Ha upei mi familia! Ikatu que la familia está tavora ko`äga. There`s a little jopará for you again, it means it could be that the family is crazy right now, pretty good huhpa. Anyway, this keyboard is really messed up because it is in Portugues, so I can`t put a question mark, and pa in Guaraní just means its a question, so if you see a pa, its because its a question and I don`t know how to put a question mark. I can put this cool thing really easy though ç, they use that a lot in Portugues. This computer also keeps zooming in, so everything keeps on getting bigger, and the typing is kind of slow, but I`m just going to answer all those questions from mom one by one, so here it goes.
Who is the new companion? Has he been out a long time? What nationality?
My new companions name is Elder Rodriguez, and yes, he is Latin, from Uraguay, but he is actually really white, he really looks like this one kid from Canada I knew from BYU. He has been out on the mission now for 17 months and goes home in September and he is also the District leader here right now, so he knows a lot about the mission. He is super funny and talks a lot in the street, so the Spanish is really improving quickly. He also talks super fast, a lot faster than anyone else here I`ve talked to, so again, the Spanish is going to improve quick. He is really excited about the work too, which is nice, because the Rama right now is right down about as low as it can possibly get. We went to go make a mission plan for the Branch with our Branch President two days ago because our mission President asked us to have one before the next zone conference which is this week. The very first thing our branch president did was laugh, and then talked about all the reasons we don`t have success here. It wasn`t fun. But we made the plan with him, when we actually got into it the President kind of changed. He really is a great guy, he just doesn`t want to do anything more than he has to, but he does want to help. We are going to get it going here and we are going to work really hard and I really feel like these next six weeks are going to be productive.
How were your days with the zone leader?
The days with the Zone leader were actually really awesome, we have probably the two most obedient Elders in our whole mission as our zone leaders right now. Just from one day with one of them I could really tell that he understands really well exactly why we are all here on the mission. The zone leaders when I got here were a lot different, they baptized a lot together, but now with the eight baptisms that they had that I personally know of, only one of them goes to church, which is kind of sad. They could get people to church really easily, but I don`t really think that the understanding of really why was there. I`m really excited for this change because of that too, because the zone leaders now are really getting on us for doing things the exact way they are meant to be done. Just from those couple days with Elder Snow I learned a lot about how the mission runs, how we should approach the work, and more about just working hard. He really showed me how important even the very littlest things are.
There are now four of you in your apartment again?
There are four in the apartment again, and I actually haven`t lived yet in the mission with just two. It is a lot more fun with four people but sometimes it can get pretty distracting. It takes a lot more to really get to it and focus, especially in the mornings, but we have been really good with it this past week so I hope it can keep going well for the rest of the change. I live with my companion and Elder Brazier and his companion Elder Hill. Uncle Lloyd before I left to go to the MTC actually told me to look for Elder Hill. They are next door neighbors, and now we are living together, so you are going to have to tell Uncle Loyd that we`re together now.
How are your investigators?
Honestly we don`t have many, we keep getting a lot of news and we have a few people to go back to this week, but we are pretty much starting out fresh now. We did have an investigator in church on Sunday, but it is this brother of one of the members we have already tried to work with and he was really drunk while he was there. He only stayed about 20 minutes. He just kind of walked in on his own during Sunday School, was a little mixed up about stuff, and then left on his own. It was something different. So we are going to be doing a lot of looking this week. We have a couple girls we are going to teach today that had a lot of good questions and I think really could progress because they actually have that desire to know, one of them has even investigated a lot of different churches because she doesn`t like the Catholic Church. Her parents make her go to church so we are going to have to do a lot for that one. We also have this man and his wife that seem really cool, we are going back tomorrow to teach about the Book of Mormon so we will see how that works out. I would really like to have a baptism this change, so we are going to work really hard to get that. We are in one of the highest baptizing missions in the world so I think we can do it.
What has happened to the young woman who was your first baptism? Do you follow-up with her or is the branch taking care of that?
She actually wasn`t really my baptism, I didn`t teach her anything, I just baptized her, and now she is a mess, she doesn`t go to church at all and doesn`t really like the missionaries or the members. I don`t really know what happened to that family, they had four converts in the family that were golden, did everything, and now none of them go to church.
What is the weather like there?
It`s really weird because we are in the Tropic Circle up in Pedro Juan so it started to get darker earlier like it was moving into fall, and then now it is getting lighter again and it is super hot right now, we are right in the time of the year where Paraguay is the closest thing to the sun, so it is really hot, but not as bad as Asuncion, it got up to 47 degrees out there recently, that is 127 degrees in the US, its crazy, all the Elders tell me I have no idea when I complain about the heat, but I will be here for all of summer so I guess I lucked out, to be in a cooler area of the mission.
Well, I`m out of time now, send me other questions next week, with the same ones I didn`t answer and I`ll do it again next week, I`m excited to talk to you about zone conference.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Week 12 in Paraguay-Companion is Changing
Everything is pretty tranquilo right now, we´re just finishing up some last minute things after a day of saying goodbye to pretty much everyone. Elder Dennis is going into Asuncion tonight and he flys back home on this Thursday. Just to explain a little how transfers work here, transfer days are always Wednesdays, so I still don´t know who my new companion is, but I´m pretty sure it´ll be a Latin that doesn´t have very much time in the mission, that is what seems to be happening here lately. All the new missionaries that have had their trainers leave have all got young Latins for companions. We´ll see what happens in a couple days. For the next two days I´ll be with Elder Snow, one of the zone leaders here. Elder Reid, his companion, is also going home on a bus tonight, so the next couple days we will just be working in both areas. It should be pretty fun to be out with a zone leader a couple days, I went on a division once with him before and he is an awesome missionary, I´m sure I´ll be able to learn a lot from him.
Valentine´s Day here was a little crazy, pretty much this whole last week, but because of a different reason. There is this holiday in Brazil that lasts 5 days, the 14th being the middle of the 5 days and the biggest, called Carnival. It is pretty much the same as Mardi Gras, the one they celebrate in New Orleans, but they have a few different traditions. It gets so bad the missionaries in some parts of Brazil have to stay in their house for 72 hours straight, they aren´t allowed to come out at all. Since we are on the border, it isn´t as big as Brazil, but the people still get pretty into it. The big tradition here is water balloons. So the tradition is everyone pretty much gets water balloons and they just sit out in front of their houses and throw them at motos and cars and people that walk by. Then other people get in big groups in the back of trucks to drive by and hit the people that are on the side of the road, so its pretty much one big war and if you have a water balloon you´re in, but sometimes the people don´t really care if you´re in or not. Needless to say we were attacked quite a few times in the last few days, but no one was ever able to hit us. Elder Dennis likes to say that we were blessed like Samuel the Lamanite. Most of the people knew better than to attack us, they would just fake it and then say "hi" to us, but some throw them anyway. This one house we walked by there were these little kids and they wanted to throw the balloons at us and their Dad, who was with them was telling them not to. They yelled at us to ask us if it was alright if they threw them. Well we didn´t hear what they said and so we were just walking by and gave them a thumbs up (I don´t know if I told you yet, but a thumbs up here is just like waving, its like saying “What´s up?”) and the next thing we know this little girl just starts yelling, “Dijo sí, dijo sí” which means, “He said yes, he said yes” and then they proceeded to throw water balloons at us. None of them have very good aim, most of them just hit trees and things, so we didn´t get too wet, but it was really funny. I wish I had some videos of trucks driving by with all the people in the back attacking people on the side of the road, it definately would have been a fun thing to do back in the day, not that I would have done it or anything...
The weekend was pretty crazy and Elder Dennis is going home now, which is really crazy. It was fun to kill him though because he gave me a lot of stuff, good thing I didn´t ask you to send back some of the things I was going to because he gave me everything I was going to ask you to send.
I almost forgot also that today in Shopping China we saw all the missionaries from Ponta Porá, the city right next to Pedro Juan in Brazil, and they were so funny. It was like we were celebraties because we spoke Spanish and have Guaraní name tags. It was really funny and they all took pictures with us, but I didn´t have my camera at the time so I didn´t get any.
I am learning a lot in my scripture study. I think the most important thing I am learning right now is the Spirit, everything about it. I am learning so much about how the Spirit communicates, how it feels, what it can say to you, and more than anything the importance of doing exactly what it tells you right when it tells you. I think that is the biggest thing I have been learning from not only my studies, but pretty much all my time with Elder Dennis. I am sorry to say that I have not been the best with this thus far on my mission. I´m starting to realize that it is really hard for me to follow promptings and do things different ways when I feel as though it would be something my companion wouldn´t want to do or would react in a way I wouldn´t like, and I am realizing that is selfish and I need more now than ever do exactly what I know I have been told to do by the Spirit. That is definately something I have learned and I now realize how eternally important that can be. And to answer the next question, I think this more than anything would be the best way for Justin to prepare, to just read and pray everyday and write down everyday every time he feels the Spirit. I didn´t realize until I got out here how important the Spirit is, it is everything in this work, we can do nothing without, so if we don´t recognize it, or worse don´t follow it, we will not have success out here, it really is just that simple. When we have the Spirit, not just individually, but together as a companionship, we will baptize. This is a mission that baptizes over 200 people every month and we haven´t had a single investigator in church in 6 weeks now, there is definately something more that can be done.
Valentine´s Day here was a little crazy, pretty much this whole last week, but because of a different reason. There is this holiday in Brazil that lasts 5 days, the 14th being the middle of the 5 days and the biggest, called Carnival. It is pretty much the same as Mardi Gras, the one they celebrate in New Orleans, but they have a few different traditions. It gets so bad the missionaries in some parts of Brazil have to stay in their house for 72 hours straight, they aren´t allowed to come out at all. Since we are on the border, it isn´t as big as Brazil, but the people still get pretty into it. The big tradition here is water balloons. So the tradition is everyone pretty much gets water balloons and they just sit out in front of their houses and throw them at motos and cars and people that walk by. Then other people get in big groups in the back of trucks to drive by and hit the people that are on the side of the road, so its pretty much one big war and if you have a water balloon you´re in, but sometimes the people don´t really care if you´re in or not. Needless to say we were attacked quite a few times in the last few days, but no one was ever able to hit us. Elder Dennis likes to say that we were blessed like Samuel the Lamanite. Most of the people knew better than to attack us, they would just fake it and then say "hi" to us, but some throw them anyway. This one house we walked by there were these little kids and they wanted to throw the balloons at us and their Dad, who was with them was telling them not to. They yelled at us to ask us if it was alright if they threw them. Well we didn´t hear what they said and so we were just walking by and gave them a thumbs up (I don´t know if I told you yet, but a thumbs up here is just like waving, its like saying “What´s up?”) and the next thing we know this little girl just starts yelling, “Dijo sí, dijo sí” which means, “He said yes, he said yes” and then they proceeded to throw water balloons at us. None of them have very good aim, most of them just hit trees and things, so we didn´t get too wet, but it was really funny. I wish I had some videos of trucks driving by with all the people in the back attacking people on the side of the road, it definately would have been a fun thing to do back in the day, not that I would have done it or anything...
The weekend was pretty crazy and Elder Dennis is going home now, which is really crazy. It was fun to kill him though because he gave me a lot of stuff, good thing I didn´t ask you to send back some of the things I was going to because he gave me everything I was going to ask you to send.
I almost forgot also that today in Shopping China we saw all the missionaries from Ponta Porá, the city right next to Pedro Juan in Brazil, and they were so funny. It was like we were celebraties because we spoke Spanish and have Guaraní name tags. It was really funny and they all took pictures with us, but I didn´t have my camera at the time so I didn´t get any.
I am learning a lot in my scripture study. I think the most important thing I am learning right now is the Spirit, everything about it. I am learning so much about how the Spirit communicates, how it feels, what it can say to you, and more than anything the importance of doing exactly what it tells you right when it tells you. I think that is the biggest thing I have been learning from not only my studies, but pretty much all my time with Elder Dennis. I am sorry to say that I have not been the best with this thus far on my mission. I´m starting to realize that it is really hard for me to follow promptings and do things different ways when I feel as though it would be something my companion wouldn´t want to do or would react in a way I wouldn´t like, and I am realizing that is selfish and I need more now than ever do exactly what I know I have been told to do by the Spirit. That is definately something I have learned and I now realize how eternally important that can be. And to answer the next question, I think this more than anything would be the best way for Justin to prepare, to just read and pray everyday and write down everyday every time he feels the Spirit. I didn´t realize until I got out here how important the Spirit is, it is everything in this work, we can do nothing without, so if we don´t recognize it, or worse don´t follow it, we will not have success out here, it really is just that simple. When we have the Spirit, not just individually, but together as a companionship, we will baptize. This is a mission that baptizes over 200 people every month and we haven´t had a single investigator in church in 6 weeks now, there is definately something more that can be done.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Week 11 in Paraguay
I really don`t have a lot of time, but this week was a good week. The work is good and I`m working hard, Elder Dennis goes home in a week, he goes to the office on the 15th and I get my new companion on the 17th. I`m pretty sure I`ll be with a local for a couple days, either that or with the zone leaders. I`ll write a nice long letter next week. I had some stuff to do for myldsmail this week, a new version is coming out. I love you all and I`m working hard for all of you. Love Elder Adamson V
Monday, February 1, 2010
Week 10 in Paraguay
Ha upei mi familia! I thought I would start a little differently today, with a little bit of jopará! That is what they call it when someone mixes Guaraní and Spanish, Jopará. It is pretty much all the people speak here, unless they are Brazilian, then they speak Portuguese. The language has been coming really well lately. I haven´t really seen an improvement in my speaking at all, but I am really starting to see how the understanding is getting easier. Now I can even pretty much understand what people are saying in Portuguese. Well only about as well as I could understand Spanish when I first got here, but that is a lot better than nothing, which is what I understood at first. It is so crazy out here on the frontera with all the languages, and the people are so proud of it too, whenever you bring it up they always talk about how they know three different languages, its pretty cool.
The work in the Branch went a little down this week, but it is getting a little better. We have people going to church every once in a while now that never went before. Also, a lot of the more active members are starting to be a lot more willing to help. We still need to do a lot more to get the Rama (Branch) to where we want it to be. We can see how the Lord is helping his work. The work with investigators this week was really hard though. We are supposed to be getting 8 to church every week, this is the mission goal. We haven´t got a single person to church in 4 weeks now, so it is really slow. It seems like every new person we talk to is super nice, lets us in and lets us talk, and then shares how they are Catholic and they have their own religion so they can´t go to our church. It has been really hard lately and a little frustrating. We only have two interested people right now, Paula and Muara. Muara is this older lady with a lot of kids that accepts everything, and I think really wants to go to church, but can´t walk long distances because she just had her appendix removed poorly so she needs to get another operation. We have been trying to figure out ways to get her to church, but nothing has really worked yet. Paula is an 18 year old girl with a little girl. She is just about the only person we have now that is progressing. Her sister Jenny has been to church 7 times before, but was never baptized because she never read and hasn´t ever prayed. We´re working a whole lot with her too. I really hope she can just pray and get an answer because after that I don´t think there would be any problem baptizing her and she would always go to church. Both of them had a birthday party yesterday and that is why they didn´t go to church. They are pretty sure for next week, which is good, we need investigators in church.
My companion, Elder Dennis, goes home in 2 weeks from this Wednesday. It has been pretty hard in this area for him. I think the biggest thing is just he gets frustrated with the work and with the people because he is so tired of people's excuses here. It is not the same here as it is in Asunción where more than half of the missionaries in the mission are. In one of Elder Dennis´s earlier areas on his mission he had 79 baptisms, in one area. Now he has only had one baptism in more than 6 months. It´s been hard for him here. I have been working hard with it too.
One big thing I studied this week, to try and work with the situation I am in here, was Joseph Smith in Liberty jail. I am trying to learn what really caused him to put his trust in the Lord so that he could have that complete trust that everything is in the Lord´s hands while he was marching on to Carthage. The things I found led me to read Moroni 7, specifically verses 48-49. What I learned is that when we put our trust in God he can fill us with his love. The part I really thought about was the part that says we will see Him as He is because we will be like Him. Developing charity is literally becoming perfect, that is the defining characteristic that helps us become like Christ, every other Christlike attribute we can develop comes from a perfect love for God. This was really cool to me and I am going to try to apply how I can have greater charity so I can help the work progress here.
The apartment is really awesome. I don´t really have time now to describe it now, but I will make a video and send it in a letter, which reminds me I sent all the pictures home with a note, and I just wanted to emphasize that when it comes do not lose the coins I sent with it, the 1 Guaraní and the 5 Guaranies, because they don´t make those coins anymore. Oh, and I literally sent you everything, every picture I took without getting rid of anything, when you get it and it all works tell me so I can clear the memory card. Also, if you have questions about pictures you can send me one or two in emails to ask me and I can explain them, when you get them.
The basic food here is really just a meat with rice and noodles with a salad, but I will explain more of that later, I don´t have too much more time now, so I love all of you and I am so glad I´m serving a mission. You´re all in my prayers , I love you all, Elder Adamson V
The work in the Branch went a little down this week, but it is getting a little better. We have people going to church every once in a while now that never went before. Also, a lot of the more active members are starting to be a lot more willing to help. We still need to do a lot more to get the Rama (Branch) to where we want it to be. We can see how the Lord is helping his work. The work with investigators this week was really hard though. We are supposed to be getting 8 to church every week, this is the mission goal. We haven´t got a single person to church in 4 weeks now, so it is really slow. It seems like every new person we talk to is super nice, lets us in and lets us talk, and then shares how they are Catholic and they have their own religion so they can´t go to our church. It has been really hard lately and a little frustrating. We only have two interested people right now, Paula and Muara. Muara is this older lady with a lot of kids that accepts everything, and I think really wants to go to church, but can´t walk long distances because she just had her appendix removed poorly so she needs to get another operation. We have been trying to figure out ways to get her to church, but nothing has really worked yet. Paula is an 18 year old girl with a little girl. She is just about the only person we have now that is progressing. Her sister Jenny has been to church 7 times before, but was never baptized because she never read and hasn´t ever prayed. We´re working a whole lot with her too. I really hope she can just pray and get an answer because after that I don´t think there would be any problem baptizing her and she would always go to church. Both of them had a birthday party yesterday and that is why they didn´t go to church. They are pretty sure for next week, which is good, we need investigators in church.
My companion, Elder Dennis, goes home in 2 weeks from this Wednesday. It has been pretty hard in this area for him. I think the biggest thing is just he gets frustrated with the work and with the people because he is so tired of people's excuses here. It is not the same here as it is in Asunción where more than half of the missionaries in the mission are. In one of Elder Dennis´s earlier areas on his mission he had 79 baptisms, in one area. Now he has only had one baptism in more than 6 months. It´s been hard for him here. I have been working hard with it too.
One big thing I studied this week, to try and work with the situation I am in here, was Joseph Smith in Liberty jail. I am trying to learn what really caused him to put his trust in the Lord so that he could have that complete trust that everything is in the Lord´s hands while he was marching on to Carthage. The things I found led me to read Moroni 7, specifically verses 48-49. What I learned is that when we put our trust in God he can fill us with his love. The part I really thought about was the part that says we will see Him as He is because we will be like Him. Developing charity is literally becoming perfect, that is the defining characteristic that helps us become like Christ, every other Christlike attribute we can develop comes from a perfect love for God. This was really cool to me and I am going to try to apply how I can have greater charity so I can help the work progress here.
The apartment is really awesome. I don´t really have time now to describe it now, but I will make a video and send it in a letter, which reminds me I sent all the pictures home with a note, and I just wanted to emphasize that when it comes do not lose the coins I sent with it, the 1 Guaraní and the 5 Guaranies, because they don´t make those coins anymore. Oh, and I literally sent you everything, every picture I took without getting rid of anything, when you get it and it all works tell me so I can clear the memory card. Also, if you have questions about pictures you can send me one or two in emails to ask me and I can explain them, when you get them.
The basic food here is really just a meat with rice and noodles with a salad, but I will explain more of that later, I don´t have too much more time now, so I love all of you and I am so glad I´m serving a mission. You´re all in my prayers , I love you all, Elder Adamson V
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