Email 9-19-11

September 19, 2011

Hey everyone it’s been another great week here in the PARA guay. Sorry I didn't get an email out last week. Things have just been so crazy here that sometimes I get caught up in what’s going on and forget altogether that I need to get an email out.

One thing that I found this last week that has been really awesome in applying to our investigators, is  Captain Moroni that is mentioned in Alma. Saying that he was a man of sound resolve that understands both things temporal and Spiritual. Also, that if all men were like unto the Captain Moroni then the very powers of hell would be shaken forever. We shared this scripture with one of the investigators, Pablo. We explained that Captain Moroni was not a prophet but was worthy of having the companionship of the Holy Ghost and that made all the difference. Because of his resolve to live the gospel; he was able to be successful as the leader of the armies of the Nephites. This was great for him. Somehow Pablo brought up the topic of the priesthood. He asked if we needed to have the priesthood in order to live with God again. wow...... Perfect question...... We told him that the priesthood LITERALLY was the power of God given to man to use for the salvation of the people. He asked if we had it and we said yes!! We told him that with this power he could bless his family with blessings that he couldn't comprehend. He is a great thinker for being a young man of 21 with a 4 week old baby. He really is prepared but still we are having trouble getting a sedula for his wife so they can get married and then be baptized. Please pray for him.

I was reading in the Ensign this last week and I stumbled upon a talk by Henry B Eyring. He gave some great council about trials that we face as Latter Day Saints. He related that we see trails as rain and clouds. Really if you think about it, it rains on everyone and just because we see clouds doesn't mean that it’s going to rain. We aren't the only ones that are facing trials in this world as Latter Day Saints. We only have more, because the tempter is always out to see our weaknesses. That is why we need to protect ourselves with the umbrella of the gospel.

Yes, I think I would just have to announce to everyone that yes!!...... I'M AN UNCLE. Everyone that I tell here freaks out for me and say that I’m too young to be an uncle, but I guess it’s all true. Congrats Tia and Ben. As far as the name is concerned I really like it actually.  (Trey Jack Stout)

One thing I guess that has been a little funny was a learning experience that we went through this last week. Don't blame me for what happened I was just an innocent bystander in all this. This has been happening through the mission a lot lately. To get people to stop smoking is really a problem here. I guess to get someone to stop smoking you just get them to eat 3 cigarettes and then 4 more. Um… I don’t know if that is healthiest thing ever, but it definitely seems to work. So if you need help with someone that is smoking there you go.

This last week I have been thinking a lot about what goes on in the life of a missionary. We have a lot of stuff that we have to put up with. We learn an insanely amount of patience. I hope that if you see the missionaries; please, say” thank you” for the work they are doing. It’s tough, the amount of patience we have to have in our investigators, members, and just plain ol people. If you are asked to help a missionary, please help them. It’s rather discouraging when we are trying to find someone to come with us out of the ward and yes, none of them can. It’s so much better to have a member there because the investigator can feel that they can relate to a normal person besides the freaky boys in white.

I hope you all have the spirit of the Lord with you this next week and I hope you all have luck in your doings. Oh if you wrote me letter. I probably wrote you back but yes the mail system takes a very very long time. Please if your waiting be patient as I am. I love hearing from you all.  (He found out that the package of letters that he sent was too heavy and would take 3 months to get here.L)

Amo a mi familia, para siempre.

-Elder Beatty

Pictures 9-12-11

Email 9-12-11

Presten sent personal emails to family members this week, but here is a small bit that he shared.
Thanks so much for your love and support to him.
Kelli



Something that I have really been focusing on lately is goals.  I have been going on a goal streak lately because I  remembered one of the lessons that a General Authority gave about goals.  He gave the example of Alice in Wonderland.  She came to a cross roads and met the Cheshire Cat and asked him which way she should go.  He said that it all depends on where she wants to get to.  She said she didn´t know where she wanted to go, and so he said that it didn´t matter which road she chose.  We can apply this with every aspect of our life.  Not only with life goals but goals with religion also.  Another thing that I have been learning here is that the people are always saying to us that they will come to church another day. That they will do something another day or tomorrow.  The people who fill their lives with "tomorrows" will only find themselves looking back on a bunch of empty yesterdays.  I know you're busy and have a lot to do, but remember it just takes one step forward to get somewhere.
Have a great week!

Elder Beatty

Email 9-5-11

Hello all  Como estan las cosas?

All is going well here, down in Paraguay.  Just a quick recap of what has happened this week.  We have really been progressing with a few select investigators.  One named Pablo and his girlfriend and 4 week old baby Jennifer.  They have been great.  They have a date to be baptized on the 9th of October.  Pablo has a really strong testimony and has a great understanding of everything that is in connection to the church.  The only thing that’s holding them back from being baptized is getting married and Maria doesn't want to get married without a ring so that has been a bit of a dilemma but we are hoping to resolve it.  We practically see them everyday and they really like having us around. They consider us as brothers not just through the Gospel.

We went to a birthday party for a special senora named Melina.  She is handicapped but she has a strong understanding of the Gospel.  Elder Hewitt told me that when they introduced her to the Book of Mormon she went around to all the houses around her area telling people in her special language that the book was from God.  The Party, at first, was super awkward, but I just let my little kid break out and starting playing cars with all the little kids there, and it turned out to be a pretty good time.  I'm pretty sure all the older people probably didn't want to talk to us after because they saw a full grown boy playing as if he was 4 but hey I had fun.  :D

We have been in contact with a lot of older people lately and it’s really hard to speak with them because their Spanish is so limited.  All they really know is Guarani.  So I decided I would throw out some Guarani sentences for you today. 

What’s your name is----- mbae cha da rera'

What’s up is------ how'pa

I don't know is------ ndye quay

Ja'ha---- lets go

Nandejara ha'e ore ra'a ---- God is our friend

Ya this stuff pretty much blows my mind.  But sometimes during sacrament meeting someone will offer the prayer in Guarani.  That’s pretty cool.  Even though I can't really understand what they are saying it’s all good.  The spirit is all the same no matter in what spirit or language it is given.

So this last week we got to give some service to one of the members.  So we showed up bright and early at her house.  What we were going to be doing was to be cutting a trail through the jungle; down the mountain to the river.  ohhhhhh yaaaaaa can you say jungle missionary!!!  It was pretty legit.   I’m not going to lie.  Whacking at all that stuff with a machete.  But I’m not going to lie again.  The next day I felt like I wanted to die cuz I was so sore.  But its ok I had a blast doing service.  What more could you ask for.

So this week I was just flipping through my scriptures and I came across a small card with a painting of a lighthouse that was done by Grandma Ella with a quote across the bottom.  Yes! Grandma J this is the very one.  I still got it :D The quote goes something like this to go along with the painting of the lighthouse.

"Look to the lighthouse of the Lord.  There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost, but what its beacon light can rescue.  It calls, "This way to safety; this way to home."

What a great inspirational quote given by Thomas S Monson. When I began to think of this quote I would recall the times I have spent watching a great LDS movie called The Testaments: One Fold and One Shepherd.  I reflect on the part in that movie when Christ comes and then Jacob is describing to his father Jesus; because his father can't see.  In the midst of his sorrow, you see a hand reach out covered by a white robe hearing the Lord's voice saying his name.  Every time at this point in the movie I can't help but shed a tear.  For me, that is the Lord in His fullness.  He may not be there for me at that very moment to heal me of my blindness but I know His hand covered in a white cloak is forever reaching for me.  Calling me out by name.  As I have been working as hard as I have down here in South America, I have made mistakes.  I haven't maybe followed all the rules or I have been thinking about college and how I can't wait to get back, instead of focusing on my investigators.  At the end of everyday I have the blessed opportunity to get down on my knees and ask God to forgive me of what I have done wrong that day.  I don't want to say it’s my favorite part of the day; because that means that I have been sinning all day, but the feeling that I get when I cry to the Lord to feel His love is indescribable.  I have the chance to feel His ever reaching arms encircle around me.

I hope you all are searching for this same love.  Because I know that He is ready to give it.  All of it!!!!

I love you all and hope you have the very best in your life.

-Elder Beatty

Email 8-29-11

1 MONTH MARK… YEY!!!

Yeah… hello all!! Just to give you a quick rundown of what happened this week.

So this week it has been getting progressively hotter so Elder Hewitt and I didn't know what to do; so we probed around a little bit.  We finally found an old old old cooler that we jimmy rigged up to the wall so that we could have some sort of cooling system.  Oh wow!! I didn't think that a cooler that old could crank it that fast.  WOW!!! Of course, you can see our brilliant moments came, when we were stacking a very very large heavy cooler on a very old a rickety table.  Ok, yes, but I wouldn't give it up for anything. That thing means the world to me now!!!! Also we have been kind of having a sort of war with the other elders that live next door to us.  They were making fun of us for not having any air conditioning and so we thought “what would the practical thing to do?  We decided that we could humble them a little bit, so we "borrowed" the other elders remote for their cooler.  It just so happens that we didn't have any use for it at that moment; but really who could have known that. :D  

One funny moment that happened this week.  As usual, at 6:30, we rolled out of bed zombified.  I just grabbed my towel to take my "coffee" shower (the shower that wakes me up).  So as I went into the shower, usually what you’re supposed to do is to turn on the water and then hit the knob that turns on the heat. I just accidentally; in my zombie mode, hit the switch first and when I went to turn on the water I was shocked!  It was probably more than just your normal everyday shock.  I fell over in the shower and just laughed!! Hahaha fun times!!  Don't worry I'm fine.  There’s nothing to wake you up better than a good shock every morning. :D 

I have officially not lost any weight after 1 month in Paraguay.  I don't know if that should be much of a declaration as to what is to come in the next two years.  The heat is just getting started and I sure hope that I can handle that, plus the humidity.  Elder Hewitt and I are doing our part in trying to stay fit, I would have to say.  We are doing pushups every day.  Oh and I'm not just talking about regular pushups everyday.  Ya, we get our variety in through the p90X workout routines (that I remember) ..... Thank you TONY!!!!!!!!  No, but it’s cool, we have fun with that as we get laughing about how wimpy we are.  But hey the prophet said to exercise and I'm going to follow his council.

I have just finished reading 2 rather spectacular books this last week.  One book by Henry B Eyring: “To Draw Closer to God”.  I really like the book because it helped me; as I read it, with the perspective of a leader.  He says that if we listen to a speaker with the intent to do whatever he tells us to do, it will be easier for us to listen.  I really like that because of the so many conferences that I had to attend before my mission in my UVU leadership program it was hard to pay attention sometimes.  Now I wish I would have; because I could have benefited so much from their knowledge.  The second book that I liked was called “Commitment” by Vaughn J. Featherstone.  I liked this book because it helped relate principles of the Gospel into leadership perspectives.  

So we had a Zone conference this last week and we had Elder Arnold of the Quorum of the Seventy come and speak to us.  WOW....  He taught what we could use as missionaries to help better us.  I thought that my favorite part was when he was testifying at the end.  He said to us speaking of his witness of Christ.  "You don't need to see him to know him."  I have pondered that phrase for hours on end since he has spoken those words to us.  While walking, sitting, eating, teaching, resting, showering,... ya you get the idea.  I don't think another phrase has ever touched me that much.  Often times we as humans need a witness.  We need that special testimony that he lives, that he is with me.  We want that special witness that he lives.  But one thing that we easily forget that the witness is not going to come in a manner that we are not ready for.  It is going to come in a way that we find little, maybe even insignificant but it will be there.  

Another thing that I have been pondering about from the conference is love.  We all need to have more love. Seriously! Can you imagine what it would be like if a guy came up to you and did some random act of service without you having to say anything.  That’s love.  Can you see your child just doing their chores because they just want to help you out? That’s love.  If we all had more love it would be so much easier to live life.  That’s what I have discovered here.  When I have love for the people I’m teaching, when I’m out doing service to help others feel closer to Christ, I feel love.  They feel love as well.  It’s the greatest feeling in the world when you go to an investigators house and they tell you… they are always waiting for you to come by.  That’s because they like you, and that’s because you have shown them love.  

Service is the fruit of love.  I challenge you all to try and do a little more service.  I can promise you that as you strive to do more service that people will begin to show love to you and that you will feel that love of the Lord in your lives.

I wish you all well

amo a mi familia, para siempre

-Elder Beatty

Email 8-22-11

Hello all,

So I decided that I would just take an email and describe to you what the wonderful world of Paraguay is like in the eyes of Elder Beatty.

So number one. In my area where I am stationed, there are only a few paved streets. Very rarely do you come across a road that is paved. If it is paved it is paved very badly, but oh well its paved. This street could be a 2 way street or a 1 way street. There are no traffic laws whatsoever. So you can drive pretty much drive as fast as you want; as close to everyone else as you want; or whatever you want practically. Its kinda cool. I would like it because if someone is slow you just juice it past them. There are mostly small cars and very small motorcycles or scooters that will never pass 200cc´s. Usually if driving either or both of these types of vehicles they will try to cram as many people that is humanly possible to stuff in that car. Once or twice I have seen people holding their babies outside the window because it's safer than having them almost get crushed inside the car. The most people I have seen on a motorcycle is probably 5, I think. The streets that are not paved or some have just plain dirt which are layed with a shale stone called empidrada. We call this Satan´s rock because it practically annihilates your feet through your shoes. Mostly because after the rocks have been rained and driven on a couple times the points of the rocks just seem to poke out. I would have to say we are walking on that 70 percent of the day. Oh we love it.

One thing I thought was cool was that everywhere they have these security boxes. Part of your rent is spent to pay someone to sit in the box at night so that they can call the police if things go south fast. I thought that was pretty cool, until I saw practically all these guys in every box just drinking and smoking hehe. There are dogs EVERYWHERE!! It's crazy how many homeless dogs you see. One story about dogs was that me and Elder Hewitt were walking at night to a lesson and we were just talking and weren´t paying attention and this HUGE dog was in front of us and about to bite our heads off. Elder Hewitt taught me this trick about dogs. All you gotta do is reach down like your gonna grab a rock to throw at them and they run away. Well I put it to the test and sure enough the dog went running back to its house still barking at us. But it was still way cool. I thought I had the force.

Most people here live in open houses. They usually have 1 or 2 closed off rooms just to sleep in but everything else is open. Their kitchens and all of it just has an open wall to outside because the weather here will usually permit that. They usually all have fences around their houses so you have to clap them to get their attention. Its pretty rare if anyone has more than a motorcycle. Usually the very high middle class have cars and the high poorer class have motos.

There are all these things called dispensas. Its practically when people take the front room of their house and make it into a small store. You can find your basic needs, coke, beer, cigarettes, porn, basic food items, cookies, wafers, some variety of sodas, and probably other arrays of items that I have not yet encountered. The money transfer here is for every dollar you can get about 4mil guaranis. So practically 1 guarani is worth nothing. 1 guarani will get you 4 peices of this bread called pan de agua or ¨agua bread¨ it is very yummy and I find that it is about the closest thing to american bread so yes we buy very very much agua bread and go through it very very fast as well. 2 mil guarani will buy you a very cheap roll of cookies. 4 mill of guarani will buy you some wafers that are very very nice. 500 guarani will buy you 1 egg. so on and so forth.

If you get to eat with the people, they will usually give you something that is COVERED in oil. Noodles covered in Oil or rice covered in oil. I guess they just assume we like oil or thats just how they eat things. the fast food that they have here are empinadas. If you don´t know what it is google it.

We have about 35 people in our ward. That is not how many members there are. Most of them live too far from the chapel to walk there every Sunday. Our bishop joined the paratroopers in Paraguay when he was 16 years old. He is very faithful and very strong in his testimony. I´m greatful for his testimony to the people in our ward and they are always learning from his example, as am I. Our ward mission leader is a 69 year old man named Irala. He works everyday in his chacra, planting manioca. An honest hardworking man that is trying to do his best in the gospel. They rest of the pèople that usually come to church fluctuates because there is never usually the same people there. There is about a 3 week rotation. And it greatly depends on the weather. If its raining no one will come. Or if its too hot no one will come. But thats what makes it fun. Its always a challenge to get them there.

Everyone is open to your message. You really won´t find a person that will just shut you out at first. They will always be open and gracious about having you in their homes. They will always give you the best seats and offer you any kind of food that they have. The hardest part for these people is trying to see that there is a change required to receive blessings. People are just content to be where they are and have what they have and not progress.

The thing we are here to do is to help people to understand what it takes to become more happy. This is a gospel of love. God loved us that He created a plan for us to have a body. He loved us even more, so He sent us his Son so that we could have a way to return. Jesus loved us so much that he suffered and died for our sins. God now has restored His gospel on this earth because He wants his love to spread to every nation, kindred, and tongue. I know that the love of God is real. I see it as it changes peoples lives. As they turn to the love of God they are able to accomplish things they never thought was possible. I hope that you all know that God loves you. Not just us as a people but every single person individual. And He knows you. He knows your joy and He knows your suffering. And He is there for you to lean onto when you need help. I know that is the message we carry. I will continue to carry it in the rain, wet from the water, or in shine, wet from the sweat of my back. I know this gospel changes lives and its the reason we all can sacrifice ourselves to have it. I love you all and I wish you best.

Amo a mi familia

-Elder Beatty

Pictures 8-15-11