October 31, 2011

It really is a Happy Halloween, Why? Because it rained, so no immodest girls wearing costumes in the streets this year. Ha ha ha ha ha!

Unfortunately I have no time to take pictures. Also we were told not to take them around with us as a safety precaution. I don`t have time for anything!!!

I had a bad week.

     First off on Monday there was a power outage. I experienced what outer darkness is like. It`s like being trapped in a small room without food, water, or light. It`s hot and super boring. You can`t even read your scriptures or use the bathroom. And because it`s raining you can`t go outside either. Living like that for an hour was enough for me. Power came back midnight.

     Tuesday was better because I got reembursals, so I could eat again. But I got no letters Boo!!! Hna Arnell, the newbie, is 6 feet tall! She is a basketball player from Utah and she can speak Spanish really well, but she can`t understand anybody.

     Wednesday Raquel, our only good investigator, said she would be going to another church. We asked for one last chance to teach her. She said yes so I was stressed out the rest of the week.

     Thursday we visited a family of less actives that we found by chance. There was a guy named Jose who said he knows the church is true, but it`s easier following Satan. He is a conformist, he is ok with the Terrestial Kingdom. Janee his friend also a member has also adopted his Ideals. I could have cared less that he doesn`t want to do what God says, but Jose took an hour to say it. Fortunately we found a potentially good investigator, her name is Laura. Laura has some family conflicts, but she says she believes the church is true.

     Friday we found a contact we were looking for all week. We talked briefly about the church and gave them a pamphlet. I played soccer in Noche de Rama. The missionaries versus the members. The members won (we went easy because they were all older women). All my antibiotic pills are gone and my toe stopped bleeding so I thought it would be ok. I ran around in my boots, no problemo.

     Saturday it rained again. Mirna the "wife" of a member and sister of Raquel dropped us. She says Jose, her "husband", doesn`t want to go to church and her family is against her. Really sad. We did teach Flia Villalba though. They are GOLD, the wife even said in the Prayer "Heavenly Father we want to get baptized, help us know that we are making the right choice". ¿Awesome huh? That was the highlight of my week.

     Sunday was sad though. I gave a talk about how to get help from the lord. We went to teach Raquel, but she wouldn`t come. She says lame excuses like "you guys worship Joseph Smith, The Bible is the only book, blah blah blah, etc." So we dropped her. I`m not exactly sure why she is acting so lame, but she has been to the church thrice and even to General Conference, and she went by herself. She has seen how we are, but after visiting her family her pastor uncle must have scared her too much. I felt really bad for her decision but then relieved because her Salvation isn`t on my shoulders anymore.

I`ll be more posotive next week,

Elder Zachary James Singson

October 17, 2011

The definition of Leviathan is Dragon of Chaos that came from out of the sea and Rebelled against God.

That`s how my week has felt.

     Well on Monday I finally found a Lady who knows how to cut hair and do it cheap. She is awesome. We gave the other Elder`s the reference, she lives in their area. I was sad that we can`t teach her. She has a sad past. She told me, I don`t know why, but everybody thinks I am a perfect person to tell their secrets.

Then we played Soccer with a bunch of kids. They all smoke, it`s sad. Even sadder were my soccer skills. My ingrown toenail didn`t help though either.

     Tuesday I got the package from Gma/pa. I shared with my district. I was surprised because Hna Lewis ate all the beef jerky and lots of the Candy. It`s surprising because Hna Lavaka (Big Tongan Girl, who normally eats a lot) didn`t even eat as much as Hna Lewis.

It was a try to save the Inactives kind of day. They always say Thank you and I`ll go to church, but it`s all LIES. Another way to teach avoiding dishonesty is describe a Paraguayan and say Don`t be like that.

     Rained Wednesday, so no appointments worked out. We finally dropped the Flia Adorno, because the husband nearly kicked us out of their house. My comp always talks about Saint Worship before it`s time. They need to accept Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon is true before we should mention anything about that kind of thing. I left My Testimony and phone numbers of the Missionaries in Coronel Oviedo for the Daughter, Karina, for when she moves there.

     Thursday we did plan Guasu, ate lunch with Flia Gomez, and the Lady was mad because she prepared for 4 and the other 2 didn`t come. Great. Afterward me and Elder Sanderson went to Paso Yobi. I guess it`s part of our responsibility. The bus went on only dirt/empedrado roads and made tons of turns so it took forever to get there. We also didn`t realize that we left both the cell phones with our comps. All we did was follow the Branch President around and he taught the lessons because they only speak Guarani. Unfortunately this could become my area if they put Hermanas in Villarrica. I hope that doesn`t happen quite yet.

     Friday... So because it`s such a hassle to go to Paso Yobi we stayed overnight. We stayed in the Garage of the Branch President on the Beds of missionaries that used to work in Paso Yobi. When we had to use the bathroom we had to use the Church`s bathrooms. Fortunately the Bathrooms work even though the Capilla is made of wood.

     I picked up a bunch of chicks. There were so many and so cute! What are you thinking?!? I meant baby chickens! Gosh! One of them was sick and I had to nurse it back to health. There were so many farm animals it was ridiculous. We "taught" 5 lessons with the Branch President. We had to wait until he was done working, because we don`t know the area and didn`t want to get lost. They fed us every meal, so that was good. We stayed overnight again, but got up at 4:30am to catch a bus back to Villarrica. We stayed up till midnight talking. The bus didn`t come till 5:30am and unfortunately because of terrible roads and the fact the the buses decided to race I didn`t get any sleep.

     

     Saturday we switched back with our comps. I had really bad Chivivi from the food we ate, so we spent most of the day going back to the Pension and using the Bathroom. I had to go to the store to buy apples, bananas, sprite, and crackers to help calm the chivivi. It was very painful

     We did teach one lesson to an inactive who always avoids us and his nonmember wife. We finally get to teach them and my comp ends up insulting me in the lesson. "My companion always talks a lot. He likes to talk pointlessly." Crap like that. The night was almost over so we went back to the pension and had a fight. I punched him really hard in the arm because he said that I wouldn't do it. Then I called Pdte Callan and he talked to both of us. We had a companionship inventory and I told him that if we don`t start being 100% obedient we will be miserable for the rest of our lives. He finally got the point and I`m going to help him become better and better myself in the process.

     Sunday was District Conference in Coronel Oviedo. Not as many people showed up as I thought. Pdte Callan was there so we had a talk with him and he basically told us he is going to keep us together. I knew he would. We need to be together for some reason right? Elder Anderson gave me a pepto bismol for my Chivivi and I will be eternally grateful.

     Monday today. We left for Asuncion at 4am to remove my Ingrown toenail. It`s been bugging me since the second month in Paraguay, so I`m glad to finally get it out. I got 3 shots in the toe and then the doctor started working away. He cut out a giant chunk of nail that was cutting underneath the skin. It was infected pretty bad so he also cut out the dead skin and dead nail that was remaining. I've been wearing my Swat Boots since the year mark, but I had to switch back to my broken pair because the shoe on my left foot needs to be really loose. It should stop bleeding by tomorrow and I should walk normal again in 3 days. It won`t grow back right for 6 months though. I should avoid excessive exercise for a month.

I was actually out of time a while ago, so I gotta go,

Love ya,

Elder Zachary James Singson

October 10, 2011

Family,

How art thou? Ist thine days splendour? Well played sir, well played.

Anyways on to the Nonchalant Arcadian Magistrate with the weather.

     This Tuesday we had district meeting. The Zone leaders were there and reminded me that I need to live the law of Obedience, Sacrifice, and Consecration. Also they threw in "Eventually a missionary has to stop thinking about himself". Ouch, that one hit me hard.

     Later we tried teaching Sonia. Now she is telling us that she saw Joseph Smith in a white robe and other evil spirits in normal clothes were chasing her. Thankfully Pdte Arriola was there and spoke to her in Guarani. She gets what we are telling her a little more now. Hopefully with time she will become normal when she is filled with the light of truth and not the confusion and chaos that fills her mind now from the darkness that proceeds from listening to false doctrines the are born from the minds of man and their invented churches. 

Writing fancy takes up more space.

     Wednesday we taught the military guy Sergio about the Book of Mormon. Because he wants to learn English (Which was his primary objective) we gave him a Book of Mormon in English. He actually reads fairly well, he just has a thick Latin accent. So finally he asked what the Book of Mormon is and so we taught him. It was awesome, I think he changed his primary objective. We also taught a Lawyer friend of his wife who was over about the Book of Mormon and she said she would read it. Yay.

     Thursday was Andrea Gomez`s birthday. She is a karate girl. Anyways we ate at her house for lunch and then went over to the church to eat the cake with the ward. But somehow, to my dismay, the young women`s room was locked. Not sure how, but there is no key to that room, and it can only be unlocked from the inside. Andrea tried breaking the door, some other leaders tried picking the lock, somebody else tried getting through the window, but nothing worked. Then just by a simple kick at an angle against the door handle Elder Singson broke the lock and opened the door. The door isn`t very broken either, I just broke it enough. It sill opens and shuts and you can lock it if you really try, so I win. Just goes to prove that Karate is worthless and TaekWonDo is the best. I haven`t won 3 Gold medals in the National Karate Tournament, but Who opened the door? The 1st Dan in TaekWonDo did.

     Anyways that night we taught Sergio`s wife. She is a lawyer so I started out with "How many witnesses do you need to prove something in a trial?" Then I threw in. "Everybody teaches from the Bible and can twist is which ever way they want it, but with Another Testament of Jesus Christ (The Book of Mormon) we can now of a surety what is the truth. That lesson went extremely well. My comp did take the lesson off topic with tithing so we couldn`t invite them to be baptized because the spirit was gone, but we`ll do it next time.

     Friday was interviews with President Callan. He helped me see my purpose of being with Elder Yaringaño. When he told me he felt that I needed to make sure he learns and obeys all the mission rules and that I need to teach him how to teach, I felt the spirit. I was humbled greatly this past week. Especially during District Meeting and General Conference. We didn`t get back until 4 and then Mutual was at 6, so we didn`t get much done.

     Saturday was a baptism that the other Elders had. It`s an old lady who was very Catholic. The only people that came were the 4 Elders, 2 investigators, and a recent convert. Pretty sad. You think that a Rama would appreciate a new member baptism more. 

Paraguay is the only Country in the world where the weather determines if you go to work or not. So imagine how the rain affected the turnout Sunday. Yeah only 18 people and we could find absolutely nobody to teach.

Raquel couldn`t come because she got chicken pox and Sonia didn`t come because of the weather. I don`t like rain as a missionary.

I bid thee well,

Elder Zachary James Singson

October 3, 2011

Every week when I read my journal to write to you guys I always think ``Wow that happened last week? I thought that happened a month a go... or maybe never I can`t tell``  Anyways here`s what I wrote in my journal but don`t remember about.

     So on Tuesday (Whether in this life or in another I do not know) we went to a rich military guy`s house. He is an investigator... I think. Really he just wants to learn English, but I think we can get him interested about learning the Gospel. They fed us lunch while we were there. They are a great family, but watching them makes me realize that wealth isn`t happiness. They were fighting and arguing about a small problem about their car the whole time we were there. At least you have a car, geez. The guy must be really prideful cuz he named his two sons Sergio, just like him.

     

     On wednesday we found a family to teach. It was going great until the guy said he believes in Saints, like San Miguel Arch Angel, and in the miracles they perform. His belief wasn`t the problem. The problem was that my comp decided to change the topic of the lesson, The Restoration, and bible bash the guy to try and Make Him change his beliefs. There still may be hope, but it will be a lot harder to open up his heart because now he is on the defensive, when before he was open. My comp always pulls crap like that and I always say, lets just get through the lesson and resolve their doubts another day, he agrees with me, but then he just does it again.

     Hno Gamba got attacked by a dog. A big dog. The owners just watched as it happened and aren`t helping him. The dog nearly tore out his Achilles tendon and that would have resulted in death, but the owners only got mad and him and said that he just wants them to pay for the hospital bill so he can do nothing all day. People like that upset me. Supposedly they were friends too and that's why the Hno was over there to help them with a project.

     

     Thursday for Plan Guasu all my comp did was complain about the area and the mission and the members, so I planned by myself. Then we ate lunch at the Flia Gomez`s. Unfortunately she was uninformed that the other two Elders would be joining us and she became very grouchy. We discovered an ant infestation in our room. They are coming in through the roof and falling from the ceiling. But Where may I ask? You guessed it, on my bed. Not on Elder Yaringaño`s, but only mine. We sprayed the ceiling with Permitherine and swept up the dead ants.

     We went to a guy`s house, Nestor, who has come to church twice now, but we couldn`t teach him because there was a freaking San Miguel day Parade where they went through the streets worshiping and Praying to san miguel and making lots of noise. Ugh. Then at night we taught Sonia Nestor`s ``Girlfriend`` Who has come to church twice as well. It was insane. She was like Sandra Bullock on ``All about Steve``. She would take any one subject we were trying to talk about and then talk about a thousand other somewhat related things. It was super hard and frustrating to teach her. The only good thing about the lesson is she understands her commitment to read and pray and find out if the church is the only true church. She needs to find out soon because we gave her Fecha the 22nd. Did I mention she has dreams about Christ in a garden, so she thinks that she can talk with him in visions? Yeah it`s going to be a tough one.

     Friday we went to do service, but somebody had already done it, so we went back home to find MORE ANTS! They are now falling from a different spot in the ceiling. So I sprayed the entire ceiling and now I`m out of Permitherine. To this day dead ants fall onto me bed. It is really hard to sleep at night with that going on. We visited the Sick, a lady named Adela, and she said she can`t continue anymore cause she is too sick. So I told her about the spirit world and that she Has to talk to the missionaries there. She took it really well. She will permit her daughter to go to church though. Then we visited the afflicted Hna Balbuena who suffers from inactive family syndrome. She is worried that she will never have an Eternal Family. Sad day. Then we went to Noche de Rama.

     Saturday was Conference we only missed the Priesthood session because it broadcasted at 8pm and it would take us 2 hours to get back from Coronel Olviedo afterwards. We watched conference on the TV at the church. We ate at a restaurant for Lunch and then Lomitos (Burrito things) for dinner, but accomplished nothing because my comp ``Gives up``. 

     Sunday we watched the conference and Raquel came and sat down right next to me and because my comp was sitting behind us we were the only ones on that row and the 5 rows in front of us. The people that came to watch from Paso Jovai looked at us like we were boyfriend girlfriend. How embarrassing. My comp is supposed to protect me from snakes not sit behind me and watch them pray on me. Dang it. She really wants me, that has never happened before. I`m not why she likes me either, I don`t even really talk to her and we only see her on sunday. How annoying. Because my comp won`t plan with me then won`t follow the plans I made we get nothing accomplished. It sucks.

Well I`m sorry I complain a lot, but I hate ants falling on my bed when I`m trying to sleep.

Ta ta,

Elder Zachary James Singson

September 26, 2011

First off, my companion is annoying. Please pray that I can bear with him and have love towards him even though I don`t want to.

Secondly, The only real difference between Villa Rica and other areas is that this is the place where Divorced mothers, Single mothers, Rich, and Retired old people congregate. It is somewhat more Campo than Obligado was, but there aren`t as much trees, just more sand like in Asuncion.

     Monday it rained, so we couldn`t do any activities. I just sat bored reading the New Testament all day. Later when we went out to teach it stopped raining. We had an appointment with Raquel our only progressing investigator. We talked a long time with a 18 year old named Jonotan and we finally got him and his brother to come with us, so we wouldn`t be alone with her. After all our hard work and Jedi mind tricks she called and told us she was sick. Dang it. For some reason Jonotan thought we moved the cita for the next day, so he was waiting for us for an hour. That was cool. The family is Gamba and they were all really active before their parents separated. They separated so the dad could get baptized cuz he can`t get divorced from his old wife. Sad huh? Anyways because the appointment was canceled we did a family night with them.

     Tuesday was district meeting. Sunday was Elder Sanderson`s Bday and Last week Hermana Lewis had her Bday too so we ate at a restaurant. While we were there we named off all 151 Pokèmon from the origional set. It all started because I showed them the picture that Marisa drew me, so I blame it on her cuz she drew that picture. I really like it though, Thanks Marisa, ha ha. The Hermanas now think that we are such nerds, but Hermana Lewis joined it towards the end. Her name is Misty, just like one of the main characters on Pokèmon. Hermana Lavaka is from Tonga and she never conjugates her verbs and she has been out for more than a year, ha ha. I`m with Elder Weekly again, but he`s more mature now. His companion is Elder Lorenzen, he`s a weirdo, ha ha.

     Wednesday we ate at Flia.Mercado`s house and this time the kids were watching Naruto, so we had a Ninja battle after lunch. We taught the old guy Benigno, but he isn't willing to come to church even if somebody comes to pick him up. He says he doesn't want to leave his house, but then he told us he always leaves on sunday. Basically he thinks that Grace alone will save him and he doesn't have to do anything cuz he`s old. I don`t know why he doesn't want to come to church, he always complains that he`s lonely. Solution! Come to church and make friends with all the other old people. Gosh! We had to drop him, but at least we taught him the Plan of Salvation and explained how the Spirit World works and how he`s going to get taught there.

     Later that night we finally taught the Flia.Lewa. Anival (Dad), Romi (Mom), Ariel (21yr Son), Ada (20yr Fiancee of Ariel...Somewhat Fiancee), Melly (19yr Daughter), and Vicente (8yr Son). The lesson went great, a little too long, but they are really good. They parents did throw out the "I've already been baptized excuse", but the kids have no problem and the parents aren't against listening and seeing what happens. So we`ll see how my Jedi mind tricks will help us this time.

     Thursday my comp was sick, so Plan Guasu didn't happen. When we went to eat lunch at Flia Gomez`s he didn't eat much then we went home and threw up, so that did him no good. He wanted to work a little even though he felt bad, but all that ended up happening was he taught a random old guy, who doesn't even have drinking or smoking problems, the Word of Wisdom. In my opinion he had no idea what he was doing. We also taught Hector, but the lesson wasn't the best ever. He talked too much about who knows what and Hector was in a hurry to go to school, so he was nervous and the invitations we gave him weren't powerful. Wasn't a terrible lesson though, felt the spirit.

     Friday we went to Flia.Gamba to invite them to Mutual. We ended up having pull up, push up, arm wrestling, and stick pull competitions. I won all of them except arm wrestling, those kids have huge arms. I went undefeated 10 times in a row with stick pull, we broke their wooden broom though. I bought them another. For mutual aka Noche de Rama I ended up having to bake brownies and make sure the little kids didn't destroy the ping pong table. Basically I was babysitting. When I went outside I walked over half the basketball court on my hands. I could have kept going, but I lost balance when I tried to turn around to walk the other way.

     Saturday before lunch we felt prompted to visit a random house. We found a old guy, Santo; a really sick lady, Adela (His wife); a fourteen year old, Karina (Their only daughter); and another old somewhat sick lady, Antonia. Anyways we taught them the Plan of Salvation. It didn't really have a base to it, but they felt good and that`s whats important right? 

I don`t know why my companion does this, but when we visited Hector and his sister Rosa he decided to randomly throw out The Law of Chastity. It was really kinda dumb, because Hector had to work and their neighbors were over. Mauro, his girlfriend Marlene, and her brother Cristobal didn't really like the lesson, but they understood it. They just thought it was awkward. Fortunately Rosa liked it and agrees with us. I doubt Mauro will let us teach him again though.

     Sunday 36 people came to church, including Raquel by herself. I don`t like the situation, but we have to teach her and help her get baptized. I gave a talk on faith. I took up 20min so Elder Sanderson didn't have to speak. I suck at playing hymns, but they suck worse at singing. I tag teamed the Plan of Salvation, with Elder Sanderson, to the investigator`s class. I love using the chalk board. The lesson was stupendous. I with I had that great of unity with my comp. After eating lunch with Flia.Gomez we played Uno for an hour and I won 7 times.

Love Ya`ll,

Elder Zachary James Singson

September 19, 2011

Well to begin.

Because of the great amount of Zone Leaders going home this and next change I thought that I would become a zone leader soon. Not really what I want but I was expecting it. Just barely President Callan wrote me and said that I would probably be in Villarrica for a while. I don`t like that. It`s not like I don`t like it here, or my companion or anything, but there are a TON of Snakey teenage girls and attractive at that. We even have a few progressing investigators that are single girls. It`s not like I`m tempted or anything, but I just don`t like this type of situation. When I`m not in the service of God the girls could care less, but now when I don`t want any attention from girls they are all over me. It sucks.

     Anyways on monday I got a haircut. The lady had no idea what she was doing. It was like she had never cut guy`s hair before. When I got home I had to go to the mirror and fix it. It turned out good, but I just think it was kind of dumb. Tuesday I had the great fortune of actually going to a district meeting. It`s been a while. 21 guaranis round trip though. We have hermanas in our district and rumor has it that we will also get hermanas in Villarrica. We taught two not so good lessons and one really good one. One was to Nestor who understood the concept of Authority and when we invited him to get baptized he asked `because you are the only ones who have the authority?` When we said yes he got up and started to walk away. The other not so good lesson was to a lady who is ``Too Old to change her religion``. I just want to say THIS ISN`T POLOTICS! But we did get to teach Francisco Leva who understood everything and even accepted Fecha. So that made me happy. Francisco is really awesome.

     Wednesday I had to endure Elder Yaringaño dominating every lesson and going off topic and taking an hour and etc. I tried telling him how he needs to improve his teaching method but he doesn`t take my advice. He thinks his way is better. We ate lunch at the Flia Mercado`s house. They had the animated Book of Mormon stories on DVD and we watched that while we ate. It was cool. We always eat with the other Elders.

     Plan Guasu on Thursday is always slow going with no investigators. We ate Lunch at the Flia Gomez. We arrived late because my comp is really slow at doing everything, but especially when he goes to the bathroom. We talked to a recent convert Miriam de Silvero for an hour outside of her house. She doesn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon or the Prophet Joseph Smith. Basically she was just convinced to get baptized. We want to help her, but she doesn't like to read she just wants everything explained to her.

     Friday morning I did morning exercise for the first time in who knows how long. We went to the lake and ran. I found out why the door bell at the Hospedaje rings so much. I was told by a catholic lady that instead of teaching her we need to help some prostitutes that live near by. Well I just think she wants us dead because the Prostitutes have killed people for money before. Nobody came to Mutual and we made 3 packs of brownies, so I ate them all Ha ha ha ha!

     Saturday it rained so it was a really uneventful day. Sunday we had a investigator come to church for the first time since I've had a baptism. Her name is Raquel and the funny thing is we haven`t even taught her yet. Her only connection to the church is that her brother in law is a member. But she really liked it. She`s never been baptized before and she says she really likes the church so I hope she gets a testimony of the Book of Mormon really quick. Not a lot of people came to church because of the rain, so I was embarrassed by her comment ``There aren't a lot of you here are there?``. They also made me play the piano and I sucked it up super bad. It was even the simplified version. The lady conducted was too fast for me to keep up, and nobody can sing worth their lives. How embarrassing.

Well that was my week,

Elder Zachary James Singson