thank you so much for your many many letters this week! I love you all so so much and I love to hear what you´re all up to. Dad and Sarah, that´s so cool that you got to go to Body Works. I´d heard a lot about that before and never really wanted to go because I´m super squeamish, but that´s awesome that you got to see it. Amanda and Mom, I´m glad the wedding plans are going well for you. Send pictures soon! teresa thanks for taking care of my dogs. And thank you Ashley, Laurel, and grandma springer for your letters. It´s such a comfort to know that you´re supporting me and are praying for my investigators.
this week I experienced my first real Paraguayan rain storm. It was insane. Seriously. Insane. I never knew it could rain like that before. It was like fake hollywood rain created by a fire hose or something. It was so thick and so hard. We weren´t initially caught in the storm because we were talking with an investigator, but when it seemed like it was letting up we ventured out, only to have it start pouring again. we were soaked to the bone and wading through puddles and getting mud in our shoes... way fun. No really, it was awesome. And it was a welcome relief from the heat. It gets so hot before a rain storm you just want to die. the rain did create some disappointments yesterday, though. We must have passed by for five different families to take them to church (don´t worry, Dad, we do try to personally get people to church) but they all had excuses about how they had to clear the water out of their houses or whatnot. I was especially sad for this one family we found that lives right next to the branch of teh Paraguay river that surrounds our area. they´re so humble and they love us already. they were so excited to come to church but alas, even with their tiny houses built on stilts, they had a lot of flooding and it was a mess.
I´m just glad our house didn´t flood. Our walls sounded so thin on Saturday night with the rain pounding and the thunder and lightning threatening to bowl us over. It was cool but I was so tired. And then last night I was kept up again because the dog of our landlord/member friend had puppies the other day (no one knew she was pregnant because she´s really fluffy. they just thought she was fat). they were crying all night from their nest next to our doorway. Now today I am so beat. P´Days really aren´t relaxing days as some may think. they´re like Saturdays, where we work extra hard so that we can work normal hard the rest of the week. We do our normal studying in the morning and then P´Day ends at 6 so we only have eight hours to do all our shopping and then we need to take two hours to e´-mail because we each get one hour but I have to watch hna. stagg while she´s on the computer and vice versa. the five hours or so remaining are spent by me scrambling really hard to get all my journaling done. I really want to write all of your personal letters or figure out how to send more pictures but I really really really stress when I´m not caught up in my journal. Sorry. I love you!! (P.S. Dad, yes you would send me a package at the mission office, but I really don´t expect one so no worries)
So yesterday was la conferencia de distrito (we only have branches and districts here). It was really, really great. We had four young kid investigators with us which was nice, though we really wanted about eight other adult investigators to come with us. Our good friend in the district presidency who feeds us on Saturdays spoke, as did the Asunción temple president and his wife, and President Madariaga and his wife. It was all really great and the district choir did well (Paraguayans aren´t anywhere near as musically gifted as we Utahns, but they did really well).
Everything is going pretty well in our little area. We taught a ton of lessons this last week despite two days being less productive due to teh rain (the country shuts down when it´s raining--literally), and we´re finding more and more people to teach. Our progressing investigators are doing pretty well. they´re not progressing nearly as much as we would prefer, but they´re trying. I never give up on them. Every time we talk I picture them as kings or queens in great palaces, because that´s what they will be someday if they look past their humble circumstances and actually are humble in spirit. Everyone who says they´re not interested or don´t have time or don´t want to continue is a king or queen giving up their inherited kingdom. It´s sad, and I´m doing my best to help that not happen.
thank you for all your prayers for Elber. he was so excited to come to church yesterday, as was his wife and their daughter, but then a family emergency came up and they couldn´t make it. grr. he still loves talking to us, though. We have yet to find his brother-in-law, who we´ve heard LOVES the book of Mormon because it makes all the mysteries of the Bible so clear. I´m excited to talk with him. Unfortunately, we learned last night as we were talking with Elber that he´s not married to the woman he´s living with. I´m devastated to say the least. that is such a big problem here. People are all about having families, but it seems like every family we´ve taught has a father who married someone else who knows how long ago and now he can´t get baptized, nor his señora, because they´re living in adultery. It´s almost impossible for people to get divorces here. Many of you have asked who to pray for for me. Pray for the Lord to soften the heart of the Paraguayan government. the fact that people can´t get divorces has slowed the work so much. yeah, people shouldn´t get married so young and then leave their legal spouses and start a family with someone else, but there are so many great, great families here who can´t be sealed together in this life because of their past mistakes. It´s so so sad. It´s sad to know that our progress with Elber can´t go all the way to baptism. At least, not yet.
Well, my time is almost up. I´m sorry I couldn´t send any pictures today. I haven´t taken any in a while. I´m trying to figure out how to send loads soon, but it´ll have to wait until next week at the earliest. And... yeah. I don´t know what much else to say about this week. the weeks go by so fast here. I can´t believe it´s Monday already. But just so you know my feet are pretty much all healed, I haven´t gotten sick despite my many, many mosquito bites, and I have many more freckles than before.
I guess if there´s anything I want to say this week to you all, it´s that we have to give our all to the Lord. I still haven´t quite learned that lesson, even as a missionary. this morning I went through all the scriptures in the topical guide about prayer, and I´m going to try this week to really pray with faith--to counsel with the Lord in all my doings and trust in the Spirit to guide me instead of trusting in the things of man. I know it´s hard. Oh goodness, do I know how hard it is to remember the Lord at all times and in all things and in all places, and yet I know that if and when we do so, we are going to receive riches and blessings and happiness that we can´t fathom in mortality. Please, please, PLEASE don´t forget to pray together. Read the Book of Mormon together. Learn from the prophets of the past and the prophets living today. take a question with you to conference and let the Spriit and personal revelation help you find the answer. I love you all, and I´m so glad to hear whenever you tell me about what you´ve done to change and grow. We have the blessings and knowledge available to learn and progress every single day of our lives. Don´t miss a single opportunity to draw closer to the Lord. the time speedily cometh when we won´t have any left before our Lord and redeemer comes again. I hope you´re all in a state, or are working to be in a state, where you are ready to greet the Lord rejoicing. that´s my greatest wish.
Lastly, please forgive my spelling and capitalization errors. these Paraguayan keyboards are still weird to me. :)
I LOVE yOU!!
--hna. Springer
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