I am not the same as I was

Well bueno gente, here goes nothing.

It has been an adventure, I just finished crying through my final interview with President Mcmullin, and it officially just became real. It has gone by so fast, and I am grateful to everyone for their love and support.   Without it I would not have made it this far.

Now looking back, I am so glad I came. President just asked me, ¨If you had stayed home, would you have been able to invite people to be baptized and to repent and obtain their salvation?  I was like....no.  I can`t imagine my life without my mission, it has been such a blessing.  I know that it is the work of the Lord. He is in charge and I know that He is aware of the needs of every single one of us.

I had a pretty cool experience this last week, I was able to go do divisions in my first area, Marambure, and I was able to see someone that I had taught WAY back when.  Maria Lopez wasn't baptized while I was there, but a little while after.  Anyway, I was talking with her and she told me that she wasn't the same that she had been when we had found her last.  When we began to speak with her she was having a hard time because her son was in jail.  That just destroyed her, and we were able to help her get out of it a little.  Now, a year later, we went back and she said, I am not the same person that I was when you found me.  I am better stronger, and firmer.  Those words were so powerful for me, and I loved hearing them

I love being in the mission, and I have been able to learn so much.  I love this gospel, I know that it is true, and that after a long period of apostasy it was restored to the earth by Joseph Smith. I know that the Savior is all powerful, and that if we follow Him, we will be received into His presence.  I love this work.  I love it, and I have been so privileged to be able to participate in it.  I am not the same, still quirky, still weird, still imperfect, but I have been able to feel the power of the Atonement in my life.

Thank you for your love, thank you for your support, and see you in 4:)

Love,
Hermana Farish

Goodness in Everything #Godnevermakesmistakes

This week was CRAZY, we went to Itagua (about 2 hours away) on Tuesday and our PJC loop through Horqueta, Ybyjau and PJC Rama 4, getting home on Saturday morning at 10.  WHEW.

SO to be able to get to the faraway places, we have to take a cool double-decker tour bus thing, so we got on one, got settled in, and we realized we were right next to the trash can.  We were like, GREAT!!  That means that we won't even have to get up to throw things away!  Haha, it was so funny when Hna Noorda looked over after a few minutes and saw a few cockroaches...haha. We looked at each other and busted a gut and then said a VERY VERY heartfelt prayer:)

Itagua: I went with Hna Diaz, and we had a good day, with lots of contacts and we went to contact a new part of her area, and there were a ton of cool people, I am excited to see what happens with that.

Horqueta: I was with Hna Ross, but when we got there they told us that she was sick, so I ended up staying in half the day to clean their house and study. From what they told us, they have had some interesting experiences in the last two weeks that have been challenging, so I hope that in some way we were able to help them.

Ybyjau: I was with Hna Chamberlain, One thing that I really do like about her is that when she gives her testimony, she does it in a way that invites the Spirit, which is, ya know, kind of essential.

PJC Rama 4: I was with Hna Ashby, and we had a good day. We contacted a lot, and it was so nice.

We left Pedro Juan at 10:30 Friday night, and then about 2 hrs in our tire went flat, so what usually is a 7 hour trip ended up being a 10 hour one, but it was really nice, because I was able to see some parts of Paraguay that I had never seen before, and we were able to do everything that we needed to do on Saturday, even though we ended up getting home at 10:)

There were so many experiences this week that helped me to realize that God's hand is literally in everything we do.  There were so many things that could have gone wrong, and a few did, but in the end, they were what we needed, and I know that God is aware of us and that He knows what we need and when we need it.  We just have to have the patience to hang on a sec and see what He has in mind.

Home again, home again jiggity jig.  We had a couple of awesome days here in Salado. We have some great investigators, one of which is on track to get baptized this Saturday, and even though the majority didn't come to church, we went afterwards and had some great lessons on the dia de reposo and the Book of Mormon.

I asked for a priesthood blessing yesterday, just to help me stay focused.  I haven't had one in 18 months, so I had missed the priesthood A LOT.  It was so nice and sweet, and, like usual, I cried my eyes out.  I know that everything will turn out okay, and I am going to miss these people so, so much. Not the third worldness, though, I am SO EXCITED for a few things like:

carpet
a decent piano
central air conditioning
did I mention carpet?
and a washing machine  #smallthings

Yeah, I am scared, but excited.  I have learned so many new things in the last few months, and I am interested to see what kind of differences there will be because of the new things I have learned.  Its gonna be interesting.

But I am doing so well, we are so busy and it will keep me running until the very end.  That is what I want, and I hope that everyone knows that I am so grateful for this experience.  I love this gospel, and I now can apply it in my life and continually strengthen my testimony of the truthfulness.  It is the greatest.

We are both learning so much, and I am happy where I am at. Thank you for your time and have a great week! I love you all!!

Hermana Farish

Hammock in the kitchen.  The best!

Flooding in Paraguay.

Laundry Lessons

This week was AMAZING.  With a capital a-m-a-z-i-n-g.  But really though.  We had a busy week with divisions,

This week on Tuesday we began with Hna Ramos and Alor in Isla Bogado (Luque, about 40 minutes away by bus)

Wednesday, Moroni with Hnas Añazco and Santos in downtown Asuncion.  I stayed in Salado this time, and we had a great day, with a ton of contacts, She is the greatest, and has no fear whatsoever of contacting.

Thursday, Loma Pyta with Hnas Mera y Varas.  They are such good missionaries, They just work and work.  We contacted a lot and we found a lady named Fanny, we set a date, and I just talked to Hna Mera and she went to church!!! WWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!  So they are doing good.

Saturday, Juan de Salazar with Hnas Carr and Cordova.  I went to their area, and it was so nice to be with Hna Cordova again. She is now the Senior comp and is doing a great job. We had a lot of laughs.

Sunday, we had 6 investigators in the church, we have a date for the 23rd and one for the 30th, and then one for Feb. 20. We are going strong, seeing lots of miracles.  We have our Pedro Juan run next week (we will be 8 hours away, right on the Paraguay-Brazil border), so that will be a blast.

One cool thing that happened this week was last night, we had to take our clothes to get washed, and we had just our phone and our bag of clothes.  We got to the house and gave our clothes and then in walked a friend of the member, Miriam.  We were like "hey let's talk to her", so we did and we ended up sitting down to talk with her with a member.  It was the most convenient lesson that I have ever had.  It was such a good lesson, with the help of Hermana Blanca and her Book of Mormon...we hadn't brought ours...whoops.  Lesson learned, if you are going to take your clothes to get washed at the end of the day, always be prepared.  Miriam accepted the baptismal invitation, and I am so excited to see what happens.

I am loving life, loving the Book of Mormon.  This week it talked a lot about how we will not be ashamed to be called disciples of Christ when Jesus comes again.  I hope that I can always be proud to be called His.   I hope that you all have a good week!

Hermana Farish

Ice Cream Social

Hermana Cordova, Hermana Farish, Hermana ______,
Zone Conference

Hermana Cordova and Hermana Farish

Faith in the Face of Danger

Haha, so this week was crazy crazy.  We had 3 divisions Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, all in a place that is called Capiata.  It is about 2ish hours away from home, so we were there for 3 days straight.  We had some wonderful experiences, and I appreciate the opportunity to get to know some of the hermanas from the mission.  One fun/interesting experience that we had was in the last division, the sisters told us that they had a tarantula problem.  We were like...that's peachy, even more so because we sleep on the floor (haha, I saw Nate's pics...I feel your pain!!:)).  So, we had to decide how to accomplish this feat without breaking any rules...so we pushed the two beds together and all four of us slept on the two beds...I am not sure how exactly obedient that was, and afterwards, we were talking with my comp and we were like...what the heck???  Where was our faith?  If we had chosen to just sleep on the ground in spite of the tarantulas, that would have been better, because the Lord would have protected us...yeah, whoops.  Learning experience, that is for sure:)   So, if you are choosing between sleeping on the floor and being eaten by tarantulas or bending the rules, choose to sleep on the floor:)

A miracle that we saw this week was that we were contacting in our area again, and we contacted two ladies that were sitting outside their house.  At first they didn't seem to have a lot of interest, but we asked them a few questions and they let us in, we talked about the Book of Mormon and where it came from.  The mom, Karen, told us that she had recently separated from her husband, and that she was in search of peace.  Thankfully, in the intro of the B of M, it says that the Book of Mormon helps us to have peace, and learn how to hold onto it.  We have a lunch appointment with them on Saturday, so we will see what happens:)

Also, something cool was that President McMullin asked us to give a 40 minute training on how to plan in this months mission leadership council.  It was a privilege to talk and discuss with other missionaries how we can work more effectively.  We did that today and it was a party hardy. Something else that was just a ball of fun was giving my testimony in the MLC.  All of the people who are finishing are asked to do it, and I was like...this is not gonna be pretty, but it turned out great and I realized how much I really do love this place

Anyway, it was a good week, and I hope that you can all start the year off well and that you can love where you are at.  I love you!

Love,
Hermana Farish