Final Mission Email

hola mom, dad, y familia, happy mothers´ day! I love you mom. and all
my sisters who are such great moms too.
wow. it seems unreal that I am writing my last email. I remember when
I was in leopardi when mom sent me carli downs´ last email to her
family, and I couldn't even imagine how she felt. today I had my last
interview with president callan. he started out by asking me to
reflect a bit on my mission and share my feelings about what I have
experienced. I sat there for a second and thought. As I thought, a
strong feeling of gratitude came over me, gratitude to Heavenly Father
for telling me that I needed to serve a mission. I tear up right now
thinking about how grateful I am for what I have experienced, felt,
and learned in my time here in Paraguay. I notice the change in me. One
of the most precious things I have learned is the power of the
Atonement of Jesus Christ. I was thinking the other day what has made
the change that I feel. I have felt the power of the atonement in my
life and have seen how it changes the lives of the people that I have
taught. That difference is the spririt. I understand that is so
simple. If we want to feel that our burdens are lifted, if we want to
feel the joy of repentance, if we want to feel peace when there is a
storm in our surroundings, all we have to do is do things that will
invite the spirit into our lives. because the spirit is what testifies
to us that God exists, that He knows us, that Christ really atoned for
us, and that we really can find comfort and peace in Him. Countless
times I have felt the calming sensation as I have testified of these
things telling me that it is true. Everything in the gospel,
everything that I have learned in my mission all goes back to the
Atonement. I don't know if I ever would have gained this depth in my
testimony without my mission. Heavenly Father knew what it would take
for me to learn what he wants me to learn. he knew why I needed to
serve in Paraguay. every area, every companion, every investigator,
has taught me something. I only hope that I was able to be an
instrument in the Lord´s hands. That is what I always pray for. That I
can be what he wants me to be so that I can be His hands. But I think
that I got way more out of this than I could have ever given, and I
know that as the years go by, my mission will mean more and more to
me. It is a sacred experience that will affect the rest of my life. I
feel so weird knowing that I will be back in the United States. I feel
at home here. this is what I am used to now. But I guess life goes on.
I am excited for hna little and her new companion. I love our
investigators so much. It breaks my heart that our investigator T
can't be bapized right now because her marido needs a divorce, and
divorces here are so long and costly. but she loves the church and has
such an excitement to know more. yesterday, right after my call to mom
and dad, we were walking in the street when a family contacted us.
ya., contaced us. she said, hey, we want to join your church. we are
new in the neighborhood and were visiting with the elders before but
had to move. We know a lot of mormons, and they are all so happy and
are always progressing in life. We want to be Mormon too.
We were so excited. What a miracle. This is the Lord´s work. He really
does prepared people to receive the gospel. were are teaching such a
humble man A. He wants so much to find the truth. He
feels so helpless and confused in this world. He shared with us his
concerns for one of his daughters who is having trouble. We shared
with him how the restored gospel will bless his family and will help
him know how to guide his family. He just said, oh please, I really
hope so. It is hard to leave these people in the middle of their
progress, but I will keep praying for them because I love them.
Sunday hna samaniego made the best lunch. she asked me what I wanted,
and it was all there. she is amazing. I took pictures. all my favorite
food of paraguay. Hna samaniego is kind of like our grandma. we say
goodnight every night to her, and she always comes knocking on our
door if we don't. they are a special family with such strong
testimonies of the gospel.
well, I think my email is really long. I will say chao, because I will
see you all very soon. I love you tons and tons!
love,
hermana plummer

May 7, 2012 Sprinting to the End!!

hola familia!

bueno, mom, 

What other hermanas are in your zone?

hnas in my zone. us and hna lewis and hna anrade de mexico. 

Mother's Day phone call?

as for the phone call on sunday. we were actually planning to do it not in yennys house but in her moms house where we live. hna little will talk at 3pm and I will talk at 4 pm.   we will eat lunch with them that day, so it will be perfect. 

Using Yenny's hairdryer?

I will ask yenny about her extra hairdryer.  you need a transformer if you want to use your straightener. well, mine blew out. and I think I got confused in leopardi because there were so many left over transformers. well I don't really know how it happened. I thought I had everything, but I don't have mine. sorry dad.  I don't know what happened to it. also mom, yenny said that she wants to talk to you today to explain a few things about the best way to go to ciudad del este and brazil.

What kind of clothes should we bring?

as for the weather, you need to check the weather report, because it is always changing. last week was way cold. and this week is hot again. that is the way it is. so I don't know what you will need. I don't need anything. what I have is good. the prayer rock is way cute. I think the best way to say it would be roca de oracion (accent on the o in oracion). they are super cute. not sure if I want a quilt with my mission clothes. I plan to leave what I can and take back what is useless. they are pretty funny. what is in my heladera? yogurt, milk, bread, bananas, pears, mermelada de guayaba, mayonesa, mustard, ham, cheese, pinapple, cucumber. thats about it.

please tell the ward MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS for donating so much to bring. that is so generous.

this week yes, we had zone conference. it was so great! the focus was on our purpose as missionaries. invite others to come unto christ through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentence, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost, and endure to the end. we need to have that purpose as the focus of everything we do. if we do that, and even more important, apply it to our personal lives, we will be successful missionaries. well, there is more to it, but that is the essence of it. We have to convert ourselves before we can really help others be converted to the gospel. We focused a lot too on the sacrament. as misisonaries, we tend to be thinking about our investigators and so many things in sacrament meeting, but pres callan told us that we need to prepare better, and focus on ourselves during the sacrament. we need firm testimonies of the joy that the spririt gives us when we can know that as we enter in the meeting with our sins, we can leave completely clean again. pres callan shared an experience he had when he was able to be in a sacrament meeting with the 12 apostles in which they passed the sacrament and had tears in their eyes as they participated in this special ordinance. I think we often overlook just how important the sacrament is. what an incredible blessing God has given us to be able to start fresh every week and have the promise to have the spirit with us always. then at the end of the conference, each missionary has their turn to share their testimony. about 1 minute each person. I loved feeling the sincerity of each and every missionary as he or she shared their simple testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

on another note, I got a letter from Ceci today! she came back from angentina. hna jones wrote a quick note and said she would make sure ceci is home when we go to ñemby. I am so happy!! i thought i would never be able to see her again. i am so excited to see her and her grandkids. this week we were so blessed. we are teaching a woman who came to church with her cute 7 year old twins. they loved church, and it was so spiritual. we had a missionary come home, so he and his family all shared their testimonies, also the bishop blessed his new baby boy, and it was just great. teresa, our investigator, had tears. as well as everyone else. sunday's church meetings were probably the best I have had here in paraguay. yenny shared here testimony in relief society, and I had tears in my eyes. she has such a powerful testimony, and is such an amazing woman!

we also finally contacted a reference we had received a while back who has a family member who is a member and who invited him to the general conferece. this man has such interesting questions. many concerning the plan of salvation. where do our spirits go when we die? what happens after the resurrection? unfortunately he is only at home sundays, but we were excited to finally teach him. now we can prepare to teach him again. well, I have to go. I am super excited to give it one last push this week and finish sprinting. I get depressed when I think about leaving paraguay, so I try not to think about it. it is part of who I am now. I feel comfortable here. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for this short time that I have here. I love you all so much.

love,

hermana plummer