Email 4/22/13

Hey everyone,

Wow this week just seemed to fly by in comparison to what I just went through the last week here in Leopardi. It’s been a little rough for me to get used to the area but we are still chuggin along finding two or 3 people every day and helping them come unto Christ. My comp is truly amazing. His name is Elder Ratliff he is from California and he has about 4 months in the mission. He is just super super pumped to be working with me. My first day here I told him that we were going to be inviting everyone to be baptized. He was a little scared at first to hear that announcement but really he has just taken that invitation to heart and now he has a desire to invite everyone to be baptized. Really it was so cool to be able to see that develop in him. It was so long ago that I had that desire come into my heart that I had pretty much forgotten what it felt like. One day we were walking home after having taught a guy for about 10 minutes and inviting him to be baptized at the end and he accepted. Elder Ratliff was just describing how he was feeling. ¨I feel like I really understand what my purpose is. I thought that I could only invite people when I thought that they were ready to be baptized, but now I understand that I invite them to be baptized because they aren´t ready. I must challenge them to use their faith. I feel something deep inside me that really I am helping others come unto Christ. I like it.¨ Really it was just so super awesome to have that experience with him. It is all so true. I have seen many types of Paraguayans here in Paraguay. The majority of them are always scared to take that step of baptism because they don´t know what it means right now, but being able to see the power of our testimonies in helping those people feel peace and then accepting the invitation to follow Christ. It has helped me come to understand that truly I do nothing. This call as a missionary came to me because I was worthy and because I had already been chosen to leave. Inviting someone to be baptized brings this feeling that is pretty hard to describe. It makes me get all anxious and knowing that I will be helping someone to come unto Christ through their own covenant.

This week we had tons of miracles. I left on Tuesday to go to an area called Villa Anita to help a missionary called Elder Carrillo. He is a cool elder From Mexico although he makes me think of a Tongan because of the way he looks and talks hahahaha he thinks it’s funny that I say that to him. We really had quite the day. We started out the day a little late because of some of the stuff that we had to do after the district meeting but finally we got out of the house and we started working. In about 5 hours we found 8 people and we invited them all to be baptized and they had accepted. It was just so amazing to see the change in Elder Carrillo as we invited people to be baptized only after having taught them for about 10 minutes. I told all of the missionaries that we need to change our focus in the district to more on Baptism and how it is our purpose. They all really didn´t think that it was possible to be able to put someone with a baptismal date only having taught them for about 10 minutes. Well we did it with eight people and all of them were excited to come to church and to know if the BOM is true. Really it was such a great day that in the end we bought Lomito Arabe to celebrate. We were super humbled to know that the Lord had used us that day to help others come unto him. It really helped Elder Carrillo as well see that there are tons of people to baptize in his area and all that they need to do is just invite them to make that step. We are passing through a rough time in the district with the missionaries in that they have not been focused on baptizing and have been focused too much on all the problems that are going on with the members. They have gotten a little lazy and a little disobedient. It’s been a little hard for me to gain their confidence because they just think that I am here and that I’m going to be leaving soon so that I’m trunky. It’s a process that is taking a little longer than I would like, but I have divisions planned for the following weeks with those missionaries so we will see what happens.

We are going to have a baptism this next weekend. It is going to be such a huge miracle. We had this kid named Enrique who came to church to just kind of know what it is. He liked it so much that he just kept coming. Elder Ratliff and his old companion had talked with him but really hadn´t set in a good time to teach him. He came to church last week we put him with a baptismal date and we couldn´t find him all during the week. We got him to church on Sunday and we announced his baptismal. He is just super super pumped to do it. We went in and taught him after to church to really see how was his desire to be baptized. He said that he wanted to do it. He didn´t really know why he needed to but he felt a desire within himself that he needed to do it. We went over all the baptismal questions to see if he had a testimony. We taught him all the commandments and wow he was just beaming by the end of the lesson. He was just so exited. It’s going to be an interesting week to try and teach him because he is going to be working and going to school but we are going to fast and pray for him so that he can maintain his progress and be baptized on Saturday.

We were able to see some other miracles as well with being guided by the hand of the Lord. We are finding lots of people who want to follow Christ. We just have to help them take those necessary steps to come unto him. I am loving the mission right now. I think more than ever I am learning the power of a testimony of the truth as I work here in my area with my new companion. He is still having difficulties with the language but he is using his testimony to help others. We aren´t asking how is your knowledge, we are asking, how is your faith. I love things here. The ward is very very tough but we are working with all our hearts. I love the mission and I love you all and hope you have a super awesome week.

Les quiero.

Elder Beatty

Email 4/15/13

Dearest family and special friends of Elder Beatty,

I just wanted to thank you for your love and support for Presten.  Presten will be flying into St. George on May 23rd @ 11:00 p.m. and Bishop Ellerman has given us the go ahead for Presten to report his mission on May 26th @ 1:00 p.m. at the Hurricane Stake Center (677 S. 700 W.)  Presten would love to have you there.  Thanks again for all you do for our favorite missionary in Paraguay!

Hey Everyone,

So I got some crazy news for this week. I GOT CHANGED. Yes I got taken out of Nemby. I´m in an area called Leopardi now. It’s a area in the Stake of Fernando de la Mora. It’s mostly city. city city city. It’s been a little bit of a rough change for me because I am just so used to working in areas that are a little bit more rural. I was a little bummed to find out that I would be leaving Nemby to come here to end my mission. Why couldn´t I have just stayed in Nemby where all the members know me and that I can just relax and have success and end my mission with big parties and asados and everything would just be perfect.

I was able to receive some revelation about it on Tuesday night while I was packing in that usually my whole mission I said that I wasn´t going to get trunky, that I was going to stick it out to the end and do all that I could to help others come unto Christ. Well here is my chance. I am in a new ward and I don´t know anybody so the Lord is just telling me that I have a decision to make. I can sit back and relax or I can hit it hard and tear it up in a new area for 5 weeks. I have decided that I am going to destroy this area. My comp just finished his training and so he is still learning some stuff, but overall he is a good obedient missionary and is ready to learn and work hard.

We have already started seeing some miracles this week. We started putting everyone who would listen to us with a baptismal date. It was so awesome to see so many people who are willing to come unto to Christ.

We also had another huge miracle. We were at church and we were a little bummed that we hadn´t gotten any of our investigators to church and then we found out that some young man had come in and was all dressed like a member with a shirt and a tie. We found out that he wasn´t a member. So we put him with a fecha for 2 weeks. It was just so cool to see the Lord’s hand in helping us overcome our problems and keeping us excited.

We haven´t found anyone to baptize this week but we are working a ton with the members and the area notebook to try and find someone this week that will be baptized on Saturday. We are going to do it and my comp is right behind me. Really he said that this last 3 days were the best that he has had in the last 5 months and so he is really pumped to just start working and seeing some miracles.

We are going to have at least 2 more baptisms by the end of this month. We don´t know who they are, but we are going to find them. We have been having some fun with the members because we don´t know who is going to get baptized but we tell them that someone is going to get baptized. They ask us what their name is. We tell them. Miligaros. Or Miracles. They are like oh that’s a really nice name hahaha

Its been great fun for us to keep working with positive attitudes and to just work your guts out hoping that the Lord will bless you with the power to bare a testimony. My comp is Elder Ratliff. He is from California. He is a bit taller than me so a lot of people I can imagine are a little scared of us. We found a good number of people this week. We are still trying to find that one golden family that we are going to baptize. We are going to find them si o si.

Other than that; really there isn´t much going on. Our area is Huge. Really sometimes at the end of the day I feel like my feet are going to fall off. But it’s all going good. We are going to start planning a little bit better so that we don´t have to walk so much.

I think that the biggest lesson that I learned this week would have to be how to have a positive attitude. Really we talked about it in church as well that we aren´t here to suffer. Suffering is only a side effect of an eternal progress that we are receiving from a loving Heavenly Father. It’s the way that we learn what things are the most important.

I often times think about the times in my mission when I was the happiest or when I was more focused. The times that made me more happy were after a time of hardship or trial, because I came to realize the love and dependence that I have on Him. I know that He loves me and that He is only trying to help me become the man, husband, and eternal being that I need and want to be. I love Him. I love you all and hope you have a sweet week because I’m going to. Love you all again.

Rohayhu paraguay ha che famila avei

Elder Beatty

Email 4/8/13

Ollo....

Hello family and anyone else who may be interested in what this Elder has to say. This week was such a huge progress for us in our area and I´m feeling a lot better in regards to how my attitude is towards my area.

So first things first, Tuesday, we started out with a huge capacitacion. We had all the missionaries (28) come so that we could share with them the information and spirit that we had felt from our monthly meeting that we have with President Agazzani. It started all well and all the missionaries seemed to be in good spirits. We started the meeting and we began to talk about the weekly planning, that has been the focus of President Agazzani for the last little bit. We did a really sweet example to help the missionaries understand the importance of having specific plans. I think it was a thing that I learned from Mrs. Clyde in the 1st grade. She had us all make a list of instructions on how to make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Then she told us that really she had no idea how to make one. We did the same example with the missionaries. A lot of them just took for granted that I already knew how to make a sandwich and they didn´t write down instructions very well and so the sandwich come out very very wrong. It was a funny activity and was great to show the missionaries that we need to plan better and have more specific plans so that we can leave the house and know exactly what to do.

Everything was going well until they started asking us a ton of what if and how questions. They were all creating problems with their plan session that weren´t really problems at all and they wanted us to answer them. In the end my companion was trying to answer all of the missionary’s questions and help them for every single specific situation that they would create in their minds when finally I just stood up and told them really how it was. That we aren´t here to create problems, that President has received revelation about how we need to plan, that we need to do it better and we need to start now, that we could create millions of what ifs and when’s but in the end it doesn´t change what President wants us to do. I told them to just plan better, and follow the steps. A lot of them starting giving comments about how we shouldn´t be so harsh on them and that it’s hard to plan with plans that President have given them.

I felt a lot like Nephi listening to his brother’s just whine about how hard it was to go back to Jerusalem or that it was impossible to build a ship and cross the sea. I just told them that the case was closed and that we were moving on. A lot of the missionaries got mad at us, and didn´t want to take any more notes or listen to what we had to say. I felt sad because they can´t seem to see our vision, they don´t want to open their hearts and accept the things that we have been instructed to tell them to help them complete with their purpose. It’s kind of like throwing water at a rock, no matter how much water I throw, the water isn´t going to enter into the rock.  I have come to understand the difference between being a sponge and a rock. I need to be the Sponge. I may not understand everything in how, when, or what. But I understand what is expected of me and I’m going to follow council and instructions from my leaders. So yeah, that was a great learning experience for Elder Beatty

A youth just moved to our ward about a month ago from an area a little far away called Lambare. He is about 20 years old and is preparing to go on a mission. This week we just caught our area on fire. Almost all of the people that we are teaching are progressing. We were able to visit them all many times this week and they are all having some sort of progress towards baptism. We have around 14 people that we are teaching right now. It has been a huge change from the last 3 weeks where really we have just been trying to find someone who was willing to progress. We had 2 investigators come to General conference. The rest didn´t end up coming because it was threatening to rain. We are super super pumped with some of the stuff that is going on in our area. We are going to have around 6 baptisms this month and it is just going to be awesome. My comp and I are really coming together and we are starting to get our pace going with some of the areas that we have been working in. I´m excited with how things are going. We are going to find out today if I will get changed out of the area for my last change. I hope not, we have some great stuff going on in our area right now.

So real fast, I want to just share some of the thoughts that I have about the General Conference. After being able to reflect on the conference and what I had learned and felt. I came to the conclusion that really I didn´t learn anything new. They all for the most part focused on relying on what we already know to be able to overcome our trials. I feel that I have been strengthened and raised up from the sad feelings that I had this last week. A lot of times as a missionary we have goals about what we want to become and where we want to go and accomplish. The thing that is the hardest part is to actually go out and make the change. I felt a great love and strength come from the words of the prophets to keep going towards completing my goals, to keep trying even though it’s hard. I had a feeling that God really does love me and is interested in my life and in where I want to go, what I want to do, and who I need to be. I know that the men that talked to us are special witnesses that He lives. They say that they are witnesses because they know with a perfect knowledge that He (Jesus Christ) is real. We also can come to know that He is real, by living His commandments and doing His will. That is how we will come to know Him. I love you all and hope that you have a super awesome week.

Rohaihu

Elder Beatty

Email 4/1/13

Wow what a crazy crazy week that we had as a companionship. I don´t even know where to start. Well first off we had some crazy stuff going on because it was the semana santa or the Holy week. EVERYONE during this week decides to just go out and to visit all the of the family that they have in the chaco or the desert. It was super super crazy on Wednesday to see everyone just packing their bags and getting ready to travel to all sorts of crazy parts of Paraguay. I would just look at my companion and think wow what are we supposed to do if all the people we are supposed to be teaching leave and go to some crazy place. We made the best of things with what we had.

I did divisions with a brand new missionary from Argentina on Tuesday . We actually had a really really awesome day. We found 4 people and put them all with a fecha bautismal. The younger missionary was really really pumped because I made him put all the people with a baptismal date and no one denied him. It was a little funny because he told me that everyone he thought was going to reject him but in the end they all accepted and were excited to come to church and all that jazz. We had a good time and at the end we ended up buying some lomito arabe. It’s kind of like a taco but tons better. We passed the night by talking about the mission and just how it is being a missionary. It made me remember all those times that I spent as a younger missionary not really understanding anything and just trying to struggle through my little area in CDE. It made me feel really good that I could help a younger missionary have a better perspective and hope for the future in his area.

Sometimes that’s all we need as human beings. We just need someone who can always come and pick us up no matter how bad we are. A lot of times its our faith in Jesus Christ, it’s our hope for the future and what he can help us achieve that just keeps us going.

So Tuesday was pretty much an awesome day. Wednesday didn´t turn out so hot because we changed back and everything and then I started getting a little sick and then by the middle of the afternoon I was just plain dead. We kept working but really I was just in another world. I had a fever and was dealing with some diarrhea. We are thinking that it came from our lunch on Wednesday, but towards the end of the day I was feeling better, but we really hadn´t accomplished anything. I thanked my companion for helping me and putting up with the stuff that I always have going on.

On Thursday we went and did a weekly planning with one of the companionships in the zone that is really struggling. We decided that it would have been better not to tell them. So we showed up in their house and were able to see how they were really doing. It wasn´t soo great. We helped them as best we could and helped them put some specific plans and all that jazz. They were more excited about the work when we left then when we got there. It was a little funny to think about doing some surprised visits. When I was a younger missionary I always dreaded the fact that the zone leaders could show up in any moment and I wouldn´t know why, I was doing exactly the same thing that I had dreaded a year ago. It just made me chuckle to myself.

We did still have a little bit of a frustrating week in that people really weren´t very open to us. You think that people would be more open to talk about Jesus Christ and His gospel during the week of His death and resurrection but really it was surprising how many people rejected us. Sometimes we just seem to be so focused on the worldly part of Easter and the chocolate and all that stuff that we tend to forget the real reason that we have Easter, to remember Christ.

I love you all. Sorry that the message is really short, my mind just really isn´t into writing today. But I hope that you all have a super awesome week.

Elder Beatty

Email 3/25/13

Hello everyone,

I´m sorry but this email is looking to be a short one. Not because I want it to be, but mostly because of the content. The last few weeks we really have been struggling in our area. Sometimes it’s a little hard for me to accept. Being a Zone leader and having so much experience as a missionary, you would think that it should be easy for me to baptize every week and to be consistent. I don´t know why and I haven´t found the source as to our trouble here in our area, but we just can´t seem to get any progress out of anyone. Every week we go out and work and coordinate with the members and find people and put them with a baptismal date and all that jazz, but in the end, really no one wants to change. It was really hitting my companion hard this last week because he felt that we weren’t doing anything, that we were just wasting our time. I told him that we weren´t wasting our time. That we were doing the right thing in inviting others to come unto Christ and that we just have to learn that everyone has their agency. I feel that now in my mission I am progressing the most because I am learning to become more like Christ is. There is always that classic saying that in trials and pain one comes to know a man of angustia and pain. I have made a promise to myself to make these last 2 months the happiest that I can possibly make them. The Zone is doing awesome. This month we have baptized 25 in total and we have tons of people lined up to get baptized this next month. All of the missionaries are happy and they just love the work. We are leading them in every way and helping them become the best that they can be. I feel that the Lord is guiding me and that He is helping me become better through all my experiences.

This Sunday I was sitting during the sacrament and really had an experience that fortified my faith. There was a youth that was talking about being more humble. She really is just a simple 16 year old girl that has great intentions to do the will of God. She isn´t super super profound in her talk but it helped me come to realize the power that the Lord has in our lives. She talked about that we ought less to pay attention to our own knowledge and capability and recognize more the greatness of God and our dependence on him. Every single person in the world from the smartest to the poorest, from the more popular to the hermit, from the leader to the follower, we all have a great reliance on him. In his eyes we are all equal. I think that is why I love the temple so much. Sitting in the Celestial Room; I can´t see who is rich, smart, poor, or famous. Everyone has been made one in His eyes. I pray that the Lord can give me those eyes to see things in His way, to be able to see all our brothers and sisters the same. That is also how we need to see ourselves. We often times beat up ourselves for not being the best or that we aren´t as capable as others are, so we have the desire to be like someone else. I often times have experiences with people here in Paraguay when I tell them that I want to be a musician. They very very rapidly ask me who I want to be like, who I want to sing like and questions regarding that. I usually ponder and then decide to answer them. That really I don´t want to be like anyone. I want to be me. The Lord has given me a talent and I want to use it how he wants me to. We all have a destiny to follow. As we stay focused on the things that are more important we find true happiness that come through being established on principles of good and truth.

Another sweet spiritual experience that I had was after a lesson when we taught a guy that didn´t understand hardly any Spanish at all and we struggled to teach him in Guaraní,  we invited him to be baptized and he just slammed us and so in the end we kind of left a little bummed. After being able to reflect on the lesson I felt a sweet feeling of happiness knowing that I have the truth in my life. A lot of the times we always try to focus on what we know, or how much knowledge we have. We ought less to focus on how much we know, and more on how we feel about it. So often after being a member for a good amount of time we often forget really how amazing the restored gospel principles are. Our soul really rejoices in the knowledge of the truth.

We are having some problems with a few missionaries in our zone;  more in the aspect that they really aren´t willing to invite people to be baptized. I think that this has been a constant fight for many many missionaries. They are always afraid to invite people. They think that they aren´t really ready or that they aren´t going to say yes. We talked to them about not being the judges. There is a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants that talks about how every man, women and child that is old enough, must be baptized. We told them that we as missionaries are not here to judge people if they are capable of enduring to the end, or if they shouldn´t be baptized. We have been commanded by the Lord that we must invite ALL our brothers and sisters to take this step. I think that the meeting that we had with them went very well. We will see how their week goes out the next week.

I´m happy!! I´m so tired, but I’m so happy. Reading some of the events in my journal from the last year I have really come to see how much I have been growing and how much I have come to be a soldier of the Lord in proclaiming His gospel. I love it. I love you all.

--
Elder Beatty

Email 3/18/13

2013.Mar.18

This week I’m not gonna lie seemed to just crawl by. It all started out on Tuesday. We did divisions with the Assistants and we were learning more about how the mission is going and what the president is wanting us to change as a zone. It’s a little frustrating at times because we have a super super super huge zone and the overall space of the zone is fairly large. We have been working with the District leaders a ton to try and help them understand what they are suppose to do as leaders in guiding their districts. One of the Districts leaders is my old Companion from CDE Elder Martinez. He is doing well and we are on the same page as far as what we want to accomplish. The other 2 district leaders are new and they are super excited for what their districts can accomplish but still they are learning as far as what they are supposed to do as District leaders. The Assistants told me that there are TONS of new leaders in the mission and that it’s not just something that we are struggling from. They said that in the next 3 changes we have a total of 60 missionaries going home and a good majority of them are district and Zone leaders and so right now they are trying to get the new leaders capacitated as to what they are supposed to be doing. It’s not a bad thing to have a change in leadership because it always brings in new ideas, but the mission is going a little down because of all the NEW leaders that we have. It’s not that they are bad leaders; it’s just that they are still learning how to do it. We are really trying to help our district leaders become the best in the mission so that they can have confidence in their own ability to receive revelation for their missionaries and to help them stay focused and happy. We are progressing, maybe not as fast as I would like, but we are progressing.

Also I wanted to thank everyone for the birthday wishes. I had a great birthday. We were doing divisions and it really just started to pour the rain. Like it wasn´t one of those little normal rains that we get every so often. It was one of those pouring rains that just seem to get everything wet no matter how safe that you think you are. We Taught a good amount of lessons and we found a really really cool family that was going to come to church yesterday, but their baby son got sick and so they couldn´t come. We are going to keep working super hard to make sure that they keep progressing towards their baptismal date. I had a good birthday. A lot of people where giving me cake and at the end of the day Elder Knudsen told me that my area was the bomb and that he didn´t want to leave because of all the super legit members and investigators we had. hahaha This whole week we never really had a day that was super super amazing. We just kept chuggin things out and working hard every single day. Sometimes I feel like I am playing a football game we just get 3 or 2 yards every single play. It’s a cloud of dust and then 3 yards, another cloud of dust and then 3 yards. It’s a progression, but it’s one that isn´t very fun. hahaha Nah we have our moments when we laugh and have a good time. Elder Velasquez is a good missionary and is really focused on what he wants. Sometimes I feel that he thinks that I´m not the type of missionary that he thinks a zone leader should be, super strict, direct with the missionaries, chastising. I feel that we are progressing as a companionship, but he still has a lot to learn about being a leader and changing his attitude according to the situation that presents itself. I have been sharing with him some of the leadership stuff I learned before the mission. It’s been helping a little; we will see what happens in the future.

We are having some problems with 2 of our investigators in that they want to get baptized so bad, they have all their lessons and they have all their assistance at church but in the end it all comes down to problems with their spouse. Their spouse doesn´t want to get married or doesn´t want to support then in their decisions. It’s been really hard for me to work with them because they haven´t formed a great relationship in their own personal family. They don´t want to accept that they have a comment even after having 4 kids with their spouse. We have been inviting them to read the BOM and to Pray and all that jazz but they just don´t want to do it. It’s been hard to keep our investigators from losing their hope for their spouses. They have been trying to keep on a happy face and trying to keep coming to church and all that jazz, but in the end they know that they aren´t members yet and that they are losing blessings from living in sin. We are really working with the members to make sure that they can maintain their progress in the gospel, but things are getting rough. It’s one of those times when I have to accept that others have their free agency. It seems that we have countless experiences with these problems. Every single time it seems like a surprise to us. You think that we would learn how to handle situations like this. But I guess it just goes to show how much we have come to love these people that we want them to keep progressing, but there are just little things that are stopping them from taking that progress of baptism. Keep them in your prayers, they need it.

We were sharing with a member the other day and we were watching a video from the Mormon messages and it was talking about seeing the best in people and seeing how they can become instead of how they are right now. The man on the video said something that is sooo true. He said that the world is cruel sometimes and we tend to react badly to the things that happen to us. We tend to react in the way that is most easier, or to get mad, or to blame. But in the end that there are more ways to be good, than to be bad. But, that doesn´t make it any easier. We have to make that decision now to do the right thing or to say the right thing when everything seems to be going down in the dumps. I have a huge testimony about that. Sometimes as a missionary so many bad things happen to us that it’s not even funny. An investigator doesn´t read, or doesn´t come to church, or pray. Or people just deny us and don´t let us teach them, or our companions aren´t what we really want them to be. And the thing we do most of the time is react in a negative way. Its sooooo easy. But in the end I have learned that true happiness comes when we stay focused on the goal of who we are trying to become. We are true followers of Christ and we will continue to follow his footsteps. It’s not going to be easy, but it will be worth it. I know that this is true and I’m sure that you do to. Sometimes we just have to be reminded about what is more important.

I´m super grateful for the gospel. it is the things that brings us peace and joy. I know that Satan is always trying to sneak in and make us take a fallen path. Sometimes it seems so appealing or harmless what he wants us to do but in the end we can see that it isn´t worth it. Satan works hard to make us as missionaries depressed and to feel like what we do doesn´t matter or that we aren´t having any success. But I know that God is happy with every single one of His missionaries for their work and their effort. Sometimes when we aren´t having success we seem to start blaming ourselves and that we aren´t good enough that’s why God isn´t blessing us with baptisms. I know its not like that. God is so thankful and happy for us His missionaries. I have grown and developed into someone totally different. I am so thankful for the opportunity that the Lord gave me to really come to know who He is, and what His purpose is. I AM HIS REPRESENTATIVE, AND I LOVE IT. I love you all and hope you have a super awesome week, because I will be.

Rohaihu haé che familia.

--
Elder Beatty

Email 3/11/13

HELLO EVERYONE.
Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Wow I feel so old. We have been having a joke between all the missionaries in that I am just the super old fart in the mission now. Even the sister missionaries start jumping in on it but then I just have to remind them that really they are a lot older than I am haha its all fun in the end we get a few good laughs out of it. We are just moving along and having to work, work, work. I won´t really be able to rest and have fun on my birthday because we are going to have to do some divisions with the assistants and I will be going to their area, but it’s all good. I will be able to just smile away and everyone will be super confused as to how this missionary is so happy.

This week was a little bit more of a test for me and my companion. We are still struggling with finding some good people that are actually going to progress. We had a huge miracle that happened yesterday in church. We were sitting there and we were getting ready to take the sacrament and a couple walk in from outside so I grabbed my companion and pulled him out right when they were getting ready to take the sacrament. We started talking to the couple and they had come from Cuidad Del Este and they were sharing with the missionaries. They were going to get baptized but they just moved from CDE to here in Nemby. Wow. They couldn´t stay for all of the church but they were just curious and wanted to know where the new building was that they wanted to come to. The dad is from Italy and the mom is Paraguayan. They were both super super nice. I guess the dad just got mugged the night before when he was in Fernando de la Mora and he was pretty beaten up but he was smiling and just glad to see his friends the missionaries. We are going to start pàssing by for them this week and we are hoping to get them baptized the next week. We are going to have to help the dad stop smoking but he said that he has gone down from 3 to 1 pack a day. So I bet we can give him that finally push to help him stop smoking. It was a great miracle that helped us raise our spirits from the problems that we had that week.

So other news as to what had happened this week is that on Tuesday we had a meeting with all the missionaries in the zone or 28 missionaries and President Agazzani gave us a call and told us that he was going to be coming and participating in the activity with his wife. AHHHH Our main focus in the meeting was to help the missionaries understand that they need to make changes in their attitudes so that they can complete with the vision of baptizing more people. We had a sweet activity that I learned from the Leadership Academy that focused on having a vision and putting goals and plans and executing the plans to complete the vision. It was a really really good activity and all of the missionaries said it was fun and edifying. During the meeting it was a little harsh because we have the biggest zone of missionaries and we aren´t baptizing enough people. President got up and invited everyone to repent and to change how they look at their areas and their investigators. In the end it was a good meeting. A lot of the missionaries were excited to leave to have a change in their vision. We are hoping to start working more with the district leaders so that we can maintain that attitude during the whole month and not let it die out. It has proven quite the challenge trying to make sure that 28 missionaries keep on baptizing but I have learned a lot about how to be a good leader; a leader that inspires and motivates through example and love. It’s been hard to get to this point because sometimes it’s just soooo easy to just tell missionaries to work harder, and then they get frustrated with you and they don´t want to follow. Sometimes I have to meditate really what I need to do to help a specific companionship. It’s always cool in those moments because the Spirit becomes our guide.

We traveled like crazy this week because the missionaries had a ton of surprise baptisms so we are just running around like crazy doing interviews. After being here in Nemby and having to direct so many missionaries I have learned a very very powerful lesson with being a missionary. It’s not just a matter of doing missionary work and having success. In the end it’s trying to become a missionary of Christ. Loving the people as He loves, giving as He gives, teaching as He teaches, and being guided as He was. It’s been a real challenge. After I completed a year in the mission I haven´t really learned much more in aspect of doing the missionary work, but for the last 10 months I feel like I have been in a greater learning channel and that is to become a missionary like Christ. It’s hard. But in the end it is what brings more satisfaction and joy in the work. I may be having trials and other problems with the work but I feel like it’s because the Lord wants me to become more like He is. I think that that is what matters most. We will be more able to help others as we raise our own possibilities. I love the mission. I thank you all for your birthday wishes and for your prayers. I love you all and hope that you have a super awesome week.

Elder Beatty