February 24, 2014

this week was pretty swell, although not quite as swell as the last week. Sebastian started soccer practice so he can't accompany us as much (when he works he cant accompany us at all, but whether he works or not depends on how lazy he's feeling so it's normally not guaranteed). in the san lorenzo stake, every two months there's a ''mini mtc'' where teenagers who want to go on missions and all the missionaries in the stake go to a ward or a branch and group up and visit  a couple investigators or less active families in the ward. we had one this saturday in san lorenzo, and sebastian came with elder pacheco and i. we were assigned a couple investigators, but the first one was busy and the second wasnt home, so we just contacted in the city for a couple hours. we didnt have any success at all (the city's always a bit hard, especially for elders as a lot of people work and there's often only maids or women at home). we did have a funny experience though, where we contacted a house that had a sign outside that said they sold ice cream for 300 Gs. we clapped, and someone came out and asked us what we needed in an annoyed tone of voice. we realized they didnt want to talk to us, so we just pointed at the sign and asked for ice cream, and their disposition changed completely, and they all of a sudden were more than happy to attend to us.

also derlis and lidia went to church, which was great. they're set to get married and baptized the 8th of march, although there might be stake conference that weekend (we're not completely sure as we heard two different things from two different people) which would mess everything up, cus the 8th is the last week of the transfer, and we can't confirm them in stake conference, so they would have to go a week without being confirmed. but anyways they're progressing well and dont really have any problems or anything. we also had a miracle in that on tuesday when we did splits, i was walking down the road that leads to the church with elder denhalter (district leader) and when we arrived at the main road, derlis drove by on his motorcycle and saw us, and later he drove down that street exploring (he's new in reducto, not sure if i've mentioned that or not) and found the church.

wilfrido and magdalena also said they were sí o sí gonna come, but sunday morning wilfrido's son's foot got cut open and he had to go to the hospital, and couldnt make it to church. we went and visited them with the branch president after church, and he said he cant promise us anymore that he's gonna go to church cus you never know what could happen but that he's going to try to come next sunday. we had splits this week, and i went with the district leader in his area, and elder pacheco was with the district leaders companion in our area, and they went and taught wilfrido and taught sabbath day and said that wilfrido wasnt sure but elder yamberla gave his testimony and wilfrido said he was gonna go. we visited him again on friday and taught the plan of salvation, and it was pretty incredible cus after we finished the lesson we asked if he had any questions, and he said that from his reading (he read the beginning of the book of mormon, the introduction and the testimony of Joseph Smith) and from what we had taught beforehand, he had wanted to ask us why we put so much emphasis on Joseph Smith and didnt talk as much about God or Jesus, but that by teaching the plan of salvation we had put that doubt to rest completely, which strengthened my testimony of that God really is directing this work, even if at times we dont realize it, cus when we planned to teach plan of salvation we had no idea he had that question. the lesson with the branch president wasnt super great, cus he just didnt want to stop talking, but at least wilfrido knows someone in the branch apart from sebastian.

splits were pretty great, but unfortunate timing. on tuesdays we have lunch with the ramirez family, and this tuesday sister ramirez made a dish at my request that i wanted to try, but i didnt get to try it cus i went with elder denhalter. also that day was the birthday of a kid in the ward, and when elder pacheco and elder yamberla passed in front of their house, the family invited them in to eat and they ate a ton of food and cake and stuff, so i missed out a bit.

juan is still recovering, and couldnt go to church either. he seems super solid, but for now he cant go to church and he cant read cus of all the problems he's having. once he gets a bit better though he should be able to progress and get baptized quickly.

on wednesday night we had to be in the church for a meeting at 7, and left at 8, but it had started raining and was raining a ton. this area's especially hard when it rains cus a lot of the roads are just dirt. we had an appointment, but didnt know exactly where the house was, so had to look for it in the rain. we got there and clapped, but nobody came out. we went a couple days later and realized that they had two gates, and that we had been clapping at the wrong gate. but anyways, when we were walking back home, on the street that connects with the street where we live, i was walking on an island of mud in between two rivers. on the street where we live, i was walking in a river. it was pretty swell.

pictures:

i took these in san isidro but i dont think i ever sent them (to give you an idea of what it's like when it rains)

we had a visitor when it rained (we live on the second story, btw)

February 17, 2014

this week was pretty swell. sebastian got baptized (wooo!) but not very many people came (which just means more cake for me wooo!). his aunt (who's inactive) came and said she was gonna start coming to church again now that she had sebastian to go with and afterwards she was gonna bring her whole family (she has two kids that aren't baptized), but she didnt make it to church on sunday. sebastian accompanied us to our lessons after church yesterday (he accompanies us almost every day) and while we were walking he told us he felt different, that he was feeling super great and super happy. he also told us that right before his baptism he had started getting a fever and a headache, but when he came out of the water, it all went away and he felt like he was free from all the things in his past that he had done. we had a lesson with a couple we're teaching, derlis and lydia (gonna write about them later, they're capos too) and after teaching baptism, we invited sebastian to share his experience and his testimony of baptism. he shared his experience, and afterwards invited them to be baptized, and to get married too. after the lesson he said when i was talking to them it just came into my head that i should invite them to get married, and i did it, and we said ''yep, that's the Holy Ghost. whenever that happens, just say whatever comes into your head''

derlis and lydia are awesome. we met derlis last sunday (not sure if i already wrote about him or not) contacting houses. we clapped outside a house, but nobody came out. i saw lights on and a guy moving around inside, so we kept clapping. after a while we realized that there were two houses, and that the entrance to the house where the guy was was around the corner. we went and contacted there and he brought out chairs to sit down. he said he really respected what we were doing, and he was gonna listen to us even though he's catholic. we taught the restoration and left him a book of mormon and a pamphlet of the restoration. we went back another day that week, and he had read the pamphlet, prayed, and received an answer, which was pretty amazing. i asked elder Pacheco after the lesson if that had happened to him before (investigators reading their commitments and getting an answer after the first lesson) and he said never (he has 13 months in paraguay). he said his girlfriend also read the pamphlet and she liked it too. he also said that he wanted to go to church with us, but that this sunday he's gonna be working on his house so he's gonna come the next sunday (they're renting a house right now and building their own house nearby). we had planned to teach him keep the sabbath day holy but we were both a bit afraid (at this point in the lesson we only knew that he had read, he didnt tell us he had prayed and gotten an answer until the end of the lesson). i thought about it a bit and felt that i shouldnt be afraid, so i started teaching sabbath day. we read in mosiah 13 about how you shouldnt work on sundays and after reading and explaining it, he said that he wasnt gonna work this sunday and he was gonna come to church with us. he said he had never read that commandment before but now that we explained it that he knew it was true. they didnt end up going to church cus some relatives came over, but they said they're gonna come next week sí o sí. yesterday we went with sebastian and met lydia too (she's working and studying, so isnt home much). we taught lesson 3 (the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith repentance baptism holy ghost endure to the end)) and they accepted a baptismal date for march 8th. they're calidad.

we also had a miracle in church on sunday. a lady showed up to sacrament meeting that neither of us knew, but she was in a dress so we assumed she was a member from a different branch. afterwards we talked to her and discovered she's not a member, but she lives nearby and has always liked and been interested in the church, and she wants us to teach her and her family.

we didnt have any other investigators in church (juan wasnt feeling good, but says he doesnt have any doubts that the church is true he just needs to get better to be able to come and get baptized; fede was tired even though he said he was gonna come and gonna sleep early (last weekend was his birthday and he was up til 7 in the morning saturday night); and i'm not sure why the rest couldnt come) but a big less active family came, which was pretty swell.

also i bought a fanny pack (fanny packs are cool in paraguay), we moved on wednesday (our new house doesnt have a kitchen so we have to wash our dishes in the bathroom which is lame but other than that it's not too shabby), and my watch broke (i suppose that's what happens when i buy 10 dollar rolexes in china). it's still super hot here but this week wasnt too bad, it rained a bit friday and saturday and didnt get too hot.

cant think of anything else so here you go

February 10, 2014

sebastian's gonna get baptized this saturday wooo! he said he didnt come to church last week cus he slept in, so this week i gave him my alarm clock (we use our cellphone to wake us up) and he got up on time and came to church. also he went out with us a ton this week, and has a bunch of excitement to read the scriptures and do missionary work and everything.

we've also seen miracles with other investigators, but nobody else ended up coming to church. we've been teaching a teenager named Fede(rico) who was a contact, and at first it didnt seem like he was really interested, just another teenager who wants to sleep and live and have fun, but we kept visiting him and the second visit, we got there and asked him if he had read the chapter we had left him and he had, and remembered basically everything it had talked about. he accepted a baptismal date and we explained that to be baptized sí o sí he had to go to church three times and he said he was gonna go with a member that lives near him. when the member went to get him though, he had just gotten home from a party (at like 8 in the morning) and just wanted to sleep, but he should be able to come next week, we just need to commit him a bit better. the member was annoyed though and doesnt want to go get him next week, so we're gonna have to.

we've also been teaching wilfrido and his (wife/girlfriend/?) magdalena. we found wilfrido in a contact, and set an appointment but he wasnt there when we went to visit him. we went back a couple days later and he apologized and we shared a bit with him. he's super prepared to hear the gospel sí o sí. we invited him to church and he immediately accepted, saying that it's good to get to know other churches, and he went to the catholic church before and the evangelical church now but doesnt like the catholic church and hasnt been baptized in the evangelical church even though he's been there for years because it doesnt feel right. he said he was gonna meet us at the comisaria (police station) that's a few blocks from the church cus he didnt know exactly where the church was and it's not in a super well known area like it was in my last area so it's a bit harder to explain. we had another appointment for saturday but he wasnt home, so we just went to the comisaria sunday morning, but didnt find him there either. we went and visited him after church and he apologized again, cus he had had to work, but we had another awesome lesson and he said he's gonna go to church this week. he wanted to read but one of his kids took out the bookmark that we had put, and he tried finding the chapter we had marked but couldnt find it. we read it with him and he said he thinks its true but wants to go to church and learn a bit more.

we found another couple who almost doesnt understand spanish, but we taught them with a member who translated to guarani for us. the first time we taught we just taught cintia, and it seemed like she didnt understand much and it wasnt a super great lesson, so we set an appointment to come back when juan carlos would also be there, hoping that he would understand a bit better. he didnt, but we had a member with us so he translated when necessary. they told the member in guarani that they're catholic, but that they dont go to church very much and they liked what we taught so theyre gonna visit our church, but the member went by on sunday to get them and juan carlos had had to go work.

we also found another awesome investigator this week, juan avila. we were walking down a street at 8 or so at night looking for people to contact (we're supposed to do five contacts per day where we teach or at least set an appointment and Elder Pacheco and I set a goal to do 7/7 cus neither of us had done it up to this point in our missions) and i saw a man sitting outside his house with a beard. i asked Elder Pacheco if he had contacted their before and he said no so we went and greeted us, and he told us to come in. we found out that he had talked to missionaries before and that he had gone to church twice with his family but that he hadnt really been super interested back then. his wife died two years ago and he just recovered from a near fatal illness, during which he almost died and prayed and asked God to save him, and changed his life. now he wants to go to church and learn and everything, but not just out of curiosity, but to apply it. he didnt go this week cus he was still recovering from his sickness but he's reading the book of mormon and is gonna go to church next week.

manuel, alejandro, and gloria didnt go to church either, but manuel and alejandro have been reading the book of mormon (gloria doesnt know how to read). i'm not completely sure why they didnt go (a member went by to bring them) but theyre always eager to learn from us and to read, so hopefully they can go next week and progress towards baptism. their step father shouldnt be a problem, since he's not their dad he doesnt really have any power, and from what they've told us it seems that it's pretty easy to get him to agree with stuff.

elizabeth and her daughters said they were gonna go to church, but they called sunday morning and said they couldnt. they're not reading (except josefina, who's 8 or 9) but they said they were gonna go to church next week so we'll see what happens with them.

also the contract for our house ended jan 31 but the new apartment isnt ready yet so we're staying in our house until the new ones ready. we went one night to talk to the owner about everything (he lives across the street) and he invited us to come for lunch on sunday. he was drinking so we werent sure if he would remember but he did and we had asado. he also wants us to come back to start teaching him (when we told him the limits of our area, he complained that we had never visited him) and invited us to come every sunday for lunch. 

there's not many mosquitos here, i think i've gotten one bite in my two weeks here, but it's super hot. on saturday it got up to 45 degrees i heard (celsius, you can convert it). 

cant think of anything else so here you go

February 3, 2014

i got transferred this week. i'm now in reducto 2 (i think the town is called reducto, if you can't find it it's right next to san lorenzo) which is the smallest area in the mission. my new companion is elder pacheco, who's from peru. he knows the scriptures super well and i'm truly blessed to have him as a companion.

this area's quite a bit different from my last, in many ways. in san isidro, there were a few paved roads and all the rest were stone. here, there's one paved road, a few stone roads, and the majority are just dirt (sometimes firm and sometimes loose, which is a pain to walk in). san isidro was completely city, with a few plots of land where there were no houses or anything and just plants. here there's a lot more country, with open fields and trees and stuff. it's a bit hard to believe but here there's even more mango trees, and a ton of other trees too. it's a normal sight to see cows and horses just hanging out on the side of the road. there's a ton of members in the area, but a good number of them are less active, and most of the people who aren't members have shared with missionaries at least once, due to the size of the area. it makes it a bit hard to find new people to teach, because almost all the houses have been contacted, but the members can also give us a lot of references, or we can reactivate a family and baptize their kids. Elder Chale (my last companion) was here a while ago, and when he was here the church attendance was around 15, but the elders in between me and him did a ton of work with the less actives and yesterday in church there were over 80 people.

when i got here, we had a baptism planned for this saturday, sebastian, who's the friend of the nephew of the relief society president, who lives with his aunt and got baptized the week before i got here, but he slept in yesterday and wasnt able to make it to church, so he should be able to get baptized the next saturday. he wants to get baptized and everything, but it's a bit tough cus he works monday to saturday and doesnt get home normally until 8 or so at night.

we also have cristian, who i havent met yet, but who was an old investigator and a friend of a member, but he's even harder to find, so we cant teach him very easily, but he has a baptismal date for this saturday. odds are though he'll be moved back cus we still have a ton to teach him.

we also found a family that moved to the area recently this as a reference from a recent convert. the first day we just taught manuel and talked to his mom for a bit, the next day we went back and taught the whole family except the dad, and we have another appointment set for tuesday. whenever we pass by there we wave and they ask you're gonna come tuesday right? so they seem like they could really progress well, the only thing that could possibly impede their progress is if the dad doesnt want them to listen to us, cus up until now, we havent met the dad. we met and taught a few kids on saturday, and set an appointment to come back and teach their whole family, but when we went the dad wasnt interested and that just ruins everything, cus we cant teach or baptize without the permission of the parents.

the members here are awesome, we have lunch with members every day except mondays, and sometimes with the same family twice in a week. they often invite us to dinner too (normally not much more than a snack) if they see us out in the street at night.

pictures

me and my new companion and elder muñoz and his new companion (my new companion trained the current companion of elder muñoz)

baptism

January 27, 2014

this week was cool. we had 2 baptisms on saturday (diana y yohana) and the other elders in the ward had a baptism too, jose maría. there were more people at the baptism on saturday than in church on sunday. their mom and two of their cousins went to their baptism and enjoyed it but weren't able to make it to church on sunday. we also had another family of investigators that went to the baptism (ana, the daughter of juana, and her kids). jose maría's story is pretty cool, one sunday he just showed up to sacrament meeting, and after talking to him a bit we learned that his girlfriend and her family are all members, and he had attended church a bunch before, and felt that he needed to come to church. he waited a while in being baptized, cus he wanted to be sure he was doing the right thing first, but he bore an awesome testimony on sunday and now wants to go on a mission.

we only had one investigator in church this week, which is unfortunate after having a few weeks with 4 or 5 regularly, but it's better than nothing. jorge came, and it seems like he'll be able to progress smoothly towards baptism, he just needs to stop smoking. when the classes separated for priesthood, the branch president went to send him with the young men before being told he's 20, cus he looks a bit younger due to his size due to his former drug use. he had an earphone in for parts of church, but stayed for all three hours and said he enjoyed it. we weren't able to teach him at all this week, but were in fairly regular contact trying to schedule and reschedule appointments, and when we passed by on sunday he came out and came with us.

we're also gonna have a baptism this saturday too, but until now we haven't met him yet. his name is daniel, and he was a reference from other missionaries. they taught him and he went to church there, but moved into our area. he moved into the furthest part of our area, where we almost never go just cus it's so far and most people arent familiar with the location of the church so it's not particularly fruitful. but anyways he moved and we received the reference a couple weeks ago, but our phone has some issues and we cant call him successfully, and the two times we went to look for him we werent able to find him, as all we know is the road that he lives on. he's kept going to church in the other ward where he went before though and is ready for his baptism, we just need to find and meet him.

we've also been teaching a woman, lujan, who's progressing well. we contacted her house months ago when elder muñoz was still here and met her brother and her sister, and a couple weeks ago we were in that area and had nothing to do so we went and clapped there. we set an appointment and went the next day, but couldnt enter cus there werent any men present, but we stood outside talking for a few minutes. right as we were about to leave her brother walked up and we were able to go in and have a lesson. the first twenty minutes or so was just us pulling out scriptures and her saying that she doesnt want to stop worshipping the virgin, so i just said to myself ''we're not getting anywhere with this, i'm just gonna end the lesson'' so i started to close. i dont remember exactly what happened next, but she started to tell us about how she's a sinner and how she wishes reincarnation was real so that she could have another chance and started to cry. we read a little bit in alma 7 and invited her to be baptized and she accepted. she was asleep that sunday when we called her but said she's gonna come this sunday. she always has a ton of questions for us about the stories in the book of mormon and stuff (like why is alma named alma (alma means soul in spanish) and what does alma mean in hebrew and why was alma trying to destroy the church if his dad was a prophet), frank questions that i never really thought i would need to answer, but it's cool cus it shows she really wants to learn all she can from us. she accepts everything we teach as truth, except that she needs to stop praying to the virgin mary. that comes up usually at least once per lesson, but for now we just say basically that we're just going to continue visiting her and see what happens in the future.

the weather's pretty incredibly hot, but i'm used to it now. i dont really feel that hot, but i have to constantly wipe the sweat from my face on sunny days, and my nose is often burnt.

also something funny happened a few weeks ago and i dont think i ever sent it. we found a part member inactive family and started sharing with them. the dad is member but his kids arent. we passed by one sunday to bring them to church, and as we entered the street the dad (the only one who came with us) saw a bunch of beer cans (he collects and sells cans for a living) and we grabbed them to bring them to his house. after we had all made one trip, there were still a few cans and we mentioned it to him, but he said ''no we're gonna leave them for another poor person.''

i cant think of anything else and the usb port in this computer doesnt work so i'll send pictures next week

January 20, 2014

this week was kind of lame, cus elder chale was sick saturday and sunday so we didnt do anything, he laid in bed and i studied the old testament.

only diana and joana came to church yesterday, and even they almost didnt come. we hadnt planned to pass by their house (cus hermana francisca always brings them to church) but their house is on the way to the rest of the places we were going so when we passed by we stopped to say hi. Diana was seated outside with a damp cloth over her head and said she didnt feel good, and that they werent going to be able to go to church. we offered to give her a blessing, and after giving it asked her how she felt. she said that the pain had gone away, and i asked if she was ready to go to church, and she said yes and jumped up to get ready. it was an incredible experience and strengthened my testimony a ton, that this is truly the Lord's work and he's going to do what it takes to help us, even miracles. they're gonna get baptized this saturday, and they're inviting all their friends and family to go. Joana also commented to us that she wants to go on a mission, but her mom said she doesnt want her to go, so we suggested that for now she just accompany the sister missionaries that are in our district, and she's super excited to do it. their mom wants to go to church too and is reading the book of mormon but always seems to have something come up sunday morning.

we visited a less active family this week too, who we found a few weeks ago. i'm not sure if i've written about them or not yet, so i'm gonna write now. we were walking down the street after an appointment fell through, and we contacted a guy standing in the street drinking tereré. he told us about how he had been in prison and used to drink and do drugs and stuff but how he wants to change his life, and that as he saw as walking up, he started to go inside twice but felt he should stay outside. we set an appointment with him for the next day. we went to the appointment and a teenager came out, and we asked for raul. he told us raul lived on the corner, and we found the house where he supposedly lived but could never find him there. the teenager also told us that he and a few other people in his family are members but havent gone in forever. this week we were in that area and i thought to myself 'raul doesnt live there but we can share with the less actives' so we went and they invited us in and raul came out. we cleared up that raul did in fact live there, but the teenager who had talked to us called raul by a nickname and didnt realize that he was who we were looking for. we started to share with one of the girls who is a member and was the only person who wasnt distracted (it was their grandmas birthday and everyone was blowing up balloons) and she said that for now she goes to another church and she feels confused like Joseph Smith. we asked her if she had prayed and received an answer before being baptized and she said yes, so we read from d and c 8 where Joseph Smith is receiving revelation for oliver cowdery and says something like this ''if you have doubts think back on that night when i spoke peace to your mind, what greater testimony can you have than from God'' and she said okay i realize now i'm gonna start going back to church. it was super cool. afterwards raul passed by and i asked him if he wanted to be baptized and when, and he said i want to get baptized when she gets baptized and we said she already got baptized, when you were in prison and he said how professional. it was super funny. but anyways we went by sunday morning and raul had been out drinking and had gotten stabbed (he already us like a hundred scars, across his chest and back and arms) and everyone was in the hospital except the girl who had to take care of her grandpa. it was pretty lame but next sunday will be better.

the weather's been pretty swell this week too, it wasnt super hot except for the days when elder chale was sick.

odds are i'll get transferred the 29th, but i'm not gonna be financiero, or at least not for now, cus there's already a new financiero. could be that i stay here too, i wont know til the 28th

i cant think of anything else so here you go

January 13, 2014

this week was a week of miracles! i'm gonna start with saturday cus that was the coolest day. we started out going to visit an investigator, but he was busy, so we just contacted while walking towards lunch (every saturday we have lunch with the coronel family, who have been members for quite a while. brother coronel is blind but also super funny and super chill). they always give us pasta with chicken, cus saturday is their pasta with chicken day, and it always fills me up completely. after lunch we went to an appointment that we had set with a contact that we had done. we had talked to the daughter and the mother, but when we got there only the dad was outside (in paraguay all the houses have fences and gates and patios out front and people often just hang out on their patios, and if the person outside doesnt want to talk to you youre not going to be able to get anywhere). i said hi how are you and he said bad; i asked why and he said he needed money. i thought to myself dang it this appointments gonna fall through too but then the mom came outside and invited us in. we sat down and started talking and eventually taught baptism, and they said that they think thats exactly what they need right now. after the lesson we got up to leave and they said ''you're already leaving? arent you going to stay for lunch?'' i was already completely stuffed but said okay and sat back down, and they had prepared asado which is basically just throw a bunch of big cuts of meat on the barbecue, and they put the biggest piece in front of me. it was super good but i could barely eat any because i was already so full. we committed them to go to church and passed by on sunday morning to bring them but they said they were still getting ready. the mom and the daughter showed up 10 or 20 minutes late, and loved everything. the dad couldnt go because of work but should be able to next week. there's a relief society activity on wednesday, and raquel (the 1st counselor in the relief society and the sister of the branch president) told me that graciela(the mom) was more excited for the activity than anybody else. also the young womens program is thriving here (thanks in part to diana and joana) and leticia seemed to enjoy herself too.

The Fonce family (javier, nilda, diana, joana and angelica) is doing well for the most part. we werent able to talk with the whole family at any point this week, as nilda wasnt feeling very well and had to go to the hospital a couple times, but diana and joana are going to all the youth activities and everything. on saturday we tried visiting them and nilda (their mom) asked ''are you going to francisca's house too?'' (francisca's the first counselor in the young womens, got baptized last june i think, and has a super strong testimony) and told us that her daughters were currently there. we went and they were all doing their nails and their hair for church the next day but we didnt realize until we had gone in and sat down. we ended up watching 'how rare a posession', a movie about the book of mormon, and it was cool because in the movie it relates the story of a man who had found the book, read it, and acted on the invitation in moroni 10:3-5, and it described how he received his answer. after diana recounted that she had prayed and felt exactly the same thing, so the movie was like a reaffirmation, and francisca told her testimony and committed joana to pray and ask too (which she did, and also got an answer) they're both gonna get baptized the 25th (likely my last saturday here).

also a part member formerly inactive family came, and said they're going to keep coming which is cool but doesnt really do much for us, cus the dad is a member and all the kids are members but to baptize the mom we would have to marry them, and the dad has a drinking problem so we dont want to marry them for the sake of the kids in case something happens in the future, cus the other area has a situation a bit similar, where a woman got married to get baptized but is now working on getting a divorce and getting her husband kicked out of her house.

we also started teaching a couple teenagers this week who are cool. we had known jorge for a long time but just started teaching him this week, and it turns out he just stopped doing drugs like 6 months ago, and now is working on stopping cigarettes. in the middle of the lesson he brought us his special pipe and taught us how to smoke the drug that he did (not sure exactly what it's called) and then he broke his pipe to show us that he was done with drugs.

we also met axel, who stutters pretty badly and is super catholic. his first question was ''why dont you believe in the virgin mary'' and we explained that we do, we just center our worship in God and Jesus because that's what God commanded us to do, and he said ''i always put the virgin first and then God.'' we explained a lot of things including the correct  manner of baptism, and at the end he said he was really confused because he felt we were telling him the truth, but it went completely against his beliefs which he holds dearly. they both said they were gonna go to church but neither one did, but i think they both just need a bit more help to be able to progress well.

also i have red itchy spots on my feet which is kind of lame but i'm using the foot powder i have and i think they're getting better.

cant think of anything else so pictures:

a lizard jumped on our desk when we were studying, we threw him out the window (he survived)

homemade super panchos (hot dogs)