Just Keep Swimming

"Well, I finally have time to send pictures of our small-ish apartment. As you can see, the other two missionaries are sleeping on the floor. That´s interesting for Elder Henrie, who is more than 2 meters tall."

It was a bit of a hard week. We are losing contact with a lot of investigators, which is tough because we don´t even get the chance to tell them why they should keep investigating. But, we also found a lot of new families, like the couple last night who had heard some bad things about tithing. It was a good lesson, and we are able to shift the focus to baptism and finding out if this church is true. With all of those new people, our biggest challenge is that most people want to wait a few weeks to see what church is like. Elder Morgan doesn´t have time to wait! Well, next week we´re hoping for a lot of people to come to church, especially the Insfrán family, whose daughters were sick but are now committed to come.

Yesterday we asked the bishop when he would interview Andrés for the priesthood. He started to talk about how many people get scared when he talks to them about commandments like tithing, so he likes to wait a few weeks. My companion and I were not very happy with that, but we told him we understand his point of view (from my experience as a counselor I know a little of how hard it is to work people who just aren´t willing to keep the commandments), and luckily the night before Andrés had asked us to help him fill out the tithing envelope. He´s very converted and willing to obey, and the bishop believed us. It sounds like they had a very spiritual experience in the interview--what a relief for everyone.

You asked me a bit about my zone and the area. I can´t think of much more to say about the Paraguayan culture, I feel like I´ve shared everything. The biggest difference in this area is that there are so many members (including less-actives). We contacted a teenage BMXer with long hair who was listening to Linkin Park, and when we went by to teach him, he told us he was a member. Happens all the time with all sorts of people.

We have a great, hard-working zone. One of the sisters who just arrived is Hermana Cortés, who was also with me in Ca´acupé and when she started the mission in Amambay. We´ll also be ending the mission together, which is cool. For the first time, we have two young American district leaders. Elder Henrie, from Idaho, and Elder Walsh, from Utah. They are great to work with.

That´s about it! I look forward to talking about spiritual experiences next week. See you soon!

Love,

Elder Morgan the Older