Email 7-16-12

Hello all,

Wow this last week really has just flown by in a blur. It’s incredible to think how fast the weeks are just flying by. It’s just a weekly focus of who am I going to get to go to church and be baptized and before I know it I have to do it all over again. But I love every second of it. This last week didn´t turn out as super fantastic as we were hoping it to be, but we did see lots of miracles in our area and in the Zone. It’s been a bit of a struggle for the missionaries because it’s been getting colder and the Paraguayans get really really shut up in their houses and don´t really want to talk when it gets cold, but we have been blessed because of our diligence. We got Epiphanio in church again. Except this week he came with a suit and a tie and shoes and the whole gig. It was so cool to ring his doorbell, super weird, and see him walk out all pumped and ready to hit the drada. We were a little worried during the week because we weren´t able to really meet with him often to make sure that he was progressing and reading. But we met with him on Saturday and we taught his son that was there for a visit. We invited them to come to church and the son wasn´t too excited, but when we asked Epiphanio if he was going to go to church, he was ¨yes for sure I am going¨ Wow I just love this guy so much. He is always smiling whenever we are there and just loves the stuff that we are teaching him. It is a huge testimony to me that the Lord can work a mighty change of heart in anyone. Three weeks ago when we started teaching him I wouldn´t have though that he was going to be progressing and going to church, but I was wrong. I won´t ever doubt again the power of the BOM and going church and the large influence that it has on the people. We had a lot of trials this week as well. We found some very very good people who were going to progress and had a baptism date but they fell because of the pressure of their friends and family. It was super sad to see that these people would drop the spirit of the Lord over their friends that aren´t leading them to do anything very good. But I know that we planted the seed and that the Lord is going to help us recover that loss, and give those people the spirit so that they can return and continue progressing in the gospel. This last week I was studying a lot the atonement and how it works in our lives and I found some killer quotes that I want to share with everyone.

Elder Packer.

When we are ragged, or harrow, up or tormented by guilt and burdened with grief, He can heal us..... Though we do not fully understand how the Atonement of Christ was made, we can experience the peace of God which passeth all understanding.

Elder Scott

*We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today, our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever.

*Although we might settle for less Heavenly Father won´t, for he sees us as glorious beings we are capable of becoming.

*The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of transformation. It takes us as men and women of the earth, and turns us into men and women for eternity.

Elder Bednar

I witness the reality and divinity of a living Savior. Who invites us to come unto him and be transformed. We can be spiritually prepared and cleansed from sin. Immersed in and saturated with His gospel, and purified and sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. Even Born Again.

Wow. Who doesn´t want to come unto Christ and be TRANSFORMED. We are progressive and beautiful beings to the most wondrous and powerful Being in the universe. And He loves us and only asks us to come unto Him through His beloved son Jesus Christ. I know that this gospel transforms us into the men, women, fathers, wives, and children of God that our Father sees us capable of becoming. It is but an invitation that comes from Him in every moment. He yearns for our happiness and love. He is forever watching, and forever loving. There is only one thing that is stopping us from coming unto him, it is ourselves. The Lord will give us our agency even if it kills us. But, he does not give up the fight. for that he sends loving family members, parents, teachers, and people of the world to work as His hands. To inspire, lift up, and carry forward His name. I love Him. And I know that He loves me.

I know that He loves us all and will do whatever it takes to give us that little peace of happiness that comes from being transformed in the gospel of His Son.

Rohayhu familia y Rohayhu Paraguay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Elder Beatty