Hace Frio, Che ra´a

"A few weeks ago when we made pancakes, eggs, and bacon together."

"The day the Assistants came to do exchanges a couple of weeks ago."

"Elder Jessop´s package that cost much much more to send ($90) than the value of the contents. He was pretty excited for everything."

"Me on a typical P-day trying to take care of a lot of things at once."

Okay, the pictures tell some of the stories of things that have happened in the past weeks. It is once again cold and rainy, which means that few people want to come to church or let us in. It does make for some fun experiences in the mud when we sink in past our ankles and our shoes get stuck. We did find some great new people--Cristian and Norma, who live close to our house, are very open and friendly, know lots of members, read their assigned chapter in the Book of Mormon!, and are willing to help their cousin (our investigator) come to church. We also found three young girls (The Rivas family) who are former investigators and believe in everything. They used to come to church a lot, but they have some family opposition. Reynold Aguilar, the recently RM, is helping us with them.

And, one other person from the past appeared again--Carlos Molinas, the man who was very emphatic about reading the Book of Mormon to find out if it was true or false. He had read a little, but not enough to make a sure judgement. It was a pretty intense lesson. I explained the Apostasy with just about every detail I know, and my companion told him pretty directly that he hasn´t read, prayed, and come to church enough to say that the Book of Mormon is false. He was speechless after all that, but I don´t know if he has a sincere desire to change. It is always hard to know how forward to be with people, especially with seeing the bold examples in the scriptures of prophets inviting people to repent. But we were as loving as we could be--the only part that offended him was when we explained that until he receives the gift of the Holy Ghost, he can´t have it with him 100% of the time. He was certain that he is always feeling the Spirit...I am grateful that Elder Maynes told us to just teach the truth and not worry about losing investigators.

We had a district activity, playing soccer together on an indoor court. That, along with the cold weather, got me a little sick. But we keep working! The district meeting was interesting. I told the missionaries about learning experiences and regrets I have had so that they can avoid making the same mistakes, and invited them to do the same. We are having a lot of difficulties, and it was sad to see that some of them don´t realize how much more obedient and diligent they could be. But, I'll be patient with all of the wonderful people here in Paraguay whom I have been called to serve.

I am grateful for all the interesting news from everyone. Life is a time of tests and challenges, but the rewards are eternal and infinite. I have seen the added emphasis on missionary work, and realized that it was not just something I am noticing more because I am a part of it. This is a great time to be a missionary, and like it says in Preach My Gospel, EVERY missionary (and member missionary) has an important role in bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. I love you all!

Elder Morgan the Older