Diego, as always, is amazing. Cecilia Grau had already
talked to him about tithing, so he has been trying to save his money
more. He said he is already receiving more financial blessings for doing
that. I have never taught tithing and had the investigator already be
able to testify it. He is great. We just need to get him baptized. I
told him I would do it tomorrow if he wants. The only problem is his
family, and that is something he has to face on his own. I don´t know if
I have ever mentioned Elía Almeida. He is 27 years old and a convert of
3 years who has been off and on in his activity in the church. This
week we helped him write a talk, which went great. I felt like a proud
parent. Also, he has a roommate named Líder who we have been teaching.
He speaks a lot of Guaraní and only understands the absolute basics of
what we teach, but he is very happy and willing to do everything.
One of our biggest miracles was finding the Pavon
family. We contacted them a couple weeks ago, but finally had time to
visit them. It is a "multi-family" of about 20 people in three or four
little houses all next to each other. We have taught about 10 of them so
far. They work all day in the sewing factories (just about everyone who
is low-income works in one of those--there are a lot), and they tend to
drink a lot on Sundays, especially Marcelo and Maria, who were baptized
in this ward about 15 years ago. They are great people who really seem
to feel the Spirit; and I have a lot of hope that they will change. We
didn't have much time in our first lesson, so we were going to do what
we often do in short or simple first lessons: talk about Christ (as the
Son of God, his baptism, church, and atonement). We read Alma 7:11-12 and
as I testified that Christ has suffered for each of our pains, the Holy
Ghost was very strong. I decided to invite them to come to church, but
they said that they had a baptism this Sunday of one of their babies. I
wasn't sure whether to talk about that or save it for the next lesson,
but Elder Knudsen jumped right it. We read a scripture in the Bible
about responsibility for our own sins and Moroni 8:8-10. They admitted
they were only doing it because it was what they had always been taught,
and we invited them to pray to find out who needed to be baptized:
their children or them. Only two of them came to church this week, but
luckily it was the two who were going to baptize their child (who
traveled a long way to do it here...). We have a lesson with them in a
couple hours, so I hope things go well with that.
We found Rubén again, that kid who was really
interested in what we were teaching last week. His family goes in the
category of a few families we have had this week who seem to have tough
lives because of illnesses, accidents, drugs, or poor living conditions.
It is difficult, especially because we cannot to do much to help them
temporally. All we can say is that if they have faith in the Christ,
come to his church, and live his Gospel, they will be able to find the
peace they need, and eventually some solutions. For some of them, that
is enough. That reminds me of a couple we found yesterday. They had
fallen off their motorcycle and were almost too drunk to remember their
names. They were on their way to Luque, which is about an hour away. We
did everything we could help them recover their strength so they could
take a bus. But honestly, they were like 3-year-olds. They were not in a
mental state to make any decisions. After doing everything but
physically forcing them to the bus stop, we let them get back on the
motorcycle and ride away, swerving all over the street. I prayed hard
for them...but I didn't have much hope. Like I said before, there is
only so much that is within our power. People suffer a lot here
sometimes, but I just need to remember that it is all part of God's
plans.
Besides that, it has been a busy week with a lot of
baptismal interviews. President Agazzani challenged us last Monday to
call everyone and see who they could baptize this week. We had a few
people find old investigators that got baptized or are progressing
again. Normally, I love doing baptismal interviews. It is a great
opportunity to see someone´s preparation and testimony. This was my
first time having to call President for permission to pass them, which
we have to do if they committed a serious crime or sin. He pretty much
left it in my hands to decide if I felt the man was ready, which was a
lot of pressure. We also had a Zone Conference, where we learned a lot
about how to do weekly planning better (helped a lot). Hermana Agazzani
talked about more precautions we can take to be healthier, which we are
doing, like putting a little bleach in our water bottles to purify it
every night.
Yes, I would love receiving CD's. I wear my Guaraní
tag on my suit. I am doing great health-wise. And we found out in the
Conference that we are going to be receiving 100,000 more Guaranies
($23.00) every month, which is actually a big deal!
One more thing. We did a mini-training with our
District Leaders to help them with some of their difficulties. We talked
about many things, about the importance of testifying when explaining
our purpose, like I mentioned to you last week. I have often found that
inspiration I receive is actually for me to share with other people. My
favorite moment was when my companion talked about the importance of
teaching a short, spiritual first lesson according to the needs of the
person. I was so happy! I have been trying to help him with that my
whole time here. There is always hope for the future.
Love you all!
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