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