Rollin' 24/7

Elder Ballard- "when you're involved in the work of the Lord, the power behind you is always greater than the obstacles before you" that is from my dear friend and old comp the one and only Hna Wood.  

This week was literally on fire!  Gosh I felt like the spirit was rollin 24/7 between my comp and I and the work.   We have a fun new goal of reading words from Thomas S. Monson, so when people ask us, ¨Wow, if God speaks with man, what has his Prophet said most recently.¨ Like it says in 1 Peter 3:15 always be prepared to give people a reason for the hope that is within you.  

This week we went to try and visit an investigator with Hna Elena Jara.  The investigator wasn´t home.  We thumbed through our agenda deciding where to go, what to do, then we looked down the street behind us and decided to head in that direction.  As we headed down the street, we found a cute girl, long black hair, dressed in skull-decour and decided to contact her.  She was very solomn.  There was something wrong you could just tell.  We gave her a pamphlet and began to walk away but as we did I caught eyes with her. She looked as if she was on the verge of tears.  What more could give me the hint to, ¨HELLO SHARE WITH HER,¨ but in a contacting shuffling mood we left.  We had only walked a block, I stopped and said I felt we should probably go back.  Hna Tomco, so cute, not thinking a split second said, ¨Probably?  If you think let´s go! She´s right there!¨   I love her.  We returned and sat down with her.  We introduced ourselves properly this time and asked her how her day was going.  ¨good...¨ she suggested as she took a sip of her sprite and shoved her empanada in her bag.  Then as she screwed on the cap she went to tears.  ¨... Bad...¨  and she just broke down.  We wrapped our arms around her and told her that she has a father in heaven who loves her, who knows her, and a Savior whose arms are always extended out to her. We gave one of the neatest lesson of my life, on the power of the atonement and the gospel of Jesus Christ.  She doesn´t live in our area but she was incredible.  She is a darling young woman,18, and has the most incredible dreams and aspirations but because of decisions and I think an unstable home life she has had to settle for less.  This gospel will change her life. You should have seen the light that was just beaming from her eyes in the end of the lesson.  

Everyday I fall more and more in love with the people of Paraguay and my mission.  Something clicked this week, like in my heart.  I don´t know.  I have noticed how things that used to be of importance no longer are.  The mission has helped me have such a change of heart.  I spoke yesterday in sacrament with Hna Tomco and I started out describing what Paraguay is to me.  It got the crowd a little teary eyed and then ME TOO!  Man, I love this country and these people SO much!  I´ll describe more next week.  We´re gettin kicked out of the cyber. It is closing!  love you all !!

xoxoxo

con mucho cariño,

Hermana Owen

the pic is han rodriguez! we traveled out 8 hrs. this week to Concepciòn!!  This is a real live Lamanite!!! She speaks Nivaclae which is a clickish language.  I love her!!! She lives in ¨Abundancia¨  it is land bought by the church and everyone there is mormon! crazy right!  she is darling.
  

BY THE WAY... did you all know that Paraguay was THE FIRST lamanite teaching mission!!! What the cool right! 

love love love you all!

Short and Sweet

This one might be a short one this week.  I can´t believe how this week flew by!!! There were tons of highlights.  Probably the best was finding RAQUEL!!! You guys HAVE to meet Raquel!  She is one of THE funniest people I have ever met in my life!! She is absolutely darling and already has a baptismal date for the 8th of MArch! Just right after your birthday Kate!  Happy Birthday! ;)    AND YOU GOT BANGS!!! AHHH I love them!!! Raquel is darling! We found her the other day and have already taught her 3 lessons and she has come to church AND has a date WHAT!  Ya I´m stoked!!! She turns 33 the 31 of March.  We are stoked to teach her.  Saw a real neat quote today... Dad will have to translate:  ¨Si usted no conoce a mi, no ha perdido nada, si no lo conoce a Dios, lo ha perdido todo.¨ - a little sign inside this resturant eating empandas de orno and lomitos arabe (an arabian type burrito with colsla inside and meat) so good!  I love you all!! Happy Late Valentines!! xoxox 

con mucho cariño,

Hermana Owen

pic: last night at the Galeano´s (who by the way no the Sparks like REALLY WELL!) This little munchkin is the CUTEST thing on earth. I have a video of her and her brother singing ¨If the SAvior Stood Beside Me¨ Her name is Kata or Kataline:)

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A little more like Him, and a little less like Me

              

         Gosh sometimes weeks are to good to even begin.  Time is just passing me by way to fast.  I´m now closer to the end of my mission than the beginning.  But that´s besides the point.  Somehow my feet keep moving, my heart keeps beating, and I can´t stop smiling.  Thursday we were sitting in a lesson with little Analia and singing ¨Llamados a Servir¨ and the missionary spirit just radiated through us all.  It was a good refresher of this great work of our Lord and why we do it.  Hna Elena Jara (recent convert as of one año, who reminds me a ton of Aunt Amy Girl) recieved her endowment yesterday.  We couldn´t go but she entered the room to join the lesson that night and she jsut brought with her a renewed spirit.    I can´t believe it was more than a year ago when I first enter the temple.  I  miss going so frequently but am excited to go here soon in the mish. 

Something that made me smile this week was the beauty of Paraguay.  Saturday morning on our run we saw red headed and yellow bellied birds.  They were darling!   Although the heat is excrutiating, it is bearable because of the wind, trees, birds, and incredible wild fruit!  I don´t think I have ever sweated so much in my entire life!  I drip like crazy.

Hermana Tomco and Hermana Owen

Hermana Owen with Analia after her Baptism.  She is so happy.

            I wanted to tell you all of a neat experience I had on a division this week in a less chuchi area.  People live in ¨asentamiento¨  which are the cheap neighborhoods the government makes... houses made of wood with nothing but wood floors.  The place is 40 minutes from Campo Grande or so. Se llama Mariano R. Alonso.  We payed a visit to an older woman who´s name is Hna Benita.  The poor thing is suffering from a bad hip bone and now just lays on a bed all day and all night.  We arrived and her grandaughter led us into her humble little home into a smaller darker room crammed with a bunk bed, a queen size bed, both matted with ruff, old, thin sheets and pillows, a dresser, and us.  There we found the tiny grandma curled up on the bed in aching pain.  Still, she invited us to sit on the bunk bed in front of her. We sat, with a thunk against our heads as we went down, reminding me of how tiny these people are sometimes.  She tossed this way and that telling us of how bad the pain is getting and my heart just ached for this precious woman.  We decided to sing her, ¨Conmigo Quedate Señor¨ or ¨Abide with Me Tis´ Eventide¨  and offer a prayer.  A sweet spirit calmed her from breathing so  heavily and she began to have a little faith in us.  We shared a small message on faith and the plan her Heavenly Father has for her and in the end she offered the prayer.  Hna Alania (my comp for the division) and I kneeled at her bedside as she folded her arms... it being the most she could do... and she began to mutter the soft words.  Pleading with her Father in Heaven for strength and health, she began to cry then weap and she could hardly finish the prayer.  The moment tugged at my heart.  I thought of the Savior when he was here on the Earth and how he went ¨straight way¨ to those who were ill in bed, couldn´t move, and he healed them.  It is amazing the love and humility the Lord has for those people.  I`m sure He thought, the moment he heard of someone like Hna Benita, what they were facing and went so quickly because he knew and would shortly literally know all the pain they were in and could more than anyone else empathise with them so equally.  Although I don´t measure near the Savior, my heart ached for her as I listened to her pleading words of faith.  One of her hands fell over the bedside, limp and weak in the end of her prayer...  I gently placed mine on top of her´s and expressed to her my love and Heavenly Father´s love for her.  We promised her these moments of pain and anguish would pass and one day she would find peace.   It  is so true... the cup WILL pass.  We face the trials of this life, but we have a Savior Jesus Christ who loves us so very much, a Redeemer from pain and grief who so willing drank from the cup, so that we... don´t have to.  

I know our SAvior lives and know he loves and knows us personally.  His arms of mercy are extended toward us always.  I love you all and wish you all a VAlentines filled with the love of our Savior.  

Con mucho Amor!

Hermana Owen

Domo Arigato

Domo arigato Mr. Robato!  We´re at Bishop´s house, dad, and he says, ¨Domo arigato!¨  WHAT!?!  My dad always says that!!  I was surprised when I asked him what it meant.  It´s not even Spanish hahaha - it´s Japanese! It means ¨thank you.¨ Our Bishop is pretty cool... no that´s definitely an understatement he is absolutely, staright up amazing.  He is so witty and is always throwing out jokes and is just quirky but makes you laugh so hard.  He is also just so patient and loves EVERYONE in the ward. 

Yesterday little Analìa Monges Ramirez was baptized!!!  Oh, it was an incredible turn out!!! About 20 members or more of the ward members came! I just can´t explain the joy that was running through me yesterday. Her story is way sad.  She grew up mostly in a Catholic Orphanage.  She is lickity smart though and just has fallen in love with the church.  What´s really neat is being able to see the young women really get involved. That group is growing so close and we have been able to grow so close to them as well.  I love them so much!  They are individually unique and amazing in their own way.  

Upon preparing Analìa for her interview we were asking her a few things and one of her answers hit me. We asked her why she would live the law of tithing?  She sat there for a minute in silence (which has been a regular thing), while I´m thinking, ¨Come on you know this... your a smart little cookie... we talked about all the blessings...¨ and then I pushed those thoughts out of my mind trusting that she would say just what her heart told her, and you know what, she did. She said in a quiet, but confident voice, ¨Because I trust in God.¨   I remember silence falling all around me.   One of those moments where the world keeps moving forward but you just stop in awe and gape at what was just said or happened.  She is a bright young woman and Hna Ximena Gutirrez (YW Pte.) calls her the ¨Dulce de Leche¨ among the YW.  It is so true, and it will be such a blessing to see her flourish on this new path she has begun.   But I think we should all strive to just be a little more like Analìa this week and when someone might ask us why we do the things we do or we might question our own self, we should always remember to ¨trust in the Lord.¨  :)    Let us all remember the grand scheme and look beyond the moment. Whatever opposition comes our way, learn to say, ¨I trust in the Lord.¨   Whatever trial, hardship, difficulty, or responsibility, let us continue on the good path we are, ¨because we trust in the Lord.¨

 

Analia, Hermana Tomco and I at the baptism.  

Elder Bayles got to baptize Analia !

The ward came out to support.  So wonderful.

We had a busy week traveling with President to different areas.  While he gave interviews, Hna Tomco and I and the Assistants did training stations with all the missionaries.  We had them practicing contacts (how to talk to people in the street), testing their knowledge on the Book of Mormon, and reviewing how to give a good lesson.  It is so much fun getting to know all the sisters and elders from the mission.  Which reminds me, do we know any Zilm´s?  There is an Elder Zilm here from Mesa.  He is working in Abundancìa which is WAY cool.  Only him and his comp are there amongst 400 members.  The whole community is baptized.  It´s an old story but the whole community was baptized by an elder and the craziest part is they hardly speak a lick of spanish or guarani.  They speak a tongue clicking slash language with a lot of ¨slsh¨ called Nivacle (Nee-vu-clay).  

Con Presidente y Hermana McMullin

Also a HUGE thank you to all those who sent me cards and packages for my birthday and Christmas.  Sorry I haven´t  and probably won´t get to respond to all but please know HOW MUCH it meant to me and how much I love you alllllll!!!!!  UN BESO Y BRASO por todos!!

Con Cariño,

Hermana Owen

I love it I love it I love it

                                                                                I LOVE LIFE !!!

Pic from when we were in Loma back in October

here are some photos from Celia and Kristian Duarte who were baptized in Oct. and Nov!!!! Their two cute daughters.  good times with them!!! 

the one below, of all of us, was recent this past saturday on a division with mi hija (Hna Silva) and her comp Hna Sanchez!!  I love them SOOOO  much!!

                       p.s.  here is a pic of my shoes the ones i was talking about.  

me- ok Hill’s I’ll get shoes to you as quick as I can…

Hill - "no I am fine don´t worry. Serious, all is well! i am just loving life!!!"

Me with Hermana Tomco

The bishops step daughters!  (below) Little Jade (Had-eh is how it is pronounced)
                          and the one that is kinda blurry (above) is with ANALÍA 
                               who is GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!

WEEK 39:

I LOVE my companion.

           We had a comp inventory the other day and we just talked.  I mean really talked.  It was so good...we are becoming better and better friends by the second.  I am beginning to realize how CRUCIAL communication is and how much I need to better mine.  I love Hermana Tomco.  She really helps me see my potential and get me there.

I LOVE Analìa Monges Gomez.

              She is the 12 yr. old young woman getting baptized this coming Sunday.  On Friday we had THE most incredible lesson with her.  We read a little from the Book of Mormon and found she hasn´t been praying to see if Joseph Smith or the Book of Mormon are true, so we asked her if she´d be willing to do it right then and there with us- that was my first time ever asking someone to do it right then and there. She accepted so easily and the prayer was incredible.  We told her how to pray and asked and told her she can wait a few seconds to listen or feel an answer.  So we knelt in prayer with her in there hot little humble living room and she began to pray.  She expressed thanks to her Father in Heaven for us and what she has been able to learn; she expressed her desire to know if the Book of Mormon was true, then waited... and waited... and waited... for a sec I thought she might have forgotten how to finish the prayer.  Then to our surprise she continued to pray thanking her heavenly father and repeating the process 3 times... just waiting.  It was the most precious thing.  She was so sincere.  You could feel the spirit just filling the room.  We said amen and when I met eyes with that little girl I don´t think I have ever seen anyone so happy! She´s TWELVE and man it was a powerful prayer.  Heavenly Father has been so good to us, to let us be a part of her life and bring her this gospel. It has been an absolute treat. Plus, she is already talking about being a missionary!!!

I LOVE buttermilk syrup.

           Which if you knew me before the mission I was never a fan, but Hna Fuller has the recipe down to a T and it is to die for.  As sister training leaders we get algunos privilegios. 

I LOVE miracles.

        This week on Monday we had an incredible lesson with our investigator Dulce Salas (17 and fairly interested with cousins that are members that I knew in Loma) and we ended at 9:50 at night.  Right now it is a rule to be home by 10.  Well we had ten minutes and we were a good 20 minutes from our house walking.  So, we looked at each other, it then being 9:53, and decided, well, we gotta run.  So, we took off, bolting in the silent cobble stone streets.  Our backpacks begged us to walk but we had to get there. We just kept going.  We were both praying our little hearts out that some how someway the Lord would stop time or carry us home.  There were a couple moments where I glanced over at Hermana Tomco, both gasping for breath, dripping sweat, and tempted to stop, but I had to keep going.  We kept praying in faith.  Por fin, we reached our gate and took a look at the time, as we almost collapsed because of jello legs, it was 9:59:38seconds!!!!!! That is not a lie.  We almost started to cry.  We were a little out of it, and more than anything out of breath, but we ran in side and fell to our knees.  We had literally taken part in a miracle that night. There was no doubt the Lord got us there on time.  Sometimes I can´t comprehend the things our Heavenly Father does but I love remembering how when he created the earth, he said the things obeyed him... I think even time obeys him. :)

I LOVE teaching families!

             We have an investigator Nicole Soto who is just awesome but is struggling with a few things like a testimony of a modern prophet (so we gave her a Liahona) and the Word of Wisdom (she loves her tea).  We have been trying to teach her boyfriend (henry) who is rarely there, but the other day we found him there by surprise!  Feeling prompted we invited him to listen.  Nicole had asked him once and having rejected the offer she just thought he didn´t have any interest.  It caught us all by surprise to find out how interested he really was; so interested they both got up Sunday with their little baby and came to church.  They just loved it and the ward was so good to them!!! I was so happy!!  Upon leaving, Henry nos conto que habìa algo bastante diferente entre nuestra iglesia y su iglesia (.  He said in his church hardly anyone will welcome new people, but coming to ours he felt like the WHOLE WORLD came to welcome them!  He said he really felt at home.  He has awesome questions as well and Nicole is really excited because I think she lacked a little support!  Goal: Get them married and baptized while here!!  I´ll keep you all updated! So fun!:)

It has been a crazy busy week!  Hermanas are doing great and we are traveling this week with Presidente and the office elders to do interviews and capacitaciònes with all the zones! Wish us luck!

xoxo

con mucho cariño,

HERMANA OWEN

(She always answers back to her siblings, but I don’t always share, thought this was cute to Nick)

love you nicky!! hey there is a soda here called Niko it´s awesome!!   try reading the book of mormon before i get home, front to back!  wanna race!? :) ready set go!  weekly report on what you have studied?! :) I love you1!!!!!

mom you are the best, thank you so much!!!!  you will be in my prayers i hope you start feeling better.  That ´s one thing I have realized even 10-20 minutes is sometimes necessary to take a breather and not get over stressed or worn out.  Really just slow down don´t try to run faster than you are able ... take time to smell the roses. :)  I love you mom thanks a ton!!!   just got two christmas packages this week!!!  So wonderful with hundreds of cards… please give the yw all hugs for me and tell them I love them all.  They are all incredible young women with such incredible potential.  They are divine and beautiful.  I have really gotten to know and love the young women in our ward i think it is mainly because we are baptizing this darling 12 yr old named Analía Monges Gomez who is living with the Bishop´s family.  So fun!!! I love and miss young womens dearly. We are singing ¨As Sisters in Zion¨ with the YW for her baptism… so excited!!!  Maybe I´ll send a pic you can show the YW!   xxoxo love hill

What a fabulous week!  We got, I don´t no how many doors slammed in our faces and dealings with the sisters but seriously nothing shook the smiles on Hna Tomco´s and my face.  We just found the joy and blessings in the work this week!!  For example, ayer fuimos con la Hermana Mcmullin (Si!!! la esposa del presidente Mcmullin!  big stuff)  para visitar nuestra investigadora Martha.  Llegamos a su casa y nos dijo que si, iba a escuchar pero quería volver el Libro de  Mormon porque no querían mas.  Bueno, we asked if we could just share a little bit and she said that was fine.  It was unreal.  The spirit is seriously incredible.  It is our secret ingredient!  By the end of the lesson she was agreeing with us and practically telling us that there needed to be a restoration and promised to really read and pray about the Book of Mormon this time.  She then began to thank her Heavenly Father in prayer for all that we had taught her, clarified for her, and helped her see. It was unreal.   Hermana Mcmullin was awesome in the lesson.   She brought a mother´s point of view to the lesson and helped her a a more personal level grasp our message.  There is something magical about having lessons with members as well. It makes every lesson 50x better!  

Good news... we have a baptism in two weeks!!! Not this coming Sunday, but the next.  Her name is Analía.  She is absolutely darling!   She grew up in the Chacho (outskirts of paraguay).  Her father was always drunk and didn´t really care for her or her siblings and neither her mother.  None of their kids live with them anyway and Analia was growing up have the time in a near by orphanage.  So she recently moved into the bishop´s house, who adopt like everyone and anyone.  I love their house!  It is always filled with random people.  We´ll ask them, ¨Is that your uncle?¨ and they´ll say, ¨No he just lives with us.¨ They are the best.   Anyway little Analía is precious.  She was and still is a little bit quiet but she has this fire about her.  She surprised us this Sunday when she said she has been reading the Book of Mormon ever night since we taught her about it.  Her life situation has not only become substantially better, but there is just a light beaming from her eyes now and every time she sees us she is happier than can be!  The way she greets us and hugs... you can just feel her gratitude beeming.  Heavenly Father has really blessed us with her.  She was so prepared and is a really smart cookie.  She is in love with young womens and they all welcomed her in, I was so happy!   The other day we were teaching her she tells us she wants to be a missionary! I just love seeing this work bring a new life and new door to one´s life.  If they´re willing to take the key and unlock it they´ll find something that will change their life ever more.  

With ups and downs, I couldn´t be happier than I am right now.  My companion is absolutely amazing!! She is so dedicated (reminds me of Katie a ton!!!), so wise, so willing to do and achieve more, so fun (we laught a ton!), so charitable, and just one stellar missionary.  She makes me want to be better every day.  We are having a blast together, especially being able to help these Hermanas.  I am loving this calling and it really does catch me by surprise that they really do look up to Hna Tomco and I.  We are really blessed though to have such a strong group of Hermanas.  They are all incredible workers.  We are seeing numbers rise every week, slowly but surely, in the wards.   I love this work.  I love this gospel. I love my Savior.  ¨Oh let all that is in me, adore Him.¨ -From my newest favorite hymn ¨Praise to the Lord, the Almighty¨ Hermana Tomco and I sang it yesterday and just fell in love with it. 

xoxo Con Cariño,

Hermana Owen

P.S. Weather is still hotter than ever and I´m afraid only getting hotter but people give us ice cold water where ever we go.  The Lord has his hand in the work... we reap the blessings every day.

On the bus, hot chipa and writing letters

View from bus ride to Yby Yau

Cute family in ward.  I am in love with these kids !!!!!

The Ward in Yby Yau

Monkey Business

          Buenos Días!   This week was awesome!  Hna Tomco is absolutely a trooper... at everything.  You could ask this girl to move a mountian and she could.  We are getting along great and making tons of memories.  Friday we were out working and we had this prompting to clap at this one house who´s door was open. As we walked past I felt this ¨family spirit¨ just radiating from this house.  Well lo and behold, we got a new family who are super open and interested in the gospel.  It was probably one of the best lessons Hna Tomco and I have taught yet.  It just flowed by the spirit.  I love being with someone who knows the language and lesson material.  It is amazing how the spirit works.

   

Last week, I forgot to mention a neat experience we had.   We were out teaching an investigator (Heri pronounced Eddy)  with Araseli (18 yr old from the ward who i seriously want to be best friends with the rest of my life) and he was in serious need of help. We were trying so hard to teach him lesson one but he was just wanted to unload his sad life/ story to us and tell us how aweful his life is and that he has faith but God isn´t doing anything.  Well a conference talk popped in my head from Pte. Monson (didn´t have it on me then) about having faith through trials... from this last conference. He seemed so helpless. The elders were teaching him at first and I think he has kinda of adopted us more as therapy.  We have listened to him a ton and we really feel he needs to listen to us, or at least recieve lesson one about Joseph Smith.  It would help clear up a lot of things.  We finished the lesson and he then called the elders to see if they could come the next morning to visit.   He told them that we were over and how awful he was doing.  As we were walking to the gate to leave, it being 9:30 or so, the office elders pulled up infront of Heri´s house. A sudden wave of the spirit, as if crashing right at Heri´s front gate just hit us.  I am not kidding.  I have never felt the presence of the Priesthood so strong. It was unreal.  I am so grateful for worthy priesthood holders and the blessing they are to us.  

The mission is incredible.  I think I kind of got overwhelmed though with the new year and thinking i need to be perfect.  I found a great quote in my little book for missionaries from Elder John A. Widtsoe.  He said, ¨Expect perfection in no man.¨  He is so right.  We are all here to progress, all here to learn, and find the path the Lord prepared.  It said, ¨look for the virtures in man, not the faults.¨ I really liked that because it is so easy to get caught up about something someone doesn´t do, or doesn´t do good, and just faults in general. I am striving to have a better outlook, not only on others but on myself, learning to see myself as my Father in Heaven does.  

Love you all so much!

xoxo

Love Hermana Owen

Out first Big Meeting with Presidente

Merry Christmas with Hermana Buss

Darling uncle and his nephew in Yby Yau

Kisses for Clever, the monkey.