From: Elder Joshua Freeman
Subject: I'm no good at bowling!
Date: 1 November 2004 3:59:30 PM EST

ÁHola!

How are things going in the getting-colder north? Things are going pretty well down here. ItŐs getting hotter, but it has rained every weekend since IŐve been here, so it cools down a little. Halloween was different here, not like the US. ItŐs more the Day of the Dead, like in Mexico, I assume. For us it was just a normal day. But anyway, this past week went pretty well. 

Monday night, we taught a charla 1 to the parents of a couple of members, the Flia. Quintana. TheyŐre pretty old and speak a lot of Guaran’, but theyŐre nice. The mom is a pretty famous pottery maker. So that went pretty well. After that, we had to go borrow the churchŐs TV and DVD player to watch the ŇRestorationÓ DVD with the Mattesich and Taboada and Fern‡ndez families. That went really well. And after that we took the TV and stuff back and then came home.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up pretty sick to my stomach, and I didnŐt feel very well all day. But we still went to Zone Meeting and stuff like normal. That was pretty normal. In the afternoon, I slept for about an hour and then we went out working. We went and talked with Ruth, and then got fallar-ed by a few  people. So we went by the Flia. VegaŐs and shared a little with them, and then went to the Flia. GimŽnezŐ and taught the ch. 4 to Cristian y Steven. Fidel was back from his trip, but he had left again to somewhere else. After that, we got fallar-ed again, so we went and talked with Daniel  and Lourdes, another investigator family. Then we came home.

On Wednesday morning, I was feeling just fine again, which was good, because we did divisions with Villeta. I went there with Elder Carter. He came a change after me, and was in the same zone when he first got here. We spent most of the day looking for inactives and finding new people to teach at the same time. It worked pretty well. They had their Noche de Rama that night, but none of the members wanted to do anything, so they left. I was impressed. After that, we went and talked to a couple other investigators and then came home. 

Then on Thursday morning, we got up early and came back to It‡, because Elder Nichols and I had to go to Concilio. That means council, by the way. ItŐs a meeting the Zone Leaders have once a change. We had it at the GavarretŐs house, which is pretty nice. We got a little capacitation, and got all the dates for all of the events this change. And the Hna. Gavarret made us lasagne for lunch, and that was really good. And then all the new Zone leaders and all the ones that are going home bore their testimonies and we watched a little movie called ŇA Pioneer MiracleÓ. ItŐs really good, you should try and find it somewhere. All in all, it was a really spiritual and a really cool experience. After that, we didnŐt get back until about 7:00, so we went out and talked with Daniel y Lourdes and talked to them about coming to church, and they said theyŐd do it. They have a little shop where they sell empanadas and stuff, and so we challenged them to not open on Sunday, and they accepted. After that, we went to Vidal and EdithaŐs and they told us that theyŐre moving to her parentsŐ house and they (the parents) wonŐt want us to come over, but that theyŐll come to church. WeŐll see how that works. And that was it for the night.

On Friday morning, we had to take our bikes in to get fixed real quick, and then dropped by a couple of peoplesŐ houses and spent some time finding people. Then we went by the Flia. OlmedoŐs and helped them in their garden a little, since thatŐs what they were doing when we got there. We had lunch with the Flia. Largosta, and then we came home and studied. In the afternoon, we went and talked with Ruth and taught her the 3» charla, and then with an inactive family, the Flia. Mor‡n. Then we had to come home because Javier was bringing our mail and didnŐt want to carry it around all night because there were a couple of packages. After that, we dropped by the Flia. VegaŐs and then got fallar-ed by someone close to their house. So then we went to the Flia. GimŽnezŐ and taught Fidel the charla 4. That went really well. After that, we went and visited the Flia. Caballero, and then came home.

On Saturday morning, we went to visit some members that live kind of far away, but we got out there and they werenŐt home, and neither were a couple other people in the same area. So after that, we went and talked with some inactives and talked to Daniel y Lourdes, and they said they were coming to church and not opening on Sunday. We had lunch with the Flia. Fern‡ndez and then came home. In the afternoon, we had our Correlation Meeting with Javier, and then went out to the Flia. EstigarribiaŐs and read with them from the Libro de Morm—n. Then we went to the Flia. GimŽnezŐ and finished teaching the 4» charla. That went just fine. After that, we went and visited the Flia. Olmedo, and then the Flia. Quintana (the ones we visited on Monday). And we went by a couple other membersŐ houses as well. That was all. 

It rained a lot on Saturday night, and it was still raining a little on Sunday morning, so surprisingly enough, we didnŐt have very many people in church. But it was still pretty normal. The Flia. Gimenez invited us to eat, so we did, and when we were done, we taught them the charla 5. That went without problem, and after that we came home and studied. In the afternoon, we went and visited the Flia. Br’tez, one son, Nilson, is active, and his mom and brother arenŐt. After that, we went to the Flia. G—mezŐ (Ruth, etc) and read with them. After that, we went by Daniel and LourdesŐ because they hadnŐt come to church, and they were open, because they have a lot of bills and debts to pay. So that was kinda sad. After that, we went out to Clides and Milciades and set up a cita with them, and then saw Cristian and Mar’a, and they told us that she was going to start working in Asunci—n and would only be back a day every 2 weeks. So thatŐs too bad. After that, we visited some other members and then came home.

This morning, we had a Zone Activity; we went bowling in Asunci—n. It was fun, but I am by far the worst of the group. After that, we went to a really nice buffet restaurant to eat with the Karns. Also, another couple called the Blakes were visiting. HeŐs a psychologist in Chile (as a missionary) and heŐs really over all of South America. Also, by surprise, the Gavarrets and the Asistentes came too. So that was fun.

So, thatŐs it. Things are going pretty smooth here. Gotta go, but weŐll talk to you next week!!

I Love You All!!!

Love,
Josh