this week was both super lame and super cool. lame because on tuesday i got a really bad fever and had to get a root canal and there's an infection in my gums so i may have to get more root canals.
super cool for various reasons. the two packages got here on monday, and are pretty swell. i already dont have any problems with blisters, so a lot of stuff was sent needlessly, but great packages nonetheless.
we also had 5 investigators in church, and we have 3 baptisms set for this saturday. rodrigo and tamara are still solid, and tamara's mom said she would give permission for tamara to get married, cus tamara explained that she legitimately wanted to get married and she wasnt joking around, and her mom agreed. in church on sunday, elder muñoz took off his suit jacket at some point, and rodrigo put it on and said to me ''i'm you're new companion, let's go to the house of ms. tamara and preach to her (cus tamara didnt go to church cus she was visiting her mom).'' he's basically a super awesome guy.
Hernan is set to be baptized this saturday too. at times he doesnt understand very well, but what's cool is that when people dont understand things very well and they recognize that, they're more humble so they can feel the spirit and accept our teachings that much more easily, and thats what's going on with him. he always mentions how great it feels to be in the chapel, and after church ends, it's harder to get him to leave than it was to get him here in the first place (that can also be attributed in part to that we think that he likes one of the girls in the ward). hopefully his mom will be able to see his example and testimony and follow in his steps. his mom is cool and has noticed a change in hernan and sometimes gives us food and listens in when we teach hernan, but she hasnt been able to come to church yet.
nelly didnt come to church, and she also hasnt been able to stop smoking yet. its sad cus she seems to like everything that we teach and have a testimony but she's just not willing to make the effort necessary. it's also hard to teach her, cus theres a good chance that when we go to her house there will also be 5 other people who are gonna have questions and distract us.
we also got a new investigator named miguel who seems super solid (and rich). we were walking one day to a members house, and greeted some people sitting outside their house drinking tereré (when paraguayans are relaxing, they sit outside and drink tereré or mate, which are herbal drinks) and just kept walking. when we were like 20 feet away, we heard someone shouting 'elderes!' so we went back, and it turns out one of the guys is a member, and was visiting his brother. he said ''this is my brother, i want you guys to baptize him.'' we set a date to come back and teach him, and taught him on saturday. we invited him to go to church and he said yeah and went, and we didnt even need to stop by to remind him or anything. turns out he had listened to the lessons 20 years ago when his brother was baptized, but never went to church.
we found one more new investigator who also seems super solid. we had often greeted a group of boys that hang out around a certain point in the area but never paid any more attention to them than that. one had asked us on various occasions to visit his house, but always ignored him. we finally went on friday and taught his dad. we taught him faith, (which we usually teach in conjunction with the rest of the gospel) and after we finished elder muñoz started to close the lesson, which confused me a bit, but i went along with it. we taught him to pray and invited him to offer the closing prayer, and he said he would do it. we closed our eyes and waited a while, but nothing. we weren't sure why he wasnt praying, so we explained again how to pray. after a few more attempts, he told us that he couldnt, that he felt a pain in his throat and chest when he tried. he then explained to us that he drinks, and he wants to stop. we taught him about the first vision and joseph smith's experience with being overcome by satan, and finally got him to pray. we asked when we could come back, and he said ''tomorrow'', like he really wants to learn. he doesnt understand very well, but he is showing real desires to learn and to be able to change. it was really a cool experience, because it helped me understand better why jesus would say in the bible that people are blind or sick or something to be able to show his power. i originally didnt understand it, and considered it unfair, that God would make people sick to show off, but now i see that really He just lets satan work among men so that men have opportunities to practice their faith, and that if they practice their faith, God will show that He is stronger than the devil.
cant think of anything else so there you go
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