Monday, May 30, 2011

Week 80 in Paraguay Change 14 Week 1

Well, another week down and another change down, this one was a big one, as you probably all expected from my former comments. I'm in a new area, Santaní, I don't even know where to start. Well, first off, I'm still zone leader, my companion is a zone leader too, he just went up from district leader this change. His name is Elder Felix, he's a Mexican from California, so he grew up speaking English and Spanish. So I kind of have a Latin comp again, but not really, we still speak English all the time. Both of his parents were born in Mexico, but he was born in the United States. He didn't learn English until he was five though, but honestly he still speaks English better than Spanish, not that his Spanish isn't good, it's great, but its not as good as his English. He goes home in December, so speaking from my Office mind, I'm pretty sure we are going to stay together two changes, then he'll leave and I'll get a new companion here and end my mission here. It's kind of crazy to think that I am most likely in the place where I'm going to end. I mean it's not for sure yet, but I'm pretty sure that's how it will be. I would still like to train, it would be fun to leave after a change and open up an area with a brand new missionary, but I don't see it happening.

So about Santaní, I'm back out of the greater Asunción area, finally after over a year, Santaní is this really cool little city about 3 hours outside of Asunción. It is probably the most beautiful area I have ever been in, the trees just go on for miles and the city is all hills, its taking a little while to get used to it. I've been coming home pretty tired each day so far with all the walking up and down hills here. It really is an amazing area and its got a great market to buy things. It would be a good place to end honestly to get recuerdos and things I want to take home. The only problem out here is the branch, so I'm in a branch again, but it has more problems than I would have ever imagined even existed in the church, even in Paraguay. President Madariaga came this last weekend to work with us to try and figure some things out and he had a fireside Sunday afternoon with all the members and talked really strong and frankly about gossip, about repentance and about callings. The building here is beautiful, it is one of the best church buildings I've ever seen in Paraguay, if not the best. I think we will just about have our hands full these next couple of months. I'm sure I'll be hearing a lot more stories too, but as of right now I really like it here, the people are really receptive to the gospel, we have 3 people getting ready to be baptized here in a couple of weeks, and the gossip issue seems to be hitting a plateau. It is just gorgeous here, it is really one of the most beautiful parts of Paraguay I have ever seen, and from being in the office I was able to see a lot. I'm really excited, plus, I have a companion that really wants to work hard, and I'm almost guaranteed 12 weeks with him, well 11 more now, so I'm thinking we are going to have a really good experience. On top of all that, the zone I am over is called Zona La Paloma, which is the biggest zone by square milage in the mission, so I'm going to be getting to travel a lot and see a lot more of Paraguay out here. Saltos, another border city on the border of Brazil, is in my zone and we are going to be going out there to visit District meetings and things so I'm super excited. All in all life is good, and the rest of my mission is really looking up, I love you all so much, I know this work is true and that Jesus Christ is our Savior, love ya all, Elder Adamson V

Monday, May 23, 2011

Week 79 in Paraguay Change 13 Week 5

So this week was another great week in Paraguay, it went by soo fast I can't believe it, Milciades, Miguel and Jorge all got confirmed this week. Now we are kind of back to ground zero, I mean we have a few people to work with, but we didn't have anyone in church yesterday so this week we will be doing a lot of finding, that is if I end up staying here. Changes are on Wednesday and we should find out what changes are tonight, as of right now it really looks like I'm going to be leaving, but we really don't know, honestly it would be nice to leave just to get to my last area and have a good 4 months there, speaking of which, today is my 20 months mark! 20 months down, 4 to go, but don't worry, I'm still working hard, sometimes I can't even feel the time, it is amazing how fast it goes, but then other times it seems like September will never come, but luckily its the first feeling more than the last one. This week we had some crazy things happen, first of all, everyone, I mean everyone we talked to asked us about the end of the world and if it would really come of Saturday? I can't tell you how many times we read Matthew 24:36 with people, a week ago I wouldn't have even had any idea what that scripture even said and now I have the reference memorized. People here really thought it was going to come. The crazy part of it all though was that on Friday night, around 7:30 ish, there was a huge meteor that flew accross the sky and hit the ground in Ita. It really lit up the whole sky. I had never seen anything like it, people were telling us that on the news it showed people in San Lorenzo and Capiata get on their knees and pray after the thing went across the sky thinking it was the end of the world; kind of a funny coincidence that came right as this guy tells everyone the world is going to end. It was bright, by 7:30 the sun is completely down and it is really dark out and everything was lit up for a second. At the time we were at the house of this inactive member that works for a huge chicken company here in Paraguay called Pechugon, he goes in unmarked vehicles that haul the money from city to city in teams fully armed and sometimes he even has to handcuff himself to suitcases of money and things. His car one time had already been assaulted by people trying to steal the money and he has had death threats by people telling him they are going to come to his house and stuff. He is a pretty jumpy guy, anyway, when the meteor went overhead he didn't see it very well and he immediately went to the back of his house to check out what had happened, as he did he put his hand right into his waistline on his back, we're pretty sure he had a gun on him and he pulled it out to see what was up. Anyway, he has a pretty crazy life. He's only 20 years old and his girl he is with is waiting for their first child. He said he has a two week vacation soon and he's going to try to get his life in order. I wonder what he is going to decide to do. Anyway, other than the end of the world, nothing big really happened this week. My companion had to get his ears checked because he's got some kind of growth on the inside of one ear, the docter told me I have super dirty ears and gave me some instruction on how to clean them. We had a fun division this week with the assistants, I was able to work with the new assistant for a day and we found some cool new people together, and that is about all that happened. This week should prove to be a little more eventful with changes happening and everything, so I think I'll have a little more to write about next week. I love you all so much, I know that this church is true and that this is the Lord's work. It is such a blessing to be here and see these people except the gospel in their lives. There is no where I would rather be right now. I know Christ is our Savior and that we can come unto him no matter what the situation and he is ready to fill our hearts with his love to heal us. I love you all, can't wait to see you all, Elder Adamson V

Monday, May 16, 2011

Week 78 in Paraguay Change 13 Week 5

This week went by super fast, and we got a lot done and had 4 baptisms! Diana and Jorge got baptized on Friday and then Miguel and Jorge on Sunday, and Milciades got baptized last Sunday, which makes 5 baptisms in the last 9 days! It has been a lot of fun, but honestly the work was pretty hard this week. We really don't have too many other people we are working with so we are a little worried for what we are going to do in the future now that all the people we were teaching are now members. We did find a few families this week, one of which is really receptive and I think will really progress, the only problem is that the husband has to work every other Sunday, so they couldn't go to church yesterday, but they are pretty excited about going for the first time this week, hopefully everything goes well. They are a little hard to teach because they live really far away and they don't have any kind of number to call them and communicate with them, we had an appointment with them yesterday and they weren't there, so now it's just kind of a guessing game to teach them while they're home, hopefully we can find them in their house because they are a really great family. Anyway, more about the baptisms, the baptism we had on Friday was so hard to prepare for, it seemed like Satan was doing everything in his power to try to keep it from happening. The bishop changed the lock on the church this week so our key didn't work and we had to go to his house to get the only copy of the key, his house which is super far away, and then we couldn't find hymnals for a really long time, the key we had didn't open the font so we had to meet up with the other missionaries in our ward to get their key to open the font, it almost rained, some other Elders had borrowed our baptismal clothes and never sent them back so we had to go and get them. We had to cancel it on Wednesday and move it to Friday because their mom was sick. So we had to tell all the members, then when we finally had everything set up perfect we got to their house and their dad showed up, which was the biggest scare ever, but it turned out he didn't do anything. So these kids, Jorge and Diana, live with their mom because their dad is a paranoid schizophrenic and he didn't want them to get baptized, so they got baptized without him knowing, when he showed up and we were there we thought something was going to happen, but it was all good and he took off. Once we finally got to the church everything went great, the water was a little cold, but we weren't in it too long. Then on Sunday the baptism was just as crazy, the ward was having a baptism the same day without anyone really knowing. They just kind of said their son was 8 and thought everything would be planned for them to be able to do a baptism also, and the dad of the 8 year old didn't know how to do a baptism or how to put his child in the water and ended up having to say the prayer multiple times and try submerging his son 3 times. But, in the end it all turned out well, the only downside to yesterday was the Milciades had something go wrong with his bike and didn't come to church, so he wasn't able to get confirmed, so he'll be getting confirmed with his nephews this next Sunday. Anyway, I don't really have much more news, I threw on some pictures like you asked, the first is a picture of Me, my companion, Milciades, Miguel, and Jorge in their ties right before Milciades's baptism, then there are a few from the baptism of Jorge and Diana, with some pictures right after coming out of the font, and then the last picture is at Jorge and Diana's house right after their baptism. Anyway, so we are moving into the last week of the change, it should be a pretty tough week too trying to get the investigator pool rolling again. The assistants called us yesterday and we are going to be doing another division with them on Thursday. My companion is going to Campo Grande with Elder Neyra and I'll be staying here with the brand new assistant Elder Thiemann. I'm looking forward to it, it should be a good way to sharpen the saw and get a good look at what we can be doing better in our own area. Elder Thiemann is a great missionary, for over a year people have been saying he would be assistant, he's got right around 3 months left now and he finally went up, it'll be an exciting division. Anyway, we're going to go and play some soccer today, it'll be the first time we've played anything for a really long time. I love you all so much, hope you have a great day, I'll be praying for Tiffani, love you all, Elder Adamson V

Monday, May 9, 2011

Week 77 in Paraguay Change 13 Week 4

It was so great to be able to talk to you last night, I wish it could have been a little longer, but the Lord knows what He has in mind. As you probably guessed, I don't really have too much to talk about today, the biggest news is that we are going to have a lot of baptisms this week. Milciades, the 17 year old, got baptized yesterday, Jorge and Diana are getting baptized this Wednesday, then all three of them will get confirmed this Sunday. We have two more baptisms planned for Sunday, Milciades' nephews, Miguel and Jorge, so it should be a pretty exciting and quick week. In other news, the secretary just called me to set things up for my flight plans, I can't even believe that, so you should be getting my plans in about a week or two, if you don't you don't have to worry, they might not send them until I only have 3 months left, I really don't know how it is going to work, but don't worry, I'm not getting trunky, the baptisms are helping keep my mind focused on what I'm doing. Well, I really don't have too much to say, I shared everything with you on the phone yesterday, our Mother's Day call. I'll write all about the baptisms next week, I love you all so much, Elder Adamson V

Monday, May 2, 2011

Week 76 in Paraguay Change 13 Week 3

So first things first, I'll get things out of the way with the Mother's Day call, so this time the area presidency only approved 40 minutes for us to be on the phone, I want you to call at 4:00 your time in the evening.

Anyway, as for the week, we had a super awesome Sunday. We had 8 investigators in church, that is double than the highest I have ever had in the rest of my mission, we have 7 people that have baptismal dates and 4 that are getting baptized within the next 10 days. Two are getting baptized this Sunday after church, Milciades and his little brother Jorge, and then two more, Jorge and Diana, are getting baptized the following Wednesday. We are going to have a whole lot happening in the next couple of weeks. Finally seeing the fruits of our labors. It was so nice this Sunday because we didn't pass by anyone because it was getting close to the date for their baptism and we had to make sure that they were able to go to church on their own, and everyone showed up. Milciades came bringing all of his family, including 3 investigators. Jorge and Diana came with a member friend that they had, and then we went by 2 other investigators to take them to church and when we got there they were outside waiting for us with another friend that they had invited to come with them, 3more investigators, and 5 that came without our help at all! It was such a great feeling during sacrament meeting watching the members greet them and help them understand the hymns and things like that, it was awesome. All of them are really excited about baptism, a few of them are kids that we are teaching and the mom isn't too excited, so we are takng a little more time with them, but hopfully all of their enthusiam will help the mom to go to church one sunday to get to know what it is that her kids are enjoying so much. She shares with us during the lessons, but never wants to go to church, but we are still working there.

Anyway, so I don't have very much time, I took a lot of time trying to figure things out with the call with Elder Cambra. I love you all so much, I love this work and I know that our Savior lives, He lives and loves each of us, I can't wait to talk to you all on Sunday! Love Elder Adamson V