¡¡Feliz día de las brujas!!

¡¡Feliz día de las brujas!! 

First off, it sounds like everyone had a good week and fun Halloween.  That´s fun that the whole gang was there.  Hermana Weeks and I had a fun Halloween as well, even though it´s not really celebrated.  I had pictures that I wanted to send you guys, but I couldn’t get the computer to recognize the USB. Sorry!! But, we have a cemetery in our area so we went there and took pictures for Halloween.  The cemeteries are a lot different and a lot creepier here.  They don´t bury their dead, but build little houses/shed things, and then put pictures and flowers in front.  Even though they don´t celebrate Halloween, the día de los muertos is 2 of November, so there were flowers all over the place Sunday morning, so pretty.  It´s basically just like memorial day. 

 

We had a fun surprise Halloween night.  It was starting to get dark and we were just talking about the fact that it was Halloween and then to our surprise we found a group of trick or treaters!!!  We just saw one group all that night, but we ran to a dispensa to buy a bunch of suckers and stopped them and gave them suckers and took pictures with them.  The lady that was taking them out just loved that we were so excited to see them, because it´s not a big deal here but everyone knows from movies and stuff how it is in the states.  She was beside herself that we wanted pictures and everything and an extra bonus, one of our new investigators was with them helping too. She´s a teenager so I think it was good for her to have that interaction with us because she´s been difficult to find.  Then to finish our Halloween day off we came home and made carmeled apples.  It ended up being a pretty good day.

The week was a little slow because it was pretty rainy and everyone gets sick here as soon as the weather turns.  We had lots of plans to meet with members, but there was always something that got in the way.  One thing we´ve learned is that working with members is the best way to get the work to progress, so we´ve been taking a lot of time lately trying to get to know the members here a little better and gain their trust.  The members here are really awesome though, so willing to work, it just takes a little bit of planning.  

We´ve been trying to improve our cooking skills because we are noticing we are lacking a bit and the Latinos cook really well.  They don´t follow a recipe or anything like that, but we need specific instructions to get things to turn out.  Well, last Sunday we were eating lunch with a member and it was chicken.  She told us it´s really easy.  It´s just soy sauce and seasonings and then throw it in the oven for like an hour on the highest temperature (Her oven only goes to 250 C).  Well, that sounded easy enough so we decided to try that too. 

We threw chicken in a glass pan with a bunch of soy sauce and seasonings.  Anyways what we understood is that she turned it on her highest temperature and we thought, well our oven goes a little higher and we had an hour to cook so we thought maybe it would cook faster if it was on higher.  Now our oven goes to 290 C and we put it all the way on that.  After about 20 minutes we could smell the chicken pretty good and Hermana Weeks thought to check on it.   All of the soy sauce had dried out so we did some thinking....not very good thinking, and decided that it needed more liquid or the soy sauce would just burn, but we didn´t want to put more soy sauce in so we decided water would be a good idea....but the glass was really, really, really, hot because we had the oven really, really hot and little did we know that putting water in a hot glass pan was a very bad idea....yes the pan exploded.  And that´s when we realized we´ve got a lot to learn.  Ha, ha we are ok, don´t worry it just startled us that the glass shattered.  We switched to a new pan and finished cooking our chicken and we didn´t get sick, so I´d say it was a success!! But, all the members had a good laugh at us, I think they are kind of appalled we can´t cook and they can. 

Moral of the story, sometimes we make mistakes and instead of giving up we just clean up the mess and try again.  Sometimes life is like that too.  We make mistakes, but instead of getting discouraged and angry at ourselves, we use the atonement.  We repent, and start over clean and pure.  This life is the time of testing and nobody gets 100 percent all the time, but we learn from our mistakes and we become stronger and more like our Savior. 

I know that we have a Savior who loves us more than anything, He wants us to succeed, but He knows we are going to goof up, but He is standing with His arms open, ready to pick us back up and dust us off so we are clean again.  We just have to humble ourselves and let Him and then we can find the everlasting joy we deserve because, "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy!" (2 Nephi 2:25)  So just be happy!! 

Love you all!! Have a wonderful week!! 

Rohayhu!

Hermana Amy Lindsay

Happy Halloween

 ¡¡¡¡Hola y feliz Lunes!! 

Ok, so this week was kind of all over the place and let me tell you why.  First off mom, I got the package with my shoes and I have kind of a funny story to go with that.  So I got it on Tuesday in our district meeting and then I carried it all the way home, excited to open it.  We get home and....Hermana Weeks doesn´t have our keys.  We are locked out!! The keys were nowhere to be found, but I was so excited to open my package, I sat down and opened it outside.  I knew that if we went anywhere to solve the key situation I would have to bring it with me and it would be hard to carry, but I didn´t care.  So I opened it up. 

Then our owner said that she would stop by with a spare key, but it would be awhile and so we decided to go find some lunch, but I didn´t want to bring this package with me.  We live on the second floor and we have a balcony and Hermana Weeks thought if she stood on this one ledge she could throw my package onto the balcony, so we decided that was a good idea, but then she realized that if she threw it, all of the stuff would go flying out, so I took off my belt and tied it around the package.  The ledge Hermana Weeks was standing on was kind of thin so she made me hold her feet down.  It took her a few times, but eventually we got it up onto the balcony.  The whole time, the people across the street were getting a kick out of our show.  I´m sure they were just thinking, "crazy Americans". 

About an hour later we got into our apartment and went to make a new copy of our key.  It was a bit of time, but we ended up going and visiting some people that we needed too that were not in our plans originally because of that, and it ended up being a really cool day.  Moral of the story, the Lord works in mysterious, sometimes comical ways. 

Another embarrassing story of the week happened on Saturday.  Saturday morning I woke up and put on my shoes.  I thought either Hermana Weeks will want to go running or I can do some other exercises.  So Hermana Weeks asks me if I want to go running, and for some reason I felt like we shouldn´t, but I thought that maybe I was just being lazy.  So we went anyways.  So we start running and everything is just going really well and we were almost to the end and I started to think of how much I´ve improved and stuff like that, when my foot found a hole and boom I was down on the ground and of course it was in front of a shop of guys that had just yelled out, ¨Fuerza"!   But....I did sprain my ankle a little.  It was pretty swollen all that day and so we had to cut our work day short so I could ice it.  But it´s a lot better now.  The swelling has gone down and I can walk without limping now! So all positive! Moral of this story, Always follow promptings of the Spirit even if seems like it´s just lazy. 

Anyways that´s basically all from me!!  We had interviews with President this last week.  Nothing too exciting. I got to learn a little about him though and that was fun.  Other than that it really was a good week and I´m excited to have an even better week this week.  Happy Halloween!! 

Rohayhu!!

Hermana Lindsay

This dog's going to eat us!

October 20, 2014

¡¡¡Hola!!!

This week we´ve been trying to get to know the members better.  It was funny actually, we asked one family to go with us to a lesson and there were some dogs following us and I was looking at them nervously.  Hermana Cabrera asked me if I liked dogs, and I said, "It´s not that I don´t like them, they just seem to not like me,” but the dogs ran away and all was fine.  But, as we were walking back a big Rottweiler came bolting out of it´s house right at us.  I didn´t notice at first, but Hermana Weeks acted surprised and so with that combined with this huge dog running right at us, I thought, this dog is going to eat us!  We were in a group of four, and of course the dog passed all of them and came right at me, but it turned out it didn´t want to eat me, it just wanted to play. Hermana Cabrera just about died, she was so scared for me, so now every time she sees me she asks about the dogs.  I think I´ll forever be that one missionary that dogs just don´t like. 

Friday we planned this huge talent show and all the members came and did something.  All of the organizations were in charge of a talent and anyone else could do one as well.  It was a lot of fun.  There was lots of traditional dancing.  Paraguayan dancing is very simple, but it was very pretty.  The elder’s quorum put together a pretty funny skit of the ugliest man in the world.  The MC was a recent convert and he is a radio man so he just hammed it all up and made it fun.  Hermana Weeks and I thought it was all pretty funny and we cheered loud for everyone, but every time we cheered all of the heads up front would turn around to look us.  Ha, ha, I guess maybe that´s not normal audience attitude here, but we had a lot of fun.

We found this one family a week ago and we are excited to start working with them.  We clapped at their door and the wife came out and we started talking about the baptism of Jesus Christ and how we need to follow his example and she stops us and says,  "My husband wants to be baptized like Jesus Christ, one moment" and she called her husband out and we shared with them both.  The husband, Jose is really interested.  She is a little more reluctant, but we are excited to work with them both. Jose came to church even this week.  They have a son Julio and he is really smart. He´s only 11, but he was quick to have an answer to all of our questions. 

And then we had a fun surprise visitor at church yesterday.  I think I talked about Jaime before. He was the baptism that we had because he records somehow got lost.  Anways, he showed up to our meetings here in San Lorenzo.  Apparently he was visiting someone close and didn´t want to miss church.  Hermana Weeks and I were both thrilled to see someone from Pinozá.  Anyways, he and  Hermana Weeks started talking about a lady name Teresa and Jaime informed her that she had been baptized and Hermana Weeks was very excited.  Then she turned to me and said, "Ah Hermana, I´ve been meaning to tell you.  She lives close to the church and you contacted her one time, and she remembered you and even your name specifically.  Her mom was yelling at her to do something so she lied and said she couldn´t share.  She told me to tell you and Hermana Casey that she was going to get baptized."  And she did!!  That meant so much to me.  I loved Pinozá, but my time there was really hard.  I always knew that it wasn´t in vain and just maybe I had planted some seeds and to hear that story I was so happy, because I know now that  I did plant a lot of seeds while I was there.  Maybe I won´t know all of the outcomes of those seeds, but I know the Lord does and that´s all that matters.  

Anyways, that´s basically my week.  Love the work.  Love the Lord.  Love His gospel!

Rohayhu!

Hermana Lindsay

Phrases from Conference I Love

¡¡HOLA !!

Hope everyone just loved general conference.  I sure did, although I always get sad when it´s all over, but I have a lot I have to work on these next few months.  I thought it was really cool how they allowed the speakers to speak in their native language.  With those speakers, you got a little taste of what everyone in the world listens to if they speak a different language.  Of course, the talks are still wonderful, but the ability to listen to their actual voice makes a huge difference.  Ñemby is the stake center so I didn´t have to go very far to watch general conference.  We have the option to watch in English so I was in a room with a bunch of missionaries and when Elder Gavarrat and Elder Martinez gave their talks in Spanish we all ran into the chapel to listen. 

Here are just some of the phrases from Conference that I loved:

Which way do you face? - Elder Robbins

The church is a home for all regardless of the strength of your testimony. - President Uchtdorf

Kindness is powerful -Elder Oaks

Spiritual questions deserve spiritual answers from God - Elder Andersen

"Yes Lord, I will follow thee." - Elder Gavarrat

The only way to find lasting peace is to look towards Him and live - Elder Perry

The living Lord guides His living church through His prophets - Elder Nelson

Following the prophet is always right - Sister McConkie

Walking WHERE Jesus walked is less important than walking AS Jesus walked. - President Monson

Stay in the boat! - Elder Ballard

We´ve come to this earth to be tried, tested, and stretched! Our tools: Prayer, Scipture study, Family Home Evening, and the Temple - Elder Scott

And of course, I love Elder Bednar´s talk and I think it´s a good way to explain to any non-member who is curious as to why we like to share what we believe and describes exactly why I wanted to serve a mission, because I love my Savior and His gospel.  I love and try to use the healing power of the Atonement in all aspects of my life because I know it works.  I know we do dumb things and make silly mistakes, but we can be clean!! Completely and perfectly!! Every day I am grateful for that knowledge and that I can share that with the people of Paraguay.  I might be weak, but Christ is strong and He´s on my team.  And yours!!

Anyways, my whole week was basically preparing and teaching people about general conference, which strengthened my testimony.  Oh, and I guess the funny story of the week was with our ward mission leader.  He´s kind of a crazy man, but he found out Hermana Flores is terrified of frogs (they are huge here!) and every chance he gets he is throwing stuff at her, acting like it´s a frog to get her to squeal, and now every time we see him he brings this weird liquid saying it´s frog juice and trying to get us to drink it.  He says it cures cancer.  Ha,ha, if only it were that simple!  I don´t know if it´s actually frog juice or not though. 

Anyways, that´s basically all from me.  Changes are this week, so I might be writing you guys from a different area.  We´ll see.

Rohayhu!

Hermana Amy Lindsay

It Looked Easy Enough

September 29, 2014

¡¡¡Monday!!!

It´s Monday again!! Today is some sort of holiday so everyone else in Paraguay has the day off too.  So, we got a call from this guy who is a member and his mom lives in our area and because she has the day off he wanted us to come share with her so we are going to go eat lunch with them!! And then I´m not sure what else we will do, probably a little bit of shopping.  We were going to have our district activity today, but as we are sitting here we got a call from our district leader and because it´s the end of the month, they literally don´t have any money left, although they never seem to have any money, but we will have our activity next week.

So mom, I had quite the laugh at the pictures you sent. Well the one of the cat in particular.  Ha ha, I think there was a little bit of miscommunication on my part.  When I asked for a picture of a cat I didn´t mean MY cat, but ME as a cat, like form the musical we did at MTI.  I was trying to explain what I looked like to Hermana Thacker and she wanted to see a picture.  So, when you sent me the picture of our cat, I couldn´t help but giggle.  Ha ha, but I guess it´s cool to see the cat too, all though there are tons of black cats here that look just like it.  And Paraguayans are very superstitious.  Fun fact about cats here, they call them all Michy.  I don´t really know why, it´s supposed to be like meow or something, but all cats respond to that here. 

This week was pretty good.  We are finding a lot of part member families in our area.  These are like surprise members, people that were baptized in a different part of Paraguay and moved here that we didn’t know about, so it´s be fun to start working with all of them.  A lot of them have kids and spouses that aren´t members.  We are really excited for General Conference, because the sessions are later in the day here and people are always more willing to come out in the afternoon. 

We had a funny moment yesterday.  We brought a boy from a less active family to church.  His name is Alan and he is 10 and he loves church, but his mom never wants to bring him, so whenever we are in the area we pass by for him.  We decided to take a colectivo to church because we were running late.  So, children under 12 are free, but if there is a turn style they have to go underneath it so it doesn´t count them.  Well Alan apparently doesn´t ride in colectivos very often, because he didn´t go under, even after the driver said and I said to several times.  Anyways, so the driver wanted to charge me because he didn´t go under, but I didn´t want to pay so I just told him I would go under.  The people who get on to sell stuff do it all the time and it looked easy enough to me.   For some reason I had a difficult time and I basically ended up Army crawling underneath.  Everyone on the bus had a good laugh at that.  My companion was embarrassed though, ha ha, it´s kind of a funny story now. 

Anyways that´s basically all from me, but I´d like to share a little bit from Preach My Gospel since conference is this weekend.

"Christ´s church is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets, who direct the church by revelation... We are to prepare ourselves so that when the prophets and apostles speak, the Holy Ghost can confirm the truths they teach and we can then determine to follow the counsel they give us... The teachings of living prophets provide an anchor of eternal truth in a world of shifting values and help us avoid misery and sorrow.  The confusion and strife of the world will not overwhelm us, and we can enjoy the assurance of being in harmony with God´s will." (Preach My Gospel, pg. 75).

I know that´s true, I know that the standards of the world are different than God´s standards,  and that´s why we have a living prophet, because God loves us so much that he wants to help us foresee the dangers of living up to the world´s standards.  I know that President Monson and all the apostles are men inspired of God, and if we follow their counsel we will be safe and happy.  I love this Gospel.  I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I love His church, I´m so excited to be spiritually uplifted this weekend and I hope everyone can prepare to listen to a prophet of the Lord. 

All is well!

Rohayhu!

Hermana Amy Lindsay