Craziness of my life...

This week was crazy.  Now that I think about it, I say that a lot.  Like every email.  But that is because it is true.

This week it rained almost every day, which was wonderful, because we don't have air conditioning.

We also had divisions, and I went to Limpio with Hermana Wiscombe, and Hermana Cordova stayed in Salado.  She was really nervous, because Thursdays are our more heavy duty days, but she did great.  I learned so much in my division with Hermana Wiscombe.  She is a wonderful example of a consecrated missionary.  I have a lot to improve.  I also got FRIED.  Like a lobster.  Seriously, I think I am going to come home a different race at the rate I am going.

We also had an open house in the church, and it went really well, apart from the fact that it rained, so there wasn't a whole lot of people, but one woman came that the hermanas contacted in the street, and she said that she came because she wanted to know why it was called the Church of Jesus Christ.  She had a lot of amazing questions but she lives in the area of the elders, so they have the privilege of talking with her again.

You asked about the temple.  I miss it A LOT.  Once a year is not nearly enough for me.  I miss the peace that we can feel when we are inside.  Two of my converts entered the temple to do baptisms for the first time, and it was so fun to hear them talk about how they felt and how they want their whole entire family to enter and feel and see for themselves.  I miss it, I need a recharge...the temple always helped me to keep going.

It hasn't been so hot this week, it has stayed in the 80s, low 90s, so it has been really nice.

Last week I was so scatterbrained.  I didn't ever think that my brain would be split like it was into like 10,000,000 pieces...our p-days are pretty low key, especially today, because there is a huge strike with the buses, so we are pretty limited as to where we can go.

That is fun about Jake and his new job, and about the dating thing, although that is slightly scary. Okay, like a lot scary.  I hope that Abby plays volleyball, I want to be able to play with her when I get back.

The changes in the people here are sometimes so small that you don't notice.  But they are there.  And sometimes they don't want to push themselves to be able to get into exaltation, but at least they improved a little.  I am having some weird deja vu moments...like what was I doing last year at this time..we are almost to Christmas!!  Less than two months until I can see your face, and I am so excited!

Here they don't celebrate Halloween, because there is a lot of dark, weird Satanic stuff that happens, so they don't send their kids around to trick or treat.

This Sunday was really good for me.  It was one of the most spiritual testimony meetings that I have experienced in all of my mission.  All of the missionaries gave their testimonies, and the Spirit was so incredibly strong.  Afterwards, we were waiting for ward council to start and I thought about how much I love these people.  They aren't perfect, none of us are, but I love them so much.  I thought about that moment in 3ish months and was like...this is going to be a struggle, and I started to cry a little...(yeah, shocker). But hey, that is how it needs to be.  Dangit.

I love you all so much and I hope that you have a good week!

Love,
Hermana Farish

Fresh bread and dulce de leche...hmmm!

Halloween witches in Paraguay.

The Last Step

Y bueno, this week flew by, every day is just flying by faster.

Just so ya know, we didn't have transfers!!!  I get to have one more change with Hermana Cordova.  I am so happy, we have so much to do and Salado is just the greatest.

We had a really productive week, the Lord has blessed us with so many prepared people, and we were able to find a family that went to church on Sunday!  We had contacted a house and left a card, and then we asked for referrals from a member and she gave us the name of the woman who lived in this house...we were like um yep that would be a sign. Her name is Doris, and her daughters went to the talent show that we had last week, and it was just awesome.  We were kind of bumming around Saturday night, it had rained all day (it was WONDERFUL) and everyone was cooped up inside, so we decided to go and try to get in and contact the referral.  We went and clapped and her daughters let us in, and we had a lesson with them and with her nieces.  The next morning, we had to take a bus to go get some less actives and investigators, drop them off in the church, and then run to go get this family.  It was nuts, because we were like running to their house and we saw this group of people pass by and it was Doris with her nephew, Eduardo, niece Vanessa, daughters Jessica and Johanna.  I just about died of a heart attack. They had a great experience and we are going to have a FHE with them this week.

Also, we are still working with the Hermana Martinez and her son, Alejandro.  He has a baptismal date for October 10th, pray for him and her, please please please.  We are trying hard to activate his family so that they can get to the temple.

We are working with another lady, Victoria, who really wasn't progressing.  We weren't sure what to teach her, and honestly, we were going to drop her, but we prayed during weekly planning and we both thought about the book My Family, that talks about family history.  We had a lesson with her and she was so excited, she is going to talk with her sister so that she can fill it out (her sister is going to be visiting her, so that is why she can't go to church.  Might as well do something productive).

Today we went to the temple with Ramona and Lucia (recent converts).  My companion and I bore our testimonies and I felt the spirit so strong.  I love the temple.  I wish we could go more often, but that is okay.  Something that I have realized is that everything we do in the church, everything that we study, learn, memorize, feel, whatever, everything points to the temple.  Everything we have to endure is worth it when we understand and make eternal covenants with our Heavenly Father.  I love that so much.  That is the difference between the LDS church and the thousands of others: we will be together for the eternities.  What a blessing.

I love you, and I hope that you all have a good week!

Hermana Farish

Righteousness IN YOUR FACE!!

Dear Everyone,

This week was cold, wet, and wonderful.  I so enjoyed talking to my family.  I have been so blessed, and I loved being able to hear your voices and see your faces:)  Sorry for the hardcore spanglish.  We joke around that we have to switch the memory chip for one hour to be able to speak straight English for 50 minutes:)

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!! I have been so blessed with wonderful examples of mothers in my life, with my mom, my grandmas, my aunts, neighbors, everyone.  I am so grateful for your wonderful example of being steadfast in the faith and raising families strong in the gospel.  It is something that will influence me for-e-ver.

This week we have the opportunity to go to the temple in Asunciòn!!! I am so excited, it will be like a spiritual battery recharge.

Mom, I loved talking to you, it made my day, seriously.  I loved just listening to you and seeing your face:) I hope everything is going okay, and that you are doing fine with the billions of things that call your attention every day.

I hope that this Skype experience was better than the last one.  It is SO HARD to press that little red button to end the connection, but I was happy to get going again. I was so nervous to talk to you guys, I don't even know why.  Weird.

My companion was able to talk to her family.  Her parents are members and she is an only child.  Her mom had been inactive for 6 years before she came to the mission, and her first Monday in the field, she received a picture of her mom with her dad in front of the chapel. She was so happy:)

Anyway mom, I hope you have a wonderful week and that you remember that I love you and will always be grateful for everything that you have always done for me:)  You are the perfect mother, and even though you don't think so, I know that Heavenly Father loves me because He sent me to you:)

Elder Ballard said,

"Today, more than ever, we need faithful, dedicated sister-saints who … have hearts that are fixed, who trust in the Lord, and who … are willing to save souls and build the kingdom of God.”

I know that you are like that, faithful, dedicated to the Lord, and willing to work to save souls and build the kingdom of God.  I have watched you all of my life and I hope you know that your influence will be with me for eternity, and I am so grateful to you and your never-ending patience:)

Last night after talking on Skype, we left to begin working and a FHE fell through, so we went to see how everyone was after the huge storm the night before, and we felt prompted to contact a reference from a member.  We had already gone twice and nothing, but we decided to go again and see what happened.  We went and we were able to meet Lidia and Lisandro.  They have been married for 30  years, and we had a wonderful lesson with them, talking about eternal marriage and the importance of the authority of God on the earth.  Lisandro said, "it would be ideal." I know that it is the ideal, that we will not be able to get anything better here in this life.  We have been so blessed with the knowledge of the Atonement and the restoration of the gospel.  This knowledge is priceless, and for me, there is nothing more that I would rather have.  We can overcome anything with the knowledge that we have.  This couple accepted the baptismal invitation, and we are so excited to go back and talk more with them.

Other than that...not much really happened.  I freeze to death at 70 degrees, and I am so excited to keep working and recognize the Lord's hand in my life.  I love you all so much, and invite you to think of someone you know who could use the gospel.  We don't know who is prepared and who isn't, so we need to give everyone a chance.  Think and pray about this person or family, and give the reference to the missionaries so that this family can have the comfort and the security that comes from the knowledge that we have.  In D&C, it talks a lot about the importance of opening our mouths.  In D&C 24:12 it says:

12 And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men.

In D&C 60:2-3:

2 But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them.
3 And it shall come to pass, if they are not more faithful unto me, it shall be taken away, even that which they have.

There are lots of promises here, and even though we may have fear of man, I can tell you that we just have to do it.  Just do it.  And you will see the blessings that come from opening your mouth and sharing the priceless knowledge that you have.  I love you and hope you have a good week!

With love,
Hermana Farish

S.W.A.T.

Dear Everyone,

This week was kind of different.  Like it rained.  A LOT.  4 out of the last 7 days were just a strong, hard rain.  In our area, it is really really bad, because the drainage systems here are really clogged and just neglected, so a lot of people had about 3 or 4 feet of water in their homes.  Brings a new meaning to having your house flooded.

On Saturday, we were able to go to the temple with some of the youth from our ward.  We went to the Family History Center last Sunday, they found some names and completed their books (My Family), and we received approval from the mission president to be able to take a group to the temple to do baptisms and start this process of saving souls.

Also on Saturday, we had the privilege to go to a training for the ward councils of this area.  We started to walk to take a bus and then it started to RAIN, like so crazy.  Luckily, we were close to our house so we grabbed umbrellas and coats, and I ended up giving mine to some girls from the ward, and we got SO wet.  When we finally got to the stake center, we walked in and naturally the first person we see is an area seventy, and we are standing there like drowned rats.  We were like...there goes our pride!;) We walked into the bathroom to dry off and we found the other sisters in there as well, and it was fun to just laugh it off.  It brought to my mind the quote, "life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain."  That quote comes to my mind a lot:)

The training was amazing, even though we lost the signal.  The area seventy, Elder Krasnoselsky spoke to us about the importance of ministering to the people according to their needs.  That it not be something mechanical, something that we are obligated to do, but something that we do because of our love for our Savior and our gratitude for what he did for us.  Really, that is what our focus is now,  to minister in such a way that we gain the trust of the people and they can see and feel the love of our Savior through us as members and our service.  Really, this is for everyone, in every calling, in every ward.  Minister to the people for whom you are responsible, and you will be able to feel that your perspective is changing and that you are becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ. (Moroni 7)

Something else that we laughed about was afterwards, there weren't any buses because of the rain, so we had to walk back.  On the way, we received a call from some girls from the ward, who were stuck on the wrong side of a huge flood zone thing.  They needed to get home, but weren't able to cross the river, because it was deep and fast, really, it surprised me how deep it was.  So, at 9:20, we walked to where they were, and then we had to walk to the other end of our area with them to enter the street where they lived on the other side, and all in the water...at about 10, we finally got to their house, dropped them off, and booked it home, until we  were walking in the water and we saw a flipping snake in the water with us...we almost died.  Seriously, I don't think I have been so startled for a LONG time.  The SWAT team...hermana missionary style.  Kind of frightening.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, even when you know that there are creepy things swimming in the water with you...don't be afraid, pray really hard and walk really, really fast:)

I hope you all have a good week!:)

Love,

Hermana Farish

Youth at the temple

Whew...two weeks already!

Hello everyone!

I can hardly believe that i have been here for two weeks already...things are going well, and i cannot believe the progress i have been able to make, thanks mostly to the Spirit.

Hermana Boehmer and I have begun to teach our IPs completely in Spanish. it was a big step and even though we were worried, we did awesome and the Spirit was able to testify to our "investigator". All of the latins who came with us to the ccm left on Tuesday...it was hard to see them go, but I know that they will be AWESOME missionaries.

We got two new latina sisters from Peru last night, and one of them is in our room. she speaks NO English, so we have to try and communicate with a lot of gestures and Spanish.  It forces us to speak Spanish, which is what we need. We get 8 more today who are from all over south america, and that will be so fun! it is hard though, because they leave two weeks before we do, so before we leave we will have seen 3 groups of awesome latinos. The group we get today is completely latino, no North Americans, so THAT will be fun:)

On Tuesday, Hermana Boehmer and I thought it would be a brilliant idea to scoot all the bunkbeds together, make a fort, and invite the other North American sisters over for a sleepover, since we were all alone. We had a pretty awesome time, but then during grammar instruction the next morning, the cleaning lady came in and said..."what happened to your room?"  We didn't know the word for fort in Spanish, so our teacher, while laughing her head off, told her what happened...it was pretty funny.

This last Sunday we had a music fireside thing, and at the very end, everyone at the ccm (like 60 people) sang the "As Sisters In Zion/Army of Helaman" medley.  It was so cool as we were able to sing about being in the army of Helaman (in Spanish) next to people from all over the world. it was so powerful and it gave me hope for what we will be able to accomplish as an army of God.

The temple on Thursday was an interesting experience, to say the very least.  It was a party to try and tell the cute little Argentine ladies what size we needed and which clothes we needed. I got a dress that was ten times to small, and when I walked out of my stall thing, the little old lady took one look and went and got me one that fit perfectly...yeah, just had to roll my eyes because it fit my companion perfectly...not that I am bitter or anything:)

We get to go proselyting on Saturday in Buenos Aires and surrounding areas!  This is for real! Hermana Boehmer and I are really nervous, but I know that if we can put our trust in the Lord, he will help us to be able to reach those who are ready, just like you said dad!

As I have adjusted to missionary life, I have come to realize a couple of things: 1, the Spirit is essential if you want to make any progress with anyone in this life (including yourself) 2, the gospel of Jesus Christ is real, it is tangible (the Book of Mormon), and it can help those who have no hope to be able to have hope in Christ, which will never fail.

Also, King Benjamin is such a stud. If you have a chance, go read Jarom/Omni, Words of Mormon, and the first few chapters of Mosiah. There are so many wonderful things in there, and every time I read I feel like I can can pull stuff out for our investigators.

I love and miss you guys so much! When we were showing our family pictures to each other, the little Peruvian hermana said that our family picture and the picture of my smoking hot brothers were "hermosa" or beautiful. So see Josh and Jacob, your influence has now spread into Peru. Congrats.

Emma, good luck with your headgear and braces and expander!  You are so awesome to take it like you have! I love you all, and have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Farish

Our Fort!  The five North American Missionaries

The 11 sister missionaries at the CCM

Let it rain!

Me and Hermana Boehmer

My District