Monday, September 18, 2017

YOU CAN'T FIND PARAISO IN GOOGLE MAPS

9/18/2017 (Neuland/Paraiso)

This week has been a good one. Well it always is hahaha. Tuesday we were in Filadelfia until the 11:30 colectivo, so we helped the Elder Singer and Elder Hermansen with a service project moving a bunch of dirt and leveling a backyard. We took the colectivo home, and I wasn't feeling too good as we got there, and spent the next 2 days going back and forth from the bathroom. Something that I ate on Pday didn't settle well I guess. Wednesday evening I felt good enough to walk, so we went out to visit people. Thursday we went to Paraiso, the other area that's about 70 km from Neuland where we have a lot of members. We asked the mission Cartero (librarian) to make a map for us for Paraiso, but it turns out there is NOTHING on Google maps. The finance secretary, Elder Hill, tried looking on Google maps, but there is no satellite imaging for that region aka it is in the middle of nowhere. It's honestly a testimony to me that we as missionaries get to go there because it's so out in the middle of nowhere. The Lord knows every one of his children, and is there for all of us. We timed our journey pretty bad again, because everyone got on a truck to go visit Neuland as we got there. We did find a few people to teach. Friday night got so cold that Elder CastaƱeda had to borrow one of my blankets. We went home to Neuland for the weekend, and brought our mini fridge from Paraiso to use, since we haven't had a working fridge in a few weeks. Sunday I had a talk in church about the Plan of Salvation,and we had a good day as usual, with the slight exception of the fire alarm. We were weekly planning and it went off. We tried EVERYTHING to stop it, turn it off, even cover up the sound. Nothing worked and we had to rip it apart. WE think all the dust in the air caused it to go off. The shut off and emergency shut off, power off switches didn't do a thing hahaha. Today we are in Filadelfia to write y'all again, since there still isn't a roof on the chapel in Neuland! We have a good number of investigators that are progressing. We have been working on reactivating families,because just one person has a lot of strength but families are even stronger. We have seen the changes in the lives of the members as they come back, and we have seen the changes in the lives of many investigators when they take up the offer from Christ to"Come unto Me". When we have faith and repent, we are blessed. Thank you all for your prayers and emails! As a side note, I take picture of all my emails to read them after, so y'all can write me emails as long as you want! It's always nice getting all the emails. Have a great week everyone!

Pictures:

1 Service project in Filadelfia.

2 We got to the house in Paraiso and all our little friends mobbed us.

3 There is no place like Paraiso.

4 We got to go see the carboneria (carbon is what they use here instead of charcoal; basically burned wood) which is the business that the whole community works in.

5 Carboneria oven.

6 From what I understand, they pack wood inside the oven, then seal it with mud, then dump gasoline in and light a fire. It burns for a couple days then they pour water in to put the fire out. They then seal it up again til the water dries up, then take the burned wood and cut it up, put it in bags and sell it to everyone.

7 Sealed up oven. It has holes for the smoke and air.

8 On the left, Estaban Rodriguez. He's the landlord of the house/church in Paraiso. On the right is Francisco Paclusi,the group leader and translator for us missionaries.

9 Tapir tracks.

10 Pig skull. Everything here is dangerous, from the pigs that have big teeth to the lions, spiders and anacondas that are found in the region.

11 The Chaco is one of those place where you really don't want to get lost! It's awesome.

12 WE COULD NOT STOP THE ALARM and we have a lot of neighbors, so we had to... turn the sound off. The shut off button didn't do anything, nor did the emergency shut off switch on the back. We tried stuffing it under blankets, everything! Eventually we just had to let it go.

13 Eating at our kitchen table... oh never mind we're in Paraiso. Don't worry Mom, we make really good food (including soups)!

14 The trees here are pretty cool.

15 It is warming up a little!

Time flies! So does the American flag!

9/11/2017 (Neuland/Paraiso)

We had a good week once again. To put it briefly, time flies when you're having fun. We are just working up a storm, and since I have to send in 10 baptismal forms today during my hour, I hope y'all pardon me for keeping it short (computers load pictures slowly here). We started the week off well with Pday as (now) usual in Filadelfia, immediately followed by District meeting. Our District is just a bunch of hard-working guys in the middle of a big wasteland. It's pretty cool, and we all get along together well. We also all have 6 more weeks together. Tuesday we had the baptism of Yenny Gonsalez, which didn't have the best attendance of the baptisms I've seen here in Paraguay, but it had a lot of spirit. She was really excited for her baptism, which should have been last week, but ended up this week instead. Her new husband's parents also went, and the spirit was very strong; we were really happy for her and her family. The rest of the week was filled with above-40 C degree weather and a lot of sun. Also a lot of wind. Also a lot of walking. It all was worth it because of the people. There are a lot of really great people here in Neuland. It's really a great place.

The week ends with today, Pday, in Filadelfia. We got up at 6:30 and got right to making a flagpole and putting up an American flag at half mast. Out here in the Chaco 6 of 8 of us missionaries are from the US, so we celebrated 9/11. It's a good day to reflect about the sacrifices. Many people lost their lives that day, and shouldn't be forgotten. I also like to reflect on the lives of many others from history; the founding fathers and the pioneers. There are so many people that did so much to make life for us so much easier. They made many sacrifices, and we should be grateful. Jesus Christ also made sacrifices for us. Each one of us. He made life so easy for us. Please take a moment to think about his sacrifices, as well as all of those that have passed on to give us our freedom! Have a great week everyone, I love and miss you all!

Pictures:















1 Another marriage and baptism this week! Our investigator, Yenny, got married to her boyfriend Avelino. They're really great people, and she was really excited to get baptized.

2 Welcome to Neuland.

3 One of our less actives members here in Neuland found an American flag in a used clothes store, and he really likes USA so he bought it.

4 There are a lot of Nivacle children that run up to us and hang off our arms, ask for pass along cards, etc and this little guy is one of them. He's my favorite actually, he greets us every day with this exact smile.

5 Service project cleaning up the church and it's yard.
resident's wife gave us some rolls hot from the oven.

7 That thorn is 2 centimeters long, and went right through my sandal. EVERY plant here has thorns, and they go right through clothes, shoes, and for the Elders in Filadelfia, bike tires.

8 We constructed a flag pole for pday today.

9 The 6 of us that are from the US said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the National Anthem, then filled in our 2 Latino companions as to what just happened.

10 Elder Castaneda cooked food and was really excited how it turned out. He wanted me to take a photo.

11 It actually turned out pretty good!


Well that'she week, I hope y'all have a good one!

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

CHANGES... BUT ONLY TO A NEW HOUSE!

Mon., 9/4/2017 (Neuland)

We had a really busy week once again. Actually, we really had the craziest week so far in my mission, We spent the first couple of days getting a new house contract and working with finances for the branch. Friday we ended up moving houses, because the old one was small, didn't have a sink, rarely had water, we didn't have a working air conditioner and President Evans said we should find a new house, so that's what we did. The new house is about 2 times as big, and it's brand new.
Saturday we had a really big day. We had to coordinate people coming in from Paraiso for a marriage and baptismal service in Neuland, and in the end we had 2 marriages and 9 baptisms take place. Elder Whipple and Elder Starks came in from Loma Plata to do the baptismal interviews, and we had a judge come in from a town 55 km away to do the marriages. In the email with the photos I'll try to add a small bio of each of our investigators that got married and/or baptized. The water tank truck showed up a few hours late, and overall it was hectic, but in the end the service was really great. About 50 people showed up, and the spirit was really strong
Sunday we had church, and it started off with the 9 confirmations. It turned out really well. The best moment of the day was during the closing hymn. We sang number 89 (Spanish, which is 150 in English) God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again. It reminded me of the movie ¨The Other Side of Heaven" when they all sing that song. This week honestly reminds me of that movie a lot. Last night we had to go to Filadelfia, and we received our changes... we are both staying 6 more weeks! It's going to be fun; we´re excited to be keeping at it together. Y'all have a good week!

Pictures:

1 We have some pretty cool trees here.

2 Chapel cleaning.

3 That other picture last week wasn't actually the chapel's roof... but we did find it. The roof took out a grove of trees.

4 Our bunk bed didn't fit out the door... or the window... so we had to buzz saw it apart. It also didn't fit in the door in the new house so we had to buzz saw it again.















5 Punch, anyone? (IN BIG FIVE GALLON CONTAINER)

6 Our one young man here, Bertol, mixed the punch by hand, literally hahaha

7 Serving up some ham sandwiches with Elder CastaƱeda and Elder Starks.

8 Picture of everyone and the chapel.















9 With all 9 that got baptized and also Jose, Julian's dad, who baptized him.















10 Brigido and Carolina, who got married, and also their kids Denis and Berta. They're a really cool family.















11 Daniela, whose husband Isabelino got baptized a few months ago, and their son Donatelio. They're really awesome, and are in church every week. They live in Paraiso.

12 Marciana, got married to her boyfriend Adriano, who is a recently reactivated member.
















13 Norbalda is 9 years old and goes to church by herself in Paraiso. She actually goes an hour earlier than everyone else and sets up the chairs. She is awesome.

14 Jose Julian is a cool guy. He actually is a very active member that goes to church with his family every week, they just didn't realize that he is 9 years old so we helped him get baptized.

That's the week! I hope you all have a good one too!