Monday, April 28, 2014

The Fruit of the Lord

HEY HEY HEY!!!! DID YOU KNOW WE CAN TALK IN ONE WEEEEEEEK!!!! what the waht the life! okay so let me know when is best for you all!!! maybe we do tuesday and onward probably not lunes because it will be a little crazy.  also next week are changes on wednesday and tuesday we´ll be a little busy, but really just let me know when is good for you guys :)  SOOOOOO Excited to see and talk to you guys!

Oranges are all over the ground. It smells like a fall/winter  in Arizona. I love it. We drink fresh squeezed grapefruit juice almost everyday and everyone is always giving us bags.  The bananas outside are getting bigger, hopefully ready to eat in the next month or so, I can´t wait!   

This week was an adventure!  Hermana Gutierrez and I traveled far.  We went to the one and only YBY YAU!!! I returned!! It was THE sweetest to see everyone again.   So many familiar faces.  Oh I love Yby Yay. It is a beautiful place.  We only stayed one day and then got up at 4 in the morning to travel to the border of Brazil to a small town called, ¨Pedro Juan.¨  We had a blast.  We spent the 24th there, which marks my one year mark in the mission.  It was an absolute PERFECT day.  We completed our goals, it wasn´t to hot, and there was a cool breeze.  I can´t belive how time has flown.  I somewhat feel like I have had some time in the mission but then again I still feel like I got here yesterday.  One thing I have always wished is to actually see the fruits of my labors, and I´m telling you what, the Lord let me see them yesterday.
 
YBY YAU
Yesterday was Stake Conference.   Just an FYI, I have been in the same stake my entire mission.  It is really such a blessing. I see converts, members, etc. every so often from my old areas.  We were singing in the choir yesterday when people started to enter... Dilce Barrios, Hermana Ana Acosta and Cesi, Familia Avalos, Sofi and Alejandro Rivarola, FAMILIA SUARREZ!, Elizabeth and Ceci, Bishop Portillo and his family, Jessica and Paul, and KRISTIAN y CELIA! Oh the chapel was filled with SO many familiar faces.  The conference began and they started anouncing those being ordained to the Melchesidek priesthood. I turned around to see Kristian Durate standing tall with the biggest grin on his face.  The greatest joy sprung from my heart and seriously if it would have been any stronger I swear I could have taken off flying!  I started to cry. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks. The Lord has shown me, not my fruits, but ¨ours.¨ By him I have been priviledged to be a toold amongst these wonderful people in Paraguay.  By him they have come to know their Savior and that His church is in its fullest today upon the earth. 

I love you all so much. Thank you for letting be here. Thank you for all you do for me.  
Con mucho cariƱo,
Hermana Owen

(asking Hillary about learning how to speak spanish)
esta is more formal (how us missionaries speak) or as sisters we can use estas (it´s a for of refering to ¨you¨ but with someone you are close to)

 (asking Hillary the best way to mark your Book of Mormon)
Ummm... I have tons of fun ways i am marking them now. You could tie it in with Preach My Gospel mark anything from lesson one in green (restoration), lesson 2 (plan of salvation) blue, and lesson 3 (gospel of Jesus Christ) purple

That is a lot of material though.  Three ideas I have hear of are:   Going through and reading the Book of Mormon, marking all the times that it says ¨Give ear or give heed¨ and there was a promise made by some mission pte. that  if they did that, their ability to recognize and work with the spirit would better. :)  Also I love looking for all the times the Lord invites us to ¨Come Unto Him¨ like I mentioned last week in my email. That is the message of the book of mormon and the bible :)  Third, is to Mark in Red anything about Christ (you could narrow it down to repentance, the atonement etc... whatever you want to focus on.) 

Oh I know what katie was talking about... GRANDPA DOUGIE CALL HIM. :)  He gave me (which I have and could send you guys)  a paper that goes through and highlights all that is KEY to know in the book of mormon it is a great method and way of marking to then hand out books of mormon.  YEs it is awesome. I don´t have it in memory but call grandpa dougie.  It is great. 



the dream team!! this is hna tomco and i with one of our favorite people in the world!!! Hermana Homer!!!! We were all 3 in the ccm together.  She is AMAZING and one of the greatest I´ve ever met.