Week #52 - 10 Questions

haha me being a princess.

Knowing that Hannah's ONE YEAR date was coming this week (Thursday, July 30th to be exact), I asked her to answer 10 questions about her mission if possible.  (Thanks to someone on "Missionary Mommas" for the idea!)  Since she answered these questions for me, she didn't have time to write her "weekly email", but I think this will be just as fun.  ENJOY!

1. Favorite scripture from mission so far.

From the bible: 

Luke 1:37 

For with God nothing shall be impossible.

From the BOM:

 Ether12:27. 

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

Some of the most applicable things in the world! They have helped me a lot on my mission so far!

2. Favorite place you lived.

Apartment: Puerto Rico, Argentina

Area: Ciudad del Este, Paraguay

3. Most fun companion

 I have fun with ALL of my companions equally...! but I did have a lot of fun with my sister Karina Gonzalez from Nicaragua! I miss her dearly!

hna moreno is a princesa 

4. Investigator you remember the most and why

I really miss all of my sweet little kids from Puerto Rico. There names are Ruth, Octavio, and Darian. i still think about them EVERY day and i miss them so much! 

5. Favorite thing to eat.

My favorite thing to eat are empanadas.

this is not my favorite food of paraguay but they eat it like bread.

 it is called mandioka and you will see this at EVERY meal

6. On a scale of 1-10 how good is your Spanish?

 I cannot rate my Spanish! My companion says "excelente" but, I can understand the people and they can understand me, which is the most important thing! haha

7. Have you read the entire BOM? If so, how many times so far on your mission?

 I have read the BOM almost 3 times! its my favorite book!

8. How many times have you had to talk in sacrament meeting? Or teach a lesson in church?

 I have spoken 8 times in sacrament (I spoke yesterday for 15 minutes.... this time last year I did not think that was possible...) and I have taught more than 10 times in church. 

9. What is something you have learned about yourself while on a mission?

Something I have learned about myself on the mission is that I can do hard things. I was talking about this with president in my latest interview and he said, hna Murphy, how do you feel? You have done something really hard. and I told him that I thought about the phrase my mom always says, "I can do hard things" BUT how it has changed on my mission to: I can do hard things with Christ. So the thing that I have learned is that I can do hard things, but only with the help of my best friend, Jesus Christ. 

10. Can you give us a piece of your testimony? In Spanish if possible.

Yo se que Jesucristo vive y que el es nuestro Salvador. se que si necesitamos su ayuda divina, Él está dispuesto a ayudarnos. se que Dios es nuestro padre y Èl tiene un plan para nosotros.  El Libro de Mormón nos ayuda a ser mejores y seguir mas a Cristo. Ellos nos aman y nos protegen si hagamos lo que Ellos quieran. Este es la iglesia de Jesucristo.

Google Translate:

I know that Jesus Christ lives and that is our Savior . It is that if we need divine help, He is willing to help . I am that God is our Father and He has a plan for us. The Book of Mormon helps us to be better and more to follow Christ. They love us and protect us if we do what they want. This is the church of Jesus Christ.

anahi (the daughter of my hair lady) she is the spunkiest little girl i have ever met. she is funny

this is a brazilian family that is really nice!
 members of Minga guazu when i did divisiones!

P.S.  Hannah informed me in her email today that Thursday, July 30th (her one year mark) was considered the "Day of Friendship" as declared by the United Nations.  It is to signify how friendships play a part in promoting peace in many cultures.  She thought that was a PERFECT way to celebrate her ONE YEAR mark in Paraguay!

Week #51 - My Heavenly Father Loves Me

 I HELD A MONKEY IT IS OKAY IT WAS JUST THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

This week I was doing divisions in Minga Guazú and we went to the house of a recent convert and that is where I met my new little friend Enrique. It was super awesome. 

As I was thinking about this wonderful opportunity to hold a monkey,

 I thought really about how lucky I am to be here in Paraguay. I love it here. I love all of the opportunities that I have had to meet these people and see so many wonderful things. A family friend told me before my mission that I am so lucky to experience new things. Every day I am amazed by the sunsets, the plants and the animals here in Paraguay! I love all of the creations of Heavenly Father!

It made me think of a children`s song that I love, My Heavenly Father Loves Me:

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

Or look at the blue, blue sky

Whenever I feel the rain on my face

Or the wind as it rushes by

Whenever I touch a velvet rose

Or walk by a lilac tree

I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world

Heavenly Father created for me

He gave me my eyes that I might see

The color of butterfly wings

He gave me my ears that I might hear

The magical sound of things

He gave me my life, my mind, my heart

I thank him reverently

For all his creations of which I’m apart

Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me

He gave my life, my mind, my heart

I thank him reverently

For all his creations of which I’m apart

Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me

the church building of barrio dos!

hno. Justo Martinez and Joshua in their car. 

me with hna gonzalez

divisiones en Minga Guazù

divisiones en Minga Guazù

this man makes THE BEST gelato in the world. we go there often. 

Week #50 - The Pope

This week was a little challenging for all of us missionaries. The Pope came. Three of our investigators went to see the pope in Asuncion... but it is okay. Now I know what it feels like to be a missionary in Italy. haha

We have been teaching and meeting some really great new people. I want to share an experience that we had this week as we were teaching a long-term investigator Sandra. Sandra is one of my favorite people here, but one who is not progressing. She is not reading the Book of Mormon. She is not praying. We talked with her about how important it is to read and pray to know if what we are teaching is true. We also told her that we cannot come often if she is not willing to read and pray. 

She told us something really special. She said, ´´I am willing to read and I feel like what you are saying is true because you always have all of the answers.´´ 

As we have been teaching her for a couple months we have ALWAYS used the Book of Mormon to explain the answers. We then explained that the BoM has all of the answers that we need! it answers all of the questions of our soul! She is willing to read and to learn more. I really have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true and we can find our answers if we are only willing enough to read and learn more! 

Week #49- 4 de julio

My first fourth of July away from home in a different country was a little weird.... all of the people thought I loved Paraguay a lot because I was wearing red, white, and blue! (How nice right, USA & Paraguay have the same colors!) My comp dressed up with me and we took some 4th of July pics! We celebrated with lunch with Hermano Silverio and my companion and I made key lime pie (yes dad, be happy I can make it now!)

Anyways, we have been making some great progress with some investigators. We have been working with Pabla and she really loves all that we have been teaching her. This week she told us, "I know God gives us opportunities to learn about His path in this life, and I know He will ask me about my chances in the next life, so I want to find the true path." We were both in shock. Seriously! I finally have an investigator that has said something like that to us! We have been teaching about the Book of Mormon and every time we teach she has more desires to read. it is awesome.

Yesterday, Hno Silverio received priesthood! He was so darn excited. He was feeling sick on Saturday and he said that if he wasn’t feeling well he wasn’t going to go to church. On Sunday we left to go to his house to travel with him to church and i guess we were a little late because he left without us! haha. He is so great!