A New Companion and A New Appreciation for the Sabbath!!

FAMILYYYYY!!

First thing... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA! You are amazing and my biggest example... I admire you in so many ways!  Thank you for your patience, your charity, and your good attitude towards everything.  If I turn into the mom that says things like ´be sweet and cheerful´ ‘make it fun for everyone’ or ´lets do it to it´...  I will be totally happy with that! :)

Okay, soooo this week brought changes! Yes, some stayed and some moved on to new places. Hna Anazco finished her training and she is off to MORONI... she will now be serving right in Asuncion, in the same neighborhood as the temple!! :) Our companionship wrapped up on such a lovely note.  She is one special girl!  I can’t wait to hear about all of the great things she will be doing there in Moroni!

As for me, I am staying right here in Pedro Juan. The Lord decided to give me another six weeks here, and I am extremely grateful!  I love it here!!  And we are finding beautiful families who are ready to hear the message of the restored gospel!! :) It’s just so awesome to be on the Lords errand!

My new companion is... HERMANA  ASHBY from Mesa Arizona!!  She is a doll!!  She is the youngest of 8 and studied at UVU before the mission. Her eyes are so BLUUUEEEEE!  Her personality, so FUN!  And her work ethic, so AWESOME!  She has one month in the mission, so we are going to finish out her training here and keep on working with these amazing investigators and set out to find new ones and enjoy everything while we are doing it!!  She is spectacular!

She is even willing to go out running with me 3 times a week! OH YEAHHHH!! Haha!!

Now, on the spiritual side of things... Wow! It has been a great week to learn about los dias domingos... about keeping the Sabbath day holy. We could talk forever about the Sabbath day because it’s such a special day. 

This week, we met with a hermana named Perla, she is a mom of 2 and her husband is less active.  She got sick the other week, so sick that she couldn’t come to church.  She told us that she got so sad that she started crying.

Her husband than came out and asked her... "why are you so sad if it’s just going to be one Sunday... you can go next week, you know"

And she responded to him saying "Every day we receive countless blessings from the Lord, there is food on our table, a roof over our heads, our daughters are thriving and the list goes on.... can we not take one day out of our week to show the Lord that we are grateful for these blessings? Is it really so hard to show him how grateful we are? And if we didn’t have these blessings, if we didn’t have a roof, or food on our table like so many people now a days... shouldn’t we still go because it is a commandment from our loving Heavenly Father?"

She’s so right, right?!

Then yesterday, Elder Krasnoselsky from the seventy shared a story with us

When he was about 14, he got up and went to church. When he got there, he noticed that a sister wasn’t there... a lady who NEVER missed a Sunday.  She was a good friend of his family and so he felt impressed to go and visit her after church to see if she was all right.

When he got there, he asked "Oh hermana, we missed you today, what happened?" She responded saying "Oh son, don’t worry. I just got my feelings hurt by a woman in our ward.  I didn’t make it today... but I will be back next week." 

And then, the spirit took hold of his tongue and put one question there, one and one only.  All he could say was... "y la santa cena?" o sea "and what about the sacrament?"

In that moment, the sweet sister’s eyes filled with tears. She had remembered the doctrine that she had learned so long ago... the importance of going to church on Sundays and Elder Krasnoselsky understood the importance of visiting our brothers and sisters who were not able to attend on any given Sunday.

I know that Sunday is a special day. :) It is a day where we can go to church and renew our baptismal covenants, a day where we can experience a renovation of the soul. It’s a day the Lord has given us to rest from our worldly labors and focus on the things the Lord would have us do, and the things we promised we would when choosing to be baptized... to comfort those that are in need of comfort and strengthen those feeble knees. :) It is not a day of restrictions, or a boring day, or a day to just take a really long nap... but rather, a day to be renewed, uplifted and to uplift others! :) What a special thing that is, no?!

As Russel M Nelson says, the Sabbath day is a delight?  Can we say that it is a delight for us as well? May we examine our attitude, our behavior and look for ways to make this day even more of a delight. If it is hard for us to keep this day holy, or it is not yet a delight for us. I would encourage you to accept the challenge in Ether 12:6..... it is not until after the trial of our faith that we receive a testimony.  Live the Sabbath day for a month, ask the Lord how you can hallow it and remember it like he has asked us too.  And after a month of living it, I would invite you to genuinely reflect asking yourself if it has not been a "delight" for you! :) I promise that if you do it with integro proposito... the Sabbath day will be a delight for you too.  And you will love it!!!

I love you allllll

Hermana Fardos!

Thank You for All of the Love!!

Hello Helloooooo!!

It’s meeee!!

Well, I have to just start by saying THANK YOU to the Pointer Family, Abu, and Mom for the all the love... I really appreciate it, you are such special people!

This week the sun is coming back out.... Yeah, that cold winter ice age phase has left the building and in comes the hot fire lava sun thing that sits in the sky above Paraguay!! Haha!! The temperatures are starting to rise. I’m excited to see what fun shoe tan lines await us this summer!! :)

My shoes had begun to wear out again... and a little faster this time... I actually walked 2 holes through them the other day!  (Don’t worry Mom, I still have a  pair of the Naots) But I needed one more to be good.  So last Pday, I actually bought a pair of Crocs (not like the old summer duck shoes) but these little sister missionary maryjane type shoes and they are SO very comfortable!  Asi que, Mom, I don’t think I’ll need shoes for the rest of the mission, we are good in that department and my feet are happy! Haha... I also won’t need any more socks. :)

Mañana will be the day when we find out who stays and who goes. *cue the music* ‘Should I stay or should I go now?’ Ha!!  There is always such anticipation right before changes!

This week has been good, although we worked really hard and we faced a lot of rejection, literally doors shut in our faces, people gave us back Books of Mormon -- it was really hard... But somehow it really strengthened my testimony of this gospel and this work. This is the Lords work :) And in spite of the discouragement, I feel blessed to participate in it. :)

I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ,  He and our Father in Heaven sit at the head of it, guiding us through their living prophets. I know that our Heavenly Father personally calls prophets to guide us, to give us current, modern-day revelation and help us learn how to live in a fallen world but without becoming part OF it. They teach us about the one and only way to return to the presence of our Creator.  I testify that Priesthood power is real -- I have seen it heal broken people. It is the same authority that the Lord used to create the world, heal the sick, and raise the dead -- and it is the same authority that He now entrusts the willing and worthy men of His church.  I testify the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know this to be true. I know that this book contains the fullness of the gospel, and that this sacred volume of scripture, with the Bible, leaves us with no unanswered questions. We can find all of the answers we could ever need to navigate this life and return to our Eternal Father. I know that Our Heavenly Father lives and loves us. I know that Christ, the Lord, is a perfect, resurrected being who LIVES like you and I live! :) And that their only desire is too see us all back in their presence one day!! :)

I love you all so much and I hope your week is wonderful!  Be good and take care!

Do something special today and make someone smile!! :)

Hermana Fardos   

Building Upon the Rock!

HELLOOOO! BOM DIA!!!! BAILAPORTE! HOLA!

We've got a little bit of everything right there, some English, Portuguese, Guarani, Spanish... just like this week, where we have a little bit of everything to tell too!! :)

To start... HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!  It kind of freaks me out seeing you so old and grown up ;)  You are lovely and I love you!!  I hope your day was fantastic!  I'll tell you what, for your birthday, you can go into my closet and claim 1 article of clothing!! ;) Haha!  I'm teasing, I'm teasing!! :)

Changes will be next week, this is week 6 and next Tuesday we will find out what's in store for us. Crazy how quickly time flies... Everyone's very quick in reminding me that I only have 4 changes left... Uhhhh, #NO, #imamissionaryforever... We aren't even going to start talking about finishing yet!!  Haha!

This week was great!  We are continuing to find more families -- and that is really secial for me!  This message we share, this message from our Heavenly Father is written FOR THE FAMILY!!  So it's really sweet and such a special thing to get to share His message with a whole family and every member in it!! :)

The family is really under attack these days, more than it ever has before -- and it will only continue... The adversary does not want good things for us, nor does he look to strengthen family bonds; but rather, He would start pulling at the seams.. looking to knock over even just one domino and hoping to start a downward spiral. It's the truth.  But the thing I love is that even though Satan's desire to destroy the family is real, and that is something that could invoke fear in any one of us -- we have no need to worry, no need to fear!! :) 

Mark 5:36 ...Be not afraid, only believe.

The family is ordained of God and thus, the family will be protected by Him until the very end. Our Heavenly Father stands at the front... leading us, guiding us and helping us avoid the arrows, the winds, the storms, the stumbling blocks... everything that the adversary would throw at us!

I love Matthew 7 and the story of 2 men, one was foolish and one was wise... But why was one foolish and what made the other man wise?  It was because the wise man's house was built upon the rock while the foolish man had built upon the sand. This rock, is Christ! He loves us and he will be our rock, our foundation and if we build our life upon that foundation, we will be able to withstand the storms of this life.

Heavenly Father is there, and has blessed us with everything we need to build our sturdy, eternal house upon the rock of Christ... but we have to build our house on that rock ourselves.  He will not build it house for us.  He has given us the tools to build and has shown us the blue print, His eternal plan of happiness.  Now he has put the tools in our hands and given us this chance to build! :)

I hope that everyone of us have our house built upon the rock so that when Satan comes forth with his winds and storms... our house will not be moved! :) Like most things in the gospel, the tools the Lord has given us are simple, yet secial.  They are prayer, scripture study, church attendance, and family home evening.  I invite every single one of us to look at our foundation and pick a spot where we can work a little harder to make sure our foundation is solid!

The blue print is there, the tools are in our hands... so, don't wait, let's start now and build on the rock of Christ and be not moved!! :)

I love you all and I know that the family is of God! Let us all work to protect it!! :)

Hermana Fardos

Joshua 24:2,15

Helaman 5:12

Jacob 4:16

Time continues to fly here!!

Hi there everybody! 

I dont have to much to tell this week. 

Basically we are all ready in week no. 5 of this 6 week change!  Crazy to think it's wrapping up. 

The weather has been realllllyyyy nice!  During the fternoon, the sun comes out and it's so warm! And it's so lovely until the 5 o'clock hour rolls around... then it gets so COLD!  But hey, the Spirit is nice and warm -- so we just walk as fast as we can to our appointments, get into the house and have a lesson so we can feel that warm Spirit otra vez and defrost a little bit!!  Ha! :)

We have an investigator, E.  She lives way out in the "selva¨ or jungle as we like to say!  She is married to an inactive member who has fallen into the vices of alcohol and cigarillos, but he's ready to clean up a bit.  E is so lovely, speaks SO much Guarani... (I am getting good Guarani practice there! Haha).  But the other day we felt prompted to visit her... it's a bit of a trek, but we felt it was important.  When we arrived, she came out of the house just drained, exhausted, and it was clear that she was not okay.  We found out that she has been fighting sinusitis and has been all by herself with nobody for the last week (becuase her husband works in Brazil).  We talked for a moment and since we were there and E was inclined to be taught, we began with a lesson.  We began to teach The Restoration and we started to tell her about how the Lord has given His authority to worthy men, here en la tierra. The same authority and power that healed the sick, raised the dead... as we continued teaching and she stopped in the middle of the lesson and told us how she she has faith that this healing power exists and said that she would like a blessing!  It was really special hearing her testimony right there about these truths even though she had only just heard them.  She has tremendous faith.  So, we started calling every brother in the Branch and nobody answered (naturally, it works out like that.) Haha!

I said a quick prayer before going back down the list of brethren to start calling them all again. When all of a sudden the Elders of our branch called and asked if we needed anything!!  Prayer answered!!  I told them YES! They came as quickly as they could to E's home (as quickly as possible, quiere decir 30 minutes... yeah, she really lives way out there!).  When they arrived, they spoke with her for a moment and then gave her one of the most powerful blessings ever!  They told her that she would be able to be healed according to her faith. The Elder spoke a few words regarding her physical state... and then he paused, then he began to speak such inspired words -- how she will be able to continue progressing in the gospel and that she will be able to make al the changes necessary to give her and her family the best life they can have... Eternal life.  It was so lovely!!   I'm so grateful for E and her sweet spirit, and for the Elders who answered the promptings of the Spirit to come and give her this blessing!

Unfortunately, that is all the time I have for this week...

I love you guys!

Be good and make someone smile!! :)

With lots of love!

Hermana Fardos

Blessed Are The Meek This Week!!

Hey there! Okay, well, hmmm this week...

Well, yea, I got super, super sick -- like fever, achy body, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, migraine... the works.  We had to cut 2 days of work short so I could go to bed early and recover.  I really needed it.  On the bright side, I feel A TON BETTER now, and our house is full of oranges to keep on top of our Vitamin C! :) 

THE WEATHER HAS BEEN BEAUTIFUL!! Not too hot and not too cold.... jusssttttt right! :)  That’s been such a welcomed treat! 

Other than that, there haven’t really been too many big events going on... it’s been a solid week of work and recovery!! Haha.

This week I studied a lot on being meek... I don’t think I had ever taken the time to study this attribute ever before.

Meekness is really quite special... it does not mean weakness. But it does mean behaving with goodness and kindness. :) 

According to writings from our General Authorities... "Meekness is the quality of those who are God fearing, righteous, humble, teachable, and patient under suffering... those who possess this attribute are willing to follow Christ and gospel teachings as a true disciple (however and under any condition that Christ sees right for us) and the temperment of meekness is more than self-restraint, it is calm, docile, tolerant, kind and gentle, reflecting strength, serenity and self-control."  Meekness is essential because it is crucial for other virtues like faith, hope, and charity.

As we take Christ’s name upon us... we also take upon us the duty of striving to become more like Christ EACH DAY (Matthew 5:48).  I really like that part... each day! 

We are blessed, because we have all been born with the seed of meekness in our hearts. We need to understand that it is not possible to develop and grow that seed in the twinkling of an eye or in a mere moment.  And it would be silly to expect others to change that quickly. We have all been given this time in this life to develop the gentle attributes of Christ :) but, we are human, and all imperfect... And because of this, we should strive to recognize the efforts of everyone :) asi que, and always remember it’s a process and takes time and can only be acquired by experience and effort.

As we acknowledge our shortcomings and strengthen our dedication and perseverance... the Lord will add upon us and give us what we are not able to obtain ourselves due to our imperfections and human weaknesses.

As we learn to control our temper, we will be able to cultivate that seed of meekness and grow in our likeness to Christ. 2 Timothy 2:24-26.

The humble and the meek have the ability to influence those around them to be the same. God’s promise to the humble is that He will lead them by the hand.  We will avoid the detours and sadness in our lives as we walk hand in hand with the Savior.

Christ faced the most extreme suffering, giving us the opportunity to change our spiritual character and become meek, even as He is.  We are not perfect, we are not saints -- that is, unless by saints you mean sinners who keep on trying (I believe that was Nelson Mandela quoted in Elder Renlund's conference talk). Let’s keep putting our best foot forward and this week look for a moment to serve! :) You guys know how to serve like the best of them!! :) You are all so amazing and so special!! I love you all so much!

Keep on keeping on!

Until lunes!

Hermana Fardos

Matthew 11.29

Moroni 10.32

Galations 5.22-25