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 #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.)

Week #4 - 4 WEEKS DOWN, 11 Days to Go!!!

This may just be my favorite picture so far!!!

HOLA!!!

How is everyone doing? Thank you all so much for the letters and notes AND packages. I am so blessed! This week has been so great. It went by so fast!! 

 Blissionairies (Get it Marissa?)

Makes my heart smile......

The highlight of my week was seeing Maren! I saw her exactly a week ago and not going to lie, I shed a few tears. I also ran into Elder Gavin Smith and Elder Logan Sackley. I went to high school with Gavin and knew Logan from stake dances. Bless those dances. It is SO much fun seeing people you know. 

Hans, Gavin & Maren

Anyways, it was the last week with some of my favorite people. They all left for Argentina or Ecuador. It was so hard saying bye to them but I cannot wait to be pen pals with them! They left us on early Monday morning so it has been a weird couple of days without them. 

Cool story, we found out that Janice Kapp Perry wrote a version of As Sisters in Zion for sister missionaries. Make sure you pass along the news to Missy. She would love that. haha, no one will understand how much I love Janice Kapp songs! Another cool thing, there is this girl that lives right below us that looks EXACTLY like Tali. It is so cute. I will for sure take a picture with her. It is scary how much they look alike. 

This Sunday, I was asked to speak in church. Yep, it was en Español. It was pretty much the most terrifying thing in my life but I did it!! I am pretty sure I only said um twice too!!! Every week we have to prepare a talk and you never know who will go up and actually have to speak. Murphy's law, it was me. 

This Sunday I will be leading the music. For those of you who have no idea, leading music is the second to worst thing to do in sacrament meeting. But, when you are companions with the music director, you have to do those things. haha! 

Every Monday we teach members that served in a Spanish speaking mission or who just know Spanish. This week Hermana Wilson and I skyped a girl from Panama. Her name was Astrid. She was DARLING. Every time we said something correct in Spanish she would clap her hands and say yay!! That's how I feel when I say something right too!! 

Yesterday, we were host missionaries for all the new people! It was SO fun. I am SO glad I am not in their position. That was easily one of the hardest days of the mission for sure! I am so glad I am here right now and that I am LEAVING FOR ARGENTINA IN 11 DAYS!!!! We get our travel plans tomorrow! I know I will cry when I am holding it in my hands! I am so darn excited!! 

We have been teaching this "investigator" named Alex. He has been the most difficult for sure. Anyways, yesterday Hermana Wilson and I had the BEST lesson in the whole world. It was amazing. I know Heavenly Father was helping me. So blessed for His help!! 

We will be going to the temple in about 2 hours. It is so much fun going to the temple with all of my favorite people!! It is the best. Our P Days are just as long, if not longer than our other days. We get up at 5:30 am to do laundry and then write letters, go on a run, get ready, clean our apartment, etc. It is crazy but fun. I am pretty sure I like P Day Eve better than I like P Day. It is weird to think that next week will be our last P Day! 

Cannot even wait to be in Argentina!! :) More importantly, I cannot wait to preach to the people waiting in Argentina. I am so excited to go on this journey and spread the good word! :)

Thank you so much for your love and support everyone, I appreciate it more than anything! I am so blessed to receive your letters and love! Love you all and have the best week!!! 

Hermana Murphy

More photos from Hermana Hannah:

 Hermana Erickson & Hermana McKnight

 This looks like an album cover to me.......

(These three have gotten to be SO CLOSE!!)

 The little seamstress......(Mimi will be so proud!)

 Hans & Hermana Shumway doing a good deed!

 Elder Tracy (I met his mom in IKEA in Draper the day after we took Hans to the MTC.)  Apparently.....he reminds Hannah of Collin......A LOT!  

Dos Hermanas! They look so happy!

P.S.  I got an extra little treat this week from Hannah!  On Tuesday (as I was in a mandatory teacher inservice meeting) my phone vibrated and I saw that it was a number from Utah because of the "801" area code.  My heart skipped a beat as I grabbed my phone to head out of the meeting to answer the call.  LUCKILY Hannah has never taken the time to memorize her Social Security Number so she had about a 15 minute window and then needed to go and get fingerprinted again for an additional visa for Paraguay.......AND she needed her SSN.  AND.......bummer for her (haha), I didn't know it off the top of my head so I ran home and got it and got to talk to her AGAIN......that's right.........TWICE in one day!  It was probably a total of less than 5 minutes, BUT it made my whole week!  She sounded GREAT and is loving life! What a great present for me!!  

And speaking of presents...........last week I sent Hannah and her district a little "Happy Halfway" box of goodies!  Here is a picture of them all enjoying the treats!!  

Week #2 - Missionary Training Center (MTC) Life

Hannah sounds SUPER and the work is going well.  Crazy to think that in 3 1/2 weeks she will be on her way to Argentina (fingers crossed--haven't heard any updates about her visa.  I am going with "no news is good news.")


Hola mi familia y amigos!! 

I absolutely love the MTC! I have met friends that I will for sure be friends with forever. I was thinking about how cool it is that we are all here because we want to serve the Lord! We all came here for different reasons but the fact that we are all here because we want to be servants of the Lord just is beautiful to me. I love this work.

Hannah's District

I love the teachers here too. Remember how I said I was teaching Felix? GUESS WHAT? He is totally my teacher now! His name is Hermano Byers. Hands down mi favorita teacher. He is the best. I like him so much because he is SO passionate about being a missionary and serving in every aspect of his life. It is awesome. 

Cool thing that happened this week, I saw one of my dear friends Elder Gavin Brown AGAIN this week! We went to EFY and college together! He is going to Germany! It is such a joy seeing your friends at the MTC! I cannot wait to see my Mare Bear next week! Crazy that Skyline ward will have 2 new sisters out! 

I made my first ever Spanish/English pun. In class one of my teachers, Hermano Croft asked us, "what can we do better to speak Spanish all of class?" I said we need to traba-harder! (If you don't know, the verb Trabajar means to work.) So we made a new word in class. On our white board TRABAJARDER is across the top. Haha so sad, but it totally made my day. It's the little things. 

I have the coolest district in the WHOLE world. We are all brothers and sisters. It is the coolest environment because we are all helping each other learn in a spiritual way. I love everyone. There is an Elder here that is going to be the next Jimmer btw. His name is Elder Dastrup. He is EXACTLY a foot taller than me. Yes, taller. 6'10. I just wanted you to keep your eye out for him in 1.5 years. He is amazing, a spiritual giant too. 

An Elder from my zone, Elder Hall, is so great at playing the piano. Yesterday he played two of my all time favorite songs! He played Dawn (Pride & Prejudice) and the theme from UP. It was awesome to listen to a few things :) We listen to motab cada la dia. We have been loving listening to that music. 

Spanish is going well. I had a slight breakdown the other day. But, I have been teaching completely en español so that has been good. I had the best discussion with Jose and Hely yesterday. It was completely in Spanish and it went really well. Heavenly Father has been helping me out a ton. It is awesome.I love being a missionary so much. It is so much fun. It is hard work but it is beyond worth it. I am so happy to be here and I am looking forward to going to Argentina! 

A picture of Hannah's lesson plan in Spanish.....looks just like her!

Thank you for all the love and support! LOVE you all! 

Hermana Murphy


Looks like Hannah was finally able to figure out her camera download situation.  Yay!  Here are a few that she sent.  Enjoy!

 Hannah eating lunch with her Zone on the Main Campus

 Hannah said, "Every mom needs this photo for something!"  haha

Hermana Wilson and Hermana Murphy at the Provo Temple

Apparently Hannah found another "Sister Murphy"

Week #1 - Hannah's First Letter from the Provo MTC

Here is Hannah's very first email (besides a two sentence email telling us that THURSDAY will be her Pday while in the MTC.)

Enjoy!!

Hermana Herrera, Hannah and Hermana Shumway at the MTC

I HAVE MADE IT 8 DAYS AT THE MTC!!!! The first two days were so crazy. Pretty much the longest days of my life. I was so tired and it was easily the hardest thing I have ever done. 

Okay so Spanish is so beautiful and I absolutely LOVE IT! We have taught our investigator, Felix Rivas, 5 times in the past week EN ESPANOL! It is so crazy that I can speak this language now. I can pray, testify, give a talk, and have short conversations all in Spanish. It is amazing what the spirit can do for you. 

My companion is Hermana Wilson. She is the girl I found on facebook before we got here. She is cool. 

Hermana Wilson and Hannah (I think!)

In my district we have 2 going to Calgary, Canada (Elder Fitzgerald and Elder Battenfifeld), 2 going to Bolivia (Elder Tracy & Elder Butts), (YES MOM ELDER TRACY IS IN MY DISTRICT!!! WE FREAKED OUT FOR 10 MINUTES WHEN WE READ THAT LETTER) He is awesome and I totally am so lucky to have him in my district! 4 Hermanas going to Salta, Argentina (H.Herrera, Shumway, Erickson, McKnight.) and then 4 going to the celestial mission, POSADAS!!! (H. Wilson & ME, E. Gardner, E. Christeansen) I have gotten super close with my district and zone! I love them all so much we have had such a great week filled with laughter, tears, and the spirit!!! We sang in the choir on Tuesday at the devotional which was really fun! It has been so fun learning and feeling the spirit every day. I have the coolest teacher, Brother Croft. He went to Washington DC South Spanish speaking. He has helped me memorize so many things. He is awesome! 

I have been thinking a lot about how awesome missionaries are and I have so much gratitude for the ones that have inspired me to serve! So so SO grateful that the missionaries taught my dads family or I would not be here. Kind of a cool chain reaction right?? 

I am so blessed for this opportunity and I love it this work so much! I have seen two girls form BYUI that I had class with, one girl from my ward at BYUI, AND I was in the same zone as a boy that lived at Nauvoo House. 

We have gym time every day and we have been playing quite a lot of four square. I am reliving my Jacob Wismer days. We are in classes for 9 hours a day, but I actually like it a lot. The first three hours are teaching (you only teach for 45 minutes), then you go to lunch, then you have class with your teacher, then you go to dinner, THEN you have 1 hour of personal study, 1 hour of companionship study, and one hour of language study. As you can see, my brain is fried by the end of the day! But, nothing makes me happier than wearing my Savior's name over my heart!! La Iglesia es Verdedero!!!!! :) 

Love you all so much! thank you for your support and love!

Hermana Hannah

If you want to write Hannah here is her address at the Provo MTC:

Hermana Hannah Laine Murphy

SEP09 ARG-POS

2023 N 900 E Unit 845

Provo, Utah 84602

You can also use dearelder.com  It is AWESOME!

If you use dearelder.com:

1. For now, select "Provo MTC" from the drop box (you can switch to her actual mission when she leaves the MTC to go to Argentina.....and they will still deliver your letters for free through the churches pouch mail system. It will take 10-14 days to receive letters once she is in Argentina.)

2.  Select "Hermana" from the drop down box

3.  Then type her first and last name

4.  Her unit # is 845

5.  Her mission code is ARG-POS

6.  Her estimated MTC departure code is SEP08


You can also email Hannah.  Her email address for the next 18 months is hmurphy@myldsmail.net

Good luck!  And thanks for writing her......I know that she is LOVING receiving mail in the MTC!!

XOXO

-Heather

Missionary Celebration for Hannah and Maren!

We have lived in Portland, Oregon for almost 19 years and we have been blessed with some of the best friends in the world.  They truly are like family to us!  Probably since the second that both Hannah and Maren received their mission calls, Reenie Fisher and Kristene Allen started planning an amazing "Mission Party" for the girls.  We kept laughing because it was like a "shower" but for their missions.  We had such a great night celebrating with our two favorite missionaries to be!!

Celebrating both Argentina and France this evening.

Kristen, Maren, Hannah and Reenie

Here the food is served.  Kristene made some amazing savory dishes from Argentina and Reenie bought delicious sweet desserts from Provence in Lake Oswego.  We had dinner, dessert and lots of yummy things to try.

Reenie and Kristene had pillowcases for everyone to sign (made with super cute sister missionary fabric) and they had games to play (with prizes even!)

We had to guess if the answer is from Paris, France or Posadas, Argentina 

(it was harder than you would think!)

The girls had to have a packing race with tons of items needed on a mission.

Maren won this game!

And then the mom's had to do the packing race too.......

And Jeanne won this one.........(apparently the Hansen's travel a little more than the Murphy's since they were PROS at this game.  haha!)

Scripture chase time!

I LOVE these two girls......can't imagine a better friend for Hannah!

They even got GIFTS!  Lucky!

THANK YOU Reenie!!  XOXO

THANK YOU Kristene!!  XOXO

We just had the BEST TIME hanging with the friends we love and adore so much!  It will be so fun to watch these girls as they serve on their missions!