Email: Week#36 in Paraguay

So... super big news from me! To make things short, I am going to leave the office! Well, kind of... So I got changes last Wednesday and found out that I am getting my replacement, Elder Ramos. I am going to train him how to be the new Cartero (Mailman) and then I will be going off to a new area and back as a full time missionary. I am not sure where I am going yet or how long I will be training, but it is here now. So the current plan is to stay for 6 weeks, the whole transfer, but crazy things could happen. Now I am just excited to get back out into the field and work full time again. I didn´t get put into the office for like 7 or 8 months like some other office Elders, but I know for sure that it is because someone needs me out in the field. Before the changes, I felt like I might get changes, and I didn´t really want to leave, so I knelt down and gave a heartfelt prayer that whatever thing would happen, that it would be HIS will, not any man, but by his will alone. And well... that really helped me to be ready for this change coming. Elder Ramos is super awesome and I am busy training him all day.

So this week was a super fun week because we went around helping all the new guys coming in the mission. I went off to the airport to pick up the new missionaries, where I saw Justin Garner. It was pretty cool. So I had a good time with the newbies, it was a lot of fun. I also was super busy getting ready for transfers coming up and preparing everything for the next day, so I was super busy. We never actually got out to work on Monday or Tuesday because I was so busy, but it was a really good two days. Ah, so also something cool is that Elder Turley is going to train Elder Garner.

So on Thursday we had a super cool lesson with Bartolomeo. It was super neat. I really like working with Elder Ramos, we get along a lot better. He enjoyed the first lesson we taught him and then he accepted the baptismal invitation. We are planning on seeing him again today. Also, we had a super awesome lesson this week. We went over to visit Hermana Vicenta, but she wasn´t home, so we started talking to her son Christian. He is super cool, but he talks SO MUCH! It was kinda funny though. But we had a super awesome lesson about faith, repentance, and baptism with him, and he enjoyed it. He also said that he had no problem going to church on Sunday, that he would call us before he gets there so we can be outside waiting, so that would be awesome if he were to come!

Pues, eso es todo. Nos vemos despues!

Love Elder Crandall

Email: Week#35 in Paraguay

Today was just a bad day... I just woke up this morning super sick, so I have been sleeping like all day.

So I found out that one of the speakers that spoke in Spanish for General Conference was actually the bishop in the ward I am in now like 20 years ago! That is really neat, I thought. I am in the middle of Asuncion, the capital, so the houses in this area are super nice. We ate with them before General Conference.

So this last week was prettty good. On Tuesday, we had our reunion de districto. So the cool two visits we had today where with Alberto Medina. He really has never been going to church despite all the times we invited him and he said he would go. So we had a lesson to bajar la caña to him! But I started to teach the lesson after the prayer, and somehow the spirit lead me to say something else, and we started a lesson on true obedience and attending church, but a lesson with love. He told us that he wanted to start going again, and said his true desire was really to come back, so we told him that we could pass by his house Sunday and accompany him... and he told us no. He wanted to start going for himself now, and he was going to esforzarse, but we are going to see him again today.

So something crazy is when we did divisions with the Zone Leaders... but man, those guys really know how to teach. They are just some of the best in the mission. We only worked 5 hours that day, but still got 5 lessons that day! It was crazy. We visited an investigator, who is the brother of a recent convert, and had a lesson with them, then we visited the house next door and contacted, they were justo his aunts! So we had a super awesome lesson with them, and it was a really good one, people that we definitely are going to visit again. So then, we went down the street and taught another lesson, some joven who wasn't sure if God existed, so we gave him the way to find out for himself, because you can't force anyone to believe anything, that is something really important to remember. It was really funny because after the lesson, we found out he was the dad of someone who was in the last lesson we taught! So another relative of our recent convert... haha.

But this week has been super good, we will be super busy the next week for all the new missionaries coming in! I am going to the airport to meet all the new missionaries.

Love you guys and talk to you later!

PS These pictures are of our last district meeting this change (the hermana on the left is from Arizona too!) and then we took a picture before Elder Billings left the office.

Email: Week#34 in Paraguay

I had a less active week last week because of Conference. I could have watched them in English, but for me I have enough time that I can watch it in Spanish and understand it igual. The only thing is that it is I miss the same voices in English that I am used to hearing haha. But Conference was just so super amazing! It honestly was like the best thing ever, I really enjoyed it and it sure helped me a lot.

But so this week was super amazing! It honestly was one of the best weeks. Normally, our numbers aren't like the best because we are in the office and don't get to leave very often, but we had SO MUCH SUCCESS! It was honestly to amazing to see our area grow. I started this area in a whitewash, so we started with basically nothing.

On Tuesday, we were able to find David. He is super awesome, he told us that he shared with the missionaries when he was super young, but never found contact with them again. So he was interested that we could come in and teach him. We started to teach about The Plan of Salvation, and how that he could one day come to see his grandma that had recently passed away, as he told us. He enjoyed the lesson a lot, only that he had a ton of questions. But, por fin, we found someone that was able to easily understand what we taught so we taught a little deeper in the lesson. He is a super awesome guy. He accepted the baptismal challenge, and is interested in learning more.

We also were able to find another awesome investigator that we have been trying to meet with for months. For some reason, there just were a lot of problems, like we would fail or he wouldn't be home when we had a cita with him. But we finally found him this week! It turned out to be a super awesome lesson, honestly, he loves to talk. He talked for most of the time we were there haha. But he is a really sincere guy that told us he loves reading the BoM and is already sure that it is true. He really does want to get baptized, but he has a hard time attending church because he is a guard for a house, so he has no set schedule and is set to work on a lot of Sundays. He has trouble with that, but he really wants to come. We are going to work with him that he can come as many Sundays as possible, because he really wants to get baptized. It honestly was super awesome to find him... we almost gave up on him, but I just wanted to keep trying, and we were rewarded.

Yesterday, was really a super awesome day too. We got a reference to teach a family, the family Jimenez. They really were super awesome to go meet. We only taught the mom, because she was working during the lesson, but he really is a sincere guy. He spoke with the missionaries  before, and knows a lot. He told us he already knows the church and BoM is true, but didn't baptize because he lost contact with the missionaries because of a whitewash and change of Mission President a year ago. So we taught him L1 and he is awesome! Then, his wife came from work a little after we finished and then they drove us over to the church, and we showed the wife a tour of the church, who had never attended before. It was super awesome, and we expect to have quite a bit of investigators in church this week!

Things might be super hard in your area sometimes, but never stop working or contacting, the Lord will bless you in the time and WILL put people in the way that are ready to hear.

Rohayhu!

Elder Crandall

Email: Week#33 in Paraguay

So this week was super good. I don't have much time to write today, because we have General Conference today like all day and it will be a bit of a pain to return back from the stake center to do ciber... idk if we will or not. But it is alright because General Conference is super awesome! On Monday, I did a division with Elder Billings and we weren't able to get a lesson out, but we found a lot of super awesome contacts... but it still was a good day.

The next day, we found Leonardo and had a super awesome lesson with him. It was a super interesting experience, we first went to teach about prophets, but he was really against it and thought it wasn't true, so it turned out to be a lesson that the spirit wasn't in because it was a lot of contention. BUT... I just started to testify that if he really wanted to know that what we say is true he needs to read, if he really is willing to know, he will let the Lord know that he is willing to do whatever thing posible to learn. The mood of the room really changed and you could tell the Spirit was with me. It was really neat to see the difference. Then, my companion decided to tell him to say the last prayer to leave. He prayed... sincerely to know if what we were teaching was his will... and it was just super sincere, like he really did want to know. BUT JUSTO, his neighbor was calling his name like 10 times to ask him something, so it hurt the spirit a bit, but after the prayer, he just stood there, kneeling. It was kinda unexpected, but he definitely felt something there, like 10 seconds after the prayer, he didn't move. It was one of the most interesting lessons I have ever had before in my mission. The difference of having the spirit in the lesson really makes a difference, that we can know what to say to open the hearts of others, is really just super amazing.

Wednesday we were able to have a lesson with Marcelo about being more sincere in his prayers, that he could keep up reading and praying, because he stopped doing that. Then, we also had a lesson with a menos activo, which was Hno Vasquez. He is a really funny guy to talk to. We taught him about having his faith grow like a seed (alma 32) and he needs to nourish it like going to church and such. It was awesome because he said he would be able to go to conference... but we will see.

Thursday the highlight was a lesson with Jose Gomez and his wife Antonia. They are both less active members, but super awesome. Antonia has a bit of a hard time remembering things that we teach, so we have to teach at a super slow pace, but she is progressing :). We retaught her about prophets and Christ's time on the earth, so that she can understand it well.

Yesterday, we went over to Marcelo's house in the morning to do service with him. We helped him clean his lawn, and man... his lawn is like super huge! It took us a while to get it all, but we eventually got it. It has been so long since I have done yard work, so it was good to get into the habit again haha. But, after we finished we sat and talked with him for a bit and then his mom came out and she talked to us too. We then got invited to eat lunch with them! So that was super awesome. We had lunch with him, his mom, and grandma (all 3 live together). So remember that marcelo is the one that can't get baptized for his mom, right? Well, today was super awesome because we were able to gain some confidence with his mom and grandma, and we became super good friends with Marcelo too! :)

Then, we did a division with the Zone Leaders. I stayed in Mburucuya with Elder Page, and my comp went off to another area. We first visited Marcelo again, and taught him the importance of doing all the little things and keep Obedience in all things. It was a super awesome lesson, and it was good to keep him going on. After, we were able to find Juan Castillo, who was a cool contact we found one day. We asked to come in and share and so we shared about the BoM with him and explained it to him. He is super neat, and so I decided to read 3 Nephi 11 with him to explain the coming of Christ. Then, we challenged him to pray about what we left him. It was a pretty good lesson with him.

So today... we have GENERAL CONFERENCE! I am super excited. We raelly hope that some of our investigators can come, or some of our less actives we invited. It would be super awesome.

Well... that's my week! Love you and talk to you next week!