5 Months!!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT

Christmas in March!!!!!

We made fajitas!!

Investigators

A German man we met in the woods made the Eiffel Tower way strange

Today I have been in the mission 5 months. This is so psycho. I don’t feel like it’s been that long. My mission is almost a third of the way gone!!!! Ahhh. I need to get cracking on my Spanish!   

Ok, so I didn’t tell you guys this because I felt it was too good to be true, but not this last Saturday but the last we had a lesson with Justina. It’s been really hard because all we had been hearing from our leaders was when to drop someone. They wanted us to drop Justina, well not drop but tell her we weren’t going to be coming to see her as much as before. So we were so sad but we asked an ex-missionary to come with us and he taught the priesthood authority like a pro and she understood and she realized she wanted to be baptized. Before she just loved the church but she never understood why it was necessary to be baptized again. So she accepted a date for this past Saturday!!!! We were soooo stoked. I thought it would be awesome to just come this week and shock you all with my first baptism, that’s why I didn’t tell you last Monday.  All this week we had been working with her to help her feel prepared. Her health has been really bad lately. She had been in the hospital for a week, her whole body seems to have different problems that are all new. Before she was super healthy. So any way Wednesday we had the pre-interview with her where we go over all the baptismal questions (which we have done before but she always had so many questions we never got through them all) but everything went so great. It was the most spiritual experience I have had on my mission. We were all crying. We told her that she is the example for her family, that she is the key for her kids to follow. That’s all she wants is an eternal family. It’s so sad because all her kids have so many problems. Her favorite thing is to hear about mothers who had kids that completely changed their lives. We are always telling her stories like this. She loves that in the church all the kids are in shirts and ties. She just loves seeing pure youth. It’s true, lots of the youth here have lots of problems. It’s common to see little girls with children or 12 year olds smoking, so to see kids in church singing and bearing their testimony is really special to her. She had a question about fast and testimony meeting. She wanted to know if you have to go up haha. We told her no, but when you bear your testimony it doesn’t only strengthen you, but everyone present. I told her my mom doesn’t really like going up either and doesn’t do it often, but when I left for my mission my mom went up and told everyone her testimony and that she wanted to send me on my mission knowing that my mom has a testimony of this church. Justina was so touched by this. She hates that we are so far from our families. I tell her all the time that my family isn’t perfect. We have lots of struggles, we just try to rely on the Lord together. She is so sweet. I love her so much and she is so ready for baptism. So Thursday Elder Denhalter came with us to her house and we had a member so she could really understand in her interview and everything went perfect. I had to be outside and seriously I was so nervous. I couldn’t believe we had made it this far. When Elder Denhalter came out he told us that everything was perfect. She remembered everything. She has a testimony and she wants to be baptized but she couldn’t do it this week due to health problems. She is scared to enter the water because of the pain in her legs. My heart was so broken because Elder Den doesn’t think it’s just that. They think she has more doubts and we need to work with her more, but she pasted everything. She is living all the commandments. We went in to talk to her. I was trying so hard not to look disappointed. We talked to her about the story of Job and how he was faithful through all of his struggles. She was so sweet, she said “Ya, I need to be strong like Job.” She accepted a date for this next Saturday if her health is better. So we need to pray for her to recuperate. It’s so frustrating. We wanted her to get a priesthood blessing. The second day she was sick the president came to her house but when he got there she had left for the hospital. After that we had a lunch with the elders and president and they were all bashing on us for trying to force miracles and that she needed to ask for it herself. She doesn’t know to ask. When Benazio the ex-missionary taught about the priesthood he told her about blessings and she said she wanted one. We planned for one after church last week, but she never asked again and we aren’t allowed to push it, so she hasn’t had one... They are really strict about blessings on the mission. It’s so weird to me. Hermana Escobar was struggling during my time with her and asked for a blessing of comfort and she was denied. It’s like a whole process in the mission, I don’t get it, but I have faith in Justina. I know that she is going to be baptized. The hardest part was I realized how selfish I had been. I want her to be baptized on my terms. I want it before I leave so I can write her the rest of my mission, if not I can’t write her. But I realized I hadn’t listened to my spiritual thought last week. I was telling God, “Ok, I have been patient. I have been working with her for 3 months. I’m done with this trial. It’s time for her to be baptized” but I guess that’s not how it works. So for now we are just praying and waiting and trying to be patient and loving. It was hard because this is the third time we thought for sure she would be baptized and in order to prepare someone you visit them every day the week of their baptism and she lives far, so our numbers this week were really really low. It’s hard to know where to focus our time.  

Other than Justina this week was about the same, really hot, lots of rain, lots of Spanish. We still had a baptism in our district this week. A hermano (brother) of a family that was baptized before. It was so sweet to see the whole family together. I bore my testimony at the baptism on family and the importance of growing spiritually together. This change has been really hard for me but I am learning a lot and I hope I am making a difference. It’s hard to feel like you are accomplishing anything when you never see the fruits of your labor. We keep meeting amazing people and then they never progress. They just like having us around, and then we have to stop visiting them and I feel so bad. But I have faith that one day they will be ready and they will remember “the blue book on their shelf from those friendly girls” and they will read it or their daughter or granddaughter. I have faith that no act of love and kindness is wasted, no attempt to share the gospel is unnoticed by our Heavenly Father.   I can’t believe this week is already week 5 of this change. Before I know it I am going to be leaving Cornonel!!!! or maybe I will have another change here, who knows!! 

I love you all. I received a million letters this week. It was Christmas in March. I am trying to write everyone back. The main problem is money. It’s really expensive for me, but I am so grateful for every letter and email I receive. I read and re-read and re-read every one. So thank you so much for supporting me and sending your love.  

Con mucho amor, (with lots of love)

Hermana Ball 

It's March !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So animal report: We haven’t had very many cockroaches lately, basically since Hermana Aguilar came, and I was so stoked. But Mickey, our mouse, has become very prevalent. He started eating all our food, so now all the food is safe in the fridge. We think that’s why we don’t have any other animals, ‘cause Mickey ate them all. I can’t decide what I hate more, Mickey or cockroaches. I really don’t want them to come back. I killed one the other day outside our house as long as my finger. I was freaking out. I did not want that thing in the house. The ones in our house are babies compared to that!! We also have a chrysalis in our staircase waiting for the butterfly to come out. What else? Oh I also found a dead lizard. I think Mickey killed him.

 

Hermana Aguilar and I are still growing accustomed to each other. We had a heart to heart this morning and she said lots of things that have been hard for her this change. It’s all things I have been struggling with so I realized the importance of communication. I have been scared to voice my fears and problems because my Spanish is not so good and I don’t want her to be offended. But I realized it’s really important and I hope things go a lot smoother this week.... but I honestly love her so so much! And I know for a fact my Spanish is lots better. 

 

I feel kind of bad because I sometimes hesitate to tell you all about some investigators because Monday comes right after Sunday and when they don’t go to church I am discouraged and lose faith in them but that’s something I am trying to work on, having faith in people and knowing that it’s never too late for someone to change. So we have been working with this family, it’s a single mom and her two daughters. The mom works a lot and so the girls are home alone a lot. The mom’s name is Norma and the girls are Nilley (11) and Lujan (6). Nilley is so cute. She loves learning. They have never been very religious, which is kind of a breath of fresh air. They love every new idea we present, well Nilley. Norma is still a little hesitant. Nilley is so responsible. She takes care of Lujan every day and cleans the house and cooks and basically does everything a mom does while her mom is working. I know I was not that responsible when I was 11.  We taught the 10 commandments the other day and in the end we asked her to name them all off. It was so funny, she was like, hmmm love God, don’t love other Gods. Be good on Sunday, be good to your parents .....she forgot don’t murder so I started pretending to stab Hermana Aguilar and she was like oh oh oh yaaa No Mutar!!!!! haha I love her so much. We had family home evening with her and her mom and Andrea. I don’t know if you remember, she is the golden convert in our area. She has been a member 1 year and is super strong and the only one in her family. Her sisters, Rosanna and Lori, want to be baptized but the parents won’t give consent. Anyway we had a way fun time. Norma, the mom, was laughing so hard when we were playing this game called chancho (pig). Later in the week we had a lesson with Nilley and Rosanna and Lori. Lori didn’t want to say the prayer and Nilley was like it’s so easy you just say what you’re grateful for, what you need, it comes from the heart!!! Anyway when we left her house she said she was so excited for church. She felt like she was going to get up at 6 to get ready haha. It’s like Christmas Eve for her. I left a note saying when we would call in the morning for church, what day we were coming back and her baptismal date.... but when we called in the morning her mom said she had to go work for her aunt. I was so crushed. She also said she saw the note we left and wanted to talk to us. We are going today to talk to her. I feel terrible. I wrote the note for her to be excited about what was to come, but I’m scared of what Norma is going to say. In the past, Norma has had lots of problems with Nilley, so I don’t understand why she has a problem with her learning more about God and trying to be a better person. Pray that everything will go well. It’s hard because since they didn’t come to church, now her date is pushed back and it’s the Saturday after the change. So, I probably won’t be here anymore. It’s hard to think I may not have any baptisms while I am here, but I know that my time here has not been wasted. I found a really amazing talk this week titled “More Than Conquerors Through Him that Loved Us” by Elder Paul V Johnson, I think, from 2011 May General Conference. Man it really was what I needed this week! He talks about why we have trials in our lives. A quote I love in the talk is from Orson F Whitney dice (it says) “No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted... all that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, build up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable.. It’s through sorrow and suffering, toil, and tribulation that we gain the education that we CAME HERE TO acquire!!”  Isn’t that awesome!! I teach the plan of salvation so much but that really puts into perspective for me why we are here. We came here to have these experiences, to prepare us for the life to come, to prepare us for the people we need to be! He also says that beautiful blessings are always on the heels of great trials. ...It so true. Christ suffered the pains of the world and died on the cross and three days later the moment that changed everything happened. He was resurrected, he came back, he lives... but he had to go through the pain first. Elder Johnson also says sometimes we want to have growth without challenges and to develop strength without struggle. I think this has been my attitude my whole life. I want the benefits without the pain. But it really doesn’t work that way. Elder Johnson also quotes Elder Oaks when he had been going through a struggle. He said he was tempted at times to say to Heavenly Father, I have learned the lesson by now, I don’t think I need to go through this anymore. Can you take this away now so I can go on to other things?

 

I think this is one of the biggest trials of faith in our lives, having enough faith to understand that God really knows what is best and the trials we need to learn. I love the last part of the talk, when we die we don’t want some random person at the gates of heaven to say well you’re done. We want to meet our Savior and have him say, well done thou good and faithful servant. This is our goal!!! This is why I am here in Paraguay. You can live a good life, you can be a good person, but there is only ONE way, one person, one path, that is going to lead you to salvation and it’s through and by our Savior, Jesus Christ. We didn’t come here to just be good, we came here to acquire the knowledge it takes to be goddesses and gods. 

 

I had a great week. I learned a lot, but most important I shared my testimony of my Savior with LOTS of people and at the end of the week, after the trial of my faith, countless times when Sunday came the blessings did too! We had two investigators at church, Justina, which is huge blessing. She didn’t come all of February and Ramon another abuelo (grandfather) who is super sweet, haha both are over 65 so all the elders where kind of chuckling because all our investigators are old, but they are the ones who want so bad to come to church. So, like I said before, it’s never, ever too late to change. You may be 70 or 98, like Justina’s dad. 

 

I am getting so stoked for conference!!!! Only one month away and the last Saturday of this month is woman’s conference already. Pray hard I get to go. Hermana Aguilar said lots of times the zone leaders say it’s not a productive use of time, so I wanted to cry! I want to go!! I love you all and I hope my little thought helps you this week!

 

Hermana Ball (Pelota)

Menos Activos

On the way to the ward mission leader's house.
He is so funny.  He likes taking pictures every few min.
This is in front of our local supermarket. This is the central
part of my area.  By central I mean the ONLY part of my area with
streets like the one behind us.

We don't have a can opener. I bought these peaches forever ago and finally
this week I had enough, I was going to eat them...I may have cut myself
in the process but they were way good. 

CARNE! We had lunch with our ward mission leader and it was raining
so hard that's why I am standing.  Notice the Elders got to sit.
All we had was different types of meat and this is why I am getting fat.

One of the meals Hermana Aguilar cooked for me this week.
She asked me if I wanted to try something new, but she wouldn't
say what it was...half way through she said, "Do you like gizzards?"
I didn't even know what that was but after she explained I did.
But honestly it was way good.

It is really different getting a new companion. You are so used to the old one, you have routines, you have learned what they like and don’t like, but then you have to start all over with someone completely different. Hermana Aguilar is very, very, very different from Hermana Escobar in lots of good ways. She is pushy, she makes me do a lot of things. At first it just seemed like she was lazy but she makes me do them because she knows it’s the only way for me to learn. I still haven’t spoken any English. We made a goal together. Well it’s not hard when we are alone because she doesn’t speak English. It’s when we are with the elders, they spoke English to me but I didn’t do it. I think I said a word or two but that’s it. One of my big fears is speaking in front of other missionaries because they have been where I am and now they aren’t there anymore. They can speak Spanish. When you talk with natives they just think its sweet when you mess up. At least you’re trying their language. I tried to explain this to Hermana Aguilar, she told me it’s just an excuse to speak English. So I tried really hard and I did it. It was scary and I felt way, way self-conscious and shy. I know these are things I have never struggled with before but here on this mission I have become really shy. Hermana Aguilar is helping me with that. She just won’t say anything in a lesson until I start. It’s really hard, but I am learning to rely on the spirt so much. She really is so great and we get along really well. Like I was saying it’s just new and we are still growing accustomed to each other. 

This was the week of many menos activos (less active) members. We have been working super hard to first off find the menos activos and second make sure they aren’t less active anymore! We had a little meeting with one of the members of the rama presidency and the relief society president (they are married and both ex-missionaries super capos). He told me where all the people lived in our area which was very stressful for me. It consisted of them saying you know this road next to the mango tree where there used to be a school or the older rama used to meet. First off I had to understand the Spanish and then remember our area and lots of names and streets and oh man it was really stressful. Basically I went to bed thinking how am I ever going to remember all that, mucho oración (much prayer). I knew where 11 families lived before this week. This week I now know 18!! This is huge because lots of them have family that isn’t baptized and neighbors and friends!!!! I am really stoked about all this, if you can’t tell. Honestly it was such a milagro (miracle) to find the houses. We would be walking and asking and asking if anyone knew the member and literally every person would say they had lived here forever and they had never heard that name. Then all of a sudden I would say or my comp let’s go to this house and sure enough they lived there. Literally this happened with every person. It was such a testimony to me about receiving revelation because it wasn’t like I heard a voice saying go to the green house more like the opposite. I would think, ugh, I am sick of this. I don’t want to ask here and then something inside me would push that thought away and always it was the house just after I had the thought of giving up. Satan wants us to give up just when we are so close to what we need. I don’t know if you have ever seen the picture of a man digging for diamonds and you can see the diamonds are literally one pick at the mountain away but he has already come so far and in the picture he is walking away. I feel like this is how lots of our goals are. We try and we try and when it feels like we aren’t achieving anything we give up right on the brink of finding the answer or achieving our goal. I know that if we keep pushing and remember our loving Savior, we have a dvd we got from the mission and there is a talk by Holland and Eyring that just hits home, it also pumps you up so much for missionary work. Eyring says whenever he feels he has fulfilled his duty, when his body cries for rest. When he thinks he has done all he can, he remembers this rallying cry, Remember Him. The Savior had fulfilled his earthly ministry and entered the spirit world determined to continue his work, he didn’t rest he served. This has helped me so much. No matter how much we serve we are always in debt, we are servants, we are disciples of Christ. We represent him. The mission is not easy, but Holland says that Salvation is not a cheap experience, it requires something of our soul.

This week was not easy for me. I found lots of people, I saw milagros, but it was not a simple task. It required a lot of my soul and there were lots of moments where I wanted to quit, where I had felt I had done enough. I wish I could say in every single of these moments I pushed on with perfect determination, but we are all imperfect. Luckily we have the atonement. One of my new favorite quotes is “the one who requires so much of you is the same one who made it possible for you to accomplish all that is required”. I know that is true. As long as we push forward with a steadfastness in Christ, we won’t give up on the brink of achievement. I am so grateful for this time of service and especially this change. I am learning so much! I love you guys and I hope that my little message helps you this week when you feel too tried to be nice or everything seems to be going wrong. Remember him. 

Con todo mi corazón, (with all of my heart)

Hermana Ball

Cambios (transfers). Written February 16, 2015

Hermana Aguilar

Left to Right Hermana Aguilar my new comp, Hermana Bronson my BFF from the CCM,
me, Hermana Bronson's new comp

Another beautiful week in Paraguay...... sooo the change was this week....... and Hermana Escobar se fue (she left) and I am still in good old Coronel Oviedo 2.1 and my new companion is... Hermana AGUILAR!!!!! She was the mom of Hermana Bronson, one of my best friend’s from the CCM, so its way fun! She just got done with training and now it’s like she is training all over again but worse because she doesn’t know the area or English!!! Yep, that’s right. I haven’t spoken a single thing in English since Wednesday. It’s weird. I wrote this letter in Spanish in my head last night and now I keep getting confused what to say so when its Spanish words it’s because I honestly can’t remember the English one and I am trying to hurry. It was the same in my last week’s letter but this week it is even worse, but I am learning soooo much!!! Hermana A is from Guatemala. Having Hermana Escobar as a companion was almost like having a North American especially in contrast to Hermana A. For example last night to help with my acne she rubbed aloe all over and made me sleep with it on. Also we picked some leaves on the side of the road and boiled them up and drank it to help with my stomach. Hermana Escobar would make me drink tea too but we bought it in the store not from the side of the road. But her food is really good and she is determined to help me lose weight because she is not as sweet about my weight as Hermana Escobar was. She keeps looking at me and saying seriously you look pregnant. We are going to eat healthy this change. I’m not complaining. I like the idea too. Everyone keeps saying my Spanish is soooo much better and we haven’t even been together a week. I personally think it’s just that I have more confidence to talk then I did before, but Hermana A seems to think I didn’t know anything before. ahah It’s ok. She can think that. I really am learning so much. I love that she was Hermana Bronson’s companion. She is always talking about her, and me too. I have lots of stories from the CCM with her. We have been working hard to find new people because basically all the investigators we have aren’t progressing which means to Hermana A that we don’t have any because no one we teach comes to church. It’s been really hard for me because basically I am in charge of everything: the paper work, the planning, the phone calls with our district leader, well pretty much all phone calls. This was so hard for me. In the past I would say our number but when he started asking all our plans Hermana Escobar would take over. But when he asked she just looked at me like what’s the plan and I don’t know it was magic. I just started talking and I had plans. I wanted to cry Friday because no one I planned to visit was home, literally everyone. I think she could tell I was so upset. I told her it’s because I want her to like it here. I want her to like being my companion because she had kept saying how much she missed Hermana Bronson and her old area. She told me I needed to worry less about what she thought and what the Lord thinks and how I can work harder in this area and what the people we are teaching need. I think I really needed that. I had been so worried she wouldn’t like me and what she was thinking and I wasn’t focused. So after that I spoke a lot more in the lessons and since that I have just been progressing like crazy. I don’t think she loves the area yet or me... haha but she told me that I am a great missionary and that’s why I am still here. I still have more to offer in Cornoel Ovideo and I still have more to learn here as well. As far as the combios (transfers) she is the only new addition to our district which I was so grateful for. I need Elder Denhalter this change. He is so patient and helpful. This was a rocky week of a lot of new but also a lot of growth for me and this area so I am really excited for this change. Now for the milagro (miracle) of the week. The elders had a baptism Saturday of 6 people, a whole family. We had planned for a boy in the rama to pass by for Hermana Justina so she could come and in the morning he wasn’t answering his phone. It’s kind of confusing everything that happened but basically I was determined to have her there so we walked to her house, got her already. I called lots of people and one of the youth said they could. It’s kind of really a long story but we ended up walking an hour to attend the baptism but it didn’t matter because we made it and Justina was there and she cried and she was so sweet singing the hymns. Today is her birthday. We are going to her party, I hope seeing this family is the push she needed to feel ready. The family alone is a huge milagro! They are gold. Unfortunately Justina couldn’t come to church. The same joven (youth) who flaked on us Saturday flaked Sunday, but he is the only one with a car so we have no other options. But I still have faith she is going to be baptized. Her desire is amazing. Anyways that’s all I got this week. I hope I wasn’t negative. I really love Hermana A and I feel so grateful she is my companion. I love you all!!! 

Hermana Ball

Well I finally made it through training. I can’t believe I have been gone 4 months!!! So the change is this Wednesday, we don’t figure out who is staying and who is leaving till Tuesday some time. But it’s pretty set that Hermana Escobar is leaving, which is so scary for me because I will be in charge of telling my new comp about all the investigators. I will have to know all their names and the streets and where they live. I don’t know, it just freaks me out. I know how to get around but trying to explain where people live on the paper work we have to do is so hard because no one has a set address - three houses past the big mango tree with the cows out front and a green fence – that’s the address, haha oh Paraguay....

Random thought: I have been meaning to share that I love this about Paraguay. Everything is made in PARAGUAY. It’s so cool. If you buy milk, eggs, a notebook, or a pen all of it says industrial Paraguay on the back or made in Paraguay. 

Ok so about this week. We had lots of little milagros (miracles), as always we found some really amazing people. We also had a Capacitación de zona!!! I liked it because I learned a lot, but I really hate putting all our numbers up on the board. After you put them up and say your goals all the district leaders start raising their hands and hounding you about why your numbers where low and what are you going to do better. Lots of times we don’t know - we are trying our best. “What are your plans to have more people at church?” ummmmm Invite more people, call them on Sundays, no se... We are already doing both those things but in the end its their choice if they want to come or not. But they talked a lot about baptisms in our area of South America. Our mission is third in most baptisms. We had like 1400 mas o menos (more or less). It was crazy. It said each missionary baptized 7.5 people. So that got us all pumped up about asking people to be baptized. I think that I really needed it. I have become kind of shy about asking people to be baptized. It’s hard not to feel like a freak coming into someone’s home for the first time and asking them to join your church if you look at it like that.... which is how I was.

So then Friday after the capacitación the sister training leaders came for exchanges and it was really great. We talked about what happens if people aren’t baptized, what blessings they will miss out on. I went with Hermana Jeppeson. She goes home this change so she was kind of trunky. haha In that regard it was kind of hard being with her, but I learned so much about our authority to invite people to follow the example of jesucristo (Jesus Christ) and be baptized in his church. The reason we ask people so soon is to find their doubt and to see if they are going to progress. The thing is, we can visit people all day long but we aren’t visiting teachers. We’re missionaries here to baptize and to take the gospel to these people. Lots of people will listen, everyone here will listen, but everyone won’t be baptized. It’s really hard weeding out who will and won’t. There is one lady I love, she is so sweet, and Hermana Escobar went to her with Hermana Jorgenson. Of course they invited her and she said no and all these things about how she loves the missionaries. Hermana Jorgenson said I wouldn’t go back to her. She just wants best friends. She doesn’t want to change. The question is does anyone here want to change? They see us as just nice girls dedicated to talking about Jesus, or they see us as people wanting to change their religion. Neither is true. We are here to help them to know the true and everlasting gospel, to find the conditions and the manera (way) to obtain eternal life!

So with all that in mind we went about this week boldly inviting and teaching the gospel with 5 great people saying si o si I will be at church two with fecha (baptism date). Sunday comes and no one is there, not even Justina. I was crushed. Its hard. Every week your faith grows in these people and then they don’t do this thing, which I know is lots to ask, to get up early and come to church. But it’s also a little thing that is going to change their whole life!!!!

Sunday night we visited a family with lots of asistencia and we invited them to be baptized. I think they have lots of desire. They said they will pray as a family. Their names are Maria and Hector. I hope they decide to be baptized because, honestly, they are great.

Oh, I forgot it was my turn to give the talk this week in sacrament. I was so scared. I went without a written script. Last time I had word for word written down and I just read, but this time I shared some scriptures and talked about oración (prayer). It was great. I don’t think they all understood, but I hope they felt my testimony. That’s what I said in the beginning.  I just hope they could feel that I knew what I was saying is true. That’s what I am going to leave you with, a shorten version of my talk.

I know God wants so badly to hear from you in times of joy and pain. When he answers your prayers immediately thank him. The line I love from True to the Faith said “kneel and pour out your heart to the Lord for the things you need and then do all you can in your power to make these things happen”. When I first started this whole thing I just studied and studied and honestly I didn’t pray for Heavenly Father’s help learning Spanish. I just figured he knew I needed it and I didn’t want to ask without putting in what I had first. But then I was humbled and realized that you need both to pray with all your heart and then practice and practice and practice. I know I still have a lot to learn but I never would have known all I know without the Lord. When I said that part about I obviously need to practice more they kind of laughed because it’s true. I don’t speak perfect but the fact that I can speak Spanish at all is a HUGE miracle in my life and a direct answer to my prayers. I love what Alma 37:36-37 says about prayer. “Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.  (37) Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

I love you all so much. I hope that you can feel my prayers I make for each of you daily. Gracias por el apoyo. 

Hermana Ball!!!

It's the little things that count

Hermana Escobar is afraid of all these bridges. haha
We have to walk over them,
she just goes so fast or looks for another way to go.
So I was laying on this one and she was worried about me.
I love her.

This is Hermana Escobar and me with our
Christmas tree of gratitude Ali's mom sent us!!

This week was really hard, like I said in my last week’s letter, we had to go to Asuncion Monday which really wears you out. So all day Tuesday we just felt tired and sick. Also it was really hot this week. We met some really great people, we met a family. It’s a young married couple, yeah they are married!!! This is a big deal. Often people aren’t married or they are still married to someone else and getting divorced is really expensive, so lots of missionaries have this problem here. But they are married and they have a sweet little baby. They were both really nice and welcoming. I have a lot of esperanza (hope) for them. Oh, they also have a motorcycle so they could get themselves to church!!! but they didn’t come this Sunday. I still have faith in them. 

So we were planning on heading back to Asuncion Thursday because that’s what the office elders told us but then Tuesday night we get a call at 9:30 saying we needed to be in Asuncion at 9:30 Wednesday. So another sleepless night and a long bumpy three and a half hour bus ride to Asuncion. We learned that depending on the driver is how fast you get there because we made it there almost an hour faster than we did Monday. So we had extra time. We just slept in the terminal and then went to the office. It was great seeing Hermana Rozsa and Hermana Richards and Elder Evans all from my batch. Everything went smoothly at immigration so hopefully they won’t need me again for 6 months. Then we ate a real pizza at pizza hut. It was 30 mil which killed me. It wasn’t even full size.  I don’t know why, it seemed like a ton! I usually spend like 90 mil for my groceries for a whole week but then I had to remember 4 mil is a dollar so it was like 8 dollars.. but it was sooo good to have real pizza!!

Anyway we got home pretty late and studied and that was all for Wednesday. So then our sleep just never got back on track. I hate waking up every day feeling tired and sick. So this week was really just kind of the worst, but I did have a miracle. Monday when we got back it was too late to buy something from a bakery for district reunion and I was too cheap to buy it from the main grocery store, its way over-priced, and by over-priced, haha it’s like 2 dollars but again my sense of money is kind of skewed. I bought stuff to make chocolate chip cookies and I have made them before but they came out kind of weird so I changed the recipe a little and the batter looked so weird and I was so tired at this point, I just kept praying and praying they would work out because we needed something to take to the elders. They are always making fun of us because they think they cook better than us. It wasn’t even about that. I just needed something for them, and they turned out so good!!! I was just crying. I know it was a blessing from God because I made them another day selfishly for Hermana Escobar and I and they turned out way gross. I know it’s a way small thing but honestly that was my big indicator this week that Heavenly Father loves me. 

Another thing, I was reading in the Ensign when I was at the office, we still haven’t received ours for enero (January) and there is a great article about a man who served in Sterling’s mission. It was such a cool story. I started crying right there in the office and then president came out. He was like ahhh are you sisters ok? haha He gave us some candy. He felt so bad we had to come twice this week. I love him. Did I tell you we are getting a new president in June?? I don’t want a new president! but I am kind of excited to see the things that will change. I hope I get to have an interview with this president before he leaves.... 

So this is my official last week of training. Our change is next Wednesday, so we will see if Hermana Escobar is with me another change or not. Most likely, no. She has been here 3 changes... but I am so scared for her to leave. I will be in charge of showing my new comp all around and I don’t know, I am scared about it. I am praying to get someone who doesn’t speak English so I can have the next change be really hard and full of growth and leave coronl feeling confident in Spanish. I am on my way but I think that’s what would really help me so pray I don’t get a North American!!! So ya, the change is the 11 of February. Pray hard. That’s all I got this week. Sorry I don’t have more, like I said it was a hard week.

Oh, I forgot to say we didn’t have anyone at church and when we talked to Justina this week she told us she doesn’t understand why she needs to be baptized again. She has already done it a lot, but if it’s what God wants, she will. Also she wants to wait till conference because one of the members told her at conference was when she received her answer. When she told us this we wanted to die. Conference isn’t for a while, we told her. But we left her with the conference talk by Bednar “Come and See”. She said she loved it, so I hope she can realize going to conference isn’t necessary for her to receive an answer.

Also one of my first really big Spanish mistakes happened this week. I was writing the paso de oración in Justinas libro de mormón because she said she keeps forgetting and I wrote te pedo por....but i meant te pido por,  I ask for, but instead it said I fart for. hahahashh Luckily Hermana Escobar saw and took it and fixed it. haha Ya, that was way funny. I just remembered that also pedo is foot in medical terms. Hermana Escobar just told me. haha Ok, ya that’s all I got this week. Love you all,

Hermana Ball  o Vaca pi pu pu

PS: Sorry my spelling is so bad. I am writing on a Spanish keyboard that is so old and keeps wanting to change all my words to Spanish words and the keys stick, so ya just forgive me if it’s hard to understand what I am saying.

Office Elders! Written Jan. 26, 2015

These are two of my favorite young women

HOLA!!!!

Another eventful week in good old Paraguay! Ok so first off we had made a lesson plan last week about temple work and family history for Justina to help her learn more about the church. We had tried like 4 times to teach this lesson with a member and the member couldn’t come, couldn’t come. Then Monday we had a huge miracle, she could come!  The whole time her and Justina just spoke Guarani and I was lost... (even after we had sat the member, Hermana Digna, down and told her exactly what we wanted to teach. It was like all that flew out the window) but it was still really great even though it was in Guarani. I could understand part of it, Hermana Digna was really Catholic before she was converted and her story is really great. She told the whole thing to Justina. She told her even after she knew the church was true it took her a long time to decide to be baptized. I felt the spirt really strong!! But we didn’t get to teach what we wanted. so Tuesday during comp study we decided maybe it’s been so hard to teach this lesson because Heavenly Father wants us to try and fly it solo with Justina and teach without a member. So we did and it was great. I think she really understood. She loved everything we were saying. I asked her if she had a testimony of these things and she said she did that she knows it’s true. It was great!!! But she still didn’t accept a date. We were crushed.... we found out her daughter is a Jehovah’s Witness. They are really intense people and apparently she is bashing on Justina for wanting to be baptized again. We haven’t given up on her but it’s really hard to keep going every day so we only went two times this week to see her. She went to visit her dad Friday so she wasn’t at church on Sunday, we were really sad. I know she will be baptized, I just don’t know when. haha We had a lesson with her and her sabinas (nieces) Friday before they left for her dad’s. We were walking away and me and Hermana Escobar were both like sweet one lesson with member and then we remembered she isn’t and we wanted to cry. It was hard. We don’t know how to help her. We really wanted her to attend a baptism of a little boy the elders found so she could feel the spirit and want to be baptized too, but she was at her dad’s. We were so bummed. 

In other news, we are teaching Justina’s family like crazy. Her daughter in law, Nina, is great. She loves everything we teach and is reading the Book of Mormon everyday with her son out loud so her husband can hear. Her son loves to read. He is 12 and read the whole lesson one folleto by himself and loved it all. It’s like all the men in Justina’s family got together and said don’t let the woman go to church because Nina’s husband really doesn’t want her at church. Justina’s other son doesn’t want his wife at church. Her other daughter’s husband doesn’t want her at church. (she has like 9 kids) but we are still just working on them. Justina is such a missionary. She loves sharing what she learns with all her family. She wants us to teach her 90 something year old dad, but he lives really far away. haha She was like I will bring him back so he can meet you. She is so sweet!!! 

Oh so one of the things we talked about in the conference de zona last week was not going to the same families every week for almuerzo (lunch), which is really hard not to do, but we had been praying for other opportunities and we got a few this week. We were really excited about the one Saturday. She is becoming an eternal investigator también (also) because her husband doesn’t like the church. Are you seeing a trend in our week?? ughhh men in Paraguay! Anyway we walk the 40 min in the middle of the day heat, the kind that just makes you so hot you want to kill over and die, and there is no shade on the way to her house. The whole time we kept saying I hope she didn’t forget. We tried to call but honestly people never answer their phones around here or at least answer our calls. I also think the service is not very good. So we get to her house finally all sweaty and we clap at the gate and her big shirtless husband comes to the door.....

HIM:  ¿¿QUE DICE??? 

US: "Ummmm hi is Loudes here????"

HIM:  No she went to visit her parents in centro...

US: ohhh. Ok, tears in our eyes 

It was seriously so hot and we were so hungry. We were out in the farthest barrio we go to, with no food and there are like no empanada venders out there. We go to a despencia and buy an alfahore. It’s like an oreo on steroids, its so good, and we sit down in the shade and eat it... then we had the thought to go to the menas active (less active) family that lived not too far away. We normally eat with them on Saturdays. We get there and she had forgotten we weren’t coming so she had extra food. When we told her we didn’t get anything to eat, they swept us into their house and started serving us like we were so special. The dad sent the kids to the store to buy cold soda and bananas. I seriously started crying, I felt so special. Since coming on the mission you feel so important. People do stuff like giving us things for free or charging less for us or when we eat with them giving us the very best they have, or give us a whole bag of mangos and bananas. At first I thought they just love me or, I don’t know, they like being nice. But when I was sitting there in the Martenz’s little battered home as their kids served me and poured my drink, carefully placing my food in front of me, I realized they recognize that we are representatives of Christ and that they treat us how they would Him, if he were here at this moment. I finally understood what that meant and I feel so privileged to be his voice and his hands here in our little piece of Paraguay. When people do all those things, it’s not for me, it’s for Christ and when people reject me it’s not me they reject, it’s Christ. 

When we finished eating, which we ate so much they kept bringing more, they wanted to make sure we were full. The mom told us that since we have been coming they have felt the blessings. Her husband has had more work and they have always had enough money and food. She said one day they weren’t sure if they would have enough and he told her she didn’t need to worry. This is a family that hasn’t been to church in a long time but they understand the important role we play. It was such an amazing opportunity to be in their home and Hermana Escobar and I finally realized why it’s important for us to bless every home we come to, to never leave one without our love and gratitude. I don’t know. It was honestly an experience I will never forget. 

Sunday came and we had no investigators come to church. It was really hard....but the elders had so many!!! It was our turn to teach and for the first time I felt really comfortable in front of the class (it’s really intimidating to teach 4 elders and their investigators. They don’t want you to mess this up for them) we taught keeping the Sabbath day holy and it was so awesome. Everyone participated and there is this one awesome sister we found contacting that lives in the elder’s area so we had to give her to them, but she is great and she wants to be baptized so bad and she shared an awesome experience of the blessings of coming to church. I realized it didn’t matter that Hermana Escobar and I didn’t have our investigators there. We are all a team and together we had 11 investigators at church. All the missionaries in the world are a team. I wish I knew how many we had total at church, but I know that it’s not a contest. We are all doing our best to cultivate this little part of the field we have been given to take care of. I am putting my whole heart into the work and I know that someday the results of our work will come!

As for why we are writing so late in the day, it’s a frustrating story. Last night at 9:30 the office elders called and said somehow he had forgot to tell us, but I needed to go to immigrations today in Asuncion. We tried to get a taxi, but it was too late, to take us to the bus terminal, so we had to get up at 3:30 to leave by 4 to make our hour walk to the terminal, take a bus for 3 and a half hours to Asuncion and take a taxi to the office. But it was fun. I got to see Hermana Bronson. I love her so much. She is doing really good. As well as some of the sisters from the mtc that went to the north mission, they were there too!! Anyway after being at immigrations for an hour, the office elder comes over to me and says I have bad news for you. I read Hermana Hall from the north mission’s name in the email and I thought it was you. They aren’t ready for you yet. You’re going to have to come back Thursday! UGH So not only did we waste our whole p day, now we have to go back Thursday and miss planamental seminal. ugh I was so bugged, but on the bright side..... ummm I haven’t found the bring side of that story except for seeing Bronson. She is seriously one of my best friends on the mission. She had bought me a clip for my hair, so I guess that’s a bright side.

I love you all so much. I know that success isn’t solely measured in baptisms. We are working hard with our menas activos (less actives). We are going to get the Martenz family active! 

 

chao chao,

 

Hermana Ball