Week 66 in Paraguay Change 11 Week 5

Here in Aratiri everything is moving right along, time moves so fast sometimes I can't even believe it, this next week is already week 6 of the change (It looks like time has got you a week behind, updating to Week 5 instead of Week 4), the last week of the change and then changes next week. I feel like it was just yesterday I met Elder Juhasz and brought him here. This last week was a little bit more of a tough week. It felt like we were always walking and never being able to find anyone in there house. The few people that we have progressing are really hard to find and the few times we do find them they are only there for a few minutes so we can't teach too much.

Marisa, the girl that went to church last week, was busier than ever this week running errands for the family she works for, and then she left to go see her baby yesterday because it was the only day she had off. The whole week we weren't able to talk to her, just a couple times on the phone and once at her house, but never for more than 3 minutes, she knows the church is true and wants to get baptized, but she is just so busy that other things are keeping her from going to church and reading and keeping that testimony strong enough to want to change.

Then we have Toribio, the man that stopped us in the street and quit smoking to be able to get baptized, he is doing great, he is probably one of the most prepared person I have taught, but we are having the same kind of problems. They are a pretty poor family and have to work a lot of make any kind of money, so its hard to find them to teach them and sometimes they have to work Sundays. Well we went and taught them on Tuesday and they told us that they talked to their boss and he gave them permission to take Sundays off so they can go to church, but then we passed by again on Thursday and Toribio was really sick, so we gave him a blessing and that was the last time we saw them. Their neighbors tell us that they have been working a lot because the man was sick on Friday and didn't go to work and they had to go to the doctor, so what we think happened is that since he didn't go to work on Friday his boss told him he had to work on Sunday to make up his work, which is pretty likely. I guess we'll see what happened when we are able to talk to them again. I still am sure that he will be getting baptized sometime in March, he is really prepared. It is just a question of how he is going to be able to get to church and how we are going to be able to teach him everything in time before the baptism, but the Lord works in mysterious ways, and His will will be done, so we are just going to keep doing all that we can.

We are working with the 9 year old sister of Miguel, the 14 year old that just got baptized this month. She is so great and it seems like she really likes church and really likes talking to us, but her mom doesn't want her to get baptized. It took a long time, long before we even got here, for Miguel to convince his mom that he should be baptized. I don't know how long it is going to take for her to tell Isabel she can get baptized since she's only 9 years old. She told us that she wants to get baptized, but it really depends on the mom since there isn't any dad in the house. They both come to church though, every single week. Miguel passed the sacrament yesterday in his new white shirt and tie and his Sunday School and Priesthood teachers say he is the most active participant in the class and an example for everyone else. So I think they will stay active and Isabel will have the chance to get baptized when the time comes, whether its with us or not doesn't really matter. We are just really focusing on helping her grow her testimony and stay active in church and when her mom tells her she can get baptized we'll be there.

The Aguero family, the family of the girl I blessed last June, has been doing better, they've come to church once, they still aren't really active, but this last week they helped us a little in teaching investigators and finding some more new people to teach, so its coming, it seems like they really have the desires to go to church, but the little things just let them stay home, like rain or soccer tournaments or just being tired, but when they are feeling good they come. We are still working with them because they are helping a lot with other less active families, even though they are less active themselves. Once we can help them to go to church consistently they will help a lot of other people to go to church.

The family we found in the corner that I always wanted to contact didn't turn out to be as great as we thought at first. They haven't really been keeping commitments and every time we pass to talk to them they aren't very focused in what we are saying and make a lot of excuses for not doing things, its sad because we can see how much the gospel will help their lives, but they treat us more like their friends coming over to sip terere than missionaries, so we aren't visiting them as often. We still pass by their house all the time and say hi and see how they are doing, but we don't usually stop to teach, maybe a little bit further down the road when they really need it they will be a little more prepared to accept it.

Other than that we found a lot of new people this week, we have been working a lot with this new family that really gets it, they really understand what we teach and want to know more, but I think they are afraid of knowing that it's true because they are so Catholic. They are really active in the Catholic church and they don't want to change that part of their life. We spent a good lesson just talking about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and you could really tell that they understood and felt the spirit, but they aren't ready to give up the life they have, we just found them last Tuesday though, so who knows, maybe something will change this week that helps them understand and change and sincerely pray to know.

Honestly it was a pretty hard week, hopefully we can learn from it and push hard this week to have some more success. March is looking like a promising month, the last month of Summer, the last month of the hottest heat I'll ever have to bear, and we have one more week to prepare for it, so we're going to make the best of it. I love you all so much, can't wait to hear from you again next week, Elder Adamson V