newest address info

For letters:
 Paraguay Asuncion Mission
Camilla de Correo 818
Asuncion,PARAGUAY
 
 
 
For packages:
Paraguay Asuncion Mission
2881 Del Maestro c/ Caballero
Barrio Herrera
Asuncion, PARAGUAY

Christmas and an Email 12-26-11

Well we got to see and talk to Elder Beatty on Christmas! It actually turned out to be a little bit tricky. On Christmas day we actually weren't able to connect with him so we tried again on Monday and were able to see him on Skype. The only problem was that we couldn't hear him. He could hear us though. So he typed while we talked. Then later we were able to get him on the phone so that he could tell us more about his mission.
One thing he mentioned is that he would LOVE pictures! I have posted (above) his letter address and  his package address. You can also find it on the side bar under Current Address.
He did tell us that most disgusting thing that he's eaten down there is Cow tendon. They boil it for hours and hours and then serve it cold. Sounds REALLY gross. His day usually goes as follows: (let me know if anything is wrong) Get up at 6:30, say prayers and do a few exercises; take a quick shower; eat breakfast (usually oatmeal-plain they don't have brown sugar down there); scripture study; language study; usually out of the house at 9:30; visit appointments and go door-to-door; usually eat lunch with a member; then during the "siesta" they try to find people to visit but it's really hard because everyone is sleeping. Then they go for more appointments and usually dinner appointment too. They have to be home at 9 unless they are teaching a lesson, then they can be home at 9:30.
The temperature there is 118 degrees at 70% humidity. Definitely hotter than anything we've experienced.
The monthly baptism goal is 133 for the mission! The hard part is that most of them, once they're baptized, go inactive.
Elder Beatty bore his testimony and it was beautiful. He said that he KNOWS that being on a mission is a million times better for him than anything he could be doing here at home. He also hopes that you all can see (or I guess in this situation: read) the change that has happened in him since he left for the mission. He bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon and how we can learn so much from it. He bore his testimony about the Savior and how he knows how we feel. Even if we slam our finger in the car door, Jesus knows how much that hurts.
We are so thankful for our Elder and the hard work he is putting into the mission. We love him and love getting the letters and Emails from him. We hope that you can feel the spirit from his emails too and hope you enjoy reading them :)

Here's the email from the day after Christmas:

2011.Dec.26

Well wow what a week it has been......... There is just so much to say and so little time to say it. We got 3 baptisms this last week...... Ya..... We didn´t have it planned when we started the week but then in the end it came. There is a family here in this area that has been taught by the missionaries for 12 years..... They pretty much know all the basic stuff about the gospel. We had passed by a few times and taught them, but their biggest doubt was getting married. I guess about 4 months ago the elders had got them to have the desire to get married. They had everything all set up so that the marriage would be awesome and that they could be baptized right after they were married. But I guess the family thought that the elders were just rushing them too much and so didn´t go to their wedding and didn´t get baptized and vowed to never come to church again. 3 months later here comes Elder Beatty and Elder Van and started helping them feel the spirit again. We talked about the commandments and how they were living all of them except one. Adultery........ They said that they knew that they needed to change but still they didn´t feel ready.... so we just kinda let it go, and thought that they still weren´t ready to progress. Well we just got out of a lesson on Wednesday night when all of a sudden we got a phone call from Rokue. (That’s the dad.) I picked up and asked him “what’s up”. He said. ¨hey we have decided to get married and want to do it this weekend. Can you guys get everything ready? ¨ Of course I said yes without even thinking because I was so overwhelmed..... I hung up and looked at Elder Van and said ¨you will never guess what just happened! Rokue and Celeste want to get married this weekend¨ Wow we were both just shocked from what that meant for us and for them. We had a ton of stuff that we had to do. We had to get all their papers put together. Set up a judge. Clean up the chapel from the night before when we had a ward end of the year dinner, empty out the font because the pump is broken. Set up the marriage in the cultural hall and do some cool decorations. Find 4 witnesses and make sure that they have copies of their ID´s and make sure they come. We had to call all the ward members and invite them to come. We had to make sure we have a cake for after the baptism. We had to get money for the judge. We had to get them interviewed for their baptisms again.... It was just crazy!!!!!!!!!!! Wow..... In the End we got it done. We got them baptized and married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole family didn´t get baptized but the parents and the little girl did. The younger 16 year old son wasn´t ready for baptism and so we thought it would be better to wait. Plus the dad will be able to baptize him anyway. Which will be more legit. All in all what I have learned is that even though we really didn´t do anything as far as convincing them to get married, God did. And when God wants something nothing is going to stand in the way of getting it done. But that still isn´t an excuse for us to be lazy. We have to give the Lord our all to make sure that what He wants will happen. He will work through us! 

Just one quick thought I want to share.  We were in church and for the final hymn we sang “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”.  It isn´t a statement of belief, it isn´t a thought or general pass of feeling, It is a knowledge!!  A knowledge that we gain from a constant testifying from the Holy Ghost.  We can´t see Jesus, we can´t touch Him or smell Him or hear Him..... But we can feel His love.... The Holy Ghost is going to “talk” to us in words that our heart recognizes as feelings.  Those feelings drive us to gain a knowledge.  A knowledge of something that we can´t see, hear, or touch.  What are we supposed to do when we come to this knowledge? Is it good enough just to know that our Savior lives? No... We have to push forward... We use that knowledge that we have gained through the Holy Ghost to help us to push through the difficult things and difficult times.  If we have gained this knowledge through the Holy Ghost and all we do is nothing; we are not worthy to know.  With more knowledge comes more responsibility.... With our knowledge of the Savior and what He did for us we have to push forward with faith in Him and His promises.

I hope you all can have an appreciation for the knowledge that we have here in the church.  It is a knowledge gained through the Holy Ghost.  I love you all and wish you the very best and most happy Christmas this season in remembrance of our Christ and Savior.

Rohyhu mi familia

Elder Beatty

Email 12-12-11

Hello all and all hope you all are having such a holly jolly Christmas because it’s the best time of the year. hahaha ho ho ho ho  the Christmas season is coming up and boy has it been getting really really hot and humid.  It’s crazy because it seems that you just start sweating when you aren´t even doing anything.  You sweat when you’re sitting and not even thinking about anything. hahaha no but this last week has been pretty tough for us.  Elder Van said that this last week has been the most that he has walked in his entire mission.  Wow what an accomplishment. 

Even though we walked a ton this last week i feel that we had some good success.  We didn´t quite find as many new people to teach as we had wanted to but I think we still had some good experiences and lessons with the people that we did have.  We actually found a family that used to be investigating the church.  The family Aldalma.  They had a baptism and wedding date but when the day came they didn´t go because they felt rushed and so they just kind of dropped away from the church.  We found them this last week and we taught them the 10 commandments and told them that it’s a commandment to go to church as well as be married and baptized.  We invited them to church and left and we didn´t think they would come but lo and behold they did this last Sunday and everyone was super happy to see them again.  And by the looks of it they had a super awesome experience too. 

We actually had some good lessons besides that family.  Venancio is a boyfriend of one of the member’s daughters and we started teaching him last week and we talked about baptism and stuff.  He had gone to church one time.  We passed by to talk about the plan of salvation and the atonement.  Elder Van did a cool thing with his backpack that is super heavy.  He was like ok hold your arms out straight.  He put his heavy backpack in Vanacio´s hands and he had to hold it.  We are like ¨this backpack is sin¨.  We have to carry all the sins that we have.  Then I put my backpack on and it was super hard to keep them up but this kid did it with great effort.  We then talked about only through a baptism and through Jesus Christ we could take all the sins that we had and drop them.  We took off the backpack and just sat there.  We invited him to be baptized and he said that he would love it.  He really does understand that a baptism is a way to change your life forever.  So that was pretty sweet. 

We did have a baptism set up for this next Saturday with Jorge but he didn´t come to church this last week so his fecha fell.  He isn´t married to his girlfriend either and so that is going to be a little hurdle that we have to jump over.  Good thing I have been around track and field for a while.  hahah wow that really wasn´t funny.... but anyway I think he will do it because he knows that this is the right thing in his life.  He has already stopped drinking and smoking so why stop the change there.... hahaha 

The two girls that we were teaching who have fecha we really didn´t get much chance to teach them this week.  We went by to their house on Saturday to invite them to church but their dad was super drunk and was just dogging on Joseph Smith and it was all I could do from not punching him in the face.  We kind of invited them but they didn´t end up coming so that was a little bit of a bummer, but we are really going to focus with them this week.  We had one sweet lesson with them in that we went and we had the game plan to see how their prayers went because we invited them to pray about what we had taught them was true, and we were going to resolve their doubt.  So we went and asked them how their prayers went and they said yeah we got our answer that these things are true.  Wow..... Elder Van and I didn´t know what to do because this basically never happens.... so we invited them to be baptized on the 7th of January and they said yes..... wow.... what faith they have to have gotten their answer from God this fast.

I had to teach the class this last week in church and it went really really well, but that’s not what I’m going to talk about.  While I was teaching the class we were reading a lot of parts about Jesus Christ and testimony and His atonement.  I looked and saw the picture of Him when He is resurrected and visiting the Americas with the people.  I just thought about Christ and all that He has done for us.  We have some members in our ward who aren´t very strong and have a lot of doubts about what Christ did for us.  I just thought in that moment when I saw Christ in that picture that Christ is our Savior....... We don´t have to see him to know him......

I hope you all have a great week this week.  I hope that you can know our Lord and Savior Christ.  Remember... you don´t have to see him to know him.
Rohy´hu familia
Elder Beatty

Sorry there haven't been pictures in awhile. We're experiencing technical difficulties. 

Email 12-5-11

Wow what a week. The week of Changes YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... hahaha I left Pre Franco and that area.  I am now in an area called Ytororó.  It is on the opposite side of the country in Asuncion next to Argentina.  The first week of changes as always is a little slow and boring.  First you don´t know your comp, second you don´t know the area, you don´t know the people, and in my case this change… I had no money to buy food.  Living off of crackers for 3 days........ What an experience...... especially in the Jungle hhahaha.  No but it all turned out really good.  We left from Cuidad Del Este at like 1 in the morning.  I got on the bus and sat next to an Elder named Elder Beckett.  He is from Roy and guess what?... He knows Ramsey... heheh small world eh.... but anyway we just talked most of the time on the bus because its nearly impossible to sleep because the guy who is driving the bus is a little drunk so he just weaves back and forth on the street.. Its like trying to sleep on a Disneyland ride. hahahaha but it all ended up good.  We got to Asuncion at like 6 in the morning. We waited until 8 and there were a ton of missionaries there.  I saw Hermana Hubbard and Elders Edwards and Marple.  They were in my district in the MTC and they looked great.  Its crazy because Elder Marple is Training..... WOW..... What a legit missionary.  I met my comp there in the Terminal also.  Elder Van Mondfrans.  He is from the Salt Lake area and has about a year and a half in the mission.  He is pretty cool.  The first day was a little hard of course because we aren´t used to each other and so it was a little quiet.  I guess something happened because we started talking about super smash brothers and we talked about that for about 5 hours.... I think we have something in common hahaha No but really he is a great missionary who loves the work.  He is just a little bit more quiet than the companions I have had before so that will be a great adventure as well as a learning experience for me.  The first 3 days we were together we walked and walked and walked and walked.  Elder Van said that this was the most walking that he has done his entire mission.  We went and tried to visit ALL the investigators that they had before which is like 7 or 8 every single day and none of them were home every single day.  He told me that it was a test from God to see if we were going to keep working and doing our best to teach and find people and that it would pay off the next day.  Finally we got some success when we met with these 2 girl references that we got from the ward and we invited them to be baptized.  They were super awesome because they had a TON of questions.  One thing that I’ve learned is usually when someone has a lot of questions it means that they are legitly interested in what you have to say and teach.  We invited them to church but they said that they didn´t know if they would come because they were going to a 15 year old birthday party and it was going to be late when they got back and so they didn´t make any promises but it was ok.  We also visited Jorge.  A guy who has made HUGE changes in his life. Mostly with the word of wisdom.  He has stopped drinking, smoking, and doing drugs in the last 3 months and is now coming to church.  It’s been crazy to me to see the faith that this man has put in God.  He is reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if its true.  I still don´t know why he hasn´t got his answer.  That is our main focus this next week with him; to help him recognize his answer.  We also have Benancio.  He is dating a member’s daughter.  He is a super legit 18 year old kid.  He also has a ton of good questions.  He is coming to church and praying with his girl friend’s family and it’s great to see his progress too.  I think that he wants to believe the things we are teaching are true but he just needs to have that trial of his faith first.  So this last week we did some service too.  We went to dig something like a latrine or something like that. It had to be six feet wide and six feet deep and all we had were some crappy Paraguayan shovels.  One had a handle of a tree limb that gave my hands a ton of blisters and the other didn´t even have a handle.  We got down pretty deep with just those two things actually.  About 4 and half feet.  I was proud of myself but my hands sure did hurt from that stupid tree branch.  It’s been really cool for me to see the way that Elder Van teaches.  He really focuses on baptism and why it’s important.  He will just come out and say that we have to have the authority of God to be baptized in the right way.. and if its not with the authority its not valid.  It is a testimony to me; because before, I would be scared to say that to people, but because he is teaching with the spirit, the people understand him and know why its important.  The ward here is pretty good too.  We just got anew bishop put in.  The ward has been without any really good leadership for about 4 months.  To me its surprising that the ward has gotten along all by itself without any leadership.  Elder Van said that since the bishop has been put in he has seen a new excitement in the members about the work in getting more people to come to church.  The bishop has been giving us a lot of stuff to do with him in trying to get the ward better.  I can´t wait until we can get this ward up to 100 people.  It will be great to see the chapel full for once.  

We had a FHE with the bishop´s family yesterday.  It was all about having a change of heart, and that repentance shouldn´t be something that is easy.  It should be something that hurts and takes time.  If we don´t suffer and feel in our hearts that we truly want to change, then we haven´t repented.  It was great to see that example because we all go through times like that in our lives were we think we can just change and everything will be ok.  No its not like this.... we have to show to God that we are willing to give all that we have to him.  We are willing to submit ourselves to His will by making a change of heart.  By making our desire His desire.  When we can gain this vision, to do what God wants us to do and repent to make ourselves what He wants.  That is when we have a change of heart.  It won´t be easy.... But it most definitely will be worth it.  

I love you all and hope you have the spirit of the Lord with you in all things.  I hope you all are striving to attain this change of heart so that we can all have more love for those that we are serving, even if we aren´t on a mission.  May this holiday season bring peace and happiness to your soul.

les amo muchisimo.

Elder Beatty

Email 11-28-11

Wow what a week.  It’s been crazy some of the stuff that has been going on.  Its been getting insanely hot!!!!!!!  I'm not gonna say that I really know but, I have been around the block a few times in Hurricane during the summer when it’s so stinkin hot that you don't really wanna do anything.  But man, Paraguay makes Hurricane feel like an Autumn breeze!!!!!!!!.  hahahah ;D  Nah, but it’s all going good.  We have been doing what we gotta do in living in the heat.  Dang this last week the car wash; that is right next to our house, has been making some financial improvements or something.  I guess they got a HUGE stereo.  REALLY HUGE.  And of course they like to play Paraguayan music when they are drunk.  And it seems that they have lately been getting drunk at 3:30 in the morning for the last week.  So they decided hey "We are super drunk, let’s play our Paraguayan music really loud right now because we are super drunk" so of course they turn that baby up all the way!!!!! It’s just great having an awesome beat to fall asleep to.  Sigh........  I can't say how much I have been praying that I can gain the patience to withstand this stereo so I don't end up just throwing a huge rock at it on accident :D

This week has gone well in teaching people.  We got 2 people to church.  yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Josephina, and Palu.  Josephina is really legit.  She is super sweet and loving and only wants the best for herself and her children.  Her husband is in jail in Italy and so she isn't really in contact with him and so she is super worried.  She tells us that she is looking for a way to find peace and joy in her life right now.  What a better way to find peace and joy than to be baptized right?  Nah.... but really..... hahah We are also working with Palu and very very cool 9 year old.  Seriously I don't know how he does it, but he has all the answers in Primary.  He makes me look like a joke.  He is way legit.  He has been visiting with his Aunt and so we just decided to place a date with him.  It’s sweet because his aunt is the Primary president and so she is helping us out a ton with teaching him.  

This last Sunday was ward conference and so the Bishop told us that we had to get 80 people to church.  Wow...... We normally have to scrimp to even get 30… I was blown away.  But we said we would try.  And guess what? We got 75 people in church!! BOOOOOOYYYAAAAAHHHH It was so cool seeing the chapel all filled with people that I didn't even know were members.  We made sure and talked with them so that we knew them and we could make sure and keep them active.  The Conference went pretty well.  I was playing the piano for the "choir" or I guess you can call it that.  I don't know how to help kids sing.  Boys especially when they sing like they are dead monkeys. I guess it turned out better than the practices we had done before, so that’s good.  

We had a zone conference this last week too.  It was in CDE and so we got to go on bus which was nice.  It wasn't quite as fun as I was hoping because Elder Marple wasn't there; but it’s ok I had Elder Varney :D  We went and we talked about a ton.... of stuff.  It was kinda weird that we hit on so many topics........ Submitting our will to the Lord (Helaman 10), Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Nephi 31), Goals, Planning.  We did a sweet thing with goals and vision and planning.  President Callan took us out onto the basketball court with the ball.  He is like… what is this? (Pointing to the ball).  It’s a ball. To make it short..... We have to have a vision.... (Win)..... We have to have boundaries on which to work... (Lines).... and we have to have people to help us win.... (Team)...... We then played a game to 2 hahahah I played and scored one shot but then what I didn't know was that there was a kid there who had played for Provo high school and so ya.. he pretty much annihilated us.......  Anyway that was cool.

It’s been great to see all the stuff that we can apply into our own lives from the zone conference.  Not just into our mission.  

I love you all and hope you had a great week in remembrance of what we have.  

Elder Beatty

Email 11-21-11

I told him that Hurricane High had won state football this weekend... 

yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that is soooooooooooooooo awesome................................................... Finally..........................................  We did it!!!! After all those years of work and sweat and more work and more sweat we finally did it and won.  Coach Homer deserves it, and I am so happy for the whole Hurricane community too.

Wow the weeks are just flying by.  I think it must be because..... The weeks are just flying by.  A lot of stuff has happened this week so I’m gonna try and get it all in really quick because I’m running out of time.  Never is there enough time. :D

This last week I had to go and buy a new SD Card player and so we started looking around in our area to try and find something that would be sufficient.  We finally found a place.  It looked a little sketchy but hey it had what I needed.  I tested out what they had and then I'm like ok I’m gonna buy this one.  Good thing it was only about 10 dollars.  So I went home and I was soooo excited to be able to test out my new player so that I can still listen to music while I’m studying.  I get home and I pull it out, throw in the card and nothing happens.  So I plug it into the power, still nothing.  Well, come to find out that as I took the back off of the player to see what was really the problem inside the player,...... there was nothing inside the player to have a problem with.  It was empty.... hahahaha wow...... lesson learned.  Little sneaky Paraguayans. :D

We have found some new people this week that we can teach and it has been good to finally get some lessons in.  We started teaching and found out very fast that when you haven't had to be teaching top golden lessons to people you get out of practice really really fast.  That was a little embarrassing because we wanted to have some good lessons but we really didn't have any direction in any of our lessons.  No matter how hard we tried to get chuggin we just couldn’t get going.  I guess what happened was that I had a billion things on my mind that I wanted to say... and I said it all.  That’s bad..... I didn't ask any questions or do anything right.... ahhhhhhh oh well I guess it’s time to start practicing more.  We found this one woman named Josephina.  She was a reference that we got from one of the members that we eat lunch with.  So we went to her house and we clapped it and she let us in right away.  It was a little weird because when you usually go to a house they don't just let you in and sit down.  You gotta give them a reason for you to stay.  But no she just let us right in and told us to sit down.  She then started telling us that she had some encounters with the missionaries before because her husband is supposedly locked up in Italy and he can't come back or write her.  She knows this through some pastor that her husband had talked to in Italy.  So she said that the United States Government could help her or something like that.  At least that’s what the pastor had said to her.  He told her to talk to the missionaries.  Wow, a pastor actually told someone to talk to the missionaries.  Miracle!!.. anyway,  we told her that we really had no influence at all with the government and that we were only here to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Then she told us that when she woke up that morning that she had prayed to God to find some way that she could be happy and find love again in her house, and what should happen?  Of course the missionaries show up.  Hahaha She is so great.  She said that she is going to a church just because when she is there, she feels like she belongs, in a spiritual sense, but she hasn't baptized herself because she doesn’t feel like it’s the truth.  wow..... Awesome....  

I have been reading a lot in Helaman about what has been happening to the people.  They are prideful.  Their pride leads to contention and then the contention leads to destruction. I have been reading that the reason that the people were destroyed was that they had become like unto their brethren the Lamanites…  "Relying on their own strength”. When we only rely on what we can do as individuals we can do nothing.  It’s just a magnifying glass.  What does a magnifying glass do? It MAGNIFIES things.  It makes things more powerful than they were before, speaking of light refraction, that’s what God is to us.  Through us, He will MAGNIFY His power.  But first we have to really understand that only through His power we can do anything at all.  The moment we forget that without Him we can't do anything, is the moment that we will be destroyed, not killed, well maybe in a spiritual sense, but everything will go wrong in our lives.  Work, family, church, every little aspect that we take for granted will just for some reason go wrong.

We have been giving a lot of service to a hardcore catholic family lately.  And they are such nice people but really don't understand anything about the doctrine of Christ.  But anyway we have been giving them service and in turn they gave us 2 shirts that have things like “I’m a believer” with a picture of Christ and stuff like that.  Stuff that has been showing; in an outward expression that everyone can see, that they believe in Christ.  Also people here like to have their "cross" with them.  To show that they believe.  Yes we as members of the church have these things that we use as outward expressions but we must rely on our ACTIONS to really show to whom we are giving our faith.  Go to church, read the scriptures, do good continually.  You don't have to wear a tie and a shirt and a name plaque to show that you are follower of Jesus Christ.  Just the missionaries :D

I hope you all can see the importance of "showing" your belief, but in the right manner.  I hope that you are changing your life based on your faith and beliefs in Christ.  I hope you can feel the love of the Lord for your every day because He has a lot of love for each and every one of us.

les amo

Elder Beatty

Email 11-14-11

2011.Nov.14

Wow what a week of sweaty shirts, long stops to the bathroom, some new people, and rain.  Well to start off this last week I was super super sick on Tuesday.  I woke up at like midnight and was in the bathroom for about 5 hours. My back side starting hurting so bad from using the class 25 grade sandpaper to wipe with so I finally just turned on the shower and started showering.  I hit a new shower record for my life.  3 hours..... Hehehe! Finally daylight hit and I was just super tired because all my nutrients had left my body and I couldn't eat anything because I would just vomit it back up… but hey it’s ok.  So we didn't end up leaving the house because of how sick I felt but its ok Elder Rios got in a lot of spiritually edifying study time that I’m sure he was just dying to have given to him.  How nice of me to provide an opportunity for him: D

This week was ok.  We really tried to find some new good people to teach.  We found a new guy named Marcio.  He is pretty cool mostly because he has no religious background at all, which is really really weird for someone here in Paraguay.  He is also very very straightforward with us, which is also something very very weird for someone here in Paraguay.  But it’s been good, we haven't been to his house too much but we plan on giving him a test run today so I hope everything goes well.  

Braulio's uncle died this week so he wasn't able to attend church.  I hope that his family is doing alright.  I don't mean it in a bad way but this gives us some more leverage that we can help to get his sister to be baptized.  We have been trying to treat her more as a level 1 investigator but we just can't find a time when she wants to sit down so we can teach her.  We will get her sometime it’s just a matter of us passing by at the right time.  But we have really been hitting Braulio hard with being a missionary in his own house.  I hope that he will "Catch that Fire" to do that.  It would be awesome to see that his whole family could be blessed from the gospel.  

We have had some cool things happen in the ward.  It’s been tough here to work with the members to get people to teach.  We have had to pretty much treat the members as investigators to see who was going to follow up on commitments and to see who was going to be good in giving us good references.  It’s been tough because not all the members are super strong here.  We did go on some "Visitas" with the leadership in the ward.  Or more to say that we went with just the bishop and the 18 year old secretary.  It went really well.  We went to go visit some less active members and try to get them to come to church.  They were really happy to see the bishop and thought they would come to church the next day.  But the next day it rained so practically no one came to church.  Its alright we will keep chugging along with them.

Yesterday I was thinking about Christ and His sacrifice for us.  Some of us take for granted the amount of love He has for us in that we will never be able to measure up to be good enough to use His sacrifice.  All the Lord asks for us is that we try.  We go and do. He will cover the rest that we fail to achieve.  There are some people who think that they can't be saved because Jesus atonement can't apply to them because they aren't doing enough in this life or they aren't perfect enough.  Let’s use this example.  We are on a football team and the QB throws a touchdown pass to the tight end.  We score!!!!!!!!!!!  It doesn't matter if the guard didn't make his block or the wide receiver ran the wrong route.  We scored all the same.  Also....... the people on the sidelines who weren't playing or doing much, they scored too.  The defensive players scored, the third string quarterback scored and yes even the kid who will never ever touch the ball but is on the team, he scored too.  We are all on the team and we all get to score because Jesus is the quarterback and no matter what play or what down, HE WILL SCORE, and we all will win!!!!

I love you all and hope you have a FANTASTIC week.  

les amo

Elder Beatty

Email 11-7-11

November 7, 2011

Wow another week has just flown by and I have no idea what happened to it.

I guess I will just give you a quick lowdown of what has been happening as far as the people we are working with.  Braulio; my first baptism, has been doing great.  We have really been focusing on him with things such as missionary work.  Mostly because we believe he will be the key to the baptisms of all the family that he is living with; which is like 12 people, so that will be cool.  It’s good to see him at church.  He has become good friends with our ward mission leader which is really good because if he has any questions at all Irala can help him out.  Braulio was supposed to bless the sacrament this last week but he said that he wasn't ready so he just passed the sacrament but it was so cool to see him doing it igual.  We have been visiting some of the older investigators as of late, to see if we can get them progressing again.  We visited the two girls who were supposed to get baptized the weekend that I first got here.  They seem like they can progress, but we will have to see how committed we can get them to the gospel again.  We talked with their dad and he said that he wants to unify their family.  Because I guess that everyone in his family is in a different church and so that’s a little tough but it’s kind of his own fault if he didn't take charge of what was going on, but that’s ok we are going to work with him on that.  But all in all we are still looking for good people to teach.  It’s been really hard for us as of late to get really good people to teach.  We have been focusing on really working with the members to get good references but the members aren't too strong to begin with, so we are going to be working with them too.  It’s alright though because it keeps us busy and away from excuses to not work hard.  

As far as being with a Latin comp, Elder Rios has been really cool as of yet.  He has a work hard attitude but when things don't go our way he starts going downhill which is alright because its hard, but then I’ve got to work extra hard to keep his spirits up.  As far as the language goes he has helped me a ton with the random words that I didn't know before and in our practices he has been helping me with my grammar and such which also has been a huge help.  One thing that I have realized is that one of the hardest things that I have ever done is to try to be my own personality in a different language.  It is very very difficult.  For me at least.  I can do it every once in a while but I really have to try.  I guess it will just come in time when my tongue gets a little more fluent with the words.

This last Sunday was testimony meeting and it was really cool.  Besides that Braulio passed the sacrament, all the members that bore their testimonies, all bore them about the effects of this true church and what an impact it’s had in their lives.  In meaning that they have all come from different churches and from different backgrounds but they have all FELT the truth of what this church has to offer.  It was very powerful for me at least because I am so lucky to have been born in the faith, but the testimony of the converts is always a strong one.

I have been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon about the effects of pride on the church.  Every single time that the church would fall away and reject a prophet is when they were brought up in the pride of their hearts.  They set their minds on searching for the glory of men when they forgot from whom all blessings flow.  We can often times forget that what we have, comes from God.  Even though; yes, we work so hard to get what we have, we still have to give thanks to whom all blessings flow.  I hope you all can remember your Father in Heaven and His love for you.  He gives you all our righteous desires.  

I love you all and hope you have the spirit of the Lord with you this coming week.

les amo

-Elder Beatty

Pictures 11-7-11

Email 10-31-11

Well, what a week.  This week seemed to just fly by.  I don't know why, but I guess it must mean that we are working hard; so I will just keeping doing that.  Me and Elder Rios have been working really well together this last week.  We have been visiting a lot of less active members to try and "reboost" them into activity.  It has been quite the challenge for us both.  No matter how charming or loving or whatever we do; it seems we just can't seem to get them to commit to coming to church again.  It’s alright.  One of the greatest charlas (talks) that we have had this week with a member was with the family Cabanas.  They are semi active but we wanted to get the rest of their family active again and so we gave them this charla.  We read Alma 5:16.  This chapter "Drops Cane" with repentance.  Its one of my favorites because Alma in this chapter is talking not to the nonmembers but to the members of the church in Zerahemla.  He asks them a lot of questions about how can we stand in the presence of God knowing our guilt and many things like that.  We know that is a little rough and so we picked out the fluffiest verse we could find in that chapter.  16.  It asks if we can imagine in hearing the voice of the Lord saying in that day...  Come blessed.  Because your works have been works of good upon the face of the land.  I really like this scripture and the many others that accompany it; because it goes to show that we can't be justified in doing bad or having excuses just because we are members.  We have to work. Work hard and work long to obtain that glory that we know we can get.  It went very well.  They didn't end up coming to church but it’s alright because I got a good perspective from that scripture.  

The thing that has been really really frustrating at least for me is that me and Elder Rios are doing all we can do to get and find people to be baptized but we can't find anyone.  We have been talking with everyone and we have been teaching with the spirit and we have been asking members and obeying the rules and it’s really really frustrating at least for me.  I could care less how much we walk and how much we work just as long as we get something out of it at the end of the day.  It’s taken me 2 weeks to really see why this is happening.  Yes we are doing all we can do.  I am leaving it all out on the field so to speak.  And yet we don't get good people to teach but it’s a lesson that we must learn.  At least for me.  I have gotten my first baptism and it was a great experience.  But the lesson that I’m learning every day from coming back with not having taught any good people is that God is going to give you a lesson when He is good and ready.  If we aren't getting any good lessons; in at least we are planting the seeds that these people need, in order to bring them closer to Christ.  They all have their own choice.  We can only present the message and pray that the spirit will touch the heart of this person in hopes that they will make the right decision.  If not.  We gave it our all.  I guess I can apply it to track.  Yes, I can train all that I possibly can.  I can watch film to help me better myself.  I can run 400's till I die in practice to make me better.  I can eat healthy and I can sleep well.  But you know, sometimes you just don't take 1st place and you have to just go back and do it all again but better.

It’s been great this last week in that we have been talking with everyone.  I have really noticed that WOW.... I can communicate with these people.  I can speak with them and they can understand me.  What a blessing that is.  After all the work I have put in; learning the language, I am being blessed now.  It just goes to show that as long as we continue to have the hope and faith in God, that He will complete His promises that He will help us with all the things that we need to do.  I hope you all can see the blessings that the Lord is giving you in your lives and that you can be grateful for them.  

I wish you all the best and I hope that you can all have the spirit of the Lord with you in this coming week.  

Yours truly  

Elder Beatty

Email 10-25-11

Yeah new companion, WHOOOOOOOOOOO party

My new companions name is Elder Rios and he is from Argentina.  I can't really remember what the name of the city was but it’s all good.  He is pretty cool he played on a volleyball team for his province before he left.  I guess that is kind of like a state or something like that.  So ya he was pretty professional back in the day.  But like all missionaries that was before we all gained our own personal guts.  Yes, yes I do admit I have kind of rounded out in the midsection but hey, what can a guy do when all you do is eat fried tortillas and manioca (a type of potato) all day.? :D

This last week I learned something really cool I think.  I have really been focusing on questions of the soul that can be answered with the scriptures.  I have learned that we have a choice between the liberty and love of the Lord or the captivity and power of the devil.  I have also learned that little children can't be persecuted for their sins because of how they do not have knowledge between the good or the evil.  This was the same with Adam and Eve while they were in the Garden.  They didn't know whether anything was good or bad.  We learn from the Book of Mormon that Adam being cast out was part of the plan of God.  Satan thought that he was going trick God but no, that is impossible. That is simply why when they partook of the tree of good or evil they were cast out only to fulfill the plan of God.  They were as little children not knowing good from evil.  It gets a little complicated from there but I hope you get the general idea.

This week has passed by really, really slow.  I'm not going to lie.  I do miss Elder Hewitt a lot.  We could just talk about anything anywhere at any time.  I do feel that we are going to be good friends after when I get back.  It’s crazy to think of the relationships that you can form here in the mission; not only with the people of Paraguay, but with the great young men that you get to serve with.  There is a lot I can learn from both my companions and the people.  It’s going to be a great adventure.  

This last week I have been focusing a lot on my faith.  Not just my faith in myself or in my speaking abilities or anything like that; but I have been focusing on my faith in that through God anything is possible.  He can get the people to church that need to come to church.  He can give an answer to someone looking for an answer.  It’s great to feel that warm comfy feeling the Holy Ghost can bring when we know that God is going to help us at whatever moment we are ready for Him.  But, first we have to live worthy to receive the spirit.  This last general conference I believe it was Elder Ballard or Elder Packer; they gave the many statements of "if" we do certain things then we can have the spirit.  Yes, what he says is true that "if" we stay true to our values we can receive more help and guidance from the Holy Ghost.  But for me, and probably maybe for a good majority of us, this is based on the knowledge that we have right now of the gospel.  These statements should no longer be "if" statements.  It should be a matter of "when".  We know what we need to do.  So why not just do it.

I love you all and hope you can have the spirit of the Lord with you this next week in your families and jobs and friends.  I wish you the best.

Les amo a mi familia, para siempre

-Elder Beatty

Pictures 10-25-11

Can you say "awesome" tie? haha

pictures 10-17-11

Email 10-17-11

That is so sad about Sam.  He was such a hard working guy and he knew the importance of family, but you know what?  It's true that we are blessed with knowledge beyond understanding.  Even though we don't have to understand all the deep doctrine of what is going on in the spirit world as long as we stick to what we know through the scriptures and the prophets we know that all will be well.  Sometimes we have missionaries here who get caught up in the deepest doctrine and worry about the stupidest things and it causes them to forget the simple doctrine that makes the gospel of Christ so beautiful.  Please give Uncle Dean and Aunt Marsha a hug for me.

(Presten was quite the story teller this week... some of his analogies really crack me up!)

Yay guess what? Elder Beatty just got his first baptism.  Whoot!! Party!!!  And yes,  it was a party!  Braulio Ramos was baptized.  He is a great guy and of course one of the best converts I have had so far :D  He was such a great learner and was ever eager to gain the knowledge that we were so eager to give him.  He was the best because we never had to drag him to the font.  From the beginning, when we asked him to be baptized he nodded and said “Yes, I will.”  From then on we led him hand in hand towards his first step to God.  What a great moment it was when he came out of the water and I could see the look on his face as he knew that he was clean.  As we climbed out of the font he asked me.  “How can I get that feeling again?”  I told him that he could have that feeling every week on Sunday when we partook of the sacrament.  A huge grin overtook his face as he tried to explain to me the feeling he had at that moment.  He was speechless.  As he stood there searching for words I put my hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eyes and told him that the feeling he has now, he can continually feel as long as he did all the things we had asked him to do.  Keep the commandments, come to church, etc.  

Not everything went off without a hitch.  You will notice the pictures of the melted bowl.  We attempted to make a cake for his baptism.  We forgot that we were making a cake in a plastic bowl over the top of an oven that was heating up.  After a while,  as I was mixing it all together I noticed that the bowl was sliding to one side. The bowl was melting to the top of the oven.  I thought, oh the bottom is melted; but I can just pull it up.  But as I pulled up the bowl the whole thing just fell right out alllll over the oven and floor. Great..... Me and Elder Hewitt just looked at each other and laughed.  It’s ok because we weren't going to eat any cake anyway.  We of course had other problems.  As we were prepping to get everyone to the baptism, the phone stopped working.  We couldn't get a hold of the bishop to buy empanadas for the baptism or get a hold of the ward mission leader.  We also could tell that Satan was at work the day before when we had Braulio's interview.  His sister who is very close to being asked to be baptized said that she wanted to come but can't because she has work.  We only told her every day for the last 3 weeks that his baptism was at this time, this day and she needed work off.  All she would say to us is that "Oh that’s way too far in the future I don't know if I have work."  Ahhh, then just ask for it off.  So we ended up changing the baptism to 2 hours earlier than it was planned and so not any members could come.  But it was actually really spiritual.  Braulio's sister and "special ed" brother could come.  She was crying during the baptism.  I hope it was tears of joy..........  But after all the stresss.... (I can see why missionaries come home with less hair) Elder Hewitt said that this was his easiest baptism.  AHHHH hahaha...

I also had to give a talk this last week and I thought I would just share some funny insight about what I was talking about.  I was giving a talk about hope.  If we have hope, we believe that God will fulfill His promises and that through faith AND hope we can receive blessings of the commandments and such.  I saw everyone was confused so I gave an example of the bus system here.  It is very, very unreliable. So I began that all of us have spent time waiting for a collectivo (bus) and sometimes it doesn't come and so what do we do?  We get mad.  But let’s say that the bus driver is God and the bus is blessings.  That bus is always going to come, we just have to be doing what we need to do to wait for it. I don't think that it helped out my talk very well.  I’m sure translates kind of funny.  (LOOK OUT! God is driving the bus and the blessings are COMING........ :D)

We have changes this week.  I am sure excited to get a new comp but still nervous as any guy would be.  It’s like when you’re planning on changing your toothpaste, you never really know what’s going to come out of the tube; but you sure hope it will make your teeth clean.  It most likely will, in some way or another.  Elder Hewitt and I have had a great run together.  He is a good missionary who has taught me to teach the people just being myself and to teach the needs.  It’s not worth it to baptized people only for the sake of getting a number. We baptize because it’s going to change people for the better.  We teach because it’s going to make us better teachers and its going to help the investigator understand what our purpose is.  Not to drag people to the font to brag about how many baptisms we get, not to become a leader and show off to people,  but to actually see the change in people in that they are happy in the choice that they made to be baptized.  Those are the people who will go to church no matter what happens.  It’s great to see this kind of change.  I have seen missionaries who are good missionaries but they think they are fulfilling our purpose in just purely baptizing people and never seeing them again.  We need to work hard enough so that the people know what they are doing. Knowing the importance of the steps they are taking towards God and eternal life.  We have used a good example of enduring to the end. Our first step is baptism.  That is like buying a house.  But if we don’t continue to go to church and keep the commandments it’s like buying that house and never doing anything with it.  You don't have water, light, beds, food, nothing.  You’re better off living in a tent in the Jungle.  

We all have taken that first step.  Some have taken more steps than others.  I hope that we are taking our steps with our eyes open and not blindly being dragged by someone.  The more we understand  what we are doing the more blessings we will notice that we receive and the happier we will be.

I love you all and hope you have the best in all you do.

-Elder Beatty

Email 10-10-11

Hello all I am sorry I haven't gotten back for a while I hope you all are doing well and I wish you the best.  I hope you like reading my emails because I have to be quite frank…  I like writing them (sometimes) :D

This last week we have been keeping busy finding good new investigators.  It’s hard sometimes when you get into the “people finding” mode.  It’s like the people can tell you are in “people finding” mode because they see you coming and for some reason they know you are going to come talk to them so; of course, they just book it in the opposite direction or something like that.  I haven't quite figured out how they do, but I will someday.  We have a funny one.  We were walking towards this guy and he saw us coming so instantly he began to observe a side view mirror on some random car to make sure that it functioned properly.  We walked up and asked him what was wrong with his car and he said that it wasn't his car.  Then we said ya we understand sometimes people don't want to talk to us it’s ok.  hehehe got ya!!  

We also have this other game that we have been playing lately.  So pretty much every girl in this country thinks she is hot stuff.  And all the guys seem to agree also.  So whenever there is a girl walking on the street it must be the rule of thumb that if you are a guy you have to check her out no matter how old she is, no matter how old you are and no matter how far away she is.  We; of course, can't look at the girls and so we look at the guys who are checking out the girls and we give them the face of disgust.  So yes; of course, after they are done looking at the girl, their attention goes to the two weird dudes walking around with white shirts and ties and what do they get?  The face of disgust!!  Of course they feel like idiots because we caught them looking at the girl in the wrong way.  HAHAH this is always good for a laugh or two when the sweat is starting to get into your head.  

Braulio is coming along great.  I love every time we come out of a lesson from his house with him and his sister.  They always tell us that whenever we talk to them and when they understand they feel this fire.  This love.  This peace that they never want to lose.  They are a special family that is not like the rest of the people here in Franco.  They have a Down syndrome brother who is probably about 45 years old.  He has prepared them; through his challenge, to accept the gospel.  Because of him, his brothers and sisters are more prone to feel the spirit.  They are more prone to love, they are patient and they are spiritual.

He has a baptism date set for this 15th we are really trying to get him to it and I think we will make it. This last Sunday we took him to church for the 3 hours.  He thought it was pretty long but it’s ok because everyone still thinks that sometimes.  We couldn't walk him back to his house and so the ward mission leader a man named Irala said he would ride the collectivo home with him.  We passed by Irala's house later that day to find out that Irala and Braulio had talked for almost 2 hours about the church. They had lunch, they watched a video about the testimonies of the 12 apostles.  Ya go Irala!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh ya we were walking from the bus stop before church with Braulio and he had his bracelet on which had a cross.  He asked us if he had to take it off.  We told him that it was up to him and that if it helped him feel the spirit more then he could keep it on, but we told him to listen to the spirit and do what it tells him to do because the spirit never lies.  Guess what?  He took it off just as we were getting ready to take the sacrament 2 hours later.  OHHHH YYAAAAAA!!!!!!  

This last week; as Elder Hewitt's time here in Paraguay is coming to a close, I have really had to step up to the plate.  It’s been a lot of fun going back to the way I was in my 3rd week when I was learning really fast.  I feel the same way now because I am doing a lot of the work, but I don't mind.  It is helping me grow and gain a new perspective on things that are here in the mission and how you will need to handle different situations with different companions.  We have been having a lot of trouble with the members lately.  There is a lot of drama that goes on and of course all the members think it’s the job of the missionaries to fix everything.  We have shut down a lot of people who want help with ward problems.  We tell them that we are only here to preach the gospel not to solve their personal problems.  That’s what the bishop is for.  So that’s been kind of rough. 

I have been thinking a lot about how we are all blessed to be here.  We often take for granted who we are, who we are blessed to have in our families, our talents that so often we forget to improve, our knowledge that we have of the simple truths of the gospel and the joy it can bring into our lives if we just  allow it to bring about this change of happiness.  The gospel is simple.  Have faith in Christ, use this faith to repent and be baptized, keep the commandments and endure to the end.  How easy is this?  We often times in the heat of the busyness of the day forget what true happiness is.  Prayer, repentance, family, the gospel, these are things that we can use to actually bring love into our lives and feel closer to God.  We don't need a fast car, a great business deal, lots of friends (but this is nice) hehe.  We have all that we need.  Our families and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love you all and hope you the best this coming week.

-Elder Beatty

Email 10-3-11

This is just a fast note to go out.  It’s a quote that I found by Elder Holland just giving people something to think about for this next week.  

Christ will run to you, and is running even now, if you will but receive the extended arm of His mercy.  

To those who stagger or stumble, He is there to steady and strengthen us.  In the end He is there to save us, and for all this, He gave His life.  However dim our days may seem, they have been a lot darker for the Savior of the world.  As a reminder of those days, Jesus has chosen, even in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, to retain for the benefit to His disciples, the wounds in His hands and in His feet and in His side-- Signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect.  Signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn´t love you.  Signs, if you will that problems pass and happiness can be ours.  It is the wounded Christ who is the Captain of our souls, He who yet bears the scars of our forgiveness, the lesions of his love and humility, the torn flesh of obedience and sacrifice.  These wounds are the principal way we are to recognize Him when He comes.  He may invite us forward, as He has invited others, to see and to feel those marks.  

I hope you all enjoyed conference.  

I watched conference at the Stake center in Cuidad Del Este.  It was in Spanish so it hurt my head by the time I was done but I think I still got some good out of it.

Love you all and wish you the best.

-Elder Beatty

Email 9-26-11

Hey Everyone! 

I figure that it’s a good thing that I’m not keeping track of how many weeks I have been on the mission.  That can be a good thing, in that I’m not really preoccupied with time.  Ok a quick rundown with what has happened last week.  So we just finished with district meeting and Elder Tyler our district leader decided to do last minute exchanges.  WOW! Ok, so I had to run home and pack up a nights worth of stuff, I forgot a ton by the way, and then just run off and go do changes with Elder Lamb.  I guess it was a good thing that they didn't live too far away.  It went pretty well.  We placed; I think 3 baptismal dates and invites and I dropped cane on a drunken guy, who didn't want to change, for his wife to come back.  So all in all; besides not getting any sleep and forgetting all my stuff, it went well.  We passed by Pablo's house again and we talked about them getting married in order for them to be baptized.  They said that now, really wasn't the time for them to get married.  This is mostly due to the fact that Pablo really doesn't want to stay with this girl.  He only is, because he had a baby with her, and one of his old ex's is back and wants to get back together and ahhhh.  It’s hard sometimes because you know that they know that they need to baptized and change but when they don't want to it’s pretty crushing.  Oh well, we have prepared him for the missionary someday who will baptized him.  We found new people through a guy named Brajulio.  I guess that he was going to commit suicide and he just happened to pass by us on the street and we went to his house and taught about repentance and then he didn't.......... WOW!! how cool is that?  Anyway they have a date for the 15th of October.  I really hope we can get this baptism so Elder Hewitt can go out with a bang from his mission.  He really liked teaching them, so that all went good.  We were teaching them for about 1 hour, now let me explain… it’s hard for a Paraguayan to stay that focused for an hour.  They were doing the missionary lean towards us THE WHOLE TIME.   That was something awesome.  The spirit was super strong.  

I guess one cool thing that happened today was that we got on a bus to head further into our area and guess what? It was the wrong bus and we ended up about 15 miles in some other direction that we didn't want to go at all.  It was chill and kind of not chill, because when you’re on the busses here, you are pretty much scared for your life.  Oh well, that’s how it goes.  But it was cool getting to see some more of Paraguay and an area that I didn't know at all.  I guess tomorrow we have a cool conference in Asuncion so all the trainers and all the leaders have to go.  I'm excited because I should see Elder Marple, Varney, Edwards, and Hermana Hubbard there.  It will be good to see my old buddies from the MTC.  I forget how much I miss those Elders and Hermana and how much I pray for their success.  They have become like family to me here.

We have really been focusing this last week on finding people and it has been awesome.  I truly feel like a missionary now; because we are talking to EVERYONE.  I still get a little heart drop when we come up to someone but it’s been good for me and my language skills to have to talk to people.  It’s also good because we are starting to get to know people in an area and we can establish a foothold to start the missionary work in the area.  It’s actually been pretty fun when we make a competition to see who can talk to the most people.  Usually Elder Hewitt kills me though, just because he can talk better.  Don't worry, I’m getting there though.  I’m not gonna let a little competition throw me out of my groove.

I think one thing that I really want to talk about is the upcoming General Conference.  It’s been really great for me preparing for this coming conference.  I have been reading a lot of the conference issues of the Liahona.  Yes, in Spanish!  It’s helped me realize that these men and women have searched, prayed, and given much time to choosing the topics on which they are going to be giving to us.  One thing that I can give to you all as advice for this coming conference is that as you listen; if you really want to pay attention and be able to stay awake, as I will desire to do, listen to these people with the intent to do what they tell you to do.  I know it’s hard; believe me, I’m not gonna lie when I say that I was the most avid conference listener/snoozer before my mission.  We can ALWAYS search for that little bit of revelation that was given to that speaker just for us.  When we listen, we must listen as though it is God himself speaking to us because through the mouth of His disciples will come His will.  I will hope that I can have the opportunity to attend this General Conference as I listen to our prophets and leaders in the church and their words that can help us not only better ourselves in coming closer to God but to search for true happiness.  I love you all and hope the spirit of the Lord is with you.

Elder Beatty

Email 9-19-11

September 19, 2011

Hey everyone it’s been another great week here in the PARA guay. Sorry I didn't get an email out last week. Things have just been so crazy here that sometimes I get caught up in what’s going on and forget altogether that I need to get an email out.

One thing that I found this last week that has been really awesome in applying to our investigators, is  Captain Moroni that is mentioned in Alma. Saying that he was a man of sound resolve that understands both things temporal and Spiritual. Also, that if all men were like unto the Captain Moroni then the very powers of hell would be shaken forever. We shared this scripture with one of the investigators, Pablo. We explained that Captain Moroni was not a prophet but was worthy of having the companionship of the Holy Ghost and that made all the difference. Because of his resolve to live the gospel; he was able to be successful as the leader of the armies of the Nephites. This was great for him. Somehow Pablo brought up the topic of the priesthood. He asked if we needed to have the priesthood in order to live with God again. wow...... Perfect question...... We told him that the priesthood LITERALLY was the power of God given to man to use for the salvation of the people. He asked if we had it and we said yes!! We told him that with this power he could bless his family with blessings that he couldn't comprehend. He is a great thinker for being a young man of 21 with a 4 week old baby. He really is prepared but still we are having trouble getting a sedula for his wife so they can get married and then be baptized. Please pray for him.

I was reading in the Ensign this last week and I stumbled upon a talk by Henry B Eyring. He gave some great council about trials that we face as Latter Day Saints. He related that we see trails as rain and clouds. Really if you think about it, it rains on everyone and just because we see clouds doesn't mean that it’s going to rain. We aren't the only ones that are facing trials in this world as Latter Day Saints. We only have more, because the tempter is always out to see our weaknesses. That is why we need to protect ourselves with the umbrella of the gospel.

Yes, I think I would just have to announce to everyone that yes!!...... I'M AN UNCLE. Everyone that I tell here freaks out for me and say that I’m too young to be an uncle, but I guess it’s all true. Congrats Tia and Ben. As far as the name is concerned I really like it actually.  (Trey Jack Stout)

One thing I guess that has been a little funny was a learning experience that we went through this last week. Don't blame me for what happened I was just an innocent bystander in all this. This has been happening through the mission a lot lately. To get people to stop smoking is really a problem here. I guess to get someone to stop smoking you just get them to eat 3 cigarettes and then 4 more. Um… I don’t know if that is healthiest thing ever, but it definitely seems to work. So if you need help with someone that is smoking there you go.

This last week I have been thinking a lot about what goes on in the life of a missionary. We have a lot of stuff that we have to put up with. We learn an insanely amount of patience. I hope that if you see the missionaries; please, say” thank you” for the work they are doing. It’s tough, the amount of patience we have to have in our investigators, members, and just plain ol people. If you are asked to help a missionary, please help them. It’s rather discouraging when we are trying to find someone to come with us out of the ward and yes, none of them can. It’s so much better to have a member there because the investigator can feel that they can relate to a normal person besides the freaky boys in white.

I hope you all have the spirit of the Lord with you this next week and I hope you all have luck in your doings. Oh if you wrote me letter. I probably wrote you back but yes the mail system takes a very very long time. Please if your waiting be patient as I am. I love hearing from you all.  (He found out that the package of letters that he sent was too heavy and would take 3 months to get here.L)

Amo a mi familia, para siempre.

-Elder Beatty