From: Elder Joshua Freeman
Subject: More firsts (Can you find them all?)
Date: 6 September 2004 10:55:22 AM EDT

ÁHola!

Guess what?!? It's really hot down here! Probably hotter than up there, but we're still in winter. Last year, I don't remember it being so hot. And it's been really, and there's always all sorts of dirt and stuff in the air. It's great fun. But yeah. This week went pretty well. It ended on a lot better note, because we actually had a lot more people at church. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, nobody in Pilar got a change, so Elder Webb and I are still here. We're pretty excited, because we should have a pretty successful month. But yeah, this has been a really long week.

Last Monday, we went and visited the Yacyret‡ dam with the whole zone, and it was pretty fun getting to be with everyone. After p-day ended, I went with Elder Payne, and we visited a couple of their investigators and read with them, and then some inactives before coming home.

On Tuesday morning, we got to get up at 5:00 to catch a bus to go to San Ignacio for the Zone Meeting. The meeting went really well, and after everything was over, we came home. We didn't get here until around 5:00, and we went out and got fallar-ed. A few times. And we visited a few people and made some contacts. We did get in a couple of charla 1s that went pretty well, so that was nice. 

On Wednesday morning, I went to get some pictures developed, and half of them didn't turn out. There's definitely something wrong with my camera (it's been dropped a couple times, the latest one a couple of weeks ago), so I'm thinking about getting a new one. If I can find a good one. In any case, we went and talked with Cesario and he had more questions about people seeing God. But we didn't have a lot of time, so we just left him some scriptures to read. Then we went to the Flia. Portillo's and started teaching them the 3» charla. It went pretty well, but they don't quite understand the Apostasy, so we went a little more in depth. Then we went and had lunch with the Flia. Acosta. After lunch is when we found out that we weren't getting a change. It was a little surprising, since people don't usually stay together for more than 2 changes, but not too surprising, because I've only been here a little bit longer than him. Anyway, in the afternoon, we went to the Flia. Albarenga's and shared a little with them. Then we went to Celso's and read a little with him. He's really progressing a lot, so we're pretty pleased. We just hope his wife does too when she gets back from Asunci—n. After that, we went and got fallar-ed some more, and visited some inactives, and a couple other members. After that, the Flia. Albarenga went with us to teach a 1» charla, and it went pretty well. And after that, we had a Noche de Hogar with the Flia. Acosta, and talked about the importance of member missionary work. It went pretty well.

On Thursday morning, we got fallar-ed and taught a ch. 1. Then we went to the Flia. Ben’tez's and talked to the Hermano. It's frustrating, because he's not converted at all, he says the missionaries forced them to get baptized, and he doesn't seem willing to take the necessary steps to get a testimony, because he doesn't want to put forth effort. After that, we went by the Flia. Flores, and they told us they can't do much, because their next-door neighbor, who's also a member of their church, tells everyone at their church that they're following the Mormones, and their leaders told them to have nothing to do with us. That sounds like how God's church should work, doesn't it? Anyway, they're planning on moving to a different neighborhood, but until they do, there's not much else we can do with them. So that was quite a morning. In the afternoon, we went out looking for some references, with a little luck. Then we made some contacts and talked with one investigator who said they won't have time until after all their exams are over. In November. So they're excited. After that, we went by Estela's and talked to her kids, she wasn't home, and right as we were leaving, their dog was chasing a horse across the road and got hit by a car. So guess who the lucky grave diggers got to be? Yeah, us. It was an interesting experience, part of which is due to the fact that paraguayan shovels are about half the size of american shovels. But we did it. Then, ironically enough, we went to the Flia. Vera's because it was the birthday of Alicia, one of their daughters. Then we went back to Estela's to take her kids to Noche de Rama, and Victor was still pretty upset, but they all went with us anyway. And we got the rest of the kids and went to the church. Noche de Rama went pretty well, and everyone did something, so that was good. When we were done, we took everyone home and came home and went to bed. Whew. 

On Friday morning, we mostly looked for references, and then went to the Flia. Portillo's to talk to them more about the Apostasy. Towards the end, an inactive guy that lives in our rama but supposedly goes to the other one came in and talked about how even though he has two "wives", he's not married to either one, and is getting excommunicated, he doesn't think that Heavenly Father's too angry with him. Not exactly the kind of members we want them exposed to, but okay. After that, though, we went to the Flia. Garc’a's and ate lunch. In the afternoon, we taught a 1» charla to Jorge's wife Mariela, who recently came back from Asunci—n. They both talk a LOT, but they seem to understand everything. After that, we went and visited Abel the inactive. Then we looked for some other references, and then visited Martina (the inactive) and her family. After that, we did a verification from Tuesday, but the guy wasn't there, so we explained the Libro de Morm—n to his wife. Then we tried teaching a ch. 1, but it didn't go too well, because the neighbors were playing really loud music (everyone here plays their music REALLY loud, it's weird.), and the guys (drunk) friend was there. So we didn't teach it all. But after that, we went and read with another family. That went well.

On Saturday morning, we invited a lot of people to church, members and non-members, and got in a pretty good ch. 1 verification and some reactivation. So that was good. In the afternoon, we went with Pte. Rivas to Celso's house and taught him the Plan of Salvation, and that went really well. After that, we got fallar-ed a few times, and invited more people to church. We also started teaching the Flia. Albarenga the Charlas for New Members. After that, we went to a wedding, of the grandparents of one of the members. It was almost entirely in Guaran’, so that was fun. I think we were mostly there to take pictures. After that, we went and invited more people to church, and made a few contacts. Then came home. 

On Sunday morning, we went and made sure a few people were going to church, and ended up getting Estela's kids and taking them with us. The meetings went really well, and there were (relative to what we've had lately) a lot of people there. So we were all happy. After church, we came home and studied, and then went and ate with the Flia. Arce. The Hno. went with us to visit a couple of investigators after that, so that was good. Then we visited some members, and looked for other references and made more contacts. There was a fireside at the capilla, and we went to that and participated a little, then came home.

This morning, we got up and went out and played basketball. It was fun.

Hey mom, to answer your question, there's a lot of need to teach members music, singing and playing the piano mostly, here. In a lot, if not most of the units here, if one of the missionaries doesn't know how to play the piano (or sing), nobody does. Yeah. I had another question too, what's Steve doing for his Eagle project? Yeah.

Thanks Dad for the e-mail, and thanks Will & Trish, I got your letter. And GO BYU!!!! As’ me gusta.

I Love You All!!!

Love, Josh