May 21, 2012

Dearest Family,

     I guess I´ll start off introducing you to my new companion. His name is Elder Dominguez, he is from Peru, Marisa is taller than him (Yay For Marisa!), He talks really fast, and he has a year and two months in the mission. He is a good missionary. To sum him up, he is just an obedient version of Elder Yaringaño. Apparently he is 24 and he studied law before coming here. He has one younger brother and sister. His Mom´s side of the family are all members and his dad´s side is the opposite... Including his dad. How sad.
     He is good, but he is very judgemental about everyone. It has made me wonder if I was that bad. I´ve realized that I´ve come to love the people more because it bugs me that he judges everybody so much. The Assistants have taught me to always think the best even though there is no remote chance that it´s true. For Example: We clap a house and we see people inside, but they don´t come to the door. Instead of saying anything negative Elder Clement would say "Aw Elder. What am I thinking? Friday at 7pm is the only time that Paraguayans have to do family home evening. Sorry For Bothering You! We´ll come back later, so you can keep feeling the spirit, love, and unity in your home." I´ve been doing something similar hoping that Elder Dominguez will eventually copy me.
     He is very animated, he is a good teacher (except he seems nervous and talks way too fast without pausing), he is obedient, persistent when talking to people (which annoys the heck out of people), etc. Good guy.

     Anyways here is my week. Monday after Pday Elder Fale called his parents on the church phone because they couldn´t figure out how to use Skype. Then we visited a couple of people. Tuesday we just visited people and then at night we ate our last Pizza together. He only visited his favorites and he talked to me all night about what the heck he was going to do. We had a good run.

     Wednesday Elder Dominguez came and discovered he left his key to the lock to his bag in his other area so he bought a saw blade and cut them off. That was fun. We ran out of gas, so we made microwave hamburgers for "Breakfast". After studies and Lunch we went to Jose Carlos and Destroyed his so called Doubt. We read the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price and why he should leave the Catholic Church because even though it´s "good", ours is the only true church. We gave him a new Baptismal date for the 2nd of June.

      Thursday we taught a guy named Jose Olavarieta. He said he´s talked to the missionaries before, but he doesn´t remember anything. He kept talking about that he wants Peace. Thankfully through the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, that´s exactly what he´s going to get. We taught him lesson 1 (The Restoration) and gave him a Baptismal date for the June 9th.
     We also went to a family that Elder Fale contacted with Elder Schone. They were awesome. Joel is from Cuba and his wife is Paraguayan. They have two kids a little girl named Xiomara and a baby named Lucas. They are new to the area, so we have the perfect oppertunity to bring them to our church, so they won´t have to make any huge changes in religion. We taught them lesson 1 and gave them a Baptismal date for the 9th. They will so totally get baptized.

     Friday we taught Jose Olavarieta again, but this time he started putting out excuses. He said he is going to go to Argentina for a month because of his job and when he comes back he is going to return to his old church. We talked about the Book of Mormon as evidence of the only true church, but I don´t think he gets it very well. Hopefully he reads and prays, so that he understands better.
     After that we taught Edgar Gonzelez who is a Director of Cameras for the news or something. At first he said he was Catholic, but we taught him lesson 1 and he even accepted to be baptized if the got an answer. We couldn´t give him a date though, he wasn´t ready. We taught 5 lessons total.

     Saturday we tried to help Adilson increase in faith, so talked to him about coming to church, reading, and praying. We gave him a list of questions that the Book of Mormon answers (they are called Soul Searching Questions) and invited him to church. He said he has football practice at 11, but could come for one hour.
Later we taught Jorje. He is a little paranoid. He said he doesn´t like chruch, but after teaching him he said he would come. 
     Then we went to Manuel and Evelyn´s house to take Emmanuel to a lesson, but Evelyn´s Brother was there, so we taught him instead. He is Catholic, but he has experience with lots of religions. He has read the Book of Mormon and even Jesus the Christ, so we focused on praying and following the will of God and not depending on our own knowlegde.
     After the lesson we didn´t have time to teach a lesson to Joel and Leticia, so we decided to take Manu to al least invite them to church tomorrow. When we got there Joel came out and he said that he just got home and that he was going to go hospital. Lucas has some (Spanish word I don´t understand) problem and Leticia was with him at the hospital. They obviously couldn´t go to church, but we were there for them to offer our help, council, and prayers. We gave him a Chapter in the Book of Mormon that could help them (Ether 12 Faith and Miracles), Manu bore testimony about prayer, because his son had the same problem, then we left.
     What a miracle. If Evelyn´s brother wasn´t there we wouldn´t have been able to talk to Joel.

     Unfortunately nobody came Sunday. 4 people said they would, but it didn´t happen. Oh well, next time ¡Si o Si! So I gave a talk comparing playing the piano to sharing the gospel. If the missionaries (the right hand) work with the member (the left hand), then the spirit works with us (Singing the words) and the Song (Gospel) sounds really good and people will more happily receive it.
     I guess I was kinda dropping the Cane because after talking for a bit the spirit took over and I bore a powerful and frankly a quite unexpected testimony. From this Testimony I discovered that I really love the People and it Hurts me when they reject the Gospel. That I can´t imagine life without the Gospel and how they have no idea that they aren´t happy. That like the sons of Mosiah I desire that no one should perish and suffer endless torment because they don´t have the Gospel and that we are the only ones who know about it and we have to share. I said a lot of stuff and it made me cry. Just thinking about the way I felt makes me get teary eyed. Everybody commented to me about how awesome my talk was afterward.
     After Church we went with Manu to visit Lucas and Leticia in the Hospital. I think that we have tons of Brownie points with this family now, but better is that a member is involved too. We ate a big lunch with the Flia Romero and Flia Grau. That was fun and yummy. Rice, Mashed Potatoes, Chicken, Beef, and Mandioka. It was all really good.
     We went to Jose Carlos, cuz he didn´t come to church. He says stayed up late watching movies, so he slept in. He wants to come, but he wants his friend, Manolo, to come too. So we focused on Manolo and his needs and his doubts. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon, Pray about it, and Come to Church to know it´s true. He says he´ll come, but he doesn´t talk much. We gave him a soul searching question scripture and left.
     Then the Stake President Texeira invited us over. He was present in the Sacrament meeting. This was the firstfruits of my talk. They gave us sandwhiches and 4 references and shoes. They even made plans with us about doing a family night with their references. We are going to try working harder with the members now.
     We talked to a bunch of drunk people before bed. The End.

That´s all I have time for, Love Ya´ll!
Elder Zachary James Singson