Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Valentti Baptism 12/16

This is Family Valentti!!!
Daniel, Luciana, Ingrid, and Gael!!!

Ingrid and I supporting our team!!! PeƱarol!!!!!

My companion got attacked by a dog...don´t worry it only got her skirt!

Zone Sisters

The Hermanas in my Zone!!! We like to play!

Pictures 1/27

Hermana Ramirez, Me, Ingrid, Gael, Carmen, and Rafael!!!

1/27 Pictures

We decided that we wanted to clean out the freezer...it wasn´t easy and we got drenched!

I was a calm child compared to Angelo!

Dear Familia,

The first and most important thing....HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY (and you're welcome to anyone who happened to forget :D)! I hope that your day is fun and the least stressful possible!

This week has been a different week! We had our interviews with President Smith and a capacitation too! President Smith made some big changes!! He changed our daily schedule to help the work progress! Now we leave early in the morning and do our studies in the afternoon. All of the Uruguayans believe in Siesta (sleeping from 1pm til 4pm), which is great...if you're Uruguayan. Every afternoon we wandered around trying to find the three people who were awake. Now we leave in the mornings and our days are so much more productive! President Smith also told Hermana Ramirez that he wants to keep us together for another change, so it looks like I will be in Rivera for at least another two months!!!!!

In the capacitation given by the APs, they taught us new ways to teach. We know that their counsel is inspired and so my companion and I decided to use it right away, and we have been amazed! We are by no means perfect teachers, but just trying to use what we were taught has brought miracles into our area! This week we have two investigators who have agreed to be baptized in February and others who are progressing more rapidly! La Obra Va Bien!!!

Funny Stories of the week:

-The main goal of the mission right now is to double sacrament meeting attendance. Our original attendance was 50 people....This week we had 130 people in the chapel!!! We may or may not have had another ward from Brasil visit...

-I had a small child almost rip my arm off during the closing prayer during sacrament meeting. I had my pen in my hand and he tried to rip it out of my hands. The problem is that I know that he is a terror and if I let him have my pen, he would probably start to draw on the
pulpit. So I held on for dear life...It was all good until he started making snarling noises and screeching. I tried to push him away, but he came back and bit my arm! I have gained a new appreciation for just how wild things can get during sacrament meeting!

That´s it for the week!
Love you all lots,
Hermana McMurray

Monday, January 20, 2014

Fish, Blech!

Hola Familia,

I don´t have too much too report this week. It was a calm, normal week (well normal for the mission :D).  I really enjoyed reading the scriptures this week. I have been reading in the end of Mosiah. I cannot say that there was anything specific that I read that really stuck out to me, but as I was reading this week I literally felt the love that the Savior has for me! I have felt every day His guiding hand and His love! I have found that I have changed soo much in the mission- It isn´t because I am speaking spanish or anything, but it is a change within! I have found that I am listening more to the Spirit and that I have more desires to do good.  The change that is probably the biggest is that I genuinely feel happier than I have in all of my life! I wake up every morning and feel exciting to have another day to work in the Lord´s work!

Interesting stories:

-I ate fish...again! I always laugh because it never rains...it always pours! It wasn´t just one baby fish. It was first tuna mixed with potatoes (yep it was new for me too) and after a huge slab of some type of fish. It was an experience that I would not like to repeat (but probably will because I am in the mission)! I have gotten really good at putting food in my mouth, swallowing, and having a smile on my face. Ohhhhh what we learn in the mission! The good part was that the next day I had lasagna...like real lasagna that Mom makes! It was delicious!!!

-We managed to break pretty much everything in our apartment this week! We had a pipe that was leaking in the bathroom. Every day we came home and the bathroom was under a couple inches of water. Then we also broke the handle on the faucet in our sink! It began to spray water everywhere!! So, being very quick thinkers, we threw a rag over the top and tied it all up with a hair tie! The only problem...we were left only with water on the floor of the bathroom. It also has been well over a hundred this week and so we were dying without water! The good news is after 20 gallons of water in the floor and some minor wounds, our apartment has been fixed!!! We are living the dream...pets and a pool, what more could we ask for?

-I should probably elaborate on the story of the fan! Our apartment is small and closed, so it gets pretty warm. So my companion and I sleep with the fans blowing on us (to fight the heat and the mosquitoes). I was sleeping and all was peaceful! But all I can figure is that I must
have been annoyed by the sound and so I reached up in my sleep and smacked the fan! You guys know I sleep like a rock...The next morning there was blood everywhere! I realized I had sliced my hand on the fan! You all will be happy to hear that I was not permanently injured!  My hand is pretty much completely better, just a couple ugly scabs!  The only sad part is that now I am too afraid to sleep with the fan at night (just imagine a roasting peanut and that is me :D).

I am doing good, despite the small glitches! I love you all lots and cannot wait to hear from you all!
Love,
Hermana McMurray