Sierra's Mission President & Wife Brother & Sister McMullin

 

Mission President
Brother & Sister McMullin

 

Dear Family of Hermana Sanders:

We have been out of the office for several days and apologize that this letter is arriving a little late. We are so happy that your daughter has joined us here in the Paraguay Asuncion North mission!  We know that as she commits to work hard and be obedient to mission rules, and continues to study and seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost, she will have a great experience on her mission.  She will grow to love the people, she will be willing to pass through difficulties, and she will come to know and love her Savior in a more profound way than she has ever known.

We were able to give all the incoming missionaries some training on staying healthy, finances, mail, etc.  We were also able to learn about the history of the Church here in Paraguay:  the first missionaries to arrive, the building of the first chapel by the manual labor of the members (including Elder Robert E. Wells while he was employed in a prominent banking position here in the early 1960´s), the conversion of the Nivacle Indians, and the building of the temple.  We held a testimony meeting in Spanish, and we formed a choir and sang at a baptism.  We were able to enjoy some typical Paraguayan cuisine along the way too.  It was a wonderful day and we hope it was very worthwhile for your daughter.

Your daughter was also interviewed and met her trainer, Hermana Santos, who was specially chosen for her.  She was also trained to help your daughter in all the skills she will need to be a good missionary.  We hope you will enjoy these pictures that we are attaching as well.

Thank you so much for raising such a fine young woman who is so willing to serve her Father in Heaven and be a blessing to the people here and to her fellow missionaries.  We truly pray for them every day and are also committed to working diligently to help them in whatever they need to be happy and successful.

May the Lord bless you, and your daughter, for the sacrifices, the faith, and the love that you are extending to the people here.  Thank you for all of your support.

With much love,

Pres.  and Hna. McMullin

First Week!

Today at 9:17 AM

Well I don't really know where to start... my last week in the CCM was amazing. Elder Holland was able to give a fireside for the missionaries in Buenos Aires! there was over 900 missionaries there! it was amazing. We heard from his wife, and she is adorable!!! She has sooo much love, and such a sweet testimony! then we heard from HOLLAND!!! AMAZING!!! He just has a way to hit you with the Spirit!! It was such an amazing experience and is what I needed to hear. Well I don't remember if I told you that I had been praying that we would be able to hear from Elder Holland in the CCM and be able to meet him. I prayed everyday! And guess what... HE CAME!!! He ate lunch at the CCM with the other mission presidents and luckily he had time to talk to us for a bit! I really felt like he was just speaking to me. I have never felt the Spirit so Strong. I also couldn't help but cry the whole time. Then after we got to shake his hand and meet him! I was SO EXCITED!!! When it was finally my turn he grabbed my shoulder, shook my hand, and looked me in the eyes and told me that he loved me. I felt as though God was speaking through him and telling me that He loved me. I totally told Elder Holland that I loved him too! As soon as I went into the hall all the Hermanas came and hugged me! I was bawling! God really answers prayers, and meeting an Apostle was the happiest day of my life. I cant even describe my feelings. I wish I could call you all and tell you more details. It was amazing.

Well I am now in Paraguay. It is so different. Not sure how I feel about it right now.. It is like 100 degrees and it isn't even the hottest months yet. Everyone drives super crazy, and every time I am in a car I fear for my life. When we finally arrived my Mission President and wife picked us up. We drove to the Mission Office and ate lunch. Then we had a ton of meetings. We also got to visit the temple grounds and learn about the history of the church in Paraguay. Then we had a testimony meeting, and I bore my testimony in Spanish! Then we got to take some pictures at the temple before we attended a baptism! That was so cool! 4 people were baptized. All the new missionaries sang a special musical number for them. It was so cool! then we got to eat a hamburger sort of thing, which was REALLY good! After we all went to the hermanas house that we were staying at. It is crazy different. Super small, the walls are falling apart, the bathroom is nasty, there are bugs everywhere, and it is just dirty. But I lived! In the morning we went back to the office and had more meetings, surprise! Then the time finally came when we received our new companions! There was 4 North Americans and 3 Latinas. I was hoping for an American. They put the picture of the trainer on the screen, then the Greenie! I got an Latina that does not speak English. Her name is Hermana Santos. She is from Guatemala. She is super nice, it is really hard to communicate though. 

My house is about an hour away from Asuncion. Our area is in the middle of no where. We share our house with 2 other sisters. Luckily one of them is from California. Our house is supposedly one of the nicer houses. We don't have clean water, it is red half the time (from the dirt). Oh and that is if we have water, when it is really hot our water doesn't work. We don't have much, but it is way more than what the people we teach. I will try and send pictures sometime. The people here are very nice, but very poor. Our area is super poor. Most people don't have real houses. It is more like sticks and tarps or blankets or whatever they can find. There are no roads here. I walk on rocks everyday, it is like walking in a river bed. Some people have houses with actual walls, but they are very poor. The members feed us lunch, and everyday since I have been here I have had the same meal everyday, noodles and chicken. The members like to feed us plates full of food as big as my head! The first day I ate everything on my plate, and I felt like I was going to throw up! My companion was laughing at me because I ate everything! The members now know to feed me a lot less. They are all super nice though! We get to walk everywhere and it usually takes us an hour to get to houses from our house. My feet look and feel really good... It is also really hard to understand everyone because they don't speak correct Spanish, and they mix it with Guarani! So that is really fun... haha! I understand my companion though, which is good! I have learned so much Spanish, because that is all I do all day. It gets overwhelming at times though, and a little lonely. I pray for strength all day long. I though the CCM was hard... boy was I wrong. Everything is so different here. So poor. Hopefully next week we will have my first baptism though. We have lots of new investigators. The members are great. I am just living one day at a time. Thank you for all of your support and prayers. I love you all so much! Have a great week! 

Love, Hermana Sanders

I MADE IT!!!



I made it to Paraguay! It is so warm here, and there is red dirt every where! My mission Pesident and his wife is AWESOME!!! Sorry I wasn´t able to call you at the airport, but I am safe! I love you all so much! Tell everyone Hi, and that I love them. I will not be able to write you till next Monday! Can´t wait to hear from you! 

Love, Hermana Sanders



I´M LEAVING TO PARAGUAY!!!!!!!!!

I am finally leaving to Paraguay! I am leaving Tuesday morning at 4 AM Argentina time. My flight number is AR1260 and we depart at 7:20 AM. I don´t know when I will be able to call you. It might be before our flight, or once we make it to Paraguay. Just try and be up so I can talk to you. You guys are like 3 hours behind I believe. I love you all so much! I can´t wait to tell you all about personally meeting ELDER HOLLAND!!!!! Remind me if I can call you! And I will get to email you more next Monday! Love you!

 

Love, Hermana Sanders

God answers prayers!

    

     This week we received new missionaries.  It is crazy how young the Elders are.  One can definitely tell that they are younger too.   They have some maturity issues, but it is crazy how much we grow. I’ve only been here for a month, and I have grown so much!  I wish everyone I knew could be on a mission. I know this is going to be the BEST 18 months of my life so far.  Guys... I’ve been gone for a whole month!!! wow, time flies.  I feel like just yesterday I got off the plane.  On to 17 more months. wow!!!

     The other day our teacher Hermana Gutierrez wanted to see our family pictures. I first showed her one with me and my mom. She was shocked and at first didn’t believe that she was my mother. She kept saying how young my mom was. It was pretty funny.

     Oh, my companion became the new sister leader trainer, so pretty much she is awesome.  My Spanish is coming along, it is all finally sticking.  We had the best lesson last night.   We applied all that we have been learning and the spirit was so strong. The BEST lesson we have had yet!   I was so excited.  I just love it here, but I am so excited to leave in less than a week!  I can’t wait to teach the people of Paraguay!

     So... God answers prayers.  For the past couple weeks I have been praying of my favorite apostle, Elder Holland, to have the opportunity to come and speak to us. Enos 1:12.  Guess who is going to speak to us THIS Saturday!?!??! ELDER HOLLAND!!!!!!!!!!! He is my absolute favorite!  And it gets better... He is going to be at the CCM Sunday to eat, and hopefully we will be able to speak to us again!  I have never been happier in my live than when I heard that Elder Holland was coming!!!! This is going to be the best and last weekend EVER!

     Oh did I mention that I am suffering from a severe allergic reaction?  I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck... twice, and somehow I am still alive. Okay, maybe it isn’t that bad, but I saw the doctor, and I am on a ton of medication.  I am not allowed to go outside, which really stinks because i NEED to play volleyball.  They think something has just come into bloom, and I’m just reacting to something new.  Who knows, but I received a blessing and I know I will get better.

     Some good news, the new temple video is now available in our temple, so I get to watch that today.  Pretty excited.  I love you all, and thanks for all the prayers and support.  Oh, and I won’t be able to email you all till next Monday!

 

Love, Hermana Sanders

This Week´s Adventure

   

 Well it has been a more difficult week for me. My companion and I have been working towards building a stronger unity while teaching.  It has been frustrating for me because my progression isn't as rapid as my companion, so when we teach she is able to expound on her feelings, while I keep it very simple. I have been trying to participate more, and ect... it has been a struggle, but I am learning so much every day. I recently read in Alma 8:14-15 when Alma was discouraged because of the wickedness of the people. but an Angel came and visited Alma, he told him not to be discouraged, but to rejoice because he is following the Lords commandments. I have learned that I must put all my trust in the Lord, and that He will give me strength. I don't need to be discouraged as long as I am trying my hardest. Anyways I have learned so much here, it is the best. 

     I just love how much fun we have with our district. The joke for this week was all about pudding. I will explain. So, one day elder Eaquinto had forgotten his pudding at the dinner table. One of our sisters (Hermana Minks) brought it up to our class room and stuck it in his desk. He was totally surprised, and of course we all laughed...so the next day he decided to purposefully leave his pudding by the Hermanas. We in return hid a empty pudding cup in his desk, while our teacher hid the full one. E´ Eaquinto was so confused, and sad. Later we stashed his real pudding cup in his desk while he was away from his desk. So funny. the next day we decided to put a pudding cup in our teachers desk, and you must know that he LOVES pudding! and finally yesterday we all sat with our teacher at dinner and ate our pudding. It is just a little fun we have here while we are working soo hard ;)  

     This week when we went proselyting, well, it was different from last week. We were dropped off at a different location, due to the fact that in our last area some elders got robbed, so this new area was more wealthy, and it was in the suburb area instead of the city. It was a little more difficult.  We "knocked" doors, which really we found doorbells that were hidden all over the place.  It was like a hide and seek game and we found that that was not successful like at all. It is so easy for people just to hide in their houses.  We had 2 experiences that were pretty good though. One man told us he would go to church and was telling us something about cancer? oh, and he also told me that I needed to work on my Spanish more... I guess I don't have a large enough vocabulary for him.  But he was a sweet old man. Later we found this elderly couple who were not interested at all, but kindly they listened.  After we left some two blocks down the old lady found us. She told us we were angles for talking about Jesus to everyone, and asked if we would pray for a woman in which she had brought a picture for us to see. The woman had cancer. Then right before we left we ran into a bible basher, a Jehovah Witness. It was awesome... 

     Sunday we had a 24 hour fast, it was a really neat experience. I prayed that I would not be hungry, and guess what? I was not hungry the whole day! I definitely feel like it has helped me receive answers to my prayers, and that day I felt the spirit so strong throughout my church meetings. The church is true, and fasting really works! We also got to take pictures at the temple again, which was really fun! it is the last week for the North Americans that arrived before us. It was sad seeing them leave, and now we have like the whole CCM to ourselves until the new missionaries arrive.  All of us North American hermanas got to move into the same room, because they are remodeling the CCM. But it has been really fun. 

     I hope everything is going well with everyone, I love you all. I get to go to the temple today, and I am sooo excited. You are all in my prayers! LOVE YOU! 

Hermana Sanders