April 23, 2012 Rain, Rain and more Rain

hola mom, dad, y familia, 
mom, did you get the email from the mission? they sent me an email with my travel plans, but they are not the ones you sent me. maybe you can get in contact with the secretary again to tell him that you put me on different flights. also, as for the baptisms that you asked me I will have to see what I can do. i have not way of getting in contact with anyone from my other areas. so i dont even know if they will be able to go. and they have to get recommendations. but at least i could talk with shabanna to take her because she is here. also, as for taking the car across the border. since you cant, I think it is better anyways to take the car to ciudad del este and take a bus from there because the bus will take us exactly where we need to go and back. also, someone told me that it is better this time of year to see the argentino side of the falls anyways, and that there is more to see. but I know you will get all the info from yenny. no I dont have a hairdryer. I still have my straigntener, but it burnt out. doesnt work. the plan seems good to me. I want to ask and see what else there is we could do. 
Also, feliz cumpleaños keri!! i am so bad with birthdays. sorry. love you tons and am super excited to visit you and Chris all the time when i get back!
as for la obra misional, this wee in paraguay, it rained. a lot. my shoes took two days to dry out. we are doing good. this week was a bit of a struggle since we had to stop teaching a lot of investigators that we had a lot of hope for. the family we havent been able to find again. sandra, ahh. we couldnt find her all week. it was so sad. then, finally we found her in the street. it was such a miracle. especially because now we cant call her. we dont have our cell phone anymore. long story. we are almost sure someone stole it. but it was such a miracle to find her. lat week, it didnt work out to do the pancakes, but one night this week, we were so wet and tired. the whole day, every single plan had fallen through, and we just didnt know what elso to do. so we went to yenny´s house and asked her, ¨can we do service for you´? so we came in, and she said that our service can be to make them pancakes. which we did.and they were soooo good. her son had brought a mix and syrup from the US. so we had a bit of dinner, and then went to our last appontment, which was so awesome. haleluia. we are teaching a mom, and her son and daughter. they are so great. she has a son that was baptized a long time ago but lives in ciudad del este now. they really have a sincere desire to know the truth and feel so confused with so many religions that say such different things. we havent taught them very many times, but I can feel the spirit so strong in the lessons. their dad doesnt have any interest yet, but hopefully soon. the son came to church yesterday. the daughter was really sick and the mom working, but she had already told us that she couldnt and would go the next week. they are our little shining star of the week. Heavenly Father alwasy blesses us. also, Shabanna is loving seminary, and Maura is great.
I am feeling just a bit ragged (not just my clothes.  but i know that if I can have a spirit stronger than my body, i can have the strength. I know what i share is true, and that it changes people lives. 
love,
hermana plummer

April 16, 2015

hola mom, dad, and familia,

mom, before I go on, I will ask yenny about the brazilian consulate today. we are going to her house to make pancakes. I am almost sure that you can use temple clothes here. they have extras. that is what the missionaries use all the time when they come. I want to take a few converts to the temple too to do baptisms if that is ok? yes I wrote you a letter. I sent it the week after I sent dad´s, so it should get there soon I hope. it has been a really long time. like 3 months almost. 

well, this week was really good. hna samaniego, our vecina where we live, said that last night she dreamed that we were drinking mate together (mate is a herbal drink that missionaries can't drink) and that I was talking to her in guarani. how I wish i could learn gurarani. she is like our grandma here and is yenny´s mom. they are members for a looong time. pioneers here in lambaré. 38 years ago. M's baptism was so great. she wore a skirt that I gave to her. when she came out of the water she said, ya estoy con Dios. when you translate it, it doesn't work the way it does in spanish, but it means, I am with God. and then when she received the holy Ghost, she was very emotional and so happy. she keeps saying just how relieved she feels and what an answer to her prayers it was that we came to her house. she said that thanks to us, she is on the right path to eternal life. I just can´t wait for mom and dad to meet her. hna little and I sang the primary song about baptism, and a hna in the ward always makes a yummy cake. S was confirmed too yesterday, and her mom came! she had tears during the confirmation. her mom is so great, and I love them so much. hna little and I miss them alot. thank goodness shabanna is going to seminary, because we can't visit her that much. or at all. but what a miracle that the elders of where they live, live in front of them. heavenly father is watching out for her, and we feel she is in good hands. she wakes up to be at seminary at 5 30 in the morning. temprano! we have a new investigator sandra that we taught for the first time on friday and came to church yesterday. she is 21 years old and lives with her sister, brother in law, and uncle. her dad died a few years ago, and her mom has another family. she has attended a lot of different churches and said that she feels confused like joseph smith as to where to be baptized and why they are all so different. it was such a spiritual lesson, and we fasted for her yesterday. sacrament meeting was great with testimonies and the confirmations. and turns out that M is her aunt in some way on the side of M's husband, but they lost contant for 10 years until yesterday. what a miracle. we also found another cute family yesterday! they have lived right by the church for 12 years and the missionaries never talked to them yet. he said that he was always curious about the mormons and wanted to listen. they are way way busy during the week, but pray pray pray they read the chapter we left in the book of mormon. we had a kneeling prayer at the end of the lesson offered by the head of the household, and it was so great. 

this week we had interviews with president callan. that is always good. he asked me to make a list of goals for after the mission about all aspects of my life to share with him in my final interview. I will have to think about it. well, I am out of time. I love you all soooo much. I hope I am not forgetting a birthday again. if so, please forgive. I think it was margaret´s birthday the 14th? it is either the 14th or the 26th. I dont know why I always confuse it.  mom, can you check on that and wish her happy birthday for me? until next week!

love,

hermana plummer

April 9, 2012 Love for her converts

hola mom dad and familia. Felices Pascua! mom, before i forget. the sign things need to say. familias son eternas. be sure to not put familias para siempre. families are forever doesn't translate how you think. they are going to be so cute. thanks.  (Amy (sister in law) and mom are making small tile plaques that say families are forever to give some of the families that have loved Whitney and she them too.  We'll take them with us when we go to pick her up next month.)  dad described the easter dinner. sounds pretty yummy. there is an hermana from the ward that makes something like augratin potatores. she calls them papas savorosas or yummy potatores she says. she speaks english very well. thanks dad for the pictures. everyone looks soooo churro. Nic, I remember looking at my calender of birthdays and said. there aren't any in march, so I don't have to worry. then april started before i knew it, and I didn't wish you a happy birthday last week. lo siento. I love you so much. I don't remember how many years you have, but you can know that you look great for your age.  so don't worry a spec. you still have all your teeth. happy birthday to you too Chris. your birthday was just yesterday, so i think it is ok to wish you feliz cumple hoy. rohayhu chris. te quiro. 

well, as for this week. this week was a bit loco. well, it was semana santa as they say here. everyone left. it is interesting because they have viernes santo. holy friday, the day of the crusifixion of christ. on this day, everything is closed. no one does anything. we were in a lesson with one of our investigators the other day when she commented on how we don't recognize viernes santo the way they do (the catolicos). we were with a member who used to be way catolica. she said that our sunday every week is their holy friday. instead of just dedicating one day out of the year to remember christ, we do it every week. As I watched the conference, I just felt so grateful to have the apotles and prophets who teach us so clearly, what heavenly Father expects of us and what we need to do to return to Him. It is a lot more than what most people think. it takes sacrifice, like joseph smith said. one of my favorite talks of general conference was by Pres. Eyring. I always love his talks. he talked about having a firm foundation of faith to carry us through the trials of life. he said that the way to build that firm foundation is through personal integrity, I thought that was interesting and so true. the way we live our daily life, our daily decisions are what little by little build a firm foundation upon which we cannot fall. helaman 5:12. by the small and simple things in life, we can be happy. 

please pray for S. because of family stuff, they have to move tomorrow. her mom asked us to help her find a place near the church so she can continue with everything. she searched and searched like crazy on saturday when she told us, but we found nothing. she only found a place in a different ward. I think she is going to be able to stay in our ward, but now is far away. I don't know how she is going to get to church and seminary . the other ward meets in our chapel, but they don't have seminary. I kind of started to have a breakdown last night with worry because I started to think about what will happen when we are not here. everything will be ok for now, but when I am not here? It hit me that I have to leave her and maura and gloria and everyone. I Iove them so much and probably will never see them again. I don't want to leave them. It is so hard for me to trust that they will be ok. I just want to be here with them forever to make sure everything is ok and to help them. i have a feeling I am going to be an overprotective mom or something. well, I have to go. oh, by the way. hna little and I stayed together. Heavenly Father answered my prayers. l love you all 

April 2, 2012

This week starts the beginning of Whitney's last and final transfer.  6 weeks from tomorrow Dave and I leave to pick up our sweet Whitney.  I'm excited beyond excited.

hola mom, dad, and familia. sorry mom. I dont know why but i couldnt see your photo. it doesn't work or something on these computers. no mom, i didn't notice hna sargent´s sister. i only met her once. david archuletta neither. how funny. that is great he is going on a mission. I bet they sent him far away. haha that is fine to bring 10 of the famlies are forever. but, make sure you change it. it is wrong to say familias son para siempre. familias son eternas is better. sounds like they are going to be so cute. by the way, yes I get your cards. they are super cute, and I love them, only I wish you would sent pictures of the family instead of pictures of me. I want to see my family. all the pictures I have of my nieces and nephews are old now. except from nicole. well, I haven't purchased much because there hasn't been anywhere in my areas to buy anything. but I bought a few things recently. the scripture covers and stuff. would you or dad want a scripture case or something? I will check on temple clothes. they have a few because we use their clothes when we go. I will ask a member to call and ask or something. I think I would like a day in asuncion to be a tourist. there is a mercado that I would like to go to. I will ask the members and hna little. 

as for the work here, thanks for all of your prayers. this week we saw so many miracles. shabanna´s baptism was great because all of the young women of the ward came and participated. and drum roll. all of her family came! they pulled up to the church all together, and hna little and I looked at each other. no way. well, her mom, step dad, and little brother. they really enjoyed it. woohoo. because of the conference she will be confirmed this coming sunday. I will try and send pictures. conference was so awesome!! I was so sad it ended. every session flew by. we had someone come to every session except the first. It was such a blessing. I prayed and prayed that what was said in the messages could be just what they needed. I have to look over my notes and send some thoughts about it next week. I haven't looked over them much yet. last night, i didn't even write in my journal or read I just went right to sleep. we were soooo tired. sooo happy, but soooo tired. I think I heard the words covenant and atonement more than a million times. a ton about the family, plan of salvation, and love. I learned so much, and just felt such a gratitude to have apostles and prophets of God on the earth. as Pres. Monson spoke, I felt through him the sincere desire Heavenly Father has that every one of His children returns to Him. I felt Heavenly Father´s love through him even though I am thousands of miles away and it was translated into spanish. I know he is God´s prophet on the earth.

one of our investigators is vicki. she is a woman of about 55 or so and lives alone in a very very chuchi (fancy) house. but anyways, she came to conference saturday afternoon. when we called her to confirm the plans she said. remember yesterday when you were here and prayed, as I had asked, for a compañero (she wants a husband), an hour later, I got a call, she said. she said how fast God answers your prayers. it was so funny. everytime we visit she wants to invite us to tea. we drink herbal tea and she drinks cocido. a common drink here that missionaries can't drink. the members drink it, just the missionaries cant. but we are trying to learn to say no. she just says, ¨we are going to drink tea now¨. oh. have to go. I love you all so much. thanks for you love and prayers. I love you!!!

love,

hermana plummer

March 26, 2012 Miracles in Paraguay

Hi mom, dad, and family,

I got the package mom! it came this morning all safe and sound. thanks so much. I'm sorry the office can't get me a Brazilian visa.  We'll just have to see if we can still see the falls?  did you get your Paraguay visas? I hope it all works out.  I don't even know what people do there at the falls. or how to get there. do people spend a few days there? did you ask sis sargent´s mom what they did? I am not sure when to go to coronel oviedo. we don't need to spend a lot of time there because I don't think the members remember me much. I would like to pass by the area and show you and dad a few things and pass by one or two families, but that is it. I will ask people here what else we can do. thanks for doing the classes. pd bio and physics would be first priority for sure. labs fill up fast too though. you would be surprised. then d & c and shakespeare. I don't remember what student development class I wanted and for what credit, but you can sign up for that one you found, and we will see. it is good to have most classes on tue and thurs so I could have other days to work. I don't remember much how I had my schedule the other years. ha. it is a distant memory. I don't know who to say to add names to what you are going to bring? do you need the names, or can I just give you a number and then decided? hna little still has a few of the skirts. I think she his given a few to people who don't have a skirt. everything sounds great. thanks for thinking of others and wanting to help the people here. one thing we could do is take things to the branch president´s house in coronel oviedo or something. that is where skirts and shirts are more needed. 

as for the work here, we have some awesome investigators right now, but they are the only ones we have. we couldn't find anyone new to teach this week hardly, but M finally came to church. she is so cute! she doesn't understand everything about the restoration and everything, but she feels that it is true. she said that so many missionaries from other churches have come by and nothing really had any effect on her. she didn't feel anything. but when we came it was different. she feels that it is true, and is so excited to be baptized. we cracked up laughing yesterday in the lesson because some drunk who lives a few houses down was saying to her, why are you going with the mormons? and stuff like that. he said the mormons are the worst. she said, before I realized it I said, ¨no you are the worst¨. it was so funny because she is the sweetest, soft spoken little lady. we got a laugh out of that one. we also had an awesome lesson with a family that lives one street from us. we contacted them and made an appt to pass by in a few days. but when we got to the appt. their futbol club was playing, so we fixed another appt. this time we took our ward mission leader with us who is a returned missionary. it was the best to have him there. the investigators are so much more relaxed when there is another one like them there. another paraguayo. the mom is a bit more interested than the dad, but she loved it. we passed by 2 days later and she said all excited that she has been reading in the book of mormon. also, turns out that the dad knows the bishop really well and just happened to run into him. the next visit we are going to have in the bishop´s house. pray for them! they are so golden. I hope they keep progressing. that was our miracle of the week. well, I have to go back out into the rain. all the streets are flooded and my shoes and skirt are wet. oh well. it is all worth it. 

love,

hermana plummer

March 19, 2012

hi mom dad and family, sorry dad that you are still not feeling 100%. but that makes me so happy that you and mom were able to go to the temple together after so long. I just love the temple. mom, I haven't gotten the 2nd package yet. I got the first one a few weeks ago and ate all the red vines in one day. haha. my favorites. thanks so much. lambaré is a very big city. yes it is an upscale community. I am not sure you need to bring a lot of white shirts and skirts. well, a few. I will see. at least here in lambaré very few lack those things. skin is ok. as for the brazilian visa. he said that I need one.   I will call again, because you just need to coordinate it with the office elder in charge of travel stuff. I don't know what the law is and stuff. I haven't heard from kate lately. I got a letter from mrs wallace. she is so great and sends me letters, which I love. anyways, I hope the package comes soon. I need it. hna jones gave me a deodorant from the states that i am using thank goodness, but I just really miss MY deodorant. I have absolutely no makeup right now. it is a sad sight.
well I hope you all had a good week. I am sure mike is loving having the whole house to himself. this week here wasn’t as hot, so that was a blessing. I learned a new word. caracola - seashell. I also just bought something to take back to the states. it is super cute and something that all the paraguayos have in their house. I am excited to have it in my house too to always remember paraguay. I realized that I haven't boughten anything. we had a super awesome thing happen, shabanna´s mom said YES! she is way excited for her baptism. at the temple we bought her a personal progress book to start. oh as for the couple, umm. we went to an appointment the other week and she said that they talked and decided they don’t want to meet with us anymore because she is scared of what people will say if they have mormons coming to their house. ya. it was rough. but when one door closes another one opens. I don’t know if I talked about moura. she is 70 years old, and can’t really walk, but is the sweetest ever. she wants to come to church so much and is preparing for her baptism. she always remembers the exact hour that we said we would come, and is waiting for us with her Book of Mormon having read total. she is understanding the concept of the restoration little by little, and has such a faith in Christ and wants to be baptized to follow Him. I will have to take a picture with her to send. this week went by a bit slow because we just couldn't seem to find anyone to teach. we try to do everything, but then everything just falls through. I have a hard time accepting when that happens. I tell myself that it has to be my fault because I must not have done somthing right, but i am learning that it isn’t quite that way. yes there is always something i can do better, but as I read about hope today in preach my gospel, i realized that hope is having calm confidence that the trials we have will be for our benefit in the long run. maybe my mission has had a few more bumps in the road than I would have liked, or maybe it just didn’t go the way I had planned. But I just need to trust in Heavenly Father's will that if i did my part, my mission has been what he knew would teach me what I need for my life. we all have the same objective, but we all also have different things to learn. hope is patiently trusting in the will of God and obediently pressing on. Don’t think that I immediately came up with that. it has been a struggle to feel what I have said, but I am getting there thanks to a lot of help from the Lord and my companion. it is ultimately how one can just be happy. well, I got to go. I love you all so much.
love,
hermana plummer

March 13, 2012 Life in Lambare and living in the city.

They were able to attend the temple today, so their pday and emails were a day late.  Take a look at these pictures that were of the short lived trio companionship in Nemby.  

hi mom dad and family. mom before i forget, did the secretary from the mission contact you about my visa for brazil? I gave him your email. also, I think you have to sign me up for classes soon. not sure when, but it would be good to check on it. it is always at midnight. yenny is the daughter of the couple who we live behind from the ward. familia samaniego. she knows english really well, so I asked her to contact you. she is such an exemplary woman. you would get along. I thought that you might already know from other moms, but just to make sure so that you didnt have a let down. I am glad you are doing better. maybe you should do a fast before you come on the trip so you can make it through the plane ride. but you have been on longer before. also, I forgot to tell you to tell elder richards' mom that her son is doing great. he is my zone leader. also, I talked to elder allphin today and he too is doing well. so you can tell their moms that. I guess elder allphin is in my zone because I saw him today at the TEMPLE! last night I got your dear elder about what aunt kris's  sister's son wrote about his experience in the temple the day of doug's passing. (Elder W is serving in Mexico and had attended the temple the day Doug died, not knowing of his passing.  It was a very sweet experience, feeling his relatives on the other side.) it was 9 months ago for me, since I went to the temple. I just feel so good right now. last week I was still struggling a bit with the changes and a few things, but I am doing better, especially after the temple. there is not other place like it. it truly is like being in heaven but while still being here on earth. everyone is so nice to us, which is refreshing. jk. people are nice here. but I just sat and felt the calmness of the spirit in the last part. one feels such a special connection with our world and the spirit world, knowing that our loved ones are so close. it is like the primary song a child's prayer when the child says, " heavenly father, are you really there? and do you hear and answer every child's prayer. some say that heaven is far away. but I feel it close around me as I pray.´´ I am ready to press forward now. a lot has given me a good shake recently, but there are always those tender mercies that come in different ways.

this week, I was completely blown away by the maturity of the 14 year old we are teaching S. she is so excited for her baptism on april 1st. all we need is the signature of her mom on the record, and we are good to go. she has shared with us how much she is changing and has changed since hna little and her other companion found her (on christmas eve). she feels that it is true and describes to us so sincerely how she feels that someone is there with her listening to here when she prays and that someone being Heavenly Father. she reads a chapter or more in the Book of Mormon every day, and basically I am just in awe of her. please pray for her and her mom especially. it is great too because there a bunch of great young women here that are good support for her and good examples. 

people say that the investigators feel more comfortable with the sister missionaries, but I think they feel a bit too comfortable with us. every single person went on for about half an hour or more telling us all of their problems. I have everyone's problems running through my head. we want to be here to help people, but this week was overload for us. I have so many people I have to pray for it is overwhelming. thank goodness we are sharing what will help them with everything, they just have to let us teach it. well, I am out of time. I love you all so much. please pray that I don't come home a fatling because everyone here wants to feed and feed us and think that when we say no more that it is just because we are embarrassed to say yes, but I really dont want more. haha. we are running every day. thank goodness. well, until next week. 

con mucho amor, 

hermana plummer