Week 67 in Paraguay Change 11 Week 6

Hey Family! It has been one crazy week with a whole lot of rain, but sadly, I really haven't had a P-day today and it doesn't really look like I am going to get too much of one, so I don't really have a lot of time to write. We had to be here in the office today, all the zone and district leaders, for a leadership council with President Arnold, the President of the South America South Area, to go over some issues and discuss some ways to better the mission because it is lower now than it has been in a very, very long time. Well, to say the least, it was a very powerful meeting with a lot of correction and really blunt and frank words. I really consider it a privilege to have been able to attend, but we had to arrive here really early, we had to get up before 5 to get here on time and its now past 3 and I'm still in the office because President wanted me to stay for an office meeting to give input on how to implement some things. I don't really have tons of time, but the whole week there was a lot of rain, pretty much every day. Toribio finally was able to go to church, we are gong to try and put another baptismal date with him so he can get baptized a couple weeks from now. We also had this little girl in church too that came from the out there place, the acampaña, I don't know how to say that in English, anyway, she lives with her aunt now that's a member and she is going to get baptized next week. Anyway, I love you all so much, remind me to tell you some of the new changes next week, LOVE YOU, Elder Adamson V

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

Week 65 in Paraguay Change 11 Week 3

It has been another great week in the mission field, we have been working super hard and loving every minute of it! This week it seemed like went soooo fast, every single day we had something we had to do and couldn't use all of our time to work in our area, so the whole week just went by in a flash. We found some more great people this week, mostly just this one family that lives in this corner I've always wanted to contact. There is an older lady that lives there, Dora, with her daughter, Yessica, and all of her kids, 5 of them. Both of them are separated from their husbands, so the only people that live there over 8 are Dora, Yessica, and one of her sons, Osvaldo. They used to go to the church when they lived closer and ended up going about 5 times and they want to start going back so they can get baptized. The only problem is they are really poor and Dora doesn't want to take the kids in the clothes that she has and yesterday she said the clothes they were going to use didn't dry so they couldn't get to church. We are going to try and work with them a little more this week to get them set with a baptismal date and ready to go to church this week with clothes and everything. We are also working with this man named Toribio, the one that lives with his wife that's a member and quit smoking to be able to be baptized, I think I talked a little bit about him last week, anyway, he has now completely quit smoking and is finishing up a job quick so he doesn't have to work on Sundays. He is so awesome, it is so fun to just watch him learn and try to really change his life so he can get over his addictions, he is an amazing man I think will really help the church in leadership. We had zone conference this week too, and one of the things we talked about was teaching more men so the church can progress here in South America. A lot of the people we baptize here are women. We are putting a focus on finding men to teach now to be able to fill the churches here with more priesthood holders. The things we learned have already helped with Toribio and hopefully they will help us to have more people to teach in general. I love this work so much, I really have discovered a new outlook on enjoying the work and losing yourself in it, hopefully it is something I can carry with me for the rest of the mission. I don't have too much more time, I love you all so very much, I know I'm in the right place, exactly where I'm supposed to be and that the Lord's hand is in all I'm doing here. I love my Savior and I know that he knows the people individually I am teaching, I will rely on His guidance to know what it is they need, thank you all so much for all the love and support you always send me, love you sooooooo much, Elder Adamson V

Week 64 in Paraguay Change 11 Week 2

This was such a great week! Which is actually really funny because if you had asked me on Friday how the week was going I probably would have had a very different reaction. It really actually was a really hard week with not very much success, but we have been seeing so many special miracles.
First off, we have been visiting this family in our ward that is a little less active, the dad lives in Argentina for work, so the Mom and some of the kids live in the house alone. One of their daughters died last year at the age of 17 from a brain tumor and it has been really hard on the family. Well we were over there on Tuesday and I saw that there was this single room upstairs completely cut off from the rest of the house, there weren't any stairs or anything going up there, so I asked how they get up there, and she told me that you have to put up a ladder and then move the ladder when you come back down, kind of different, but not important to the story. Anyway, so I asked who lived up there and she replied that her daughter that died lived up there and they have kept the room exactly the same since she died. Then she started to explain to me the events of her death. She told me she died on the 22 of June last year. She was in Argentina when she went to the hospital and got back just in time for her to see her daughter before she died on the same day. She told me that once the girl got to the hospital before she went into a coma the last thing she said was that she wanted to see her Mom. Well, she said once she was in the hospital the first thing her other daughter did was call the Elders to come and give her a blessing on the June 21, the day before the Mom got back, and she said the name of the hospital.
I then realized that on June 21 I had gone to that same hospital to give a blessing to a girl in a coma from Capiata. I was the Elder that went to give her daughter a blessing the day before she died. It was a really great experience sharing our feelings with each other and it really was a big testimony of how much God knows us and really loves us. I distinctly remember giving that blessing and as soon as I put my hands on her head I knew she was going to die. I don't really remember what I said, but I remember I talked a lot about her family and the blessing was mainly directed towards them. As I left with Elder Ventura I told him we would never know the effects of that blessing, and here I am coming to know personally the family that Heavenly Father blessed through me. It was such a miracle to realize all of this, and then she explained to me that after she got there the girl looked up at her, then the mom had to go back to the house to get an analysis for the doctors and on her way home her other son called her to tell her she had died. So the girl made it just long enough to see her mother, when the doctors said she wouldn't even make it through the night of the 21st. Now, more than 7 months later, the Lord has blessed me with the knowledge of the effects of the blessing I was able to give.
Anyway, that happened on Tuesday, then the week got really hard, contacts weren't really working, it was hard to get into houses, I don't really get lost now though, which is nice. It was kind of like that all the way through Saturday, but we just kept on working hard and being obedient and diligent and then Saturday afternoon as we were walking down the road we passed this family and they stopped us and asked us if we knew one of the members of our ward, I told them I did and they just said, "Well we live right next door, when can you come over and visit us?" It was so amazing, we set up a time for that night, when we went by they weren't there, but we found them yesterday and explained to us that they were working and hadn't got home yet and they were really sorry, and then told us that the wife is a member and the husband wants to get baptized. Neither of them have been to church in years, but the husband has already started to try to quit smoking before even meeting with us so he could get baptized. He was smoking 20 cigarettes a day and he has got it down to 3 now, so we put a little plan with him and he accepted an invitation to be baptized on the 3rd of March. It was so amazing.
On top of all of that, Miguel got baptized yesterday and Elder Juhasz did the baptism. It turned out super great and his mom, who doesn't ever want to talk to us and is kind of against the church came to his baptism and seems to be really supportive of his decision. The missionary that started teaching him a couple months ago, Elder Claypool, who came with me and lived with me in the MTC, was able to come and be at the baptism too, so everything turned out really great.
Well, all in all, it turned out to be a great week, I really feel like this week I really learned the true meaning of Ether 12:6 "Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith" because this week really was a trial of faith, it has been hard to work hard in the area with it being to hot, me not really knowing where to go, who the members are, and worst of all not really having investigators, but sacrifice really does bring forth the blessings of heaven. I love this work so much and I am so grateful for the great calling I have to be a missionary here in Paraguay, I love you all so much, hope you have a great week, Elder Adamson V

Week 63 in Paraguay Change 11 Week 1

Hey Family, I don't have much time today because I want to try and write back everyone that has written me quick over the last 7 months. I have been terrible about writing some people back. We had an awesome week with some real miricles, at the beginning of the week I really didn't know what I was going to do with the area. I've never been a real senior companion before. I mean I was in the office, but we were both senior companions. So everything is on me now, mostly because my companion is brand new too, and the area had nothing. I contacted 121 people this last week, and my companion 50, so we have been working really hard to find people. On Tuesday we were finishing up the day going back to the house of a member that had left with us to teach someone and when we arrived, there was this 14 year old young man at the computer and the member told us we had to get him baptized. I was a little confused and then the kid just started going off about how he had read the Book of Mormon all the way through 3 Nephi already and how he wanted to get baptized next week, so we have been teaching him. He already knows everything, the missionaries started teaching him about 3 months ago and he stopped going to church because he had some problems with his family. He said when it was happening he wanted to get baptized, but he read this scripture that talked about patience and how sometimes we need to wait for blessings, and so he decided to stop going to church to let things settle out in his family. Now he talked to his family and they are all good with him getting baptized, he's gone to church the last two weeks in a row, and he's getting baptized this Sunday. It has truly been a miracle, also, we passed on that we didn't have any investigators in church last week, and throughout the week we found out that there were three investigators there, one being Miguel, the 14 year old young man that is getting baptized on Sunday, his sister, and another guy that is getting married soon to a member, so we have a few more things to work with now in the area. We also were able to find some really great people contacting during the week, one family we went to talked to us for about a 30 minute lesson and then at the end of the lesson invited to come eat lunch on Friday, which just happens to be the only day of the week that we don't have lunch from anyone. We went and we ate lunch and now we are teaching a really cool family. They weren't able to go to church yesterday because they said they wanted to wait to go to church as a family and one of them traveled last week, so they are all going to go together this week if all goes well. Anyway, it has been a great week, and I can't believe how fast the time has been going by, it just flies by. My companion is great too, it has been a little hard because he is having a lot of trouble with Spanish, but he's doing good, he's really worried about messing up, and I've been trying to get him to kind of get over that because a lot of times he's just scared to talk and doesn't say anything and the people don't think he understands anything when he actually is understanding a lot, he's just a little afraid to talk. Anyway, that's about all the time I have, the area is doing great, my companion is doing great, and I'm doing great, we're hitting the ground running in the area, and for the first time I think in my mission we are really working really hard as I would really like to and I am really super grateful for that, and we're not going to let up, I love you all so much, can't wait to hear back from you next week, Elder Adamson V

Week 62 in Paraguay Change 10 Week 6

Hey Family, so today I'm going to start my first full week in the area with my son, my first son. (The new companion is not literally Ryan's son, remember earlier in the blog this is the way the missionaries remember relationships in the mission. As Ryan's first son, this means this is the first missionary Ryan has had an opportunity to train on his mission), I didn't think I was going to be able to carry on the family name, but it looks like President has given me a chance. The last week has been pretty fun. Last Sunday I went into the office, which means it has now been two weeks since I had a P-day, it just got completely skipped, but don't worry, I'm alright, anyway. I went in last Sunday. Monday I spent all day planning and training the new secretary so he would have everything down for the next few days. The new missionaries ended up coming a little late, so we had to move changes a day to Thursday, so Tuesday was a really off day with not much work, but then Wednesday and Thursday was all over the place and very busy. Wednesday we had to do many things with the new missionaries. Wednesday morning Elder Gage, my old companion that just went home last week, convinced President that the office Elders should have a chance to go to a temple session with the people going home instead of just the assistants. So he gave us permission to go with everyone, so I found out and for about 2 and a half hours was just planning how we would be able to work it all out, because there were a lot of things we had to do while they were going to be in the temple, because we have never gone in previous changes. I just planned and called people to see if they could come and help and I was just all over the place, and it finally all worked out. So we got to the temple and sat down in the session and people just kept on coming in and coming in and coming in for the session and there wasn't any room in the endowment room, the matron of the temple started to get nervous and President raised his hand and said, "We have eight office Elders here that don't have to be here" and so we all had to leave the session. It turned out to be better because we were sitting there and I was just thinking about how tired I was and how there was no way I would be able to make it through the whole session without falling asleep. Then we ended up having to leave the session and we got to do initiatories and help in the baptistery confirming people, so it ended up being a great time in the temple, then the temple workers let us go into the Celestial Room after the session was over to be with President and Hermana in the Celestial Room and see the missionaries going home. On Thursday I took the oldies to the airport and got out to the area with my son. My new companion is Elder Juhasz, he's from Preston Idaho, right where they filmed Napoleon Dynamite. He is a little quiet but he is a great kid and he's got a great testimony. We have been working really hard these last few days and he is working right into the missionary life and we're having a really good time. We took these last couple days to just really get to know the members and find out where they live. It has been pretty hard with only having been in the area for a short time, everyday I get lost, but somehow we always end up right where we need to go. It really is cool. I love the area, the members are great and have been super helpful. The people here are so easy to talk to and so open, when we are contacting we get into more than 50% of the houses we try. It has been a huge difference from the people in my last area, where everyone has doorbells and gates and big fences. Here the streets don't even have names.

To answer a few more of the questions you asked, I did get the Christmas package you sent on the Wednesday after Christmas, so it wasn't that bad at all, and I have already eaten everything that was in it, thank you so much. About the money, I'm just saving it for now because the dollar seems to be a little low right now and if I wait I can probably get more for the money. The dollar was at 5.000 guaranies and now it is down to 4.500, and I figured it went down a little because of Christmas and all the money that went out into the economy, so hopefully it will at least go up a little and then I'll use the money. I think I'm going to use the money to buy a few more recuerdos to take home, some little things to remember.

Anyway, when did Codi get pregnant? This is the first time anyone has told me that. If she is having the baby in September she must not be very far along at all, so I don't feel too bad. I only have 8 months left now so if anyone gets pregnant now I should be home when the baby is born. I haven't got a letter in the mail since last April and it would be kind of nice to hear a little bit about what is going on, but I'm working hard, I have to, I'm training now.

Oh, and about the Y, I'm just going to go back in January 2012, it'll be nice to make some money first before I go back, and I would have to come home early to start in September, which I could easily do, but I really don't want to, the only reason I would, would be to play flag football with Justin, and I don't think that is a good enough reason, plus I want to be there to apply for classes and majors and look into options and things and I don't want to worry about that here, so I've already decided I'm just going to wait until January 2012. By the way, no one has told me yet if Justin got into the Y, have you found out? Tell me when you know, anyway, I love you all so much, keep on being awesome, Elder Adamson V

Week 61 in Paraguay Change 10 Week 5

Hey Family! BIG NEWS! So President told me my change and here it is, dun dun dun dun, (that's a little drumroll), I'm actually just staying in Aratiri, where I was for the week before coming back into the office to help for a week with the changes. Well, going back after I'm done here in the office, and I'm training! So I'm going to be getting a new little missionary fresh out of the MTC. I'm really excited, it is going to be pretty interesting too because I'm going to be doing everything with them for their first two days after their arrival here in the mission home. They are here and then on the third day one of them is going to find out that I'm their trainer, pretty cool huh!! I'm just going to be staying in Aratiri serving as a district leader, it makes a lot more sense than going out to a different area to go up to zone leader. After all that Elder Foster said to President and after him explaining to us his new plans for the mission, its kind of more of a compliment to be training than to be going out to be a zone leader anyway. Even better, two Paraguayan missionaries are arriving this change, maybe I'll get to train one of them, who knows, not even President knows yet. Anyway, this week is going to be a little crazy, change week again, but it's the last one I'm going to have to worry about, I love you all, sorry I can't write more, Elder Adamson V