Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Week 19 - Record Week

Our zone just before transfers.
Four missionaries out, three new missionaries in.
So this week we broke basically every one of our goals. The Spirit of God was with us a lot this week, and we just had a lot of success. It's not really that we changed anything, but things just worked out really well.

For Starters, we gave a blessing of health to Zuni this week because she found out that (on top of her anemia and heart problems) she is rapidly destroying the cartilage in her knees and loosing the ability to walk. After the blessing, she could barely stand, and was "exceedingly astonished" as the scriptures would say. For the next half an hour we talked about the power of the Spirit, several experiences we'd had, and she asked us how long she had to wait until she could become a member! We laid out the baptismal requirements, including the interview questions, and promised her that she could feel this same feeling during her baptism, and when she enters in the temple for the first time. She was very excited.

Monday, April 18, 2016

Week 18 - Drum-roll please...

A loaded package of treats from
Bea's grandma in Brazil.
(Bea is Sam's foreign-exchange-sister)
This week marks my 4 month mark in the mission, with almost 3 in the field. It also marks the end of my second transfer here in San Ignacio. The results of the transfers are in and I got to find out what the Lord has in store for me. To give a little background, Elder Thorpe arrived in San Ignacio one transfer before me, making this the end of his third. We were pretty sure he'd be transferred (he also has 5 transfers left in his mission). We also thought that if he didn't go, they'd probably transfer me, seeing as how I just finished my training. We didn't think it very likely that we'd both get transferred, as a Whitewash would be very difficult for this area. Well the results are in. Can I get a drum-roll please?

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Week 17 - Howdy Y'all!

Overall things went well for us this week. We had a few really good lessons and, as always, a few Miracles.

Let's start with Laura. Laura is an investigator that I met my second day in Paraguay. I couldn't speak the language yet, but I fought my way through the lesson without understanding much of what was happening. After that day, we never had time when she was home, and she was never home when we went to meet with her. For two months this cycle continued until this Tuesday. We somehow managed to find her and have a lesson. We asked her if she still had her Book of Mormon, hoping that in the past few months it hadn't been lost or destroyed by her 3 year old. To our surprise, she not only had it, but had been zealously guarding it, and reading it frequently! She said she reads it when she wants to feel happy or relaxed, when she's had a rough day, and sometimes even when she can't sleep. She still has quite a bit of lesson material to learn, but she seems super prepared already. Her baptismal date is at the end of May.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Week 16 - Week, um, 9?



This is Tañarandy (TAN-yuh-ran-DO). Every Easter they 
put up some giant portrait of the life of Christ, but with a fun catch.
Eh, Who's counting anyways... This week was General Conference, and also marks my trainer's final 6 months. Turns out Elder Thorpe gets to watch the next conference, and then jump on a plane back home. He's less than excited. I don't blame him though, he's had a lot of good experiences and he really loves the people here. I'm sure I will to.

Things that happened this week. Lot's of walking. However for the first time in a long while, we managed to receive a reference from somebody. Not only that, but we also contacted her in the same week! That made our numbers look really good. Her name is Cyntia, and she's great. She's a single mother with two kids, one 7 and one 2 or 3. She didn't have a whole lot of interest in religion to start with, but because her daughter is brilliant, loves reading, and wants to study the bible, she asked her friend to recommend a good church (she's not a fan of the Catholic church she was raised in). Miraculously she decided to ask an old investigator who thinks very highly of our church, but was dropped due to a lack of progress. Cyntia seemed rather interested and so we'll see how she progresses in the next few weeks.