Things are finally starting to look up. Let me tell you why.
This week on Tuesday we had zone conference with President Callan. Since Obligado is 2.5 hrs away from the Stake Encarnacion we had to get up at 5am to get there by 8am. Fortunately to make up for the loss of sleep, I took a nap on the bus. Anyways we arrived and there was a lot that happened. I don´t have time to tell you about all I learned and all the changes that were made, but here are the things that I liked most. The thing that had the most impact on me was the talk President Callan showed us that Jeffery R. Holland gave in the MTC in Provo. He talked about what the disciples did after Christ´s Death and Resurection. After Christ had left, his disciples were unsure of what to do, so they decided to do what they knew how to do best and they went fishing. They had no success. (Elder Holland goes into detail of what happened and how they had felt and it was really beautiful, but I don´t have time to tell the long version.
After a long night of failure they were told by a man on shore to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. Well... out of despiration they decided to try it. When more fish than they could handle almost sink the boat John the beloved says to Peter "It´s him". Peter jumps ship and decides to swim to shore to get there as fast as possible. On the shore Christ is waiting with a fire for their breakfast. After they had eaten bread and the fish they had caught Christ asks Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, Do you love me more than these?" referring to the fish, the nets, the boat, etc. Peter says, "yes I do". Well to make a long story short Christ asks Peter 2 more times and when Peter says Yes to each time Christ then says "Feed my sheep".
Elder Holland gets more emotional and talks about what Peter probably had been thinking and what Christ meant by his simple question. What was Peter at this time? He was a Disciple of Christ. He was already asked once to leave his nets and become fishers of men. If we love Christ more than the things of the world we will find his lost children and bring them unto the fold. We are not missionaries for 2 years. We are missionaries forever. Just like Peter we can´t go back. After Baptism we can´t go back. After a calling we can´t go back to the way things were. We are changed forever. We need to change forever. We always need to progress and become better. We are disciples of Christ for ETERNITY. From this point on I will always remember this phrase. "Do you Love me more than These?"
Anyways. There are a lot of changes that President Callan made. Like no more Pday on thursday after the change. Pday will forever be on monday. There are a lot of others too, but I can´t think of any right now. I have been writing to President Callan every week about my companion. While we were eating Pizza (almost as good as US Pizza) President Callan pulled me aside and asked me more specific questions and then told me he wants to talk to both of us and he knows how to take care of it. So after the meeting we had a good talk with the President. Elder Ayola already felt a desire to be better from the messages at Zone conference, but the talk with President Callan made it all more urgent. I really hope that this has been a mighty change in his heart. I know it was in mine.
We are going out and working every day. I shared my candy with the members and now it´s gone. They are going to close the Rama if the attendance doesn´t increase. We had a good talk with the members. I gave a very spiritual talk about missionary work and bringing your loved ones, friends, and neighbors with you into the Celestial Kingdom. Attendance was doubled. 20 to 44. Don´t play with Paraguayan children because they will never leave you alone after that. I finally finished the BoM is Spanish. We had a miraculous contact Sunday that we wouldn´t have had if we didn´t change plans.
His name is Carlos. It was late and dark and we wanted to get home on time so we just walked right by him, but he stopped us and said "Hey! Aren´t you guys going to give me a Pamphlet?" It turns out that his ex-girlfriend is a member and he really likes how good she is. He says that he´s technically Catholic, but he doesn´t like their false traditions. He says he doesn´t like the Adventists church either because on saturday they are saints, but come midnight and they are demons. He accepted a baptismal date in the street. He says he´s going to come on Wednesday to Noche de Rama and he even offered to bring food. He is also going to come to church on sunday. I am positive that this guy is going to be our next baptism.
I am happy because I´m not wicked.
Love,
Elder Zachary James Singson
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