From: Elder Joshua Freeman
Subject: The rains came down and the floods came up
Date: 16 May 2005 8:46:32 PM EDT

ÁHola!

This past week was pretty crazy, mostly because I got a change and now I'm in Coronel Oviedo. Except for right now I'm in Asunci—n again because of the Conference with Elder Cristofferson. But yeah, I`ll begin at the beginning.

On Monday night, we went and talked to a member, the Hna Abelina, and her family while we were waiting for Edgar to come accompany us to a charla. Then he came and we went to Carlos and Blanca's (the ones we met last Friday), and basically did the lesson 1 with them. After that, we went by Isidro and Gloria's to ask them if we could bring the Ortellados with us to our cita on Wednesday night. Then we saw that their neighbor, who we met a long time ago while looking for an inactive, was home, so we went and talked with him. He really likes the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and he pretty much told us the whole historical part of the Book of Mormon, so that was an interesting talk. The only problem is that he's only here at night, during the week, and on the weekends, he goes to his real house in San Lorenzo. But still, it was a really good visit.

On Tuesday, we had our last Zone Meeting of the change, which went really well. We made cinnamon rolls for the Zone, and they turned out pretty good, seeing as how we tried making them for the first time on Saturday, and it didn't turn out very well. But yeah. In the afternoon, we went and talked to Vivi for the first time in a while to see how she's doing. It's always strange to me when people tell us that the Catholic church is false, and yet they continue going to it and sending their kids to get baptized and confirmed there. It was a good talk anyway, though. After that, we went and talked with Derlis. He fallar-ed us on Saturday because his dad went to the hospital and he was there with him. We shared a little with him, then talked with a couple of members before going to the church for Noche de Rama. A guy that we met last week and wanted help with english came, and we helped him. And he has a friend that just moved here from Fernando de la Mora that's a member. So that's good. Anyway, after all that, we came home.

On Wednesday morning, around 9:30, the APs called us and told me that I was going to Oviedo and had to be in the office at 4:00 that afternoon with all of my stuff for all of the going-home-people activities. So I packed real quick, and we went and said goodbye to Lourdes, and then went and talked with Sandra, then went and ate lunch at Gran V’a. Then I came home and packed more. In the afternoon, we went and visited all of the Gonz‡lez' and said goodbye to them, then came home and took a taxi to the office. It was neat seeing everyone from the group that came with me. We talked a little with the nuevitos and gave them advice, then we went to the Gavarrets' house and had dinner. Then the Hna Gavarret talked with us a little, and everyone bore their testimony. Then Pte Gavarret talked to us, and while he was talking, the power went out, and didn't come back until he was already done. After we finished, I had to wait for Elder Hale to get a temple recommend interview, and then we came back to the office and then went to LambarŽ, which is his area. He's also extending. But anyway, he was also leaving his area, so he had to pack all of his stuff, and we didn't get to bed until around 2:30.

Then we had to get up at 5:30 for him to do the last little packing things and take all of his stuff to the office. Then we all went for everyone to sign papers or whatever, then we went to the temple. We did a normal session, then we got to see a couple of sealings and Pte Whetten (the temple president) let us ask questions and pointed out some neat things about the ceremony. It was pretty neat. After that, we all got something to eat, then went back to the office, and Pte talked to us all one last time, and then everyone left. It was really weird to see them go. Anyway, we then hung around in the office until change meeting, which was pretty normal. There were a lot of nuevitos this change, 13, so that's good. My new companion is Elder Oliveira. He's Brazilian, but his family has lived in Paraguay (San Lorenzo) for the past 14 years or so. And he's been a member for 8 years. And he has a little over a year in the mission. But in any case, we had a little meeting with all of the Zone Leaders after change meeting, mostly to talk about the baptisms we have planned for this month. Then they brought us sandwiches, and all of us far-away-zone people stayed and slept in the office.

Then on Friday morning, Elder Haldeman took us out to Oviedo, because he had to get another missionary from there to take him somewhere else. It's normally about a 2 hour drive, but it took longer because it was the day before Independence Day here and there were a lot of parades and a lot of waiting and detours. But we finally got there just in time for lunch. Which we had with the Flia Delgado, the Branch President's family. They have a son, Juanchi, that's 12. Also, the Hnas Curtis (she also got changed here) and G—mez (she's from Argentina) also ate with us. They're also in the Rama 1 (there's 4 ramas in Oviedo). After lunch, I unpacked, and we went out to work. We went and talked to an inactive couple, named M‡ximo and Fermina, and they pretty much just talked in Guaran’ with Elder Oliveira. I understood probably half of the conversation, but didn't add much. Then we went and visited another inactive lady, the Hna D‡valos. After that, we visited an investigator named Carlos. He's like 21, and he is living with his girlfriend, except she went to visit her mom for a month or so. We taught him the first part of the lesson 2 and it went pretty well. After that, we tried to talk to a few more people that weren't home, but we did teach a lesson 1 to a neighbor girl of one of our investigators. And we taught another lesson to a guy that's a friend of a member that we met in the street (the missionaries talked with him a couple of weeks ago). After that, we went and visited the 1¼ counselor, Ram—n, and his family. They're less-active too, I guess. Then we went and talked to another investigator lady before going to the capilla. Because, the next day the rama was having a Mother's Day party with a talent show, so we went to help set up and think of something to contribute. The lady that cleans the church, Hna Graciela, remembered me from when I was in Villarrica. I was pretty impressed. But yeah, after that, we came home.

On Saturday morning, we had P-Day time because we were going to be coming into Asunci—n today. So we went and got the mail and bought some food and came home. In the afternoon, we went to the church for the activity. It was actually for all of the branches in Oviedo. It went really well, and we did a few sketches. And helped serve the refreshments. After that, we went working. We talked with a family that's getting baptized next Saturday, named Isidro and Isabel. They're both in their young 20's, and they have two little girls, Ver—nica (2) and Berenice (1). They're really cool. We taught them a little of the lesson 4. Then we went to talk to a recent convert named Elisa and her not-so-recent-convert kids, Betty and Roque. And then we came home. 

On Sunday morning, it was threatening rain, and we went to get Isidro and Isabel and they came with us. Church was pretty normal, except a lot of people left after Sacrament Meeting because it was Mother's Day here (it's always the 15¼ of May here) and they went to visit their mothers, I suppose. After church, we came home and planned and ate. Then we went and talked with the Elders Quorum President (his name's Ale Gossen) and talked with him a little. Then we went and shared with Pte Aguilera (the District President) and his wife and two daughters. Then we went and met another investigator girl named Ada that's getting baptized in June, and we talked with her sister and cousin too. Then we went and talked with Carlos and finished the lesson 2 with him, and also his brother Blas. Then we visited a few members and came home. 

This morning, it was still raining, and the (dirt) road in front of our house, and everything surrounding our house, was flooded. There was absolutely no way to leave without going in up to your ankles in water. But we got Pte Delgado to take us to the church, where we had District Meetings. Then we went home and got ready to come to Asunci—n for a special Zone Leader meeting with Elder Cristofferson. It was pretty neat, his wife also spoke, and then he pretty much just answered questions for us. And now we're staying the night here because all our Zone, and others, are coming tomorrow to have a Conference.

Whew. So it was a pretty wild week, and it's still weird to think that those who came with me are now home. Me being here still feels normal. But yeah. That's about it. Gotta go.

I Love You All!!!

Love,
Josh