Frescito

This week has been a relief... a relief from the heat that is. Last Monday was hot and then Monday night we had a nice good rain storm to cool things off. But the good thing is the clouds stayed and so it was what we call "Frescito" which is like a little bit cool. We had cloud cover for most of the week so this week was a break from the scorching heat. The only day I remember it being super hot was Friday, which was absolutely terrible timing for us.

Why terrible timing? One of the ladies that feeds us had some service for us to do. She wanted us to cut her grass. We willingly accepted and set a date to return with a member that had a little tiny electrical lawn mower. We planned for Tuesday morning, but the member with the machine had to cancel at the last moment and so we rescheduled for Friday morning, but that morning we get a call that he couldn't do it unitl after lunch. On the hottest part of the day on the hottest day of the week. But we had to do it sí o sí. also, because there was only one machine, the others had MACHETES hacking at the grass in the places where the machine couldn't go. All in all, It took us three hours to cut the grass. Mainly because we had to take lots of water breaks because it was so hot. We weren't just sweating, we had a waterfall running down our face. It was nasty but it was worth it. I absolutely loved it.

On Tuesday we had divisions, I was with Elder Zarabia from Peru. It was fun to go full spanish for a day. Elder Zarabia is 23 and came in a change after me. So once again I was the senior comp for a day. It was fun and I enjoyed it. He Is an excellent teacher and helped me improve my teaching.

Now it's time for the Spiritual thought of the Week. This time it comes from something we learned in our Zone Conference this week. In our Area (south america south, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay) we are focusing on Ministering instead of teaching. One thing that I realized is that often times It says that Jesus (or the Apostles) Ministered unto the people. So what's the difefrence between ministering and teaching? President McMullin said that teaching is part of ministering but there is more to it. Ministering is finding a specific spiritual need and teaching according to that need. Often times we fall into a trap of just teaching a gospel principle. So Elder Berton and I have been focousing on Ministering and we have felt soo much better in our lessons. And we saw some immediate fruits. We MINISTERED to a family of less actives about the importance of uniting the family in the church. And they Came to church!! We had been trying for a month and a half to get them to go to church and the finally came!! It was amazingly fulfilling to see the fruits of ministering.

So for Dallin and all the other missionaries who are preparing to leave, focus on the person not the principle!!!

Here is the Guaraní word of the week it is

Kariay´cha (car-e-eye-uh-sha) which means like a man. So If you need help opening a bottle, Kariay´cha :)

Love you all!,
Elder Jared