So this week we
had interviews with The President! I was way scared because he speaks so fast!
and sometimes I can’t understand him. But it actually went really well and way
fast. I only got like 9 min with him before the elder was pounding on the door.
President kept telling me how much better my Spanish is and that made me feel
really good because I have been kind of hard on myself this week. I just feel
like I should understand everything and sometimes I don’t and sometimes I still
can’t express what I’m trying to say fully. Sometimes it takes an outsider to
say hey you’re doing really good to remember where I came from 6 months ago.
So anyway, this
week was really great! One thing that’s really hard about the city is that a
lot of people work during the day and so they aren’t home until it starts
getting dark and then they are too scared to come to their doors. We have been having a really hard time
finding new investigators. But we just keep trying haha. There are literally so
many less actives here so one of my big goals is to get some less actives active.
haha But less active work can also be so disheartening because they always
promise to come to church and then they never do!
So we didn’t
have a baptism like we hoped, but sometimes, well actually all the time, we
have to wait on the Lord’s time. What happened was we went to visit Maria Wednesday
and we had a great lesson and then we were talking and we discovered she has a
little drinking problem. Well it’s actually really really little. She was so
funny. I just like to drink wine when I’m with my sisters. It’s not like I get
all drunk and crazy. But we explained that it’s still not ok. haha She was like
“Not just one little sip?” “No hermana, not one little sip” haha She promised
to change. It just made us a little worried so we pushed her baptism to the
next Saturday. But she said “I don’t know if I want to still. Each time I meet
with you I feel more sure (the first time I met her she asked if we would be
mad if she never got baptized. Hermana Guardado said, we won’t be mad because
we know you will be. Hahah So now she was saying that each time she feels the spirit
a little stronger. We said we would come back Saturday and she agreed to have
her answer. Saturday we went to her house and we talked more about the word of
wisdom and then she went into this whole thing about the true name of Christ.
She says that his real name is Jejua. I have never heard that name before. I
guess in my last letter I was a little confused about her religious past. She
was Catholic for a long time then Evangelical. They are so intense. Anyone who
is baptized with them always has a hard time getting baptized again. I want to
see what their baptisms are like because literally everyone says it’s super spiritual,
but then she spent a long time with the Jews and that’s where she got this
whole Jejua idea. So her thing is that the Catholics changed the name of Christ
in the bible and that his real name is Jejua. I was trying to explain to her
that his name in the Book of Mormon is Jesuscristo and nobody has ever changed
the Book of Mormon. I asked if she believed in the Book of Mormon. To be honest
I didn’t really understand her answer but then Hermana Guardado shared this
really personal story about her family and let’s just say we were all crying
and Hermana Guradado said that Satan tries to put doubt with our answers. We
feel good about something and we want to do it but then there is this little
píng of doubt, that s Satan! When Hermana Guardado said this Hermana Maria said
Vamos Chicas! haha She is so cute sometimes when we are taking she will just be
like HALELUJA! haha but she is so knowledgeable in the scriptures. She said
that she has been praying to see if maybe if it’s ok with God she would like to
be a teacher in the church. The other thing was she always says your church but
yesterday she said our church and I started crying. We announced her baptism
yesterday in church and she is just so happy. She is so cute. She asked our
other investigator Rocio why she hasn’t been baptized yet. She is such a
missionary. One problem, haha we had this same thing with Justina,
investigators are so used to us speaking really boldly with them and
challenging them to change and then they see people in the church who aren’t
living perfectly and they start to be really critical of them. Justina was
always doing this and Maria is the same. She is like I don’t know why they were
bearing their testimony if they didn’t really have much to say. We tried to
explain to her, even little testimonies can be shared, but she was like no.
haha The bottom line is she is going to be baptized!! We will try and help her
understand that Jejua is not the name of Christ. In church she was asked to
read and whenever it said Christ she replaced it with that name. haha Hermana Guradado
doesn’t seem to think this is a problem, but to tell you the truth, it worries
me. But she is so ready for baptism and she is just so happy.
Something I
love about Paraguay is that there is always a fruit in season. When I got here
it was mangos. We ate mangos like there was no tomorrow. Then it was avacates.
It’s still avecates and great fruit and now there is also mandarin
oranges. mmmmmmmmmm
Everyone is
getting this really bad disease called denge chickgunguya. One of our members
had it and she can’t even walk and her hands are all swollen. It comes from mosquitos
so pray that I don’t get it. There isn’t really a cure, you just have to wait
it out! Speaking of health problems, we will probably be heading to the
hospital this week because my comp is not doing so hot. Yesterday she could barely
walk again. She kept saying it’s not that bad but finally I got her to let me
call our district leader so hopefully we will get to go this week and they can
help her!
That’s about
it. I’m doing great. I love the scripture Mosiah 24:13-14
“I know that God is
with us in all our afflictions and I know that he knows the intentions of our
hearts." The people were so strong. They weren’t allowed to pray out loud but they
just prayed with all their heart and God heard their prayers and helped them. Just
keep trying and trying. Sometimes we knock on the same door 3 times just hoping
this time they will be home! Just keep knocking!"
Rohayhu mi
familia, estoy orando siempre para ustedes!!!!
(I am always
praying for you)
Love Hermana Ball
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