Lots Of Memories

This week had a lot of interesting miracles.  Small, but interesting.

My companion is doing well.  She comes from a very, very wealthy background (like her dad is the CEO or something like that of Apple) and there have been some clashing moments, but she is an excellent missionary who knows how to bring the spirit into the lessons, and I am learning a lot from her.  Her dad is Argentine and was baptized about 7 years ago.   They are all active, but her mom was inactive for about 15 years because her dad didn't want anything to do with the church, and now they are sealed.  It is a fun story.

I got permission to Skype with Josh, so that will be fun.  We will need to set that up!  I still don't have specific times, I will let you know as soon as I do.

But yeah, this week was crazy, we are working like locas (crazies), and having a blast.  That is the good thing about having an American comp, you can just talk about all of the inside jokes and all that...haha,  We did an open house this last week and they showed the movie  Meet The Mormons, and that last part in the airport...my comp and I were dying...we were kind of trunky,  not gonna lie. I am excited to see you guys, but freaking out about starting off in real life again.

But something that I really liked about this week was that we read and studied about "The Divine Gift of Repentance", a talk by Elder Christofferson.  He gives 5 steps to the repentance process:

First, the invitation to repent is an expression of love.  Lots of times, especially as missionaries or parents or whatever, sometimes we feel like telling people they need to repent is like the most awkward thing ever.  But Elder Christofferson says:

"If we do not invite others to change or if we do not demand repentance of ourselves, we fail in a fundamental duty we owe to one another and to ourselves. A permissive parent, an indulgent friend, a fearful Church leader are in reality more concerned about themselves than the welfare and happiness of those they could help. Yes, the call to repentance is at times regarded as intolerant or offensive and may even be resented, but guided by the Spirit, it is in reality an act of genuine caring."

That hit me really hard.  IF we really love someone, we will help them to get over what is bothering them and we will do it with love.

Second, repentance means striving to change.  "Real repentance, real change may require repeated attempts, but there is something refining and holy in such striving.  Divine forgiveness and healing flow quite naturally to such a soul, for indeed "virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; [and] mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own"

Third, repentance means not only abandoning sin but also committing to obedience.

Fourth, repentance requires a seriousness of purpose and a willingness to persevere, even through pain.  A resolve to abandon and forsake the sin and to repair, as fully as one possibly can, the damage he or she has caused now forms in that new heart. This resolve soon matures into a covenant of obedience to God. With that covenant in place, the Holy Ghost, the messenger of divine grace, will bring relief and forgiveness.

Fifth, whatever the cost of repentance, it is swallowed up in the joy of forgiveness.  "In April of 1847, Brigham Young led the first company of pioneers out of Winter Quarters.  At that same time, 1,600 miles [2,575 km] to the west the pathetic survivors of the Donner Party straggled down the slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the Sacramento Valley.

"They had spent the ferocious winter trapped in the snowdrifts below the summit. That any survived the days and weeks and months of starvation and indescribable suffering is almost beyond belief.

"Among them was fifteen-year-old John Breen. On the night of April 24 he walked into Johnson's Ranch. Years later John wrote:

"'It was long after dark when we got to Johnson's Ranch, so the first time I saw it was early in the morning. The weather was fine, the ground was covered with green grass, the birds were singing from the tops of the trees, and the journey was over. I could scarcely believe that I was alive.

"The scene that I saw that morning seems to be photographed on my mind. Most of the incidents are gone from memory, but I can always see the camp near Johnson's Ranch.'"

Said President Packer: "At first I was very puzzled by his statement that 'most of the incidents are gone from memory.' How could long months of incredible suffering and sorrow ever be gone from his mind? How could that brutal dark winter be replaced with one brilliant morning?"

I know that repentance is real, and I have a lot to work on, especially the sincerely trying to change and not justifying myself in repeating what I had already repented for.  But hey, we are getting there. Depending on our choices, we will all be able to arrive and see that brilliant morning of forgiveness. I love you all so much and I love this work!  The Lord is perfect and never makes mistakes!!

Love,
Hermana Farish

The Word "Comfortable"

The word "comfortable" is a very, very dangerous word, one that should never be mentioned when you are near transfer week, because Heavenly Father then makes the decision to make you less comfortable.  Unfortunately, I think that is normal, so we will see what happens throughout the eternities.

We had transfers, and I stayed here in Salado!!! WOHOO!!! and the Hermana Cordova went next door to Juan de Salazar, same zone, so we will see each other a lot.  She was so awesome and I am so excited to see her grow and change.

I received my new comp, Hermana Fardos.  She is my first American comp, so it is really weird to speak English all of the time.  My English is getting better though, so don't worry:) She came about a month after I did, and so she and I will be finishing at almost the same time. She is AWESOME and is so energetic, she will keep me running until the end;)

This week, our whole entire mission began to study a Preach My Gospel with a personalized study guide, made by President McMullin and his wife.  It is so awesome. This week we have been studying chapter one, and the power of our callings.  It helped me to realize how it is that I can change and teach by the Spirit, with the Lord supporting me in every way.  I have been able to feel like that on my mission, and I know that it is possible.  By reading your emails and letters, I have also been able to see the ways in which the Lord is supporting and helping you.  I know that He is always here, and that even though it seems like we are alone, that is so never true. never never never.

One thing that I thought was interesting this week was that it was just different.  I had so gotten used to just giving 100% and focusing on my area, and my companion was admitted to the hospital on Thursday until Saturday, with bed rest Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  It was interesting to see the trials that the Lord sometimes gives us, especially if we are "comfortable".  If you look at your life right now and you see yourself as comfortable...hold on about a week and then look again.  It is how we grow and progress towards exaltation.  For example, the church put out the policy this week on gay marriage, and I read the interview, and it looks like they did it because there were a lot of people who were comfortable, kind of in the gray area.  Well, from what I hear, this new policy has made a lot of people UNcomfortable, because they need to choose which side they are on.  They can't be comfortable in the middle.  That is definitely something I have learned in the past year.  If you have a comfort zone, you need to look at what is included and see if the Lord could be in there too.  Kind of interesting to think about.

Our ward is doing fine, the elders had transfers and the new district leader that came is AWESome, so I hope that things will continue to progress. Our investigators are doing okay, Luis is going strong, but we do have an investigator that only comes to church for the economic help.  He is blind, and his mom is totally using him to get more help from the church.  We know it is wrong, and we will see what happens when the batpismal interview comes around.  The district leader will have to be the one to tell him the bad news. que pucha.

Also, a huge miracle was that Hermano Arrua came to church!!! His wife was SOOO happy, (she is a recent convert).  She has been trying and trying and TRYING to get him to at least try, and he came!! We are going to work with them so that in one year this family can get to the temple and get sealed!!! AAAHHHHH #familiaseternas.

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

Love,
Hermana Farish

Erin's District

Erin with her companion in the hospital

Still In Shock...

So, this week was nuts.  With a capital NUTS.  We had a lot of miracles happen, and we were able to kind of recharge.

To start off, we have weekly planning every Friday, and last Friday (1 week ago) we decided to call and set times for the members to make visits with us.  We were able to go out with a member every single day this week, and let me tell you, it made the difference.  We were able to go and visit a sister called Margarita.  Margarita has a 19 year old daughter with severe special needs, and has been wanting to go to church, but we haven't been able to find transport.  This last week we were able to go there with the RS president, who saw the needs of Margarita and this week the two of them were able to come to church.  She was so happy, and I love talking with her daughter.  She hasn't been able to receive treatments, and her spine is basically doubling in half.  She understands basically everything that you tell her, but is shut up in her body.  She is so innocent and special, and I know that Heavenly Father loves her so much.

This last weekend we were fasting, and I don't know what made this fast different or what...but it was great. The huge unexpected shocking heart attack of my life was when we were told the attendance on Sunday was 127 people, 44 people more than usual.  Seriously, after last week we were surprised to see so many people.  We knew that member involvement was going to help, but wow, mucho:) Our companionship attendance goal since July has been 120, and we finally got it.  And the best part was that everyone was involved, and we now have 80 more missionaries to help us out.  I was thinking the other day, sometimes we are trying to do things right, and we don't see the effects right away, but we were able to see the effects of 3 months of work, and I am so happy to finally see them:)

We have a really special investigator named Danny.  He is the son of an inactive and is 25 years old. A few years ago, he didn't want anything to do with the church.  But 2 years ago he had an awful motorcycle accident, and his forehead was literally caved in and now he is blind.  He couldn't walk and about 3 months ago he took his first step.  We went to this home for the first time with a member (he was a reference) and his mom (inactive) let us in.  His mom is really kind of..a...bitter lady, but, when Danny said the last prayer, his mom just began to cry.  Danny has some problems with autism now, but he remembers every single thing that we teach him.  On Sunday his mom told us that Danny had woken up that morning and told his mom, we need to go to church.  So, he, with his mom, walked to a member's home and from there the members took them. #miraclenumbertwo.

Life is going well here in Paraguay.  So crazy.  Haha, last Monday I received a call from the mission secretary...his question was "What will be your final destination?"  I was slightly confused (dork that I am) and asked...em...eternally or what?  And then I realized what he was asking - flipping St. George, Utah.  Time is going by so so so so fast, and it is slightly freaky.  But whatever, I'm cool with that.  I think I will finish here in Salado, which I am totally fine with.  There is so much work to be done.  Something that I am finding, though, is that I am tired.  This week I got super sunburned, and that took me down a notch.  I was just weary.  But then we fasted and all was well.

But, you know, life goes on, and we are going to see if we can maintain it.  But it was a good week, transfers in two weeks...si o si we are going to have transfers, so we will see what happens:)  I love you and hope that you have a good week!

Love,
Hermana Farish

Really, Really Tired

I Love Empanadas!

The weirdest thing that has ever happened to me

So, this week was pretty shweet.  We had a zone conference on Tuesday, and President talked about how we appear to the members and what we have to do to better gain their trust and confidence.  We left thinking about what it is that we need to change in our area, and what we could do better.  We went to our lunch appointment with Hermana Conti, and we shared a quick message and then asked for references.  She gave us the reference of a friend, Hermana Rios.  We told her, okay, we are going to go contact that right now, and she told us to wait because she was going to come with us.  We were like.....??  What just happened?  But it was real, she came with us and we were able to contact the reference. It was so amazing, and Hermana is AWESOME.   By the end of the week, we had received 22 references from members.  It was such a miracle, and we are working to contact all of them.

And...general conference was pretty much the greatest thing ever.  Like better than Christmas.  When Elder Holland talked about a mother's love, haha, all of the missionaries got a little teary eyed.  One of my questions was how can we keep progressing?  What can we do to seguir adelante (press forward???) and find everything that we need to improve and then improve it?  And in the first session my question was answered.  I liked what was said.  I don't remember who said it, but there are two things that have stuck in my mind,

"You can start where you are at, Heavenly Father will take you as you are." or something to that effect.

"It is your direction, not your speed, that matters."

I really felt, as I listened to the new apostles give their testimonies, and with all of the other testimonies, they are inspired.  They really are.  They have prayed and fasted to be able to answer the questions of millions of people, and they end up doing it.  Haha, no pressure.

One thing that was weird was that we were walking to an appointment and someone yelled "hermanitas (little sisters!)" and we were like, yup, nope, and we kept walking.  He yelled again, "La rubia es norteamericana?" (The blonde is North American?) so we walked even faster, and he ran up and began to talk about his interest in Americans and all that, it was SO uncomfortable.  So, so weird.

Other than that, Alejandro will get baptized this week, and we are looking to put a lot of dates so that people can keep progressing:)  I love you all, and have a good week!

Love,
Hermana Farish

Alejandro

Homemade...bread?

Too Many Blessings

We had an awesome week here in Salado...

First off, Wednesday was great because we contacted ALL DAY and literally no one let us in, which was weird because normally the Paraguayans are pretty nice, but not on Wednesdays apparently. So...it was just peachy.  We were thinking, how crazy would it be if someone just came up and said "I would like to be baptized, please".  Later that night we had piano class, and halfway through an inactive sister came in who hasn't stepped in the church for like 15 years because a member stole the title to her land...long story...but she entered with her son and afterwards came up and asked to talk with us.  Her son apparently had asked her to be baptized, and we have begun to understand that you need to be careful with what you say, because someone is always listening....:)

Thursday we had interviews with President McMullin.  We were inside of the church for 7 hours straight, such fun.

This week went really well, and I just felt good.  We have been contacting a ton and we are working. Sometimes it is hard though because the members are the ones who are tempting us to not be obedient.  They have been so accustomed to the elders who haven't been obedient and we have to go in and get home on time and not watch movies and not spend the whole day in one home...it is something that frustrates me, because Paraguay is different than the US..shocker.  We are always moving and shaking and working and playing and DOING SOMETHING: here it is like...sit down for 5 hours and drink terere...and to a certain point we have to take a chill pill and slow it down, but we also have to do our job and be obedient.  There are so many times when my Paraguayan side is taking it out on my US roots, and it is hard.  But I know how it should be, and that a lot of times church policies and rules and programs just don't work here in Paraguay.  They are so ....lazy.  Haha, I still have a lot to learn about patience.  But other than that, I am doing well...until I read that you guys had gone to the cabin and it was 52 degrees...waaaa....it is like 100 here...dangit.  But oh well, I am going to come home a mexican blonde because I will be so so so so tan with some freaking awesome lines...super attractive.

Friday was interesting, we started to contact and we contacted a house with a guy that is 100 percent anti-Mormon.  He came out and began to bash the US and Joseph Smith and the plates and that the Mormon church didn't come from Christ and how you would have to be stupid to join and all of that fun stuff, and it was just interesting to me to see that the majority of the people don't know what they are talking about, and that every once in a while, we need to kneel down and ask again to verify and strengthen our own testimonies, so that when we have to give them, we are ready and prepared.

Another little milagro (miracle) was that we had 10 investigators in church yesterday.  We began to count and we just kept finding more and more...I don't know what happened this week to change so much but the work in in Salado is being hastened, and we are so excited to keep going.

I hope that you all have a good week!  Be happy and obedient!

Love,
Hermana Farish

Faith

So, this week was pretty great.  We have made a goal to give out two Books of Mormon every day, and we have been able to see miracles from that.

Something that I would like to focus on is a talk that a friend (Sister Jones!!) sent last week, by Elder Bednar.  He talks about a scripture found in D y C 19:18, which says:

18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink

He talks about an experience of a young couple where the husband had just been diagnosed with bone cancer after 3 weeks of marriage.  Elder Bednar asked them if they had the faith to not be healed.  I was like...say what?  Do I have the faith to submit myself to the will of the Lord like they did and like Jesus did?  Because of His love for us he did not shrink, He did what he came to do.  I started to read the Book of Mormon again with this theme. looking to find the examples of people who didn't shrink, and see why they were able to do what the Lord expected of them.  The first example that I found was in 1 Nephi, where the Lord tells him to kill Laban:

10 And it came to pass that I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.

And...Nephi, knowing and being led by the spirit, didn't shrink.  Haha, now my whole life is finding people who don't shrink.  My ancestors, my present family, and so many others who are firm examples of not shrinking.  I am so grateful for the Atonement, and for all of the strength that is given to us so that we don't shrink. I love you all and hope that you have a good week!

Love,
Hermana Farish

The Wheels On The Bus...

Hem...this week was amazing.  I have never been so tired in all of my life.  We have been working so hard to open our mouths and make quality contacts.  We set a goal to give out 2 Books of Mormon every day, and so far it has made a difference.  We contacted a house on Friday, and we clapped and then looked at who was inside.  We saw a little old lady in a wheelchair.  She couldn't talk, but motioned us in.  We asked her her name and she (obviously) couldn't tell us, so we had to change up a bit and go with yes or no questions.  She accepted the Book of Mormon, and it was so interesting to share with her; not through words but through the Spirit.  This week we are going to follow up and see if she was able to read.

Another contacting miracle was on Thursday.  We were struggling with investigators, because there aren't many who are progressing, and we prayed to find a family.  I know that answers to prayers like that aren't really supposed to come so easily, but an appointment fell through so we decided to contact the entire street.  The third house that we contacted had the windows open, and the mom was ironing.  Normally, that is a pretty good excuse to say no, but she looked out at us and stopped what she was doing, came out, and accepted a Book of Mormon (we were so confused...:)).  We will be heading back tomorrow to see how it went.

Also...We had our first Family Home Evening Guazu (Guarani for "big") and we had 50 people come!!  That is like half of sacrament meeting.  Our plan is to do one every week, once in the elder's area and once our area.  The members did their part, and some of the people received 5 visits in one week!  It was such a miracle.  We were hoping that the attendance would go up, but it went down....dangit, but we are praying and working hard.  We are going to start English and piano classes this week, and we are hoping to find quality new investigators through them.

Today my companion had to go to immigration, so I was stuck in the offices all morning, and I was able to see my old companion, Hermana Francani!  She had just come out of an interview with the Mission president, who told her that her grandma had died.  She had been listening to the missionaries and was planning on being baptized.  Hermana Francani was so strong, she was crying but she bore such a powerful testimony of the plan of salvation, and said that it was another test and that Heavenly Father will help her through it.  It bore me up, I was so proud of her and her ability to press forward ,even with all of the trials that she has.  She came to the mission with her mom inactive, and just lots of things like that that have strengthened and refined her.  I love this gospel, I love how it refines us to be more like Christ.

I hope that you enjoyed the package.  It isn't a lot, and there wasn't any other color of ties.  I hope that red is okay.  As far as the weather goes, it is beautiful.  All of the trees have purple, pink, or yellow flowers.  I love this time of year.  Thankfully, my raincoat isn't too heavy so I can wear it most every day.

I hope that you all have a good week!

Hermana Farish

p.s. oh, and the subject line.  We were coming to the offices today and we had to ride in collectivos (city buses) for almost 2 hours.  standing up.  so fun.  and the greatest part is that our driver was like off-roading to go faster, so we almost tipped over like 5 times.  Life is good....Paraguay at its best:)

Noche de hogar guazu!!!

Small but tidy

Kitchen area

Empanadas!

The Hardest, Happiest Week of My Life

Hm.

This week was interesting, like a mental illness.

We had divisions this week, I stayed in Salado and Hermana Cordova went to Laurelty, an area in my other zone.  We had a good experience, we were almost ambushed...by a baby cat.  Seriously, you had to be there.  we were walking down from the mountain that is our area, and it was really dark and there was no one out in the street, and we were kind of nervous, so we started to walk a little faster and suddenly there was a noise behind us and we almost died. Dumb cat.

I just realized today haha, there are three zones in the city of Luque and I have been in every single one...thats awesome.  That is called the Luque hole...all of your mission in Luque.

We had a lot of success with inactives, we are trying to push hard so that the leaders and the other members do their visits, and it is working.  I honestly think that members, apart from the Spirit, are the most important part of missionary work.  Seriously.  If we can understand what we are doing and why we are really doing it, we can help so many people to come unto Christ and feel what we can feel.

One hard thing this week was that we lost our three progressing investigators until further notice. Seriously, it was kind of a shock.  We went to Jessica's house on Friday (Jessica is the one that came to church on her own TWICE), and the first thing that her mom told us is that she wants to return the Book of Mormon.  We were like...wait...what??  But they told us that the dad doesn't want anything to do with us or with the church.  So...we left that lesson kind of bummed.  Haha, we looked at each other and said, we need to find a private place to bawl our eyes out...but you would be so proud, we didn't even cry (all that much:))  We just started to contact and contact and contact, and I realized that talking to others about the gospel is what makes me happy.  It distracts me from all other problems or thoughts that I have.  Seriously, the best therapy ever.

One miracle that we saw was yesterday, we were trying to find new people to teach and we saw a woman get out of her car with her kids, we talked with her and turns out that she is the daughter of a member...I had seen her on Wednesday but had forgotten...whoops:)  Oh well, must be important. Anyways, we talked to this lady, and when we finished the conversation, I turned around and saw a young man sitting by himself on the soccer field.  I felt that we should talk with him, so we went, and, again, we had already contacted him!! ( I have problems...;))  However, this time, we were really close to his house, so we walked with him there and met his mom.  The miracle was that Junior's (the kid) aunt had just been diagnosed with cancer that Sunday, and the mom was in desperate need of a venting session.  We were able to talk with her and help her realize that whatever happens, she will be able to overcome it.  We shared 1 Corinthians 10:13 (my computer won't translate it...) but it basically says that Heavenly Father will not give us something that He knows we won't be able to handle.  Throughout my entire mission, this has been my comfort.  He knows us perfectly, and whatever happens, we will be okay:)  

I love this gospel, I know that our Savior lives, He loves us, and because of that love He suffered for every single one of us and has endless patience, thank goodness:) The mom accepted the baptismal invitation, and we hope that we can get to know the family Lopez more this week.  Keep them in your prayers!!

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

Love,
Hermana Farish

WHEW...

This week has been CRAZY.  With a capital C. R. A. Z. Y.

We had two baptisms this week, the Arrua Family (well, half) was baptized this Saturday!!!  We didn't know if they were going to be able to until Wednesday, when she told us that her husband had given her permission!!  Thank you for your prayers, and we have officially decided that we are going to fast every weekend, because it has brought us such miracles.

Another miracle that happened was yesterday.  Background: Last week we contacted a member referral, and she came to church!  On Tuesday, the member told us that she had fought with her and that she wasn't too interested anymore...we were kind of bummed.  A lot.  To make it even worse, this week we literally had NO TIME to contact Jessica (the referral) again, but we called to see if we could pass by Saturday night after the baptism, and she didn't answer, so we left a voice mail.  We weren't expecting too much, but hey, fasting is awesome. We had to go bring someone to church, and on the way, we found Jessica, walking to go to church.  We were like...I stand all amazed.  She now has a baptismal date for August 15th, and we hope that we can help her to continue to have a good experience at church and progress to baptism.

Something that I have learned this week...lots:)  But the main thing that I learned was that it doesn't hurt to have a little faith in the Lord.  Lots of times during my mission things have happened where I thought...wait.  I totally expected that NOT to happen.  I had faith that what I wanted to happen would come to pass.  But...unfortunately, it just doesn't happen that way.  Heavenly Father knows us perfectly, He knows how we have felt, what we are feeling, and what we are going to feel, and, according to that, will put us in situations that will help us to improve the most.  Lots of times when the people tell us their problems, or some trials that they have had, I think on what my mom told me..."Sometimes as a missionary we feel like we need a degree in psychology." which is totally true.  I have felt so inadequate sometimes.  Luckily, we have our Heavenly Father, who knows the other person perfectly, and will help us to say the right things through the Spirit.  One of the ways that we can know that we are a successful missionary is if we feel the Spirit testifying through us.  I am not perfect, but there are moments when my testimony is strengthened as I try to help others feel what Heavenly Father feels for them.

I love this work, and I love the people here in Paraguay.  I hope that you all have a good week, it looks like last week at the reunion was a party!  I love you!

Love,
Hermana Farish

The Arrua Family

Man Eating, Dinosaur Riding Blondes

So...yeah.  This week was pretty sweet.  We were able to see a lot of miracles and laugh a little.

First off, Thank you Jill and Family for the package!!  It was so fun to receive, and Ashlyn, you are so beautiful!  Thank you for sending me your announcement!

Second off,

We were nearing the end of our day, and all of our plans had fallen through, so we went to the main road and decided to contact everyone we saw until the end of the day...and...we got to the road and it was empty.  Not a soul, until we saw that there was a security guard in his little box thing, writing Jesús te ama (Jesus loves you) on the windows.  So we were like...okay, sign.  So we went to talk to him, and after we figured out how to get his attention, he came out and began to talk to us.  We talked to him about the Book of Mormon, and when we offered it to him, he declined by describing to us a dream that he had supposedly had.  In this dream, he had seen  2 girls, one with brown skin and the other a blonde, and that they were enticing all of the men to go to them and then they proceeded to eat them. And then rode off on their dinosaurs.  I kid you not, that is what he said.  While trying not to burst out laughing, we were like...if you don't want it, just say no, we won't bite.  We thought it was pretty funny:)

On the more spiritual side, we had a wonderful week.  Eduardo, an investigator from Palma Loma, was baptized on Saturday, and I was able to call and talk to him a little.  He has progressed so much and just goes to show how the gospel can change our lives for the better, it doesn't matter what we have done.

We have 3 people with baptismal dates for this weekend, but we aren't sure if any of them are going to make it, because Satan is working hard on them.  We have the Arrua Family.  The elders worked a lot with them, but could never get them to commit to a date, because the husband doesn't want his wife to get baptized.  We were able to put a date, and we fasted with them on Friday so that they would be able to reach this goal.  Yesterday, Ramona (the wife) still wasn't sure, so she talked with the bishop, who told her to wait until she had the approval from her husband. We were kind of ticked, but then we realized that it would be better that way.  We think. Keep them in your prayers!!

Other than that, we are just working hard, finding new people.  When we fasted on Friday, we tried hard to find new people that would accept the baptismal invitation.  We found 2!  Juana lives behind our house, and we had talked before with her mother-in-law, but we had never tried to talk with her. When we prayed before leaving to start proselyting, it came into my head that we should go and talk with her.  We went and were able to have a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation.  The other miracle was Joana.  We had contacted her house before, but she was way busy with her kids, so we finally followed up and had a lesson on repentance.  She had her first baby when she was 17, and since then has been involved with drugs.  She is awesome and is ready to start over.  Our last miracle was Jessica.  She was a referral from a member and we contacted her mom on Wednesday, and then we went back on Friday.  She told us that she would come to church, and she did!  She came because she has a friend who is member, and a wonderful example of how members should be.  There are lots of people who don't want to talk with us because of bad examples, but if they have had a good example, there isn't anything better:)

The time has gone by SO FAST.  Seriously, it seems like yesterday that I was crying my eyes out in the airport before leaving.  And now, everyone is asking me "are you ready to go??", and I am like...no.  Not even a little  bit.  Normally we don't receive our travel plans until our last transfer, so I think that is when I will be receiving them.

Anyway, on a more trunky note,  EVERYONE asks us if we have boyfriends.  It is RIDICULOUS. It makes me think that the main topic of conversation with the elders was their girlfriends, because the first thing they ask is if we left someone.  Eesh.

I hope that you all have a good week, thank you for all of your support, and now that Josh is in the field (okay, weird,) keep him in your prayers!!  I love you!

Love,
Hermana Farish

It Is Raining Here!

Anyways, this week was CRAZY.  We were able to get a lot of new people, and we got to know the members and got some amazing references.  In this area we have lunch and sometime dinner every day, and we are dying from so much food. The best death ever:)

Emmm...We met an inactive named Lorena.  Her family is super active, they have a son in the mission, but she got married and stopped coming.  Her husband had been baptized, but he also stopped coming.  We had an amazing lesson this week, and they came to sacrament meeting!  We were kind of bummed because they hadn't come earlier, so we were sitting in sacrament meeting kind of depressed when we saw their little daughter run up front, and we turned around and they had come!!

We also had a progressing investigator.  We found him through a member family, we just went to their house and he just happened to be there.  Junior is 17 years old, and is fulfilling every single compromiso that we give him.  He has been coming to church for almost 3 months now, he is like gold.  And..he doesn't live in our area.  But hey, its all good, he is so strong and I know that the elders will do a good job with him.

Last night, we were stuck outside at about 8:30, and all of our plans had fallen through.  Our options were: walk home slowly or go follow up on contacts.  We decided to stop by a house we had contacted last weekend, a lady named Antonia.  We had set an appointment with her for Saturday, but she didn't answer when we went, So we decided to try again and we found her and had an amazing lesson.  When we contacted her last week, we left a card with the question, "will I be able to see my loved ones again?" and when she read the question, she started to cry, and we were able to testify to her of the plan of salvation, and when we went back last night, she told us that it would be okay to pass by again and talk with her and her husband. MIRACLE.  I was so proud of Hermana Cordova, she was able to testify to Antonia and the spirit was SO strong.  I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Something funny this week was that we found a lady named Snow White, who just happens to have 7 little grandchildren.  We are still laughing about that one. We clapped and she let us in, and we were like, AHHH FAMILY but it turns out that they were baptized a while ago..that has happened about 3 times now.  There are la lot of inactives but thats okay, gives us a lot to do.

Other than that, we have had a good week, Junior gets baptized next weekend, and we are working to find more.  I love this experience, and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me come.  I love you all and hope that you have a good week!

Hermana Farish

My new greenie, Hermana Cordova

P-Day Fun!

Can you shave a balloon?

Ai Húepate (FLIP in Guarani)

Bueno...

We had a huge miracle this week.  Eduardo, after two months, will be getting baptized this Saturday! He came to church yesterday, and we had an amazing lesson with him afterwards.  He was so prepared, and it was a huge blessing from the Lord that we even found him.  Something else that was a blessing was Teli.  She is the ex-partner of Eduardo, and she was born into the church, but never really had a testimony.  She decided that she didn't want anything to do with the church when her dad, who was a returned missionary and active, committed suicide.  We began to talk with her and read the Book of Mormon, and she is now active.  It has been such a blessing to be able to work with her and Eduardo.  Teli told us yesterday that she has changed so much, as well as Eduardo.

This just adds to my testimony of the Book of Mormon, that it was inspired and that it is a precious gift from our Heavenly Father.  I know that He loves us because he gave us the Book of Mormon to help us change our lives and the lives of those who surround us.  We began reading it as a mission to help us learn to better use it to help the people we teach. As I read it, the phrase, "The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion," came true!! Elder Neil L. Anderson gave us a promise when he said:

"First, find scriptures in the Book of Mormon that you feel and know are absolutely true. Then share them."

If we have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, we can know for certain that all of the other points of doctrine iin the church are true.  It is absolutely essential.   I was thinking the other day...I have come to depend so much on the book of Mormon, and when I finished it, I was like...Now what??  Read it again, and again, and again.  It is something that will never grow old.

My biggest challenge this week was to not work with the "Its the last week of the transfer" mindset. It surprised me a lot how much I struggled with it.  But it all worked out, with Eduardo's baptism. I may not even be here, but igual no mas.  We find out our transfers tomorrow, but I have no idea what is going to happen.  President is kind of unpredictable. One thing that was hard as well was that a lot of people said that I would be the sister training leader, and I was like...um no...it was kind of like...it could happen but I would prefer that it didn't.  And I didn't get a call yesterday, so whew, we're in the open.

Speaking of time, can you believe that it has been 11 months?  It has gone by SO FAST...Marcus Alton (he's in the south mission) heads home this change...everyone is going  home!!  Have you seen Susan Hutchins?  She should be home by now...this is so nuts.

Anyhoo, I love being a missionary, and Eduardo's baptism makes all of the stuff we have to put up with worth it.  I was thinking the other day, I love Paraguay.  Its like my type of life now.  I am so used to it that I can't imagine it any other way.  I didn't ever think that driving, or asphalt roads as a normal thing, or being on time on a regular basis would scare me...whoops.

Apart from that, not much happened, lots of rain, lots of...no se what. We find out transfers tomorrow, so we will see what happens!!  I hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Love,
Hermana Farish

Happy Birthday Family Diaz!

We Reached Our Goal!!!

Dear Everyone,

This week went by SO fast. It quite literally flew.  But we were able to see a lot of miracles.

Miracle number one: We finally met our attendance goal, 80 people!  We had lots of less actives and a couple of investigators as well.

Miracle number two: We have been working for a LOOONNNGGG time with an inactive family, Flia Florentin.  They have two daughters that are recent converts, and to be honest, I have no idea how they were baptized, because it has been a struggle trying to get them all to go to church.  But this last Sunday, we didn't call them, we didn't go to bring them, and what do you know, Nayeli, (14 years old) came by herself.  That doesn't sound like much, but to have her come by herself and walk all of the way was definitely a miracle.

Miracle number three: Eduardo and Teli.  We have been working with Eduardo for a while, and he comes to church, but he won't agree to a baptismal date.  On Saturday we had a lesson on the eternal nature of the family, and we kind of stressed it a lot.  We asked Eduardo if he had received an answer to his prayer and he said that he had, and that he needed to wait and research a little bit more.  We left the lesson kind of bummed.  We had a lesson with a recent convert in another part of our area, but we were so bummed that we just sat down for a few minutes and just talked through our feelings, what we could have done better, and how we can improve our teaching skills.  On Sunday, we had another lesson, and it went so much better.  We really felt the Spirit, and he came to church again with Teli, so that was great.

I am sitting here in an internet cafe, and the lady next to me has this tiny baby that keeps choking and she is just looking at her facebook....ahhhh kill me now...we have some elders that are here too and they are like...WHAT DO WE DO??? This baby is dying and the mom is looking at her freaking facebook...flip, some people's children.

Something that I realized this week is that time is passing REALLY fast.  Like I am freaking out. Tomorrow, we have interviews with the president and I am kind of nervous...but he is nice and I am sure that everything will go fine.  It is so crazy...I was thinking...if this is my last change in Palma Loma then I only have like 3 weeks left and the weeks are going by so flipping fast.  I honestly wish I had a clone so that we could do divisions and get more stuff done, because there is so much that we have to do.

Other than that, we were just crazy busy.  Palma Loma is getting so much better, the visiting teachers are awesome, and now that we have elders the priesthood can get going as well.  I love you all so much and I hope that you have a good week!

Love,
Hermana Farish

Selfie in front of the temple

This is my life!

Tender Mercies of the Lord

This week has been full of lots of experiences, some good, some not so good, but from all of them I have been able to learn a lot about my purpose as a missionary and how I can listen to, recognize, and follow the guidance of the Spirit.

To start off, we found 2 atheists this week, which is really weird, because the majority of the people in Paraguay claim to be Catholic.  In my personal opinion, there is no such thing as a real atheist, because as we began to talk to them, we found one that believes in Satan, which is ridiculous because if Satan exists, so does God, and the other one was an inactive that was born in the church, but after her father commited suicide, she stopped believing in a loving God, which is reasonable, and we had a wonderful discussion about the tender mercies of the Lord, and how, every day, there is something, however small, that the Lord has given us.  Her husband isn't a member, and we look forward to working with him in the future.

We focused a lot more on following up on investigators and street contacts this week, and it paid off. We found Juana, a lady who lives in the chuchiest (fanciest) house that I have ever set foot in here in Paraguay.  I was totally out of my element:)  We talked about how faith is so important and how, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can become worthy to be in His presence again and be an eternal family.  Hermana Francani did the baptismal invitation,  I was so proud of her:)

Another miracle was that we found Paula again.  She was the lady who asked what she needed to do to be baptized, and set her own baptismal date, and then we never found her again.  We passed by late last night and found her:)  We shared a quick message on hope through the atonement. We will have a lesson with a recent convert who was a drunk before she was baptized on Wednesday, so that she knows that there is still hope for her son, who is trying to get rid of his drug addiction.

We were also able to meet with a family that was going to be baptized almost two years ago, but because of something that happened with the bishop and some other members, they decided not to, and since I arrived here in Palma Loma, we have been trying to meet with them, and finally they let us in on Friday.

Something interesting about all of these little miracles was that they all took place after a REALLY long day, and most of the time during the day is the hardest time.  I have really seen this week that when we work hard throughout the day, and when we have enough faith, Heavenly Father will give us blessings.  We talked with all of these people when we could have done something else that maybe wasn't as wise of a use of time, but we have seen the tender mercies of the Lord, like it says in 1 Nefi 20, that the Lord will shed His tender mercies on all of the people who have the faith sufficient to put in Him.

I know that the Lord loves us, and I know that He wants us to be able to achieve our full, divine potential.  I know that it is hard, and sometimes, it can be the last thing we want to do, but it is in these moments when we have to exercise our faith in Him and His ability to perform miracles.  I love you all so much, and hope you have a good week!

Love,
Hermana Farish

My "Hija", Hermana Francani

Whew!

Dear Everyone, 

Not gonna lie, when we found out we didn't have changes, we were kind of bummed, especially with the whole situation with the ward, but we have seen so many miracles this week.  I made a goal with myself to do something for my companion every day of this change.  And it has made SUCH a difference.  I began to make her bed, or make her breakfast when she didn't have time to make something, or little things like that, and it is so amazing to see the difference in our relationship.  We are good friends now, and it is so much easier to bring the spirit into our lessons when we testify and support each other.

On the subject of Jacob 5 and the pure love of Christ, I was also reading there this week, and I was thinking about our ward.  There have been so many disasters, so many people hurt or offended, that the people who have been here for a while don't really feel the spirit or see the true reason behind the gospel.  The youth are amazing, and we have some awesome converts and some less actives with some great potential.  I was reading in Jacob 5 and it was talking about how the main, old natural part of the tree died and the only things growing from the still living roots were young, tender branches (youth).  In order to save the tree, the master of the vineyard grafted in wild branches (converts and less actives), that eventually gave the same fruit as the natural branches gave at first.  So...we have to find people to baptize and reactivate.  No pressure.  

We had a lesson with a member couple yesterday, and it was on charity.  We asked him, "brother, how would you describe charity, the true love of Jesus Christ?"  And he said...tithing.  TITHING!  We were like...um, yeah, so you just failed that little exam, like big time.  This same member has been like persecuting a less active..ready for this story?

So, about 4 years ago, there was a member lady who spoke to this brother about tithing, and apparently he began to talk about her tithing problems the next day in SACRAMENT MEETING:  so, naturally, her daughter threw her shoe at him in the middle of sacrament meeting.  What would you do?  Anyway, for the last 4 years, they have been bothering this sister, like not allowing people to serve her, to the point that they told the missionaries that they couldn't visit her.  So, we went to visit her.  When we went, we clapped, she came, and asked us, "Do you know how to sing?"  We said...yes? and she said "do you know the hymn Come, Come Ye Saints?" and we said...yes? So she let us in.  We started to ask her questions, and she told us, "You aren't here to ask questions, just to sing."  So we said a prayer and began to sing Come, Come Ye Saints.  About halfway through the song, she just started to cry.  We finished, said a prayer, and left.

We went back this week and just got blown away.  Me not so much, but my companion was ripped apart.  We went back and clapped, and then she came out and just started to rip into us.  Not even us, almost everything she said was aimed at my companion.  She called her an idiot AT LEAST 10 times, and began to tell the both of us that we were just little girls here and that the only reason we came was because we didn't have anything to do at home, and really no one was going to listen to us and just a bunch of CRAP.  My companion began to cry...and that NEVER happens.  We were like...okay...?  We are pretty sure that she is just trying to put on a tough face to the world, as if to say that she doesn't need anyone else, including God.  Flip.  We were kind of a little traumatized, but we are going to go back and just love the heck out of her...can you say that?  We just hope that we have the spirit and that somehow it can touch her heart.

This week got me thinking.  Really, what have I done here?  I feel like just another person, trying to do good in a world where they want the bad because they don't know any better.  A sister finished her mission about 3 weeks ago, and when we finish we have to answer some questions, one of which is what have I left to Paraguay?  And I thought...hmm.  I don't even know.  I feel like I haven't done ANYTHING.  I am working, walking in the sun, sweating to death, and all for what?  There are still so many people who need what we have, and every time someone gets close to being baptized, Satan begins to attack like crazy from all fronts.  Not gonna lie, I was kind of depressed.  But then I found a quote from Mother Teresa that says, "My work is a work of love, not statistics." I was like...WHOAH.  We are working with lives here, almas (souls) y su salvaciòn (and their salvation).  It doesn't matter what we do if we do it with love and the desire to touch the hearts of other people, and help them change their lives.

This week was rather psycho.  We only had one normal day of work, and lots of other activities.  We had a Zion's Rescue on Saturday in another ward, so we spent the morning over there.  A Zion's rescue is when all of the missionaries and youth from the stake come to one ward and we do splits with the youth and go to the less actives in the ward.  I was able to be with two awesome young women, and it was fun to help them make contacts with people.  It kind of reminded me of when I was training and was scared to death of contacting...it helped me to see a little bit of progress:)  We were able to find 2 less actives and had an amazing lesson with one of them.  It was such a good experience to help these young women learn how to give their testimonies and help to bring the spirit into the lesson.

One awesome thing (okay, 3 awesome things) that happened this week was that we were able to teach Paula again, the lady with which we spoke last week about the Atonement.  We finished talking about the plan of salvation, and how the things that we do in this life (like baptism, for example *cough, cough*) have a huge impact on our eternal progression.  When we finished, she asked us, really quietly, "When would I be able to be baptized?"  We were like...um...this has NEVER happened before...someone is asking to be baptized!  We were on cloud nine for the rest of the day!  

2nd awesome thing-our ward has been struggling with the whole unity thing for a long time, and this week, we had an amazing attendance at the ward family night, we almost had the whole congregation there, with less actives and investigators.  We had lots of games, soccer, ping pong, Zumba...it was pretty great.  And what was even better was that it wasn't because of us.  Some of the members had called or texted some less actives and lots of members to come, and it worked, and now people are starting to build relationships with the other members, something that hasn't happened for a really long time.

3rd awesome thing-we had 5 investigators in church! Hilda Ojeda and Zaida Rodriguez will be baptized this weekend!  Hilda is 67 years old, and has an awful open wound on her leg from diabetes, and she came to church, and in gospel principles, she totally bore her testimony, and for us as missionaries, we were so happy that she has begun to develop her own faith in the prophets and the Book of Mormon.  We are teaching her to read by the Book of Mormon, and really, we can see the Lord's hand in her progress!  Zaida is 13 years old, and we are a little skeptical with baptizing younger people, but she came to church by herself, and has really shown that she has a testimony and wants to progress.

My trainer was just called to be one of the sister training leaders of the mission...how cool is that?  I was really blessed to have her as a trainer, especially as I hear of all of the horror stories from other people.

Oh yeah, I wanted to tell you, last week when we went to visit a new investigator and we started to talk about the Atonement, and this lady was so incredibly stressed about her son and his drug addictions.  She told us that she had basically lost hope.  And I felt prompted to share with her the story of the Atonement.  That thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ, her son can repent and move on.  It was SO powerful, and she just started to cry.  The Spirit was there, and in this moment I was so grateful for my own personal testimony of the Atonement that allowed me to relate to this woman.  It would have been so easy to simply judge her, but to have a testimony that fit her needs was a wonderful feeling.  This was an amazing revelation for me...just that sometimes, when we have trials, they are just things that we need to overcome so that we become stronger and less judgmental, and become more like the Savior. 

Anyway, it was an amazing week, and we will have two baptisms on Saturday, just the blessings of God arriving so fast that we just don't have room:)

I have been thinking a lot about how the mission has changed me.  This is my goal, that I can permit God to change me so that when I return, I will be a faithful and useful servant to Him in all aspects of his kingdom.  I hope that I will be changed, and that I will be someone that has charity for everyone.  I found a quote from Elder Nelson, and basically he says that the decision to serve a mission and the understanding that we obtain will determine our spiritual and eternal destiny, as well as the eternal destinies of our posterity for generations.  I hope that this experience will be like that: something that will change me so that I will be what God needs me to be.  I have a LLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG way to go.  Dangit.

Also, I wanted to tell everyone thank you for the mountain of letters that I received last week, I had letters that were sent before Christmas...I don't even know how that worked, but it gave me a "heart attack!!":)

I love you so much, and I hope all is well at home.  I hope you have a wonderful week!  Be happy and be grateful in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES!!! 

Lovelovelovelovelovelovelove,

Hermana Farish:)  

oh my heck i love you!:)

Ward Activity

My "Heart Attack!"

The Hand of the Lord

Dear Everyone,

Really, this week the Lord has blessed us SO much.  We have begun to see the fruits of our labor here in Paraguay.  When we found out we didn't have changes, we were kind of bummed, especially with the whole situation with the ward, but we have seen so many miracles this week.  I made a goal with myself to do something for my companion every day of this change.  And it has made SUCH a difference.  I began to make her bed, or make her breakfast when she didn't have time to make something, or little things like that, and it is so amazing to see the difference in our relationship.  We are good friends now, and it is so much easier to bring the spirit into our lessons when we testify and support each other. 

So to start off, a family that we found in Marambure (my last area) with my trainer was baptized this Saturday.   Maria Lopez and her husband were baptized, and with more of her nine children to follow.  We worked with her when I was still in training, and she and her husband were baptized this Saturday!   One thing that was cool was that she had talked with the missionaries before, but after a couple of visits just started to hide from them.  When we began to visit her again, we found her when she was very sad, and when she needed something to hold on to. So, moral of the story, even if someone is to the point that they hide from you, they always have potential, it just has to be the right moment.  We had 5 new investigators this week, and EVERY SINGLE ONE seems like they have potential for baptism.  Here in this mission, it isn't really that hard to get people to commit to baptism, but it is very rare to find someone who really feels that it is important enough to change their lives and repent of their sins.  We found a lady named Paula, who was visiting with the elders before, but when they put in hermanas, they didn't return to visit her.  We had an amazing experience talking about the Atonement, and I loved the feeling that we had while we were with her.

Another miracle was that Hilda came to church AGAIN this week!  We tried to put a date for her baptism, but she didn't want to commit, so we decided that we wouldn't visit her as much and just give her some time to think and pray about her desires and her decision to be baptized.  We honestly weren't expecting her to come, but hey, she came.  It was such a wonderful feeling to see that she acted on her faith and is ready to take more steps and progress.

A funny thing is that I went swimming!  On accident.  In a hidden hole underneath a rather large, deep, lakelike puddle.  I had invested in flipflops so that I wouldn't get my shoes as wet in the dirty water so much, so I had my flipflops so I wouldn't get my shoes wet, and my companion headed around the puddle but got to a point that she couldn't cross.  So I, being the good companion that I am, walked over to help her cross and turns out, there was a hole.  So, wearing my flipflops so my shoes wouldn't get so wet, I stepped right into a hole and went into the water up to my waist.  And on top of all of it, I GOT MY SHOES WET.   Dangit.  Well, I just thought of what my mom always told me...you can laugh or cry.  So, we laughed like nuts.  And washed my clothes REALLY well.

Anyways, all in all, it was a good week.  I was reading in Jacob 5, with the allegory of the olive tree, and something caught my attention.  Always, the master of the vineyard was doing things to help his plants to grow.  Nourishing them, pruning them, digging around them, always aware of what is happening and what the needs of His plants are.  It is the same with our Heavenly Father.  He is always with us, helping us, pruning us, cutting us down if needs be, and always aware of what we need.  I know that He is here at our side. That is His work and joy, helping us to achieve our exaltation so that we can be happy with Him FOREVER.  I am so happy to be here working, and I know that if we are worthy, He will be there, always working with us to progress and help others do the same.

With love,

Hermana Farish

Service and Member Missionaries

Hola, mi familia.

Wheww.  I think the whole entire world is having crazy weather.  Here it has rained about every 2 days, and when I say rain, it is like literally 2 or 3 feet of water EVERYWHERE.  I wouldn't really mind it, but all of the people throw their trash in the water and just let it flow away...yuck.

I want to say thanks to the Robinson family for the Christmas in March!  That was such a fun surprise!  I hope everything is going well for your family!

We did a lot of service this week, and funny enough, that had a huge effect, more than contacting or teaching.  We had the opportunity to help an inactive family clean their house after the rain.  They live in a little one room shack up against a wall, with a cement base, 3 walls from plywood and the cement wall as the other wall.  They live right next to a little stream, and when it rains, even for like ten minutes, the river water raises up to 10 feet.  Friday night at about 11 a huge storm started, and all we could think about was this family.  We went to their house the next day to clean up and it had been so bad that a neighbor came to take their daughters out of the house through a hole in the wall so that if the house collapsed, it would only take the parents.  It was so sad, and we were there for a couple of hours cleaning out their house.  They were SOOO much more receptive to us afterwards, and we had a really good, Spirit packed lesson afterwards.  I don't remember who said this, but I think it is awesome. "I would much rather see a sermon than hear one."  It is SO true, and interestingly enough, as missionaries and especially Americans, people watch you REALLY closely.  So, the moral of the story is that even if you think people aren't paying attention, you need to have the integrity to do the right thing,  because you never know who you could influence.

Anyways, on Sunday we had a really good day.  It was testimony meeting, and even though there weren't any investigators, there were a couple of inactives that came for the first time in years.  

This week we received transfers....AAAANNNNDNNNDDDDD....nada.  We are still here, Hermana Betancourth and I, and we decided to make it the best change that Palma Loma has ever had.  We were kind of like...UGGG...another 6 weeks here...everything the exact same...but then we decided to change our attitudes and work.  We made several goals for the next 5 weeks, and we hope to be able to build on the progress that we and the ward have made over the last 12 weeks.

This week on Sunday, we had such a wonderful experience.  And what was even better was that it wasn't even from our work.  It was from the members and their visits.  We really tried hard to work with members this last week, and have lessons with members, and it WORKED!!  Shocker.  The inactive mom of a recent convert came, and had a great experience.  Another miracle was that a young man came, Miguel Ayala.  He was offended by the bishop about...2 years back, and has refused to meet with the missionaries.  But almost every week for the past year, a recent convert has stopped by his house EVERY Sunday to invite him to church.  And finally, he came.  Not only did he come, but he gave a wonderful testimony that spoke volumes about true friends and how even when we feel that someone really has NO potential, and they just outright reject us, we have to press forward, and trust that the Lord knows who is prepared to receive us as members.  NOT missionaries, MEMBERS.  We now have a lot more members who are willing to work, thanks to the immediate results of their efforts.

One of the biggest things that I am learning in my mission is this process of "refinement".  It is a life long process (dangit) and something that has to happen little by little.  This process of refinement has really taught me to be humble, and again, like you said, come what may, be it criticism, health problems, whatever, we have to be humble and learn to submit our will to the Father, because luckily for us, He knows our weaknesses perfectly.  There is a quote from a talk called, "The Fourth Missionary", that says, "God can make us into masterpieces.  We will make of ourselves only a smudge.  We can make of ourselves an ordinary man; He will make of us a GOD." I read that and was like.....wow.  We have to be humble enough to put ourselves into the hands of the Lord, and then let Him make us into something rather extraordinary.

I love being able to share the gospel, and I am so grateful for the opportunity that Heavenly Father has given me to learn, make mistakes, and grow like I never have in my life.

This week is more or less 7 months...how crazy...the time is going by SOOO fast!

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

Love,

Hermana Farish

Cutting grass with machetes

My Zone

Valentine's Day Pizza