Week #77 - "You Know Who the Author Is"

Hannah and Hermana Ehlert

I did divisions in my area with a cute sister from Honduras. She is so awesome. Okay, I think I shared a little bit about my fav investigator Lorena a couple of weeks ago... but anyways remember her for a minute.

Okay, we were contacting as we were heading home on Tuesday last week and started talking to a lady named Maria. We talked with her and then sang her a song. As we were leaving, I felt impressed to ask her for a reference. (Just fyi that never happens. they all say the same things like everyone needs to hear the word of god and that they have no idea who needs a message....) so we asked her and she actually gave us one! She told us that there was a lady a few house down that liked talking about God with people.

We go to her house the next day and she says, you are the people that are visiting my daughter! And we asked her who her daughter was.... and you’ll never guess who it is!!!! IT´S LORENA. She said that they were talking the night before about us and she said that she wanted visits from us.

We ended up teaching her and she is a really cool lady. She understands a lot about God but she cannot read. We are being creative and teaching with a LOT of pictures. We are REALLY excited about this.

It really was an AMAZING experience. Ah. I was able to chat a little with President Lapierre on Saturday and I told him about this experience that happened to us. He looked at me and said: “That is an awesome story. You know who the author is.”

Really, the author was Heavenly Father. He was working through people here so that His other daughter, the mother of Lorena could hear about the gospel. He listened to us.

Hannah received the following email and picture from the wife of her mission president, Dottie Lapierre.  I thought it was sweet.......so I am including it here. 

“ Thanks, so much for the snickerdoodles, We enjoyed them for our dessert Saturday night.Thanks, too for letting me talk on and on like an old lady, ooooo wait, I almost am!    YIKES!!

Thought you might like another photo. You were pretty far away when I thought to take the picture.  It´s pixelated when enlarged but the idea is so cute. I love that Hna Ehlert has turned to talk to you, Hna Murphy. Missions, they are wonderful.

Love you to the Mission Home and back :O)  Hna Lapierre”

Isn’t that sweet, “Love you to the Mission Home and Back.”  That’s enough to melt a missionary mom’s heart!!  

Also, not to be gross..........I was given these pictures of the worm that came out of Hannah's companions arm a couple of weeks ago.  SO SO SO VERY GROSS!!

And......if you remember the "Cockroach in the bathroom story".......here is a little visual representation of that fun experience from Hannah:

Since I ended this email with two gross things, I will leave you with a beautiful picture of where Hannah is currently living to redeem myself:

Week #76 - Tears like Iguazu

Iguazu Falls.........Apparently Hannah cried tears that looked like this today!!  

I have had the chance to work as a leader for 8ish months. Every month we have a training with president LaPierre and it is such a fun time to learn and apply what we learn to our zones! 

One of the things we do EVERY leadership council is hear the testimonies of the missionaries that are leaving. We haven’t done that for the last couple of leadership trainings, so I thought I was in the clear, I thought that I did not need to share my testimony. WRONG. I had to go up. As I was waiting for my time to share my testimony, I started to cry. I just let those tears stream like Iguazu! It sure was embarrassing. Ah. 

I shared my testimony through my tears. It was one of the hardest moments of my mission! I sure love this chance to work as a missionary and help people come unto Christ! It is the best!

XOXO

Hermana Hannah

Week #75 - Diary of TWO Gringas

Okay, I am so glad that I was able to send a good long note the last week! I was able to write to you all about 3 days ago. Hermana Ehlert is doing better with her arm and all is well! 

Okay yesterday, we left normally to church. Then we went to lunch with an elderly couple from the branch and then we headed home normally..... but then something horrible happened.... I was walking into our room (in the dark) to turn the air on (because it was well above 90 degrees) and a cockroach fell on my leg! So yeah, that totally freaked me out. Then I turned and looked into our bathroom and i saw 35 cockroaches! And they were NOT tiny.

I screamed a little bit and Hermana Ehlert came and she saw what was happening. We both freaked out and decided that we needed to kill them. A little side note.... we have never had experiences with cockroaches before the mission so it is a little hard for us to kill them, BUT we came up with a very creative way to do so :) Hermana Ehlert was Raid girl, and I had the broom. I would hit them from the wall, and she would spray. THEN I would hit them again until they got on their backs, and she would spray again. Let’s just say, our house smells a lot like Raid right now...

Anyways, it was an eventful afternoon, but it’s okay because we killed all of them! Go us! :)

XOXO

Hermana Hannah

Week #74- Feliz 2016

Wow I never thought that this year would actually come! I am freaking out a little bit! This week has been one of the most interesting/ fun weeks of my entire mission. Let me tell you why,

1. Hermana Ehlert and I needed to travel this week to give some trainings to 2 big groups of missionaries and it was really awesome. (i will explain more a little bit later...) anyways, about 4 weeks ago she got a really bad but bite and it was still hurting her this week so we decided to go to the hospital. First we had to go pick up some documents at the office so as we were there something started to come out of her arm... like a creature... she started screaming and then I started screaming and then she told me to run and go get Hermana La Pierre. So I ran to get her. We all ran back and president followed as well and as we are watching A WORM flies out of the arm of Hermana Ehlert. I REPEAT A WORM. It was probably one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. After, we headed to the doctor and he said that everything was alright the only thing she needed to do was take medicine and clean it out. Yeah. It freaked us out. She is totally better now! How cool is my comp! haha

2. This week we were able to teach a really awesome family--I mean it. They are really awesome. The moms name is Lorena and her husband Cristian. They have 2 sons. One is a baby and the other is listening to us and he always has good questions for us. We have decided that something that they need to do is COME TO CHURCH! We were planning allll week on what we needed to teach them and what it was that we needed to do to get them to come to church. As we were teaching, she asked us about the church! About where the building was and at what time it started. She wants to come. She really likes the discussions and we are so happy to be able to teach her! We have a lesson with her in the morning tomorrow and we are so excited to invite her to come with us :)

3. As I was describing above, we have been having the chance to speak and train a few other groups of missionaries this past week. it has been a real delight studying and praying with Hermana Ehlert about the topics that we needed to address with them. We studied and studied AND studied this past week to figure out what we needed to talk about. One day it just hit me in my studies! The Grace of Jesus Christ. We decided that we needed to talk about that, so we did. We studied and prayed some more and we found some really amazing things. First we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the importance of following the things that He wants us to do. He is not expecting for us to be perfect, but He wants us to try our best. After everything we can do says the scriptures, then His grace is sufficient for us. i love that. What does sufficient mean though? It means big or powerful enough. I sure do believe that. Teaching and giving my testimony to these other missionaries really made me think about the importance of His grace in my life. I do not know how to access it perfectly, but I believe with my whole heart that i can do it when I need it which is every day. So, that is one of my goals for this brand new year. Using His grace. I love & honor Him.

XOXO

Hermana Murphy

Week #73 - CHRISTMAS SKYPE

We didn't actually get an email letter from Hannah this week, since we were able to Skype with her for 45+ minutes on Christmas Day.  Here are a couple of pictures taken during our Skype session:

Family Picture:

Hannah and her cute companion, Hermana Ehlert from Canada (They are apparently also know as "Party on Wheels"--a sweet nickname for their duo given to them by President La Pierre):

Once again.........this was our VERY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS PRESENT THIS YEAR!!!

Week #72 - Bye! Bye! Ituzaingo!!

Saying byeto sister Zambrana! :) 

(From Heather:  The first email I received this morning said,

 "MOM -- BIG NEWS- NEW AREA AND MY COMP IS ONE OF MY DEAREST FRIENDS IN THE MISSION!"

 Hannah then said her new companion is one of her best friends in her mission.  It is also her FIRST American companion besides Hermana Wilson in the MTC.)

I had to say goodbye to my sweet Ituzaingo! To be honest, I was a little sad when I received the call that I was getting moved for my LAST TRANSFER. But it’s okay.

As I left the church building, I was so sad because I wanted to keep working with them on reaching their potential! I really saw so many wonderful changes in the last couple of weeks. I love with ALL of my heart Ituzaingo! 

This week I will be headed to an area that is called Corpus Cristi.  I will be serving my last transfer with Sister Ehlert. We are so excited! 

XOXO

Hannah

Week #71 - 21

Well. I feel officially OLD and legal! I cannot believe that I am 21 years old! I still remember my 20th birthday PERFECTLY in the mission. Today was a really great day though... well actually let me start with yesterday! 

We traveled Sunday night to the mission home so that we could go to Iguazú on Monday! (Everyone in my mission that goes home has the chance to go to Iguazú their last little bit of the mission.) ONE WORD: beautiful. Ah. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever done! (Someone let me use their camera but I need to send the pics over. I will figure it out...) but it was so awesome. We had to leave at 2 in the morning on Monday to get there by 8-- it was a long night in the bus but we got there and it was so great!

We finished around 1pm and we started heading back. We tried to get back in time to go to pre-leadership counsel. We went back to the mission home and changed our clothes and ran to the church to finish our leadership counsel. We were talking about lots of things. We came in right at the end so we missed a lot of what they said, but it was okay! After president said that I looked so tired it looked like a truck hit me. Ouch. That hurt more than an actual truck hitting me! haha no it was funny. We were all really tired! haha

That night we had a family home evening with the LaPierre's and then ate dinner and got ready for bed. 

The next day (today) was so fun! EVERYONE greeted me for my birthday and one elder even sang to me in Guaraní! It was so great. I couldn’t even wish for a better birthday present. I just love my mission so darn much. Thank you for all the love and support. I really cherish all the kind words and love that you all sent me! :) 

Week #70 - Two Pictures.........

Hannah had internet issues this week, so no letter :( BUT........two pictures made it through!  Woot!)

And we can now officially say, "Hannah is coming home next month!!"  Can you even believe it??

Week #69 - "Miracles Happen Once in Awhile if You Believe......."

Yeah, I quoted Princess Diaries. It’s okay. I am just REALLY HAPPY! 

Let’s go back a little to when I completed 1 year in the mission. My mom asked me a bunch of questions about the people I missed, the food I like, and how my Spanish is. One of the things that she asked me was about the investigators that I missed the most. I talked about the cute two kids that I taught in Puerto Rico, Octavio & Ruth.

Okay. This is where it gets exciting. On Thursday we had a zone conference. One of the things that happen during zone conference is that we get letters from former companions or from our families. I got one letter that I wasn’t expecting. As I opened it, tears streamed down from my face because in big bold letters it read: YOU ARE INVITED TO THE BAPTISM OF OCTAVIO & RUTH. I wasn’t expecting it. But it sure made me happy. They got baptized. 

I was saddened when I wasn’t able to stay to see their baptism about 10 months ago. Now I feel differently. I am so happy with their decision to be baptized. I have never felt so peaceful. I sure miss those kids so much! It really was an honor to meet those kids and to work with them! When I was there, the branch president didn’t give them permission to get baptized. It made me sad because I could see their potential. With time, the missionaries have worked SO hard to have this day happen. These baptisms were miracles. We believe in miracles here in the Posadas Argentina Mission:) 

Week #68 - Ituzaingo

Okay. Here we go. I am going to tell you a LOT about my new area today. First off, t is SO beautiful. Every night we pass by the MOST beautiful sunsets. 

There are fireflies. dragonflies. horses. frogs. ah, I just love all of the creations of Heavenly Father. He makes so many beautiful things!

There are great members here. (It is such a cute little branch but I love it! I may or may not have done two musical numbers yesterday in church....don’t get too excited Skyline... it’s not happening... haha!) We have been working a lot with the members this past week. It has been so fun getting to know all of the members. We have the BEST branch president. His name is Presidente Godoy. He is awesome. He works so hard with us. This week as a branch we are starting English class, and we are doing the activity Minute to Win It! I am SO excited! 

We have been working really hard with finding new investigators. It is a lot harder here in Argentina to contact new people so we have had a hard week with new people. In Paraguay you can go to any house and teach anyone. Here, not so much! It has been a hard adjustment but it has been a good one! I love working with the members! 

XOXO

Hermana Hannah

We went to a place in Paraguay that is called Saltos de MONDAY! It was SO beautiful! These are from my fav sista Hermana Dempsey!

Week #67 - Short and Sweet

Hannah made it to her new area in ITUZAINGO, ARGENTINA.........she sent a few pictures, but didn't have much time to write today.  In fact, here is her official message:

"I love you too soooo much! I can't write much today! Just say that my town is cute and it reminds me of a latino version of Manzanita beach!:) It's so cute. haha."

So there you have it!!  Short and Sweet!!

Here are some pictures that Hannah sent today.  ENJOY!!

the parana river!

MY NEW COMP. hna goñi

long story short.... the elders left this area and their landlord was angry so we had to clean their mold filled room.... (we were singing i hope they call me on a mission the whole time:))

we LOVE cleaning the elders apartments!!!!! (Can you hear the sarcasm in her typing??)

Week #66 - Peace Out CDE

All of the pictures today are from a road trip that Hannah took to Brazil!  Enjoy!

Wow! I cannot believe that my time has ended in CDE! It has really been a home for me. These members have treated me like their daughter; I have just LOVED my time here. I will totally miss Paraguay, but I am excited to go to my new area in Argentina. My new area is called Ituzaingó. (& it has a beach. yeah I am excited)

I found out this morning about the changes and I was really excited about changing my area, but also really sad about having to say goodbye to my sweet Silverio. We went over to his house to tell him and I totally started crying. This is the one thing that I do not like about being a missionary! I just love these people with all of my heart!

It will be an exciting week for sure!!

Week #65 - My Longest Investigator.........

I have had such an incredible week! I have a LOT of time in the mission.... (sometimes it’s hard to forget because EVERYONE is telling me every two seconds....) BUT this week was SO good. We worked so hard with the members! I don’t know if I have ever worked so hard with the members in my entire mission. 

I want to share a story of one of my favorite and longest investigators of my life/mission. My sweet Maria Elena. Ah, how I love her. I met my sweet Maria Elena my FIRST week here in CDE... (just to help you imagine how long she has been my investigator.... that was 7 months ago!) but anyways, her son Alex is waiting to go to his mission, so he is helping us a lot. On Thursday we went to teach her, but she wasn’t home! We were a little sad, but we had the time to talk to Alex. 

Alex talked to us about what his mom needs. I told him that he was our key to helping her get baptized; he agreed. We told him that we needed his help. He promised to start reading the scriptures and praying with her daily! I was so happy! 

On Saturday night, we did our usual calls to invite all of our investigators to church. Instead of calling Maria Elena, we called Alex. He said that he would take her to church! 

On Sunday, we were looking and looking for her in Principles of the Gospel and we couldn’t see her! We were a little sad! So, we texted Alex and he said that she was there! .... and we totally didn’t look hard enough because she was right in front of our faces! (how embarrassing right?) 

Later that night, we went to her house to talk to her. We felt impressed to talk about baptism. (This was NOT the first time with her...) the first thing she said is that she still wanted to learn more. we told her that us as missionaries still do not know everything but that it is a lifelong process! We asked her again. She said yes. 

We are happy to work with the members here in CDE

XOXO

Hermana Hannah

Week #64 - La Carpeta de Area

two of my favorite comps.... hna moreno and hna baez.... i love them!

Every week we have a district meeting. Last week I was assigned to give a lesson on the carpeta de area (area book). The area books are REALLY important. It records all of the progress of the investigators and less active families. As I was giving this talk, I spoke of the importance of keeping it clean and organized (one of my favorite topics:-) ) and updating the information every day! 

As I was speaking I decided to talk about looking for references from the area book! We spoke of a few experiences about finding people from the area book. That night Hna Martinez and I decided to work from that book to find new people to teach. That lead us to the Lopez family. The Lopez family was a family I worked with when i first started here... (which was a long time ago...) and they are a less active family. 

We felt prompted to go to their house. When we went, we found out that the family has one son that is not baptized but one who wants to be! As we talked with him and his family, we set goals about going to church and being baptized. He is going to be baptized in 3 weeks! 

We are so excited to be working with this family and to be finding new people to teach. It really was a testimony builder about the area book! 

Another note... on Thursday I received my TRUNKY PAPERS! :( which means I am coming home soon. I cannot believe it. I totally cried all day on Thursday when I got them. 

TRUNKY PAPERS.... (AKA means i am coming home soon..... eeeep) 

XOXO

Hermana Hannah

 

My zone 

pics of me and my zone and me making pancakes.
(yes, you can put it on my blog... hahahaha) 

we made lunch 

Week #63 - MILARGOS

Today was such a happy day! We just went to a place in Paraguay (one of the world’s largest dams) and it is called Itaipu! We were able to cross into Brazil a little so it was super fun! 

This week was a good week. We worked hard in our area and we were able to meet a bunch of new people. Okay, I am going to give you all a flashback... My first week with Hermana Martinez we met a part member family! We were walking through an unknown part of our area and we came across a sweet 13 year old girl named Prianca. She talked with us and was super friendly. She said, “I think you need to talk to my mom.” So, we followed her to her house. 

Her mother greeted us and said, “HOLA ELDERES!” and we just laughed and told her that we were HERMANAS. Moments after, she told us that she had been baptized about 12 years before. We then go into her house to talk with her and her children. She explains that they stopped going to church because they were always so busy working, not because something bad happened. 

As we talk with them, we were filled with so much love! We just love that family!! About one week after... we find Prianca in her house and her little sister Milargos came.( Milagros means miracle in Spanish... just to let you know.)

As we were teaching about the BOM, they both had desires to read more and to learn more about it. They were both so excited! Milargos said that she was going to take her BOM to school to read with her friends. Looking back on that day, we realized that we found that family from the spirit. We just found them as we were contacting and meeting new people. We were so happy and we did realize that is was one milagro in our mission and in our time together!

Week #62 - CONFERENCE!!!

I always say this but I am pretty sure conference is like Christmas here on the mission. I was really blessed to have my SECOND conference here in CDE. Everyone was like, “Hermana Murphy.... how much time do you have here???” YEP. I am basically a member. (But guess what?? I LOVE IT!) 

My favorite talk was the one about the love of a mother. it made me really nervous to be a mom.... but it just made me miss my own mom so much more. But I thought it was so sweet and so true. Then I thought about the talk by Elder Nelson (I am oh so sure all the sister missionaries in the world are talking about this talk....) which I loved. It really made me think of the value of us sisters here in the mission and in the church! Often he said, “We need women who.....” and it is so true! We have so much to give. 

I really thought about the importance of keeping the commandments and being a good disciple of Christ this week. This conference has really made me think about how I can become better and change my life! I know that we have a prophet today that guides us and directs us. I believe in Him and his words. 

Week #61 - Changes & Service

MY NEW COMP HNA MARTINEZ FROM URUGUAY!!!

What a week! We had changes and I am training again here in Ciudad del Este! I am so excited to be staying and training. I love it. I had to say goodbye to my BEST friend Hermana Baez and it was really hard for me... I really miss her right now. This is one of the hardest things about the mission for sure, but I am a happy camper!

This week we have been doing lots of service. There is a 81 year old member in my ward who rides his bike to church every week, (yeah I know he’s awesome) got in an accident and he broke his collarbone. We have been over at their house a lot this week to help them clean and sing them hymns.

Also one of the less active members we teach is a lady named Ursula. She is a really sweet lady. Last week, her 38 year old son passed away. It has been a really difficult time for her and her family. We have also been going to her house to help her.

Something that people might not know is that we are also here to help the members. I have a lot of time in this area and I have really grown to love these people. My heart hurts for all of the sad things that are happening with these families, but I am happy that I am here to help them feel better!

One of the quotes I love that my mom sent to me is by Elder Nelson, he says, All missionaries, younger and older, serve with the sole hope of making life better for other people. This is my goal as a missionary. I am trying to help them feel better as they struggle to find relief.

I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can help us with whatever problem we might face. I know if we just come unto Him, He will help us. My invitation to you all is reach a little farther and help other people. Do it. You will feel happier! I promise you!

XOXO

Hermana Hannah

Chilean elder greetings :)

Added note from Heather:

Hannah still looks amazingly happy and MAN is her hair getting long!  I know that she has even cut it on her mission.  As of Wednesday, Hannah will be out exactly 14 months.  SO CRAZY.......Still so darn proud of her and excited to read her email's each Monday!!  AND.....even more excited that she has managed to get some pictures sent to us even though her camera was stolen.  Happy Day!  Enjoy!  XOXO