Modeling...Not Your Usual Proselyting Experience!

Dear Family,

Let´s see what comes out...I am going to jump around :D!

Firstly, Angie and Cathi are not going to be getting baptized this week. We are going to tell them today! Hermana Ramirez and I feel that they aren´t quite ready to get baptized, but probably in the next three or four weeks! It makes me a little sad to know that I will not be here, but I am happy to know that they will be super prepared!!!  Keep praying for them!

Fun stories:
-We went to visit a sister who is less ative and she began to tell us that she modeled as a teenager...when she was younger....and a lot skinnier! So she started to show us the way that she modeled clothing on the runway...she started waltzing up and down the room and turning and spinning....keeping her face completely serious the whole time!  Hermana Ramirez and I almost died...Later she wanted to show us that she took ballet when she was a kid and she stood up and began to show us a step called ¨the dove¨. Just imagine :D!!!

-We had our weekly activity in our branch and a bunch of children came. They wanted to play volleyball with us...so we started a game of monkey in the middle...The four missionaries (Hna Ramirez , Elder
Eiker, Elder Devashrayee, and I) were on the outside and the children were all in the middle. It was super fun! After awhile, they didn´t seem to like it too much because they never got the ball (the perks of
having an Elder who is super tall and plays basketball)...

-We went out visiting with our Ward Mission Leader, which was great!  What was even more fun, was that he brought along his puppy (a lab) that was insane! As we were walking along, the puppy ran through a bunch of mud puddles and ended up covered in black mud. Then as we kept walking the puppy stopped and jumped all over the people who were walking nearby! I think my favorite was when the puppy ran after a teenager who was in all white pants and left paw prints all over him!  The poor teenager was super upset. We had to tell our ward mission leader that the next time he comes out with us, he cannot bring his puppy, hahaha!

Anyway these are a couple of the funny things that happened to us this week!  I also have been playing the piano in my branch, and they have been testing my knowledge! They have decided that they want to sing four hymns every Sunday and that they don´t want to repeat! They have picked some challenging hymns and they expect me to play them! I on the other hand, feel very unprepared, but I do my best. I know this sounds crazy, but I am pretty sure that I play the piano much better than any other time in my life! I was thinking about this experience a lot this week! The Lord asks us to do things, that sometimes we don´t feel capable of doing, but if we put in our best effort, the Lord magnifies our small attempts! Often in the mission I have felt like I am trying to do things that I really do not have the ability or patience to do. But as I try to do my best, the Lord makes up the rest! I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father, who always answers my prayers!

Have a great week,
Love,
Hermana McMurray

Our district!

The sisters in our district!
POCITOS

Photos 11/17

Photos 11/17

Hermana Ventura and I
HERMANA Barrios

Hermana Dixon and her dad Hermana Ventura!

Photos 11/17

Hna Amarilla and I
HERMANA Lopez and I
Hermana Dean and I

Photos 11/17

Hna Coral and Hermana Valverde
La Ramirez and I

Two latinos and One Gringa!

Dear Family,

This week was another great week! We had some big changes in the mission this week (you will have to keep reading if you want to know what they are)!

Hermana Ramirez and I went and visited a new investigator this week, named Blanca! We had just sat down and she offered us a drink...so of course we said yes! At that moment, she pulled out a large glass bottle that said Pilsen in big letters!  That was enough to make me freak out!  She left to find some glasses...and we took pictures! Don´t worry, we didn´t drink any alcohol!

Thursday we had a conference with all of the missionaries in Uruguay!  I got to see all of my old companions! Pictures will be included!

Now for the changes...No more soccer!! Soccer has been banned from our mission. They also changed our schedule. Now we will be waking up at 7 am and going to sleep at 11 pm...thanks to the lovely and hot summer temperatures!

Our new motto in the mission is Alargar el Paso! Anyway..I cannot write too much because I have two Latinos on either side of me speaking in Spanish and it is confusing me...I keep writing a line in Spanish and having to erase it!!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! I love the Lord and I feel blessed to be able to serve him!

LOVE,
Hermana McMurray

Moral of the Story...If You Get Lost, Always Bring Snacks!

Dear Family,

It has been a good week (mostly)!

The only bad news is that Ana is no longer an investigator. Our branch has been experiencing lots of changes (with the new president and counselors) and so we had some changes in Relief Society that led to some interesting reactions...thus, the Relief Society class was not a very good experience last week! Unfortunately, Ana was there for the first time! She told us afterwards that she felt very uncomfortable and lost and doesn´t have anymore desires to visit. She also returned the Book of Mormon and informed us that she was going to start attending an Evangelical church, because she realized that she feels more comfortable there...:(! So we lost Ana, I felt so sad because she was so excited and we could see that she was starting to change, but I know that everything is in the Lord´s hands!

In other news, Angie and Cathi are both doing great! We have continued the lessons and they are progressing tons!!! They are both so sweet and we are excited for them to get baptized! This week we had the opportunity to have a special Family Home Evening with President Smith and his 8 children (and their 5 spouses and 2 grandchildren)! They shared lots of testimonies and we got to bring Angie and Cathi to hear! The Spirit was super strong and I felt that my own testimony of the church was strengthened! I know that this is the true church of Christ on the Earth! I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that through him the true church was restored! I also know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that every day that I read it, I feel closer to my Father in Heaven! The best part of all of this was that when we talked to Angie a couple of days after the Family Home Evening, she told us that she had started reading the Book of Mormon!  She is starting to gain her own testimony!

Funny stories:

-We were teaching a lesson in front of a house and we saw a girl on a 4 wheeler pass by...about 5 seconds later, we saw a truck (that said Traffic police), speed past her and come to a sudden halt! Four people jumped out and surrounded her!! It looked something like when, they rob someone at gunpoint, but it was just the police! So the girl got off the 4 wheeler and started walking down the road (I am guessing to go and get her registration)...we commented on seeing them and the youth who was with us laughed...saying that they were talking about us too! Anyway, in the end the girl came back, but they took her 4 wheeler...probably because she didn´t have a helmet, lights, or a license plate, and was half a block from the police station!!! I laughed at how silly some people are...

-I got lost in the middle of farmland, looking for a park...today during p-day... I enjoyed it, and I even brought snacks, and so Hermana Ramirez wasn´t too annoyed!

Anyway, just another great week in the life of a missionary!!!  I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week...and if it happens to be your birthday and I have forgotten, Happy Birthday (I seem to have forgotten everyone´s birthdays)! :D!

Love,
Hermana McMurray

Rain, Rain...Go Away...Come Again Another Week!

Dear Familia,

This week has been another great and crazy week!! Firstly, this was a week of rain!!! I was a little worried when I saw the river in front of our house because my boots have holes in them...hence making them somewhat unusable. Luckily, a missionary before me had left her huge rain boots in the apartment, and so I put them on to face the scary amounts of rain outside!!! Almost all of our area is underwater...all of the streets are dirt or little rocks and by the end of yesterday
almost all of them were completely covered in water! Later...we saw trhe Elders who suffered some flooding in front of their house. One of the Elders was walking and when he stepped, the water came up past his knee and he didn´t even touch the bottom :D! Anyway...that is why I couldn´t write yesterday (all the cybers were closed for flooding and lack of signal), but you all will be sure to see some fun photos of all the water!

We played ping pong with the members and investigators on Saturday for an activity. One of the hermanos managed to spike the ball and nail me right in the nose...My pride was damaged and my nose was a little red and sore :D! I also lost... :(!

I found out that in Uruguay, when the children come around and ask for candy..if you don´t have any, it is perfectly acceptable to give them 1 peso!!! I like that idea! I laughed to see all of the costumes!  Halloween is a fairly new idea here, and so you only see about three costumes (a devil, a witch, and a princess)!

We left with a sister from our branch this week and she took us to visit some of the less active sisters. After we finished visiting them, we asked her where else she wanted to go and she started to bring us to visit all of the active sisters. We tried to convince her to come with us to visit some of the inactives, but she didn´t see the point....she said, ¨they aren´t coming to church, so why should we visit them?¨ I just laughed, thinking that in reality that is our whole purpose...:D!!!

We had a miracle this week! Last week, we saw a woman sitting in front of her house and we stopped to talk to her! After a couple of minutes she told us that she was cutting her grass (by hand) and so we offered to help her! After we finished, she offered to let us come back and teach her! Her name is Ana! So this week, we passed by and visited her and she seemed super excited! Ana now has a baptismal date for the 29th of this month and we are hoping that she will progress!!! Pray lots and lots for her!

Angi and Cati are progressing a lot and we all are planning on a baptism for the 29th too!!! Delta is changing so much and the branch is starting to grow!!! Pray for our little branch!!!

I can honestly say that I have seen so many miracles here and I thank the Lord every day that he has heard my prayers and strengthened me! I know that the Lord loves each of his children and that the more that we pray in detail, the more that the Lord answers in detail!!!

I love you all lots!
Hermana McMurray