Weekly Highlights

Dear Family and Friends,

I truly hope that you all passed a wonderful Christmas with your families and that everyone has been filled with the love of God in this special time of the year.  It is my prayer that all year around we may continue to nourish this love in our hearts for all of our neighbors and search for the opportunities to make them happier.

Elder Evans and I were able to enjoy our Christmas a ton and it was a privilege for us to strengthen our faith and confidence in God and His Goodness.  Jesus really did give us a Consolador (Comforter or the Holy Ghost) to teach us and testify of the truths of God and thanks to the confirming touch of the Holy Ghost we receive a Peace that the World really cannot give us. John 14:26-27

John 14: 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my   name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

This past week at least every other day we have received a bunch of rain. We hear of entire cities that have been flooded out and won’t be able to habitate for the next 4 or 5 months, which is a bummer. However, here in Pirayu we do not face those same difficulties.

This week Sister Pascula arrived home from the hospital the 24th of December and still is not doing too great.  One of the sons of the Familia Bobadilla cut his leg husking corn with a knife.  Our best progressing investigator invited us to her Christmas Dinner Party and then ''Stood us up.''  So that made us really sad and then also didn’t come to Church so we will go back and see why they didn’t come to church this Sunday.   Our other investigator that is progressing was not able to convince his children to give him a ride to church so he could not come because his feet are BAD.

On Christmas Day we had our P-day and so we went and met up with the other elders and played some Basketball and went out to eat.

The Highlight of the Whole week came from being able to talk and see my family once again.  I love them so much and am undoubtedly grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ which allows us to be together FOREVER.

I love you all!
Take care,
Elder Call

Merry Christmas

Dear Family and Friends:

Merry Christmas!!!! This year actually we will not be having the privilege to Skype, but it is alright because I love you all tons. . . . Hahaha . . . , Christmas Day, however, the 26th the Cyber will be opened again and we will Skype and talk to you between 4 and 5 my time. We will start trying at 4. I can’t wait to see you all and hear your voice and updates there.

This past Wednesday we got to go to Ita, where we had a Christmas activity for the entire mission. It was great to see my old comps and actually Elder Cifuentes is in my first area and it was awesome to hear from them.

This week was great. Elder Evans has had a really hard time with this area, due to a hard last transfer, taking two families away from him that he was going to baptize. However, we both did a double fast this week and this Jorge Ortiz and his family, with whom we were introduced to their extended family and they are excited to learn a ton more. Also, we are working with Maria Servin, the mother of two inactive members and we taught them the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and when we invited her to become a member of this organization she was excited. We will be celebrating the 24th with them and sharing with them a little bit of the Call tradition of reading Luke 2 and sing carols.

I want to share with you a story that I received from Terry Brunson:

"A woman was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable, and after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids.

"She was feeling what so many experience during this season of the year: overwhelming pressure to go to every party and house warming, taste all the holiday food and treats, finding that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, making sure we don’t forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.

"Finally, the elevator doors opened. There was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car and dragged her two kids in with her along with all the bags of stuff. When the doors closed, she couldn’t take it anymore and she stated, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot.”

"From the back of the car, everyone heard a quiet, calm voice respond, “Don’t worry, we already crucified Him.” For the rest of the trip down in the elevator, it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

"May we slow down and reflect on the real reason for Christmas. .. . . . It is all about Christ!!!"

Let us remember where we would be without our Savior this Christmas season.

I love you all!

See you Soon,
Love, Elder Call

Most Powerful Thing

HI! Family & Friends:

Well, I am afraid that it will not be a white Christmas here in Paraguay.

As for this week, the elders from Caacupe were with us until Wednesday at about lunch.  While we were together we did a lot of divisions and Elder Bryan and I found a Beautiful little Family quite close to our house and we shared with them Tuesday and they wanted really badly to do everything so that they could be an eternal family. We shared with them once again on Thursday and they had read and were preparing to come to church. We went back on Saturday and the owners of the house had arrived and had sent them packing.  I guess they didn’t have a need that our family watch the house!!! It was devastating. We are not sure where they have moved to, because we had forgotten to ask for their phone number.

This area is hard. Out of the entire Branch of Pirayu there are only four people not counting the branch president and the missionaries that are worthy which makes it super hard because there is no example of how the new investigators should be like.  We have been working with them a ton and there is not much change at all.  We don’t know what we can do differently to help them.

We had also gone and talked very straight forwardly to the ex-branch presidente and kind of upset him.  However, latter that night he called and asked forgiveness and said that he would come to church this Sunday and he did and he brought some of his buddies.

Our plans for p-day today as well as almost every other p-day since we arrived here is to go to Caacupe, which in a bus takes 1hr and half to get there so that we can practice a song for the mission  Christmas party which will take place this Wednesday.

That is all folks!

My scripture of the week is Jacob 4:9, the Word of God is really the most powerful thing in the universe. May we conform our lives to its standards!!

I love you all
Love, Elder Call

Jacob 4:9 For behold, by the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure?

Just Obey

Hola Family & Friends:

Being here in the mission and talking around, I have learned a great truth more profoundly than I ever had. This truth is that I have the BEST Family Ever!!!! grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, especially my Parents and my brothers and greatly loved sister.  I have the best Family!!!!

AS for my week, it was cool.  We worked hard, as well as, we were able to give the branch president a boost to also go out and do some visits and we saw some fruits pay off.  That Ortiz family, that will not be able to be baptized for a long time, came again, as well as two other of our investigators, a little kid Nestor and his mother Mirna, which we were not expecting that they would arrive. It was awesome.  The only problem we are finding right now is that the members are not staying for the classes and they start little fights where they say stuff like, "Oh she receives the bishops storehouse why don’t I as well" but that will be able to be resolved with a little talking and understanding.

Tomorrow is the day of the Virgin of Caacupe and the tradition is that people walk from their house to go to Caacupe. So a lot of people have been passing by our house to walk to Caacupe. Also the missionaries from there are staying with us until Thursday, so that will be and is quite fun.

My scripture for the week is Alma 38:5 and I chose this scripture because of the promesa (promise) that is found in it about how we will be released from our trials in accordance to our confidence of Gods promesis.

I love you all and it is true, God fulfills his promises.  So do not doubt, Just Obey.

Love you tons!
Elder Call

Alma 38:5 And now my son, Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

It is True

Hello, Family and Friends:

How’s the temp up there? Down here in Paraguay it is going fine.  We had divisions on Tuesday and on Friday.  On Tuesday I left the area and Elder Evans and Elder Lopez stayed and visited the area.  It was a rough day to say the least.  Near 4 o'clock, Elder Evans called me and explained that they had just finished teaching Jorge and his girlfriend (our family of gold) and in the beginning, it was awesome and they explained how they had talked and thought about what we had taught them and know that it is true and want to be Baptized!!!!!! YEA!!!! But, further into the lesson, they explained the Law of Chastity and everything went down the drain because Jorge is married to another woman =( nooooooo not only that but he also has 2 grand in debt that he has to pay the government before he can receive a divorce.  Really that hurt because they were our only hope for a great little while.  Well, we will still pass by for them and teach them to help them work towards the day that they can one day be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ.

We have spent this week doing a lot of contactos and FHE in the home of several of the most fiel (faithful) members.  We have found several familias that have some potencial in the long term future.  One of the which is the ex pastor of the First Evangelica Church in Pirayu!!! I hope sooo badly that he becomes converted!!!

Elder Evans and I are doing well and having a good time with the area.  Only 15 members came to church this Sunday and the others I don’t know what their big problem is, but, hey, like Hannah says, “Mountains of doubt and/or hatred can be destroyed and removed by Jesus Christ.”  Let us place our confidence in the All powerful.

I love the season of Christmas. Everyone seems to remember Jesus a little more in their lives. They look for simple acts of service and love that they may express towards random strangers as well as family members.

This week was good we found four new families that are very content in allowing us to share with them. Each one of them sadly had their firm one that didn’t allow the other to progress.  But all the other members of the familias understood really well and wanted to do whatever it takes to live with their family forever.

I really do love this gospel and am so happy to have been born in a family who taught me these teachings since i was young.  They are True.

I love you,
Elder Call

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Family & Friends:

This week was another great week. Really I feel so good in this area and am having a great time. Sometimes I get frustrated, but not nearly as much here. It is weird, but I feel that anything really is possible here. I have never felt that before in my mission and I love it. 

This week was quite slow.  We were quite out of ideas and we have looked and found every member that has been baptized in this branch, while asking and looking for references and old investigators.  Elder Evans and I were not having any success and by golly; were we trying a ton of things because we don’t want this place to close down.  However, at the end of the week on Saturday we were looking for a member reference that an inactive gave us.  We could not find it for the life of us so we stop in the middle of the street and just start talking about what we could possibly do next and after about 10 minutes of talking and laughing, we decided to go back to a street that we had already asked around.  As we turned to walk that way the Spirit pushed me towards a house were a man was resting in his hammock.  When he saw me take two stumbling steps toward him, he sat up in his hammock and we decided that we would ask him.  He invited us into his home and it turns out that he had shared with the elders in San Lorenzo and had gone to church.  This man is named Jorge Ortiz and lives with his wife and two darling little boys.  He said he would come to church and he did =) =)  =) YEA.  That was awesome. 

This week 22 people were at church, nine of them were men and three were the children.  It was beautiful to see and it now means that we have a ton of work to do to help them clean themselves up and get rid of their bad habits. 

The family in the foto is the family Perira and we are preparing them to go to the temple and be sealed together forever. From the time that we have focused on the temples in their lives, they have really changed and they look so much better and really shine with happiness.

The gospel is true! The temple is the house of God!  It is what makes the church so amazing. We are so blessed to be members of this wonderful church.  May God be with you ‘til we meet again.

Love,

Elder Call  

Hot Week

Hey Everyone:

This week was HOT!!  Yesterday afternoon cooked me.  I actually almost took a shower from the spigot of a member’s house and Elder Evans at the end look like he really did.  So, yea, it is getting HOT.  The humidity takes it out of us, but today it is raining and so that is super nice.

Last Monday, we went to the Lake of Yparcari and enjoyed the beautiful view.  We had the desire to do some fishing and swimming, but kept the rules.

Here are some pics of the lake:

Elder Evans is fine this week and so am I.  However, the former branch president of the branch arrived from Argentina on Tuesday and has been visiting all the members.  The only bad part is that he has a hatred for the current branch president and is completely against him. We sadly dropped down to only 13 members that came to church.  Many were working or used the excuse that yesterday was the day of “voting for the leaders of Paraguay.  So also we saw a lot of drunk men and women last night.  It was super sad.  This week we did actually find a few new investigators, some that have already dropped investigating but we are working with several others.

We had divisions on Thursday and went back to teach Rosa and Jorge and we shared straight up only of Jesus Christ from the words of King Benjamin and they showed great desires to marry and get baptized. That was super exciting, however, we have to convince Jorge’s mom to support them and give them help, not tear them down or it will never work.

I have seen the strong power of the words of the Prophets testifying of the love of Jesus Christ and change even the hardest of hearts.  Although, I have also seen others similar to Korihor who after hearing them, knows that they are true and deny’s them again.  It is sad to see that happen.  But when they harken unto the words of God they achieve the immense joy of the redemption.

I love you a ton and hope you all have a wonderful week.
Love,
Elder Call

Hannah shared the pictures sent to her.  Remember the lunch a couple of weeks ago with the cow head?

Blessings of the Atonement

Hey Family and Friends:

This week was pretty good.  On Monday, Elder Evans still didn’t feel very good and woke up Tuesday feeling super bad, so we went to the hospital and got him fixed up and good to go.  We spent that night in the officina because of a protest from the bus drivers wanting better condiccions.  We got back Wednesday and got to work.  We found some old investigators that almost were baptized but then didn’t because their grandma doesn’t like it. However, they said that they wanted to go to church again and learn more. They are Claudia and Mishel.

This week we also had called and set up another appointment with Carolina and Noemi but after walking 3 km to their house and waiting for them for 20 minutes, they said that there was no male in the house soooo, we couldn’t teach them.  They insisted that they were going to come to church but didn’t make it.

On Saturday, at about 8:15, we were on our way home and we felt a strong impression to applaude (knock) at a house and a BIG man is leaving the house, sees us, and says, “ELDER’s come on in.”  So we entered into his one room house and got to talking with him and his wife.  It turns out that Pirayu does have someone endowed.  The man had served a mission in Argentina and had become inactive for some time.  We shared about the Atonement and the sacrifice that Jesus had done for us and the room filled with the Spirit and changed his heart.  Sunday, he and his wife showed up as we began singing the opening hymn and they enjoyed their time back in the church.

Well this week 5 of the others didn’t make it to church and 3 new ones did go, so the attendance was 22 this week.

Oh my scripture this week is Ether 2:14.  I love it because of the importance that the Lord has for prayer.

Love you tons!
Love, Elder Call

Ether 2:14 And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord.

Joy, Rain & Migraines

Hey Mom, Dad, Family and Friends:

This week was another joy filled week with LOTS of rain and lots of migraines.  My comp has had a migraine since Wednesday night and has lots of problems with his back.  Two of his cartilage between his vertebras has disappeared and is one little bugger for him.  I worked him until we took the Sacrament to a lady that doesn’t have the means to partake of the Sacrament and then we rested Sunday with the hope that it would get better.  We will see where it goes.

The Pirayu Branch President lives in a different branch, but serves in Pirayu. We do have several potencial (potential) holders of Sacerdocio (Priesthood), they just need to repent and make some considerable changes in their lives

As for the past week, we worked a lot with the members and when we were not with them we were applauding (clapping or knocking) at doors and learning the area.  We found 2 potential members of the church named Carolina and Noemi, who are actually related to some members here.  They accepted the baptismal invitation; however, they did not make it to church.

On Saturday, we received a phone call from some members that live 6 km from the church, inviting us to come and eat the head of a cow with them and that was a sweet experience.  I think I will prepare that for you guys when I get home so that you can try it out!!!

Really, we feel super good here in this area.  My comp is amazing and blessings are pouring in.

Thanks for everything and my scripture for the week is Heb. 10:32, which reminds me of the great fight that Satan puts up after we receive spiritual confirmations and revelations.

Love,
Elder Call

Hebrews 10:32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;

Transfers!!!

Hello Family and Everyone else who is important!!! :)

Tuesday, many of my prayers had been answered, as I was informed that I would be leaving Posta Ybycua. I said my goodbyes and taught my investigators one last lesson on the Love of Jesus Christ and then packed my bags. On Wednesday morning I was informed that Elder Jordan Evans from South Jordan, Utah, would be my next companion and that we would be serving in Pirayu, in another Whitewash!!! We took the bus and moved in. I have to say if all of Paraguay was like Pirayu, I could live here for the rest of my life!!! I LOVE it!!! There are tiny mountains and stuff all around, like little streams similar to Cole Creek Canyon and it just feels like home!!! Everybody knows everybody they are open to talk and are just good people with confidence.

Here in Pirayu, we are a small Branch, where the asistence (attendance) the past 3 weeks have been 12, 13, and most recently 9.  We have been informed that we have 2 changes (transfers) to raise the attendance or the branch will shut down!!! It was so crazy!  So we put the new line on the pole and went hard this week.  We saw the fruits of our work and love with 27 lovely people in the church; however, there were no Priesthood holders from the area of Pirayu.  This week we have a couple of activities planned with them and we will have one awesome time.  We are teaching two gals that are familia to a family that were baptized one year ago.  We have some work to do with them so that they can enter into the Temple.

This past week I have been studying the last several chapters of Matthew and learning of the amazing love that Jesus offers us and of the sacrifice he did for us.  They are probably my favorite scriptures of all time.  Studying the Redeeming love of Jesus Christ led me to choose 2 Nephi 1:15 *encircled about eternally in the arms of His love.* We are forever indebted to our Father in Heaven.  May we serve Him to the end of our lives.

I love you all!! Choose the Right!!
Love, Elder Call

2 Nephi 1:15 But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.

Look closely, there are four children in the tree!

Quite a Good Week

Dear Family & Friends:

The week of the 12th of October to the 18th was quite a good little week. I am afraid to say that we were not able to excite any of our investigators to have the desire to attend church on Sunday, but we did have an in-active mother of a kid named Jose that can be baptized. Also, we are working with a couple of her friends and everything will turn out all good.  We had been working with her since I arrived here so that was a great surprising blessing.

On Tuesday, we had a FHE with the Family Flecha but Gloria was a bit disappointed, because she had been reading and prayed to God to know if this was true and didn’t receive an answer.  So, we had to explain that the answer might not come at the first attempt but that she could not read the entire Book of Mormon without receiving the confirmation that it was and is true.

With Daniela and Belinda and the family, Daniela had to go and work again on Sunday and her kids stayed in bed.  So they didn’t end up making it to church, but Belinda is reading quite a bit and Daniela just a little bit. But they are reading!!!!

My ponderizer this week is 1 Nephi 2:4  I chose this scripture because as I was reading this verse it told me, “hey these are the things that really matter in life; family, food and tents.  It sounds like an awesome Family activity for the weekend!!!

Love you all,
Elder Call

1 Nephi 2:4 And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness.

Be Happy

Well Family and Friends:

What a crazy week!  It started out with divisions with the other elders in Posta ybycua, which was just fine.  I was with my last comp and also I could convince Javier, a teenager from Posta Leiva, to accompañarnos, which was a blessing in and of itself.  We had a great time visiting a couple of kids.

On Wednesday, we went and had a FHE with a family of recent converts, the Family Gomez, which, their lives are so sad.  They live in an 8 by 8 house, if you could call it that.  It was constructed by some Palm tree trunks and the walls are plastic bags.  I need to take a picture of it.  But they are awesome and had a friend there to teach, which was a pleasant surprise.

Thursday, we had divisions and I went and performed some interviews for baptism which were awesome.

Saturday we were able to teach the familia Flecha once again and Gloria is reading. Whew! some progress. We were debating on whether or not to drop her. But yes, little by little.

Sunday, it was still raining and almost no one came to church, but it was really good and the testimonies were strong.

My scripture for this week is D&C 88:74.  I love it and chose it because here it tells us what we need to clean, to permit Jesus to clean us, we have to lay everything on the table, so to speak, in the repentance process or we can’t be cleaned. We cannot try to hide anything.

I love you!  Thank you for your great support.  I love this Gospel.  It is true and WE CAN BE HAPPY IN EVERY SITUATION.

Love,
Elder Call

 D&C 88:74  “And I give unto you, who are the first laborers in this last kingdom, a commandment that you assemble yourselves together, and organize yourselves, and prepare yourselves, and sanctify yourselves; yea, purify your hearts, and cleanse your hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean;”

General Conference

Dear Family and Friends:

The days long hoped for have come and gone in a majestic and beautiful way. This last weekend we had the privilege of hearing from our beloved prophets of God.  These men are truly ordained by God, the Eternal Father and His Son, Jesus Christ; to guide their beloved Kingdom here on Earth.  They have a great responsibility to share the gospel to all the world.  I was super blessed to be able to watch General Conference in the great language of Spanish and English.  I listened to Saturday in Spanish and Sunday in English.  I was saddened that all the great people we had invited to come and partake of this amazing blessing rejected the chance of knowing how they can find love, peace and joy in their own lives.  I loved the idea of “Ponderize.” One scripture every week and starting today I will share my scripture every week.  Mine is Micah 6:8 and I love it, because, it tells us three things that we need to do: work justly, Love mercy, Walk humbly.  If we are able to keep in mind these three attributes, the greatness and goodness of God will be over us.

I hope that all those that were listening to this great conference were able to feel the amazing love God has for everyone and the spirit testify that He has called three new Apostles to govern His kingdom.

I love you all and wish you all the blessings of the Lord to come your way this week
Love, Elder Call

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Horrible But Good Week

Dear Family and Friends:

Well, this week was horrible but was good. In other words it was crazy!!!  So, yea, the elders that I have had to deal with haven’t been the best of elders and I didn’t want to do divisions with them, out of fear that my companion and the other missionary wouldn’t work.  Well, we had to do divisions to go and perform a baptismal interview for Elder Rodriguez and Rojas.  I went with Elder Rodriguez and did the interview.   However, during the interview I received a ton of calls from the Zone Leaders with information that my comp and Elder Rojas were well out of their area, visiting some families from their previous zone.   So not to bad, but a couple of days back I had received a call from the assistants with other concerns; which I allowed to frustrate me the whole week.  Anyways, interviews with the President Wilson were Friday and Saturday.  I received a new companion.  My new comp is named Elder Ostler from Holiday, Utah and is really cool.  We are going to be able to have a load of success together.

Elder Call & Elder Ostler

Elder Salinas and Elder Call

We were blessed to be able to teach and have Gloria and her child, Alexajader, come to church this Sunday and they are making great progress.  They are super excited for General Conference.

Well that was about the week here.

I am so grateful that God blessed the earth with prophets to teach and testify of our escape plan, which, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to live in a time period where we have the blessing to have Prophets and Apostles of God living today, to give us the needed guidance in our lives, so that we can know how to return to the presence of God.  May we see that as we apply the counsel that the Prophets give us this upcoming General Conference, we will receive blessings.

May God Bless You Always!!!

Love,
Elder Call

Pray

Dear Family and Friends:

Wow what a week!! First of all, on Tuesday, we found some great people, they are from the Pentecostal Church and are really receptive. However, we have not been able to teach the head of the house, the Dad. The mother, Silvia, is really receptive but the first time that we shared with them, the grandma was sharing with us and she is Catholic and was not happy with the teachings of the baptism.  However, they still have not asked God if what we are sharing is true. I don’t understand why it is so hard for the people to pray and ask God questions.

On Wednesday, we found a nice, really active Catholic family which took us by surprise, Gloria, papa and mama and grandkid, Alexajador. We have to go in and teach about the prayer a lot better because the grandma only knows Padre Nuestro and in the first lesson she offered that to finish.  It was kinda funny.
On Thursday, we had divisions with the Zone Leaders and I had my first baptismal interview, everything went well.

The new area is good.  The ward has an average attendance of about 50 members and this week three inactive families, that we visited, came and we had an attendance of 73 people.  If the attendance is not raised, the ward will be cut down to a branch.

It is awesome to see the changes that take place in the lives of the people when they accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that through Him we as children can do all things which are necessary for the salvation of mankind.

Remember, repentance is a continual thing.  Every day it is required to kneel down before our Maker and beg for Mercy looking toward works of Justice.

Love you all!
Elder Call

New Area

Family and Friends:

Changes were this past Wednesday and I left the area of Coronel Oviedo.  Now I am in Posta Ybycua, which is a ward of about 50 active members.  It is about to drop down to a branch if we are not able to raise the amount of active and worthy holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood. My new companion is Elder Salinas from Nicaragua and we get along super well.  We are always laughing a bunch. So it is super fun, but we have a lot of work to do to make sure that this ward flourishes.

Yesterday, we had Stake Conference and sadly our investigators were not able to come or didn’t want to come.  So we have a lot of work.  In the past change, Elder Salinas wasn’t able to get anyone to come to church so we will change that up a bit.

I love you all and only wish that you all keep in mind the things that really are the most important, which is primarily the FAMILY. SPEND TIME with them and TEACH them how to appreciate the activities of God. Now read Alma 37:46 and remember to build the kingdom of God.  It takes WORK.  Go gettem boys!

I love you,
Elder Call
 
Grandpa is headed off for a cruise!!?? Please tell him that I love him and want the best for him.  Send him my appreciation that he was and is so faithful to my Grandma.

Also, please tell Grandma Jensen that I miss her homemade bread and that I love her for the daughter that she raised.

Hey, what do you hear from my cousins that are in the mission? Jackson, Cado and Carbon?  I met an elder today that one of his friends is being trained by an Elder Call in Guatemala.  I thought that it just could be Jackson?

Quite a Week

Dear Family and Friends:

This week was quite a week!  We started out good and ended well.  On Tuesday we had divisions and I stayed here with Elder Cosby and we were able to find a ton of people and one family that seems to be really good.  Their names are Gabriela Diego Verona y la mama.  They had moved not too long ago and are looking for a new church to attend!!!!!  Yea, perfect and the uncle of the grandma Gabriela is a Mormon!!  Well, even though they wanted to come to church they had an inconvenience and the grandma and the mom had to go and work, which is weird because, normally they do not work Sundays.

Wednesday, we went to Pindaty and visited everyone out there and also found a great family. However, I don’t remember their names. They are neighbors to some less active members and with some time, I believe they too will come to the church. The only problem is that they are more than a hours walk from our house and we only go out there on Wednesdays.  While we were out there we also did a little bit of Paraguayan fishing and ended up with 8 little buggers for lunch.  They make for great flavoring for a soup.  Justin, I don’t know why you don’t like the fish down here porque los caldos son riquísimo (because they are very tasty)!!! {Aww, that put my mind to work!! Haha}

The rest of the week was spent looking for new people and as a result we found Rosa and Liz, who are just awesome.  The mom, Rosa chose to join the church 7 or 8 months back.  They make empanadas of mandioca which were really good.  (Madioca is a root veggie like potatoes that are common in Paraguay.) The only problem that I can see in the future is that the step father does not like Mormons!!! Liz came to church, but Rosa was not able to get away.

Alan is doing really well. This week he worked, so next week he will come to church. However, we were still able to teach him yesterday the Law of Chastity and he is going to try, try, try, to live it. And best of all he still wants to join the church!!! Yea

That’s the report folk’s.  Hasta Luego.
(Elder Call)

Elder Call

Elder Cifuetes

Highlights

Dear Family & Friends:

This week was our last hard push with the Rojas family.   We work hard with them this week so that at least their kids can grow up and remain firm in the gospel.  However, they are not keeping the compromisos (commitments) so we are going to drop them now for good.

The highlight of this week was that on Friday Elder Walter Gonzales came to Paraguay and we were taught by him.  It was a great day where we learned more techniques and methods to teach and help our investigators complete their compromisios; helping them find their own solution to their problems and their difficultly of keeping the commandments.

Sunday was our District Conferences and we had the privilege to hear from Elder Richard Scott and Elder Quentin L Cook.  They were great talks and expressed their concern for this area because there are 33,200 missionary aged young men in this area and only 890 are serving missions currently.  That is less than 1 in 30 kids leaving for a mission.   Also, they talked a lot about the Sabbath Day and the need and manners that we can change to make this day holy.

Alan this week was not able to come to church because two of his family members were jumped and robbed this week and his parents called a family reunion, to set up some rules and guidelines to follow, so that things like this don’t pass again.  And this reunion just so happened to be Sunday morning.

And that is all folks!
Love you all,
Elder Call

Dear Dad:

This week was tranquilopa (tranquil)! Then Wednesday, we found a bit of service to do in the home of Juan Delgado who is an ex-president of Rama 1 (1st Branch) but inactivate. We are teaching a lady with her son, Naris and Lucas, who has a nephew that participates in Special Olympics and a few weeks ago he went to Miami to play for Paraguay.  It was the best, because participating in Special Olympics was one of the things in high school that I liked more than anything else,.

Thank you for everything.
I love you very much!
Elder Call

Blessed Week

Well, hello to all you folks back home:

Paraguay writing here.  As for the report this week, it looks to be that we had a pretty blessed week.  It started out with a good stinkin’ day of divisions with the Zone Leaders on Tuesday.  Then we were blessed with the beautiful landscape of Pindaty the following day, where we found several members that are inactive that I had not known existed.  As a result some of them came to Church on Sunday!!! Yea!!! Thursday was filled with allowing lots of people drain their emotions and feel the comfort of Christ. However, for some reason they don’t want to change yet.  But we will see what can happen. Alejandra is awesome and a super good girl but her mom is a big grumpy pants and didn’t allow Alejandra to come to church yesterday. =( As for Alan, yesterday, was when he had to go to work. He works every other Sunday.  We taught him leccion (lesson) 3 and the Sabbath day, to see if he is willing to drop his work to attend the church.   However, he wasn’t sure about that and said he has to think about it. That and he is worrying a lot about his family.  I hope that the same thing doesn’t pass with him like it passed with Evelyn who by the way is good but doesn’t want to go to church. Everything is going great and there are huge blessing to come to pass. God loves us and protects us and we can have a good attitude in every situation that we find ourselves in.

Love you all,
Elder Call

A Good Week

Dear Family & Friends:

Leongino is 77 years old and lives alone.  His family hates him for choosing to be baptized, but he really doesn’t care.  Yesterday, he escaped from his house super early in the morning so he could come to church.  He will be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood next Sunday and will be able to continue living true to the faith of our Father in Heaven.

This week was good.  However, the mission as a whole has taken a huge drop in the people of whom we are baptizing, which is sad to see.  I believe that the missions view as a whole, including mine, has taken a big whiplash with everything, but with time we will learn how to become better and then we will be back to baptizing like we had before as a mission.

The work here is going well.   We have begun working a ton more with the members, both the actives and non-actives, so that we can help their friends and family be baptized.  Thanks to those efforts, Alejandra and a young man by the name of Alan Aquino were able to attend church.  Alejandra is a good friend of a member and we have not yet been able to teach her.  Alan is the boyfriend of one of the most active girls in the branch.  This was his second time attending the church and loves it a lot. He is 20 years old and has a character muy serio (very serious character).  He thinks a lot and about four years ago had stopped going to another church because he realized that it wasn’t real (true). Yesterday, we had the privilege of teaching him the Plan of Salvation and it was spectacular.  Then at the end of the lesson he said to himself “I believe that I have found my path.”  It was awesome.  In all reality God exists He loves us and this plan, which we teach, is true.  The Spirit of God testifies of this and we have the privilege of telling everyone about it.

Love you all!
Love,
Elder Call

Scrumptious Week

Hello Everyone!

This week was nice. On Monday, we tested out the famous recipe of Dixie's Spudnuts and they turned out wonderful.  I only burned the first batch because the oil was too hot, but other than that all of them turned out scrumptious.  On Tuesday, we headed out to Pindaty for the first time in a really long time and the Family Cardoso was pleasantly pleased with our surprise visit. There has been a bit of a problem though, because we can no longer hitch-hike out there.  It takes an hour and half to walk out there then and hour and a half back, so it sucks up the time that we have to find people.  On Wednesday, we had a capatacion de zona (zone conference) where several rules where added as to what we can and cannot do.

My companion and I are getting along quite well. He is a convert as of 7 years and is super. He has two brothers younger than him and they are members, but his parents no son miembros (are non-members).

On Saturday, a man by the name of Leongino, a man of 77 years of age, was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ for the remission of his sins.  I was privileged to be able to perform the ordinance for him.  However the church is having some technical problems here and the water just quits randomly and doesn’t work, so the same thing happened this Saturday and we only had 2 tiles of water to baptize him in.  It had to be done 3 times to do it correctly.

And one more soul is permitted to enter in the kingdom of God.

Love you all!
Love,
Elder Call

Dixie’s (Nona's) Spudnuts
2 Cup scalded milk                                         1 1/3 Cup sugar
1 Cup shortening                                            4 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons yeast                                      2 Cups warm water
4 eggs, at room temperature                          Enough flour for a sticky dough

Put the shortening in a sauce pan and melt it then add the milk and salt and stir until warmed.  In a bowl mix 2 Cups of flour, sugar, and yeast with water and stir well.  When milk mixture is lukewarm, add eggs and then mix into the flour mixture.  Continue to add flour till you are able to knead the mixture into a soft ball.  Let rise till double.  Roll out on a oiled surface and let rest for about 10 minutes.  Cut and let rest again about 10 minutes. Deep fry - While still warm glaze.

Glaze:
1 Cup warm milk                                    2 Tablespoons corn syrup
1 Tablespoon vanilla                             1 - 2 pound package of powdered sugar

Heat milk and add corn syrup, stir till dissolved and milk is warm.  Add vanilla and powdered sugar and stir till lumps are gone and glaze is smooth.


Optional:  If you don't want to glaze you can dip freshly fried donuts into powdered sugar or granulated sugar.
Also you can make a thicker frosting and frost.

Same Area, New Companion

Dear Family and Friends:

Well, we received the news Tuesday that Elder Vega was headed out of Coronel Oviedo and that I would stay to continue the work here in this wonderful land.  So with that being said Elder Vega desired to visit and say thanks to all the great members here.  It was good.  He was a good missionary and the people enjoyed being around him.  Wednesday, I met up with an elder coming from Caaguazu and spent the time with him until my comp arrived.  My new comp is Elder Cifuentes from Colombia and has been a convert for 7 yrs.  He really is great and has a happy actitud (attitude) about everything.

 We have spent the week getting to know as many members as he can, so that he can have an idea of who lives in our area.  We ended up not being able to meet with Evelyn this week.

This week I have been reading in 3 Nephi and came across chapter 22 vrs. 13-17 and the servants of the Lord have a sweet blessing but there are many people who lose this faith/hope and begin to say stuff like Chpt.24 verses 13-18 (I think).  But yea, just remember the service given in the Kingdom of God does not go unblessed.

I love you all!
Elder Call

Oh and if you could, I would love to receive fotos (photos) of the progress of the temple every 2 weeks or so just to see how it is coming along.

3 Nephi 22
13 And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
14 In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression for thou shalt not fear, and from terror for it shall not come near thee.
15 Behold, they shall surely gather together against thee, not by me; whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall revile against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

3 Nephi 24
13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say: What have we spoken against thee?
 14 Ye have said: It is vain to serve God, and what doth it profit that we have kept his ordinances and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?
 15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
 16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard; and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.
 17 And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
 18 Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

The New Mission President

Today we received a letter and picture from Dallin's new mission president and his wife.  Here is what it said:

Dear Call Family,

On July 1st, 2015 we were called to preside the Paraguay Asunción Mission. It is a great privilege for us to serve with Elder Call here in this beautiful country.

Recently we had an all-mission meeting and were able to meet all of our fantastic missionaries. After taking a picture together, we had a training meeting and special lunch. Attached in this email is the picture we took together with your missionary.

We thank you for your support and love for this great work.

With thanks,

President and Sister Wilson

Life Goes On

Dear Family:

So transfers will be this Wednesday and it will be a coin toss to see who will be leaving the area. This week we spent contacting a ton, dropping almost all of our investigators, because they aren’t progressing and continue fighting against the Spirit.  Thanks to the tradiciones (traditions) that have been planted in their minds.  So we were able to find a bunch of new and super friendly people who all had the same excuse this Sunday, “I have to go vote, but the next Sunday, we will put our effort in going.” So thanks to elections this week many people had a great excuse to decide not to attend the reunions.

This past Wednesday, we had interviews with President Wilson which are always super good but very quick and I was able to receive a new temple recommend because I lost mine in the colectivo (bus), two weeks ago traveling to Asuncion.

The other day we talked to the mother of Evelyn.  It has been close to one month since we have been able to talk and meet with Evelyn, and her mom, Mirna, told us that she is concerned for her daughter and that she has fallen again and isn’t as happy as she was when she was meeting with us. However sad it might seem and the heartache that it gave when I heard that, it just might have been exactly what Mirna needed to see, to allow and support the decision of Evelyn to be baptized!!!! So, we will be talking more tomorrow and start sharing with her once again!!

The Church is led by God himself, who has called a prophet and given him the power to perform all of the saving ordinances of the gospel.  Only one man can possess that power on the earth at one time and his name now is Thomas S. Monson, the prophet of God in the latter days.

I love you and Life goes ON!!!! Christ is resurrected!

Love you all,
Elder Call

P.S.  We received the package.  It was an amazing surprise.  It arrived super fast.   Elder Vega was super excited to have his bottle of Mapleline.  So, thank you from the bottom of my heart and Elder Vega says hi and thank you as well.

One Year

Hello to my Mother, Family and Friends,

So, this week it finally stopped raining and Thursday, and we saw the sun.  Everybody has a ton of clothes hanging on their fences and anything else they could hang their clothes on to dry the things out.

Wow, so officially, one year has come and gone and now the life of the mission is half way over. The things I have learned greatly here in Paraguay, is that every blessing is inseparable tied to a law in heaven and if we complete the law we will receive the blessings!!!

Way too often, we as humans say to God, “Perfect, if you want me to go to church, then give me a job where I only have to work Monday thru Friday and then I will be sure that I won’t miss a single Sunday.'' Or, “if you want me to stop smoking, take away my life problems, so that I can find peace and comfort without having to rely on cigarettes, and then I will stop smoking.'' But that is the opposite of how the things work; because the blessings and miracles come after the trail of our faith. Really, the need to humble ourselves before the counsels (consejos) of the Lord is essential. If we exercise our faith, then we will become strong to the point where we will not fear.

Mom, my hernia just continues as it is, sometime bothering me, but the vast majority of the time without any pain.

I have looked into sending a package to you guys, but I have been told that to send 1 kg to the States, it will cost 450,000 Guarani’s, which is almost 100 dollars, so that isn’t going to happen.

The Paredes’ family told us this past week that they don’t want to continue or change religions because we don’t believe in Saints and don’t recite things.  We explained it all to them and they understood but still don’t want to change.

The Rojas family is doing great.  I allowed them to barrow the cartoons of Living Scriptures of the Book of Mormon and they really enjoyed them. We had planned and prepared for the baptism of the uncle, Mario, last Saturday, but he ended up not coming and hid from us Sunday. We will see what occurred there and how we can be of help.

We were able to find a family, the Arce’s, of which one of the daughters is already a member but isn’t active.  They are great and we will see if we can help get them to the Church. They are super nice and many missionaries have passed and worked with them but the last ones that had visited them were two years back.  So we will see what can be done.

I love this Gospel and all that it entails, because, it holds all the truth in the world, even to the point where Joseph Smith summed it up by saying, “Well folks, the thing is that us Mormons believe anything and everything that is true and that is what Mormonism is.  Really search for truth and learn from the greatest books on earth.

I love you all and hope for the best.
Elder Call

New Mission President

Dear Family and Friends:

This week we were blessed to travel to Asuncion, to meet our New Mission President. They are super awesome and the changes that he has made left the missionaries speechless there.  So the thing with this mission has been a huge focus on baptism, baptism, baptism; all about the baptisms, even to the point that the zone leaders had told us that the only thing that President Agazzani really cares about are the baptisms.  And so that was what almost everyone had in mind and heart. President Wilson, thanks to inspiration, is changing this attitude with focusing on the conversion of the people, not just leading them up to the waters of baptism.  So many of us have had to repent and are working on molding our minds to the better view of the Work.  On the bus ride home that afternoon/evening, Elder Vega and I were able to have the bus guys play the video, “The Testaments” on the bus TV, so that everyone could watch it.  After it finished there were many people who shouted, saying, “Hey, have you guys another one?  We would like to watch another.”  But, we didn’t have another one.  It was so great!  Tons of people liked it. And then, Sister Jenson took the responsibility of passing out the Book of Mormon to those who wanted it.

Hey, so the Paredes’ family is doing good.  The wife has dropped smoking now and is doing great.  This Wednesday, she is going to take us to the house of her aunt so that we can meet with her. However, Saturday night her sister gave birth and she had gone to help her with that and spent the night over with her.

The Rojas family (the little kids that were just baptized) all came to church yesterday even though it rained the entire time that we were walking and after arriving at the church it cleared off and turned into a beautiful day.

It rained a ton this past week and the roads were very pretty. haha

I love being a missionary and having this opportunity to help my brothers and sisters in all aspects of their lives.  The phrase that says “give a man a fish and it feeds him for a day; teach a man to fish and it feeds him for a lifetime,” can be taught similar, “You can give men a scripture and feed him for a moment, you teach a man to study them you feed him for a lifetime.” I love you all and hope that you are studying the scriptures with diligence.

With love,
Elder Call

The bio of Dallin's new mission president:

Paraguay Asunción Mission

Sergio A. and Susana Wilson

Sergio Agustin Wilson Birriel, 53, and Susana Ramos de Wilson, three children, Centro Ward, Durazno Uruguay Stake: Paraguay Asunción Mission, succeeding President Pedro D. Agazzani and Sister Maria E. Agazzani. Brother Wilson serves as a mission presidency counselor and is a former stake president, stake presidency counselor, branch president, bishopric counselor, and ward financial clerk. Maintenance official, air force. Born in Rosario, Colonia, Uruguay, to Edgar Noel Wilson and Ines Graciela Birriel.

Sister Wilson serves as a Gospel Principles teacher and is a former Relief Society presidency counselor, ward Young Women president, institute teacher, ward Relief Society teacher, and Sunday School teacher. Born in Durazno, Durazno, Uruguay, to Saul Ramos and Luisa Elsa Ramos.

Awesome Week

Dear Family & Friend:

That is super sad to hear of his (President Packer’s) passing away, but it was time, I guess. God has everything timed out.  It is perfect, because He is perfect.

As for the week and the things that made it awesome was, first, of all on Tuesday, we went to Asuncion to eat a lunch with President Agazzani and say goodbye to him as a mission. The whole event took the entire day with the bus rides and everything, so we didn’t have time to go and work. But, at the lunch everyone was there so of course I was talking to Elder Graves and he told me the best news I have heard in my entire mission.  I don’t know if you guys remember Derlis and Sandra whom we worked with and loved with all our heart.  Well, three weeks ago they got married and baptized.  I really felt like Alma when he found his brethren coming home from the mission and hearing of their success. The news put me on a natural high for this whole week.  It was so good to learn!!!!! and see the pictures!!!! They are such great people!!!!

This week we found the Paredes family and they are sweet!! Their names are Madre-Carolina, Papa-Marcos, 18-Marcos, 16-Cristian, 12-Octavio, and 7-Ayelin. They are super amazing we taught Cristian and Octavio the first time and the parents the next time.  They have never even heard of the Mormons which surprised us and we shared leccion 3 with the kids and leccion 2 with the parents and si o si they were going to go to church but then didn’t go.  We went to talk with them to see if everything was alright and it was, only the uncle and the oldest brother asked liked where were they going or what religion it is.  Marcos responded Mormon and they asked him what is a Mormon, what does it mean and he didn’t know what or how to respond and for that simple reason they didn’t go to church.

Marcos and Ramon and Jorge were baptized this Friday and Marcos and Ramon were confirmed Sunday. While walking with Marcos and Ramon to the church, three other kids, two of which I had no idea who they were, joined us and went to church. All was tranquilo.

Well folks, there you have the report from Paraguay.

Love,
Elder Call

This is the Report

Hey all you guys,

To answer some of your questions, I don’t know what happened with Evelyn and it sucks because we aren’t sure how to help her. This whole week we have called and passed by her house and tried to be in contact with her, but we were only able to talk once and it was just over the phone. So!!!!! . . . We will see what we can do.

We have been working with an inactive mother, Rumi, that has 2 kids Marcos y (and) Ramon that need to be baptized and we have been working with her sisters Maria y Teresa and one of their kids Jorge. All of them have assisted multiple times but never with us. Jorge is 11 and has been reading a ton.  He is already in 2 Nefi (Nephi) 5 the last time we checked, he isn’t understanding it a whole lot, but it marks for one of the first Paraguayan kids that will sit down and read a book.

On Tuesday, we had divisions with the zone leaders and I went to the other area and Elder Vega stayed here. The next day, I was informed that we were going to baptize the kids on Saturday.  So we worked the entire week to achieve this and it ended with them telling us that Ramon had a really bad allergic reaction and was in the hospital and Maria had traveled to Asuncion. Well we went to visit them right after the noticias (news) and found both Marcos and Ramon playing at their house healthy as can be.  Well, we will see what we can do to help the kids.  We don’t like the mothers at the moment, but that will pass.

This is the report!

Love you all!
Elder Call

Bumps in the Road

Well, family and friends, we have hit some bumps in the road, but I will get to those because this week flew by with lots of crazy stuff.

To begin, Tuesday, after the district meeting we were walking back to the apartment to eat lunch, and that guy from I think two weeks ago, yea, the crazy drunk one, so he decided to come and attack us again and ripped my shirt but he ended up on the ground and we were able to leave.  He left no bodily damage but for that entire day it really bugged me because I don’t know what his problem is.  He is definitely mentally ill.  I tried talking to him but he couldn’t formulate any words and he just mumbled. OH well, I hope that there is help for him.

Oh and by the way, we (Elder Vega) both stayed together and everything. So, Thursday night we had a lesson in the house of the Sanabrio family, with Evalyn and it was a great, one of the most powerful lessons for some time. She decided that si o si without a doubt she was going to be baptized this weekend the 27th. We left the house feeling so good and comforted from all our fears of parental influences and peer pressures.  However this Sunday, being Father’s Day and all, even though she doesn’t have one. she didn’t attend the church and from what we were informed by Vanessa, her best friend, is that she no longer wants to be baptized and that she is easily pressured into doing what others would like her to do. Apparently, her mother does not want her daughter to be baptized otro vez (again). We will be talking to her personally tomorrow and seeing what happened and hear her story of it all.

To all the Fathers out there in the world, I appreciate everything that you do for the benefit for your family and God.  I would like to send you all to Efesisos 5 (Ephesians 5) it is a good chapter.

I love you all.  I am grateful for the testimony that I have of the scriptures and all the things that they testify to me that are true. The truth never ends.  It will continue for the eternities.  Our life here on earth, our jobs, our possessions and our hobbies will end.  Always maintain the sight over the entire map.

I love you all
Elder Call

Slick Week

Dear Family & Friends:

It has rained a lot this week.  In fact, almost every day it has rained and the streets were filled with mud and by golly this mud is just as slick as ice or slicker.  I am always slipping. I am surprised that I haven’t fallen to the ground yet.

We had divisions with the district leader and we were able to receive permission to baptize an 8 year old niece of some active members.  The father, I think would be baptized but we found out that the dad of his wife is super weird about Mormons.  He thinks we are the devil which complicates things a lot, but we will continue with that even though not sure what we can do right away to solve the problem.

We had a sweet lesson with Evalyn and her family (mom and sister).  We read “The Family a Proclamation to the World” and it was sweet to see them understand it.  This Sunday, Evalyn came to church with another friend, Liz, and it was really good.  Liz didn’t know we were Mormons until after the reunion. Haha.  The sister, Andrea, wanted to come, however, she had spent the night at her cousin’s house and slept in.

This week was really good.  We have more people fighting for us than we do against us, if only we could see all the hosts of heaven we would be able to understand.

This Wednesday we have exchanges, so the question is who is going to go or are we both going to stay?

Love you all!
Elder Call

All Things Go Well

Dear Family

So yes, after 35 years of being affiliated or knowing the Mormon Missionaries we arrived at her (Anatolia’s) house and taught her for four hours the first day and after that she wanted to be baptized. There was nothing that impeded her from being baptized, so we baptized her. Really it was a miracle to see a woman that after so much time, finally have the Spirit of God touch her heart and see the change in her.

As for the fish farm, I really don’t know what kind of fish they were or anything.

This week certainly was a highlight for the mission.  On Tuesday, our Zone was blessed to go and do the work of Salvation for those that have died or in other words we went to the Temple of God.  Monday night we spent the night in the house of the zone leaders.  We woke up at 1:30 to get ready and catch the bus that was to leave at 2:45, so we did not have much of a night to rest, but the sacrifice was and is always well worth it. The blessings of peace and love, that one feels in the ''Heaven on Earth'' is more amazing than anything that one could ask for.  I am so grateful that God has given us this Gospel in our lives and that we can share it with others.

This week we talked to Evalyn and Vanessa about why they didn’t come the week previous and we found out that it was because they had gone to a party the night before and were really tired.  On Thursday, we talked to Evalyn about baptism and she seemed very, very unsure and in question.  And this Sunday she didn’t come once again, but traveled to Nueva Londres with her family.  We came to learn that the stepfather of Evalyn is the son of Anatolia who was baptized last Sunday
.  
Anatolia is doing just fine and continues learning of the doctrine of Christ. However on Friday night one of her aunts, who has got to be getting old, got sick and was taken to the hospital for Saturday, Sunday and I do not know if she is still there, but Anatolia went there to pass the moments with her.

The Gospel is true.  It guides us in the way to have a life with lots more love and much less worry and pain.  God has always promised His children, that according to their obedience to His commandments,  the more they will prosper in the land.  If you don’t like your position in the land, look to which commandments you can keep better.  All things go well.

Love you all,
Elder Call

Another Crazy Week

Hey, Everyone!

This week was a crazy week!!!!! Where to start out?. . . . Hmmm, so Monday, we had corolacion misional (missionary correlation meeting) and then afterwards we tried finding some people to teach but no one was accepting us. So, Tuesday, we get to the district meeting and during that meeting a feeling for the first time in my mission came over me and told me that I was tired of not baptizing and that we needed to baptize.  We left, went and cooked lunch and left to look for some more old investigators after a bit of unsuccessful we remembered one old couple that had assisted (investigated the church) for quite a while but never decided to be baptized and hasn’t assisted (investigated) for a year.  Their names are Anatolia and Floretin. Anatolia has had a ton of family problems in her life and is really a super good person and she loves to talk.  On Tuesday it was raining all day and we arrived at their house wet Floretin was the only one there and he allowed us to enter and talk with him.  We had talked with him for the space of 30 minutes roughly and then Anatolia arrived and started talking. We spent the next 3 and a half hours listening to her and her doubts and want and trials and strengthening her with the scriptures. At the end of that talk she had decided to be baptized!!!!!=) What a day, we left her house tired in the mind.  We didn’t meet with her Wednesday but the other days yes.  During weekly planning on Thursday we were debating if we should help her to be baptized this Sunday or the next Saturday.  After all was said we knew that it had to be this Sunday, so here are the pictures. That was definitely the great highlight of the week.

At the baptism

haha funny story. So this morning on our way to the cyber to write you guys we stopped by at a chiparia that was stationed on the street and as I was about to hand the guy my money and in a instant my hip flies in to the station of chipa and makes a big clash.  As my hip is thrown my head turns to make sense of such confusion.  I see a 30ish year old guy flying through the air Spartan kicking me from behind. My first reaction was to chase him but after my first step, I couldn’t help but laugh at the whole situation.

Well, hey, the Church is led by God and he has given worthy men a portion of his power to administer ordenanza (ordinances) of salvation to his children.  Remember to always support your leaders in their callings and doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.  Salvation cometh through the merits and grace of Jesus Christ.

I love you all and hope you find the peace of heart in your life.
Love, Elder Call

At a fish farm.

A Solid Week

Well, Hello to Everyone!

This week was good.  We had some solid things happen.

It started out last Monday by making a bunch of cinnamon rolls, which are a big hit down here in Paraguay.  Thanks mom your food is loved everywhere.

Tuesday we had divisions with the district leaders and we taught the Salines family, who were planning on being baptized and married this coming Saturday and we had a super good lesson about the temple, marriages and baptism.  But the Father continued giving excuses about money and not being able to provide a party for his family members and how his family would not step foot inside of the church.  But they ended still good for this Saturday.  However, Thursday we returned and talked to them and explained tithing and what the tithing is used for and Fernando continued to put excuses about the party afterwards and was talking about how some days they don’t have anything to eat. Well, I guess they want to wait.

On Tuesday we found the sister of the Aguayo Arisitedis family, whose name is Jenny, her brother, Osvaldo and his girlfriend, Nanci.  We talked for a little bit and had a super good lesson. They seem so great.  Nanci had a boy about 7 months ago and is struggling a bit.  We planned to visit them on Friday at 7, but were not there. Neither were they there Saturday morning, afternoon, or Sunday afternoon when we passed by.

On Wednesday night we had a great FHE in the house of Evalyn Godoy, who is investigating the church, thanks to her best friend, Vanessa.  We made pizza Paraguayan style and then we watched the Restoration video and shared our testimonies, explaining the need to read the Book of Mormon and asking God if it is true.  Evalyn was able to come to church this time, which is good, because her mom let her.  Her mother is super Catholic and is a nice one at least.

This week was great, even though we wasted a bunch of time looking for old investigators that had moved quite some time ago and that were unknown by their neighbors.

The Church is true.  We are so blessed to have the restored priesthood on the earth and that it is available to all. God is good.  He tries your patience sometimes, but he never leaves you alone or unblessed.

I love you all!
Have a great week.

Elder Call

Crazy Week

Hey Everyone,

This week was a bit crazy.  On Tuesday, we went out to Pindaty to eat with the Cardozo family. We had talked to Edgardo on Sunday about eating at his house.  We arrived there and sadly no one picked us up to take us there. Haha.  But we arrived and the Grandma, Irma (mother of Edguardo), told us to sit and then served us lunch.  We decided that Edguardo had asked his mom to make us lunch and feed us instead of with his family.  The house of the Grandma is close to the road and to arrive to the house of Edguardo you have to walk on a trail through the trees some 500 yards.  After eating and having a good chat with Irma and Juan we went to the house of Edguardo, in hopes of finding his son and asking him why he did not come to church. When we arrived, the wife of Edguardo asked us if we had arrived for lunch and told us that Edguardo had just left to work again!!!!! Pucha!!  So they had been waiting for us to arrive to eat while we were eating with Irma.  Well, hey, what could we do?  Gladly, everything was calm after some apologizing.

Later that night, we received a call from some other missionaries, with a reference for us of a guy who would like to be baptized and has gone to the church and met with the missionaries before.  His name is Agusto Uran and is super awesome.  The reason that he had never been baptized is that at that time he liked inviting girls over, but then one day he realized how bad that was and has now stopped.  But the guy did not come to church this week which made us super sad.

On Wednesday, a girl named Vanessa Vasquez invited her friend Evelyn to meet with us. It turned out being at the house of the 1st Counselor of the District and instead of a normal lesson, it was a Young Women's activity making Chipa, which is cooked over the fire on a stick and watched “17 Miracles.”  We had to call the President’s son to come and join us and we had a good talk about the difficulties and afflictions that we pass through and how we can stick to the faith and work through our trials.

Other than that, we have a family, the Salines, who is a sister of a recent convert and her boyfriend and their two children. The main problem with them is that they do not understand Spanish very well, because they speak Guaraní almost all the time, so we have to go with someone that speaks Guaraní. Also they need to be married and the dad wants to do something special but does not have the money to do like anything.

The Gospel is true.  God is real. He is your Heavenly Dad and He loves you. The scriptures testify of this and I know that it is true. He sent his only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to the world to provide us the way to return to him.  Read the Scriptures, they tell you how to walk down the road of life and apply what they tell you to do.

I love you all and search the scriptures every day.

Love Elder Call

New Area -- Cnel. Oviedo

Hey Everyone,

As for this week, on Tuesday I did receive a call and I was called to leave the area of Leopardi. Wednesday morning I left Leopardi and got to the terminals, where they tell everyone their changes and I was sent with Elder Vega, from Ecuador, to Coronel Oviedo. The oficinistas (office staff) gave us the keys and the phone and told us to have fun in the whitewash. So we took a 4 hour bus ride, wondering how we were to find our apartment. But the district leader was waiting for us and showed us where we needed to go.

I love my mom.

This past week we have spent our time searching for the members that live in our area, which is huge. We have over 15 km to cover, but the towns out far usually don’t get visited and I don’t know if there are members there.  The elders that left the area did not leave behind registros (records) of their teaching or ways that we can communicate with them.  My mom is the best.  So that kinda stinks, but the members are super nice and helpful.  We are in a Rama (branch) that has a asistence (attendance) of about 70.  The tempuratura (temperature) is perfect right now.  But yea the week was great and had a ton of miracles happened.

I have the best mother in the world.  Happy Mother’s Day!

I love you all!
Love, Elder Call

God Has a Plan

Hello everyone,

This past week we have worked more and more, trying to get everything moving in the mission field, putting a focus on receiving references from the members and helping them feel comfortable sharing the gospel with their friends.

The highlight of this was that one of the references turned out to be good.  The wife of the Stake President gave us a reference for her brother-in-law, named Jose Luis Romero and his family.  The only problem with them is finding a time when they are in their house.  The Dad works hard and long and the wife works harder and longer and we have not been able to teach her, only Jose but the lesson was good and he was super good to us.  They did not end up coming to church this Sunday and blamed it on the rain, even though they have a car!!!

With Derlis and Sandra!! This week was aaaa exciting. I guess you could put it everything was going good.  We went and celebrated the birthday of Sharon on Wednesday and this same day some old acquaintances of Nestor and Derlis moved in right next to them.  Friday, was a holiday for Paraguay and no one was working, so the ward planned a service project to help clean up a member’s house that has become bedridden. Derlis and Nestor both came to help and so did about half the ward.  I was not able to go because we had divisions and I went to Paíñu. When I returned I heard that after the service project Dertlis went home and the old friends invited him to drink with them and he did.  He became super drunk, did some really stupid stuff; is now kicked out of the house, and it does not appear that he is going to return. Sandra was really stricken with all this and is tired from all the hassle of keeping Derlis around.  None of them came to church this week because it was raining really hard and they did not want the young, young kids to get sick.

This upcoming Wednesday we have changes and it is very possible that I will go, so I really don’t know when I will skype you guys.

This week I came to understand more fully what entails the plan that God has for us. Before I had always thought the plan as something really broad and generalized and never really realized that for every choice I make and for everything that I do, God has it planned out as to how I can change and become better and it is only thanks to My Savior, Jesus Christ, that we have the chance to be complete with the Plan of God.

I love you all,
Elder Call

A Solid Week

Hello everyone,

This week was a solid week we had divisions again and I went to Paiñu and enjoyed a day with Elder Een and this Saturday we planned out an Open House for the church, that went quite well and we will do that again in a couple of months, exhorting the people to use it as an opportunity to invite their friends to the church in a more relaxed environment.

Derlis and Sandra we talked well with them about baptism and about marriage and about the Word of Wisdom.  On Friday, Derlis committed to quit drinking and smoking in order to marry Sandra because he loves her a ton and it is the only reason that she does not want to marry him. Sunday was the birthday of Derlis and as far as I was informed he did not drink however he did smoke during lunch and surely a bit later.

As for Matias, he is now in France.  He left Thursday in the morning and it will be the last that we hear from him.

We found a new family that is at least listening to us.  The mom is named Miriam and her children Fabian, Claudia and Camila.  The mom became interested in religion when her son did his First Communion in the church Catolica and found an openess in her soul that needed filling up. Her schedule of the day reminds me of the schedule of an American mom driving around all over the place, getting things done, which is the first time that I have run in to that feeling here.

It did not rain this week. TEMPLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are awesome!  So, they are finally making it official.  It brings back memories when it was first announced and everyone went crazy.

Love you all!
Elder Call