so. CRAZY WEEK. lemme start from the beginning.
on wednesday we PEACED OUT and got to the salt lake airport at 6 am. we met up with 3 other missionaries in the salt lake airport, then flew to dallas. in the dallas airport, we had a couple hour layover and met up with ALL THE OTHER MISSIONARIES! it was so fun. out of the sisters, 3 of us are from ogden, 2 from redlands, one from provo, one from arcadia, and one from texas. we got on the plane and NEXT STOP PUERTO RICO!!!! let me tell ya. when we got off the plane and walked down the stairs to see the smarts, i dont think ive ever seen anyone more happy in my whole life than hermana smart. PURE JOY. it was just soooooo happy. i was saying this and president smart says "well you have to remember that hermana smart has only had BOYS around here for the last 4 months" and then i understood why she was so happy. hahaha.
well we drove back to the mission home and had a good dinner (subway, classic) and went to bed. in the morning, we had an "orientation" for us 16 newcomers. president smart introduced us to the "4 elements of faith for the puerto rico san juan mission" which are
1. study and use the book of mormon every day
2. study and use preach my gospel every day
3. a. be obedient
b. be virtuous
c. be trustworthy stewards
4. show charity and love through service and preaching the gospel
so hes basically a GENIUS. hahaha. so those are things that we are really focusing on. we also got our COMPANIONS and guess who it is. GUESS. HERMANA PETERSON. HAHAH. from puerto rico to ogden back to puerto rico! we also got our area - cabo rojo!!!!! when i heard that i thought, wow there will be a lot of work there since there used to be 6 missionaries in this area (its 2 wards). then they told us that we would be LIVING in cabo rojo, pero also covering san german (sharing with the zone leaders) and mayaguez (sharing with the other elders). so we have FOUR WARDS. and there are only 6 missionaries covering the whole mayaguez stake. hahaha. as our zone leaders said "we're small in numbers, but we're strong." YEAAHH. so we are officially in the furthest area away from the mission home. it took us about 4 hours to drive there. but it was so beautiful!!! also we have cars now, but we only get 600 miles to drive each month which is like nothing, considering how big our area is and that zone conferences will be like across the island and stuff. haha. so they're REALLY emphasizing working with members. like president smart wants to change the whole mission culture about this. he said he would be CRAZY if he got all these missionaries back from the states where they worked with members and didn't try to change it. so basically they want us asking for rides from members, getting them to our lessons, and most importantly getting referrals. so that's what we're gonna be doing, because with an area this large it isn't super effective to knock doors all the time.
so that was on thursday. on friday, we spent the WHOLE day cleaning the house. they said we couldn't get to work until we finished this extensive checklist of things to clean and it took literally all day. so that was fun. haha.
on saturday, we went to a service project in yauco to help a school in some event. it was super fun! there were like 12 missionaries there (so basically half the missionaries on the island) and some members and we helped set up and pass out stuff and we talked to people and I LOVE BORICUAS!!! haha. after, all the missionaries sat around in a circle and there were like 8 nonmembers there and we all talked about the book of mormon and the church and such and it turns out one of the girls lives in cabo rojo and was super down to hear us! so we're gonna go visit her this week. it was super cool.
yesterday, we went to the 2 cabo rojo wards for church. i will be the first to admit it, they were REALLY EXCITED to see us. hahaha. it was super awesome! and a lot more enjoyable than my first sunday in puerto rico, because i can understand everything now!!! ahha.
so weve just been sticking around here but this week we're gonna go over to san german (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and mayaguez. its gonna be awesome!!!
last night we went to contact one of the old investigators of the hermanas (shes named jessica and previously had a baptismal date) and we showed up and she was like "hey! come in! let me get my book of mormon!" and hermana peterson and i were both like :-) niiiice. so we read 2 nephi 31 with her and we extended a baptismal invitation and she accepted! haha. so shes on date for the 17th. shes already been to church like 4 times. and yesterday in church some members came up to us and said "that lady over there is named isabelle and shes not a member but shes been coming to church since october!!" so we went and talked to her and have an appointment with her. woo!
we're trying to work a lot with the members. we have or have had meetings with all the bishops scheduled this week and are really going to be working on gaining member trust so they can give us referrals. so thats what ill be doing this week!!!!
love you all!!!
hermana murphy
1. plane ride with my ex comp for 3 days
2. HAPPY BUS RIDE TO THE MISSION HOME!
3. hermanas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4. so cute
5. service!
6. PRSJ
7. workin
8-12. more photos
No comments:
Post a Comment