From: Elder Joshua Freeman Subject: Todava Date: 9 February 2004 9:21:13 AM EST Hola! For those of you who don't know, todava means "still". As in, I'm still here in Ytoror. And Elder Urling too. I kinda wanted to go, but now I'm way excited to finish what we've got going on. We have 8 people now that we're going to baptize this month and March, so there's definitely plenty to do. Although we had a few baptisms scheduled for the end of this month, but we're going to have to move them back because the people didn't come to church this week. But oh well, better later than never. Oh, and I sent that package last week, so keep your eyes peeled for that one. In any case... On to the week. On Monday night, we went and had a Family Home Evening with the new family that just moved in. We also took the Relief Society president and her kids, because they live right close. We played the game that we played with Eugenia's family a couple of weeks ago, this time with a cake as the prize. It was pretty fun, and the cake turned out pretty good. On Tuesday morning, we had our last Zone Meeting of the change. At the beginning, the Zone Leaders said that they already had the changes and announced them. Then we had our district meeting, which was normal, and then went back for the last part and they (the Zone Leaders) told us that they were just kidding, and we'd have to call them tomorrow (Wednesday) to find out the changes. In any case, we afterwards ate and took pictures and such. In the afternoon, we went and taught a charla 1 to a blind fellow that came to church on Sunday with one of his friends who lives in Asuncin and is a member. It went pretty well, he's a pretty funny guy. After that, we went and took our dirty clothes out to the Bentez's house, and then we had a charla 2 with Mariela at the Duarte's house. After that, Elder Urling was feeling sick like he was going to throw up, so we came home a bit early. On Wednesday morning, we went out to Eugenia's to teach a charla to Jos, but he wasn't there. Then we went and talked to Milciades, and then visited some members before coming home for lunch. After we studied, we went and called the Zone Leaders and found out that we're both staying, and Elder Urling is the new District Leader. After that, we went and taught charla 3 to Adela. It went really well. We then went to Claudelino's and taught him a new member charla. Then we went to the church for Noche de Rama. It was raining, so we didn't do too much. On Thursday, we went to meet a reference from the Branch President, but he was asleep, so we met his wife instead. She seemed pretty nice. After that, we went and visited the Hna. Yolanda for a little bit, and then went to the Duarte's. No one was there except for the dad and Nadia, the daughter who's not a member. So we answered some questions she had and talked a little with them, and then came home. In the afternoon, we went out to the Palmero's (the Elders Quorum President) and talked to them, then tried to visit some other inactives that weren't home. Then we were walking by Eugenia's and found out that Juan Antonio had just fallen from one of their trees, probably a good 15 feet. So we went over there, and he didn't seem too bad, he was breathing fine and everything. So there wasn't much we could do, so we went on to our next cita, which was with the blind guy. That went pretty well, we didn't teach him a charla, just talked to him a little. After that, we went to Valdelice's and they were really happy to see that we hadn't gotten changed. We had a charla with them and talked about their getting married, and I think that Vernancio would have said yes, because we could tell he could feel the spirit and was thinking good and deep about it, but the mom and daughters wouldn't just sit and let him think for a few minutes. So he didn't say yes, but he said he was going to start preparing himself more. We almost got it. But it'll come, we're pretty sure of that. On Friday morning, we taught charla 3 to Sole and Mariela at the Duarte's house, and then had our lunch appointment with the Flia. Bentez. After lunch, we went to Eugenia's and taught Jos the next charla, which went pretty well. Then we went and had a charla 2 with Milciades, and he committed to baptism, so that was nice. We finished the night by going by the Flia. Rojas, an inactive family, and they were having problems with one of their kids going to their neighbor's house and not wanting to come back, so they had a lawyer friend come and go talk to the other parents, and we stayed with the mom and her two other sons and sang and prayed with them to get her a little more tranquila until their dad came home, then we left. It was interesting. On Saturday, we went and had a charla with Adela and it went well again. And after that we had a new member charla with Jos Duarte before coming home for lunch. In the afternoon we went and cleaned the capilla pretty thoroughly, even though it was only us 2 Elders and two sisters that always come. After that, we went and read to Florentn (the blind guy) and told him to pray about it. Then we went and visited some members, and then went and met the guy we tried to meet Thursday morning. He's pretty cool, but he sure likes to talk. The Elders had talked to him before, and he's read the Book of Mormon, but he sure didn't do it to find out if it's true. And he doesn't have any time because he goes to school and works. So we're not sure what we'll do with him right now. Sunday morning, we had church, and it was pretty normal. There were a few investigators that didn't come, but we still had 7 there, so that was good. And after Sacrament Meeting, Mabel and Nieve (the two girls that always come help clean the capilla) asked if we could teach their parents (who both came) and we said sure. So we taught them a first charla and had an Hno. help us explain stuff in Guaran when needed, and it went well. Plus they fed us too. So that was cool. After that, we went and taught Jos Fretes again, and talked to him about his baptism. He's not sure he's ready, so we told him to keep praying and reading and see what Heavenly Father thinks he should do. And then we had a nice discussion with their dad, who was drunk, about why we (the missionaries) go on missions. He just refused to believe that we don't get paid, and said that's why we come, and wouldn't believe us when we said it was because we loved other people enough to help them out. It was interesting. After that, we tried to visit a few people and got shut down, so we visited a semi-active lady. It was good for her. Then we came home and ate and stuff. So, that's it. That's pretty cool to hear that the JV team actually wins games. And I need Melissa's new address, I suppose. Yeah. We should baptize Jos this week, and Stefani, Valdelice's daughter. So that will be good, if it all works out. Yep. Well, catch you guys later! I Love You All!! Love, Josh