GUTEN TAG LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

Mon., 7/31/2017 (Transfers from Yby Yau to Neuland)

Well I have had the busiest week of my life for sure. Monday we wrote y'all then went to Pedro Juan Caballero to print pictures for our converts of their baptisms. We had a family home evening with the zone leaders and a family in their area, using my recipe, the zone leaders materials, and Elder Cartagena's supervision. Tuesday we had a good district meeting and everyone said goodbye because we had changes. We then went home directly after, and despite our colectivo possibly breaking down (we had to stop about 10 times), we made it home in time for me to finish packing then we went to say goodbye to the members I hadn/t said goodbye to yet. We ended up getting a cookout in because we had a bit of time (the colectivo passed around 11:30 at night). We said goodbye to the branch president, who helped us get all the stuff from the house to the road where the colectivo passes. Airton and his brother Nielson waited with us til the bitter end. After, we went to Asuncion in colectivo. We got to the terminal, and I was tired because I didn't sleep the whole ride. We got off the colectivo and went to where the office elders were waiting to get stickers to put on our luggage to go to the center of our zone. I got Mariano Roque Alonso on mine, and it turns out I'm going to the Chaco! My new area is called Neuland; its a little german colony in the middle of the Chaco. The Chaco is a big famous desert that is the north side of Paraguay, with no water. It's pretty cool though; I love it already. My companion is Elder Castañeda, and he's a small indigenous guy from Ecuador. He speaks another language called Quichua! He's really nice and we get along real well. There are 2 other missionaries that also will be going to the Chaco this transfer, Elder Salazar (I did a lot with him in PJC) and Elder Starks from Utah. With that news, we weren't able to go our new areas because we had a few things to do later in the week in Asuncion. The next 2 days,Wednesday and Thursday, we were in an area in the middle of the city an the elders there just told us to contact whatever we wanted, so contact we did! Thursday,I was in the same area, Trinidad with the Elders who are assigned there, Elder Sotec from Peru and Elder Hernandez from Colombia. Friday we had to get up early, because we had to help all day with a temple trip for 150 or so Nivacle indians from the Chaco. The other Elders who have been there have been working for over 6 months to get it all to work out, so we got there right in time hahaha! It was really a great experience, working inside and outside the temple with them, but it was also really hectic because they have a different language, Nivacle, that only one missionary really knows enough to communicate, but it was really an awesome experience that I'll have to tell you all about after the mission because there just isn't time! Saturday we helped out some more with the Nivacles, then Elder Castañeda and I went to the hospital. For the pat few days I hadn't really been able to walk; we thought I had an ingrown toenail but it turned out to be a parasite and I had to get a surgery to get it removed. As such, we looked like we were running a 3 legged race the rest of the day and Sunday also. We took a bus to Abundancia, which is another area in the Chaco, and we couldn't get to our area that night so we stayed over with the Elders there. Their area includes their house, one of the biggest chapels I've ever seen, and 56 houses of members that all speak Nivacle. We stayed there until today, when we got a ride to Filadelfia, which is another area in the Chaco, and tomorrow there will be a bus that we can take to our area. Neuland is the furthest area from the office in the whole mission (520 km; Yby yau was 367 or so). It actually has 2 areas; the other one of them is called Paraiso (Paradise) and is 70 km further from Asuncion. Today we are in Filadelfia, and it's got a lot of German people! I still haven't gotten to Neuland but next week I'll try to get pictures to you! Have a good one! Remember to read the Book of Mormon this week! Also pray and go to church! The book is blue, the church is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Thanks for all the emails and prayers, and especially photos!

Pictures:

1 Zona Pedro Juan Caballero.

2 Asado with Luis Diego and Leo.

3 Saying goodbye to the squad.

4 Airton and Nielson wanted to wait with us until I had to leave.

5 Saying goodbye to my man Elder Cartagena. He's a good comp and good teacher; they're going to be baptizing about every week in Yby yau this change. I'm excited for him!

6 Once again, 5 stars.

7 This bridge is not safe. Its basically 2 metal strips and the wood from pallets

8 Another picture of the bridge.

9 Turns out there was an Elder Olson in Trinidad who just went home!

10 The new Chaco Elders!

11 Elder Hernandez in front, Elder Sotec in the middle, Paraguay River in the background!

12 We took a pit stop for Pizza!

13 Working out the schedule for the temple.

14 We went to the temple! (with Elder Castañeda)

15 and with Elder Hill.

16 We went out to get Lomitos since we hadn't hardly eaten anything in 3 days.

17 Temple trip!

18 In Abundancia with the Neuland families that went to the temple!

19 Yeah, I went to church with 1 shoe. Hermana Evans said it's the first case of pique that she's seen in her time here in Paraguay.

20 With Elder Castañeda and Elder... Brower! He's in Abundancia right now.

21 Some of the Nivacles had to ride for 8 hours on a tractor through the desert to get to the road to start the journey. They're from a place called Mistolar that's further out than everything but there aren't missionaries there.

22 In the middle of the Chaco is the biggest church I think I've ever seen

23 The Chaco is a whole other level and so is my companion. Elder Castañeda is awesome!

24 We got a ride to Filadelfia

Have a good week! Auf Wiedersehen!

BRRRRRR IT'S COLD

Mon., 7/17/2017 (Yby Yau)

What a week! About 2 days ago it was sunny and about 90 or so F, but its now in the 30s or so F with the first rain that we've had in a month or so. That's what the weather is like here in a nutshell. The week was a really good one; we didn't spend all day every day contacting, and had a lot of investigators progress. I don`t have too much time, and I wrote a lot with the pictures, so I'll have to go quickly. Most of the week was pretty normal. Tuesday we had district meeting, and Airton was there because we have to have a member. Thursday I had a division with Elder Passos in his area, including a couple of colectivos early and late at night, resulting in a slight lack of sleep. We visited one of his cousins, Luichi, who along with his son Diego really wants to get baptized. We also met a couple other people that want to get baptized, and Fernando is getting ready to get baptized this week! Saturday we went out into the middle of nowhere to visit the Familia Caceres, an older couple who are really strong members but live really far from the church. About 10 or 15 years ago they had church meetings in their house, but now all their neighbors who were members moved so they come to Yby yau every once in a while for church. Sundays we normally have about 20 or 25 people in church, but we got up early to go bring people to church. Together with the hermanas we had about 9 investigators in church, which is a TON. They were also all really cool investigators. The difference between good investigators and normal people, is that they ACT! They ACT by READING scriptures, PRAYING and going to CHURCH. We, as members of the church, should probably set the example and do those things, don't you think? Try to do all 3, all week! Have a good week everyone!

Pictures:

1 With all the kids in Fm Fernandez. Dario, the little guy in the middle (10 years old), wants to get baptized in about a month, so stay tuned!

2 Fernando (also 10 years old) is planning to get baptized this week so also stay tuned! His mom is a member but hadn't been to church in 8 years or so until the Branch President asked us to visit her! The power of giving references to the missionaries!















3 Elder Passos discovered hamburgers with BACON in Pedro Juan and we had to check it out to finish off our division..


4 In the colectivo on the way home to Yby yau.

5 The inside of a nice colectivo looks like this.

6 We went out a few kilometers to visit a reference from the branch President's son, Robert.

7 The bridge wasn't big enough for my bike and I at the same time.

8 Since we were out there we decided to so see a pretty cool stream.

9 Yby yau is at km 109. As a side note, my bike helmet is one of the original helmets that the missionaries used when they first opened up the area in the year 2000(17 years) and if the bikes were in another area before, my helmet might be older than me. Airton's bike is also one of the bikes they had here in 2000. I'm not exactly sure how it still works, but it does and we aren't going to ask questions hahaha

10 Whenever I talk about empedrado, this is what it looks like.

11 Airton's bike doesn't actually work going uphill

12 We went to visit Brother an Sister Caceres, who really want to go to church but live a little far from church, and he's 83 and she's 76. They do come about once every other month. That's what I call dedication

13 A little far as in 30 km away!

14 We made it (sadly that's a little out of range on the bikes as it would take half the day). Good thing Pte Cristino got a car!

15 We have had a lot of sand in the wind recently. If you look close, you should be able to see it.

16 We ate out at a restaurant the other day. As you may be thinking right now, Airton is with us every day all day!

TRANSFERS ONCE AGAIN

Mon., 7/24/2017 (Yby Yau w/transfers tomorrow!)

Well it has been a jam packed week and we had changes. I will be leaving Yby Yau which is hard but I know the Lord will put me where I need to be. There isn't an abundance of time so I'll get right to it. This last pday we cooked marinera (kind of like fried chicken) with Airton, then did nothing until 6. It was freezing cold, and in the night went below freezing for the first time in years here.

Tuesday we spent all day helping the Fm Fernandez move. They lived in a pretty rough area so they moved to the other side of the neighborhood, about a half km away. They have the heaviest bed frames I've ever lifted! hahaha. That night we had a cookout with our investigator Luis. His wife doesn't like the church or something so she didn't want him to get baptized. He almost got baptized 5 years ago or so, but never got permission. We saw his record in the area book and decided to visit him. He's awesome, honestly the nicest person I know. He really wants to get baptized, but his wife who lives in Spain right now said no and he didn't know what to do because she was pretty set against him getting baptized. We felt prompted to teach about fasting in the first lesson, and explained that it's normally the first Sunday of the month but whichever Sunday works. Well turns out, he wanted to fast Tuesday until Wednesday so he cooked up some pork and some chicken sausage (which is actually really good) and we went over to eat then start our fast together with him (and Airton). Wednesday we went back to finish the fast with more sausage (they really like their meat here). We taught Luis that fasting is one of the most powerful forces that we can have because it's calling down help from God. Friday we went by to have a lesson, and Luis was super excited. He told us that he got a call from his wife at 4 in the morning asking directly if he wanted to be baptized. He said yes because he really does and she said he had her permission! He hadn't even told her yet that we stopped by to visit him or anything. This experience strengthened my testimony of fasting. I rarely fasted before my mission, but now I've got a lot of faith in the fact that it works. Friday we cleaned the baptismal font, and got it all filled up. We had a few complications with the water, but it all worked out in the end. Fernando got baptized and it was awesome; To Mom's joy, I did end up singing a musical number with the Hermana missionaries (When I am Baptized form the Children's Songbook) and Elder Cartagena got to baptize Fernando. It was a great moment. S

Sunday we had attendance of 46 PEOPLE at church!!! That's a little bit higher than the 11 or 12 we used to have! That night we did receive the news that I will be leaving Yby Yau. I didn't even start packing my bags because I didn't want to leave, Elder Cartagena didn't want me to leave, and honestly nobody did! In Yby yau they're used to having missionaries for a long time, and after 6 months it's hard to say goodbye! Especially with Pt Cristino and Airton. It has been an awesome and humbling experience to be in Yby yau with the people here, and they're honestly like a family to me here. Thank you all for the emails and have a great week! I'll be writing from a new area next week, so watch out for that!

Pictures:

1 We didn't do anything for Pday last week; just relaxed. This is Nielson, the younger brother of Airton.

2 Airton's mom has started cooking for us every couple of days! It's nice to not have to cook everything once in a while. Imagine hush puppies that are sweet: pretty good stuff.

3 Back at it in the cold.

4 We helped our investogator/lessactive family build and move their house.

5 Moving Fm Fernandez. By the way, there is no such thing as a moving truck here. We moved everything manually about a half km up a hill to the new house.

6 It was so cold we had our cookout with our investigator Luis inside.

7 Luis is on the left, his friend Leo on the right. Paraguayan cookouts include meat, other type of meat, other type of meat, and a little bit of bread and mandioca on the side.

8 Cleaning the pila bautismal(baptismal font/pool)

9 Daniel gave a talk for the baptism, and did a great job!

10 Fernando's baptism!

11 With his mom, Lucia, and his sister Miriam.

12 Happy as can be!

13 With everyone that came early for the baptism.

14 With my amigo Derlis.

15 Empanadas are a big thing here so we tried making them.

16 Not gonna lie, Elder Cartagena and I make some pretty good empanadas.


17 y 18 the empanadas in process.

19 Airton got a flat tire and we didn't have time so we had to leave the bikes at home.

20 With Airton and his mom. They're an awesome family. Airton is our translator, Nielson is one of the Hermanas translators, and their mom, Elva cleans our clothes (and now feeds us a ton)