April 16, 2012

Hello Family,

First I would like to say I did write in my Journal Happy Birthday to Kayley, I just forgot to say it in the Email. Now that you are all here. I wanna wish you a Happy Birthday Kayley April 7th, Micah And Dave April 10th.

Now that that´s out of the way lets talk about me.

     I got punched! So the story behind this is, District meeting was canceled on Tuesday due to Interviews with President Callan on Thursday. Because District meeting was canceled we had to come up with a new plan. We decided to look for Former Investigators over in Area E Blue. I took a photo of the map so we could find the houses easier. It was raining and we were walking to the first house. Unsure of it`s location I was about to take out the camera when a random guy walks up to us. He was a short little guy, maybe 5´6´´. His hair was long and dark. He was scroungy and his clothes were dirty like he had been working in construction. 

     Not wanting to take out my camera in front of him I said "Hola Hermano". He responded saying "Hermano No Hay!" and then started cursing us or something similar in Guarani. It was clear he was on drugs. He stood there flipping us off for about thirty seconds repeating the same thing tirelessly, so Elder Fale said "Lets just go". Turning to walk away I said, "Nos Vemos Hermano". I saw out of the corner of my eye that he was winding up a punch. I was holding my umbrella in my right hand and I didn't really have time to do anything else mid stride, so I just flinched.

     It didn´t hurt, but I was surprised that a guy attacked me for no apparent reason. If anything I should have punched him for flipping us off and cursing us in Guarani, but that´s not very Christlike. After the impact of his punch Elder Fale Yelled "HEY!" and the little guy ran. He was following us for a while, but whenever we crossed paths I closed my umbrella holding it in my left hand ready for any future encounter. 

     I think Micah used his Birthday wish to bring this misfortune upon me because the day didn't end there. Next we went to get lunch from the Hna Sanchez. After grabbing the food we were walking back to the pension when a drunk guy came up and started talking to us. At that point I was suspicious that anybody was going to punch me and it didn´t help that this guy was drunk. Fortunately he only wanted to talk. Unfortunately we couldn't shake him off for an hour. He kept talking non stop. Afterward he said "I really like talking with you guys". Elder Fale said in English "He really likes talking at us". By this time our lunch was cold.

     It rained all day, so there were little lessons, but there was at least one good thing. We got our shower fixed for free and I got to take a warm shower to end the night. "All´s well that ends well" right?

    Unfortunately for readers the rest of the week was not as eventful. Wednesday it rained, so there was no point in drying my shoes. I can´t even step on wet ground without my shoes getting wet now. Yet again I got to take a warm shower.

    Thursday was good though. We went to the office at 12:30pm for our interviews with President Callan. It was the longest interview I've ever had with him. It was super spiritual. He told me the reason the General Authorities and to a lesser extent Mission Presidents are able to sacrifice so much is because they are filled with the Love of God. He said for a person to be filled with this love they must focus on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and sincerely repent. You must have a desire to Align your will with God´s. Your will is really the only thing he can´t take from us, so when we give it up that is when we truly receive him in our lives. This powerful testimony had us both teary eyed. There is so much I need to apply.

    Because we didn't eat Lunch we went to McDonald's afterward and ate until we were full.

     Friday was the 13th so naturally I had to have a supernatural battle with Jason. Afterward we tried teaching Jose Carlos, but we kept getting off topic with all his questions. He lives on a main road so there is always a lot of noise because of Traffic. We tried cramming too much information in that little 15yr old brain of his.

     It rained again. Saturday we waited 45minutes for our lunch cita to get home. When we called him he said "I´m on my way", but he could be on the plane coming back from China for all we know, and because we had an appointment at 2 we just went home and ate. Unfortunately our appointment had to leave. Good news is we got some Asado. A random guy that just got exported from the us invited us to talk to him and his friends. He talked to us in English, but we responded in Spanish so everyone could understand. They may have potential.

   

     On Sunday I gave a talk about Missionary Work.

That`s it, Love Ya´ll,

Elder Zachary James Singson

April 9, 2012

Wilcommen ist ihr warheit.

     So Monday we finally got together to play sports as a district. It was about time, but it only happened because it was the week of changes. We played soccer, my team lost, then basketball my team won, and Ping Pong. I totally destroyed people in ping pong. I only lost once to Elder Fale, which was luck, and Once to Elder Lamb, who I barely lost to because of his curving the ball techniques. After that I went home to take a shower. The shower head is now broken so I have to take cold showers. My head was so hot that it changed the cold water to warm by the time it reached my body anyways so all ist gut.

     Later that night we had a Family Night with Flia Gehrmann. We taught the organization of the church starting with Jesus, Prophets, Apostles, Seventy, Stake, Ward, Etc. Then they had prepared a bunch of homemade pizza which was actually pretty good.

     Tuesday was changes. Only Elder Dominguez and Elder Lamb left, so it looks like I will be killing Elder Fale. Before the district meeting I was feeling really bad for some reason. I decided to reach Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel on Christlike Attributes to see how I could better myself. Somewhere between that and when District meeting started all my negative thoughts, feelings, and emotions disappeared. I could remember what I was upset about but it didn´t upset me anymore. I was very grateful that the spirit gave me a Stupor of Thought... Of my negative thoughts. The moral of this story is that if something is wrong you should try looking inside first. If you humble yourself then the Lord will take your weaknesses and make them strong.

     Because we didn´t change we had to do some shopping and then we walked around a lot, but everybody was leaving for "Semana Santa" and we didn´t get many lessons. We did invite this random old guy to get baptized this Saturday and he said "Yes". Probably because he had no idea what we were talking about, but it made me laugh.

     Wednesday Elder Fale turned 21. Wow he is old. I will never be that old. One of the members called to see what happened during changes. We tried to trick him. I said that Elder Fale left to Encarnacion and I got a new companion Elder Israel. He didn´t believe me, so he asked me to introduce him Elder Israel (aka Elder Fale). So I hand Elder Fale the Phone and this is what he said... "Hola Pfff-t-kh". That fake little girl voice plus the last part made me bust up laughing for almost 5 minutes. Good times.

     Later that day we visited a bunch of people, but didn´t get any lessons. We saw Claudia´s baby which is huge and soo cute. We also talked to Jose Carlos whose mom might be possessed. And an Eternal Investigator named Arcenio and his new girlfriend. We walked a lot and it made me tired.

     Thursday Everybody is officially gone for Semana Santa and the people who stayed all hate us. We try doing contacts, but they all tell us to get lost. It´s strange that a bunch of people who are "Remembering" Christ and his life would refuse to hear a message from good willed missionaries. Kinda sucks for them. So really we had no choice, but to visit a bunch of less actives in the rain.

     Friday it got super hot all of a sudden. The clouds completely disappeared. We ate Asado with Blas and Cristina (Inactive Members) and then again with Flia Gehrmann. I was soo full. Unfortunately everywhere we went they gave us food. I wanted to throw up.

     Saturday We walked around a lot again. We went back to the house a lot to take breaks. Fortunately we found a member who recently got back from a trip to go to a lesson with us. President Soliz went with us to visit a few inactive single women members who we normally cannot visit, so that was a blessing.

     Sunday when we went to church Elder Wistensen was there. I did divisions with him in Coronel Oviedo once. Elder Henrie from my group left, but the funny thing is Elder Henrie trained Elder Wistensen. What a coincidence. I was really happy that Juan Carlos, Alcidez and Mari Paredes Duarte came to church. We didn`t even visit them they went on their own. Yay we are activating people! That was the day.

LEIBT,

Elder Zachary James Singson

April 2, 2012

Family,

Wednesday was cold. I almost had to wear a coat. The only "lesson" we had was with a Evangelical guy and Elder Fale started Bible bashing with him. It was ridiculous. When he wanted to make a point what he said was The Doctrine and right, but when we made a point it was our own interpretation and wasn't valid. It was lame.

Thursday we did divisions with Elder Hill and Elder Graham quite unexpectedly. They called us during companionship study and said "We are going to do divisions After Lunch". So after Lunch I went to Libertad 1.2 with Elder Hill. First we stopped by Super 6 to get some ingredients for "No-Bake" cookies. We were going to take them to a Noche de Hogar which didn`t work out, so we ate them that night. Their area is pretty campo-y. We walked around a lot because most of their appointments fell. We talked all day.

Friday we ended the divisions and I went back with Elder Fale. He didn`t really have a plan, so we did contacts all day and tried to teach lessons.

Saturday we were disappointed when all our investigators didn`t show up for General Conference. We watched the First two sessions with only sound (In English) and the Priesthood session with President Callan. Because of the Time Difference The Priesthood session didn`t end until 11pm. We went home and went to bed.

Sunday I suffered from stomach problems. I think it`s food poisoning. I am still suffering. I was disappointed to see that not even half of the members showed up for conference. I hope they were all watching it at home on TV.

Now on to Elder Singson´s Brief Conference Highlights!
1st Session- My favorite talk was "Give me more moutains to climb" by Henrie B. Eyering. I hope that one day I will also have the capacity to ask the lord for more trials in my life.
2nd Session- As always Jeffery R. Holland got me with his Parable Power. If I was one of the first workers I would have felt the same way and Even just reading it I felt more sympathy for the First Workers. Now, after receiving spiritual enlightenment, I hope to understand the Lord and his ways more fully.
Priesthood Session- Henry B. Eyering got me again with his talk on the Keys and Power that holds the Prophet. He blew me away with his concept of the keys and the Holy Spirit of Promise. It helped me understand even more that unless you get Sealed in the Temple nothing else really matters. I felt the spirit really strongly.

3rd Session- Deiter F. Ucktdorf´s "Don`t Judge" really applied to me. I always find myself judging others and I really should do it less. I need to be more understanding.
4th Session- Niel L. Anderson made me cry when he told the story of the Earthquake in Haiti and Ganshee was singing "I am a child of God" below the rubble of their apartment. I was so happy to hear that they all made it out safe.
And, As Always, President Monson made me laugh when he blessed everybody and waved his finger around.

Our Church Is The Best Church Ever!
Amen,

Elder Zachary James Singson

P.S. I love you all, but I had to end with Amen.