Hello everybody it’s been too long. I have a tragic story to announce in that Elder Bingham did not stay. My child was taken away from me to go to Paraguari. Which I hear is actually a really really beautiful place that is kinda in the middle of the south of Paraguay. It’s a great city where the work is progressing very very well. Elder Bingham will be a great missionary and a great friend to all those he comes in contact with.
My new companion is.. drum roll................................. Elder Dockstader from Arizona. whooo party. He is coming from dead smack in the middle of Asuncion. Where all there is is old crummy houses and lots of cars. OH he came from an area with all asphalt. So the drada and the sand is a bit of a change for him. He is great elder. He actually just got done being companions with Elder Rios. Who was my first Latin companion. So we have a little bit to talk about as far as the time we both had with Elder Rios. This is Elder Dockstader´s second area and I’m his 3rd companion. So it looks like I’m gonna be staying in Ytororo for just a little bit while longer. Its actually really crazy because every companionship in the district had a change and so there is someone new in every part. Its gonna be exciting too because most of the people that are coming I already know so it will be great that we can skip the introductions and get straight to work. I actually got called to serve as district leader for Zone 3 District 2 YEAH!!!! I´m exicted for the chance that I get now to serve other missionaries and to be an example to everyone. I hope that I can live up to the calling and that the Lord will help me be a worker in his hands for the missionaries in my district. Other than the changes there really isn´t anything NEW. but we still have a lot of exciting things going on. Jorge and Ivan got confirmed this last Sunday. It was sooo coool to finally see the end of this long journey that we had seen together. It was a little sad when Elder Bingham wasn’t here to see it as well but I’m sure that he will be writing soon to make sure and keep the communication going on between them. Now it’s a kinda like............... Whats next? It’s great though because Elder Dockstader and I just hit the deck running. Since the first day we had been just talking to everyone and just trying to find some new people to teach and since then we have had some crazy experiences.
We had just finished teaching these people who were super super super active in their own Pentecostal church and we finished testifying that there was only one true prophet on the earth today. Then the guy and the lady go off on how they too are prophets and that the spirit comes over them and they can tell the future. They said that they believe that Joseph smith was a prophet and they too had the power of God to act in His name. So we just wanted to get away from these crazy people. So we started to leave and as we were standing up the guy started to come forward and he said ¨before you leave I wanna give you a blessing by the laying on of hands¨ my heart just dropped in its place. I was so scared. So we just said that we were super super late for a lunch appointment, which we were, and we had to go in that instant. He tried to just give us the blessing, but we escaped. Wow it was actually a very scary experience that some dude was gonna call on some unknown power to give us strength. Ahahaha I just shiver thinking about it. After that we were kinda shaken up for a bit but after a while we just laughed about it and moved on.
Also we just had to keep going on with all the weird experiences. I don´t know if Elder Docksteader is just bad luck but we had nasty food this week. We had mundungo 3 times. I had no idea why, but I was thinking that people would be making steaks and stuff for Easter but I guess I was wrong in that they just whipped out the good ol mundungo. After the 3rd time that we ate it I just didn´t want to have it or see it anymore. I hope that I don´t see it for a while because I don´t know if I will be able to eat it again. We also ate a number of breads that had special types of bugs in it. Yes bugs. I guess that it was supposed to be traditional or something.
One other thing that happened this week was that about a month ago I tripped on a branch and a huge thorn stabbed me in the leg on my calf. So I stopped and pulled it out. It was a HUGE thorn. And so when I got home I put some triple anti biotic on it and called it good. It was sore for a few days but got better. There was a scab on where I pulled the thorn out and it never really quite healed over. On Thursday I was feeling down on my leg and where the thorn had gone in was really bumpy and I was like humm thats weird so as a boy I thought it was some sort of infection and I was gonna squeeze it out. As I squeezed it. A part of the thorn just popped out. I was amazed. This thorn had been in my leg for about a month. It was crazy that my body had just pushed it out little by little. Crazy I know. hahaha
I also got a little sick this last week. Probaby from all the crazy food that I had been eating. I of course got diarrhea. I was thinking really that God gives missionaries diarrhea to help them be more humble in coming closer to the pain that the Savior felt when He suffered the sins of the world. Ya we can never really experience the pain that He suffered, but man, sometimes diarrhea sure does seem close. hahahah
In the end, this week has been a big growing experience for me. Finally I have Elder Docksteader. One of the first elders that have actually been here to work. We are working the hardest I´ve ever worked in my mission and I love it. I love walking in at the end of the day and knowing that yes I gave it my all and I didn´t have to really have to motivate my companion to keep going. I am soooooo excited for this change and the success that we are going to see. The secret to missionary work is work. And I know that we are gonna work hard this change. I love you all and hope that you have the spirit of the Lord with you this week. The Lord and Savior died for us. But He lives!! And because He lives, we all have the chance to live an eternal life IF we make the correct decisions and do what we need to do to be worthy of a divine mansion.
Rohyhu
Just a note about the photos... I included these two photos so that you could see what a grocery store looks like, (Presten is pretending to be Harry Potter! the Paraguains probably think he is crazy), and little Ivan with his family in their living room, notice the humble conditions.... Yet they are happy!!!
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