Week 36 in Paraguay Week 4 in the Mission Office

Things here have been going pretty great, we are progressing in our area and we are still working with Luis who has gone to church with us twice now. His baptismal date is for next week so hopefully I'll have some good baptismal news for next week when I write. I have some really exciting news for today, I'm going to Pedro Juan tomorrow! I get to go on a four day division back in my first area, I'm so excited, I won't be exactly in my first area, I'll be in Rama 1, where the zone leaders are, but I'll get to have a second P-day on Monday. I got permission to go and eat with some people from my Rama out there. I'm super excited, so I'm going to be a proselyting missionary again for four days next week. I'll try to make them super eventful so I have some really good stories to share once I write again next Saturday. I'm going to get back to Asunción on Friday of next week, just in time for Luis' baptism, so its going to be quite the week. Going out to Pedro Juan is every office elders dream, I'm so excited. What happened is there is this big training meeting going on next week for all the leaders in the mission. It is part of a new program that the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve are having every mission in the world do to help the missions better apply the techniques of Preach My Gospel. It is going to take place over two weeks, next week and then again two weeks later, this next week is going to all the older office elders, the zone leaders and older district leaders, and then the second time it'll be the younger office elders (like me), and the younger district leaders, so it just kind of came out just right so I would be able to go back to Pedro Juan, awesome right? Anyway, so I'm super excited for this upcoming week, and I'm going to make the best of it I can.
Thank you so much for the little thought in the letter today, I really liked it. That scripture in Galatians is one we use all the time with the first lesson, so it was interesting to see it and apply it like you did. The spirit is something I have really been focusing on this past week. I just read this part in Preach My Gospel this past week, I'll see if I can find it quick.
“El Espíritu es el elemento más importante de esta obra. Cuando el Espíritu magnifica su llamamiento, usted puede realizar milagros para el Señor en el campo misional. Si no cuenta con el Espíritu, nunca tendrá éxito, no importa cuánto talento y habilidad tenga”
Sorry, I only have Preach My Gospel in Spanish on my computer, but what is says is that the Spirit is the most important element of this work. When we have the Spirit we can make miracles for the Lord in the mission field. If we don't have the Spirit, we won't have success, no matter how much talent or ability we have. I really thought about that a lot this last week for a few reasons. The mission is really down right now, lower than I think it has been in a very long time, we might not get 100 baptisms this month as a mission and you can't even find in the computer the last time that happened. Our mission has always been the leader mission in our Area, that is all of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, our leadership is slipping away a little and honestly it is because we have a lot of young missionaries right now that just don't know how to work, and a lot of older missionaries that just don't want to work. Anyway, last Tuesday Elder Adams, one of the Assistants wrote something on the board in our Zone meeting. He wrote $1,000,000 and asked us if we had ever seen The Amazing Race or Surviver, what were those people willing to do for $1,000,000? Then he wrote the number 5 and asked us if he told us he would give us $1,000,000 what would we do to have 5 people in church. We had the lowest week this year to date with investigators in church last Sunday. People started saying they would do anything, just give out free hot chocolate, work all day and night, all sorts of things. Then he just wrote the words The Savior, and ask what would we do for our Savior, and quietly sat down and let everyone think for a second. It really actually made me think, so in personal studies I was specifically looking for things we could do to better serve the Savior, and I found the part I just put in the letter. You can make miracles for the Lord in the mission field when we have the Spirit, so that is the key, the best thing we can do to honor our Savior and serve Him is always have his Spirit with us. So after that I changed my focus for my studies for the week, How can I always have the Spirit with me, and it has been a learning experience. When we are true to our covenants we will have His Spirit, so it was really interesting to see that you had been studying the same thing, it is funny how the Lord works like that, His little tender mercies. I love all of you so much, I am so thankful for the family that I have, for the love I can feel from all of you, it really has been such a blessing here on the mission. I am starting to really understand fully the power of what I can do here, I wish I had really really focused as soon as I got out here, I knew then how important it was, and I knew I was in the right place. I guess I just didn't really understand the true power I have, the power of the Spirit I can be worthy of, the power to create miracle for the Lord. I know this church is true, I know of the divinity of this work, I had the chance this last week to explain some things to our investigator in Guaraní, in every language this message has power and is so true. I know it with all my heart. Cheakua Hesuchristo Tupao Marangatukuera Arapahapegua ha'e peteî tupao añetegua.