Week #56 - A Good Week

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL PIC :)))

This week was one of the HAPPIEST weeks in my mission. I just felt so happy.

This week there was a temple trip.... and guess who went? My sweet little grandpa Silverio.  He has been working on his family history (yes mom you would be proud...) and he was able to do the baptisms for his ancestors. I have never seen someone so happy in my life!

Yesterday he spoke in church and he talked all about his feelings about the church and how he is so excited to continue and work on other names! I just love him and i am so happy for him!

This has been one of my happiest moments on the mission by far. I love experiencing the miracles of the gospel and seeing really how Jesus Christ can change people’s lives. I love love love this work. It is true.

i got super sun burned this day ;(  such a pretty day!

This week my sweet little companion is receiving her mission call and she is anxious about where she is going! We are going to travel to visit her family and open her call with her and her family! Ah! We are so excited!

cow!!!!!! BABY COW!

i touched a baby cow:) it was so cute

divisions with my girlies:) hna dempsey and hna villanueva.... love themmm

i literally made bricks! what the!

how cool right???? i made bricks with a family!

more brick making..... shes a brick houuuuuuuussssseeeeeeee

"Well she's a brick house. She's mighty mighty, just lettin it all hang out"
oh yeah i oonly sang that a billion times! haha

the finished product!

BANANA TREES!

i asked for another name tag and they spelled my name wrong..... its okay

Week #55 - LOTS of pictures

Today, Hannah sent a quick message that said, "I AM SO HAPPY"........that is basically music to a mother's ears.  Hannah didn't have time to write a letter today, because she sent 14 pictures......so ENJOY!!

i love love love my companion! Hermana Baez.  she is so darn cute. 

and we are learning guarani. it is the best.

he will hate me for this but.... a bird pooped on elder choez
we were in the bus station getting ready for travel transfers........haha, it happened
at midnight on wednesday night.  haha

... we had to travel at like midnight to get to our new companions so this was us waiting with fernando and david... they were our bodyguards hahaha. and it was all the girls from minga!

this is my sweet hna arancibia... i love her so much. ah. she has such a powerful testimony!

when i passed a year with hna johnson and hna moreno

my cute grandpa!!

i just love him!

in front of Silverio's house

hna villanueva. she is the best. she is in minga. she is in my zone but she is serving in a branch close to me.
 she is adorable and i love her. we are bestiessss

what the activity looked like from the inside:) 

it was called Noche de Luz... i think i explained about it last week

we tried doing a high school musical picture...... but its okay

all of hna wilsons companions got smaller and smaller.... haha

when hna gonzalez completed 3 months! i couldnt find paper so pass along cards i used!

part of my area!

Week #54 - New Transfers

activity with minga guazu and ciudad del este. 

This week was a good week! We worked really hard and we had a really fun activity that was called Noche de Luz! We had an activity with the Barrio 2 and the branch Minga Guazu! We invited the members to invite their friends to that they could learn more about the Restored Gospel! It was such an uplifting activity. All of the missionaries sang and we had such a good time! 

activity with minga guazu and ciudad del este. we are the bouncers

For the next transfer.... I will be staying here in Ciudad del Este. I am beyond excited. I will be training a mini missionary which means that she is from Paraguay and she is waiting her mission call! I will be with her when she opens it! I am so grateful for this opportunity to be with her and teach her more about this amazing work. 

mirta arancibia is getting married! yippee! 

i love this woman. she is such a sweetheart.

This week we had a family give us a reference and we are so excited to work with this family. The mothers name is Camila and she has 3 boys. She feels like there has been something missing from her life and she feels that it is a communication with God. We spoke with her and she is really prepared. I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with families and to help them learn more! I really feel blessed to be here another transfer. I cannot wait to work with Camila and her family and stay here in Ciudad del Este! :)

picture of hna Wilson and i.
this time last year we were in the MTC learning spanish.
this year we are together in Paraguay speaking and preaching for the people here :) i love her!

Week #53 - Murphy's Law

DISTRITO CIUDAD DEL ESTE :)))

I feel bad for all of my Latin companions that do not know what Murphy's Law means.... and I feel bad for all of them because I am cursed with this!

But anyways, we had a Murphy' Law day... Saturday was a kind of hard day. We had an interesting lesson with Silverio (everything is okay now but it was a little bad...) and we were feeling discouraged.

We tried calling 2 investigators and they BOTH did not answer the phone. Finally, Victor called us and told us that he wanted to talk and have a lesson, so we saw him ONLY for him to tell us that he is catholic and that he cannot change. So that was hard.

Then if it couldn’t get any worse, we passed by a less active and she was drinking!

We were a little bit discouraged that night. But, we still continued to send messages so that our investigators could attend church on Sunday... we called and sent messages like crazy!

I always love how Heavenly Father is looking out for His sisters. In church a miracle happened, two of our investigators showed up! We were so happy! That night we reflected and thought that when we have bad days, but if we are trying our hardest, we can still receive the blessings! We felt the blessings from Heavenly Father!

DISTRITO CIUDAD DEL ESTE :)))

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.