East Coast Lighting up Loma!!!

Mon., 4/9/2018 (Loma Plata)

Wow has it been a good week! I'll just get right to it! We started off with some changes. Elder Trejo and I had to take a bus at 10 p.m. from Filadelfia to Abundancia Tuesday night, getting to bed at 12 midnight.

We got up at 3:15 to walk the 2 km back to the street, where around 4 a.m. or so the colectivo with the missionaries for changes passed. The new missionary in Abundancia is an Elder Falcon, who is from Argentina. My new companion is Elder... Castellaw! From... Oakton, VIRGINIA! Man let me tell you, it's been an awesome week! We get along really well and it's great just getting out to work! Elder Castellaw has 9 months in the mission and we met last Christmas when he won my white elephant gift- rubber ducky goggles! Elder Castellaw and I decided we just want to put in work for the next six weeks, and so that's what we did! Here are a couple experiences:

- while we were walking home from the terminal during the siesta (2pm, the hottest part of the day) with Elder Castellaw's stuff, we stopped for a moment in a tiny bit of shade, and said a quick prayer that God would send someone to help us, since we don't know anyone with a car and with a bunch of bags and around a km ahead of us, we were tired. Moments later, a car passed, went a block further, then circled back and offered us a ride right to our house!

-while we were walking along a busy street, a man in a car waved us over and asked us a question; "so is there a branch here now?" We told him no but we do have a group. He said he was visiting from Luque (Asuncion area), then pulled out 2 brand new hats and gave them to us! Nice guy!

-we were contacting and felt that we should go down a street that looked like houses from the states, even though normally we don't work in that area as much. We kept going until we found out the reason for going there: a member of the church was doing fencing outside and said he would be able to come to church and that he had just gotten here!

-Sunday night we were coming home after dark and it was really dusty. We hadn't done all of our studies yet, so we decided to get some studies in. We felt bad though because we were 1 short on our goal for new investigators for the week. We had the thought to look for someone the missionaries had met a few months ago and weren't able to find again, so we stopped by her house, and she was home! That really strengthened my testimony that if we want to work towards a goal for the Lord, he will always help us. That doesn't mean it'll be easy though. We will always have to clap at one more house, knock on one more door, or make one more call.

We have been blessed here in Loma Plata with a lot of new investigators, 4 investigators with new baptismal dates and 2 investigators in church (with us, that makes 4 people in church). We are hoping to have another great week on the grind out here in Loma Plata. Thanks for all of your prayers, emails, and especially photos!

Also on a random note, apparently Pte Matthew Harding [newly released Raleigh Stake President and new Area Authority] and Rocky Quiller [My parents Bishop when I was born and now a High Councilman in my home Stake] both sent letters (Pte Harding's was from 15 December 2018 hahaha) and I received them today. It's always nice getting stuff like that, even if it takes a while to get here!

Ya so my pictures aren't working but Elder Castellaws did so here are a couple of the week; hopefully they work out next week!

[Elder Olson forwarded his new companion's letter and pictures, so here they are:]

Whats gucciiii!!!

So crazy stuff went down this week and we had changes and I ended up in the Chaco! This area is the further most area in the Northern part of Paraguay. I had to take a 7 hour bus ride up to this area and it was wild, like super bumpy and dirt road only in the middle of the night. But I was met by my new comp Elder Olson and it was destiny or something because he is from North Carolina and we are the only 2 missionaries in our mission from the East Coast; and now were comps!!! So it was extremely hype and this whole week that's like all we've been talking about and just boolin out working up a storm here. And he is super motivated and hard working so we feana do big things this change.

A little about the Chaco, my area is called Loma Plata and the thing about the Chaco is that here is where all these Germans fled from Germany for religious freedom a long time ago. And so they rolled up here in Paraguay and made their own colonies and everything. And that grew to about 20,000 people now. And then we have the normal Paraguayans up here that move here to work for the Germans cause they run like everything. And then on top of that we have the Indigenous which are like indians that are like straight up Natives from old time Paraguay. And this group of natives are called Lenguas.

So the Germans are like impossible to do anything with cause they are all part of this religion called Mennonite. And they are very strong and want nothing to do with the Mormon missionaries. So we geek out sometimes and clap at their houses just to hear their rejections in Dutch. So we are working with the Paraguayans and a lil with the natives but they super don't speak Spanish but their other native language.

There are 4 areas here in the Chaco where there are missionaries. Filidefilia, Neuland, Loma Plata, and Abudancia. And there are only 8 elders here, one companionship in each area. And what's kinda cool about Loma Plata is missionaries legit just opened this area to missionary work and the church about 8 months ago. So there´s no ward or branch but we are a group and our job is to literally build the church here. Church on Sunday we had 4 people there: Me, my comp, and our 2 investigators Jose and Angel. And our church building is just the house right next to our house as seen in the picture. We have no members or really anything in our area and its hype to just be like yooo we are starting this and its our responsibility to get this going. And hopefully that's what we can do!

This first week was awesome in that it was my first week here but also that we went to work and put in that grind. We saw a lot of miracles and found a lot of great people. And blessed to have 2 of them come to church on Sunday. I know it's not gonna be easy and will be discouraging at times but I know that this is the work of the Lord and I am here for a reason. To spread and share his gospel and the special message we have for the people.

I love you all and thank you for the support and emails!

Rohayhu
Elder Castellaw


[Welcome to the Chaco!]



[The baptismal font in front of the apartment & "church."]

[Elder Olson and Elder Castellaw]

[Countryside is flat and with dirt roads.]



[Ostriches...]

[4 church attendees]

[Lots of interesting critters.]

Changes! General Conference!

Mon., 4/2/2018 (Loma Plata)

Well I'll get right to it. We have changes this week! I'll be ... Staying in Loma Plata! Crazy huh? I've been here a while in the Chaco (this will be my 7th change) and I'll be here for at least a little longer! Elder Garrett will be leaving for some other place. Also with him will be Elder Salazar, who came with me to the Chaco when I got here! It's kind of crazy, the fact that all the faces here are different from when I came!

The highlight by far of this week was General Conference! It was a rare opportunity to sustain the new President of the church, Russell M. Nelson, and also 2 new apostles! Some quick take-aways I got out of conference: LOVE AND SERVE OTHERS! It's so important. We literally have the church for that reason! There are so many problems in the world, and we can wait to watch more happen, or fight back and stop the problems! Everyone needs a helping hand. We shouldn't wait and say "some day, " because as Pte Eyring has told us, that just means "not this day!"  We also need to watch our mouths and attitudes, and do our service meekly. Service means a lot when we do it when we want, but even more when we do it when the Lord wants! For those who don't remember, we serve in a group here in Loma Plata, which means in a tiny concrete-floored, brick-walled room, so we don't have a computer. We had to go to Filadelfia (where our Branch is) to watch the Conference, and were unable to bring others with us. It rained again this week, and with the road conditions, we almost missed the Conference. But as always, where there's a will, there's a way, and we got to see it all! Even a couple of sessions in English! The changes from Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching to the more simple, ministering is an inspired change that is similar to recent changes in missionary work, with the numbers required being taken away and replaced by the more important need of actually getting something done. Many people did their required monthly visits, but didn't understand the need to really be there for their families when needed, but now members are required to live the higher law and not just check off the monthly visit but really be a strength for those who need it. I testify that Russell M Nelson is a prophet of God, and that he is preparing us for the time when Jesus will come again (scriptures, also Gospel Principles ch. 43-44). I also testify that we need to repent because Jesus Christ wants to help us, but He only can help those that help themselves. He's knocking at the door, so let Him in! I love you all!

This week by the numbers:

1 bike stolen (Elder Garrett's; but we are hot on the trail of the thief).
[And also the number of Elder Olson's Stake Former Stake Presidents who was called as an Area Authority:  Matthew Scott Harding.]
2 New apostles.
7 New temples announced--including one in Elder Garrett's home city (Layton, UT; he fell out of his chair at that announcement), one in Richmond, Va! Also in the Philipines, Nicaragua, India, Russia, and Salta, Argentina! The temple in Salta is actually super close; just a little further from me than the Paraguay temple!
93: the  number of pancakes we cooked for General Conference in Filadelfia

Pictures:

1 Elder Garrett photography part 1


















2 part 2 ft me making phone calls.

3 Kitchen creations featring Vienna sausage and Serrano rice.

4 With our friends Jose and Santiago. They're both super dope and Jose is progressing towards baptism. He has learned so much about repentance and the need of it; also understanding the importance of prophets. He will hopefully be batized soon!

5 We made a few pancakes for the Filadelfia members!

6 The Filidelfia chapel after conference!

7 Playing some Phase 10 waiting to write y'all.

8 We don't even have a table to cook on or store the food so here's what our pantry looks like. hahaha

Loma Plata and... winter? Or no? GENERAL CONFERENCE

Mon., 3/26/2018 (Loma Plata)

Well as usual it's been a really fast week!

 Tuesday to Wednesday we had a division, and I went with Elder Trejo, from Arizona to Abundancia to work. I've been here in the Chaco for 8 months and it was my first time working there. They have an interesting area, which consists of a 500 person community of Nivacle indigenous members. Only a small portion aren't members of the church. Due to the rates of church attendance, there are currently 2 sister missionaries working there, with the Elders now free to leave the community and preach the gospel in the surrounding communities. Abundancia's area where they work is reallllllllly big. We ended up having to walk that day, and the weather actually felt like winter weather! That probably means it's 60 degrees outside, but compared to the weather we normally have, it was a nice break from the 100 plus we normally have.

After that it was back to Loma Plata. Once again we had rain Sunday, which makes it hard for people to come to church, but we had a good meeting anyways. As usual, Elder Garrett and I do everything in church. We missed our bus (Paraguayan version... the bus never showed up hahaha) so we biked to Filadelfia instead. We had to do it during the daylight because it gets super dark and nobody drives defensively here hahaha. Due to the winter weather, the sun was out but it felt really nice outside. We also got good news this week in that our investigator, Perla who has had all the lessons, has to get married to her husband, and he had to get a divorce first, but all that should be taken care of in the next week or 2, so we may have a baptism coming up! We have been working with a few more people who have good prospects of getting baptized too.

With changes coming up, Elder Garrett and I think I'll be leaving, as he is about to end his mission here and I've been in the Chaco a looooooooooooong time. But we really don't know, so we just have to keep working! The next change whoever stays will have a good amount of success!

 It hasn't been so long here in Loma Plata, but so far I have learned a lot. Elder Garrett is really good at helping me realize what I need to work on, and so I think of all my time in the mission, I've improved as a person here in Loma Plata. We've really focused on serving others. I've always held service up to be an important aspect, but to be honest, I haven't always served without complaining. Recently I've learned a lot about serving and never saying anything negative; just giving a smile and saying  'I'm on it.'

 Well that's about all except for one more announcement: GENERAL CONFERENCE IS COMING UP! It's a big event, so make sure to take this opportunity to listen to our prophet and the other church leaders. For more enlightenment, look up 1 Nephi 19:23. Have a good week; I love you all!

Pictures:

1 Biking a little.

2 A couple of ostriches, no big deal.

3 Vegetables all day (when it's Sunday and you have to use whatever's left in the fridge).

4 Anthill under Elder Garrett's bed.


5 and 6 Elder Garrett and I at the only restaurant here in Loma Plata that's actually a restaurant.

7 Our house.

8 Elder Garrett's astounding photography skills... getting the lighting just right.

9 Division in Abundancia with Elder Trejo! We played basketball for exercise time! It was my first time playing in ages.

10 Abundancia.

11 same

12 Some goats.

13 Some pigs .

14 We found a hill in Abu.

15 Last week after district meeting.

16 When the Zone Leaders came up a couple weeks ago. Elder Staheli was also trained by my trainer, Elder Bridge, so he's my 'brother' in the mission!

Loma Plata and NO rain!

Mon., 3/19/2018 (Loma Plata)

We had another fast week here in Loma Plata, and finally without rain. I'll just go over a few of the highlights.

The past few weeks we have been looking for a new house/chapel for Loma Plata, that is better quality/location, and we found a place and are working out the details with the landlords! It is going to be 100 times better than the current house! We had interviews with Pte Evans in Abundancia, which are always good. We got the house that we want to move into approved with help from Pte Colman from the District, so hopefully we can get everything worked out with the landlords.

We did have a good morning on Sunday; we had ELEVEN people in church! That doubles last week's number. Thinks are looking up here in Loma Plata. Having a chapel in the center of the city--as we are planning to have--will help even more.

Today for Pday we played some soccer and football with the rest of the district. I can't remember if I had told y'all, but Elder Garrett is going to college on a full ride to play soccer. Kind of cool right!

I also learned a lot about prayer this week. We are told to always pray (2 Nephi 32:9), and it's for a reason. Many people think prayers are just a custom and don't actually do anything, but I know that they do do something. In the past week, year and a half, and honestly in my whole life I have seen the power of prayer. From finding misplaced keys, phones or other personal items, to making crucial life decisions, prayer is always an answer and a way for us to receive help and blessings from our loving Heavenly Father.

Thanks for the letters; it's nice to always have something to read on Mondays and know how y'all all are. I love you!

Pictures:

1 Eating pizza with the Neuland elders and Pte. Carlos and Romi Colman and Elder Garrett.

2 With Elder Garrett

3 It rained a little.

4 Sunset in LP.

5 As I've said a few times, it rained a lot recently!

6 We still cook all of our food every meal every day!

7 This family has a valid excuse for not coming out to talk.

8 The streets here all flooded.

LOMA PLATA and some more RAINNNNNN

Mon., 3/12/2018 (Loma Plata)

It has been another fast week in Loma Plata! It's kind of like the time flies here. Sorry, once again I can't send pictures, we are writing from a hotel computer and the cable port broke. So for the week:

We were hammered with rain here in the Chaco once again. From what I've heard, some of the rainfall records here have been broken. In some areas of the Chaco close to us, there has been a good amount of church and government aid, as the flooding has been pretty bad. In Loma Plata we didn't have terrible flooding; juts a lot of rain. It gets pretty muddy here when it rains, so the few people that we have been able to talk to use that as a bit of an excuse. We have recently hit a few dead ends and hadn't known what to do in this area, so we called up one of the missionaries that opened up Loma Plata to ask for some people that he used to visit. We plan on visiting them this week, as well as a loooooooooooooot of contacting. For various reasons we have had to drop almost all of the investigators that we had, so it will be a really different week. Elder Garrett and I have been getting along really well, which is good. In church on Sunday we had 6 people (7 but one left early), which is better than past weeks but we hope to have many more this week!

So most mission houses have a few old Liahona/Ensign  magazines laying around which we read sometimes during studies. Here is a talk that I found this week that I liked; it's written about marriage but I think family relationships such as children and parents are also benefited by reading it:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-eternal-blessings-of-marriage?lang=eng

I love you all and hope you have a good week!

A LITTLE RAIN

Mon., 3/5/2018 (Loma Plata)

Well I have to keep it short as we don't have much time and it's a little late. We had a bit of a slow week this week, with a lot of rain. I can't send pictures today, but believe me it rained a LOOOOOT. Like everyday all day all week. Apparently the elders in Neuland spent half the week wading in WAIST DEEP water! We didn't have thaaaaat much but let it suffice that it rained a lot. Sunday we only had the 2 of us (Elder Garrett and I) in church, as the mud in the streets was too deep for anyone to come. Elder Garrett is the world's next piano prodigy. I've been teaching him there by there and so he played in church (I sang by myself hahahaha). As a result, we didn't have too much success, but we did have a good amount of time to get to know each other and talk. The weather here will never cease to surprise me. In other news, a worker came to fix the shower, so we now have one! That was a blessing. Elder Garrett has been a dope companion so far; he is a really good teacher and doesn't let the weather ruin the fun! We are hoping for a much more successful (and maybe a liiiiiittle drier) week this week! I'd like to end with a quote: "Never is a man taller than when he's on his knees." Don't forget to say your prayers; God is listening! I hope y'all have a a good week!

ELDER PACKER, ASUNCION AND LOMA PLATA!

Mon., 2/26/2018 (Neuland/Paraiso to Asuncion to Loma Plata)

Wow! Well we had a busy week! Here it is real quick:

We had changes and I'm now in Loma Plata with Elder Garrett from Layton, Utah. He is 20 years old and has been in Paraguay 3 months longer than me. He has really good Spanish and works really hard. He also has a really big sense of humor! hahaha! There is never a dull moment.

We had to go to Asuncion Monday night when they had changes. Then we went to Trinidad (the Mission Assistants' area) to go contacting (tracting) for a couple days until Thursday, when Elder Allan F Packer from the Quorum of the 70 came. 6 of the 8 Zones in our mission got together for a conference. It was really great and we learned a lot about the Holy Ghost and how to have his help more in our lives. 

 After the conference we took a colectivo back to the Chaco. We then got a ride from Filadelfia with my suitcases with a Senior Missionary who was auditing (or something with money) to Loma Plata. Lomas Plata is similar to Neuland, in that it is a German colony here in Paraguay. Loma is bigger though; I think there are 25 to 30 thousand people, which is much larger than the 5 or 6 thousand in Neuland.

 We have a small apartment that is a room with a tiny kitchen and a tiny bathroom. The apartment is a building with 4 of the same size, and the other room on our side of the building is the chapel. Pretty close huh! We also have bikes here, so of the 5 (well Yby yau doesn't have bikes now but we did the 6 months I was there) areas here with bikes, I've been assigned to 3 of them! 

Loma Plata is huge though; and we have to go pretty far out to go to the store or other weekly/daily tasks. If you have any questions about the area, just send me an email! Loma Plata is still really close to Neuland so the climate and such are the same. Here we are just a group, not even a branch. Loma Plata is part of the Filadelfia branch. Elder Garrett is a the group leader. We had a solid 5 people, including us 2 in church. There is a member family, Fm Alvarez, that came to church. The church has only been here for 7 months, and there have only been 1 or 2 baptisms in the whole time it's been here, but we are excited to work and we'll be changing all that! Thanks for the emails and I hope y'all have a good week!

Pictures:

1 Elder Garrett and I on a bridge in Asuncion.

2 Elder Villacresses (the Assistant/former Zone Leader that I had a few divisions with) went home this change.

3 The kitchen in Loma Plata.

4 The house (door on the left) and chapel (door on the right) in Loma Plata.

5 Our chapel (right side).

6 our chapel part 2 (left side).

7 I now play the piano for church!

8 As you may have noted, our kitchen isn't big enough for 23 people so we cook in the bedroom. hahaha

9 Here's Elder Garrett.

10 We didn't have bread Sunday, so here's a pancake...

11 Piano lessons at lunch time! He can now play Joseph Smith's First Prayer and We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet on the piano! (with 1 finger)

12 Here's a better picture of Elder Garrett.