Week 6 (5/18/2015)

 This week was great!
 Mothers day was Friday here. I would like to say happy late mothers day to all the mothers of my life, my own amazing mom and my grandmas and aunts and cousins and all the moms you guys are the best and make all the difference in our lives. Being away from my mom has helped me appreciate her so much more! I know us kids don't always express it well but we LOVE YOU and are so grateful for everything you do for us.

The "4th of July" was this weekend in Paraguay. That made things a little hard because people were either not home, or were drunk... haha but it was a good week all in all. We got to visit an investigator with a member from the branch this week and it made all the difference! 

This week, I learned a great lesson about how important the spirit is.  We are always trying to live worthy of having the spirit with us because without His guidance we can't do anything in this work, but I was reminded how essential His presence is. We had a weird day, we were struggling a little and weren´t communicating well. There was slight tension and I was extremely distracted,  the spirit wasn't there with us. When we went to lessons, it was like being back at my first week here. I could understand next to nothing, and when I tried to speak they couldn't understand what I was saying and I couldn't remember the words. It was so hard and humbling. But it was a great lesson and testament to me of the power of prayer and the spirit in this work. Without the Lord with us, we can't accomplish anything here. 

I would just like to thank everyone for your prayers on our behalf and again I would like to testify that I know every single one matters and helps us. I miss you all! and I hope you all have a great week! Keep on keeping on :) 

Love, Hermana Speakman 

ps here's a picture of the Book of Mormon in the languages I'm attempting to learn! Guarani, Portuguese, and Spanish     

Week 5 (5/11/2015)

Hello again everyone! 
This week was great!  I got to skype with my family on Sunday, made me miss home a little lot but it was great to see their faces!!

On Monday, we had the opportunity to have FHE with a family that feeds us on Tuesdays.  We taught them a lesson and at the end Anderson (the grandson) was going to say the prayer to close the lesson and to bless the food. So he gave a nice prayer to close the meeting, but forgot to bless the food, so hermana Dora the grandma, said she would say it, she was slightly irritated because she was ready to eat,  she gave a nice long 5 min prayer blessing everyone in the room. But she forgot the reason she was praying and once again the food was not blessed hahaha. By this time her husband was exasperated and said he would say it and he made sure to bless the food first thing then continue on his prayer hahahaha it was a great laugh for all. This is also the family that enjoys making fun of me because I thought every dog in Paraguay was named Neki ha. They are great. 

On Tuesday, the leaders of the Hermanas came down to go on splits with us, they arrived at 530 in the morning, I tried really hard not to be angry,  just kidding but every second of sleep matters. We had a great day of work with them, it was a nice change of pace and learning experience. We also had something called Noche Wasy which is like a family home evening for the ward.  It was at Hermana Doras house. We brought some investigators with us, Stephanie who is 12 years old, her brother Anthony who is 9 and their cousin Rueben 9 and his sister who is 8. We got to the Wasy and it was mostly just old people talking, they are hilarious but the little kids were losing interest, I didn't know what to do, so we started to play a game called shoot bang kill. It was great because it held their interest until the others arrived, then we had an amazing spiritual thought and devoured delicious food as well.

On Wednesday, we had lunch at Hermana Bascilicias home.  She is a tiny Paraguayan woman about 55 years old. She has been helping me learn guarani and is amazing. On Wednesday we were talking about an incident that happened Tuesday night, a woman was brutalized not far from her house, and she, like all the members here, was concerned for our safety. So this tiny woman began to teach us what we need to do to defend ourselves from the men of Paraguay. I will not be going in to detail the lessons that were taught, but she encouraged us to kill them if we can. Don't worry we wont be doing that but it was hilarious. 

Yesterday, was a huge rain storm so not many people went to church, I also got to give a talk..... in Spanish.... for 15 minutes. I think I blacked out.  Just kidding it went pretty well, it was really hard but I know that Heavenly Father is helping me learn this language and I know without his help I would be so lost. I'm so grateful to be here as well! Its so different but amazing in its own special way. 

I love you all! Hope you have a great week!! Thank you for your prayers and for your emails! I love every single one! 

Happy Birthday Uncle Brad this week!!! And congrats Gordon on your mission call!!!!! You're going to be great! 

Che Pohayhu!!!!

Love Hermana Speakman 

week 4 (5/4/2015)

Hello everyone! This week was great! 

We traveled to Asuncion and were able to go through the temple, it really was like being in a whole new world! The spirit was amazing there. We had a nice long 8 hour bus ride there, we got there at 5am then had to catch a Collectivo, which is another bus that is very um.... scary haha the streets are straight up rocks, (i have attached a photo of the streets), you have to stand the whole time if there isn't space, and there wasn't space, and the rocks do not make for a very smooth ride haha. I almost smothered a few people, don't worry though, my abs of steel helped me stay upright hahaha jk I wish. I was killing people left and right. But we survived and so did they and that's all that matters right.   

After our trip to Asuncion, we arrived back in Pedro Juan at 930, and our awesome branch president picked us up and gave us a ride home. The members here are so amazing I love them they are always so willing to help, and they are really enthusiastic about missionary work as well! Its incredible. 

Yesterday we had a huge rain storm and the power went out and the streets flooded, I got pictures before the storm really hit. The power went out during testimony meeting, but the members just got right up opened the blinds and we kept on going, it was amazing. Afterwards, we returned home, usually we have lunch but they cancelled so we returned home to try to scavenge up some food, we didn't have any because we were in Asuncion Monday and that's when we go grocery shopping, so we were a little sad hahaha but, the sister whose home we live and was talking to us when we got home, asked what we were doing for lunch, when we told her we were going to eat at home she asked what we were going to eat..... hahahha we said, "oh just some food we have in the fridge", she feeds us on Thursdays, so we didn't want her to cook for us again, and she said, I'm going to get something together and bring it over" and she did! Within 30 min we had a warm delicious meal in-front of us, there is a picture attached, the bread is not corn bread, idk what it is but i think it has onions in it, its really good actually! Its a Paraguayan specialty and is my companions favorite. The members are amazing and so loving here!! 

The other day we were teaching the family who is prepping to be sealed in the temple and the husband is prepping to be able to baptize his son, it was about 7pm, we didn't return to the house for dinner, so we were hungry haha and they just brought food right now, they taught us a new Paraguayan sandwich, bread, dulce de leche (which is like caramel), and nuts hahah so weird but so good!!! 

Another fun fact about here, there are random large bones everywhere... what from, no idea but they are everywhere! 

Tip for anyone who wants to travel to Paraguay, here they shout Neki! at their dogs, this is not their name, this means go away in Guarani. hahaha Yes, I learned this lesson the hard way. There are quite a few members who now when they see me enjoy pretending to call their dogs Neki and die of laughter hahahaha its ok, no shame here hahaha. 

The people of Paraguay are so humble and so willing to listen to a message about God. Here there are no door bells, and we don't knock on doors, we stand away from the doors and clap. Then wait for permission to enter. The great thing about here is usually they are all sitting outside on their chairs sipping terreare (not sure if that's how you spell it) because its so hot. When we walk up and ask to share a message they go and get a chair for us and sometimes when they have no more they will give us their chair and get a bucket to sit on and offer us some of their drink, we aren't allowed to drink it while on the mission, but the people are great!! 

The picture of the bottle and the spigot is my water purification process because one time of vomiting and dying all day is sufficient for a life time. haha Also I'm too lazy to lug huge jugs of water 3 miles back home. 

Being here has taught me so many lessons already in this short time! Days feel like weeks, weeks feel like days and months feel like years haha. Don't ask me how butI  have never been able to accomplish so much on so little energy.  I know that it is because this truly is the work of the Lord and your prayers, every single one helps and I know that He hears every prayer and He will help us always.

 So please pray for me as well because I made the mistake of offering to pray in front of the branch president and he now knows my Spanish is a little more than nothing, so he's going to ask me to speak soon..... hahaha 

I love you all and I'm so grateful for all of you!! I Hope all is well!

 Shout out to Uncle Ike, Happy Birthday last week!!!! Sorry I was away from my calender and missed it!! Aunt Jamie Happy Birthday Yesterday! Mallory, Blakely and Briggs Happy Birthday this Saturday! And Happy Mothers day to everyone!!! Thank you for your examples to me! I love you all!! 

Love, Hermana Speakman 

ps excuse my terrible grammar there is not enough time haha 

Week 3 (4/27/2015)

Hello all! 

This week has been great! 

We have been focusing a lot of work on less active members and helping them out. We have been teaching a family who have been returning to the church, their son died about 4 weeks ago but their testimony has only grown stronger its amazing. They are prepping for the temple so they can all be sealed together and the father has been prepping to be worthy to hold the priesthood so he can baptize his son! its amazing!! The ward has been so loving and so good with them as well. I love the people here they are amazing. 

We have been teaching an investigator who's boyfriend is inactive, her son was recently baptized and she wants to be baptized as well but cannot be until they are married. She wants to wait to be married until he has his life together and he has been changing so much its amazing. They are prepping to be married and hoping to be sealed together. Seeing the light and the hope in the families eyes when we teach about the principle of eternal families is honestly one of the most rewarding things. We were also able to teach them about family prayer, and since they have been praying together there is a noticeable difference in the family its phenomenal. I was able to bear testimony of the change it has had within my own family as well. 

One of our recent converts just received the Priesthood this Sunday! he was pretty nervous and didn't really care at the same time, he didn't understand the purpose. But we were able to teach him the weeks leading up to it how important and amazing the priesthood is and his whole attitude changed. I was able to share how grateful I am for the priesthood in my home, and for the blessings I was able to receive while in the CCM as well as before leaving and my testimony about its power. 

We have been teaching a lot of inactive members and members about the Book of Mormon, it was crazy for us to find that very few understood the importance of this book in our lives and in our religion. We firmly believe this is why many are less active, because they don't have testimonies, so we have been trying to help them gain testimonies for themselves. 

This week was also crazy because we got a phone call from the mission presidents office, the presidents secretary asked to speak to me and said he had some good news and some bad news. My heart dropped I thought something had happened to someone in my family, luckily it was nothing near that! My finger prints were rejected again so yesterday we had to travel here to Asuncion, all night, it was the worst haha we got here at 5 am this morning, walked a while finally caught a super scary bus packed full of people and made it to the office at 7. My finger prints have been taken and sent and hopefully everything works out! :) If not, its all in the plan right! 

On Tuesday this week we had lunch at a members house and it was phenomenal, but I had a slightly traumatizing moment when her grand daughter walked in the room with the leg (not cooked, freshly cut off the chicken talons still intact, and still bleeding a little with the bone showing) of the chicken we were eating, and began to touch her brother with it and play with it, not phased in the slightest. I thought i was going to be sick hahaha. 

Also, here there are tons of dogs everywhere, and they always want to fight us, but as soon as we bend over to pick up a rock they take off as fast as lightening. We were at a less active members home talking about how we carry around rods of wood with us because as soon as the dogs see it they walk casually away trying to pretend they weren't planning on attacking us and sharing their diseases. And he comes out with two Squash racquets, and tells us they are for us hahahha so we walked home with our racquets to defend our lives against the druggies and dogs of Paraguay. It was great! 

I would like to thank everyone for their love and support, I really appreciate you all, this week has been a little hectic with the travels so time is short but I love you all and I miss you! Stay safe, never give up! Thank you all for being so amazing. 

Love, Hermana Speakman 

2 week 4/20/15

Well,l I don't have much time! But this week was good! 

We have been trying to work a lot with inactive members helping them remember their faith and build it up again. I know that God hears our prayers and he always answers! 

The people of this Branch are the best! I love them! I cant really communicate with them but they are so kind and loving and they feed us every day lunch (lunch is the big meal here).  The members have been helping me learn Guarani and Spanish. 

The other day it rained really hard and flooded the streets, it was crazy, our streets are mostly just rock. which kills the feet ha, but they have to be to prevent flooding. Also our area is one of the only areas that has a ton of hills, lucky us right. 

I learned that Part of Brazil is our district so this week we will be working there! I'm stoked. 

I hope all is well. I miss you all! 

Happy Birthday yesterday Aunt Raquel! and happy Birthday Brock today!!!! 

Che Pohayhu (I love you all in Guarani) 

Never forget to pray always! He always listens!!!! 

I am including some pictures of my apartment, some Paraguayan food, and a photo of the Book of Mormon translated in the Guarani language.  

Week 7-8 now in Paraguay

Hey Everyone! 
Crazy that it has already been a week since I`ve been here in Paraguay, and also that its only been a week haha Sometimes the days feel like years but the weeks fly. 

I am in Pedro Juan, which is right on the border of Brazil! It`s amazing! As soon as I heard this area existed I wanted to come here and I got it! My companion is awesome. she is Latina, from Colombia. She speaks next to no english which is really hard sometimes but also an amazing blessing because I am learning so much spanish faster than I thought possible. Also its a blessing she is from Colombia because they speak the kind of spanish you learn in school, so its a lot easier to understand. She is amazing and I can understand nearly everything that is spoken in Spanish.  Now the problem is speaking it. One step at a time though right! 

Leaving the CCM was really hard, but I think that is also a blessing in disguise because I made some amazing friends there and we are all out here doing this crazy hard amazing work together. Sometimes I feel alone but as soon as I pray everything feels a little lighter. When I used to listen to the talk given by President Hinkley about his fathers advice when he decided he wanted to go home, and all his father said was lose yourself and go to work, I thought to myself thats horrible! Thats all the words of comfort his father gave his son who was struggling. But I now know that is literally the best advice he could have given. The mornings are especially hard for me, but as soon as we hit the streets and start talking to people and serving others the burden is lifted and I feel so much better.

The people of our ward are AMAZING they provide us with lunch every day.  Lunch is their big meal, and the food is porette (guarani for delicious). 

The past few nights we have had to run home to make it home before curfew. The streets are either rocky or dirt.  This is a crazy experience but I love it here. 

Our house is owned by members who sit outside of their house (directly in front of ours, we share a yard, back for them front yard for us) and make sure we make it home. 

We have had some crazy gigantic cockroaches in our apartment, my companion tried to kill them while I hid hahahaha She mostly just screamed and sprayed them with lysol, once they took flight we both dipped lol. 

This week was fast  and testimony meeting, it was amazing we went 20 min over and we had 80 people at church which has been our mission goal for a while! The spirit was so strong there and the people are so kind. 

Getting to Pedro Juan (my assigned area), we had to take a 8 hour bus ride, yes it was as horrible as it sounds lol but we made it safe and sound. 

I am going to try to teach english lessons which will be fun! 

I just want to thank you all for your prayers, I wouldn't be able to do it without your support and His help. 

I love you all! And i miss you loads! 

Special shout out to Taggart Happy Birthday ya loser.. miss you! hope it was amazing even if it was without me :) 

Love you All!!

Love, Hermana Speakman. 

                        President and Sister McMullin and my new companion sister Moreno

Week 5 (3/27-4/2)

Hey! 

This past week has been basically the same haha which is pretty nice. 

We went proselyting again this past Saturday to a new area, it was really good! We met a nice old lady named Olga who called us angels and cried while talking to us. Its really frustrating not being able to fluently communicate with everyone or even understand them, but things are getting better especially with prayer.

 Its crazy to think we are going to be in Paraguay this time next week! Also there is an elder here from Paraguay who has been trying to teach us guarani, "ENGH" (literally a grunt like being punched in the stomach) is water. So add learning Guarani to your prayer list for me please lol. But I'm super stoked to learn it, its giong to be awesome. 

This week has been fun, I've been playing soccer agian which is a huge blessing, also the food is on point here haha. Im really excited to experience the culture shock in Paraguay! Not so excited for the heat. But I know I am here for a reason, just hoping I can live up to it. 

My companions are awesome and I am so happy to have them. Also my next email day will not be this upcoming monday but the next monday and from here on out only mondays! I love being here, but I know I couldn't do it without all of your prayers and support! Thank you all for everything and I love you all!! 

Love, Hermana Speakman

 

Shout out to Aunt Lynette, Happy Birthday Old woman! Dont worry im always smiling just for you :) Happy Bday Alia on the 25th! And Aunt Kim this Saturday XOXOX!! I hope you all had/have fantastic days! Love you loads

 

Cita de la semana por districto Ammón: "Why do we fall bruce? ..... So we can learn to pick ourselves back up." -Bruce Wayne Sr.