Week #39 - I am going to tell you a funny story.....

Thanks Marissa for this picture......Not sure who all is actually IN the picture....
...except for my fav Hermana of course!!

I am going to tell you a funny story. As probably EVERYONE knows, we are working a lot with references. The hard part about where we are working is that there are no street names. Our area is huge. We are learning our area and most importantly, where the members live. We ask the members and less active members for references, and they always give us people to work with.

We had a broadcast with Dallin H. Oaks on Friday (it was awesome btw) and we got back to our apartment around 7 o’clock. We went out to contact one of the references. We contacted the house we thought it was, but our reference wasn’t there! BUT they thought they knew where the reference lived, so they walked with us to their neighbor’s house. As we contact the house, the dad comes up and is like: HEY! I WAS BAPTIZED INTO THAT CHURCH A LONG TIME AGO, I KNOW WHO JOSÉ SMITH IS!! And so we taught his family. 

It was rough. First off there was 80s music blaring (yes, hall & oates, michael jackson, and fleetwood mac...) then the daughters literally asked me EVERY possible question about the United States. After talking to them about 30 minutes we decided to tell them that we wanted to sing for them... (Which was a mistake...) the husband of one of the daughters left and got an amp. A huge amp. He then plugged in a microphone. Yep, we sang for them with their microphone and amp. Their daughter told us she had an album with songs about Jesus and she gave us her cd. Later that night we totally listened to the cd.... yes, she has a song to the music from Titanic. But it is about God. Needless to say, it’s awesome. 

Anyways, that night we thought about what happened. We didn’t find the house we were looking for, but instead we found a part member family. We are really excited to work with them some more and help them! Heavenly Father has a reason for everything and we know that. We look at this experience as a blessing in finding a new family!

XOXO

Week #38 - No Letter......But Lots of Pictures!!

a funny note we found in our area book hahaha 

this is angel. he is the son of lourdes and he only speaks guarani. i just love him.
one time, he tried to pee on me..... i don't really know why he wanted to...

WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE IN ASUNCION!!! WOHOO! 

we wanted everyone to be in the pic but it turned out to be an elder eddenfield selfie..... hahaha

all the missionaries that served in Puerto Rico at zone conference!

 elder cullimore, elder meniz, hermana torres, hna gonzalez, YO!

I AM WITH HERMANA WILSON AGAIN! YAY! 

lunch with my latinos. I'm always the only american that sits with the latinos! haha

all the peeps i came with to the mission! (mtc group!) zone conference

hna olvera. my fav.

typical meal. asado. sopa paraguay. chipaguazu. rice.

Week #37 - DO IT & THEN SOME

Hard to believe that EXACTLY one year ago today.......Hannah
and Marissa went outside to take pictures so Hannah could have a
picture to submit with her mission papers........

It was a fast week. Super-fast. Hermana Gonzalez and I have been talking a lot about service and how we want to serve our investigators more because we just love them and want them to have happier days! With ALL of our investigators (and everyone in general...) if you ask to do service for them, they will always say no. It’s super annoying. I mean we have 4 extra willing hands! So, we have decided to just start working for them. Just walk into their homes and clean!

This Thursday we went to go teach Lourdes. She is one of my all-time favorite people. Anyways we noticed that she was hurrying to get her cleaning done so she could get to class. We decided to take action and fight her for her broom and cleaning supplies. I literally took the broom out of her hand. She wouldn’t let us. But eventually, she let us clean for her! (It took about 10 minutes of convincing....) we cleaned everything and were covered in mud and sweat, but it’s okay because we were happy!

I was reading a lot about how I can be a better servant and how I can become more like Christ and I read a story about a missionary that always said, “Do it & then some.”  I am trying to apply that to my missionary life. The “and then some” is some more service. Every week we have the opportunity to make new goals and improve ourselves. One of my goals is to do more service for the families we eat lunch with or the people we teach. So if that means taking the broom out of my investigators hands, I am going to do it.

Anyways, one of my goals for this week is doing my work & then some! So everyone, remember when we serve others we are serving God (Mosiah 2:17) DO IT & THEN SOME. You will be happy!

This is the actual picture that she submitted with
her missionary paperwork......

(Since Hannah was once again not able to send pictures today......

I decided to do a "flashback" to 13 April 2014.)

Week #36 - Monkeys, Avocados and Conference

This week was a good week. I am finally understanding my area and a LITTLE bit of Guarani. I mean a LITTLE BIT! I can understand sit down, what’s your name, I love you, and hey! Blondie! But that’s about it. haha

This week we prepared all week to have 2 of our awesome investigators attend conference with us. We are currently teaching 2 young ladies named Angela and Lourdes. They are the best. Angela was a reference from someone in our ward. She asked us about the Book of Mormon and she always tells us she is praying to find an answer! She is so great. Lourdes is a mom and she lives with her boyfriend. She is the best. She always makes us fresh juice (I will never drink juice the same way... Paraguayos know how to make juice...) she has been reading the Book of Mormon as well!

Anyways,  we were SO excited because they were both so excited to come to conference with us. But guess what, they did not come. They were both out of town for Easter! BUT don’t worry. We are not sad! We still have faith that they will progress!

One of the things I LOVED about conference was that a lot of the talks talked about faith. I have FAITH that we can help these girls and that they can eventually make covenants with God!

Not actual Monkey........Not actual Avocado......Just thought it was cute!
Can you tell that Hannah's mom is getting desperate for some pictures!!!

This week we taught a lady who gave us about 20 avocados. & I saw a monkey. My mission is cool!

XOXO

Hermana Murphy