Aug. 16, 2010

CRAZY WEEK!!!! Ha but this one went by a lot faster! First, holy shnikies I got my HUGE HUGE HUGE package!!!! And now it is just sitting there in my room staring at me wanting me to open it and I have to wait another month until my birthday lol! But I'm glad it made it! Also ha mom remember when you told me Bro. Nichols knew a girl that was coming out here that plays piano...ha turns out that is my hija! Ha and I found out that her and Hilary Heidiman are really good friends because they did piano together at BYU...small world, I love it! And now here we are walking the good ole streets of Paraguay! Ha to start this week off so well on Tuesday night we were getting ready to leave our area to go to a consejo de barrio in the church (ward council) and we didn't know exactly which collectivo to take so we made sure we finished in time so that we'd be able to figure it out. So we asked like 3 different people which collectivo we would need to go to brazilia y espana and they all told us 23 or 24, so we go out to the routa and a 24 is coming right down, so we sign it and it stops and we get on and we are like so stoked because wow que bendicion that the collectivo came right then when we needed it! and just to make sure I ask the collectivo driver that it passes by brazilia y espana and he says yes. well FAIL!!! ha our first day without hna rodriguez and we get LOST! ha we are going and going and we turn on espana and I'm like perfect we're almost there and then we pass this street called brazil...and i'm like hmmm that's weird I hope that's not what they thought I meant...but I had told them it was by the big church so we should be good. FAIL...all of a sudden we turn again and we end up en los estados unidos..ha that is what the road is called. and I'm like oh shoot this can't be right, ha so we bust out the map...and those roads weren't even on our map lol. so then i'm like freaking out and we stop the collectivo and get off. and so we had been off for less than a minute and we're like ha what should we do and then all of a sudden this guy comes up to us and he's like, can I help you? ha but he is totally talking in english! lol it was fabulous, I guess he had lived in Arizona por algunos anos and so he spoke english! and he helped us figure out which collectivo we needed to take and it was just such a blessing! and we only ended up being like 10 min late to the meeting. Ha so yeah then later we had found out we had gone into the South Mission...which you could get sent home if you go into that mission...lol but it wasn't our fault! Aver... we also had zone conference and it was really good...different than how we used to do them, but I'm excited for all the changes that are going to happen with preach my gospel and everything, and we are just going to become better missionaries but unfortunately it all starts the month before I go home..que triste, which is why I want to work in the MTC so I can still be a part of everything! Have I told yall how great my hija is? She is just so cute. She is a way better daughter than I was. Her spanish is amazing and she isn't afraid to do contacts or talk or anything, it's amazing. I love it! Training is really hard, all of this responsibility with being comp mayor...senior comp and trying to do your best to help the newbie do things right and to be a good example. But we are learning juntas and having a good time. I still get frustrated with my spanish, but I'm working on it! We've been working with all the old investigators from the other hnas but we're trying to transfer to start working in different areas that haven't been worked in a really long time, probably bc the houses are mas chu chi...like way nicer.. but the other hnas have been in the bajos (like the poorest part of Paraguay I have ever seen...it is SO SAD...they pretty much live in the trash down there and their houses are just built from whatever they could find, the people are really great but a lot of them dont want to keep commitments and the church is so far away that they don't want to walk and there isn't a collectivo that passes and it is the farthest point of our area and we're not allowed to go there at night or on sundays because it is to dangerous) entonces we are going to start working in other parts. And we have found some really cool people. First this girl named Liliana whose dad just died about 3 months ago and our first cita with her when we found her was just incredible. The Spirit was SO STRONG and ha I started crying when we sang at the beginning before the prayer or anything because we sang...familias pueden ser eternas..families can be forever...I don't know if that is the translation but you know what I'm talking about...and man the Spirit was just there and by the end of the lesson we were all crying! And at the end she was like it was a coincident that we stopped by because she was alone and she had just been thinking about her dad and that she was just so greatful for our visit. she is so cute, she's 21 or 22 and then the next night we met her family and they are great. We all click just great and we're laughing and everything. But there is something that is holding the mom back, I don't know what it is...but I just know that they are so prepared to receive the gospel, so please pray for them. The mom Porfiria, and then the son Gustavo who is 18 and then there are 2 more kids we haven't met...one that doesn't live there and then another daughter. We want to go back over there tonight though. We also met this lady Alejandra that didn't want to let us in her house at first, but finally we convinved her ha. And she had told us she just had a couple minutes to share..yapoo! we ended up staying there for like a half hour. at the end of the lesson she also told us that it wasn't coincident that we stopped by because just the week before she was going through a big box of books and she found a really old copy of the book of mormon that someone had given her and that she had wanted to start to read it. ha it is such a old book! I had never seen one like it before, but it is just so awesome because the words are just the same. So we came and commited her to read it and to pray about it and next time we are going to share the first vision and story of Joseph Smith. The problem is going to be getting her to come to church because she says she is just not the type of person who goes to church and she only goes for weddings and funerals. But that is just all going to change! She is so prepared too! LOVE IT! The gospel is so true. Man I love the mission. Ha it is such an emotional roller coaster but ha the ride is just soo good! And also if you could pray for us to find a house. We have to move and apparently we are in charge of finding a house to move into lol so if you could please pray for that, that it can be in a good area and for a good price! Bueno, I love yall all so much and am so so so greatful for your prayers and your letters! Have a great week!