Week 75 in Paraguay Change 13 Week 2

I'm going to have to apologize right now, we had some problems to figure out today with the owner of our house about the light and water bills, so we had to go to Asunción and I don't have any time to write anything.

Don't worry at all about my leg, it hasn't bothered me at all, not even a little bit, I just thought I would tell the story because I thought it was funny. It is already healing and I don't even notice it.

As for the work we are seeing some more success. We were able to teach some great lessons to Jorge and Diana, the 13 and 11 year olds. We are teaching them with their dad and mom and they are all set to be getting baptized here soon. Milciades went to church again this last week so he will be getting baptized next week. We should have 3 baptisms in May for sure. Sorry I don't have much time, I love you all soooo much, Elder Adamson V

Monserrath's Baptism

Week 74 in Paraguay Change 13 Week 1

Sounds like everything is a little crazy back home, babies, heart attacks, settle down and just wait a little longer! Well, this week was one of the hardest weeks of my mission work wise, but Elder Cambra and I are working hard and it really isn't even that frustrating. We are being super diligent, too. We have a few people that are progressing pretty good right now. We have been working a lot with references from members and things like that. One member gave us a reference for this less active family that no one has visited for a really long time, so we went to see them and there is a 9 year old boy in the house that has never been baptized and a 17 year old guy that is the brother in law of the mom of the family that went to church with us and is getting ready to get baptized. It looks like the next couple of baptisms we'll be having should be right before the phone call on Mother's day. Speaking of which, when would be the best time for us to do the call? I'm thinking we will probably just be using skype, but I still don't really want to use the video, that way it will be so much cooler in September when I see all of you for the first time. I'm only going to write two more times after this before the call so I guess we better start setting up some kind of time, when do you go to church on Sunday?
Life is pretty good right now, my finger is almost completely healed already, but I think it will leave a scar, so I'll be able to show you all when I get home. The bite hasn't really changed my door approaches, but I do trust dogs a lot less now, my comp always makes fun of me because of it, but you never really do know which ones are the nice ones. There are so many dogs here, everywhere, but the ones in the street aren't too bad, the one that bit me was behind a fence.
I'm glad to hear that Dad is doing better now, I can't wait to talk to all of you on Mother's day, make sure you all hold out until then at least. I had a little bit of a scare today too, we were cleaning up our house really nice and neat to make a video because this house is probably the nicest house in the mission, I'll have to send you the video. I was cutting the back yard with a machete, just like any normal Paraguayan, but it was super hot and I went to cut something and the machete flew out of my hand, hit the metal bars on one of our windows and flew back and sliced my leg, I know, it sounds pretty serious right now, but really I didn't even realize what had happened at first I didn't feel anything, so I started cutting some things again and I started to feel it, I looked down and there was blood all over my lower leg, but don't worry, we have it all cleaned up and it wasn't anything deep enough for stitches, like I said, my companion was studying to be a doctor and he patched me up pretty good, its going to leave a good scar though.
Anyway, I don't have too much to say about what happened this week, my companion and I went on an avocado craze, we had 21 avocados, and big ones too, and made a whole lot of guacamole. Monserrath, the little girl that just got baptized, moved to Argentina to live with her mom who is not a member, I was worried about that, I just didn't think it would happened this fast, I thought she would at least stay until November to finish school. Other big news I almost forgot, we had another big training meeting, this time with Elder Foster, a seventy and the second councilor of the area presidency here, he talked to us all about working with members and how we can get to the point of us helping members do the missionary work to get more baptisms and be more effective in our efforts. It is the next little step of what we need here to get back where we were. Speaking of where we were, I found out that President Wade was made a seventy over the Utah South Area, so I can still see him when I get back home, I was worried he was going to get sent somewhere far away and we wouldn't be able to go and see him, but he's still just going to be in his house in Saint George. Did you hear his name at Conference?
Well, that's about it, I love my companion, I love the work, and I love this gospel, the time is moving along super quick now, I almost can't believe it, I'll talk to you all in 3 weeks! Love, Elder Adamson V

P.S. I sent the Mission deferment a week before I sent one to you, so once you get one in the mail BYU should have gotten one a week before that. I love you all soooooooo much!

Dog Bite Pictures

Week 73 in Paraguay Change 12 Week 6 Dog Bite

I didn't realize Tiffany was already having her baby, I knew she was pregnant, but I didn't realize she was already so far along, that's so exciting! I'm sure she didn't even mind feeling it all now that she's here; the girls are taking over Scott's house, tell them congratulations for me!
This week went by sooo fast, I can't believe how fast the time is going by now. Elder Cambra and I are doing great together, we've known each other pretty much the whole mission, so we've been pretty good friends, and we're already having a blast. He's the one that was in Yby Yau from San Francisco while I was in Pedro Juan , He was in the same stake as my MTC companion Elder Mitchell, small world right? I would have never expected that we would be companions, but it's kind of a nice surprise. He has more time on the mission than I do. He goes home the first week in July, and we just got changes yesterday, we are staying together for the next 6 weeks, which means it is probably going to be my last 6 weeks in Aratiri logically speaking, because if we stay together another change I would have to stay here until August because Elder Cambra is going home in July or Elder Cambra would have to go somewhere else for the last 6 weeks of his mission, both of which don't seem very probable, but you really never know what could happen, stuff like that has happened before, so I'm just going to keep working like I'm staying here forever.
Well, this week was such a fast week I don't really know what to say. There were some big health news stories, first of which, my companion got pink eye, and still does, so I've been super cautious about touching my eyes and my companion. He's had it for about 3 days now though and I haven't got it yet so I think I'm doing a pretty good job. Bigger news though, I got bit by a dog, it's South America so I figured before the end of my mission it would happen, but my whole mission I have always just told myself I never want to get bit by a dog, and this week it finally happened. We went to this house to do a contact and the dog came out to the fence barking at us, but once it got to us, just like all the other NICE dogs, it stopped barking, put its paws up on the fence and started wagging its tail like it was all right around us. Now, just to put in a little disclaimer before I say what happened next, Paraguayan dogs are super lazy, it seems, so they always come running at you barking and then they stop and just let you do what you want, so you can pet them and what not, so when this dog did that I thought it was like any other dog I see everyday, so I started petting its head just like I do with every other dog and it got me good. When it bit me it only got my index finger, but when I pulled it away there was blood everywhere and I thought it had got my whole hand, right when it happened I really couldn't feel anything, it didn't hurt at all. No one came out of the house so we just went to the next house and showed them I got bit by a dog and they helped us dress it and clean it, just some random strangers, we were able to teach them a quick lesson and then I called the mission presidents wife. So it turned out that since my bite was above the waist and I didn't know the dog, I had to go in the same day and get a rabies shot just in case, so I got a rabies shot and they told me to watch the dog and if it dies within the next 10 days it had rabies. So we have gone back to the home with the dog and talked to the owner, they had the certificate that the dog had been vaccinated and to make me feel better they told me the dog had already bit them and nothing happened to them... I'm going to attached some photos of my finger. My companion was studying to be a doctor before his mission and he liked looking at my bite because he said it was cool because they were puncture wounds, which means the dogs teeth weren't strong enough to break the skin on their own, but the skin broke because of straight force and pressure. The bruise from the bite was worse than the actual cut.
Anyway, some good news with the little time left, we had 3 investigators in church yesterday and we are finding a lot of new people to teach. Wow, I don't have any time left, I took way too much time on that bite story, but anyway, I'm going to attach the pictures of the baptisms I had with Elder Juhasz, I love you all so much, thank you so much for everything you do, can't wait to talk to you in a couple weeks! Elder Adamson V

Week 72 in Paraguay Change 12 Week 5

It's a good thing no one really wrote me and I didn't have to read too much because this week was probably one of the most eventful weeks in all of my mission, I won't say the most eventful, but it was sure a kicker. It went by so fast I couldn't even believe it, it was so eventful I'm going to have to go through it day by day:
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
So on Tuesday I went on a division with Elder Jolley I had had plan for a little while. Elder Jolley is one of the District leaders in the zone. His companion was really sick, so Elder Juhasz, my companion, went to his house and stayed with him all day while Elder Jolley was with me in my area. We got a call in the morning from a less active member for us to come over and give him a blessing of health so he could get better from this sickness he had had for about 2 weeks. I went out there with Elder Jolley and we gave him the blessing, it was a really spiritual experience because as I was giving the blessing I felt a distinct impression to bless him that he would be able to go back to church. I knew he worked on Sunday and they are pretty poor, so I kind of pushed the feeling aside and didn't say it, then I really just couldn't think of anything to say and the impression was stronger to bless him that he and his family could go back to church, so I blessed him he would be able to attend church again with all of his family. After I finished the blessing we sat down and talked for a little bit and he said that he had been thinking a lot about going back to church and that his sickness he felt was a sign that he should start going back to church with his family. He collects money for a business as a living, he just goes from house to house collecting money, so he said it would take a few weeks, but he is going to go around and tell his clients that he is going to go on Saturdays instead of Sundays to collect all the money he usually collects on Sunday so he can start going to church. We talked to him about conference and he told us he would go on Saturday with his family (because he still had to work Sunday) and he showed up, and it actually turned out better anyway that he went on Saturday instead of Sunday because of what happened on Sunday, which I will write later in the letter.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
So Wednesday I was finally able to do the division with Elder Levos in the office. I was with Elder Juhasz working until about three in the afternoon and the two assistants showed up in the van. Elder Neyra stayed with Elder Juhasz and Elder Levos and I took off to work in Campo Grande. Every Tuesday I talk to President at night to talk about the zone and discuss things we can improve and concrns, so I told him I would be coming in for the division and we agreed to have a quick interview in the office on Wednesday. When Elder Levos and I got there I went in and had a great interview with President about a few things and he gave me this 24 page article to read entitled Becoming the Fourth Missionary, it talks about 4 different types of missionaries and it is super good. It was written by a mission president in Chile a while ago who is a seventy now and it is so good, it has really helped me put things in focus and change my view and teachings. Anyway, Elder Levos was reading it too and we talked about it pretty much the whole day, we had a great division, we went over a lot of things, but the best part was that we were finishing the division in the morning. I got to sleep at the office house, so Elder Levos and I ordered Mexican food from Papagos, something I've wanted to do for a really long time, and we enjoyed a nice night talking to some mission buddies kicking it at the office house. I felt so good after the division, it was like President, Elder Levos, and just the division in general helped me just take a second to sharpen the saw like Mom likes to say and really see the solutions to things I wasn't quite doing well with the zone and with my area. It was a super successful and fun day.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
So Wednesday night I had convinced all the office Elders that we would play soccer Thursday morning for excercises because the thing by far I miss the most right now is just playing sports, so I woke everyone up at six, we got in the van and went to the church to play soccer, we played until about 6:50 and went home to get ready and study. All of my study time I spent reading the article and finished it so to be able to talk about some things with Elder Levos on the car ride home, it is such an amazing article. I really want Justin to read it before he goes on his mission, I don't have too much time to talk about what it says, but President said he is going to email it to the whole mission after we finish reading Preach My Gospel as a mission, which we started on Friday, so when I get it I'll send it off to you. Once I got back we planned our day and got ready to prepare people for conference because we were going to the temple on Friday so it was our last day to talk to people before conference. So we were working super hard, had some cool things happen and a lot of success, when I got a phone call from Elder Levos, SPECIAL CHANGES. So President has got some big plans for this change coming up because there were special changes in 11 companionships on Saturday, one being mine. I now have a new companion, you might remember him, his name is Elder Cambra, he was out in Pedro Juan with me at the beginning of my mission, not as my companion obviously but there close. He goes home in July, he went up to zone leader so now we are in a companionship as co-zone leaders. I'm training him on how to be a zone leader, and from the looks of it when real changes come around in about a week and a half, I should be leaving, but you never really know. Anyway, Elder Juhasz went to Zeballos Cue, a place in Asuncion, with Elder Canales from Chile, so hopefully the Spanish should be coming now, he'll be a good companion for him. So yeah, special changes happened and I have a new companion now, it is nice because he has a lot of time in the mission and we can really work together, it was just really unexpected, but that's how the mission is sometimes.
Friday, 1 April 2011
We went to the temple, it was so awesome, we kind of guessed wrong about how long it would take the bus and got there really early, so we got to do baptisms and confirmations before the session, I baptized Elder Juhasz and then he baptized me, our last day together we spent baptizing each other for the dead, it was actually a really nice experience. During the session I thought a lot about the Fourth Missionary and stuff, basically the idea is the difference between the law of sacrifice and the law of consecration, the need to consecrate your life to the Lord on your mission instead of just sacrificing it; it would make more sense if you could read the article, but it was a uplifting experience and I really learned a lot I'm going to be putting into practice.
Saturday, 2 April 2011
So Jorge was able to go to conference on Saturday, I don't know if I told you about him, I'll talk more about him next week just for lack of time, but the biggest news from Saturday came from the second session of conference, I don't know if you noticed, probably not, but we were all listening to it here, President Wade, my mission president that went home in July, was called as an area seventy, we all saw it coming, but it was so fun to hear it with all the other missionaries. We sit in a seprate room in the church to listen to conference in English, so it was just a room full of missionaries, and I have to admit it wasn't very reverent when we heard his name, we all were cheering, it was really fun.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
I'm running out of time, but just to make a long story short, Sunday was a disaster, the satelite lost its signal so we spent about the first hour of conference trying to figure out the problem, so many people just got up and left, and in the end they just decided to play a recording from the first Saturday session because pretty much no one went and the people didn't really even know the difference. So we went to a members house to watch the second session from the internet and we ended up watching the first and second session back to back, it was really long, and we had to watch it all in Spanish, but we were able to watch it at least, conference was amazing, I love conference.
Monday, 4 April 2011
Today we spent all day cleaning and rearranging the house, it is so awesome now, but we still have a lot to do, the house is so big, I'll have to make a video of it after we finish getting it nice. Anyway, all out of time, I'm glad to hear you liked the gift, it's my pride and joy of the office, hope you liked the Bonus Track, I love you all so much, have a great time in Utah, Love Elder Adamson V