Dearest Familia,
Wow! Great job everybody! This week you sent me so many e-mails and made me so happy this morning! Thank you Blairs, Nana, Goompa, Grandma, Jessie, Shelli, Dad, Mom, Chase, Amanda, Sarah, and Ashley for your letters (trunky as they may be). I'm glad you all had a fun Fourth of July and are enjoying your summer vacations.
This is the last ever chance that you all will have to write me while I'm in Paraguay, can you believe it?? Seize the opportunity! :)
Several of you wondered if I got to celebrate the 4th of July at all even though it's not a holiday here in Paraguay. The answer is yes. It was a wonderful sunny start of the week for us. We went fishing with the Elders on Monday (until we got too hot and bored...nobody even got a nibble) and actually got sunburned. None of us were expecting that. You get sunburned in July at HOME, not here in the Southern Hemisphere! It's not acting very winter-ish this year. The mornings get kind of chilly, but nothing to major.
We got to have district meeting on Wednesday instead of Tuesday because our district leader was at a training meeting over the weekend, so we gringos all got to celebrate Independence Day together. Hna. Goimarac and I provided an apple pie, which neither of us had ever made before (but we HAD to make it--"As American as apple pie"--no other dessert would do) but it turned out to be great. The Elders scarfed it down so quickly. :) She and I both wore patriotic red, white, and blue outfits, and to start district meeting we all sang The Star-Spangled Banner. Someone provided a little flag, so we sang it standing with our hands over our hearts. It gave me chills, despite the relative silliness of the situation. I'm so grateful for my country. God bless the USA! The one latino Elder in our district was such a sport for letting us celebrate our national holiday. He enjoyed taking pictures of it all.
Now it's the 9th already. Wow. I'm down to single digits in the number of days I have left as a missionary. Sad.
My only goals at this point are to meet my weekly contacting goals and to see the Meza family baptized. If I accomplish that, I will die happy. The contacting part is going really well so far. This last week was brutal, because after the sunny 4th of July it got really cold. Literally over the course of an hour it went from blazing hot to freezing cold. We couldn't find anybody on the streets to contact, and even clapping houses proved unfruitful. Nobody wanted to leave the warmth of their beds to come talk to us. As of yesterday morning we only had like 30 contacts each. It was pathetic.
But then we were saved by a championship soccer match between Cerro and Olympia, the two biggest clubs in Paraguay. It was a sunny day again, and everyone and their dog was in the middle of town to watch the game with their friends (literally. Dogs EVERYWHERE). At halftime, we got to talk with SO MANY people, and we easily caught up on our contacting goals and found some cool people to teach. The Lord is so nice to us. :)
And the Mezas came to church yesterday and are scheduled to be baptized this Saturday, finally. PLEASE pray that it happens. So far we have no reason to think that it won't, but it should have happened a month ago and little things just keep popping up. To have their baptism be my last would be the perfect icing on the cake.
Hna. Goimarac is going to have lots more baptisms after I leave. We had such a great turnout at church yesterday. Almost all of our progressing investigators came, and we even got one of our long-time investigators (Bernardina, if you remember her) to FINALLY come to church. I think she really liked it, and we were so proud of her for taking the leap of faith. She was asking us for the details of the Meza baptism this Saturday, wanting to come see it. I have hope for her, and I can't wait to hear all about the baptisms that follow after I leave.
This last week of training I'm just trying to soak in all there is to love about Paraguay. The training manual actually says that Hna. Goimarac is supposed to lead in ALL planning and teaching situations. So basically I just get to play co-pilot. Nice. :) I just get to watch Hna. Goimarac shine, occasionally correcting her Spanish or clarifying her ideas and getting to testify a lot. It's so fun. I'm feeling so much bolder and excited to talk with people now that I realize that my time is so short.
Man, in next week's e-mail I'm gonna be so emotional. Just warning you.
But there's still LOTS of time for me to be a missionary. :) This week we used Job a lot with our menos activos to talk about the importance of trials and the love of God. I also read D&C 121-127 this week, and I found that I really love sections 121, 122, and 127. I already knew that 121 and 122 were excellent (they're quoted a LOT), but it's just so encouraging to see that everybody who follows the Lord is going to have opposition and trials. Nobody is exempt, and nobody is cut off from the love of God. Trials don't mean lack of love on God's part. If anything they mean that He is more confident in us. I'm so grateful for the eternal perspective in my life. If I didn't know that blessings and eternal good would come from enduring trials, I probably wouldn't have any strength to support them. But now that I know what the purpose of trials is, I feel like I can take on anything.
We'll see what the Lord has in store for me after this mission. It's kind of scary. I feel like I'm about to fall off the edge of the world, with no idea what awaits me. But whatever it is, I know it'll be great. The Lord's got it all figured out.
Have an excellent week, everybody. I love you so much and thank you for all that you do.
---Hna. Springer
Here's some random photos!
1-Hna. Goimarac getting all tangled up in her attempt at Paraguay river-style fishing
2-A boat on the river
3-Me by the river getting sunburned
4-Me with the pie that we made for the Fourth of July
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