Week 32- Happy Spring!

“He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change. But we are less faithful than He is…We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep his commandments that He gives us to make us happy. Sometimes we fail to commune with Him in prayer. ..We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years of or the crises of our lives…if we wish to serve Him, we must serve our fellow men…we can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior.” Thomas S. Monson

Sep. 26, 2011

Familia,

Mbae´ chapa? ¡Feliz primer día de la Primavera! Or in other words, Happy Spring! Spring officially began this Wednesday and it has started to warm up. I’ve decided that I like spring here. This week was super tranquilo. A great last week in Loma since changes/transfers are tonight and I am pretty sure that I’m leaving. Hermana Young is training so that means I will be transferred. I am very sad. I LOVE this area, my companion and my district. It has been one of the most treasured times of my mission. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

So the highlights of the week: Little Justo got baptized!!! Whoo!! His parents, who were inactive are now coming back to church and we are so happy. Justo is a very intelligent, funny little guy and I have enjoyed teaching him. Hermano Rojas baptized Justo and it was my first baptism that actually started on time. The Spirit was very strong and little Justo couldn’t stop smiling after he got out of the water. Chulina. Hermano Rojas is in the Bishopric and came to one of the lessons with us. I think that was a key factor in getting Justo’s dad to come back to church. Visits are SO important. Knowing that people in the ward care about you, can make all the difference in coming back to church. It’s like the little flame of their testimony has to be lit again- they need to feel the love of the ward. That one visit that Hermano Rojas went on helped to get Justo baptized and who knows how many more baptisms will come as a result of that. It has eternal consequences.

Justo’s mom, Sonia, is doing very well. She described to us how she felt before we came to visit her, “It’s like I had an unquenchable thirst and hunger. I would eat and drink but I just wasn’t satisfied. Then when the hermanas came, and I started reading the Book of Mormon again and reading as a family, I felt filled. I was hungry only for the word of God.”

The talent show…well, in my view as a professional party planner, I think it was a complete disaster. However, there were some good moments, and I heard some good comments about it as well. For instance, when the young adults did the traditional Paraguayan dance and some primary boys did a really cute dance. What went wrong was that it started an hour late, and then another half an hour was needed to figure out the music after it started. There were no utensils to prepare the food, and some non-members, and a recent convert decided to do a less-appropriate dance. Well, you can always chalk it up to a good learning experience on what not to do next time. We need to work more closely with the leaders.

Cool lesson this week: We have been visiting the family Diez, who’s mom just passed away from cáncer. Hermana Diez and two of the four girls are members but the dad isn’t. We had never taught him before because he would always just say hi and leave. This time he came in and sat down when we arrived. I asked if he was tired from working and he told us that he is unemployed and feeling depressed. He said he doesn’t feel like he has a reason to wake up in the morning, with no job and the fact that his wife just died. He said he felt alone, like God has forgotten about him. Well, I have never had a spouse die of cancer, nor am I currently under the burden of being unemployed so I was thinking, “what can I say to him?” I know that Jesus Christ is the answer, because He always is. Then Hermana Young pulled out an amazing scripture found in 1 Nephi 21:14-16. “But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me-but he will show that he hath not. For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; they walls are continually before me.” Bam!!! He realized that God had not forgotten about him, that He is with us always, in the good times and the bad. Heavenly Father knows each one of us intimately and he never gives us more trials than we can handle. He gives us just enough to make us stretch, try us a little bit. When we pray, we should pray for the strength to make it through.

Aurora, our recent convert, who actually just got re-baptized, went to the temple for the first time. We are so happy for her. I love this area. There are so many strong members who work in the temple because it is so close.

So who really knows where changes/transfers will take me or with whom? All I know is that I can trust in the Lord, for this is His work and not ours. Also, I am most likely going to the temple this week (we get to go every 6 months around general conference). Woot, woot! Super excited! And General Conference this weekend! What could be better?

Taylor: “Tere vy’ aiteke, ko nde ara mbotyre!” That’s Guarani for Happy Birthday! Hope it was great.

PS- Stop growing up! You are getting so tall and pretty that when I get home I won’t even be able to recognize you!

Thanks for the love and support! Love you all!

Hermana Brittner

Week 31- Oh, the joy of serving in a manly mission!

“Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.” Doctrine and Covenants 90:24

Sep. 19, 2011
Hola, Hola, Hola, family! Que tal?

Just so you all know, I am serving in a “manly mission.” That’s what my zone leader called our mission. I was like, “hey what does that make me?” But basically he was referring to the fact that we have to be able to deal with a lot of crazy things to be a missionary here, like dengue, crazy bugs, disgusting dogs, the heat, the cold, the snakes (the human kind) and a lot of other things. So I am proud to say I am serving in a manly mission.

It has been kind of a crazy week. First off, we are no longer in a trio! Hermana Springer left on Wednesday to go to Villa Hayes with Hermana Alvarenga and there is now a trio over there. Special changes. Hermana Young and I started our first two weeks together alone and are ending our three months together alone, after being in two trios (unless we get another change together!) Changes/transfers are next week so we will see. This meant that I got to cross the bridge over the Rio de Paraguay. Wahoo, it was pretty cool and I was eating chipa while we were driving over it. So Paraguayan.

We had some ups and downs this week. We dropped Blanca (24), which is really sad. She has a testimony but doesn’t want to commit to getting baptized because she would have to change her lifestyle. Her friends and her family aren’t supportive. She doesn’t have the courage or the will to take this big step. It’s sad because I see all the blessings she will miss out on but hopefully, someday she will get baptized. We really love her and have become good friends.

Also, cool experience with Miguel and Justo’s family. Both parents were inactive but they are now reactivating. On Tuesday, Justo told us that after asking God if the Book of Mormon is true, he “received faith and happiness.” He’s just 9, but he knows it’s true! When we went back on Wednesday his mom, the less active member said, “Hermana, we have news that will make you really happy! On Sunday, we’re all going to church together, rain or no!” They’ve begun to pray and read as a family. Their father said that there was more peace and tranquility in their home. He thanked us profusely for coming.

We had a Family Home Evening on Friday night with them and the Sanchez family, an active member family. It was about prayer and Hermano Sanchez said he has been putting Miguel and Justo’s family’s name on the prayer rolls at the temple for years and that this is an answer to his prayers that they are coming back to church. It was a special moment. The only damper was that Miguel wasn’t there, he hadn’t gotten back from work (selling gum on the busses).

This Wednesday we are hosting a talent show at a missionary/investigator activity. It’s going to be SO awesome with lots of Paraguayan dancing and singing. We are going to do an act and make brownies! Did you know that brownies don’t exist here, except for when we make them?

District meeting went well. I taught about commitments and started out with an inspired question, “what is joy?” Then we went to the scriptures and talked about how joy comes from repentance and feeling the love of God in our lives. We can help our investigators experience joy by teaching them about repentance and how to keep commitments. Commitments are the little things: reading scriptures, going to church, praying to know if it’s true, that will prepare them to make covenants with God. It’s the little things that make the difference in our testimonies.

One of the members here, Aurora, gave a cool definition of faith in a talk. She said that faith is “que todo va a salir bien”or that everything is going to work out. I guess this could also be hope but they are so intimately tied together that I think it could be either. I like the scripture found in Doctrine and Covenants 90:24. It has become my theme. Tranquilo. Do your part and then trust that God will do his. Don’t become overwhelmed or think that you can’t make it because with God, everything is possible.

I would like to invite everyone to spiritually prepare for conference. Remember to read your scriptures, keep up with your prayers, ponder the last session of conference talks so that you will be ready to listen to President Monson and the other leader’s of the true Church. Take 8 or 10 hours out of your weekend and listen to the Prophet’s words. It’s the most important thing you can do. I am so excited for it!!! Last conference I was in the MTC! How time flies.

Well, another week in the Lord’s service. Thanks for the package Becca!! You never know how good Snickers taste until you’ve lived in Paraguay for 5 months :) Happy early birthday Taylor!!

Love always,
Hermana Brittner

Week 30- Guten Tag!

“And the Lord said unto him: believest thou the words which I shall speak? And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie.” Ether 3:11-12

Sep. 12, 2011
Guten Tag!!!

Yep, that’s German for “good day.” You may think to yourself, “I thought she was serving in Paraguay.” Well, that’s true but this is what people often say to us as we walk down the street. They assume we are from Alemania (Germany), which I guess if you go far enough back, I am, but it’s just kind of funny, because we’re American. The reason they greet us this way is because there is a Mennonite colony up North in the Chaco where a bunch of Germans live and they believe we are one of them. Random, I know.

Well, this week just flew by. We are working with Miguel and Justo, who are16 and 9 years old. Their parents are inactive and the kids aren’t members. Well, Sunday morning we were going to pick up investigators and we see them walking to Church. You may think, big deal, unless you knew that they live at least a 45 minute walk away from church. We, as missionaries have never walked to their house, we always take the collectivo. But they walk because they can’t afford the 2.300 mil (50 cents) it costs to take the bus. They were walking and yelled hello to us. It fills a missionary with joy when they see their investigators walking to church. Little Justo asked if primary was over (church hadn’t started yet) and we said no, and he did a little skip/hop in the air, he was so happy. It was CHULINA! He was dressed in his little white shirt with his Book of Mormon in hand. We visited their family with Hermano Rojas from the Bishopric. It was a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation. We are trying to reactivate their parents. We are hoping they come this Sunday.

Hermana Young´s birthday was Tuesday and we made lemon bars and the elders made pancakes for our district meeting. It was a good day! We made her a feliz dia sign too.

Blanca didn’t come to church this week. But we are still in the fight for her. She has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith but now has a doubt about tithing.

I went out with Hermano Rojas to do visits. I love having members with us, especially return missionaries because they add so much to our visits. I learned a lot. Also, another RM accompanied us to introduce us to his friend- a family with parents and two kids. I will keep you updated if they progress. The members here are great- so filled with the faith and ready and willing to help us.

This week I talked to a man who was very angry because missionaries stopped visiting him 9 years ago when he told them he wouldn’t get baptized, along with a lot of other things. I bore my testimony and explained a few things. I explained how the Church of Jesus Christ is the only true Church and that it is the only church with authority to baptize and that really got him heated. Well, he turned to me at the end of the conversation and looked me straight in the face and told me how “cerrada” I am (how closed I am with my beliefs.) I have been thinking about that and if he is saying that I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth today, then yes, I guess you could say I am closed because I do believe that. And that the Prophet of this Church is the only man on earth with the keys to receive revelation to direct the Church, then, yes, I guess you could say I am closed. I KNOW that this Church is true, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith restored the Church and I will tell anyone and everyone. I am not ashamed, intimidated or scared to share my testimony and tell the whole world that I am a member of this Church, a missionary of the TRUTH, calling people to come unto Christ and share in the joy that comes from the Atonement of our Savior. I know it is true and I only wish that others would come unto Christ and feel the same joy I feel as I read the scriptures, pray, go to Church and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Something that I have learned since being on my mission is that God always keeps his promises. He always keeps his end of the bargain with covenants. It’s up to us to keep ours. Our baptismal, temple covenants- we are promised certain things when we keep them. The 10 Commandments, words of the living prophets, we are promised certain blessings if we obey them. If we want the blessings, we have to do our part. Also, with trials, we are always promised blessings if we do our best to overcome them and rely on God throughout them. I used to think of blessings more in temporal or literal terms but now I realize that more often than not, our reward for overcoming a trial is becoming more Christ-like and developing these attributes...charity, patience, humility. So the next time you are dealing with a trial or stuck in traffic, you can think about how this is giving you the chance to practice patience :)

One of the members we eat lunch with commented on how amazed she is that we are so content as missionaries. Even though we are very far from our families, we are content and filled with peace and tranquilidad because we are doing the Lord’s work. It is true. Estoy muy contenta. And healthy. I’m grateful to be in this work. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Hemana Brittner

PS Teaching district meeting tomorrow...wish me luck!

Week 29- ¿M´bae chapa? Che porá!

“Let us cheerfully do all things that lie within our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God.” Doctrine and Covenants 123:17

Sep. 5, 2011

¡HOLA!

¿M´bae chapa? Che porá! That’s Guarani for “How are you? I’m pretty.” That is the response that Hermana Young has been saying to all the Paraguayans who ask how she is in Guarani. Haha. It is the difference of one syllable with “I’m good”, so it’s an easy mistake. It’s almost as funny as the fact that in prayers, I have been praying that the Spirit would please “die”(morir) during our lesson instead of “dwell”(morar). The things we learn learning new languages. Well, I know that you would love to hear about the exciting things I eat in Paraguay but to be honest, I eat noodles everyday. At one of our lunch appointments, however, I was eating some pudding and I took a big spoonful and just before I put it in my mouth, I realized that there was a beetle right in the middle of it. Yep, didn’t finish that dish.

Well, this week has been pretty eventful, starting with conference with Elder Mervyn B. Arnold of the Seventy. We had a special meeting with Hermana Arnold and Hermana Madariaga (misión pres´s wife) and it was really cool. Thirteen of the 17 hermanas were there and it was like a mini-testimony meeting. Each hermana talked about why they chose to go on a misión, the obstacles it took to get here and shared a favorite scripture. I shared the one in Joshua 24:15 that says, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” I also talked about how working at EFY helped me choose to go on a mission and how I expect that my little sister’s will have the same opportunity to go as well. Elder Arnold’s testimony was really powerful. He didn’t “drop the cane” like we expected, but he was still a pretty serious guy, but with a strong testimony. He encouraged us to get member referrals because those are the people who get baptized.

Aurora Vera was ‘rebaptized-’ haha she was golden! She is the one whose records got lost from 30 years ago. We sang “Come unto Me” /Venid a Mi. It was a nice event and she said that she “felt something wonderful in my chest…a happiness” (the Spirit).

Viviana, one of my converts, moved back to the Chaco to be with her parents. She is the one who speaks only Guarani. It’s really too bad because no in her family are members. Hopefully she can find a chapel to go to and will receive the support of her parents.

Blanca is doing well. She is very up and down about getting baptized. One minute she is stoked and the next she is not sure. She didn’t come to church yesterday, which is never good. But we had a wonderful lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation. Hermana Young said, “we can all be neighbors together in the Celestial Kingdom” and she was pretty excited about that! She has also told all of her friends that she goes to “the Church of Jesus Christ,” not the Mormon Church, because she thinks the first title is more appropriate, which is the truth. Her date right now is for the 17th of September. Let’s hope she keeps it!

Okay, so this Sunday I had the great opportunity to go to Primary. It was CHULINA, as they would say here. There were 25 kids, and only 3 adults, kinda crazy. I led the music to “Called to Serve” and “Army of Helaman.” I also told all of the kids how to say the name of the Church in English. They all looked at me with huge eyes, like “huh?” It was chulina. Then they wrote letters to the missionaries in the field. I haven’t seen a primary program yet, Mom, but I’ll let you know how it is when I do. After church we had lunch with family Adorno, and they have a cute little 4-year-old boy named Giovanni. First he asked me if I had turned 8. Then he asked me if I had a boyfriend. Then he asked for my number and proceeded to show me his two arm muscles. Chulina! It reminded me of the Bowen boys! J

Another Hermana in the Ward, Hermana Nueves died of cancer. She and two of her daughters were inactive members. We visited with her once before she went into the hospital and she had a strong testimony. After she passed away, we went back and taught the Plan of Salvation to her two non-member daughters. What a blessing it is to know that we will be reunited with our loved ones as we live righteously and keep our covenants! What a blessing is this Restored Gospel!

When thinking about the hard time this family is going through, I have been thinking a lot about Satan’s lies. There are two that are pretty apparent.

1. Satan’s Lie: Why did this happen to me? I guess this means that God doesn’t love me/doesn’t exist, because if He did, He wouldn’t let me go through this hard time.

FACT: God loves us and He gives us challenges to help us grow. Our hardest moments are often our most humble, when we turn to God and the Savior to help us, when we learn the lessons our Heavenly Father has prepared for us. He wants us to progress and grow, but often we can only do that through overcoming hard times.

2. Satan’s Lie: If I focus on myself, then I will be happy. I have to focus on my own needs and wants in order to get the most out of life.

FACT: Forget yourself and go to work. Serving others and forgetting your own needs is the only way to find true happiness and become as the Savior. The more you focus on the needs of others, the smaller your own problems will seem and the happier you will be.

Well family, as I am writing this, you are probably at Stinson Beach. I hope you are enjoying the waves and that it isn’t foggy like it is here in Asunción today. The weather here is bipolar. One day it’s super hot and the next, it’s cold and rainy.

Congrats to Aaron Whitman for getting baptized! I know that this important step will change your life for the better.

Thanks for the love and support, everyone!! I’m happy and healthy.

Until next week, Hermana Brittner