Hola!!

Ok so Emilio get´s baptized this weekend! Ah my heart is so happy! We were at his house a couple days ago and I was asking if he had talked to his mom about being baptized (which he hasn´t, I think he´s kinda scared because all of his family is Catholic) but he was telling us that he´s always tried to put God first in his life and he can´t deny the feelings that he felt and that he was going to get baptized no matter what. And a couple days before that he said his doubt with Joseph Smith just kept coming back and back and I was like, remember when we watched the movie and do you remember what you said after the movie? And he was like yeah, but... ha and I was like yeah, but NOTHING. I was like that was the Holy Ghost bearing witness to you of the truth (he´s shaking his head in agreement) and when God speaks to you, YOU LISTEN! ha hopefully I got the point across. I can´t wait to see him in white and hopefully I´ll be able to go through the temple with him in a year! He is so going places; he has so much potential! Ah the gospel is so true! And that´s the thing...this baptism is just setting the bar for the rest of the baptisms I´m going to have. Because there´s this problem in Paraguay where people just get baptized so they can feel good and to feel like they have religion in their life, but they don´t really understand the importance of baptism. It´s a COVENANT you´re making with God!! And a lot of missionaries were telling me that about a 1/3 or more of their baptisms are inactive now. NOT OK. I don´t want that. There are so many people in our ward who are inactive because they went to church 3 times and got baptized and then never came again. I want people like Emilio. People who really go through the conversion process and develop their own testimony of the church and understand how important baptism and the gospel is! I´m excited! I´m gonna be bold and declare testimony and change lives! How exciting, right?!

And right now we have two studs that we´re teaching and their following the Emilio path, which is so exciting! We have Victor, who is such a goof! I love the kid! I think he´s 17...I don´t know what planet this kid came from. He is always smiling and laughing, I love it! Ha and he always makes fun of my Spanish and how he can´t ever understand me, but he speaks Guarani half the time so I really can´t understand him! But he´s just a good kid who wants to change his life. And that´s the thing, he´s like Emilio..like we can trust him. If he says he´s going to church, then he comes to church. If he doesn´t do his reading, he will tell us honestly that he fell asleep while reading or whatever. Oh and he´s living with his uncle in their car. We came by to get him for the first time last Sunday and he came out of the car (from where he sleeps) and had this corny lil smile on his face and was ready to go. And yesterday he told us that he told his family about the church (and they live pretty far away) and they said they wanted to come. Ha he´s just a stud and he´s ready for the gospel and ready for the changes!

And then we have Christian who is also a stud. We met him a couple weeks ago when we were visiting a ward member and he was just sitting there in the background so I invited him to church and he said yeah he would come. And it was weird because he said yes and I actually believed him too. And then the next day he was there! He´s 16(seems a lot older) he´s been through A LOT in his life. Both his parents are in jail and his younger sister is taking care of all their younger siblings right now-and they live very far away. And right now he´s living with his real dad and their family. His step mom Christina was the one we were visiting with and she is so great! She faithfully comes to church every week and loves the Lord. Her husband (and his dad) is a drunk...even though he was baptized too (that´s what I meant when I said I wanted legit converts). So Christian is one that just is so ready for the truth too. He said he had been invited to church a lot before but he could never come because he always had to work but now he could come. Every time we teach him he just accepts everything and agrees with it and adds his two cents. He´s such a stud. And he wants to be baptized! BUT..remember his drunk dad...yeah his drunk dad freaked out at us the other night and told us that there was no way he was giving his son permission to get baptized and started trash talking the people in the church. So Hna Case was like well sometimes we just have to remember that the church is perfect but the people aren´t. And he was like yeah I know the book of mormon is true but there´s no way I´m letting my son into that church. Yeah apparently he never had a true conversion! Oh and then his dad said he was sending Christian back to where he was from (which is way far away) and so all weekend we were so sad because he wasn´t here anymore. And then yesterday morning we were going to the collectivo (bus) spot and there he was! Ahh and then we felt so bad because we hadn´t even invited him to come to church or anything but HE WAS THERE! All on his own..stud, right?! And last night he was like why do I have to have my dad´s permission to get baptized, I just want to get baptized. So we´re going to try and talk to his dad when he´s not drunk! Oh the mission! Oh and yesterday before church...we have a collectivo that comes by and picks everyone up to go to church for free..but it never showed up! Ha so Hna Case and I had to pay for everyone to go to church..yikes! Oh the experiences! Another reason why you need to come pick me up, so you can ride on collectivos with me!! :)

Oh and we had Zone Conference this week which was amazing! And then we had interviews with President Wade..love the Wade´s! And I asked him what I could to become a better missionary, so that I could be the best missionary I could be and always remember my mission and remember that I did everything I could do to serve the people and to serve God...and he said Be obedient (with exactness...and be obedient to all the little things..even though they seem small, they will make a difference!) , Work hard (give it your all!), and lastly have fun!!! He was like if you´re not having fun, you´re not doing something right! ha I was like ohh I like that. Ahh and Hermana Wade makes the best banana bread! One of my favorite foods in Paraguay along with cokitos (dried bread or something), popcorn!! Ahhh I love popcorn all of a sudden! And lomitos!!! Oh my goodness so good! They´re kinda like burritos but not at all, but like the closest thing they have to mexican food here and you can really only get good ones in Asuncion and we´re here today because Hna Case needed new shoes. And then EMPANADAS! With meat! Yummy! Another reason you need to come :) Oh and Elder Curtis says hi...I saw him at the zone conference and we had a nice lil chat! He´s changed so much! I love it! I just love studs. And Ty´s about to be such a stud missionary! Ah so excited for him!

Oh and I got Keri´s dearelder..gracias gracias! And you can tell people they can email me, it just has to be through you and I can email them back through you too.. I can´t wait to talk to yall again in a couple weeks!! Love yall so much and thanks for everything! And yall better start sending me more emails! ( I haven´t gotten anything from any of my siblings..what is this?!) Have a great week! Remember the gospel is so true and it changes lives!!

Love,
Hermanita Nelson