Well this is it!! Im offically starting Week one of my last six weeks here. Its been a crazy awesome super stressful best (almost) 2 years ever!! I seriously have loved every moment out here. I 'remember much of the hard stuff. I recognize that hard things have happened but I hardly remember those. All of my memories are full of joy and happiness and I am so glad that I have had this time to serve. But now it's time for this weeks update!
We had good week this week. It was quite rainy which made it hard to find new people. So that was kinda rough. But anyway, we had some great lessons with Angie and Victor. Angie seems so set. She just a little bit scared to talk with her Dad. Her Dad is supposedly very catholic and doesnt really enjoy the fact that we are teaching her. We try talking with him, but every time we see him, he runs away from us. Her mom doesn't mind that we teach her. She will even listen to us, but you can tell that she just isn't very interested. Angie is very worried about asking her dad. She has her sister (who is a member) and her sister's husband to support her. So this week we just were talking with her and we just started talking about Fast and Prayer. It was incredible how fast and perfectly things just happened. It was so weird. It seemed to just fall right into place. It really was awesome and Angie seemed so ready to fast and pray for the strength to talk to her dad. We will see tonight if she was able to do it.
We also had a good lesson with Victor this week. We found out that he has been struggling with the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. Its been dragging him down. But he seemed to have greater desire to move on and obey the commandments. But we will also see this week how he is doing.
We had this crazy awesome experience this week. We were walking to an appointment when Elder Proffit and I both felt that we needed to visit a members house. So we decide to visit them. It turns out that a 15 year old member had just been robbed. She was not having a good time either. She didn't want to look at us and just was having a rough time. She asked for a blessing. Her mom asked Elder Proffit to give the blessing. He still struggles a lot with Spanish, but while he gave this blessing, It seemed that there was no problem with his Spanish. It was really the most perfect Spanish I have ever heard him say. It was truly amazing. The Spirit was so strong. And as for the member, we ended up finishing our visit laughing. It was amazing how the spirit was able to help her. It was one of the most powerful experiences that I have had yet on the mission. Well time is short and I gave to go. I love you all!!
Elder Jared
Monday, May 30, 2016
Monday, May 16, 2016
Quick Update
Hello!! I hope you all are having a fantastic week!! WE have had a decent week here, I just want to give a nice quick update. I just want to tell you guys that Angie is progressing very well right now. she went to church and she really wants to be baptized. Its so exciting know that she has the desires to repent and be baptized by his authority. We are a little bit worried about permission from her father, but her Mom has given us the OK to move ahead, but we will be having a Family Home evening with her family tonight. Her older sister is a member and is sealed, so I believe that she will help us a lot. Angie Really is great and we had a fantastic lesson on the Plan of salvation. Her mom was there, but she isnt really interested. One by one I guess we will have to get this family. I am super excited for them.
I really dont know what else to say, other than that there isnt much to say, just another week in the work of the Lord!
Love you all
Elder Jared
I really dont know what else to say, other than that there isnt much to say, just another week in the work of the Lord!
Love you all
Elder Jared
Monday, May 2, 2016
And the cold comes rolling in!
This week was a pretty good week. There most definatly were ups and downs to the week. One Good thing that happened this week is that we had a cold front move in this week!! Which was quite a relief knowing that I had beat the Paraguayan heat! its a relief to not be sweating all day walking in the blistering sun!
We had been working with an investigator named Eduardo Ozuna for a long time now. His family is active (except for his Dad) and he was baptized when he was 8 but what happened was that he never went fully under, so after 4 attempts at being baptized, he got scared and just left the font. So for 2 years, missionaries have been passing by their house trying to help him. And for the first time in these 2 years, he had accepted a baptismal date. We have been working with him about his fear of water and he was starting to be more confident in being baptized. So we were super excited for him to be baptized this weekend. But Saturday we were talking with his Dad about it and his Dad basically just said "we are going to do it another date. End of Story." We tried asking him why and he said he didnt know about the date. Which is a complete lie because we had talked about it with him many times. and his wife and Eduardo had talked about it. So it was just really frustrating for me. So Theres the Struggle between helping the Father (The ward and we have been working real hard with putting goals with him to be worthy to baptize but he just wasnt meeting the goals) and helping his son recieve the remision of his sins through repentance and baptism. Its quite a dificult balance to find! But we are praying very hard for them so that Eduardo can be baptized.
So That happened like saturday. and that really put a huge bummer on our day. We were really just kind of disanimated at that point. So we just decided to continue with our plans. We had recieved a refrence from a member that we decided to check out. And It was a great lesson that we had. her name is Maria De los Angeles, but everyone calls her Angie for short. She is 12 years old and is the sister of the member. So we just decided to stop by and see her and she lets us in really quick. She immediatly pulls out all of the pamphelts with the missionary lessons and the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principle book. She had been studying a little bit! She had been to church so we started talking about her expirence in the Church and she told us that she loved it. She said that going just wanted her to change and to be better! I think that pretty rare for a 12 year old girl. so yeah. Super awesome. so then we teach the restoration to her and she honestly loved it! She said that she wanted to know what the true church is and she feels like it was an answer for her! But she really wanted to recieve a firm firm confirmation so she said she will pray about it! It was so great seeing something so awesome right after sucha dower of a lesson with Eduardos Dad. The Lord always seems to lift me up after something like that happenes!! I love him!!
Victor was called into work this Sunday, So once again, we have to wait for another week. But he says that he feels ready., It was cool because in the past lessons, hes been telling us that he had to work through some things, but this week he told us that he felt he was ready. He truly is repenting and the change in him has been incredible. I really hope he can go to church next week. I love you all!!!
Elder Jared
We had been working with an investigator named Eduardo Ozuna for a long time now. His family is active (except for his Dad) and he was baptized when he was 8 but what happened was that he never went fully under, so after 4 attempts at being baptized, he got scared and just left the font. So for 2 years, missionaries have been passing by their house trying to help him. And for the first time in these 2 years, he had accepted a baptismal date. We have been working with him about his fear of water and he was starting to be more confident in being baptized. So we were super excited for him to be baptized this weekend. But Saturday we were talking with his Dad about it and his Dad basically just said "we are going to do it another date. End of Story." We tried asking him why and he said he didnt know about the date. Which is a complete lie because we had talked about it with him many times. and his wife and Eduardo had talked about it. So it was just really frustrating for me. So Theres the Struggle between helping the Father (The ward and we have been working real hard with putting goals with him to be worthy to baptize but he just wasnt meeting the goals) and helping his son recieve the remision of his sins through repentance and baptism. Its quite a dificult balance to find! But we are praying very hard for them so that Eduardo can be baptized.
So That happened like saturday. and that really put a huge bummer on our day. We were really just kind of disanimated at that point. So we just decided to continue with our plans. We had recieved a refrence from a member that we decided to check out. And It was a great lesson that we had. her name is Maria De los Angeles, but everyone calls her Angie for short. She is 12 years old and is the sister of the member. So we just decided to stop by and see her and she lets us in really quick. She immediatly pulls out all of the pamphelts with the missionary lessons and the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principle book. She had been studying a little bit! She had been to church so we started talking about her expirence in the Church and she told us that she loved it. She said that going just wanted her to change and to be better! I think that pretty rare for a 12 year old girl. so yeah. Super awesome. so then we teach the restoration to her and she honestly loved it! She said that she wanted to know what the true church is and she feels like it was an answer for her! But she really wanted to recieve a firm firm confirmation so she said she will pray about it! It was so great seeing something so awesome right after sucha dower of a lesson with Eduardos Dad. The Lord always seems to lift me up after something like that happenes!! I love him!!
Victor was called into work this Sunday, So once again, we have to wait for another week. But he says that he feels ready., It was cool because in the past lessons, hes been telling us that he had to work through some things, but this week he told us that he felt he was ready. He truly is repenting and the change in him has been incredible. I really hope he can go to church next week. I love you all!!!
Elder Jared
Monday, April 25, 2016
The work keeps growing!
Man this was a great week this week!! We had a great time here in Huguito, and are working really hard!! Its a little bit hard being the only companionship in a ward, because all of the responsibility of finding and baptizing is on your shoulders, but Lately the Ward has been helping us a lot this week. But I have to say that this was a very very successful week this week. We had our Annual ward conference this week and so the members were working so hard this week. But Saturday we had an activity called "Sión al Rescate" (Zion to the rescue) and we had huge sucsess. Basically what we did, we met up as members and Missionaries (we got the zone to come) in the morning and we basically Blitz the area. we just split off into little groups and we visit everyone that we could! It was really awesome because we had 102 people in church!! It was the Highest that its been for a long long time! So shout out to member work!! and among the the 102 people in church, there were 6 investigators!! WE had Eduardo Ozuna who is planning on being Baptized in 2 weeks and a part family member that we found this week with 3 kids that need to be baptized! They are called the Familia Sotelo and the investigators are named Ana who is 13, Matias who is 10 and Lucas who is 9! So with them thats 4 investigators, we had a member bring her little sister who is named Angie, shes 12 and she seems pretty interested in the Church. The last investigator ins named Alberto. And he Kinda Wondered in. He is like the neighborhood drunk, but he told us that he wanted to change so we were able to get his direction. He seems Pretty sincere in what he says, so we will be working with him to overcome his addiction. So It was pretty awesome having such a great showing by members and by investigators.
We had a stellar lesson with Victor. He was kinda dis animated because he is struggling. its been hard on him overcoming everything. So we shared Mosiah 3:19 and we focused on the ways to overcome the natural man. We talked about how we have to do things that invite the Spirit. Like reading the scriptures and Praying and going to church. and then we talked a lot about the Atonement and it was incredible!! He seemed so determined to whats good and he seems soo so convinced that this is true. He has testified of it many many times, its just a struggle with him because we have these spectacular lessons and then he seems so so good, and he just doesn't do some things. but we will keep working with him. He is Incredible. I Love him like a Brother. I really do!!
I love you all!!
Elder Jared
We had a stellar lesson with Victor. He was kinda dis animated because he is struggling. its been hard on him overcoming everything. So we shared Mosiah 3:19 and we focused on the ways to overcome the natural man. We talked about how we have to do things that invite the Spirit. Like reading the scriptures and Praying and going to church. and then we talked a lot about the Atonement and it was incredible!! He seemed so determined to whats good and he seems soo so convinced that this is true. He has testified of it many many times, its just a struggle with him because we have these spectacular lessons and then he seems so so good, and he just doesn't do some things. but we will keep working with him. He is Incredible. I Love him like a Brother. I really do!!
I love you all!!
Elder Jared
Monday, April 18, 2016
The Last Week
So this last week was the last week of this transfer! Its hard for me to believe that 6 weeks have already passed since I've been with Elder Proffit. honestly, Its been a great great change. We have seen a lot of progress in the ward and the members. There just seems to be lots of excitement in the members and that shows by our attendance yesterday. we reached an all time high for over 2 years with 87 people in church. It was so great just to see the chapel full. the Bishop was ecstatic and the leaders were so happy! There is a lot of excitement and with next week being ward conference, the members are going to be working so hard! Haha so I am excited for this week!! We are anticipating a lot this week, so everything is set up to be a great week!! Haha
But last week I promised a little report on our investigators, a lot of them seem like they wont progress, they just have made some excuses each time we've come to their door, but ill give a little update on all of our investigators!
Eduardo Ozuna is a little 10 year old of an active family. he was baptized when he was 8, the only thing is that he never went all the way under. they did it 3 times and the third time he got scared and just left the font, but he seems like hes ready to be baptized, we are just working a lot on getting his trust back, he has a date for the 7th of may. I feel like he will be baptized this time even though he is super shy. But he is progressing well.
Then we have Victor Azuada. He is a great investigator that has quit smoking since we have been teaching him. he really has huge desires to change. It really is incredible how the atonement of Jesus Christ has changed his life. he recognizes that he has changed, but still hast to change a lot. he is a trooper.
Next is Luz, she is an investigator that we had found contacting a few weeks ago. she is really interested and she seems like she will progress. she wants to go to church, the only problem is finding time to teach her. She is incredibly hard to find, but when we find her, the lessons are spectacular. The spirit is always with her because I believe she is earnestly seeking the truth.
That's really all of the investigators that seem like they will progress as of now. But something really awesome that happened this week is we had a huge service project for a family in our ward, they actually are recent converts and they live in very humble circumstances. Their names are Dani and Liz Paola. They have 4 little kids with 1 on they way and their house is literally sticks and bags with a roof. So as a ward, members donated time and talent to help their house, we were able to install water into their house replacing their roof and rewiring their house. The change was incredible. They were so happy and they were able to relieve a little bi of stress with that. Their home is a lot more comfortable and they are happy so I am happy!!
i love you all and if you have specific questions, just write me and Ill do my best to respond to them!!
Elder Jared
But last week I promised a little report on our investigators, a lot of them seem like they wont progress, they just have made some excuses each time we've come to their door, but ill give a little update on all of our investigators!
Eduardo Ozuna is a little 10 year old of an active family. he was baptized when he was 8, the only thing is that he never went all the way under. they did it 3 times and the third time he got scared and just left the font, but he seems like hes ready to be baptized, we are just working a lot on getting his trust back, he has a date for the 7th of may. I feel like he will be baptized this time even though he is super shy. But he is progressing well.
Then we have Victor Azuada. He is a great investigator that has quit smoking since we have been teaching him. he really has huge desires to change. It really is incredible how the atonement of Jesus Christ has changed his life. he recognizes that he has changed, but still hast to change a lot. he is a trooper.
Next is Luz, she is an investigator that we had found contacting a few weeks ago. she is really interested and she seems like she will progress. she wants to go to church, the only problem is finding time to teach her. She is incredibly hard to find, but when we find her, the lessons are spectacular. The spirit is always with her because I believe she is earnestly seeking the truth.
That's really all of the investigators that seem like they will progress as of now. But something really awesome that happened this week is we had a huge service project for a family in our ward, they actually are recent converts and they live in very humble circumstances. Their names are Dani and Liz Paola. They have 4 little kids with 1 on they way and their house is literally sticks and bags with a roof. So as a ward, members donated time and talent to help their house, we were able to install water into their house replacing their roof and rewiring their house. The change was incredible. They were so happy and they were able to relieve a little bi of stress with that. Their home is a lot more comfortable and they are happy so I am happy!!
i love you all and if you have specific questions, just write me and Ill do my best to respond to them!!
Elder Jared
Monday, April 11, 2016
Summer's Last Laugh
Man this has been a good week of such great work!! We had a great week of work this week so that always a good sign for a missionary!! But what made this week so great?? SO let me tell you...
Well, first of all, on Tuesday, we had the opportunity to attend the temple!!
It was so great to be able to enter into the lords house. Every time its a special time. there is just so much peace, so much joy that I have when I enter into the temple. As a missionary I am sad to say that It was my last time. The temple will be closed when I go home so i was Kinda sad for this to be my last time. But I have to say, that this time was such a good learning opportunity. I learned a lot and was spiritually revitalized. I love this Asuncion temple so much. It may be small, but Just like every other temple it is incredible. So That is such a great way to start off the week.
I named this email because i feel like this week was summers last shot at making us miserable. Because man, it was hot this week. It had been cooling down but it shot up this week. But we had a nice rainstorm this week and everyone says that It should start cooling down. Making things a little bit more comfortable for us! So I hope that it stays cool!
But the other thing that happened this week that w<as so great is that we found 8 new investigators!! ( Ins quite incredible and never in my mission have I found so many in 1 week!! we found them all contacting! It was a great testimony builder knowing that contacting works!! but we will see how much they progress, some of them didn't seem to interested, but they accepted the baptismal invitation! ill tell more about the ones that Progress next week.
We are still working with Victor. He is doing well and has great desires of getting baptized. He really wants to change and is willing to do all he can to change. He has a date for the 28th of April, and he seems pretty firm for that date!! SO I am happy for everything that is happening here!! I love you all!!
Elder Jared
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
General Conference
Man what a great weekend it has been!! A weekend when we can listen to our Prophet and Apostles always has to be a great weekend!! I really loved these sessions there were soo much wisdom and soo much knowledge to gain from these wise leaders.. So Ill give you a quick highlight of my favorite talks!! First of all, we missed the first session and the priesthood session due to technical difficulties, But we got the other sessions!!
There were really Three talks that really stood out to me. All of them from the Quorum of the 12. I really Enjoyed Elder Christofferson, Elder Utchdorf and Elder Holland.
just a quick version on why they really impacted me,
I loved Elder Christofferson, because he really focused on the Father and the importance of them. I just want to send a quick shout out to my awesome Dad who really has done a great job. As I was listening, I could have made a list of awesome things that my dad could do. So dad, thanks for giving me such a great example. You are Awesome!!!
I loved Elder Utchdorfs Talk on the Lost sheep. But the story about the Cathedral really touched me for some reason. I believe he said something like "There is no life so shattered, torn or destroyed, that through Jesus Christ, It cannot be made whole."
I just loved it because I really have had a huge testimony increase on the Atonement. I know that everyone can repent. Its possible through him. It really touched me, thinking that that is what Im trying to do, Help others be made whole through Jesus Christ
And Elder Hollands Talk was soo full of love for us. It really was a great conference ender. I left my notes at home, but for some reason, His talk just really stood out to me. I love how much emotion he puts into his talks. It really is so incredible!! He is such a good speaker and I love him so much!!
I don't have much time, but I love you all!!!
Elder Jared
There were really Three talks that really stood out to me. All of them from the Quorum of the 12. I really Enjoyed Elder Christofferson, Elder Utchdorf and Elder Holland.
just a quick version on why they really impacted me,
I loved Elder Christofferson, because he really focused on the Father and the importance of them. I just want to send a quick shout out to my awesome Dad who really has done a great job. As I was listening, I could have made a list of awesome things that my dad could do. So dad, thanks for giving me such a great example. You are Awesome!!!
I loved Elder Utchdorfs Talk on the Lost sheep. But the story about the Cathedral really touched me for some reason. I believe he said something like "There is no life so shattered, torn or destroyed, that through Jesus Christ, It cannot be made whole."
I just loved it because I really have had a huge testimony increase on the Atonement. I know that everyone can repent. Its possible through him. It really touched me, thinking that that is what Im trying to do, Help others be made whole through Jesus Christ
And Elder Hollands Talk was soo full of love for us. It really was a great conference ender. I left my notes at home, but for some reason, His talk just really stood out to me. I love how much emotion he puts into his talks. It really is so incredible!! He is such a good speaker and I love him so much!!
I don't have much time, but I love you all!!!
Elder Jared
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