Catholic Week

Alright, so this might be short and to the point cuz I don't have a lot of time today. Want to know why? Okay I´ll tell ya. So today, December 8, is a national holiday here for the Virgen of Caacupe (a.k.a. the Virgen Mary- its a Catholic tradition) And today half of the nation (I might be exaggerating a little bit, but not much..) goes to the city Caacupe where the basilica thingy is and do the "pilgrimage." I don't actually know what it´s called. But basically they walk for miles to go to the basilica thing, and the most devoted people crawl the last kilometer there- or something like that. To show their devotion and fulfill their promises with the Virgen (if this isn't super accurate I´m sorry, I don't understand that much about Catholicism). So since half the world is there, our normal cyber is closed, and we are using the internet in a different cyber and it is a bit slower, so sorry if this is short.

Yes mom, I did receive the package from Peter a few weeks ago, and also our zone leaders told me yesterday that I´ve got my Christmas package, so probably tomorrow I´ll get it? Thank you soo much!!! Love the skirt, and the T-shirts will be wonderful for the summer!!

I am eating a TON of mangos!!! Like 2 or 3 a day. They are soo good, and just laying all over the streets, so you can just pick ´em up and eat ´em. Last summer, my area had like two mangos trees (but seriously- and that is super strange for Paraguay cuz there are mango trees err´where!!) so I only ate a couple last year. But this year we´ve got plenty!!

So we don't have a lot of progressing investigators right now. We[re teaching a few really great people, but no one will come to church! They say they will, but then they don't show up. So we are just trying to work through that little snag. But we are starting to work a lot more with the members in the ward and really trying to strengthen and activate a lot of people, because about 12% of members here in our ward are actually active. So we are working on that, and we are praying and fasting a ton! The Lord will guide us. Paciencia no mas!

And the last fun thing of the week. Rezamos!!! (a.k.a. we prayed... Catholic style) Okay, so we didn't actually join in because that would be super not okay. But we were at a big lunch because it was the anniversary of a death and someone in the neighborhood invited us and we thought, alright plan of salvation. So we were there and then suddenly an older woman invited us to pray and said that they always share with us so we should share with them,etc. so if we left it would've been super offensive. So we just sat in the back and listened while they recited the Rosario (don't know what it's called in English). The Rosario is longer than I expected it to be.. and very repetitive. I[m pretty sure I've got it memorized now. Anyway, that was my week. Hope you guys are all doing awesomely!!

Love you!!!!

Love, Hermana Urie

Huge fruit thingy

David, Yessica, Derliz, and Hna. Rios (and pig)

Mario and his daughters (and me and Rios)

Awesome grasshopper thing

My district last change!!

Hna. Walker, Hna. Rios, me (and random man in the terminal).. the almost
trio (we were all comps with each other, just at different times, and we're
all super close, so we'll just say that we are a trio)

In honor of Catholic Week... this is a Catholic Chapel in
 La Floresta (my 2nd area)

Maura's baptism!!

Our Zone!!

Él es la Dádiva

Well welcome to December everyone! I`m glad to hear that everyone is doing good! I can`t believe Mathias is already 8 years old! Send me pics of the baptism! Baptism is awesome! 

We`re all pretty excited here for the Christmas season. This week we had a Zone Training Meeting (i think that`s what it`s called in English?) and they told us about the new iniciative that the Church is doing this month. There is a video called "He is the Gift" and it is AMAZING. Seriously, I`ve seen it about 30 times already and I`m obsessed. Anyway, its a short video that the Church made and it`s gonna be big. Like New York Time Square big. Also, next Sunday (Dec. 7) its gonna be the first page of Youtube- so tell everyone ya know to get onto Youtube next Sunday. Anyway if you haven`t seen it yet, you can go to navidad.mormon.org .... or I guess if you want it in English you should probably go to Christmas.mormon.org... haha oops

So that`s really what I want to share this week. The invitation from this video is 1. Discover the Gift, 2. Embrace the Gift, 3. Share the Gift. 

We`ve been thinking a lot about how we as missionaries can help others discover, embrace, and share the Gift (our Savior Jesus Christ). And I invite all of you to meditate and think this month about how you can discover and learn more about Christ and feel God`s love in your life. Then take the steps to accept/embrace Christ in your life and draw closer unto Him this Christmas season. And then my favorite part- share it with everyone you know. The gospel becomes so much more real and important and personal when we share it with those that we love. So this Christmas season, invite everyone to remember the true meaning of La Navidad. Which is Christ our Lord.

Also, just a really quick story that my comp shared with me this week that I loved. She heard it from some General Conference talk or something. So there once was a guy walking on the beach. And on the beach there were a ton of starfish that had washed up. Then the guy saw a little kid further down on the beach, picking up starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. So the guy asked the kid, "why are you doing that? There are a million starfish here, it`s not going to make any difference." And the little kid just smiled, picked up a starfish, and threw it into the ocean. Then turned to the man and said.. "made a difference to that one."

Sometimes we feel that our efforts are so small. That our simple actions to a few people don't really make a difference in the grand scheme of things, so why even try. But it makes a grand difference to those people. And it makes a grand difference to our Heavenly Father. "The worth of a soul is great in the sight of God." (D&C 18:10.. and 15 and 16 are pretty good too :).. )

So this week, share Christ with someone. Share the Gift. Make a difference....

Wow I sound super cheesy and cliche, sorry bout that-not a fan of cheesy or cliches. But you get the idea.

Love you guys a ton!!!!!!!! Have a wonderful week!!!

Hermana Urie

baptism, the mission, running, investigators, and rain...

MAURA GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOO!!!!!!! It was a beautiful baptism! She was so excited and there were lots of members there to support her and they shared their testimonies and the young man that baptized her did it perfectly- like it was literally a beautiful baptism! haha :) but the best part was right after she got out of the font and she was dripping wet and she said to me and my comp, "I felt something. When I was in the water I felt something in my heart. I think I`ve really just been cleansed of all my sins." And the Spirit was just so strong. I love baptism.

Also, last week was cambios! Hna. Rios, Hna. Walker, and Hna. Murguia (3 of my comps) all finished up their missions and went home. It was really sad saying goodbye to Hna. Rios- I really felt like she was like my sister, (she reminds me a lot of Catherine and a little bit of Teresa mixed together) and I`m gonna miss her a lot! BUT I now have a beautiful new companion who is also great! Her name is Hna. Johnson, she`s from Riverton, Utah. She`s the oldest in her family. She`s got 5 months in the mission and her Spanish is AMAZING!! Like at the end of the change it very well may be better than mine. This is her second area, and she`s super excited to work! So we are just going to work like crazy this change!! I love the mission.

We also go running every morning. I`ve really come to love running. Catherine, when I come home you should train me so we can run a marathon or something (something= a 5K. Let`s get real. well... maybe one day, in a few years... vamos a ver...)

On Friday there was a huge storm. It starting raining really hard in like 5 seconds (I am NOT exaggerating) and we didn't have umbrellas because when we left the house in the morning the sky was clear and we were already sweating it was so hot. Welcome to Paraguay! So we found refuge in an investigator`s house. Her name is Nancy. She`s adorable, she`s 15, we found her like 2 weeks ago, and she`s probably going to get baptized the 6th of December. She`s already talking about how she wants to share the gospel with everyone and she brought her older sister to church with her yesterday. And she applied Lehi`s vision to an experience she had a school. We love her, she`s awesome. And she always gives us yummy food (she`s the one the taught us to make chipa). So we shared with her until the storm died down and then we left... and then the storm came back even stronger. So we hid under the edge of a little roof thing (you know when the roof of the house hangs over/ sticks out a couple feet- yeah that was it) and we got pretty wet anyway. And my comp was freaking out because the thunder was super loud and the lightning was pretty close. I told her "don`t worry we`ll be fine, it`s in the Elders` area!!" She didn't seem to find much comfort in that (the elders`area is right next to ours..) haha-but really, we weren`t in any danger. I just love the rain.

And you know what else I love in addition to baptism, the mission, running, investigators, and rain... THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FELIZ DIA DE ACCION DE GRACIAS!!!!!!!!!!! (if you cant tell, I`m just really happy today, and also really tired so sorry if I sound a little nuts. I`m gonna sleep today for P-day. I love sleeping!) Anyway, back to Thanksgiving... To answer Kristi`s question, it will just be a regular day here, but I am thankful to be able to serve the Lord and my brothers and sisters here in Paraguay, entonces esta bien! And thank you dad for the thankful list :)

Which reminds me of a scripture in (I really hope I get the reference right, or that would just be super awkward..) Alma 26:1-2 when Ammon esta hablando con sus hermanos.... Yeah, I don't remember the gospel in English.. sorry.. When Ammon is talking with his brothers and the other missionaries with them and says more or less (I`m translating from memory so sorry if its not very exact): Could we have imagined the blessings we would see when we first started out on this journey? What great blessings have we seen? and then Ammon makes an invitation: "¿Podèis decirlo?" (Can ye say them?) So that is my invitation to all.. What great blessings has the Lord given us. Can we say them?

Love you guys so much!! Hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving and eat lots of mashed potatoes and turkey!!!!

Love, Hermana Urie

Moving

So not much to say this week. We moved, in the rain. It was beautiful. We love living above the other hermanas, because we get to run with them in the morning and eat cookies and lomitos at night (so its a good thing we run every day!)

Don't know if you remember Maura, but she`s getting baptized this Saturday!!!! She`s super excited and awesome. We hadn't really been able to share with her at all last week because she had lots of work and she was a bit busy with a process of telling her other congregation (Catholic) that she wasn't going to go anymore. They were getting upset at her for sharing with "the Mormons" so they basically put her on church trial, and she said she wasn't going to stop sharing or coming to church and that she was planning on getting baptized so they kicked her out. So we finally found her on Saturday and she told us all of this. Also, she was a little mad at us because the last time we told her we were going to leave her a talk by President Monson so she could listen to him and pray to see if he`s really a prophet of God and we forgot so she couldn't for the whole week and she got a bit upset- haha she`s soo cute! So we found one online on Saturday and listened to it and she loved it!

We`ve got lots of other amazing people we are sharing with right now, but they`re all just having trouble progressing because for one reason or another they aren't coming to church. So that`s basically all the big news for the week.

Changes are this week! Hermana Rios is finishing up her mission and going back to Montana- so sad I`m gonna miss her!!! But I`m pretty sure I`m going to stay here another change (4 whole changes in an area- that will be new! but I love it here so I`m happy!). So I`ll let you know next week what happened! Love you all!! Have a great week!!!

Love, Hermana Urie

Bautismo!!

So this week...

MARIO GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHOOOO BAUTISMO!!!!!!!!!

So we are pretty excited about that. We also had an open house on Thursday that was amazing! We as missionaries planned it and did the tours and stuff. It was so spiritual and we got lots of references from the members, and best of all, Mario came and he loved it! It was the first time he got to see the baptismal font and the elders explained how the baptism would be and everything and so he wasn't scared anymore and decided to get baptized! So Saturday we had his baptism! It was beautiful and one of his daughters came! and yesterday we visited them and there is already a big difference in their home. The Spirit is there and they are all so happy and getting along and loving each other. It`s awesome.

We also made chipa yesterday. It was delicious. I will make it for you when I come home. But we`ve just gotta make sure we can find the ingredients. So if you just wanna keep an eye out for where we can buy cornflour and mandioka starch (like corn starch, but of mandioka instead of corn). I`m not sure what mandioka is called in the states, but one of my comps from Utah said her mom buys it a lot, so apparently it exists there. Just google it or something.

Oh and we are moving tomorrow. Yay!! Just a few blocks, but we are excited. Its a lot closer to the church (just a 10 minute walk instead of 20) and its in the same building as the other sisters in our district, so we are pretty excited for that!

Well that`s it for this week! Love you all!
Love,
Hermana Urie

Storms..

Esta semana fue... oops sorry.. This week was great! But really quite normal.. So I`ll just let ya know the fun stuff.

-It rained. Like a lot. The storms here in Paraguay are pretty awesome. So Friday night, before bed we watched a little bit of lightning. The cool thing about lightning here is that it may or may not be accompanied by thunder. Don`t ask me how, I have no idea. I know that`s like against the laws of physics, but I`ve seen it, so it`s real. It`s super cool because the lightning is kinda far and it`s behind a lot of clouds, so most the time you just see the clouds lighting up, you don't actually see the lightning, except a few times when its really big and stretches across the sky. And it flashes basically every second. And it`s silent. So basically awesome. And then Friday night, in the middle of the night, the storm made it to us. And it rains really hard and then you can hear the thunder- quite well. Anyway, the next morning we saw the results of the storm. Some streets caved in a little, a couple small wooden bridges that we always use are no longer there.. Not TOO crazy bad, but considering that a fair amount of people here in Paraguay live in small shack-like houses made with pieces of wood thrown together and their floor is literally the dirt ground, storms are a bit difficult for them. Diana`s family for example. They are really trying to get their house (their room actually) put together so that all their stuff doesn't get soaked every time it rains. It just really humbles me to see some of these situations. These people are amazing.

Mario did not get baptized this week. Friday he was feeling really nervous and decided he wanted to wait longer, so we`ll see what happens with that.

We taught a woman that is apparently some famous woman. The wife of the best soccer player in Paraguay (a few years ago- he doesn't play anymore). So that was fun!

And last P-day we went souvenir shopping! Hna. Rios is going home in 2 weeks, so she`s buying lots of stuff. Which reminds me... If anyone has anything specific that they want, let me know-soon. I know you don't really know what`s here, but even like a category (do you want something decorative, something you can actually use, clothing, food, pictures, bags, tableclothes, whatever. Just if you have any idea of something, let me know. If not, I will just pick something out for you anyway!!)

Well that`s it for this week!! Love you guys a lot!! Have a wonderful week!!

Hermana Urie

AMAZING!!

So this week was AMAZING!!

First of all- Maura. I don't remember if I`ve told you guys about her yet, But she is one of our investigators that is just basically amazing! She`s married with 3 kids, the oldest is 30 and lives with them. He drinks and smokes and stresses her out a lot, but we`re gonna see what we can do to help. So we`ve been teaching her for about a month now and she told us this week that since she`s been sharing with us she`s putting her trust in the Lord more concerning her family, so she feels a lot calmer and is feeling a lot healthier because of that. Also, before she would always compare "her congregation" (Catholic) with "our congregation" and say how she likes a lot of things about our congregtion more than hers (basically everything). So yesterday she came to church for the second time and in the afternoon we went to teach her and she was comparing the churches again. And she said "...your guys`congregation-- well I guess my congregation now!..." And she just loves church and everything we teach her. And she wants to go visit some of the sisters, one that's sick and another one that is her friend but is inactive. She wants to go visit her and tell her to come to church with her! Haha I love it! She`s basically a member already!

Also Diana. SHe is adorable. So we haven't been able to teach Danny yet, but it appears that while he is completely fine with Diana and their kids going to church and getting baptized, he doesn't really want to join them. And he doesn't want to get married either... but we`re working on that! And Diana is doing everything she can think of to help her family. She`s trying to read a couple verses of the Book of Mormon with him in the morning before work, writing scriptures on sticky notes to put around where he`ll see them, etc etc. Also, she really wants her kids to be able to go to church. So she worked to be able to buy a motorcycle to take her kids to church. And we just assumed that she knew how to drive a motorcycle... well, we were wrong. Saturday she was trying to figure it out and teach herself and she got in a little accident and hurt her leg, so she couldn't come to church Sunday- poor thing!! She`s literally doing everything she can think of to get her family to church and together. So we`re basically just praying and fasting a ton for a miracle.

Anyway, the work is amazing. We might have a baptism this Saturday. His name is Mario. He`s hilarious- always crackin jokes. And he wants to get baptized so bad! He`s so excited! And he always prays that his teenage daughters will come to church and get baptized too. He`s awesome. There are lots of new people we are finding as well that are just amazing! This is like the best time in my mission so far- so many people that are just so prepared and excited to receive the gospel! It`s a lot of work, but we are loving it! Just always work with the missionaries because members are seriously SOO key to missionary work!! Love you guys a lot and hope all is well!!

Hermana Urie