“Regarding one’s testimony, remember, that which one willingly shares he keeps, while that which he selfishly keeps he loses.” Thomas S. Monson, Pathways to Perfection
August 22, 2011
Hola!!
Well, another week in Loma Pytá- my old companion, Hermana Alvarenga, says we are living in the glory in Loma in Asunción- great members, great area, shopping Mariano is in our area, lots of work to do- what more could we ask for? And it’s true I am super content here. Oh yes...ch-ch-changes! Hermana Alvarenga from Honduras changed areas but we are still in a trio! Introducing Hermana Carly Springer from Gilbert AZ/Sandy UT. She is also a BYU student, studying English, so that makes three rubias (blondes) preaching the Gospel here. And yes there are snakes (the human kind) everywhere- “rubias, que hermosas!” Ha but that’s just what happens to hermanas here in Paraguay.
One of my favorite things about changes and conferences is going to the office. It’s always so much fun. This time, I saw 3 of the elders from my MTC district! What a happy reunión! Elder Labra the Australian, and Elder Wilkins and Nielson were there. I feel like they are my brothers- MTC ties will never die. Haha. I love that I actually know a lot of missionaries now and have friends here.
Exciting news of the week- we have a baptism this Saturday...Vivian Benegas. Her aunt is a member and Vivian has been going to church with her. The problem is she only speaks Guarani because she used to live in the Chaco. So her aunt translates everything for her when we teach. This Sunday, she was the only investigator in the principles of the gospel class so the teacher taught her in Guarani. As missionaries we just stared at the teacher, because we couldn’t understand anything in Guarani, except for when he used words in Spanish, like Jesucristo, Maria, Jose. It was pretty cool though.
This Saturday we went on splits- Hermana Young went with a local, and Hermana Springer and I went with Matias, who is preparing for a mission. It was so fun! We took the collective (bus) to one of the poorer areas and I think I contacted everyone in the whole neighborhood! I finally feel comfortable with my Castellano (Spanish) and I just love talking to people. I am SO glad that I had a companion who was a native speaker, because it has made a huge difference in my Spanish. We went to teach a family- two of the kids we had taught before- we show up at their gate and the mom, Ana, says, “do you want to work?” They were putting in a barbed wire fence with wooden posts. We said sure, but she wouldn’t give us a shovel, only Matias. So Matias started working while we taught the plan of salvation and later he joined us. When the mom finally sat down with us, she said she has always wondered where we go after we die and we told her we have the answers. She is Roman Catholic apostolic (is that right in English?). She looked me in the eyes and said, “Yes, but how do you KNOW?” I had the opportunity to testify that it’s in the scriptures and that we have modern day prophets and leaders and modern-day revelation and that I have felt the spirit testify to me about it. Also, that there is life after death and that we can be with our loved ones forever. And that we do know exactly what happens to us after this life. It was a cool experience.
Our investigator Blanca didn’t go to church. Our golden investigator went to her parent’s house for the weekend and they convinced her not to join the church because it has too many ¨rules¨ like going to church every Sunday and not drinking coffee and paying tithing. It’s really too bad because she knows the Church is true and has a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I think she will get baptized someday in the future. We are pretty much dropping all of the investigators we have had because they aren’t progressing/they have testimonies but just “don’t want to get baptized.” Opa! Entonces. That´s Guarani for “over/all done.”
Anyway, that’s all! Love you all! I love hearing all of your news and seeing the pics. It looks like you are doing well! And Kelli B, your reception seems like it was beautiful! (from the few pics I’ve seen). Taylor, hope your first day as a sophomore was awesome and congrats on making the Varsity volleyball team!!
Love you!
Hermana Brittner
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