Week 16

So for the first time, I’m probably going to include some spiritual stuff.  Yes, the mission is changing me.  No, I’m not weird… yet.  And finally, don’t expect this to be a regular occurrence.  These are pretty awesome visits and, therefore, deserve some time.  Now, the disclaimer is out of the way.

On Tuesday night, we worked with the familia Ojeda.  They are an amazing family.  The father has been a branch president, twice.  And ironically, the family was baptized by Jake Gertsch (Jake is a family friend who served his mission in Pedro Juan).  They are awesome, but for some reason they don’t come to church.  So Anderson and I didn’t really know what to do with them. But we decided to do a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) about challenges and problems in our life.  We made paper snowflakes and explained how each cut or challenge makes the paper look a little ugly until you open it up and it’s way pretty.   It’s like how challenges actually make us better when we persevere.  I bore my testimony and so did Elder Anderson.  Then both Hermano and Hermana Ojeda bore their testimonies and said they were gonna come back to the church.  They cried, and it was just amazing.

The next day was Wednesday, and that is Mother’s Day here in Paraguay.  So like most things, if there is remotely a reason to not work or do anything it happens.  But, we still had a good work day and the ward was doing a big activity that night.  Well the missionaries were asked to do something, like a play or a comedy.   Ya, not gonna happen.  Haha.  So we decided to capitalize on the uniqueness of PJC (Pedro Juan Caballero) and wrote a message in the 3 languages spoken here and English and then we sang a song.  The message was about mothers.  Elder Plasciencia from Peru said it in English, Elder Anderl did it in Spanish, Elder Anderson did it in Guarani, and I did it in Portuguese, which was sweet.  That’s right, I speak Portuguese!  The Brazilian investigator that translated the message and wrote it for me said I had the tongue for Portuguese.  Then again she could have just been hitting on me. Haha  But either way, it went way good.  People did ask if I knew Portuguese.  

Anthony's name tag in the four languages he is using

The song was “Love at Home,” and we kept the same theme.  Elder Plasciencia and I sang the first verse in Spanish.  Then Elders Anderl and Anderson sang in English and then the third verse was mixed.  It wasn’t as bad as it sounds.  There was good food and music.  The young women did a play thing that was apparently funny, but I wouldn’t know since it was all in Guarani.

The surprise of the night was when Hermana Ojeda showed up.  She had like 4 presentations put together.  Nobody knew she was coming, but we weren’t gonna turn her away.  It was way cool to see them there, honestly.

Then we had some drama about doing a division, as the zone leaders thought we were meeting them and we weren’t.  Anyway, we ended up doing a division on Thursday so Elder Milne came with me in my area.  Which would have been fine, except on Thursdays we work the part of the area we never work.  That day the fog/mist was so thick I could see like 3 feet in front of my face.  So, of course, I got lost.  Then some normal visits turned not normal, and I panicked, and, ya, it was a mess.  But we got some good things done.  

Now for the next super spiritual thing.  Ya, 2 in 1 week -  I’m a stud.  Anyway, we’ve been working with Griselda, the mother of Rafa and Paola, two of our converts.  She wants to be baptized, but she just can’t quit smoking.  So we went there and just laid it all on the line.   We read a pretty harsh scripture about being an example for your kids and talked about eternal families, baptism and lots of things.  We literally attacked the smoking from every angle we could think of.   My Spanish flowed great; I felt inspired to say stuff, and it was nuts.  I asked if we could have her cigarettes, and she gave them to us.  It was amazing.

We also got real with an investigator about keeping commitments and with a Menos Activo (less active) about coming to church. It was a good day.   

Saturday was the day the Independence Day parade got moved to, so we decided to go and support our investigators and members there.  It was cool, like every school in PJC (Pedro Juan Caballero) was there and marched in it.  It was sweet.  Then we met with the zone leaders to try and figure out where our area boundaries were.  Then they told us about a tower you can climb up and take pics.  So we naturally had to go check it out.   Haha.  So we did a little exploring in our area before finishing the night strong.

Elder Anderson and Frost at the Independence Parade with some random people.

 

Then Sunday there was good and bad news. The good news first -  the Menos Activo, the investigator Griselda, and Paola’s bf (boyfriend) all came to church.  Yay!   Bad news, the Ojedas did not.  So we still have some work to do with them. 

Then we did some visits before introducing the country of Paraguay to tacos.  We made tacos for a family night with some investigators, and it was a success.   It did make me miss some beefy 5 layers though...or a 6 pack and a pound from Taco Johns... Ok I gotta stop now. Haha.  But that was pretty much it.

We have a zone conference tomorrow, so back to Asuncion again. Which makes it a short week, but that’s not a terrible thing.

 Love you all - take care of yourselves.

 

Elder Frost