Email 2-27-12

That is soooo awesome that our basketball team took state!!!!!........................................  I¨m sooo happy for them.  I bet it really was the celebration of the century.  That is soooo coooool.  I hope that now they can take state in Track and Field!!!  A Triple Crown!!!!

Well, it was a good week.  The two girls from the familia Bareiro got baptized.  It all went well in the end.  Like in every baptism there are those little things that Satan tries to do to stop it but we all jumped over those hurdles and just kept chuggin along.  I know it may be hard to believe but baptisms are those times when I lose the most hair.  But I think it will be worth it in the end.    Elder Bingham performed one of the baptisms.  He was soooo scared.  When he was doing the ordinance he was talking way soft, we had one of the youth in the ward do the other baptism.  It really was a super spiritual experience for Elder Bingham.  Him being able to see that really all that work and stress and praying really does pay off.   I was super happy for him.  We got some investigators to come to the baptism so it was sweet that they could get a taste of that spiritual experience.  It was raining the day of the baptism so we were super scared that no one was going to come but it all ended really well.  We had a member make a sweeeeeet awesome apple tart that everyone loved so that was a good way to end it.  The stupid thing was that we gave our church key to the other elders because someone stole theirs and they left during the baptism so when the baptism was over and everyone left, we couldn´t close the church and so we had to wait like 2 hours for the other elders to come back and close the church.  Oh well we got the baptism done.  The girls got confirmed on Sunday and the family was super happy.  Now we just have to get the Divorce rolling for the parents (from a previous marriage)  so that they can get baptized.

  

Here is a funny moment this week… we were eating lunch with the other elders at the bishops house and we were sooooo full of oily noodles and so we didn´t want to eat anymore.  Elder Bingham had gotten a huge plate that was a little challenging.  He didn´t finish eating it all and so the Hermana came and said ¨Elder there are starving kids in Africa who would die to eat that food.¨ and I said ¨ya there are missionaries too¨ everyone laughed because really it’s the truth hahaha

This last week we have kinda hit a bump in the road in that we haven´t really been finding many new people to teach.  It’s a trap that most missionaries fall into very often in that they are sooo focused on the investigators that are progressing that they forget that they may find themselves without many investigators and no one to teach in the end.  We have made a new effort in the week that is coming to really focus on finding new people and just talking with everyone.

I don´t know why sometimes I still think its scary to talk to people.  Having already talked to what seems like thousands of people while I have been here and I still think it is a little scary.  I thought that for sure I wouldn´t be scared anymore but there is always that moment right when you see someone when you have that doubt that you shouldn´t talk to them.  It’s Satan.  He is trying to do everything possible that we don´t have success and that people don´t find the truth.  Good thing that we are armed with the testimony of the truth.  We just have to open our mouths.  

I´m starting to get a little scared for Elder Bingham.  He really hasn´t gotten sick yet from the food or from the water or from anything.  I don´t know if I should be worried or amazed.  Because usually your body gets destroyed from the food the first couple times no matter how strong of a stomach you have but I guess he must have a stomach of iron or something along those lines because it doesn´t even effect him at all.  It’s rather crazy actually.

I wrote this letter to the young men in our ward and so I thought I would share it with you all because I think it rings true for everyone...

Dear Hurricane 3rd ward young men,

  ¿Que Tal?  This is a shoutout from Elder Beatty reporting from Asuncion Paraguay mission.  I am hoping to get to know each of you a little better upon my return home, but I thought a letter would suffice for now.  I have been about 9 months in the mission and I love every second of it.  I thought I would write a little about how I feel as a missionary.  Being a missionary is the experience of a lifetime, yes maybe even better than winning a state championship in football and basketball. J

 It is the time for you to shine.  Just like when a coach will put you in the game, you’ve got to do your very best.  You’ve got to play with all your heart, might, mind and strength to come out victorious.  Whatever the sport may be; chess, swimming, track, bball, football, baseball, hockey, when you get in the game, you play your heart out.  One tiny aspect that people often forget about sports and athletes is that the athletes put in about 5-7 hours of practice for every 1 hour of game time.  If an athlete doesn´t practice, when it comes to game time they won´t do very well no matter how talented they are.

It’s the same with the mission.  The mission is game time. It’s the time to put your whole heart into it.  But, if you didn´t put the practice in before (going to church, reading the Book of Mormon,  Praying, going to the temple, going out with the missionaries) then how can we play with all our heart?

I ran track so I like to think of it this way…  the 400 meter is one of the hardest races that there is for a sprinter.  It requires endurance and speed.  Those people who had speed would start out just great but in the end they would die because they didn’t have any endurance.  The people who had endurance would finish the race well, but they just never had enough “ump” to get past the guy in front of them.

We are all running the 400 and no matter what, we will finish.  If we condition do drills, and PRACTICE, we will come out on top and be successful.  To finish well, you've got to practice, practice, and practice.  You all can do it.  We are all on the same team, the Lord´s, and He is our quarterback.  We will win!  The end of the game is not in question, but the Lord is calling YOU to enter the game and catch the winning touchdown, but you have to prepare, and practice.  

I challenge each of you to begin “practicing” now.  Little by little you will be able to finish the race!  I love you all and hope all is well in the 3rd ward.  You have my prayers and faith.

Even if we have served missions we need to prepare for that moment that we WILL have to share the gospel, to be put in the game.  We ALL can prepare.  I love you all and hope you have the spirit of the Lord with you this coming week.  

Elder Beatty

Email 2-20-11

HELLLLLOOOOOO Everybody!!!! Mbae la porte?

I´m doing awesome.  This week we had some rough bump spots but it all ended well.  We had 6 people in church and about 17 lessons with member so we are just chuggin along.  Elder Bingham will have his first baptism this week YAAAAAAAA WHOOOOOO  I’m sooo pumped for him.  He is way excited and I think he does a pretty good job of it.  

Its been kind of crazy because we have been trying to get our house a little bit more cleaner because the Hermana Callan will be coming by to inspect our houses.  It doesnt´help that we have a house that is HUGE.  It gets very very dirty very very fast.  But its ok we will just keep progressing.  I mean us as missionaries are actually very content to live the way we do.  Its the spirit and the mission presidents wife that just doesn´t get very happy when things are messy.  

Jorge the guy who should be getting baptized this week still has his baptism date but his wife really doesn´t want to get married to him.  Its a little frustrating because really he has changed his life completely around but she still doesn´t want to listen to us, talk to us, or even see us.  What happened to by their fruits you shall know them? hahah oh well we will continue to work with Jorge and his wife.  He really wants to get baptized.  He said he would almost rather separate from his wife and kids to be baptized and we were like ¨noooooo ¨you can´t do that.  That gospel is here to help families get closer together not to separate them.  So he said that he would wait and continue the fight.  

The Bareiro girls are going to get baptized this Saturday too and so we are pretty pumped for that.  The guy who got his motorcycle stolen still doesn’t really want to talk with us but he has been asking about us so that’s a good thing.  Hopefully he can get over this challenge that he is getting from God and come back to church.

Its actually going to be a sad week I think because Elder Baldwin is leaving.  He started his mission here in this area and has been here for about 8 months.  The whole ward this last week was really kind of depressed.  I think I will miss him. He is a good guy and hopefully he can continue to have good success in other areas in the mission.

This last week we had an experience that was awesome.  We met with the Sister of one of the youth in our ward.  Before, missionaries had met with her and taught a brief lesson about the restoration but really didn´t pay any attention to her needs and so she wasn´t really interested.  We met with her and talked with her and she said that she just wants to have the truth in her life because it’s the truth that brings happiness.  We taught her how we in the church of Jesus Christ have all the truth. And that through a prophet today and the Book of Mormon she can know the truth to any question that she could ever have.  We invited her to be baptized and she had a TON of doubts.  Really she pulled out every excuse in the book.  But in the end she knew that she needed to be baptized again just didn´t want to commit to a date.  I told her ¨look, God is never going to lie to you.  We can go right now and pray in your house and you can ask Him if He wants to you be baptized this 3rd of March.¨ She said sure.  We went into her house and we knelt down and she started praying.  She asked God if she should be baptized on the 3rd of March.  And then she didn´t end her prayer she just sat there in silence.  I have never prayed sooooo hard in my life.  I was praying that somehow someway the spirit could touch her heart to let her know that she needed to be baptized.  After about a minute of that (what more seemed like 5 hours) she lifted up her head and said yes I will be baptized.  She then ended her prayer.  AW I was soo happy.  She was pretty happy too and so were the members we brought with us.  It truly goes to show that God is ready to give us the answers to life.  All we need to do is ask.  I’m sooooo thankful for my Father in Heaven and for His help and spirit that can help me here in the mission.  Without it, the work won´t progress.  

I love you all and I hope you all can feel the influence of the spirit in your life.  

Elder Beatty

Email 2-13-12

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)

Email 2-6-12

Well what an interesting week that we have had.  Sometimes it’s really crazy because at the beginning of the week we really don´t have much success and so I start thinking to myself, well dang it, this week is not going to end up the way that I was planning it.  But we just keep working hard and stay focused and everything always comes out in the end as it is supposed to.  

We went to the Training meeting in the mission office on Monday and we talked with President Callan and his wife about how the training is going.  It really is going very very well.  Elder Bingham is pretty much talking and is able to express himself freely.  but when it comes down to Understanding people.  That really isn´t his forte, but its good because he isn´t getting complacent and wants to keep progressing.  We just have to focus his frustration on something productive.  He kinda reminds me of me when I first started.  Its not just work we also have a lot of fun together.  We quote whole Disney movies from start to finish, making up funny games as we walk, trying to find a new record of people fitting on one motorcycle.  Really it’s a blast.  We have so much fun that sometimes it’s hard to think that we are working. hehehe

We got the Family Bareiro into church this last Sunday.  It was so sweet because they were all ready when we came and all the girls in the family had the same hair style and were wearing the same colored shirts.  They got to church and went straight into primary and Ariel and Tanya came into the class with us and everything went really really well.  They have really been progressing a ton as far as when we come by.  Ariel really likes to talk with us because we aren´t your typical normal Paraguayan person who doesn´t really like to talk a lot about religion and how it affects life.  He really really really likes to talk about that stuff.  It was hard at first when we started teaching them to actually get a principle completely taught without him coming in and talking for like 4 hours about something that was going on in the world today and how the problem can be traced back to religion.  But now it’s awesome because we are teaching the girls with them as well and so we have to simplify everything.  Now Ariel really is amazed how the gospel can be so simple that a 7 year old girl can understand and why we need to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost.  They are ALL reading in the Book of Mormon and praying together as a family.  It’s truly a blessing that we have found that family.  They are soo humble and ready to have the gospel in their lives.  

We have also been working with another family that we have recently found.  Hector and Liliana.  They have a little boy named Rodolpho.  He is a FAT baby.  It’s been great because Hector is so wanting to learn more about the gospel and wants to feel closer to Christ.  It is his GIRLFRIEND.  Gosh dang it, she never wants to talk with us and she seems dead set on never coming to church or going with Hector or anything.  She always makes up excuses as to why she can´t come and listen and can´t come to church.  Its alright I guess.  We will just get them married and baptize him and then he will baptize her.  hahaha they think they are sooo smart with their little excuses, but really we have them right where we want them.  It’s sweet because we are probably going to invite him to be baptized the next time we meet with him and then we will make sure and get a strong commitment from him to come to church.  

All the youth this last week just came back from EFY here in Paraguay.  It’s actually way sweet, but I guess that they really talked about being missionaries and helping others come to the knowledge of the truth.  We have been getting a TON of help from them.  I hope that they just keep this excitement up.  It’s really great to have the youth all excited like this because it gets their parents excited too.  

This last week, I have really been focusing on the Doctrine of Christ, and how I can better my knowledge.  In 2 Nephi 31 you will find a very very strong verses about the Doctrine of the Christ.  It is clear on all the things that we have to do to return and live with our Heavenly Father again.  Sometimes we want to think that some aspects of the Gospel aren´t clear that we really don´t know what to do, or we want to make the gospel more complicated than it needs to be.  It should never be that way.  We know what we need to do.  The Gospel is simple.  I love this gospel.  I love the church.  Take a second and think about it.  Where would your life be without this knowledge? Without this love? Without this happiness? There are so many people who think they are happy, but really they are very very far from the true happiness.  We ARE OBLIGATED to help them.  It is our duty.  It is my duty now.  It is all of our duty as members of this church.  I hope that you can all find that spirit, and reach out to someone to help them find the true happiness.

I love you all and you are all in my prayers and thoughts OFTEN. 

rohyhu mi familia

Elder Beatty