A Callus is Better Than a Worm In Your Foot

Hola,

Easter week was super quiet.  About half a million people left Asunción to travel to the interior for the Semana Santa.  Basically everything was closed all weekend. The worst day to work was Viernes Santo. The streets were dead! It was actually a little eery. To celebrate, our ward had an activity where we learned to make chipa (they eat a lot of chipa here during this week, it´s a tradition) and it was a huge success! We had several investigators come and everything.

Last week we had to go to the doctor.  Hermana Casey thought she had Pike, which is like a worm in your foot. Turns out it´s just a really nasty callus.  That´s much better than a worm in your foot! 

I got sick with a cold last week, so that wasn´t super fun.  It was terrible and it just made it uncomfortable to work, but I´m much better now. It rained a lot this week too and we experienced the craziest storm.  It was actually kind of scary.  We took refuge for part of it at an investigators house, but the biggest part was in the night, it thundered and lightening all night long!  Our walls don´t really block out sound either so it sounded like it was right in our apartment.  It made me think of the second coming and how scary that will be right before Christ comes again.  Hermana Casey said that one place she wanted to be during the storm was in the temple.  The temple really is a place of refuge and it´s so important to always have an up to date recommend for when the "storms" do come in our lives. 

I´m starting to recognize how I´m becoming an instrument in the Lord´s hands.  We had two investigators come to church yesterday, both of whom said we showed up at their door at low points in their life and helped them through that. We had no idea, but the best part is the Lord knows.  He knows his children perfectly and he is going to send help and love to get you through those hard times.  Luz is the name of the lady and she is so cute. We´ve only ever had one lesson with her, but she cried in that lesson at the end while she was praying.  And the spirit touched her heart again in Relief Society.  The teacher asked her to read a paragraph on Joseph Smith and she started to tear up again.  The Lord really does prepare people to receive this gospel and through the spirit their hearts will be touched and they will fill closer to our Father in Heaven than ever! I´m so blessed to watch that happen.  

I bought a new camera, it´s nice and I´m going to be super careful with it.  It´s nicer than my last one so I guess it´s a blessing in disguise, but I am sad about all of the pictures I lost, but I´ll get them from other people after my mission so I´m not too worried about it.  We had a really good Noche de Hogar with one of our favorite families in the ward because we knew one of us was leaving because of transfers.  Hermana Sanchez made us Beju! It´s super good, but I´m not sure exactly what´s in it, cheese and flour, I think, but it´s super good, or I´m just used to the food here, I don´t know. 

Then there was transfers!!!! I´m still in Pinozá (So I imagine I will get to Skype again for mother’s day), but my new companion is Hermana Weeks. Yes, another North American, but I´m glad because we are going to work super hard together.  She’s been out for 11 weeks. She´s from St. George, Utah.  We´ve been together all of like 4 or 5 days and she is already whipping my Spanish into shape so that´s good, Hermana Casey and I got pretty lazy with that so it´s good to have someone correct my errors.  

So basically this week, I´ve just been introducing Hermana Weeks to the area and the people.  We have some people we are really excited about and I know they are going to progress! One of our investigators, Luz, is definitely going to get baptized.  She has a lot of questions, but they are more for understanding and she feels the spirit super strong in church, so we are excited for that in the next couple of weeks.  

Also we get to go to the temple tomorrow! POR FIN!!! I´m excited.  It´s been so long, but I really appreciate having the ability to go to the temple frequently now.  The temple really is where I feel at home and it´s so important to go regularly.  

Other than that I don´t really have much else to say, but I know that´s through serving others we find true happiness in this life! President Gordan B. Hinckley said, "Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause. Lend your efforts to helping people... stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ."  The gospel of Jesus Christ is service and I know that service is what brings true joy in this life.  I know that gospel blesses families and it´s through the authority of Jesus Christ that we can be sealed to our families for all time and all eternity in His temple.  There really is no other way to put it.  If we want to be happy we need to serve others and share our testimonies! 

All is well with me! 

Rohayhu! 

Hermana Lindsay

Easter Week

April 14, 2014

¡Hola!

So this week was maybe not the most successful week number wise, but we learned a lot.  Mostly I´m learning that my idea of how things should be done is usually not the way the Lord wants them done. I have to remind myself of that a lot, but I know the Lord has plans for the people of Paraguay, I´ve just got to give up my ways and let the Lord do what needs to be done through me. Easier said than done, but that´s what the Atonement is for right?

This week is the Semana Santa. The Catholics here celebrate, basically all week long.  It´s kind of cool actually. They were selling cool braided reed things in the streets for Palm Sunday.  A lady told us yesterday that a Priest blesses them and then they keep them in their home all week.  They are kind of cool, but they look like a lot of work.  Wednesday everyone stops working and goes traveling.  I´m thinking it´s kind of like our equivalent of Thanksgiving weekend.  It´s really cool how Christ centered this week really is here. It´s actually easy to teach people because their faith in Christ here is already established.

I´ve seen some pretty awesome thunderstorms this week.  The lightening gets so close.  We had a lighting strike super close to our apartment the other night and it woke us both up.  It also cooled down a lot yesterday... we were actually really cold and this morning too, all the cool air got trapped into our room, but it´s better now that the sun came out again.  I decided I´m kind of wimp when it comes to the cold.  

This week I´m was thinking about obedience and agency. It´s frustrating to accept others agency sometimes. In Preach my Gospel it says that God gives us commandments for our benefit so that we can be happy and if we are obedient we show Heavenly Father that we love him and Jesus Christ. Obedience always brings blessings, no matter how small the rule or commandment may be because God says, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."  I know that´s true!  I think of Elder Hales´ talk from conference and basically, when we choose to be disobedient we love Satan more than we love God.  Harsh words but true.  As a missionary it´s easy to see rules and be obedient, but I think the real challenge is being obedient in life outside of the mission. 

Anyways that´s all from me! 

Rohayhu!

Hermana Lindsay

Slight fear of dogs now

April 7, 2014

¡¡Hola!!

Ahh!! Wasn´t General Conference awesome!  I loved every second of it.  The North Americans in my zone all got to watch it in English, but it had some technical difficulties so we had to watch the first two talks in Spanish. We were really bummed we didn´t get to hear Elder Holland´s voice.  He is so powerful when he talks and it just isn´t the same with a translator. Anyways, I´m sad it´s over but I´m glad I get six more months to work on becoming more like the savior and being more grateful like in Elder Uchtdorf´s talk.  I´m so grateful to be serving a mission in Paraguay, even with all of the hard things that get thrown my way, but really it´s the load that gives us the spiritual traction we need to press forward, like Elder Bednar taught us.  One of my favorite talks was by Elder Ballard about missionary work and Preach My Gospel.  It´s true, Preach My Gospel is for everyone to study and use.  It has been a huge testimony builder for me, and so I want to share a quote from it that I like about missionary work,  

"What does the Atonement have to do with missionary work? Any time we experience the blessings of the Atonement in our lives, we cannot help but have a concern for the welfare of others... A great indicator of one´s personal conversion is the desire to share the gospel with others." - President Howard W. Hunter.

I know that´s true. If we are truly converted we are going to naturally want to share the joy of the gospel with those we love and President Monson says that should be everyone!! 

I don´t really have a lot else to say, expect we had a district activity Monday which was pretty fun.  We went around and took pictures, (speaking of that I´m hoping I didn´t lose my camera, I had it at conference yesterday and now I can´t find it, but we are going to check the church today for it), and then got ice cream at Amandau (which is Guarani for Hail). Oh ya, and I have a slight fear of dogs now, mostly just the little barking ones that belong to people, we´ve had two come after us.  Luckily my bag is pretty heavy and I´m ready to knock them to the moon if they even think about biting me!  

Also, I´m not sure if I just give really long boring prayers or my companion was just tired, because she totally fell asleep one day.  I ended the prayer and waited for her to say amen and she never did.  We laughed pretty hard about that. 

Anyways hope everyone has a great week, 

Rohayhu!

Hermana Lindsay

When it rains it pours

March 31, 2014

Hola! 

I´ve never seen rain before like it rains here.  The streets literally flood.  We got caught in the rain a couple of times.  Paraguayans think they are allergic to the rain... not really, but it seems like that.  They don´t want to do anything in the rain so it gets hard to have lessons.  Our district leader said they think they’re made out of sugar!  Although, a lot of houses are half outside, like they only have two or three walls and a roof.  But the good news is it cooled down a lot!! I even had to pull out some of my sweaters this week.  And my blanket too!  

We had a conference with half the mission this week with Elder Viñas of the 70.  It was really good.  He talked a lot about the Atonement and how it applies to missionary work.  I´ve been thinking a lot about the atonement lately too, and it´s something that I want to bring to my investigators, the joy of the atonement.  It really is important to use it every day.  Even the little things we have to repent of, because we want to become perfect like Christ and our Father in Heaven and we can´t do that if we aren´t completely clean of every little thing.   Christ paid the price so we don´t have too, the atonement is free, we just need a willing heart and the desire to change and become better people.  I love my Savior for giving me that ability! 

Our investigator Yessica is cute.  She´s only been to church once, but we´ve had three lessons with her.  At the end the second lesson we asked her if she had any questions for us and she said, "Ya, what do I need to bring for my baptism?"  I think she´s a little anxious.  Her date is 12 Abril and we are excited for her, she is so prepared for the gospel! We are having to work a little harder with some of our other investigators, but I love it when I can see the spirit working in their lives.  

We had interviews with President Agazzani, he´s pretty awesome.  He told me my Spanish was much better and he shared with me a talk by Elder Bednar that I really needed to hear.  He told both me and Hermana Casey to enjoy this transfer because it´s not likely we will spend another transfer together.  I think mission life will really hit me once I get a new companion or I´m in a different area because I´m pretty comfortable at the moment. 

This gospel truly is a message of hope and happiness! I know I´m a better person because of it, and I love seeing the changes people make in their lives as they draw closer to the Savior. I´m only now starting to realize how big this world really is and how many people there are! And each one of them is a son or daughter of God! And he knows them and loves them sooo perfectly!  And He loves us so much that he has called a prophet and apostles to guide and direct us in the path we need to go.  How great an opportunity we have to listen to them this weekend!  I´ve been so excited, I´ve literally been counting the days for about 2 months! 

I hope everything is well in the states! 

Rohayhu! 

Hermana Lindsay

Joy Through Service

March 14, 2014

¡Hola!

Happy St. Patrick´s Day, I´m wearing green in honor of the holiday even though hey don´t celebrate it.  I´m still with Hermana Casey in Pinozá,  which everyone has told us is really rare because usually you´re only with your trainer for two transfers and then you get a new companion.  I think it´s just a testament that we have work here to do in this area! But we are both grateful for the opportunity to have another transfer together.  We have a couple of people progressing in the gospel and besides that, we just really get along, there is a lot of laughing some days!  Since I´m a normal missionary now (no longer training) we leave to work at 10:30!  But this last week was far from normal. 

We had a service project with Operation Smile here in Paraguay.  I believe they do surgeries for kids who have cleft palates. Thursday they had a huge truck full of supplies for surgeries and clothes and toys and whatever other stuff.  So we helped unload the truck, which ended up being a lot of work.  There were lots of heavy boxes and we had to take it up to the second floor and to the other side of the hospital.  It took about 3 hours to do.  Our arms were super sore the next day, but it was so fun and so worth it.  Really the true way to find joy in this life is through service to others. Also, we went to McDonalds afterward to reward ourselves.  Not as good as in the states, and not as many options, but really it was fun. 

Also, I had to go to the mission office this week to sign migration papers, and so I got to see a lot of the people who I was in the CCM with so that was fun to see and hear how they are doing. One random thing, our investigator Patricia(who gave us the milk) hasn´t been home forever and we were getting kind of discouraged, but Elder Walsh who was in our district this last transfer is now companions with Elder Petersen who I know from the CCM.  Anyways, we saw them, and the first thing elder Walsh says to us was, "We found Patricia!"  Apparently she is living with her Dad right now for health reasons, but they are giving her the discussions so I´m relieved that she´s taken care of.  We have a conference with half the mission this Wednesday so hopefully we can ask them how she is doing and progressing! 

Other than that we´ve just tried to put some time into finding more and more people to teach, I know there are people here prepared for the gospel, we just have to find them and work with them. 

And no, I´ve never gotten sick from the food or water...yet, but besides that all is well! 

Rohayhu!

Hermana Lindsay