From: Elder Joshua Freeman
Subject: The Holy Week (as they say in Spanish)
Date: 28 March 2005 2:59:59 PM EST

ÁHola!

This past weekend was a holiday, from Thursday to Sunday, which made things a little difficult, because a lot of people that live in the city go and visit relatives out in the country. It was kinda sad, because here they put almost all of the emphasis on Friday instead of Sunday. To me, it seems kinda backward. Anyway. At the beginning of the week, it was cloudy/rainy/cold, but then by the weekend it was back over 100¡ again. And we had Zone Conference this week. And on Saturday we had a baptism. So it was a pretty interesting first week in the area. The area is a lot different from my last two, thereÕs no dirt roads or anything and thereÕs a lot more cars and a lot more busy roads. 

On Monday night, we went and met the girl that got baptized. Her nameÕs Luc’a, and sheÕs 16, and her aunt, Celina Gonz‡lez, and her cousins Ana (13), and Victor (12) got baptized just a few months ago (ThereÕs also 2 more kids, Sebasti‡n (7) and Noem’ (2)). And weÕre also teaching her 18 year-old brother, Manuel. So we talked with him about the Libro de Morm—n and everything. After that, we got fallar-ed, then went and met an investigator lady named Graciela. We taught her in the house of her neighbors that are old (age-wise) members, Cristina and Jaime. We pretty much talked about the same thing with her. And then we came home.

On Tuesday morning, we didnÕt have normal meetings because of Zone Conference on Thursday. So in the morning, we tried visiting a few people that werenÕt home. We did talk with an inactive guy named Carlos Ben’tez. Then we came home and had lunch. In the afternoon, we took my clothes out to the Hna. Gonz‡lez and also we talked with Luc’a about the baptismal interview questions. That went pretty well. Then we met some more of her relatives that live right by them, her aunt Miguela, and her kids Lizza (13 or 14), Hugo (11 or 12) and Deisy, just a little younger than Hugo. After that, we got fallar-ed, and tried to visit a lot more people that werenÕt home. Then we went and met Vivi, a lady that has a baptismal date for the 16¡ of April but hasnÕt really been progressing the past couple of weeks. After that, we went and met another investigator named Ram—n and talked with him about the Libro de Morm—n. After that, we went to Noche de Rama, but not very many people came. The capilla here is really big, 2 stories, but the Rama is small; it used to be a ward, but then they split it and it still hasnÕt recovered totally. Anyway, after that, we came home. 

On Wednesday, we visited another inactive guy named Carlos Ayala. Then we got fallar-ed and made some contacts. We went and visited an old member lady that canÕt leave her house anymore, and her maid asked us what she has to do to get baptized. Her nameÕs Lourdes, and sheÕs 23 and has a son, Manuel, thatÕs like 9 months old. I guess she took all of the lessons with the Hermanas (our area used to be two areas, and one had Hermanas) about 2 years ago. So we talked to her a little about the Libro de Morm—n. ThatÕs always good. After that, we came home and had lunch. In the afternoon, we went and met a family that had listened to the missionaries a few years ago and kinda reviewed the lesson 1. After that, we got fallar-ed a couple of times. Then we met another family that theyÕve been talking to, but the husband was kinda busy and didnÕt talk to us much. After that, we went and visited a new member family, the Flia R’os. ThereÕs the dad, Carlos, the mom, and 2 kids, F‡tima (13?) and Gustavo (11). After that, we went and met another investigator named Salvador, and talked with him about his reading. After that, we went to the capilla for the entrevista of Luc’a. The District Leader is in an area called Amambay, which is one of the oldest wards in Paraguay. His nameÕs Elder GutiŽrrez, and heÕs from Uruguay. His companion is Elder Smith, who came with Elder OÕBrien. Everything went fine with the entrevista, and after it was over, we buscar-ed a little, but with no luck. So then we came home.

On Thursday, we had Zone Conference. There werenÕt a lot of buses, because it was a holiday. The Elders from Amambay had to take a taxi, and they passed us as we were waiting for a bus, so we went with them. The Conference was good, like normal. After it was over, we took a taxi home because the only bus going to our area wasnÕt running. So, we came home and went and talked to Vivi and invited her to the baptism on Saturday. After that, we had to go to another area called Obrero. ItÕs kinda ghetto-y. But anyway, the Elders there, Elder Worthen and Elder Wade (who also came with Elder OÕBrien) needed two baptismal interviews. So I went with Elder Wade and did one of them, for a girl whoÕs parents are recently-reactivated. It went fine. After that, we visited another investigator of theirs, then met back up with the others and Elder Higbee and I came home. 

On Friday morning, we got fallar-ed by some more people but did teach a lesson 1 to a new family. That went pretty well. In the afternoon, we went and visited a lady named Liz Caballero that just got baptized on Christmas. We helped her prepare a talk for the baptism. After that, we went and talked with Lourdes and reviewed the lesson 1 with her and her sister Roquelina (17) who was also there. It went well, and they both came to the baptism and to church on Sunday, all by themselves. ThatÕs always good. After that, we were sitting on a corner thinking of what to do, and a guy came up and talked to us. HeÕs talked with the missionaries in 3 different areas in the last couple of weeks. We explained the Libro de Morm—n to him and gave him a copy. After that, we went and tried talking to a lot of people with no luck. Then we went to the Flia Gonz‡lezÕ and talked with them and Luc’a and then came home. 

On Saturday morning, we went to the capilla to clean/fill the font and set things up. Pte. Borba, from It‡ Enramada is the janitor of the capilla (they used to live here when it was a ward, but in the side thatÕs now the other branch), so I got to talk to him a little. That was neat. Anyway, after that, we went and made the baptismal program and other stuff before coming home to eat. In the afternoon, we went to turn off the water in the font. Then we tried visiting a few people over there, but with no luck. We did go by ViviÕs to make sure she was coming to the baptism. And we met a couple new people, and visited some inactives. Then we went to the church for the baptism. Everything went well, and there were quite a few people there. After that, we tried talking to some more people, but they werenÕt home, so we came home.

On Sunday, we went a little to clean up the church. Everything went fine with the confirmation. There were less than 50 people in church, which was a bit less than IÕd gotten used to, but all of the meetings went really well, and the speakers in Sacrament Meeting gave good talks. In the afternoon, we went out to ViviÕs because she didnÕt come to the baptism or to church. SheÕs having a few family problems, but she says she wants to solve them and move on. After that, we visited a girl that just got baptized named Sandra. SheÕs 12, and she has another sister thatÕs a member, but she didnÕt talk to us. After that, we went to the capilla for Correlation. The only other ones there were Dani, our mission leader, and Emilio, whoÕs 8 brothers and sisters are all members but his parents arenÕt. It was a good meeting anyway. After it was over, Dani went with us, and we tried visiting a few people, but they werenÕt home, too busy, and not home, in that order. After that, we went to CelinaÕs (Gonz‡lez) and took her our ropa, and also taught the lesson 3 to Manuel. He should get baptized the 23¡ of April. So that was good. After that, we came home. 

This morning, we met as a Zone in Rama Centro and went to Yacht Club. We played a little soccer and basketball and volleyball, then came back to Centro and ate at a place called PancholoÕs. It was pretty good. And then we came home. 

All in all, it was a pretty full week. ItÕs kinda weird walking so much again, but IÕm getting used to it. The areaÕs pretty good, and so is Elder Higbee, so things are going well. Also, I donÕt know if I mentioned it or not, but I sent a big package home last week. So be on the look out. But when it gets there, just look at the pictures, donÕt open any of the boxes. YouÕll have to wait to see whatÕs inside them. Thanks everyone for everything. I appreciate everything you guys do.

I Love You All!!!

Love,
Josh

P.S. Mom, if you could just fill out those papers from the Tribe, that would be fantastic. Thanks! Just tell me if thereÕs anything you donÕt know.