Well wow, what a week that has passed. We had a really good week actually we got a ton of lessons in with members and ended up having 7 people in church WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! The one hard thing that was a rough one was that while we were in church one of our investigators got their motorcycle stolen. Now he doesn´t really want to talk to us anymore because he thinks that we are the ones that stole it. Wow....... I guess we will just have to keep on pushing with him to see if the Lord has prepared his time for now or if we have to wait on the Lord a little longer.
At first I was super confused about why the Lord would let this happen if we promised blessings to Hector if he would come to church. When we found out that Hector had his bike stolen, all the members were just looking at me and talking at me, telling me to do something. I was so sad/mad/confused. I couldn´t do anything. I couldn´t pray and have the bike just magically appear. I didn´t know what to do or what to say. But I just had to put my faith in the Lord and remember that really everything happens for a reason and that I just need to make sure and be ready if Hector´s time comes again.
This last week we found a guy named Jorge. He is about 61 years old and he almost killed his wife. He told us that he wants to change. So we taught him that through the truth, he can have a change and have a more united family. We taught him the Restoration and he prayed and read the BOM and said it was true. He came to church and now he is starting to stop smoking. It truly is amazing how crazy fast the Lord can work if people put all their faith in him. Jorge usually goes into Asuncion on Sundays to work because on Sundays he can have the most success. But no, he came to church this last Sunday and he really really liked it. He said that he could feel something different about the church and about the chapel. It was way sweet. He has a baptism date for the 3rd of March.
We are still progressing really well with the Family Bareiro. The mom and the dad can´t get baptized yet because Ariel has to get a divorce and then we have to marry them together, but the daughters can get baptized and the mom and dad told us that they don´t want to wait. They want their daughters baptized. They really really like coming to church. It is a huge walk for them, probably about 3-4 miles and on the empidrada (the elders call it devil’s stone, it is a really rocky, awful road) and with 4 little girls. Not easy. It’s really cute though because as we walk with them the little girls all pick flowers for us and we put them behind our ears and in our pockets. At the end of church we have to remember and empty out our pockets with the bi-jillion flowers they put in. The little girls have a baptism date for the 25 of this month. And we are working really hard to get the divorce all figured out for Arial and Tanya. The thing is, is that they are soooo poor and a divorce is sooooo expensive. But they said that they would do it because they want a family. They want to be blessed. What faith.......
This last week we went and visited a member. His name is Silvestre. Which in English is translated as WILD.. He is like 95..... hahaha The awesome thing is that he normally comes every single Sunday. His wife died about 2 months ago. I didn´t get to know her, but Silvestre comes to church every single week. He walks...... He lives maybe about 6 miles away from the church but he walks every Sunday. Something that is even more amazing..... He doesn´t understand a word of Spanish. He only speaks Guaraní. In the church we only speak Spanish. So that means that he walks 6 miles every Sunday to come to church to not understand anything. He may not be able to understand what is being said, but he can FEEL what is being said. That is just such a strong testimony to me that really the spirit is so strong. We can feel the Lord’s love for us even if we don´t understand because the spirit is what moves us, what makes us feel.
This last week I have really been able to pay attention to my surroundings because I let Elder Bingham take the lead. As I was walking around I saw many things. I saw little kids walking around carrying sacks to put old bottles in so that they could eat that day. I saw people who lived in houses made of nothing but garbage sacks. I saw a little kid pushing around a little broken bike that didn´t have a seat or pedals or inflated tires or a chain. He was as happy as could be just pushing around his bike. I saw people who walk around barefoot because they use their money to buy bread. I saw people who have HUGE houses who don´t talk to anyone because they think they are better than everyone else. In the BOM the wickedness all starts out when we can see the separation of people. When we think that we are better because of what we have in comparison to someone else. That is when the wickedness started. Here just like any other part of the world you can see that there is a separation between people of different social classes. We need to lose this sight!. We are all Sons and Daughters of God. He loves us all equally. When we learn to see people for who they are; instead of for what they have, we have gained a spiritual sight. The meek and the humble will inherit the kingdom of God. We don´t have to be poor in worldly things to inherit the kingdom, but poor in spirit. If we are poor in spirit we will do all that we can to help others to find the true happiness, the happiness of the gospel.
I love you all so much and hope you have an AWESOME week.
SHOUTOUT TO ALL MY SPANISH SPEAKING BROSIFS!!!!!!!!
Rohyhu mi familia
Elder Beatty
(no pictures for a few weeks because when he puts in the SD card, the "crappy Paraguan computers" delete all of his photos)
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