Hey, Hey!

Ok I just love the mission. Really, how cool is it that I'm in Paraguay serving a mission! Love it! And guess what?! Emilio went to the temple for his first time on Saturday!!! How amazing is that! Ah he is just the coolest. And ok Gustavo did not get baptized..toda via...I have faith that he will, but he's just got to make that decision on his own. But the day we saw him we had a nice long chat with him and he told us everything that happened, and how he was all prepared and ready to go and that one collectivo passed by but that he didn't get on and that he hadn't told any of his family about it and he just got really nervous and all these different fears and doubts. Bueno, y despues I told him that I wanted to share a story with him about these 3 friends. ( And if somebody could look up this story...it won't be exactly like this but something along these lines and then let me know how it really is that would be awesome) So there are these 3 friends and they were the best of friends in heaven and they always talked about how great earth life would be and how it would be so awesome to meet back up and talk about what happened with their lives while on the earth. And then God came to them and told one of them (se llama Hna Remache) that she would be sent to Columbia and that her family wouldn't be very rich but that they would always have the things that they needed, and that gracias a su papa who would be converted when he was 18, she would have the gospel in her life. And that her grandparents would also later convert to the gospel and be sealed in the temple. And then God turned to the other friend (se llama Hnita Nelson) and said and you will be sent to the United States and your family will be very blessed y gracias a su mama who will be baptized when she is 17 and will later meet your dad and they will be sealed in the temple so that yall can live together forever as a familly, you will have the gospel in your life. And then he turned to the other friend and said and you Gustavo will be sent to Paraguay and your life will be hard, every day your family will struggle to have food to eat and you won't have the gospel in your life. But gracias to your best friends right here who will be sent to Paraguay on their missions and will be companions and will serve in the very spot where you live, you will have the opportunity to accept the gospel in your life, so that your family also will have the opporutity to live together forever. And then he counseled Gustavo to remember to be faithful and have trust in Him, his father in heaven because there would be many other things in his path that would seem good, but that were not the full truth. And then Gustavo turned to his friends and pleaded with them to be patient with him and to just love him because he was going to be difficult and stubborn and it would take him time to recognize the truth. And then I just talked to him and said, Gustavo we're still here because we promised you that we would find you and do all we could to help you recognize and remember the things you already know to be true. Realmente, I know that you need to be baptized so that you can return to live in the presence of your Heavenly Father and so that you can live with your family forever too. Ahhh the church is so true! And yes tears were shed lol. But he'll get it! I have faith. I can't imagine what my life would be like without the gospel. I feel so blessed to have a testimony, have a firm testimony of this gospel and it just makes me excited to share it! Ha oh and a couple weeks ago we met this lady and we went in and sang with all her kids and all the neighboring kids and everything and the kids just loved it! And bueno, so everytime we went to go back she was "never there" so the kids would always want us to come in and sing with them y cosas asi.. but it had been awhile since we had been there and on Thursday one of the kids told us he had been to church before and he wanted us to talk to his mom. So we went to talk to him and his mom and ha apparently it wasn't our church (it was the testigos...Jehovah's witness) but she wanted to know if he could come with us to church because everyday he would come home and ask her if he could go with us. His name is Pedro..Pedrito and he's 12 years old and he's just a lil stud. So he came to church with us yesterday and we went to his house last night and his mom was like, oh he just loved it and he says he wants to be a missionary like yall...and then she started asking questions about how he could be a missionary and what they needed to do to get him ready. haha it was so cute!! But yeah during church he like turned to me and pointed to my plaque and was like I want to be like you, I want to have one of those and be a missionary like you. I was like ahhh precious! lol so we're hoping that his mom will come to conference with us this week and have the desires to keep coming! ha because the first time we talked with him we left him a pamphlet and told him to read the first page and highlight all the parts he liked, ha and he actually did it with his mom's help! And underlined God, Jesus Christ, felicidad (happiness), it was just cute. So we left him a Book of Mormon and told his mom it will be really awesome if she could read it with him. Ha and there is power in the Book of Mormon! I'm excited! Ah and we have cambios this week! And I don't want to leave this area! Ha I'm praying that I don't..which probably means I will...but I hope not! I love everything here...the people are amazing! Ah I just love the mish! Oh and I got a letter from Elder Moore who is coming to this mission and leaves for the MTC April 21! Ahhh I'm so excited for you! This is the best mission! And yeah Pres Wade leaves in July, but I didn't get my letter from him until like a week before I entered the MTC...but I'm sure you'll get it sometime! A really good way to prepare would be studying preach my gospel and the scriptures and just becoming familiar with both! And yeah most of the people here know both Spanish and Guarani...ha and actually I found out this week that a lot of the words I say are not spanish, it's guarani! Crazy...the languange is really tight and I know I'm going to come home and speak a mixture of guarani and spanish and people won't be able to understand me, but it's all good. Also, mom I didn't get Ty's first forwarded email...I got the one he hand wrote but not the other one..if there was another one. Also I need you to tell me how to make guacomole because avocados are starting to fall from the trees! Ha I love Paraguay! So we've been eating them and they are sooo good! And I still haven't gotten a letter from Dave, but I got Emily's letter this week!!! (And I don't think I'll have time to write her back today, but I've gotten it all written down to send next week!) And question...when is Easter?!!! I have no idea, and neither does anybody else...yall made it sound like it was really soon! And Alena's patriarchal blessing, that is SOOO EXCITING! Alena that's awesome, I'm super excited for you! Look at you all grown up! Yikes! But yeah I get to call home on mothers day..I'm not sure what time or anything yet, but if you could do her blessing like a week before or something that'd be good. And the RS party sounded like it went really well, and that RS open house sounds really fun and you're going with really fun sisters! Guapas. And congrats on the design team and getting all that scrapbooking stuff! That sounds like it will be really awesome! ok yeah my times up, so I'll email Emily next week! And wow Ty is such a stud...I'll send him an email next week too! He's just got to remember to be patient with himself...ha and I'm so glad he has hermanas in his district! So fun! Does the kid have a camera because I want pictures!!! And he's just going to start loving the MTC...it was hard for me at first too! And how are his teachers! ANd tell him good job on the details. Very good email, I want them all like that! Love yall so much! Have a great week! ANd I think it's SIs. Wariner's bday this weekend...if so happy birthday!!! Love yall!Love,Hermanita Nelson