Como estan todos?
Tranquilopa hahaha Well another week another day and another hour. The time
just seems to keep clicking by slowly but surely. I have come to agree with
Elder Nate Northcott in the sense that I’m super excited to come on P-day and
write the family but then I get here and sit down and I find that I really don’t
have anything to say or I don’t know where to begin. It’s quite the problem but
I’m hoping that the Spirit will guide me so that I can say the things that I
need to say in order to have a edifying letter of hope and faith to you all.
This week we have had continued trials as a companionship. We did discover an
area that has produced some great results. We are super excited to start working
in that area to hopefully find someone who is ready to progress and accept the
gospel in their lives.
The miracles of this
week…
So a few weeks ago we
were in the terminal to receive a few missionaries that were coming from Asuncion
where they had to go to sign some papers to stay in the country and we were
there waiting at like 7 at night when a guy came up to my companion. I was off
talking to another guy. I came over and realized that they were talking in
English and so I joined the conversation. I guess that this guy was a member
for over 30 years. He was baptized when he was a little kid and his mom and all
his family were members. This guy is a super famous singer here in Paraguay and
is known throughout Brazil and Argentina. We started to talk to him and he
bought us some food and drinks. He was a super nice guy and spoke pretty good English.
He said that he had learned English from the elders that he left with when he
was a younger kid. We found out that he actually lived in our area and so we
fixed some plans to go and visit him. We went and we found out that his wife is
a super nice lady. She is a part Muslim but really likes the church. I guess
the guy had been talking to her about the church and about the organization. We
got them to come to General Conference which was a huge accomplishment because
he hadn’t been to the church in 35 years and so it was good to see him overcome
this obstacle. At the conference we watched a baptismal service and the women
really liked it. The guy turned to us and said in English that he was going to
baptized his wife hahaha it was super funny because his wife had no idea what
he was saying. The wife really like the church and said that she wanted to come
back every week. She wants to be baptized but she wants to know more. I thought
it was pretty cool. I have never really taught a Muslim before. She is super
nice and really likes the gospel of Christ. We are going to try and put a
baptismal date with her this week so that she can take that step. It’s also
good that we have been getting this member to come to church again. He is a
good guy and all, but being famous for singing has really taken its toll on
him.
Another miracle that
happened yesterday... So really this week we have been struggling to find good
people. We have a thing in the mission when we call people golden. In the sense
that they are super awesome and are going to get baptized. I was talking to Elder
Martinez about that and about how we are looking for golden people and then I
was thinking, Hey I don’t want golden people. I want people that are like
diamonds. hahaha So we just kinda shrugged it off and we kept looking. So what
happened was that our appointments had all dropped and so we were making our
way to go teach a family that we had taught a few weeks ago and I felt that we
needed to go talk to a guy that I had contacted called Juan Carlos. We went and
he was there. He let us in and we talked about lesson 1. Wow this guys he doesn’t
look too intelligent but really he knows his stuff. We asked him how he became
so smart about religious stuff and he said that he had read the bible a lot and
another book called the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of
Great Price. Wow…blew us away. So we asked him if he had it and so he brought
it out. Sure enough he walked out with a triple combination. I guess that there
was a girl that was living next to him and she had left to go work in Spain and
left a bunch of books and he went through them and found the Triple Wow.......
We started talking about the restoration of the church and gospel of Jesus Christ
and you could just see in his eyes that a light went on. That he understood. We
told him that the Book of Mormon was the evidence that Joseph Smith was a
prophet and we asked him if he believed the Book of Mormon was true. He looked
at the book and he said that he knew without a doubt in his heart that it was
true. So after that we read a scripture in DC 39 v 10 and with all the strength
and power and authority that I possessed, I looked at him straight in the eye and
invited him to be baptized. He said yes. It was one of the moments when you
hear the opera sound in the background. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH…. I just looked at my
companion and he was all smiles. The awesome thing was that he told us right
before we closed that for a few weeks he had been praying and asking God about
the way that he should go to be able to give his life in service to others and
then what happens? We show up.... MIRACLES....... It was like we were walking
on clouds after. It was a great experience for me in the sense that the Lord is
preparing people and if we follow the promptings of the spirit He will guide
us. I just love it when stuff like this happens. It makes all the walking and
all the sweat and all the tears and prayers worth it. IT’S THE MISSION!!!!!!!!!
Another funny story to
end was that on Sunday night my companion and I needed to leave Cuidad Del Este
to travel to the office in Asuncion for a meeting that we would have with all
the other Zone leaders and President. So we set our alarm for 1200 so that we
could get up, shower, eat and be waiting at the bus stop with plenty of time to
get on and find a seat with the other Zone leaders. So we hit the sack. While I
was sleeping I got a phone call and didn’t recognize the number. I answered and
it was the zone leaders and they said. Hey we are leaving now we will be at
your bus stop in 5 minutes… AHHHHHHHHHHHHH… I practically flew out of bed and
started yelling at my companion to get up and get ready that the bus would be getting
here and leaving in 5 minutes. I bet it would have been a funny sight to see.
We were running all over the place just getting all our stuff together and
getting dressed. I bet it would have looked like we were running around without
any purpose. So finally we get down the stairs of our apartment and we runnn to
the bus stop. We get there and 2 minutes later the bus comes and we get on. As
we sit down ,I put on my tie and my jacket and reach down to do up my shoes
only to find that I had forgotten socks. How in the world did I forget socks?
hahahaha Everything went well and we had a good meeting with the president.
I love the mission.
Really I hope that every person in the whole world serves because really it’s
the thing that helps get the training we need to tackle life and take it by the
reigns.
I love you all hope
you have fantastic week.
Rohaihu
Les
quiero-- Elder Beatty
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