Email: Week#82 in Paraguay

Hi,

Things are super good. Well so for changes, I stayed here and I got a NEW companion. His name is Elder Calderon. He is Peruvian but he is from Oregon. He moved there 8 years ago. Well, the other cool change is that I am now the Zone Leader. So basically, I am in charge of all of the missionaries in Concepcion.

I heard about a huge rain storm coming into Phoenix and Mesa. That must have been crazy. But the crazy thing is that that storm is how it usually rains in Paraguay... it is always that crazy. It enters into a lot of peoples houses.

So this week has been crazy. I have been working a ton now that I am the zone leader. I have been recieving a lot of phone calls recently to do stuff. It is cool, though. So today we had our zone activity. It was a lot of fun. We planned to play ultimate frisbee and it actually worked out pretty good.

So last Tuesday, Elder Turley said goodbye to all the members. They were all surprised because he didn't stay for very long.

On Wednesday I did some divisions while we waited for our companions to arrive from the capital (as it is a 6 hour bus ride!). We had a super neat lesson with a less active. He told us that he was going to leave his job, and now he wants to go back to church and eventually a mission! I was so happy, but he honestly is super cool. He is an 18 year old. So we will work with him.

So last Saturday was super fun. We spent a while cleaning the house with the mission presidents wife. She wanted to show me how to clean the houses well enough so I could do it and show my zone how to do it. So that sounds like a lotta fun! Haha not. 

On Sunday we had our District Conference (like Stake Conference) and it was neat to see everyone there. It was actually a super good conference about the sabbath day. I really liked it. The best part was that we gotta walk one hour to get there!

Well, we met this cool guy that wants to get baptized and go to our church, but it turns out that he is going out to travel for work and be gone for 2-3 months... but hopefully he gets back before I finish my mission. Anyway, after that lesson, we went to visit the branch president and he gave us dinner! It is cool because that is pretty rare here, but we just got lucky!

Well, enjoy these fotos

Elder Crandall

So this is my house and my new companion

Email: Week#81 in Paraguay

Hi,

Tomorrow we get changes so I am wondering if I will be changed out of Concepcion, I am not sure... it is like a 50% chance that I go and that I stay.

So things are going good. I just have been super sick this last week. I was sleeping a lot. I had super bad stomach pains and chivivi. I think it was bacteria that entered in my stomach from the water. Paraguay is pretty sketchy sometimes...

The baptisms went super awesome though! It was the best because I was able to baptize on my birthday! It was the best present in the world! There really is nothing better than that. So that was basically all our week. We prepared for the baptisms and we were sick... so that was lots of fun! I didn't go to the baptism for Carlos in the river because it was on Sunday and I stayed for Lidas confirmation, but so Elder Turley went with another missionary and I stayed with his companion here.

We also surprisingly jumped like 15 people higher at church on Sunday. It was super neat. We also went off to a birthday party for a family of investigators and they just gave out SO MUCH CANDY. Too bad I am kinda sick... I will save it for later though! :)

And yeah... I am getting close to end my mission, trying not to think of that and focus ;)

Elder Crandall

Email: Week#80 in Paraguay

Hi ,

So this week has been crazy. It has been raining a lot, so the roads have been terrible and we haven't had as much success. But the good thing is is that Lida is getting baptized this weekend! That is also my birthday!! So it really will be the best ever. She is progressing well, she always goes to church and knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She also is in second Nephi now! It is really cool.

We didn't have the baptism for Carlos. That will be moved to the 27th. I am not sure if I will be there this next change to see it.

This week has been pretty normal, but I am getting a lot closer to home and it is getting a bit harder to work, but we are still finding a lot of cool people for next change.

Love,

Elder Crandall

Email: Week#79 in Paraguay

Hi,

This week was pretty good. We made the pancakes from scratch, Paraguay doesn't really have much. You basically make everything from scratch, like the brownies and stuff. 

So we didn't have the baptism in the river like we planned. It turns out Carlos didn't feel ready yet, so we are going to push for next Sunday. I hope it turns out before we have changes.

But the good news is is that we have a date for baptism with Lida! Roque's older sister accepted baptism and asked for a date. It is awesome because she went to church numerous times already and keeps going. We just need to work with her to get a testimony, but little by little we are getting Roque's family to accept the gospel! It is so awesome how much lives changed just by one person!

So this week I did a division with the Zone Leader, and it was a neat division because basically every house I chose ended up being a super awesome person to teach. So we got lots of new investigators, it is awesome.

But also the hermanas in my district have a baptism this weekend! So it is so awesome and it means that I get to do another interview.

Well, thats good for now, I guess. Love you guys!

Elder Crandall

Email: Week#78 in Paraguay

Hi,

Today was good. It was super interesting because the power went out last night and it didn't come back until just recently. The worst part is that we don't have water when that happens here!

 

Things have been super slow this week. I don't have much to write because I was sick for a while, so we didn't leave that much. But I am good now and ready to work.

 

We had a broadcast for all of Paraguay on Sunday. We all met in the stake center and heard from a few general authorities. The only problem... was that they told us all the wrong time and we came late. THEN, the broadcast died and we ended an hour early haha. So it was interesting.

 

We are planning on doing a fireside for the branch on missionary work to motivate the members and stuff to help get references. I think that it will be pretty cool.

 

So this weekend we are going to have a baptism up in Tacuati. It is where Elder Turley used to be, and now that there are no missionaries there, we get to baptize him! SO I get to go up there and see a baptism in the river! It is super cool.

 

Also, we are workng a lot with Roque's older sister, she just needs to have someone take care of her 2 year old kid and we are good with her! She is super cool and all.

 

But... I was going to send pictures but I forgot my camera. Next time you can see when I made some pancakes!

 

Love, Elder Crandall