June 20, 2011

Hi family,

Finally Elder Ayola is gone, which is good because he had completely given up on working. I actually was pushing him, but there was no point. I feel like the only thing that could count as working was getting Soledad baptized and we didn´t work that hard to accomplish that. Well anyways here is how the week went

      On Monday Elder Ayola took all night packing. He only has bags no suitcases. 1 duffle bag, 1 hiking backpack, and then 3 other backpacks (One of which he bought here and spent 190mil guaranis on it. He just had to have it because it was a Hulet Packer backpack. It was pretty dumb). Besides that it was a normal Pday.

     Tuesday we left for Encarnacion for district meeting. Elder Ayola and Elder Monterosa dropped off their bags at the zone leaders house. We did a quick little goodbye district meeting. We ate lunch at a Chinese Buffet. It was good but it was during the Paraguayan Siesta so there wasn´t much options. It is so dumb how paraguayans usually close the food shops at 12. Oh well I ate until I was satisfied and it was pretty good food. Anyways we did some "Souvonir shopping" while we waited for the bus back to Obligado. Elder Richards and I went back to our house, we hung out with Hna.P and then went home and stayed up late doing a 500pc puzzle. We promised each other that since we are starting a new change that, that was the last Macanero thing that we will do again. It was a Casle/City in the mountains/beach puzzle. Aparently it is in Spain. I decided when we are rich we are totally going there.

     Wednesday morning, 6am, we got a call that Elder Richards´ companion had arrived because instead of going to Asunción and then to Encarnación he just came directly from Ciudad Del Este. His name is Elder Yaringaño and he was in my district in Ciudad del Este. He is crazy, but funny. Anyways they told us we had to come as soon as possible. We called the terminal and they told us that the next bus to Encarnacion would be at 9am, so instead we went to the Supermarket and bought some sandwich stuff. Then when we blessed the food Elder Richards prayed that we could find a way to get to Encarnacion faster. Then we hitched a ride from a Adventist with a truck to the main road outside Obligado. Just as we got off a bus to Encarnacion was passing by. We got on and made it to Encarnacion a little after 8. 

The Moral of the story is, If you pray for something you have to go out and exercise your faith and search for what you prayed for. Then while you are searching God will put that thing you´re looking for in your path. You can´t just sit back and wait for God to take the bus to you, your have to look for the bus.

     Anyways Elder Richards and Elder Yaringaño went back to Natalio and I spent the day with Elder Alexander. We did study and contacts and ate until our companions showed up at 2:30. The bus back to Obligado wasn´t until 4 so I got to talk with my new companion for a bit. His name is Elder Gillette (Gillette Fusion). He is tall and he only has been in Paraguay for 2 changes. He is from California, he is 20yrs old, and he wants to make videogames. I suppose that means he can draw really well but he hasn´t showed me yet. We got back at 6, so we did some cleaning, unpacking, and talking about the condition of the area. Even though he is new he is definitely the guy I needed. A hard worker and a leader, who knows how to work.

     Thursday was weekly planning which was really pathetic.

     Friday we went out to Los Colonos an hour away and he decided that he is going to ask President Callan for the bikes again or else we aren´t going there again for a while.

     Saturday was a birthday party and fathers day barbique and he got to meet a couple of members. I have basically already showed him all the area I know and all the people I know. We are asking for references like crazy, but the progress is slow. 

     Soledad left for good this time. She transferred her shooling and has a job in Coronel Olviedo at her new school and she is staying with her boyfriends parents.

     Sunday only 25 people in church and after we had visited a ton of members. I was upset, but what can I do? They just don´t want to be happy and live with God¡

   

Still going strong,

Elder Zachary James Singson

June 13, 2011

Hey family,

I was hoping that grandpa would say goodbye to me in a dream when he died. That would have been sweet¡ But I guess it wasn´t necessary.

 

I found out changes today, the district leader isn´t supposed to tell till district meeting tomorrow, but he did.

Elder Ayola is finally leaving. I get a newbie who only has one change. I don´t know his name, it´s like Elder Gillette or something. That means I´m senior companion.

President Callan said he would send someone to help me, but I guess there are too many new missionaries to handle.

Two unexperienced missionaries in an failing branch with no organization and no investigators. Sounds like a great growing experience.

So aside from Grandpa´s death how is summer?

This letter will be relatively short.

     Monday we had family night with The Muñose family. The dad is 60 and the mom is only 30 or something. They both have callings and pride, but both are very negative and don´t really help the branch that much. They brought an investigator to family night. Beatrice is a single mom with a 5yr old named Jordan and a 1yr old named Mariana (Who looks just like marisa when she was a baby). We watched the Legacy. Bad quality plus in spanish equals boring. So obviously I just played with Mariana the whole time. Ha ha I love babies. I can´t wait till I can have my own... or maybe I´ll just play with everybody else´s to make my life easier ha ha.

     Tuesday was freaking cold. I almost turned into a popsicle because the humidity penetrates even through the windbreaker.

     Wednesday I bought an awesome Jacket it´s an official Paraguayan Soccer League so it´s a recuerdo and useful a la vez. We went to Noche de Rama because the President couldn´t go. Turns out we were the only ones who came, but my companion used it as an excuse to watch "Dragonball Evolution", "Percy Jackson", and parts of "Ben 10" and "Thor".

     Thursday we had a crappy lesson with Beatrice. My companion doesn´t know how to teach. He just talks and asks rediculous questions that confuse the investigator. He never lets me talk and he doesn´t even teach the lessons, so if he does I don´t even know what to say anyways.

     Friday I tried teaching prayer for the third time to an investigator and his dad. The dad drinks and I´m pretty sure the son is on drugs and that´s why they don´t understand, but Elder Ayola only cares about numbers, so we keep going back even though they will never progress. After that we went to the Family Rolin. Turns out they have a truckload of problems. I tried teaching the atonement and that she needs to come back to church to receive the blessings of the Atonement, but she doesn´t want to change. I´m pretty sure she didn´t even listen to me, she just wanted to complain and justify her reason for not going to church. We are trying to help the rest of the family to go to church, but her daughters are snakes. (A Snake is a girl who tries to flirt with the missionaries. Missionary term because their cat call sounds like a Snake hissing, I don´t have problems with Snakes because I´m scary, but I´ve heard a lot of stories)

     Saturday my companion was "sick" so he couldn´t go out to work, but he was well enough to go to the church to "Work". "Work means he made missionary badges for the primary, but then he pulled out a dvd and watched "The Green Hornet". First he watched the old one with Bruce Lee and then he watched the new "Green Hornet" movie. It was in English and it was funny but it had lots of bad words.

     Sunday there were only 30 people who came to church. Shows what happens when I can´t get my companion to work. He has completely given up teaching, now he just goes to talk with the members. I tried teaching the older Daughters of Hna.Rolin why they need to come to church, but it was like talking to a brick wall. I taught them like I would have taught the Primary. Finally I got one to "understand", but really she only reapeted the answers I told her.

Well things are in my control now and I hope God guides me and helps me do what I need to do.

Love ya,

Elder Zachary James Lucero (literal Translation of Singson from Chinese to Spanish is "Lucero". Lucero means Morning Star. Morning Star in Hebrew is "Lucifer" ¿Cool huh?)

May 30, 2011

Hiya Family!

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

May 23, 2011

Dear family,

Since that Pastor said that the world is supposed to end Last Saturday... I guess we all died and haven´t realized it yet.

Since we´re dead this letter might not make it to you, but I´ll try sending it anyways.

     First things first. You can´t teach a Latino to sing. Especially if they want to learn the Bass part for the hymns. I spent two hours last P-day trying and it´s just not possible. My district is composed of 4 missionaries, and we live so far away from each other that Pres.Callan said to only have District meeting every two weeks. This week was District meeting. Elder Richards is District leader and Elder Monterosa is his companion. All we did was watch a video on how to teach better and then we had to leave. I say we because I did exchanges and went with Elder Monterosa to Natalio Diez. It´s a 2 hour bus ride and if you miss it you have to wait 2 hours. So we were kinda in a hurry to get out of there.

     Elder Monterosa is from El Salvador. On the bus we only talked about all the crap that Elder Ayola has told us. It´s funny to talk about, but it´s annoying to listen to in person. Elder Monterosa in cool though. This is his last change so he is Trunky (A play on words with the Latin slang for Tranquilo. Instead of saying Tranquilo everybody just says Tranqui, but for missionaries Trunky means they are ready to pack up their "Trunks" or suitcases and go home). Anyways Natalio Diez is really poor and not as nice as Obligado, but they actually have active members so they have thier own Church Building. I met an American from North Carolina. She´s from the Peace Corp. I also talked to one of their Recent Converts about Anime for a really long time. Elder Monterosa asked a girl that they always talk to to add him on facebook. He did it to annoy his companion because Elder Richards likes her, ha ha.

     Next day we hopped on a bus and got back to Obligado. I did splits with Elder Richards and we talked for a while. He´s from Utah and he only has a change more than Elder Monterosa. He is Blond so he gets hit on by girls, aka Snakes because they make a hissing sound when they call to people. Oh yeah the reason we did Exchanges in the first place is because Elder Richards had to interview Soledad for her baptism. Anyways we were asked to sing at a funeral. All of us went to the Catholic funeral of Hermana Presentacion´s Aunt. She is the only member in her family, so it was weird. Poor misguided people. They put bread and water in a bowl under the casket. Weird. Elder Ayola bought an I-pod, so now he wastes all our time playing with it. I try telling him we need to work and he´s breaking the rules, but he just tries justifying what he does, so I hope President Callan can fix him.

     So Thursday we went over to Hna P´s house for lunch and apparently Soledad went to hang out with a class mate she knows from school. Turns out that this friend is a Prostitute. Hearing that made me very worried. I didn´t know the entire story, so I was worried all day. Don´t worry though when Hna P told her she said "Oh! Well it looks like I´m going to be avoiding her from now on". Then we went to work in our second area Trinidad. We taught a family who wants their daughter to come to church so she can get sealed to them. Now apparently we have to teach her every week because she was never taught the retention lessons. I don´t like the idea because she is attractive and somewhat of a Snake. Anyways we went back and taught Soledad and everything was good again... Somewhat.

     Friday my companion and I did "Service" for Hna P all day. In other words, my companion didn´t want to work, so I helped Hna P all day, talked, and stuff; and Elder Ayola watched tv. Soledad´s boyfriend came over and stayed the night and Hna P´s house because he lives far away and he is going to baptize her. I openly objected to the idea of the two lovers staying in the same house, but nothing bad happened... as far as I know. Salvador is preparing for a mission and Soledad was getting baptized the next day, Satan is already working hard, so why would you invite this kind of temptation. I was upset.

     Saturday I met Salvador and he is almost as short as Soledad. We made preperations and made cake and stuff. I was angry the entire day because I´ve tried to work hard in my last two areas and I only got one baptism, but with a Macanero of a companion and no work we got one anyways. What could have happened if we actually worked at all!¿!? Salvador is 20 he looks 28. He acts really mature, but he is really prideful. Soledad in not so mature and obsessed with Salvador. When the two are together it´s like the love you would see in a high school romance. Together they are not mature at all. It´s going to be really hard for them when Salvador leaves on his mission. I hope it all goes well.

     Church this week was good. Soledad got confirmed and people actually came this week. Yay. While we were waiting for lunch at Hna P´s Salvador came over and talked with me. He must think I´m competition or something because he tried one upping me the whole time and he wanted to arm wrestle. I am weak. I traded all my physical strength for spiritual strength. After I finally agreed to Arm Wrestle with him, I knew I didn´t stand a chance anyways, but then Soledad came to watch so I just gave up and let him win. Whatever. I am sooooo DisAnimated. We took an hour walk to visit Los Colonos to teach some less actives. Then we came back and Elder Ayola watched "The Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian" or whatever, and I talked to Hna P.

I´m done now.

Thanks for your Packages I received them right before coming here to write you guys.

Tell Gma and Gpa "Love You¡"

Sincerely bored out of his mind,

Elder Zachary James Singson

Soledad's Baptism

Alejandro's Baptism

May 16, 2011

Dear family,

 

    Ok this Saturday one of our investigators (One of 3) is going to be baptized. Her boyfriend, who is preparing for a mission, is coming over and baptizing her. It´s going to be cool. Soledad got kicked out of her house cuz her dad doesn´t like this religion. He says that she´s changed (for the better) and he doesn´t like it. Her mom was supportive until the Dad banned her from the house. She is living with Hermana Presentacion and her daughter Bibiana (they are good friends). Shows you how important references are. References = Baptisms and strong converts. Anyways because we eat with Hna P everyday we also teach Soledad everyday. Sometimes we get on iffy topics like Polygamy, but I think that Soledad knows that the church is true, so I think that she´ll be fine.

Monday:

     We had Family Night with Hna P. We watched "The Work and The Glory". Then they wanted me to teach them a bunch of hymns, so we sang a lot before going home.

Tuesday:

     We watched "Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restauration" with Soledad. We made Chipa Guasu with Hna.P (Bleh Gross). 

 

Wednesday:

     I lost my voice. I don´t know where it wen´t, but I almost couldn´t make any sound. Which made it hard to teach. Somehow Hna.P got on the topic of Polygamy. I tried to say that Polygamy is a big reason the church is persecuted and it is important to know that it happened, but you don´t need to worry about it. Unfortunately they wouldn´t stop talking about it. So I told her you have your agency, you don´t have to do it if you don´t want to so don´t worry about it.

     Finally we got to the real lesson which is The Law of Chastity and it actually went very well. Thank Goodness! Her boyfriend has taught her well.

    

Thursday:

     We celebrated Mothers day because the Branch President is visiting his mom and wouldn´t be there for actual mothers day. We had a barbique with Rice, Potatoes, Salad, Chicken, Sausage, and Mandioka. The kids performed a dance for the Mothers and they wrote poems and stuff. Elder Ayola was on the computer playing with his music the whole time. I found Pamphlets in German and I was reading them. I like German, but it´s hard. I asked some German members what words meant and apparently they have lots of rules, so I will have to take a full course to really understand. There are a lot of similarities to English though.

Friday:
     I finally got to use my Puzzle to teach the Plan of Salvation! Yay! I tried to teach the Plan of Salvation in an awesome way to Soledad, but I was very disanimado because of the vast and various ways that Elder Ayola breaks the rules. The lesson was ok, but I wasn´t sure what to say because I lacked the spirit. I felt unhappy all day. Wickedness really isn´t happiness.

Saturday:

     We went to a place called "Los Colonos" located far away near a Soy field. There are lots of Members who live in this town, but all of them are inactive because its "far from the church". So we taught lots of lessons with Inactive Members and their friends. I was happy it was a good day.

Sunday:

     It´s Mommies day here in Paraguay, so we ate Barbique at Hna. P´s house. Because it was Mommies day that meant there was a lot of drunks. It is also Independence day for Paraguay. That meant even more drunks. But it´s not just any Regular Independence day, it´s the Bi-centennial, so there was even more drunks. Not even kidding it was drunk madness. After English class we stood of the roof of the Chapel building and watched all the chaos. It was crazy. Then we went to Hna P´s to have cake and we taught Soledad, but this time we focused on the subject. Everybody Participated and it was an awesome lesson. I felt the Spirit and it made me happy.

     From here on out I´m going to take the iniciative and try to help my companion stop breaking the rules. I hope it all goes well. I´m done being a bad missionary.

Love you!

Elder Zachary James Singson