April 25, 2011

Dearest family,

P-day isn´t till next Thursday, so I´ll tell you how changes went.

But until then...

 

     Last week I ate Piranha. It was really tasty, but it had way too many bones. There were so many little bones it almost isn´t worth eating. You can´t take a bite without getting a bone in your mouth. I though Dad, Micah, and Grandpa Bobby would especially appreciate that.

 

     This was the week of Easter or "Semana Santa", in Spanish. Elder Parke also turned 21 on the 19th. Wow he´s old. Anyways. In Paraguay because there are a lot of Catholics they are really into celebrating the entire Semana Santa. It´s a shame that they don´t have any cool traditions. They only like to get drunk, not work, eat Chipa (a dry breadlike substance that I can´t stand to eat), eat Sopa Paraguaya (a cornbreadlike substance that I also don´t like), and worship their "Saints". They do all these things all the time anyways, but they just do it more on Semana Santa.

     The Government proclaimed that on Friday nobody was allowed to work. Which is stupid. Only the busses were running, but only on occasion. Nobody was out in the street so it was hard to get contacts. I was also on exchanges in my area with the district leader so I had to lead the way. Supposedly to the catholics you aren´t allowed to eat meat and make fires on "Holy Friday", so we went to a members house to cook and eat sausage. The entire week was kind of dumb but I don´t have time to write about it.

 

     This morning I had to go to the office to get my blood drawn, so the mission could check to see if I had Denge. We got up at 5:30, so we could leave by 6:30, and make it there by 7:30. The nurse who drew my blood didn´t know what she was doing. It was taking her a long time. She was digging in the needle trying to find my blood vein. She tried like 5 times. It was hurting me, so  she decided to switch arms. Now both arms hurt, but at least she found it the second time.

     On the bright side, because we were in the city we shopped at a place called Super Seis that has all kinds of American brand foods. I was amazed at some of the things I saw. I even saw Easy Cheese, I was really tempted to buy it, but all American products are really expensive. I did buy some Jiff though. I also ate at McDonalds¡ Woo¡

What areas around there do you go to a lot, or where do you "clap" doors, any parks or other places where you do contacts? It´s mostly just random, a kind of "I hope we get lucky" kind of searching. Parks are where all the drunks hang out and play volleyball so we usually just contact people on the Ruta.
 
Does it actually feel like Fall there yet, we know how you like the cooler temperatures? When it gets cold, occasionally right now, It is pretty cold. Your clothes don´t really protect you. Being outside or inside doesn´t make much of a difference either.

Do you need anything? Love, letters, and more baptisms. 

 

Aww man, I´m out of time.

Love you¡

Elder Zachary James Singson

April 18, 2011

I really don´t have a lot to write about this time. And I´m going to try and figure out how to send those stupid pictures, so I´ll just tell you about this one experience I had yesterday. So Elder Parker and I were out looking for a contact who said he was only available on Sunday. We had tried searching for his house before, but a veces The Paraguayans don´t know their next door neighbors, so we have to search a little harder to find people. We actually came across somebody who knew this guy so we went over and clapped the house. Surprise he actually lived there!

     So we went inside and started talking. He is 21 he is studying to become a Policeman and he works, that is why is only available on Sunday. He is really nice. So before we started talking we asked him to invite anybody else that might be interesting in listening to our message. He goes inside and comes out with his mom. They both sit down and we are about to say a pray when, de repente, his dad comes out. I thought he was going to join us, but instead he starts half-yelling at us.

     "We already have our religion" he says, "We have been Catholic for 5 generations and we will always be Catholics". Then he comes closer and says "I want you to leave my house. I want you out, and when you are out close the gate behind you". So, because he is the owner of the house we were obliged to leave. We walk outside of the gate and we are talking to his son. His son apologizes and he says he is ashamed of how his father is behaving. His mom looked really embarassed too. We were going to ask him if we could teach him somewhere else, but the dad whistled at us and made hand motions that suggested "Hurry up and get out already". So we cut the conversation short and left.

     I was quite upset and I wanted to pull a Teancum on him, but I didn´t have a Javelin. Hope you learn a lesson from this story and never do anything that you will not want to be accountable for. Imagine how that guy will feel when he is accountable for the iniquities of his son and his wife.

 

Anyways Be Good! I love you!

Elder Zachary James Singson

April 11, 2011

Dear Family,

Because I was sick last week I will give you a brief account of two weeks ago first.

Then I will tell about this week. Trust me it was a fun one.

March 29th: Met the new Hermanas and the new Elder. Hermana Quartino is Urugayan. Hermana McGregar is from St.Gorge. Then Elder Weekly is from Nebraska or something like that. Hermana McGregar and Elder Weekly are both brand new.

Random information. Hermana McGregar fainted one day, so she was staying at the President´s house, and now she is going home. We really don´t understand what the deal with her is yet. So now Hermana Quartino is stuck with a local who doesn´t want to work.

March 30th: We had interviews with the President. He basically just asked if I was worthy to go to the Temple trip that is coming up. Yes I am. So he gave me an awesome book with a bunch of pictures. Elder Parker made us skip out on eating at McDonalds because we were late to an appointment. We were already late and there was no way we could have made it in time, but we left anyways. Turns out they weren´t even home. So now I really want McDonalds and I feel jipped about that.

April 1st: I would have totally forgotten about april fools if Elder Parker hadn´t said something about it. The Zone leaders tried pulling a prank by saying they were coming to our Weekly Planning Session, but we were not really expecting them.

April 2nd: Before Conference started we taught an entire lesson in English. It was really weird. This guy´s wife is a Paraguayan, but he is an Iranian who lives in Las Vegas. His name is Mir. His friend who is also from Vegas talked to us. He is a black guy named Diego. Niether of them speak Spanish. So we talked a lot about wordly things after the spiritual part of the conversation. Diego says he has a lot of Mormon friends and his brother runs a stunt school in Vegas. So he said he would give me the "Hook ups" after I get back and he gave me his e-mail.

     This is about the time I first started feeling sick, but listening to conference made me feel better. We did contacts inbetween sessions and even went home between the second session and priesthood to teach a lesson. I had to listen to the first session is Spanish, because we were with one of our investigators, and I hated it. The dubbing is super loud and annoying, and I really like listening to their actual voices. It bugged me, but I felt the spirit a lot. All the other sessions I listened in English.

April 3rd: I felt better than yesterday, but I didn´t feel great. I loved conference though.

Now on to this past weeks events!

     Monday on P-day I just felt terrible. I was feeling bad the past two days, but today it was just terrible. My head all the way down to my back was in pain and my stomach didn´t feel good. When we measured my tempurature I was 101.5º F. I called Hermana Callan and followed her instructions. I mostly layed in bed all day and I only fell asleep once for an hour, but I was in too much pain to sleep. I missed out on P-day, but Elder Bigham did exchanges with Elder Parker and he did everything for me. That was really nice of him.

     On Tuesday I still felt like dirt, but only me head hurt. I threw up in the morning and then once again after we got to District meeting. I think the bus ride made it worse. I was dead at district meeting. I rested once we got back to the house, but the only thing I had eaten in 3 days was a piece of bread and 3 gallons of water. I was feeling better though so we went out to work. The only problems were my head was hurting and I had no energy. I didn´t want to lose more time though.

     Did you know Wednesday April 6th is Christ´s actual B-day? I didn´t we sang Christmas songs all day. I felt completely better.

     April 7th. Thursday. Kayley´s B-day. Happy B-Day Kayley!

     Friday. We all decided we are Ninja Turtles. I am Leonardo. Elder Parker is Donatello. Elder Bigham is Michellangelo. Elder Soria is Rafael. I think we decided that the zone leaders are Splinter, just cuz we need a "Master".

     Saturday was really fun. So we were walking down the Main Road. We were going to meet up with a member and head to a lesson. When suddenly this guy comes out of a restaurant and stops us. He starts telling us how bad his life is and how he wants to change. He tells us he is Drunk (But I could tell he was High) and how he needs help. He lived out of our area so we invited him to go to church. After like 5 minutes of him wasting our time we are about to leave. He starts walking with us and he asks us a question. "Hey, are you guys Americans?"

     I turn only half way around and say Yes. *From this point on I knew exactly what was going to happen before it happend, I think it was the gift of discernment from the Spirit. He starts talking about how much he Hates the United States and he reaches behind him and starts searching down his pants. I couldn´t see what he grabbed but I thought it was a Gun. He takes the weapon and puts it on the back of my neck on my collar. I felt a fine point so I realized it was only a knife.

     My companion flinched because he saw the knife. He put his arms up, but then put them down again and he really didn´t know what to do. I listened to the guy tell me "The United States is in every war. I want to kill them all". He tells me exactly what he thinks about my country and then I said, "Not everyone is bad". He puts the knife down and says "Yeah, not everyone is bad... you guys are good". So he puts away the knife and apologizes for pulling a knife on me and starts hitting himself. These aren´t gentle slaps he is hitting himself pretty hard in the face and chest.

     He shakes our hands and makes us promise to pray for him. "Ore por mi... Ore por mi Alma". So we leave and start doing a contact about a block and a half away. A lady pulls up who is an investigator of the other Elders and starts talking to us. She tries to tell the guy on the motorcycle who we were contacting what she saw happen to us, but he just drove away. She tries to call the cops and her daughter checks me for knife wounds. Our member saw us and came over and the lady tells him what happened. We leave and go to the lesson and I saw a car that was on fire in a junk yard. That was really cool, I think it exploded. The lesson was good too. I think he will get baptized.

     Later that night I called President Callan (I had to because it´s Protocol). He just basically asked me if I would have any future problems with this guy. I said "no". Then he said some funny phrases like "I´m glad it didn´t escalate so you would have to defend yourself... for his sake" and "So I guess it was an ¨All in a days work¨ kind of attack?" Ha ha, The President is so funny.

Opps I am over the time limit,

Love you!

Elder Zachary James Singson

March 28

Dear Family,
(This letter was sent the last two times and didn´t work.

I want to talk about Alejandro, my very first convert. I met Alejandro for the first time a couple of days after we got here. He was smoking, but Elder Parker told him to break it and throw it away, so he did. He told me that last time the missionaries came, a week before, he didn´t want anything to do with them. Elder Parker said "We only want to share with you five minutes", so he let them in. Since then he has been struggling really hard. He still has trouble with smoking, but he´s gone a whole week and a half since the baptism. The bishop is helping with that now. Alejandro´s brother talked to a member and asked him if he knew how to help his brother, so Hno Vallejos sent us over. That just goes to show how important references are.
     Since my first lesson with him he has read a lot. He reads the Book of Mormon and prays almost every day now, but he also reads Gospel Principles, and the Liahona. When we teach him he doesn´t remember much, but when he reads it sticks. It´s amazing what he remember from what he´s read. I´m pretty sure he uses entire phrases from the Gospel Principles book. His life has really turned around. He keeps telling us that before he learned about the Gospel he was a real mess. He didn´t want to talk to anybody, he never wanted to see anybody. He was always angry and yelled at work (which I think is weird because he´s such a lovable guy, Darn Alcohol). He smoked a 20pack of cigarettes a day and about 2 liters of beer. His wife left him a long time ago and he was just miserable.
      During our lessons he would do whatever we told him to do. He came to church 5 out of 6 weeks we invited him. He read all the pamphlets and promised to follow the rules. He was just so willing. He has a lot of faith. When we told him to smoke only a certain amount a day he always completed. The only time he didn´t is when he got down to 1 cigarette, but eventually we got him to drop that too. He is just so happy now. He is buying new clothes, he washes the old ones, he had an entire Sunday outfit, he eats lots of caramels to calm the nicotine fits. His brother comes by and talks to him now and recently his wife came back. She is so greatful for what we´ve, aka the Lord, has done. She really likes the Church and has read some of the Pamphlets. She works a lot so she is only home one day a week, but I can definitely see a baptism in her future. The members are all very kind and are really helping him out a lot.
     You can only imagine what this experience was like. We were his only two friends, he didn´t even like his brother or his wife. It´s really amazing how the Gospel has changed his life. This is my purpose as a Missionary.

Well, that´s all for today.
Until next time, Love,
Elder Zachary James Singson

April 4, 2011

Hello Singson Family,
 I`m Elder Bigham, your son`s District Leader. He gave me his log-in information today because your son is a little bit sick. I`m only writing to inform you all that he is doing well, and is an excellent missionary. I am well pleased to have him in my District :)
 He gave me a little note to write you all:
 "Feverish of 101.5 F*", but still alive, Loved conference. I hope you took notes of the spiritual impressions you had.
 Love Elder Zachary James Singson Sister Singson, It seems to me that your son did send a letter last week, but it got caught up in the server, because he has a "Failed Message Report"
 You have an excellent son.
 Elder Bigham