last letter!!

Wow!

This is my last time sending out a mass email from my mission. It is really incredible! This time has flown by. I am looking forward to seeing my parents tomorrow night (Thursday). :) It has been so long! Today is p day and I have already sent out tubs of stuff home to Roseville. I am going to finish packing later today. I have gathered up a lot of things the past year and a half. I just said by to my friends at the smoothie shop in the library. It has been a deep friendship, good talks over banana peanut butter ricemilk honey smoothies! Tomorrow I will work as if it is a normal day, then at 3 meet with President Jergensen, have a feast and see my parents at the mission home at 9pm. We will then watch the slideshow with all the pictures of the missionaries returning home. It will be great. Friday, I am taking my parents to the Amalzan's for breakfast, the Ortegas for lunch and then we are having a dinner at Hermana Amayas with various families (Galdys & Eder, Crespos, Esmerelda & Javier, Santana, Diana Tristan...) In between all the eating, we are going to see Bob and Aileen, Hector, Hermana Tereza and Virginia, Maria and Miguel and others. Saturday we will spend in Sioux City. I got a postcard from my lover Amanda and she said she is going to make us tamales and they are organizing a dinner with all my friends there. I am so excited to see them! The Brisenos, Barazas, Omar, Rueben, Hna Sawyer, Flores, Florez, Celia, Amanda and more...itll be great. Celia's daughter might be getting baptized Saturday night, Sunday we are going to go to church in Sioux City, because now they have Sacrament meeting and the classes in Spanish. That was in the process when I left the area. I will be home Sunday at the airport at 11pm...then Monday will be released at 7pm. I get to spend my pday in California..weird! I am making my mom study with me the next few days and get up at 630/ go to bed at 1030. hhaahah Once I am released I will continue doing missionary work! I plan on helping the Hermanas in Tempe.

Well this past week as been amazing. I got to school the Elders in basketball and volleyball. That was fun. haha But really Thanksgiving turned out great. We organized a dinner with members, investigators, recent converts and less-actives. All of the above showed up. We ate amazing food..I definately cooked the ham, it was so delicious and the green bean cassarole. I am ready to be married according to Jenni and Esmerelda. We had the Testaments playing and we played musical chairs. It was a woot! In district meeting we were asked to think about why we went on a mission and share it with the district. I talked about how my conversion changed my life and I wanted others to know their potential as children of God. I cried when I talked about Eternal Families and how the Gospel can bring families closer..I have seen changes in Gladys and Eder and am so excited for them to receive the blessings of Priesthood ordinances. This mission has been such a delightful experience! Seeing others change when accepting the Atonement of Jesus Christ is very powerful.

We have made progress in the work this week. Eder and Gladys continue to progress and connect things in their heads. They are realizing the impact they have on their children and the importance of marriage. We taught them the law of Chastity and invited them to pray to God about getting married. Eder is more comfortable with the idea, considering he is understanding the doctrine better. He is totally participating in lessons and loves it when we are there. He told us he misses us when we arent there, he is like family to us. Gladys helps us teach him some of the doctrine because she has been taught a lot longer than he has. It is real cute. Eder prayed for the first time this week and came to church for the first time! It was glorious. He enjoyed church, because it was the Primary program. He sees how his children can be involved and learn about Christ. Last night, he helped little Christopher pray. My heart melted. Gladys has more of a desire to get Sundays off if Eder is going to church. Slowly but surely, they will be ready to make the commitments with God. Jessica is still really excited about the Gospel and has tons of questions when we come over. She still has the conflict with work on Sundays but has faith things will work out. We love Ana & Aldo & Ricardo. They get super excited when we come over. We contacted a referrel, Renay and Patricia and they instantly became our best friends. They made us dinner last night and are amazing with questions and their desire to learn. They gave us rides as well. We are looking forward to their progress. Maria is having trouble keeping commitments, so we made her a sign to remind her to pray as well as flashcards to read everyday with scriptures written on them. She gets distracted by taking care of her son, Miguel..so this will help her.
The Branch is doing great. Still working on getting us a ward mission leader. So far, people have enjoyed reading in PMG. We have consistently been seeing less-actives...Hermana Tereza, Hermana Maria Maria Del Rosario, Esmerelda & Javier, Amalzans..we have tried contacting more. That is a goal of ours to help them to progress to reactivity. We are still working on getting the new converts fellowshippers. The Hermanas will be staying here and will be getting one more senior companion. They will keep tearing it up and I wish them luck. I have learned alot from Hermana Hepworth and Hancock (my daughter.)

Well I love you all and will see you soon.
La Hermana Murphy