apart of his family forever! I just love these people here. They are good people. 

We have been teaching a man named Jorge Garcia and it has been going well. He is having a hard time quiting smoking. but he is trying and I know that Heavenly Father appreciates that. When we first started teaching him, he was smoking 5 cigarettes a day. Now he is at 2-3 a day! It is so exciting. Another cool thing that happened when we were teaching the WOW was I had this thought to read him a talk from the Liahona about addictions and how Jesus Christ can always help us. It was so cool. The thought just came into my head. I know it was from the Holy Ghost. Anyways, Jorge is getting baptized on the 22 of October!! I am going to sing at the baptism. You all might laugh, but here, I have the voice of David Johnson. No one here can sing so pretty much I am the Angel of Music. haha. (joking... Dave will always and forever be the angel of music) (Heather note:  This line cracks me up.  We have always called Dave "The Angel of Music" because of his beautiful singing.......and his love for singing songs from Phantom of the Opera.  It cracked me up since she referenced him in her letter.  I'm sure he will feel honored!  Haha)

We have been teaching a girl named Johanna and she will be getting baptized in 2 weeks! It is so exciting. She has taken the lessons really well and loves learning more. She even has been attending seminary. Muy Capo. 

Hermana Moreno and I walk probably 4-6 miles a day in the mud and it is really crazy. I never thought I would say this, but I love crocs more than anything. They have literally saved my feet here!!! (Heather note: I guess I know what I should try and send Hannah for Christmas!  These are the lovely little beauties that she is sporting in Argentina these days)

One thing that I have been focusing on is really coming to know and understand our Savior. That is one thing that I have wanted to really come to know with me being here. I know our Savior. I challenge you all to find your relationship with our Savior. This is the perfect opportunity because this week is Conference!!!! I am so excited to hear the words of the Prophet! This week be thinking of things that you want to find out through Conference! I know your questions will be answered if you really pay attention :)

Remember: Scriptures that are falling apart belong to someone who isn´t :)

Everyone have the best week and thank you so much for the love and support! It means the world to me! :) 

Hermana Murphy

Week #8 - From Posadas With Love.......

Muddy Posadas (or as Hannah says...Mucho Barro) (OR as I say......looks very wet like Oregon....glad the boots came in handy!!  Not to mention the Columbia coat!  That is a similar outfit that Hannah would wear here in Oregon between the months of October and May)

Hola Friends and Family!!!!

I hope you all have been well. I appreciate the time you all spend on sending letters and emails. It means the world to me. This week has been really hard for me. But if I could take one thing from this week it is that God is real and the Atonement is for all of us. As I was reading from the Ensign, I came upon this quote by Dallin H. Oaks. It says, "Jesus Christ knows of our anguish, and He is there for us. Like the good Samaritan in His parable, when He finds us wounded at the wayside, He binds up our wounds and cares for us. Brothers and sisters, the healing power of the Atonement is for you, for us, for all." Isn´t that so true? The Atonement is for all of us. For any problem. As Elder Holland said, "Jesus Christ walked a long lonely path utterly alone, so that we do not have to." Christ is going to help us feel better when we are at our lowest points. During this past week, I have seen this work in my life. I am a firm believer in God sends us guardian angels. I have been able to meet a few people here that will forever be in my heart. Hermana León, Hermana Rios, and Valentina Rios. They are so positive and supportive, I just love them. 

 Hannah's area - Barrio Jardin

Downtown Posadas          

Now, Valentina is probably my favorite. She is 4 years old and follows me around everywhere. We visit the Rios family almost everyday because their house is on the way to other investigators houses. Anyways, she always shows me her drawings and wants me to play games with her. She is such a doll. I seriously love these people!!

We have committed 3 people to baptism this week! It is so exciting seeing people change their life for Christ and to gain a strong bond with God. It really touches my heart. This is all of our goals in this life!

Yesterday at church we had 200 people come! It was so awesome. It is a really big ward considering there are not too many members in our mission. These people are good people. They know how to love. I love that these people are so interested in the family. It makes teaching lessons much easier :)

I love these people and the gospel!!!

Thank you again for love and support. You all are awesome:)

Hermana Murphy

YAY!!  This week Hannah was able to include a lot of pictures. ENJOY!

 Hannah's companion Hermano Moreno from Ecuador!

Cute girls.  Looks like Hermano Moreno has learned Hannah's favorite "thumbs up" pose!  haha!  AND......their apartment doesn't look so bad does it?

 Hannah with two tiny missionaries (this picture makes me smile.)  Hannah has ALWAYS been taller than most of her friends.  I just love this picture!  You can tell she loves the people she has met.

These pictures below are of her group traveling from Buenos Aires to Posadas.  Looks like a happy group!

Week #7 - IN ARGENTINA!!!

The girls from Provo MTC saying goodbye at the Buenos Aires Temple.

(Thanks to Courtney & Jill Shumway for sharing this picture.)

Wow. What a week.

We spent over 24 hours traveling to Posadas. We took a bus to the train station and then took that to the SLC airport. It was so fun to spend so much time with all of the missionaries.

We flew to Atlanta, Georgia and spent almost 6 hours in the airport. It was SO good to hear from you mom and dad! I truly miss your voices so much. It has been so long and I wish that I could call you every day just to tell you about my crazy adventures.

Well, I do not want to waste all of my time with talking about traveling so I will skip to Argentina!

I AM IN ARGENTINA!!!!! So crazy.

On Tuesday and Wednesday night we stayed at a hotel with two sisters that are about half way done with their missions. On those two days we had to get more stuff done for our passports for Paraguay. Cool thing, our mission is in Brazil as well!!

We found out our companions on Thursday and I am with Hermana Moreno from Ecuador. She. Is. Darling. She has helped me with my Spanish so much. Our area is Barrio Jardin 2 and we are still in Posadas. I am so glad to be staying in Argentina, because if I was in another country I would have to learn either Guarani or Portuguese. SO many languages. So, just letting you all know I will be learning two other languages as well.

I am in Posadas which is not at all what I was expecting. There is not one paved road within 15 miles and every single day I have mud up my legs. There are dogs EVERYWHERE. If you ever come here, do not try to pet them. I have learned the hard way. 2 dogs have attacked me already! haha, it is okay though I am alive and well!

So far we have taught and contacted so many new people. The other day I contacted 2 people all by myself! yay!! It is so hard speaking Spanish because they all talk so fast and with a crazy accent! It is truly so beautiful though.

The ward has about 100 people in it, it is the second biggest ward in the whole mission! I was asked to speak on Sunday, so I did. Everyone came up to me after and said that my Spanish sounded good, but I know I probably sounded crazy. It is okay, as long as they know that I love this gospel and Jesus Christ, I am happy. 

 

We have been teaching a teenager named Tamara and we will be asking her to be baptized on Thursday. I absolutely love teaching her. She is so open and receptive to the gospel. It is so fun to teach people like her.

I already love it here despite the face-sized bugs.  It is an experience that i will treasure for a lifetime. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done, but I don´t want to be doing anything else.

Why would I want to give up about 2 years of my life to get attacked by dogs, see face-sized spiders, and learn more than one different language? Because I want people to live with their families for eternity. I think I can kill a few spiders for someone´s eternity and for people to have their families for forever. I love this work and helping people everyday.

Thank you all for your love and support!

Hermana Murphy

 

Hannah sent a few other short emails and here are some things she shared in those:

• We live in the safest and nicest place in Posadas. We live behind a ward members house and it is locked up nicely. Oh. I wish you could meet some of these people. They seriously have hearts of gold.
• Okay. All of the kids are obsessed with me because I am a blonde. It is so cute. They all come to my and kiss my cheeks and pull on my skirt. I love it!
• CRAZY STORY!!  We were eating lunch at a members house and this lady said, you are from Oregon? Do you know Hermano McKeehan?  YES, the one that was in our ward!!
  crazy huh? They served together in Cordova Argentina!  It’s a small world in Argentina too!  (I just sent a message to Sean McKeehan to see if he in fact served in Argentina.)
  Also.........Hannah did not include any new address information so I assume that just sending her email or using dearelder.com is the best way to reach her as of right now.  Also.......no pictures this week!  Sigh!

Week #6 - SHWEW!! SHE MADE IT!!!

Facials and hand wraps on the last night in the apartment!!

Email received from Hannah a few hours ago:

"Hi mom and dad! i hope all is well at home and you all are doing well! we flew into posadas last night at around 10 pm. we traveled for more than a day. it was crazy. i love it here and will tell you more on monday! sorry for the no capital letters these key boards are weird. i love you all so much!"

I guess even the computer keyboards are different in Argentina!  I'm just relieved that she has safely arrived in Posadas.  

I will sleep well tonight...............

And she's off.........

Here are some pictures that I received from Hannah last night from the MTC.  The following are pictures of her saying her goodbye to teachers, friends and the United States! 

She has made some wonderful memories and now she is currently at the airport waiting to board a plane for Atlanta, Georgia.  (We will get to talk to her on her long layover in Atlanta this afternoon!)

Then she will board a plane for Buenos Aires, Argentina where she will arrive tomorrow morning!

CANNOT WAIT TO TALK TO HER THIS AFTERNOON!!!

WEEK #5 - FOUR DAYS MORE!!! (I'm Pretty Sure this is a Les Mis reference from Hannah! haha)

HOLA!!! 

Can you believe my LAST P-day is finally here?! I cannot believe I have survived the MTC. The next stop is Argentina which is so scary but exciting! I cannot wait to go!!! 

This week some awesome things happened. Hermana Wilson and I finished teaching our "investigator" named Alex. He was really hard to talk to because he would laugh at us every time we spoke pretty much. haha. Anyways, we had the BEST lesson about the Word of Wisdom and we asked him to follow it. It was awesome and I really felt like the spirit was leading that discussion. The next day we taught him again and took one of our teachers, Brother Meza with us. (He served his mission with Tanner Dougall!! Love small world stories!) Anyways, we asked him to be a ward member that has overcome an addiction. It was fun to take someone with us that has that experience. EXCEPT it made me really think about how much Spanish I do not know yet. haha They were talking SO darn fast. Whenever I am listening to natives speak, I just try to pick out words instead of whole phrases. 

Okay another embarrassing story of the week. Just so everyone knows embarrassed does not have a cognate in Spanish. So don't try unless you want everyone to know that you are pregnant. I learned the hard way for sure. We were talking to people and I was telling them that I was embarrassed about my Spanish so I said, "estoy embarrasada!" I really said, I am pregnant!! hahaha that is just basically my life. 

On a more spiritual note, I have really come to love and understand prayer. I was talking about how we really know if God listens to us and answers our prayers with one of my favorite people, Hermana Herrera. We were discussing that sometimes it is hard to feel the love of God or understand how to feel it. I was telling her that there were so many instances where I have felt God's hand in my life.  An instance in the MTC where I know God has truly helped me was with the teachers we have! We have Hermano Byers (formally Felix, my first "investigator") and Hermana Pullan. They are answers to my prayers no doubt. Every single other teacher that has come into my class and taught me, I have cried with. But for some reason, I have not felt anxious or scared around these two. I know it is Heavenly Father blessing me with them. I love them! I know that God is aware of us and always willing to help us when we need it. If you pray to Him, I know he will answer you! 

I was able to be a missionary host again and I just have to tell you all about the SWEETEST hermana I helped. She is from Mexico and will be serving in Mexico so her English is not very good. Good thing I have been at the MTC for 6 weeks now! I was able to speak Spanish with her the whole time! It was probably the most gringo Spanish in the world, but it was still Spanish. Anyways, when I dropped her off at her classroom and said goodbye, She leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek! How. Cute. Is. That?! I really hope the people of Argentina are like that! I am so excited to meet people who are so warm! 

I received my Travel Plans last Friday and I will be leaving in a short 4 days! I will be traveling with all of my Posadas peeps! Hermana Wilson, Elder Christiansen, Elder Gardner, Elder Gallini, Elder Herzog, Elder Mahoney, and Elder Merrell. (Mom, 2 of them are from Texas!!!) I am so excited to travel with them. They are some of the most top notch people I have ever met!! I cannot wait to travel with them. I am sure I will have some crazy stories about it for all of you! 

I am so excited to spread the good word of the Lord to the people of Posadas. I love this work more than anything and I am SO lucky I get to do this. Everyday putting on this name tag brings me so much happiness! 

Hermanas Wilson, Shumway, Murphy & Herrera

(These four are really going to miss each other!)

Word of the week: Posadas = shelter! (Cute huh??) 

Hermana Murphy

Other photos from Hannah (some are courtesy of Hermana Shumway....THANK YOU!)

This has to be one of my VERY favorite pics! 

In our family we have "a thing" for recreating

poses of statues!  (I seriously could make an

entire book of pictures of these poses.)  

I LOVE that Hannah has now done that with 

her friends!!  Another photo for the book!  YES!!

(Also.......if you want to send Hannah a letter now I would suggest just using dearelder.com and make sure you send it to her mission and not the MTC.  Tomorrow (Sept 5) at noon will be the last day she will receive letters through that service at the MTC.  I will update the sidebar with her address in either Argentina or Paraguay once she arrives on Monday......well actually Tuesday.)