Hermana Ross in Paraguay: Week 17: Last days with Hermana Valenzuela

Hey Family!

Firstoff, I`m really jealous that you all got to be together this week. I`m glad it was a good time, but where are the pictures?? #picsoritdidnthappen

Anyway, this week was good! I feel so emotionally stable it`s awesome. I mean it`s pretty much just normal now, but I guess I didn`t realize I was "not" completely normal until I am again now. It`s still weird because I`m in a different culture/doing completely different stuff with my life, but it`s really all about how you feel anyway. We all know it`s not about what you have or where you are, it`s pretty much just about your core belief system and your adherence to it (which then brings about strong purpose and sense of self.)

Mission conference: So this week we had a little more than half our our mission get together for a big conference with Elder Gonzalez. Our district leader told us we had to be in Asuncion by 10, so we left pretty early to get there on time. Then, we found out that it didn`t actually start until 12:30, so we just kind of hung out by the temple and got lunch and stuff, which was a good time. So then we all went to the sacrament meeting room of the chapel we were in, and it was PACKED with missionaries. I can`t believe it wasn`t even our whole mission that was there, because there were like 170 missionaries there. Anyway, so then we were just hanging out in there and Elder Gonzalez ended up not getting there until like 2. So then President and his wife spoke, followed by Hermana Gonzalez followed by her husband. All in all, that took like three hours, and we were all sort of losing our attention spans and were super tired of sitting. So he goes to conclude his remarks (we think), and he`s like "Ok, we`ll take a 10 minute break for our half-way point of the conference." Omheck. But overall it was good, and I understood most of it, so that was chill. So we didn`t get back until like 9pm, so that was our whole day on Wednesday. Oh, and side note, I was asked to conduct the music, which is like NBD, except for it was actually kind of scary standing in front of so many people seeing them all watching me.

#thecommoncold: So Hermana Valenzuela got pretty sick at the end of the week with a cold, which has actually been kind of funny (it`s a bummer too, of course), because she like never gets sick and said she literally doesn`t even remember having a cold like this. And I`m loling all over the place, because I feel like I`ve just had a lot of colds in my life and know how to deal. But she`s just like "What are these feelings I`m feeling? My nose is stuffy and my head feels all clouded." Hahaha, so I`ve been trying to nurse her back to health. It was pretty cold this week for a few days, though, so we ended up staying in for most of the weekend because she wasn`t feeling well enough to go out. Which I respect, because legitimately she is the one who has to do most of the teaching. But she`s doing a little better today, which is good because she has her final interview with President. Crayzee.

Well TBH, that`s most of what happened this week. It was pretty chill on account of the conference/the sickness. In way of sad news, we had four fechas of investigators fall this week because they didn`t attend church. Sadz. It`s really hard to balance working with/encouraging people vs supporting them so much that they don`t do anything without us.

This coming week is going to be nuts. We`ve pre-dubbed it GLORY WEEK. It`s my comp's last week, so for sure it has to be hecka special. And, in the most exciting news of all, we might be moving! The lady who owns our dispensa ALSO owns a house a few doors down that is a HECKA UPGRADE! I know this might not sound like that big of a deal to you, but trust me, it is. It`s like a freaking mansion compared to the not-house we are living in now. It has a kitchen with a sink! And windows! Also, ROOF ACCESS. Omheck, I`m low key stoked. Also, we`ll probably get pizza at some point during the week (Hna. V`s favorite food), and also maybe make a cake or something. It`s definitely the little things that bring me joy these days. Plus, she has to say all her goodbyes to the people here and pack all her stuff (except for actually it`s just repack, because she`s been packed for a while #lolz #literallydefinitionoftrunky). So yeah, all that and more coming next week.

Well, I love you so much! Glad the fam is doing well and that there`s exciting stuff going on at home. Representing #rossisboss best I can down here in the dirty PY. Enjoy your summer, because it`s the equivalent of the end of December here.

xoxo

Hermana Ross

p.s. I`ve been thinking a lot about repentance especially in light of the mission and all the ways that I`m legitimately not the perfect missionary. And I was re-reading a BYU Devo I have, and was also already reading in the scriptures, and in both places I was reading about how regardless of what we do or how far off the path we may be, "His hand is stretched out still." (Isaiah 5:25; 9:17, 21). I was reading it I think in 2 Nephi too (quoted from Isaiah), and all the people are not even just sinning a little (like wasting language study time), but are super, super unrighteous and wicked, but this promise is extended to them in those circumstances. And in the talk I have, Jeffrey R. Holland says "To all of you who think you are lost or without hope, or who think you have done too much that was too wrong for too long, to every one of you who worry that you are stranded somewhere on the wintry plains of life and have wrecked your handcart in the process, this conference calls our Jehovah`s unrelenting refrain, "My hand is stretched out still." Anyway, I know all of this is well-known doctrine, but it`s just something that`s been more internalized for me the past few weeks. It`s just really nice, ya know? It`s funny that I never appreciated the promises of the atonement more before. I guess I just didn`t know how to and now life has prepared the space for the answers I was praying for.