Week #30 - Peter.......and lots of Pictures again! Happy Day!!

we had a party for hermana rupe! she leaves the mission tomorrow! :( she is the best!!

This week was super-fast….Super, super fast! Hermana Gonzalez is changing areas for her last 6 weeks in the mission! I am both happy and sad. I really loved working with her a lot and learned a lot about being a missionary and serving others. I am also excited that she will be having the chance to work in a new area! 

i love hermana gonzalez! :)

My new companion is from Costa Rica and her name is Hermana Retana! I do not know much about her; only that she is super sweet!

Okay, I have been thinking a lot about Peter this week. This week I got really nervous when I found out about transfers. I do not like transfers that much and I felt like I was a terrible missionary and that I could not face this new challenge well.

Then, I thought about Peter. Peter was normal. Peter was a fisherman. He wasn’t famous, just normal. BUT, Jesus Christ knew the potential that Peter had. Peter was invited by Christ to become a fisher of men & he followed.

I thought a lot about how I feeling in adequate --relates to Peter and the potential that all of us have. This week, I did not feel that special. I was super overwhelmed with all of the tasks that I needed to accomplish this next transfer without Hermana Gonzalez. I did not feel special. I did not feel great.

I then thought about how we have transfers to learn new things & how God knows that we can do it and He knows our potential. All we have to do is follow Christ and have faith that we can accomplish the hard things before us. I feel a lot better and more confident that I can do it. I just need to be like Peter and follow faithfully!

i am going to miss taking pictures like this one! hermana larzo leaves tomorrow :(

I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission. I am learning so much about how I can follow more faithfully.

this picture is of the succulents a sweet mom gave me in the ward. she knows how much i love plants 

 (This picture above will make Grandpa Murphy proud.......)

look who came to spray our apartment for cockroaches! 

hermano chavez and hermano pereyra! 

my two favorites! they took us to get food haha

hermano chavez...... one of my favorite people in the whole world!

food with hermano chavez and hermano pereyra!

everything is so good. i am so happy. i really am happy. i love being here. 

a lot of rain :(

i love being a missionary!!!!

Below is the following excerpt from another email Hannah sent me.  I thought it was funny.  A little insight into her day.....I had written to her that we had 4 weeks until Spring Break.  Then we head to California for a week of sunshine and some yummy food.  Her reply was.......

"While you are eating those lovely things please remember your daughter who is eating pizza with hardboiled eggs and fish on it :)"

My reply, " GROSS!!!!!  Are you serious??? They put eggs and fish on PIZZA????  That honestly makes me gag a little bit.  For real??  YUCK!  At least you have other good things to eat there, right?

XOXO"

Hannah's reply: 

"mom... the pizza here is so gross. it is not like it is at home! there is no MOD PIZZA here! yeah super yuck. could you send me a few simple recipes with ideas for food? like with rice or noodles or other things. i am sick of eating the same thing every day! HELP ME"

So now, a mother's request....if you have a few simple recipes that you would like to email to Hannah she would absolutely LOVE it!!  THANK YOU

Her email address is:  hmurphy@myldsmail.net 

Week #29 - Cute Pictures Alert!!

 being missionaries :)

FIRST HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET MAMA! So excited and happy for her :)

I JUST WANT TO WISH YOU THE HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS! i am so glad that you are my mom. i wish i could be celebrating with you... just know i am partying hard here for you!! i love you so much! have the best day! TE AMO MUCHO MUCHO MUCHO

This week I am going to try and send a lot of pictures so I am going to keep this short.... last Monday my mom sent me a quote that I thought about ALL week. It says All missionaries, young and old, serve with the sole hope of making life better for other people. Yep, I read that every day, I even wrote it all cute so I could look at it EVERYDAY.

my week was so good.  i love my area. i love being a missionary.
i love life right now. i am one happy camper.

I have MANY New Year’s goals this year. Every single one has to do with how I can focus my life more on the Savior. I know, it is a hard task. I know I fail every day, but I am trying. I know for a fact Jesus Christ is the best at this. He always left people better than He found them. That is one of my goals this year.

Yesterday, I tried to do that with one of my favorite people here in Puerto Rico. Her name is Hermana H and I adore her. She has lots of problems in her life and is usually way negative when we visit her. Anyways, I prayed and prayed and PRAYED with so much faith that I could help her. And guess what, we did! We talked with her. She laughed, and talked to us! (Sometimes when we teach her she doesn't even smile!) We shared a scripture in Isaiah and it totally helped her.

I know that we can all be positive influences and help people have better days. We have that power. Try and do something nice for someone this week and make their lives a little happier :)

 

we had a party for sweet hermana rupe 

(she goes home next week) and we decided 

to paint our faces with the flags of our mission! :)

hermana larzo and i! she goes home next week :(

my sweet Primary class.  (my companion is the RS
pres, so this is a good calling!)

ZONA IGUAZUUUUUUU 

with hermana anderson and hermana zambrana!

Week #28 - Well.........That Was Scary...............

(be prepared for the best story of your entire life.....)

SO, this week was full of traveling. I went to Posadas TWICE and it was fun. It felt like home. We traveled alllllll day on Friday and at night we both decided that we should go and teach MARISA (one of my fav investigators.) Anyways, we walk to her house at 8:15 ish in the night and we were really nervous that her husband would be there! (her husband works a lot so he doesn't like it when we come to teach when he has a break...) anyways when we got there he wasn't there!!! 

As we walked up to her house we noticed that she was smoking and we were a little bummed... anyways we sit down and talk to her for a little bit and then we start teaching. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and how she can use it as a protection. As I was speaking my companion flipping leap frogs over my body and screams SPIDER!!! (if you don't know, I am not the biggest fan of spiders BUT I have gotten used to spiders here and I am not too afraid of killing them. I was expecting to see a little one...) 

NOPE. It was a full on tarantula..... we both ran and screamed inside her house. It was probably the scariest moment of my entire life!!! Anyways, we finished teaching and talked about how Satan uses SPIDERS to ruin our teaching..... darn tarantulas.... 

Other than that, this week was full of many beautiful moments. I had the opportunity to work with Hermana Cardenas from Mexico and I love her! We had such a fun time teaching and talking.

Thank you for the love and support. Have a good week! I hope you do not see any crazy spiders :-)

XOXO

Hermana Hannah

A quick note from Heather:  

Hannah said that they were having a zone activity today, so she wasn't able to send pictures and could only write real fast, because they had to get going.  She sounds great still!!

Hannah at a Zone Conference

Week #27 - Seis Meses. Six Months.

my companion made me this cute note for my 6 month mark!

Can you believe it has been 6 months? I CANNOT EITHER! WOW!

This week I have been doing a lot of reflecting and I am just so darn happy. I have been thinking about everything I have learned in the past 6 months. I have really come to know my Savior Jesus Christ. Every day we teach, we talk about His love for us. I really know He lives and we can be made clean through Him.

pretty park in Monte Carlos,ARGENTINA

I have been teaching a TON better in Spanish and I can finally say I love teaching! I love teaching so much I even teach in my sleep! Hermana Gonzalez tells me every morning that I teach in Spanish and say prayers in Spanish! One of my teachers in high school told me that if you are dreaming in a different language-- you are starting to become fluent! ¡POR FIN! But really,Ilove Spanish and Argentina.

We have been teaching 3 kids that are 9, 10, 11. Their names are Octavio (9), Rut (10), and Darian (11). Let me tell you. THEY ARE THE BEST. And I have such a testimony that kids are so pure and sweet. Anyways, they all have similar situations. They all come from less active families, but all of them have members in their families who want to come back and live the gospel! One of the families we have been getting really close with is Darian and his mother Mabel. She is a doll. She told us that she got baptized when she did not really have a testimony, so when her family went through a hard time, she fell away from the church. She is from Buenos Aires and she came to church one day and told us she wanted to change and come back!

She is such a sweetie and we love teaching her and her family. We had an activity (family home evening with the branch), and Darian came and loved playing with all of the kids! I am so happy to teach these people. I just love my mission and Argentina :)

Hannah and Yanina

making kites! Sara and Yanina

Branch Party -making and flying kites in the park

I PROMISE that I am trying to enjoy every single moment and experience of Hannah's mission (and not trying to focus on "when she comes home...")BUT, I have to say I just LOVED IT this past Saturday, when my countdown clock officially reflected that Hannah has ONE. YEAR. MORE.

This was a happy sight for mom and dad this past Saturday, January 31, 2015!
It marked Hannah's "6 Months" and also means that Hannah has ONE YEAR LEFT
to make the most of her mission!!  COULDN'T BE MORE PROUD!!