Week #11

Week #5 in Obligado, Paraguay

September 30, 2013

Zac forwarded an email that was sent to him on special instructions on packages. Check "Mailing Information" for the update.

Email 

Hello everyone!

So for some reason I always have the hardest time remembering what I did over the past week, so writing this letter each week is super hard, but I will do my best! 

On Wednesday we did some service for a member in the branch. Service is always really great because you're able to wear regular clothes! It's a lot better to sweat in regular clothes than in a collared shirt and tie. The service was nothing too strenuous so that made it even better. So they're building two more rooms and another bathroom onto their house for their daughter and husband to live in. It's quite interesting to see how they build their homes down here compared to back at home. They build them a lot simpler without insulation and it's all made out of bricks. Anyways, we sanded down the walls in the bathroom to make them smooth to paint. We did that for a couple of hours and then went back to the house and showered. Oh and I forgot to mention I got my first haircut here in Paraguay! It was better than I thought so that was good. It was a little difficult to tell him what I wanted though.... but my mom knows I had troubles knowing what I wanted without the language barrier. So yeah I just showed him with my fingers and using the few Spanish words I know. The haircut costed 20 mil so about $4. 

On Thursday we went and talked with Rosa again! She seems to be progressing pretty well, it's just difficult to get the message through that our church is the only true church. Because like after we share with her part of our message she stops us and goes off on what she believes and it's all correct for the most part. We went by her house on Saturday night to see if she could come to church with us the next day and to also talk with her about her baptismal date, but she wasn't there, she was at some activity for the Catholic Church so yeah as you can imagine that kind of made us a little frustrated. We went on Sunday afternoon to visit her again and she was there so that was good. So like she is really starting to enjoy the Book of Mormon, she mentioned how it's like a continuation of the Bible. So we're really proud of her for that. We told her to continue to pray about the Book of Mormon and what not. We asked her if she will continue to work towards her baptism, but she's still a little shaky about being baptized. Next time we meet with her we plan on giving her a baptismal date and hopefully she agrees to work on being prepared to be baptized then. 

On Friday I went on divisions with Elder Bingham, my district leader, so that was nice. We went around tracting, but didn't have too much luck. We did come upon this one lady named Maxima, she was really sweet. She mentioned how the missionaries have come before, but years ago. So we talked with her for a bit and taught her the first lesson, the Restoration. We plan on going back and visiting her sometime this week. 

Later that night when we were back in the house I did this crazy ab workout with Elder Bingham and jeez it was rough for me, being out of shape and everything. I'm still a little sore from it today.... haha. 

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, so that is always a good day. It was really neat, so there were 16 members at sacrament meeting and everyone bore their testimony except for the two little kids which were like 2 and 5 years old. It was a sweet experience! I bore my testimony and it was about as long as the 8 year old kid's but hey, it was pretty good and I think everyone understood it. It's funny because I think of all these things I could say but as soon as I get up there I forget it all and just have to go off scratch. 

Oh and some good news I found out yesterday, for General Conference we will be going to Encarnacion; and in the church building there, they will have a room where conference will be in English! I was worried about that, whether it would be all in Spanish or not. So now I'm super excited for conference  I hope all you back home are able to watch it all and get your very own personal revelation from it :) Anyways that's all I have for now, have a good week and good conference weekend! I love and miss you all!

Love always,

Elder Thayn

Pictures 

A picture of the entry to Obligado, as you can see it has a lot of German influence.

My first haircut in Paraguay!

My first haircut in Paraguay! Part 2




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