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

Oh the humidity...

Hey so all is well with me and Elder Breton, we were able to get through it without him getting strep throat. I think I actually got the Flu from him. He had had a little fever and stuff before but It wasnt to bad. But when I got It it was horrible. Mom said that sometimes it feels like getting hit by a Mack truck. She Is compleatly right about that. As for the strep, I think it was just a random occurance. But I am all better and back to full health and was able to work the full week. and yes mom, I did get an anti biotic.

The Hospitals here definatly dont have the same level of cleanliness as in the states. But it wasnt too bad. I should have taken pictures but I just felt to bad to take them.

As for the weather here its been super humid. Since Wednesday It has been the same thing. Super hot in the morning with rain in the evening. People say its around 113 (not sure how true that is) and then it will rain. so the next morning is super humid but a little cooler but the humidity has made it feel even hotter. So in the morning we are soaked in sweat, and the evening soaked in rain. But this week has been a rewarding week.

We had a super cool lesson with an investigator who said that he believed the church was true and everything. But as always, he works on sundays and he says he trys to get it off but he cant sometimes. but we still keep trying and praying that his boss will let him have sundays free. But he loves reading the Book of Mormon and everything. Really the only thing he lacks is Church attendance.

We also had an investigator get super excited to go to church, she and her nephew were super excited to come. They both knew that it is super important to go but then at the end of the week they both got sick. They think Its because of the changes in the weather from hot to rainy and back to hot. But they have desires to go to church which is pretty hard to find people that want to spend time at church.  So still the work is progressing well in our area.

Ive learned that I can understand spanish in my subconcise (spell check please!!). I was healping a little kid that was drawing while Elder Breton was talking and the little kid ran off. Thats when I realized that I understood the conversation! so that makes me super happy!!!!

As for the pensamiento espiritual (spiritual thought), It comes from 3 nephi chapter 27:1-8. In these verses, the Apostles are preaching the gospel and bulding a church, but there is a disputation on what to call the church. So what do they do, they ask God, but they didnt just ask God for an answer, they asked him (after lots of powerful prayer and fasting) to send Jesus himself to answer. And It happened, so point 1 from this set of scriptures is that when powerful prayer and fasting are combined you recieve a poweful answer.

continuing, they asked Christ what they should name the church, and naturally, Jesus quoted scripture saying that it should be called the church of christ.

Just a side note, I really love verse 6.

But verse 8 sums it up pretty perfectly. Read it and love it.

My testimony has grown verymuch since I have left on my mission. I have learned more about this restored gospel in these almost 6 months then I have in any other time of my life. I know that this is the same organization that existed in the times of Christ and that he is at the head of this church. I know that Thomas S. Monson and the other Apostles are the only men on earth that can recieve revelation from Jesus Christ to guide us. I love this gospel with all my heart and hope that everyone can learn to love it too.

With all the love i have,
Elder Jared

No letter due to illness

Week 1 of 2015

My goly its 2015 already. This year has gone by verrry quick. I am entering into what us missionaries call the "blackout year" because I will be gone the whole year. But I couldn't be happier doing what I am doing.

First of all, It was impossible to sleep when the new year came. The Paraguayans Love their fireworks. Expecially the loud ones. Once the clock hit 12 Paraguay turned from straight green to all the colors you see in fireworks. Because we couldn't sleep, we decided to sit out on our porch and watch them for a bit. We also ate a pomegranete (I think I forgot to mention that our house has a pomegranete tree.. my bad). It was pretty delicious.

As for the work in 2015, things have been really great. We have been praying really hard to find the people that are ready to listen to our message and we have started to find them. So you know what that means, story time! You get three of them this week.

Story numero uno: Its thursday night and we were planning on who to visit, and we had one empty hour open but we didn't know who would fill it. And then, the sudden inspiration to visit a contact came to my mind. The contact wasn't solid and he seemed like the kind that wasn't interested but too nice to say no. So we didn't think anything would come from that contact but decided to go anyway. Fastforward to the next day and we visit his house. He wasn't home, but his sisters were outside chatting, so naturally, we start talking to them. Then one just opens up to us and tells us her story of how searching for God had saved her life. But she also mentioned that she thought the church she was attending was good, but it wasn't the right church. Then she hit us with the question that is one that every missionary loves to answer, she asked us "Why are there so many churches on the earth? Jesus Christ only established 1, so why are there thousands?" It was absolutely fabulous and we were able to teach the restoration to very curious ears. She couldn't go to church this week but said she was always very interested in visiting the chapel. I am super excited for them and hope that they continue to be interested. We are visiting them tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed!!!

Story numero 2: We had some investigators who said they were going to go to church but they didn't. And yesterday we were visiting them to see why. And supposedly they were already to go, but right as they were leaving, he got called into work. It was work or lose the job, and he needed this job. So thats why he didn't come. But he said that he was super excited to go next week. He loves our visits and say that after we started visiting them, they have been a happier family. It's amazing to see how much the Gospel can change families, just by listening to it and making commitments to live it. We probably will have the chance to do some service with him and help him make a garden. So I'm looking forward to that.

Story numero 2: This one made my week. We are thinking that it might be a golden investigator . But the story goes like this: A returned missionary just barely came home on Tuesday. He asked a lady if the collectivo passed by and then they started talking and eventually he got her information and stuff so that we could visit her. Yesterday we visited her with the returned missionary and she immediately opened up to us. She started telling us how she was quitting smoking and drinking and stuff so she wouldn't be a bad influence on her children. She also said that she wanted to get a lot closer to God. So we talked to her about repentace and stuff. And naturally baptism came up she had lots of questions about baptism and how it worked, she then proceeded to tell us how she didn't believe in infant baptism because they wouldn't know the significance of baptism. It was the first time I have ever heard someone say that. She was exceedingly happy to know that we belived the same thing and that the choice was personal. It was amazing and to make things better, when we were talking about the authority to baptise, she said "I believe that you guys have the authority. I have talked with catholic missionaries, jehovahs witnesses and people like that. But they don't make me feel the way that you make me feel. You guys are special." It was every missionaries dream.

I am super excited about the work in this area. I know that God listens to our prayers and will answer them. I know that this church is true and is the only church on the face of the earth that is Completely true and has the authority and power to make covenants. I know it and I know that many people are coming to know it. I love the mission and can't wait to find more people to teach!!

With all the love of Paraguay,

Elder Jared

The week after Christmas

Once again, this week has absolutely flooown by too fast. I loved spending Christmas here. But the thing is, they don't really celebrate Christmas here. They celebrate the 24th more. That's when they have their big dinner and all of their fiestas, and then at midnight they launch off fireworks. We had permission from the president to be out on the street until 11 that night. I'll have to say that as 10:00 rolled around I was beat. But I only get 2 Christmases in Paraguay so naturally we stayed out til 11. We had Christmas dinner with the Bishop which was super fun. We had an Asado which is a ton of meat. But don't worry mom, I ate some veggies too :) they had this super yummy salad which is called Ensalada de Remolacha. Which Is sugar beets. I hadn't really eaten sugar beets before but I have to say that that salad was some of the best stuff I have tasted. I dont know what was in it but it was awesome!! So for Christmas Eve dinner I had meat and sugar beet (I think they made it rhyme on purpose!!)

But as for the missionary work this week, its been hard. Every one gets drunk. It makes it extremely hard to find someone that is sober enough to understand our message. So this week has been a week of on and off. With Tuesday being a regular day and then Christmas Eve and Christmas as awesome (because we just visited members and talked to our families!!!!!!) but then Friday, Saturday and Sunday were absolutely hard. It was extremely hot and everyone was still drinking. So it was a bit rough but it was expected. I also suspect this week will be similar.

We were able to have one good lesson this week with an investigator that had a lot of questions. You would be suprised how hard it is to find people that have questions about our church or anything. But he had heard that we worshiped Joseph Smith, and stuff like that, but he wanted to hear from us what we believe in so it was super cool. He also had lots of questions about the Book of Mormon, and so we explained it to him and after we asked if he had any questions and he said "So if I don't read this book, will I be condemned to hell?" We were a bit confused at how he got to that conclusion but we told him that if he read the book and prayed to know that it was true, and followed the footsteps of Christ and be baptized, it would save him from hell. It was amazingly powerful and it was awesome to see someone excited about reading this incredible book.

I would love to hear how all of your Christmases were so write me!!

Elder Jared

He is the Gift

Hello family and friends!

This week has been incredibly fast... Like I dont know where time has gone! and now its Christmas! I love the christmas season soo much! everyone is happy!

Speaking of Christmas, the Church has come out with a video called Èl es la Dadiva, which in english is "He is the Gift" If you havent seen it yet, stop reading and go watchit. Right now. WE have been using to contact people. It has been working amazingly well. Sometimes we get to watch a video right there when we contact(they have smartphones but live in little shacks, dont ask my why they get a regular phone put the money to something else). and when we get to watch it with them, the people loooooove it. The spirit from the video is soooo strong and they can feel it. It has been a great way to get on the other side of the fence and teach a lesson.

We have discovered another thing thats hard about a Whitewash right before christmas. You dont have anybody to spend Christmas with. So In Kokuere, I had three dinner invites, and here we were thinking that we would have to spend christmas alone. To make things worse, the members didnt like the Elders before us and they didnt trust them. But luckily, the Bishop has invited us (Kinda) for dinner. I say kinda because he didnt say it to our face. He was talking with the Hermanas and invited them over and they asked if the Elders were going to be there and he said yes. So I feel like we have a family to spend christmas with.

I hope you all have a very merry christmas and hope that you can see the most amazing video (along with "because of him" (easter)) in the world.

Feliz navidad y enjoy the cool!!

Elder Jared

Whitewash Week 2

This week has been a wierd week.. It was going great the first half of the week and they its like a light switch was flipped. I'll talk about it a bit more later. 

We had zone conference this weekend and things are changing in the mission. It's great changes! So right now every week we have to send in 14 things to the president. It's baptisms, confirmations, investigators with a date, investigators that went to church, lessons to a investigator with a member, other lessons, progressing investigators, references received, contacted, new investigators and lessons to a menos activo or a recent convert and the number of contacts, menos activos at church and total at church.

But now we only have three things, and that's baptisms and confirmation, % of the recent converts that went to church, and total at church. So that takes a lot of pressure off of us and we can focus on teaching investigators and not trying to reach a number. 

So that was on Wednesday. and something big happened on Wednesday also. I had divisions with the APs. It was tons of fun and I learned soo much. I went with Elder Caldouron. He is from Logan but was born in Colombia. He's been the AP for 6ish months. But at the end he told me that my spanish is great and gave me stuff to start perfecting my accent. So that made me feel awesome!

But Wednesday was when things started to change. Monday to Wednesday we didnt have any trouble getting into houses and finding new people to teach, but from then on it was seriously nothing. All of our contacts were rejections and we had tons of trouble finding and teaching. I'm sure this week will be better!

It's mango season right now and they are everywhere! There are tons of mangos on the ground and are starting to rot so it smells bad. But when you get a good mango it's awesome! I've started eating a mango for breakfast and when we are walking you can just pick a mango and eat it. So everyday I eat like 10 mangoes (most of the mangoes here are small and fit in the palm of your hand). I love them so much!

For this week in studies I spent a good part of the week studying 3 Nephi 11. I have to say that it might be my favorite chapter in the whole book. It is absolutely amazing. But I left my study book at home so I can't share in detail. Basically the doctrine of Christ is to have faith in him, be baptized and repent. The rest of the doctrine is based on those three things. They are crucial and I loved studying them.

I have a question for you all, I would love to hear your responses next week. It will take some studying and research, but I'm sure you will learn a lot. In 3 Nephi 11:21 Jesus gives Nephi and the 12 the power to baptize. But they had been baptizing before, so were those baptisms invalid? I would love to hear your thoughts. Next week I will post my thoughts. I hope you have fun studying this!!

With love from Paraguay,

Elder Jared