Week 33

Dear Family,

Heyyyy! Well, I feel like I have lots of stuff to say this week. This week was pretty long, but not even in a bad way. It just feels like tons and tons of stuff has gone down. Nothing crazy, but just lots of stuff. Also, there was like a crazy weather switch from Lunes-Thursday and then from Friday-today. It was SO HOT in the middle of the week. I think it was Wednesday that was like literally the worst. But then it turned itself around and this weekend was way rainy and relatively cold. TBH, I´m so so so scared for the onset of summer. It´s coming up fast and I really don´t think there´s a way I can adequately prepare myself. I actually think I have S.A.D., but instead of for cold weather, for hot weather. That´s a real thing (well, techinially it´s not a real thing, but emotionally it is). When it´s hot I just don´t have ganas to do anything and I feel more sad and discouraged. Gonna have to work on a solution for that on account of it´s my  imminent future. Ok, well onto the deets:

Conci: So this week started out meh on account of I was still feeling pretty sick and I seriously just wanted to sleep SO BAD. But then on Tuesday my comp had a doctor´s appointment in Concepcion on account of she needed some exams done for an accident she had with her ankle from a few changes ago. So we went to Concepcion and let me tell you, the hospital there is LITERALLY like the sketchy images I had in my head of what a hospital in South America would be like. SO SKETCH SO SKETCH. Gosh, I was freaking scared and I wasn´t even the one who had to talk to a doctor. Literally, the whole thing was outdoors, there was rust EVERYWHERE, there were DOGS walking through, people everywhere, etc. So so so unsanitary, really. We walked through and there were people people pulled in on stretchers, curtains instead of doors, etc. I saw wayyyy more than I ever ever would have liked to. Anyway, then my comp had to get her blood drawn and seriously I was so nervous it felt like I was the one who had to get blood drawn. And then we had to wait for the results for a few hours, so we ended up going to the Hermanas´ apartment there and I crashed on Hermana Varas´s bed. Lolz. Seriously couldn´t keep it together on account of that I was sick. Anyway, but it was an interesting experience overall. But throughout the past two weeks we´ve had to go to Concepcion three times for my comp´s doctor stuff. It would all just be chill except for the fact that it cost 10 mil guaranis every time! There´s 60 mil I´ll never see again #pray4Holly

 Familia E: Ok, so there´s this family of recent converts in the ward here, and honestly they´re super inactive. Like since I got to Horqueta, they haven´t attended church once. And of our recent converts, they are four out of nine, so our retention is always super low (not that I´m really that into "numbers," but it really does make it hard). But anyway, they are all jovenes and two of them are teen moms and their family just has a lot a lot of problems. And with Hna. Valdivia last change we kept trying to teach them the importance of church attendance and the sacrament, etc. But honestly, it wasn´t working at all, and they just have a ton of doctrinal gaps of knowledge. So this change with Hna. Aguilar we decided to just start from scratch and teach them the super, super basics. Like what´s the Godhead, the Restauracion, etc. And then we have been trying to work more with them so that they can go out with us for lessons with investigators and stuff as well. Anyway, it´s really been working so much better! Yesterday they ALL attended church for the first time since I´ve been here! And I can see the difference in the two younger teenage girls. Really, they seem more animated, more excited about church and missionary work, etc. It´s been a cool testimony builder of working with members not only as a way to find and help investigators, but as a way to strengthen the members themselves. 

Fam. C: So last week we were contacting and contacted this house of a super nice lady named Anna who has four young sons and was really open and friendly and seemed like she could have interest. So we set up an appointment to come back, but she ended up being busy, so we just helped her do some laundry and then set up an appointment for the following day. So TBH sometimes it´s pretty hard to tell who genuinely has interest and who doesn´t, so I wasn´t really sure how things would go with her. But we stopped by again on Wednesday, and turns out she had invited her two sisters and her mom to come listen too, because they all wanted to know more about who we are and what we do. Crazy! So we had a lesson with their family, and honestly the spirit was so strong! It was the first time I had an experience like that on the mission, honestly. They were all attentive, they were understanding, they were asking tons of questions, etc. And I honestly really enjoy teaching with my companion. She´s way solid. She just is really clear, easy to understand, builds upon what I say and adds more, etc. I feel really comfortable teaching with her on account of how consistent she is. But anyway, we left them with the commitment to pray about our message (we don´t have any more copies of The Book of Mormon right now, which TBH is kind of devastating because we want to give them to investigators!) So we went back on Saturday and ended up having another way good lesson with Anna, her sister Emy (who is a nurse), and their mom. And when we were walking into the lesson, I was telling my comp how hasta ahora on the mission, I´ve never had an experience with an investigator telling me they´ve prayed and received an answer that it was true. But we walk into this lesson and ask them if they´ve had a chance to pray, and Emy and her mom said not yet. But then we asked Anna and she said she prayed and feels like it´s true! It was seriously a really good experience. And we ended up beginning the Elders to give us one Book of Mormon so we could give it to them. So I´m seriously hoping that they´ll read it and pray about it! They all said they would be baptized if they got their answer, and I know they will if they pray!! I would legit be sooo stoked if they progressed. They really have familia de oro potential. 

So all in all this weekend was great, seriously. I started to feel not sick on Thursday, and then the weather got colder, my inverse season affective disorder lessened, we had tons of good lessons, and I just feel like I´m recovering emotionally. I´m still not back to normal, but I feel a lot better. My comp is chill as heck, and now that I´m starting to be myself again we´ve gotten closer. She´s really great and actually pretty funny, you just have to bring it out of her. And honestly we are pretty spiritually in sync, and it´s been really cool to see. Like literally in lessons, we´re just always on the same page. And with putting baptismal fechas, we ALWAYS feel the same. It´s cool to see how the spirit works on different personalities to bring them to the same conclusions. I remember a quote from conference a few sessions ago where one of the apostles was talking about how the quorum of the twelve makes decisions together. And he said something to the effect of, "can you imagine how much the spirit has to work to bring 12 different men with different professional and personal experiences and opinions to come to the same conclusion?" Anyway, I didn´t really do his quote justice from my memory, but you get the idea. The spirit is way powerful!!

Ok, well I love you a ton! Thanks for being so faithful and supportive <3

xoxo,

Hermana Ross

p.s. "Our task is not insurmountable. It is the Lord´s work, and when we are on the Lord´s errand, we are entitled to His help." -Thomas S. Monson. The Lord will fulfill all the promises He has made to us. If He says all these experiences will be for our good, THEY WILL BE! 

this cat has the same eyes as me, and our investigator kept trying to get a picture to show it, but it just wasn´t working out. this was the best we got...

sweet sunset. this picture doesn´t do it justice. (p.s. when it´s 110 degrees, sunset is the best part of the day for MANY reasons)

Me with Denice (pronounced Denise-ay) Estigiribia. She´s so presh and I love her. She wanted to practice being a missionary with my name tag and backpack <3

Me with Liz Sandra Estigiribia and our investigator Luz Bella

w/ my comp in front of the ice cream i i i ice cream paint job

#yeet4Paraguay

In front of the house. Presidente Duarte gave the house a sweet paint job, so we thought we´d document

Us with Hermana De Los Santas (that´s her first name) and her sobrino Evert 

giant centipede also found in our house (lolz, we actually found more than one this week, but I only have a picture of this one) *cue Knife Party music*

scorpion found in our house #paraguayprobz