the zone training on thursday was pretty cool. for me it was mostly just review, cus this is President Agazzani's last month, and he wanted the new missionaries to be able to learn a lot of the things that he had taught us in the last couple years. but igual it was pretty great. we talked about how we often have a lot of paradigms in the mission and about how we should get rid of them (paradigms are things you do without knowing why you do it, just cus that's how it's always been done, and are often done in a less than optimal manner). we talked about a story of Japanese fishermen, who, due to the lack of sufficient fish in the waters immediately surrounding Japan, had to make bigger boats to fish further out. but the people didnt like it cus the fish didnt get to the market fresh. so the fishermen put freezers in the boats to freeze the fish but the people could still tell the difference. so then the fishermen put fishtanks to keep the fish alive until they got to shore, but the fish, once put in the fishtanks, stopped swimming, and the people could tell the difference. so the fishermen put sharks in the fishtanks to keep the fish moving until they got to shore. that story was related to us in our eternal progress. often we get lazy or comfortable with how we are, and stop moving. but to be saved (and to be good missionaries) we have to be progressing continually, and always pushing ourselves a bit more. so what we need to do is put a shark in our lives. put goals, or prizes or something that motivates us to keep progressing. so my companion and i decided to put a shark in our tank. we recently obtained a jar of nutella, and we had before decided that it would be good to contact on buses to not just lose time, but we never put it in practice. so we decided that everytime we got on a bus, we have to talk to someone, or we cant eat nutella until we get on another bus and do contact someone. and it worked. we started to do it, and started to progress more, and miracles came.
on sunday we got to church, and there were no investigators. then an inactive family that we had been teaching got there a few minutes after the meetings started, and a few minutes later, the branch president led a young man into elders quorum and pointed us out to him. he came and sat down, and afterwards we started to talk. his name is Angel, and he lives close to the branch president (which is really far, half an hour walking to get there from the route, and 5 kilometers in the route from Yaguaron itself) but anyways we started teaching him yesterday and he now has a baptismal date set for june 27. then when we walked out of the priesthood class we saw a member with another investigator! turned out that the investigator lives in Ita (a different city and area) but it was still pretty cool.
we werent able to teach Rosalino or Leticia and her family again this week. but we went to where Leticia lives to look for another less active family that lives in the same company, and we found them, but we had to walk 40 minutes first. we literally went over a river and through the woods (jungle and sugar cane fields) to find this family. but they dont want us to visit them. but we found another cool family over there too. but they live super far away from everything. so we'll see what happens.
also on saturday night we were walking around and all our plans fell. we went to look for a reference who has never been home every time that we look for him, and he wasnt home again. his name is Eriberto. in the plot of land where he lives, there are two houses. we always went to the gate and asked in the main house, and they always said no. then when we were walking away we saw that in the other house there was a guy and some other people sitting outside. we walked a bit more and sat down to think about where we should go. we prayed, and i felt 'go back to Eriberto'. so we went back and clapped in front of the second house, and someone came and talked to us and let us in and we taught them. we taught 5 daughters of Eriberto and his friend, and they all accepted baptismal dates! but they werent able to go to church on sunday. but we went again and they had a reasonable excuse and accepted baptismal dates again! it strengthened my testimony of prayer. and of faith. if we want God to guide our steps we have to be willing to move our feet, and do whatever he asks.
but yeah. this week will be the last full week of my companion in Paraguay. pretty crazy. time really flies.
I know that this church is true. I know that God truly does have all power, in heaven and in earth, and that he loves us and wants to use that power for our good. I know that through active faith we can truly see miracles in our lives, and that without active faith in Christ, it doesnt matter what we do, all our efforts will be in vain.
Elder Woodfield
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