Week 45 - Asuncion Paraguay - Villa Hayes

Hey everybody!

How are you all doing this fine week? I loved the pictures you sent of your adorable Halloween costumes, and I hope you´re enjoying the snow. That´s so surreal to me, especially right now. I´m sweating so badly. It feels like 150 outside.

I have a lot to write about this week, so I thought I´d shake things up and just write about my week day-by-day instead of trying to make all my random topics connect. :)

On Monday, right after e-mailing you guys last time, Hna. deVries and I had a fun time exploring the main road through Villa Hayes and seeing what each store had to offer. I found some really cool souvenires that I´ll have to go back for around Christmas. But I did buy a Paraguayan flag and a cool belt thingie that´s supposedly really traditional Paraguayan. I also found a bag that´s made out of an armadillo. As much as I love armadillos and think making them into bags is sad, it´s just so cool I may have to buy it someday. :) Don´t judge me. 

That night, we visited a lady named Ninfa, who we´d visited before and discovered is really cool. She has kind of a free-wheeling lifestyle, but when she´s home with her teenage son they love to study the Bible together. I´ve never met a Paraguayan like her before--someone who really searches the scriptures for truth. Naturally we gave her the Book of Mormon to study as well as a pamphlet about the Restoration. She´s read them both and agreed that when she comes to a conclusion about it, she will most definitely be baptized. Whenever we visit her, we´re able to testify freely, and the Spirit is always so strong. She told us on Monday that she´s visited with missionaries a few times in the past, but with us she really feels good and wants to change to be more like us. That made me so happy. :) 

On Tuesday at district meeting, I found a very large, very heavy box waiting for me. Yes, my package finally reached me! I tore it open as soon as I got home, and family, you are SO SWEET!! I loved it! I loved the balloons and the noisemakers and the tiara. I absolutely adore the photos, especially the poster of the Gilbert temple. I almost teared up looking at them. They´re all hanging up in my bedroom now. We made the cake that night and had a big old second birthday party for me. We especially had fun trying to take timed photos of the both of us blowing our noisemakers. I sent you the least embarrassing one. :) But seriously, I love everything you sent. The "feel the love" card warmed my heart. And how did you know that I needed a new toothbrush, make-up, pencils, and shower gel? Seriously, so perfect. I felt so loved. Oh and the candy is a wonderful added bonus, of course. :) 

Wednesday, Hna. deVries and I initiated a "re-activate the menos activos" project/Christmas present for the Villa Hayes branch. We´re gonna give each member, no matter their activity, a piece of paper for them to write their names, when they learned about the church, why they got baptized, a favorite scripture, and their testimonies of Jesus Christ. We´re really excited about it. Not only will it help us to get to know the members, we´re hoping it will help everyone remember their spiritual experiences and want to come to church more frequently. 

Also on Wednesday we met a cute kid named Dario who came to church with our branch mission leader last Sunday. He´s such an adorable kid with a big white smile. He´s super polite and grateful and he loved church. He lives kind of far away, but we´re gonna visit him as often as possible.

There´s not much to report about Thursday except for a fun food story. We were meeting with Aurelio, this old recent convert man who diligently comes to church every Sunday despite not being able to hear well or read. We were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation, and suddenly out of nowhere he started talking to us about his favorite food. I forgot the name of it, but when he brought it out to show us what it was, I decided that it was one of the grossest foods I´ve ever seen. He brought out this big bowl of what looked like walnuts, and a jug of salt. Turns out it wasn´t walnuts, it was strips of dried cow fat cut up into chunks. He just dumped salt on it and chowed down. He brought spoons for us to join him, but we firmly declined. I always heard about how the native americans never wasted any part of the buffalo and all that, but I never thought people still followed that rule now in the 21st century. 

Friday was short and boring thanks to weekly planning, and on Saturday it rained. I wasn´t feeling super well, and I was REALLY tempted to just stay in until the rain stopped. But then I decided that that was stupid--it was just drizzling. What if the Lord had somebody out there who at THIS MOMENT needed a visit, and I stayed home because of a little rain? I knew it would be hard to go contacting because people really do hole up when it rains, but Hna. deVries and I decided that we were going to clap every open door we saw, or talk to anyone we saw sitting out on their front porch. It led to a LOT of rejections, predictably, but we were still satisfied with ourselves at the end of the long day. 

By Sunday, we had only found two new investigators all week--Dario, and Ninfa. They were quality news and all that, but it was still a pretty sad outcome for such a long, hard-working week. But on Sunday morning I was fine with it. Hna. deVries and I had been praying all week to know what to do to find more news, and we decided on Sunday morning that maybe God hasn´t been making it obvious because we´re supposed to study it out and work hard and learn and grow by ourselves a little bit. We decided not to beat ourselves up about our numbers and just be happy with our efforts. Then Saturday afternoon, a member asked if he could come help us with our visits. With his help, we met our goals for with-member lessons and found two more new investigators. I could have hugged him was it allowed. Instead, I just thanked God for letting us see some success after all. :)

Paraguay continues to get more and more beautiful to me. One night this week Jupiter and Saturn were really bright in the evening sky. I love it when you can see the planets. It makes you realize how big the universe really is and always helps me to think more about Heavenly Father taking care of it all. And when it was raining on Saturday we discovered these teeny tiny little frogs that, I´m not kidding you, were the size of my pinky nail. We also saw vibrant yellow and black frogs with bright red feet, which we decided not to touch. You should look them up and see if they´re poisonous for us, just for future reference. :)

I´m reading the end of the Book of Mormon now. Mormon and Moroni´s words always make me kind of sad, but I´m happy knowing that both are surely very happy living with God right now. I loved how in Ether, Moroni adds an experience where he was lamenting to God how he´s so weak in writing and surely nobody will believe his words. Our Heavenly Father lovingly tells him that it´s not his problem--he did everything that God commanded him, and because he did so well, he can die happy without the sins of the people on his head. Moroni did his absolute best, and the salvation of those who read the Book of Mormon depends on them and only them. Moroni can be at peace. I hope we can all say that at the end of our lives (and that I can say that at the end of my mission)--"I did my best. I´m gonna rest easy now."

Thank you Nana, Hna. Stagg, Dad, Mom, Ashley, Amanda, Grandma Springer, Goompa, Laurel and Shelli for your letters this week. It´s so WEIRD to me that you´re Christmas shopping and stuff. I´m charging my iPod right now. I think it´s time for us to start listening to my Christmas playlist. :) 

Well, I´ve got to go, but seriously thank you so much for the birthday wishes and package, and for your many prayers on my behalf. I´m praying for all of you, too, and I love hearing about how the Lord is blessing you while I´m away. I won´t go into details, but really I´ve seen so many instances where things I´ve been praying for have come true. It makes me so happy to see how the Lord really does take care of a missionary´s family. Never forget to count your blessings, and to work harder expecting more to come. Hna. deVries´ and my new motto is "Pray like it all depends on the Lord, and then work like it all depends on you." 

I LOVE YOU ALL!! Talk to you next week!

---Hna. Springer

Here´s your weekly dose of Paraguayan goodness. LOVE YOU!!

---Carly

1-One happy misionera

2-22nd Birthday Take 2

3-Party!!

4-Cows right outside our window

5-Me in the forest with a Paraguayan flag. :)