Sunday, December 15, 2013

December 2

this week was pretty swell. it rained a ton, but i was smart this time and put all my stuff in plastic bags, so nothing got wet. i also ended up wearing my rain coat, but my shirt got soaked anyways. when it's raining there's almost nothing to do, cus most of paraguay is sleeping. we still had a pretty good week though, and had 5 investigators in church, 4 of whom have their baptismal date for next saturday!

Hernan finally went to church, also we find out that his name is spelt with an 'h'. we visited him last tuesday with robert and raquel, 2 teenagers from the ward who both got baptized about 7 months ago. they both shared their testimonies and we invited him to go to church with us on sunday, and he said yes. the spirit was super strong when raquel and robert shared their testimonies, and you could tell that he felt it. after church yesterday, we talked to him a bit and he said he really felt the spirit, and he conceded that we had been right all those times that we had told him just to come and see. he said he's gonna come to church every sunday now, and he's set to be baptized on the 14th. we visited him on thursday too, and invited him to invite his girlfriend (who we had never met) to church as well. when we said her name, he asked 'who?' and he then confessed that he had never really had a girlfriend, which was a bit funny, and shows that he's really changed in the time that we've been visiting him.

Rodrigo and Tamara are still solid, but are having a bit of difficulties. tamara's mom doesn't want her to marry rodrigo, and since she's only 17, her mom's signature is 100% necessary for both the wedding and the baptism. they have their date set for the 14th, since rodrigo's mom is going to be in town, but without the signature of tamara's mom, there's no way anythings gonna happen. they come to church every sunday, and they've learned a ton and want to be baptized, but they have this roadblock. in gospel principles we were talking about the signs of the second coming and an investigator of the other missionaries asked if the terrorists in the middle east would be saved (or something like that, i dont remember exactly) and rodrigo said 'if they repent.' it was pretty funny, and also shows how well he already understands the things we've been teaching them.

Nelly also went, when she had previously said she wouldnt be able to, because she was planning on going to some special catholic site in caacupe. her mom ended up getting sick saturday night, so nelly had to stay home and care for her mom, and then was able to go to church here. she understands everything well and is progressing well, her only problem is that she cant stop smoking. we taught word of wisdom weeks ago, but never followed up and emphasized it's importance until last week, so she may start doing better, but we'll see. she has a date for the 14th, but wont be able to get baptized unless she stops smoking by the 7th. her brother elvis and her sister natalia also said they were going to go to church, but were sleeping when sunday morning came around. they're cool too, they just need to develop a bit more spiritual strength to be able to dominate their flesh and go to church.

we also tried to bring another investigator, miguel. we have never taught him in his house, as he's usually hanging out in a different house where we've taught him a few times. he tried to explain to us where he lived, but we couldnt make much sense of it. we tried visiting him on saturday, and found what we thought was his house. we passed by on sunday, knocked, and somebody woke up and opened the window a bit to talk to us, but the voice seemed unfamiliar. we asked 'are you miguel?', to which he replied yes. we asked 'miguel sarata?' and he said no, to which we apologized and left. it was pretty funny.

the branch here is awesome, every day my appreciation and love for this branch and this area grows. today they started a 40 day fast to help the missionary work in this area, and to be able to convert into a ward, and we've already seen the blessings from this fast in the 4 baptisms we should have on the 14th.

please pray that rodrigo, tamara, nelly, and hernan can get baptized on the 14th! if anything happens and they can't, there's a chance i'll leave before they get baptized cus the 14th is the last saturday in this transfer :(

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