Monday, October 30, 2017

WEEKLY EMAIL

Mon., 10/30/2017 (Neuland/Paraiso)

It has been another busy week. If I remember quickly, I last wrote as we were sending off the members to the Chaco right after they left from the temple. The kid that got sick in the colectivo has pneumonia, but we were blessed to have a children's hospital on the road we were on. We wrote, then that night we spent in Trinidad (close to the mission office). Wednesday morning we had small division in Trinidad, then we went to the temple. It was lunchtime, so we stopped by Pizza Hut just down the street. They have a really cheap all-you-can-eat deal, so we ate them out of house and home (just think about 6 missionaries who never get fed by members walking in the door and ordering all you can eat). We then went to the temple. We had been told to be early for our temple session (you can't reserve seats here) and had nothing to do so we decided to be sure and get there 3 hours early at 2 PM. The temple workers were all there and they asked permission from the Temple President to get us doing initiatories, so we did that for 2.5 hours or so. We then went through to do a temple session. It was great; it's been a year since I've been to the temple. After the session, there were a TON of people waiting to do baptisms for the dead and confirmations, so we were asked to help out (the temple closed this Saturday so the last week was PACKED). Elder Whipple and I did confirmations, with Elder Castañeda as recorder. We ended up doing a couple hundred (1.5 or 2 hours). As usual, the temple was a great experience. We proceeded to stop by Burger King, then the office elders dropped us off at a bus stop and we traveled all night back to the Chaco. Elder Castañeda and I then went back to visit everyone that we hadn't been able to visit for the last week and a half. We had a lot of opportunities to serve over the last few days, including burning trash, carrying water to people's houses, and so on. Sunday we had a good day at church, we had Sacrament Meeting and I had the priviledge to give a talk about the temple and it's blessings for us. Elder Castañeda and I decided that we need to start working towards having all 3 hours of church, so we taught Sunday School, and it went really well.This week really was a very good one. It can be challenging to be trying to cover 2 areas (Neuland and Parasio) and at the same time have to run everything for the church (planning activities and such), but I really like it. We are working to help the members know how to do everything on their own, which is really important for them. That and steering their vision to the temple and the blessings associated with temples. Please every one that has a temple nearby, take advantage. Not everyone has that opportunity! Try to go every week, or for those in Utah, more that 1 time a week!


Y'all have a great week! Thanks for the prayers and emails!

Pictures:

1 Prep work for the temple is tiring.

2 We fit 17 or so people in that van to get to Abundancia. That's the driver, his name is Friesen.

3 We regularly make juice in buckets when we have to feed a lot of people.

4 This dog entered the Abundancia Elders' house 3 times during the night when we were there for the temple trip. We thought it was a person at first. The house in Abundancia doesn't have the capability of being locked from the inside so dogs (and or people) sometimes just walk in.

5 We prepped some rice and such for the members from Neuland to eat while they waited Sunday in Abundancia for the colectivo to come; basically the church chartered a colectivo for the transportation.

6 Halfway through cleaning the Abundancia house.

7 Eating "genuine" Arabian food.

8 The sign should say "we are interested in your opinion" but the s in nos fell off and it now reads "your opinion doesn't matter."

9 With Nicacio and Fiorella (2 recent converts) in the temple! They were so excited, and even brought names!

10 We were so busy getting the people to the temple (it's harder when they don't all speak Spanish) we forgot to take pictures of the temple trip, but when we remembered and had time we tried to get one.

11 A little time spent in Asuncion, featuring the scary bridge made out of 2 strips of metal and wood pallets.

12 With Elder Castañeda at the temple.

13 All 6 of us at the temple.

14 The temple of Asuncion, Paraguay. It will be closing for a year and a half for construction to make it bigger!

15 They are always burning stuff here. Paraguay is blessed with the fact that fires DO NOT SPREAD! If you light a fire and there is a lot of flammable material nearby, it doesn't spread anyway.

16 Service for Fm Martinez cutting down a couple of trees. This is Jose Armando, their son, who is one of our investigators. He supervised the yard work!

17 We had to break the piggy banks to survive this week, in that we are waiting to get reimbursed for a lot of transportation for the temple trip and a few other things.

18 We had to get creative with the food. This is ham, egg, tomato sauce, and a couple veggies. It wasn't too bad but I wouldn't recommend

19 UPDATE: there still isn't a roof on the chapel.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

ANOTHER WEEK

Mon., 10/16/2017 (Neuland/Paraiso)

We had a busy week! Well I guess it always is! Monday we had P-day as usual, then district meeting, where Elder Singer, an Elder in our district, went home. He spent over half of his mission here in the Chaco, which is admirable because let's just say it isn't for the weak-hearted. He also was one of the key workers in getting all the Nivacle natives to the temple. As a tribute we sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again and waved white napkins (like hankerchiefs). Tuesday through Thursday we were back in Neuland trying to teach and find new people to teach. Friday we went off to Paraiso (paradise in Spanish). Friday was payday and Saturday was soccer-game day in some other community, so there were very few in their houses. WE did use that time to go contacting and also look for some members that we've never seen at church, so the time wasn't too awfully spent. The bugs and such were ALL over; we found a couple black widows, a lot of other spiders, 4 wasp nests (we went to war with them), some kind of cardinal, a frog, herds of goats in the road, but thankfully, not a single mosquito. Saturday night we got a call about transfers, and WE ARE... staying together another change! It's exciting. We are glad to get back on out to work together for our 3rd change together inviting ALL to come unto Christ. Sunday we had church then came home to Neuland. In the evening we took a colectivo to Abundancia, where we are waiting for the new Elders in the Chaco to come. Elder Castañeda and I are excited to be working together for our 3rd change. This week we have really seen a lot about challenges. Some places, life is hard because of environment conditions, other areas because of the temperature, others because of social issues. In every place, there are problems. You know what we should do? Be grateful for what we have, and be grateful for the challenges we have. If we have faith to follow God's will he will give us a way to do what we need to do. Think of challenges as an opportunity to show our faith, not an obstacle!

Thanks for your prayers and emails, and have a good week! I love you all!

Pictures:

1 Boqueron (the Chaco) district in our last district meeting.

2 With my amigos Emer and Denil (both in yellow and black) and a couple other little guys.

3 We found some deadly spiders this week in Paraiso.

4 Our Book of Mormons and nametags.

5 We found a frog too.

6 Soup for dinner.

7 One of 4 wasp nests we had to remove.

8 LOOOOOOOTS of spiders.

9 Paraiso is beautiful!

10 Very beautiful!

11 Me with the Paraiso sign.















12 Our house in Paraiso. The brick box looking things are our 2 water tanks, that each have about 3 to 5 thousand liter capacity

13 Us with the house in Paraiso.

14 The bedroom.

15 The kitchen.

16 Goat crossing!

17 The truck kicking up dust on the way back home.

18 We could not see for about 30 minutes for how much dust there was behind other vehicles.

19 Service during P-day in Abundancia: Moving water from here...

20 to here.

21 Elder Starks went from Loma Plata to Abundancia (both are in the Chaco)! This is him and Carlos Colman, who lives with his family right next to the missionaries of Abundancia. He brought in 1000 liters of clean drinking water, so we helped move it to a new container at their house. Pte Colman (he is in the District Presidency) filled up buckets, handed them to Elder Starks who lifted them to me, and I dumped them into the other container. Elder Castañeda and Elder Salazar cooked in the meantime.

22 Me dumping water into the container.

23 Service projects 1 meter from the missionaries' house is pretty convenient.

24 Elder Starks was a little hungry after that service!

25 Arroz chaufau, thanks to Elderes Castañeda and Salazar.

26 While making the 40 yard walk to the chapel, unlocking it and walking inside to the computers, ALL of our ice melted.. it does get hot here!

27 With some friends in Paraiso about 30 minutes before church! They always come early!

ONE YEAR DOWN

Mon., 10/9/2017 (Neuland/Paraiso)

It has been a good week, and a fast one too. We started out with Monday, and celebrated 1 year in the mission for Elder Brower, Elder Whipple and I, and 2 years for Elder Singer with Shish kabobs! This district we have had for the last 2 changes was awesome! We stilll aren't done yet, but changes are coming up next week! Tuesday Elder Castañeda and I got back to business. It has been HOT lately, and our water bottles last us about 10 minutes until we have to ask for water, but it's awesome. Friday night we got some rain in which was awesome, because it is really dusty here and the rain cakes it down. Saturday we had a big day. Nicacio and Fiorella, a couple we have been teaching, had their baptismal service planned. The assistants of the mission came to do the interviews. Nicacio ended up having to have an interview with Pte Evans, but Pte Evans also just happened to be there! Nicacio is a man that had a lot of stuff happen in his past, and was very joyful when we taught about Christ and repentance. He has had a lot of miracles happen, and has changed so much in the time we've known him. He and Fiorella wanted to get married to provide a better home for their daughters, and be closer as a family. He read Moroni 10:3-5 on his own, and did what it says. He asked God what the truth was and received an answer! We are honestly so happy for them-. Anyways, since it rained so much and we are in the middle of the Chaco, the judge was unable to come Saturday because the roads were impossible to travel for his moped. We did however have a barbecue with all the members, and postponed til the next day. Sunday we had their marriage, their baptisms, and then church. This week we have been very focused on trials. We will always have trials and problems, but it's more important to think about what we do with the trials that we have. Will we be like Nephi and Sam, or will we be like Laman and Lemuel? I personally want to be like Nephi. Life is hard, but we just have to dig in and put in work. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Pictures:

1 Shish kabobs again!

2 The whole Chaco district!

3 We burned a shirt for our year mark!

4 And let me tell you it has been a FAST year! Fun one too!

5 Nicacio and Fiorella got married! Also pictured is the judge that came from 55 km away to marry them!

6 They then got baptized!

7 It was a good day!

8 Nicacio and Elder Castañeda.

9 Fiorella and I.

10 Hermana Evans dropped us off a bag of oranges because they are super expensive in the Chaco.

11 The Elders from Loma Plata decided to bike to Filadelfia for P-day and district meeting, which is about 20 miles of dust dust dust and more dust. Their new bikes were recently taken out of Yby Yau (my old area)