Week 94 in Paraguay Change 16 Week 3

Hey Family! I can't believe it is SEPTEMBER! But believe me, I don't know if I am going to want to go when the time comes. My mission and my area are better right now than they have ever been my entire mission. We are putting things into pratice and we are really seeing results. I can't believe what Santaní is like now, it is completely different than when I first got there. I am really excited for what is going to happen these last three weeks. Yesterday we went out to look for investigators to take them to church and everyone we went by to take to church wasn't ready. We went for three different people, two were in bed and the other one didn't even have any response to our claps, so we just went to church, and when we got there, there were 4 investigators there waiting for us, and 5 other investigators came before sacrament meeting started! It was amazing, the branch is growing so much, we used to have an average total church attendance of about 35 people when I got here and yesterday we had 90, including 14 investigators, 9 from our side and 5 with the other Elders. The work is really moving forward and the Lord is blessing Santaní. This Saturday Justino Salas is going to be getting married and baptized. He is going to marry in the morning and then get baptized in the afternoon. He started investigating the church 15 years ago and has gone to sacrament meetings on and off for the last 2 years. Right now we have a Paraguayan Elder in Santaní on the other side that has made real good friends with him because he hardly speaks any Spanish. He told him that the only reason he hasn't listened to the missionaries or got baptized is because they never understand him, this is the first time that people have tried to teach him in Guaraní, and it isn't me. I try to teach him in Guaraní, but I really don't speak very much, but the members go there 2-3 times a week and teach him. He told Elder Aguilar that once he gets baptized he wants to receive the priesthood, get a calling and help us teach his friends. When I first got here he wouldn't even leave the house to shake our hands, and now he has completely changed and its all because someone tried to teach him in his own language. Guaraní is so great, I love the language so much, it is just so hard, sometimes, I can't motivate myself anymore to study it because of how little time I have, but I know I need to, the very little I speak has helped us so much. I have never been more laughed at my whole life though. You really have to have no fear to learn Guaraní, it's so hard because most people you can't communicate well enough with in Spanish, so it seems worthless, then on top of that once you even try the littlest thing they make fun of you, they laugh at me sooo much, but I've got to the point where I really just don't care and I expect it, and I laugh with them, and they help me learn that way. Anyway, running a little bit off topic and I don't have too much time. As for the other investigators, Cintia's mom went to church again, she has a baptismal date for next week, the 17th, and she is set to go. The only thing she can't get over is her ex husband, they aren't married so if she wants to be with him they have to get married before she can get baptized, but he doesn't want to marry her and they aren't even living together, but every time we talk about it she says that she misses him. I was pretty frank with her one day and just laid out the law of chasity to her and asked her some pretty frank questions, and she says they haven't done anything to break the law in over 2 months, but she still wants to be with him even though he is off and the rumor is he has another family. So we are going to gently, but probably boldly, to get her to make a decision to just let him go completely. We will see what happens. We are working with this really cool family too, don't have too much time to write about them, but they went to church for the first time yesterday too. One of the sisters has been twice and the older sister and her couple went yesterday. The younger sister is Karin and the older sister is Viviana and her husband is Jose. They came to church completely alone, we didn't look for them and no members went by their house, they are really sincere and I could really see them getting baptized at the end of the month, we are going to challenge them with a date for the 24th tomorrow. Anyway, I don't have much time and I'm sure you would like to know how things went with President Arnold, to wrap it up short it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. I have never met and sat with any man as in tune to the spirit, he knows exactly what to say and you can tell he completely relies on the Holy Ghost to guide his words. He talked a lot to me about life after the mission, in fact everything we talked about was about after the mission. He put a goal with me to pay off my house completely by the time I was 30. It is a really lofty goal, but it was amazing how much confidence he put in me, and I could feel the confidence my Heavenly Father put in me. I have no idea how I am going to do it, but I'll do it, because I know the Lord has the confidence in me, and who knows, maybe the Lord will need me for some reason or other and that is why he wants me to do that. Pretty much the whole interview we talked about setting goals, planning for goals, and actually completing with the goals we set. It really put into an eternal perspective the little things I've been learning here on my mission. Anyway, I'm all out of time now, I am so very thankful for this mission, I am having the time of my life right now, the mission is better than it has ever been and the time is going by way too fast I can't believe it. We have so many people to teach and the work is really moving forward. I love these people and I am truly going to miss them, but I am going to serve them the best I possible can in this little time that the Lord has given to me that I have left. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he truly is directing this work, I love you all so much and I am so thankful for your support, Elder Adamson V