Email: Week #2 in Paraguay

Hey!

So I have some great news! I was able to perform my first baptism, to Jonathan Jesus Miño, a 9 year old. It honestly was so awesome that I was able to do that, to be able to help someone take that step to show their faith in God. Also, we have 4 more baptisms coming up! The Ortiz family, the mom and her 3 older kids are going to be baptized! We just need them to come to church more... but it is awesome! I am learning Spanish a bit better now, but still working on it.

And as for candies, I am not even sure. But maybe something like fundip or like that. I really don't mind, I will take anything I can get. As of now, I just stick to a simple life, and cook some hamburgers on the stove whenever we don't have a meal with a member. We always have a hamburger cooked with eggs in the burger. It is really good, I will be doing it a lot when I get back home. My companion makes a really good Torta (Cake) every once in a while, and it is awesome. Oh, so the drink they have here is Guaranà, which they have a lot, and it is really good!

Ah, but if you want to send me a package, you can send it to the mission office and I will come pick it up. They do not have addresses over here, so it is hard sometimes to find peoples homes! But my companion said that if you send it express shipping, it will get here a lot faster and less likely to be tampered with. My comp said that he has only seen one persons package be stolen from, and normal shipping is about 5 to 6 weeks.

The words I sent you in Guarani are the plaques for the missionaries (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). So I went to the temple with members from my ward. It was really awesome, we as the missionaries went through a session by ourselves while the members of the ward did baptisms. It was really strange because of how small it was. But it was awesome as always!

Lately, we have been teaching the third discussion to the members, the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and perserverance). We have been working with the same investigators as of late because they are progessing well. We have been getting a couple references that we still need to come visit though! And that drunk man I told you about was when I was proselyting in Buenos Aires, so I have no idea what happened with him.

That is awesome that everyone is doing well!! I was just thinking, it is crazy that I have been here for almost 2 months now! Everytime my companion sees a plane, he points up 10 fingers and I put up another for 11, because that is how much time he has left haha.

Ah, to explain the picture, that is my first baptism and the other one is a drawing of Elder Crane who nicknamed me Crandalfo el Blanco haha. It is after Gandalfo el Blanco (Gandalf the White).

Love you guys lots and miss you!

Ok, so other people have been doing this and I thought it was cool, so Imma bandwagon in, but here is a bit of my testimony is Spanish for you!

Estoy muy agradecido por servir una misiòn aquì en Paraguay y participar en Su obra. Sè con todo my corazòn que la iglesia es verdadera y que Dios y el Señor viven. Quiero servir una misiòn para compartir el amor que Dios tiene por nosotros porque sè que es verdadero. Me alegra muchisimo que tengo la oportunidad para ayudar otras personas venir a Cristo. El Espiritu que siento cada dìa... es maravilloso. Tengo amor por mi Señor y todo que el ha hecho para mì. Sì, la misiòn es dificil a veces, pero siempre puedo orar a Dios por ayuda en mis desafios y retos. Dios quiere hablar con nosotros y escucharnos. Te invito saber por si mismo si el està, y si tienes fe y un corazòn sincero, te contestarà.

Elder Crandall

Email: Week #1 in Paraguay

Hi!

I am really enjoying the mission field, it sure is a lot different than the CCM (MTC). My companion is Elder Correa from Argentina. I have a Latin companion that only speaks Spanish. I was a bit afraid at first, but I am surprised of that I can understand almost all that he says. I really have been blessed with the gift of tongues. Anyway, the people here are amazing and I enjoy visiting them. It is hard to understand many of them, though. They speak a mix of Guarani and Spanish. So Guarani is crazy and hard to understand, it is nothing like Spanish. Here is the plaques for Guarani: Hesukristo Tupao Marangatukeura Arapahapegua. But I am getting better at it. So the weather here is really hot, as soon as I walked out the airport, I could feel it, it is crazy! But luckily it has been raining the last few days so it hasn't been so warm. I live in a really nice home, way better than I thought. There are 4 missionaries in my area, so the four of us live together (Elder Fernandez from Argentina, Elder Crane from Utah (he is finishing his mission in 3 months) and me and my comp. We don´t use any English at all, so it is a fun experience.

 But it really doesnt matter what language you speak, the spirit works in all languages, and I have seen that. it is really neat to teach lessons.

So a typical day for me is to wake up, eat breakfast, then we study for a few hours. We have a lady from the ward that does our laundry for a small price, everything is super chap over here. After lunch (we make dinner and try to visit members houses as much as we can for lunch), we head off to members homes and teach them. This week, we have been teaching the first discussion. It is amazing to see how little these people know, it is nothing like teaching over there in the United States, but the people are really humble and nice. So we had church yesterday, and we had 60 people attend. I also was able to bear my testimony, along with all the other new missionaries, so that was fun haha. After I finish emailing, I am going to play soccer with everyone and then go buy some groceries. Oh, so I found some more food that I really like here, the Sopa Paraguayo and the Empanadas here are really good. I would think you guys would like them too. The food here is rice, rice, rice, rice and more. The people here are pretty poor, so a lot of the meals include that haha. But the people here are great, many are open to the gospel and let us teach. We usually are over at each house for an hour just talking. We are trying to push for a baptism soon, so I will let you know how it goes. The people here are not as educated, so we do a lot of examples and drawings to help them understand things. A majority of the people here are Catholics.

Also, if you guys could send me some actual pictures in the mail or if you would like to send me a package, you can do so. But they said if the price gets up to about $100, they keep it. So try not to spend too much, or if you do, split it up.

When I got to the mission home, I met Elder Bayles and came across Hermana Owen too, which was weird to say that we all went to the same high school. But I never knew Elder Bayles before. I have plenty of pictures to send out. And everyone from my district is split up, only one other person from the MTC is in my zone, even, but it is all good.

I am loving it here, but that seems to be all for now, talk to you later! Love and miss you!

Elder Crandall

Me, Elder Moss, and my comp Elder Richardson in our candid laughing shot haha

Hermana Olson (in my district) and I

Hermana Seeman (in my district) and I

Hermana Cowley (in my district) and I

President Willis and Hermana Willis

Brother and Sister Bedford, first counselor

Hermana Sump and I

Elder Bekker (hes new in the MTC) and I

 Elder Johnson and I

My district with my teacher

My teacher, Hermana Juarez and I

Me, my comp Elder Richardson, and my roomate Elder Carpio

Me and my latino roommates Elder Carpio and Elder Burgos

Elder Pope (new at MTC) and I

The next three are of the temple in Paraguay

Elder Aldaraca and I

Elder Carpio and I

  My trainer and I with the mission presidents

Then the last two are of my home I live in now!

Email: Week #6 in MTC

Hi!

Everything is still going well here. I also will send some pictures because President Willis overturned the rule about using cameras and taking pictures (These ones are just some I took while walking around the temple and then of my teacher and district again). So, I only have 5 days left in the MTC here until I go to fly up to Paraguay! It is so crazy. I am really kinda of nervous actually, but excited. I have been talking to some latins that are from Paraguay here in the MTC, and all they are really saying is that it is really hot haha, which I already knew. It is usually like 100 degrees while thunderstorming, which happens almost everyday! I am not sure how long the flight is, but it is about 3-4 hours from what I have heard. I also get to leave for my flight at 4 in the morning! So that will be like super fun...

Oh, so I can tell you about my last proselying experience last Saturday. So we woke up in the morning, and it was pouring rain outside. So we got to go proselyting in the rain, so coooooooool. Well, because of that no one was out haha. So we walked for a while and talked to the few people on the streets, but no one was interested. Also, there are stray dogs everywhere walking around in Buenos Aires. While eating lunch, a couple walked up to us, and we were like uhhh we should probably go now haha. But luckily after a few hours, we were able to find someone that accepted a Book of Mormon and gave us his contact information. Working all in just Spanish is just fun because you dont understand everything they say, just parts of it. But we got one! It was cool to find out that me and my companions were the only ones who got a reference that day.

 

 We have been playing basketball a lot, my district really likes to play it. Actually, one of the Hermanas in my group got bumped and ran into a pole and swoll up her knee while playing with us!

 

So I can roll out a regular Sunday Schedule for you. We start off with breakfast at 7, then we have Sacrament at 7:50 in the morning. About 5 minutes before sacrament starts, the president asks someone to speak, so that way everyone will prepare a talk. Then afterwards, we have a district meeting, which is like sunday school, where someone from the district gets to teach the lesson. After, we go down to Priesthood\Relief Society. Then we have lunch and some free time until we have 2 more sunday classes. Then every second week we go to the temple to take pictures before the group leaves to their missions. But afterwards, we have dinner, a fireside, and then a video (like a devotional or church movie). But it is awesome. For personal study, I am reading in depth about the 4 first books of the new testament to help me become familiar with them better.

 

And it is great to hear that everyone is doing well! Love and miss you all!

 

Elder Crandall