Solving Problems

"I haven´t taken many photos of the apartment yet, but here´s the view right outside our door. Yeah, they sell a lot of Cerveza downstairs."

 

Elder Morgan demonstrating the homemade bench press in their apartment.

 Wow. I just lost internet connection for a few minutes. When I asked the man to come help, he found an option on the internet connection that says, "Solucionar problemas" (solve problems). In thirty seconds, my connection was back. If only everything in life were that easy.

As you can see from the pictures, Clotilde was baptized! We fasted with her on Friday, and she fulfilled her commitment to not go out and party. Even still, she scared us to death arriving very late to her baptism and confirmation. There were a lot of young single adults there, as you can see from the photo. Her sister, Irene, had some health and family things to take care of, but will be back here this week to be baptized this Saturday. They come from Yvycuí, a town in the middle of nowhere, and they often go back to visit their parents. When I come back to Paraguay in 50 years and there´s a ward there, I might be able to say I helped with the first converts.

We also have two other possible baptisms. Hugo, who mostly speaks Guaraní, but has been receiving the lessons from two priests who are very excited about missionary work. They are also helping us with Arnaldo, who is their age and might go play rugby with them. The youth in our ward have a rugby team in a small league. Their team is called "Helaman Rugby." Wish I could play on that team, haha. Arnaldo and Hugo have been coming to church, but we haven´t been able to teach them much, so we´ll have to pray a lot for them to be ready this weekend.

E. will not be baptized this weekend. He spent all his salary getting drunk instead of coming to church, and his wife, Perla, is very frustrated. We just have to keep visitng them and helping her be patient. He did read the page I marked for him in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet, so there is progress. Thankfully, we have a member couple who visits them, too, and the man was an alcoholic before getting baptized.

We were hoping for more investigators in church, but we´re analyzing what happened and who we are going to visit more often and less often. Remember that family who has a son that left on the mission? Mom, I was wondering if you would be willing to write a letter to the mom. You can talk about what it´s like having a son (now two) on the mission and the blessings you received. I know you didn´t take it as hard as she did, but maybe you can give some good advice (hopefully it will also help her decide to come to church and prepare to be baptized). It would have to be in Spanish, would you be willing to do that?

The only other interesting news is that I worked with Elder Guzmán, who I was with in Ca´aguazú when he started his mission. He´s doing a lot better now, so it was very interesting to see his progress. It´s just my companion and I living together, but it is very hard to keep clean. We are incredibly busy. But we´re working on it.

Good to hear that Daniel is happy and having success. Keep up the faith, especially in the family. I have heard that all over the world same-sex marriage is a prominent force. But, as I read today in 2 Nephi, those who wait upon the Lord will not be ashamed. Love you all!

-Elder Morgan the Older

Happy Birthday Heather and Daniel*

Wow! You have lots of questions! First we´ll talk about what happened this week. We had our Zone Training, which went well. We shared some scriptures and quotes that President Agazzani showed us about not worrying about what leadership position you have, just serving humbly. We reviewed the mission´s emergency plan--everyone has to have a backpack ready with basic hygiene materials and non-perishable food. The rest of the time we talked together as a Zone about our progress--especially in church attendance and baptisms--and what we can do to overcome the challenges. We also have a goal as a mission to read the Book of Mormon in the next three months.

I did divisions with Elder Cortes, from Chile, who is a great district leader. I also worked with Elder Jensen, from a little city in Utah, I think it´s called Castle Dale. He´s a great missionary, but very young and a little unsure of himself. His trainer didn´t let him do much, and so this transfer is the first time he´s teaching and talking to people in the street. I really enjoyed working with him. I made him do a lot of things he wasn´t comfortable with, but in the end he was happy with how much Spanish and missionary skills he knows. I love helping young missionaries, in part because they bring new ideas and a lot of spirit to the mission, and also because I remember how hard that part of the mission can be.

We have two baptisms for this Saturday--Irene and Cleotilde. They are sisters (24 and 21 years old), and three of their siblings are recent converts. Irene travels a lot and had some doubts, but she finally attended church for the third time and is willing to be baptized this Saturday. Cleotilde, the younger one, has a lot of crazy friends, and we have been trying to help her raise her moral standards. Saturday night we went and made lasagna with their family so Cleotilde wouldn´t go to any parties. This week we invited her to fast the day before her baptism, so let´s hope everything goes well.

We are teaching lots of people, but I´ll just talk about a few more. There´s Victor, a 9-year-old, who just moved from Argentina with his less-active mom. His accent makes me laugh a lot. Imagine how you feel listening to a little British boy talk. There´s Eladio, the husband of Perla, who is a very large man. He works with cement, and he had a big drinking problem. He´s been fine for a week, and a member who also struggled with alcoholism is helping us a lot. He´s planning on getting baptized on the 22nd.

We also have the Salidivar family, whose son is a recent convert and left on a mission last week. The mom was crying last night when we got there. Seems like she misses him a lot. We talked about the plan of salvation, and how if they get baptized, when their sons gets back they can be sealed in the temple.

So, things are going pretty well. It´s always rough for me to learn a new area, as I think I´ve mentioned. I´m not so good memorizing windy, unnamed streets. But I just try to be patient. Hygiene updates for you, Mom--I´ve switched to razors and shaving cream. My beard is pretty tough, but I´ll try to manage it. Also, those black spandex shorts have really helped me some hot days--keeps me from chafing. I think I´ll just have to show you on a map of Paraguay what happened to my mission. The whole south part, plus Ciudad del Este, is now part of Posadas, so our mission is pretty much the line between Asunción and Ca´aguazú. "Pa´ee Ñoo" (that´s how it´s pronounced) is about 30 or 40 minutes south of downtown Asunción, depending on the traffic. My last area was a branch. I do play the piano in sacrament meeting, which is interesting when your book closes randomly...The bench press is just solid cement blocks attached to a bar. I do use the perfect pushups. I think I´m at about 175-180 pounds.

My companion talks pretty normally. Most of the Latinos develop a fairly neutral accent in the mission. I really wanted to talk to President Webb about my career decision since he has lots of experience in those fields. I´ll just have to arrange another time with him. Love you all, keep reading the Book of Mormon and sharing the gospel with anyone you can.

-Elder Morgan the Older

*Our sister Heather's birthday is February 8th and the other Elder Morgan's birthday is February 7th, so it was a birthday-filled week!

Hit the ground baptizing--Pa´i Ñu

"Here is the last picture I took before leaving Ca´acupé, with my home away from home--the Sostoa and Melgarejo families, half of whom are my converts. I hope you´ll be able to recognize everyone from the other photos and emails I´ve sent. Brother and Sister Sostoa are the elderly couple on the end."

 I am very excited to be here in Pa´i Ñu. Things ended pretty well in Ca´acupé. We didn't have quite as many people to teach and baptize soon as I would have hoped, but I'm sure Elder Godoy and his new companion, Elder Zenteno (who arrived here with me) will do great.

My new companion is Elder Cabrera, from Arequipa Peru. He was trained by Elder Leishman, so I had already heard a lot about him. He comes from a very active family and is a very hard worker. He looks black because his mom is from Ecuador. I am actually learning more from him than I think he is learning from me. He has a stronger personality than I do, and is a lot more controlling in his leadership style, but he's also very loving and obedient. Like I said, he has a strong testimony and is definitely here for the right reasons, so I'm sure we´ll get along.

I am in Pa´i Ñu, which is a small "suburb" in Ñemby, a "city" on the South side of Asunción. It´s just like classic Paraguay--lots of small or medium sized houses and huge trees in a labyrinth of small dirt or cobblestone roads. Made me realize how open and "wild" my last two areas were.

The members here are incredible! I have ward missionaries to work with for the first time! It's a young ward--primary, youth, and YSA ages--but there are also a few people who have been in the church for a long time. The missionaries here sometimes complain about the members not helping them, but they have no idea how blessed they are. I have never had this much support from the members. One sister, Sebastiana Silvero, came up to me crying after church because the young man who played piano left on his mission two weeks ago and she had been praying for someone to come who could bring music back to the ward.

Interestingly enough, I have already been here. When I was a Zone Leader in Costa Bonita, we had a huge zone which they divided shortly thereafter. I am in the half of that zone where I almost never worked, but I do see things from time to time that I remember. It's also easier to stay in contact with the members and converts from Costa Bonita, and maybe I'll see them if there's some sort of conference or activity soon (it's the same Stake).

The apartment needs some help. I had visited it once, but it has gotten worse. I'll send some pictures. We live above a Despensa (small supermarket), so we get some interesting smells. What's cool is that someone gave us a bench press made out of cement and rebar, so I might not come home quite as "flaco" as I thought.

I have so much to talk about, but I'll just mention a few things. This is definitely the first time I have gotten to an area and had baptisms that week. First was Perla, who has been trying to get married. Her husband is drinking less alcohol, which is why she finally agreed to marry him (the other option would be separating, because she really wanted to be baptized). He could definitely get baptized in a couple weeks.

Then there's Alma, who comes from a less-active family with some problems. She was going to get baptized when she turned 8 but...there were problems. Basically, she just turned nine, and she normally comes to her church with her sister. Her grandma wasn´t sure, but gave her permission. Then Saturday came. I ran into a barbed wire gate, but luckily I have enough hair that I didn´t bleed too much (I was fine for the pictures, and it wasn't too deep--don't worry). I tell you that because it's funny and shows one of the many crazy things that have been happening. When we got to Alma's house, her mom and grandma had been fighting, and didn't want the baptism to happen. Alma came with us to watch Perla's baptism. Right before the ordinance, her grandma showed up and said we could baptize her. Alma was sure she wanted me to baptize her, so I changed quickly, we took pictures in the hall, and had quite the miraculous evening.

Wish I could tell you more about the other people we are teaching. The kid on my shoulder in the picture is another 10 year old who wants to be baptized, but the permission there will be a little tougher. I'm so grateful for the support of the members. We do run into people who are a little more aggressive, but I've learned how to handle that. For example, the other day we taught some protestants (not sure which denomination) who attacked Joseph Smith and talked about 7th day worship. My companion whipped out the Bible and was ready to defend the truth, but I just calmly explained, "This message could change your life, but you'll need to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true, are you willing to do that?" When they said no, we just left. 

Things are great, love you all!

-Elder Wesley Morgan

A Happy Ending (perhaps) to Ca´acupé

"BAPTISM PHOTOS!! We have Silvia, who FINALLY GOT BAPTIZED! I have been working on convincing that girl for almost four months. Haha, well we weren´t teaching her that whole time, but it´s been quite the wait. She was even a little unsure right before entering the font, but it all turned out well. We also baptized her ex-boyfriend-who-she-wasn´t-

talking-to-but-are-friends-again-and might-possibly-starting-dating-again (teenagers...), Alex!! He is great."

Email from Sister Keller, senior missionary in Elder Morgan's mission: "We had a great weekend here in Caacupe.  Your son is such a gentleman:-)  The missionaries sang Donde Hay Amor= Where Love Is:-)  and it was lovely.  I wanted to do that song in case Elder Morgan gets transferred.  He looked at me today and said, 'How's my Mom?'  I thought that was so funny.  I told him though that I thought I would send you the pics.  Enjoy :-)"

"Here are a few of the photos I took at our district activity last week. We went to 'El Mirador,' a small scenic hill in Tobatí. It takes about a minute and a half to hike, and then you can walk around on top to see the city. So we played a few group games--Zip Bong (makes me think of Aaron Densley) and Signs (don´t know if you know that). Fun stuff!"

I am sure you got my other letter about the baptisms. I am so so so happy. In this last month we have found a lot of wonderful people who have let us down, and my one plea to Heavenly Father was to help Silvia get baptized and complete the Melgarejo family before I left. We still don´t know if I´m leaving, but....we are pretty sure. It´s now the norm to be in an area for 3 transfers. I have been here for 3, and there are 3 left in my mission--makes sense. I have already started to conditionally say good bye ("If this is the last time I see you, thanks for everything"), which could make for funny moments if I stay here. We´ll see!

We actually just had a great Leadership Council where President Agazzani encouraged us to focus on how we serve, not where (including leadership positions), using Alma 13 and D&C 121:34-46. Very spiritual. There are a lot of changes in the mission, and this month wasn´t quite as fruitful as were hoping, though the last week we had 58 confirmations (6 in our Zone!), a record for President Agazzani´s time in one week. Also, to clarify, the numbers of 1400 baptisms were just for this mission, and there are two and a half (Posadas Argentina takes half) missions in Paraguay. So each missionary (200) baptized about 7 last year, but that´s actually 14 per companionship. Now, with about 250 missionaries, if we baptize 8 each (16 per companionship), we´ll reach 2000 baptisms. That´s pretty much how President Agazzani thinks--he´s a business man. But, combined with the gospel, it works! Like I said, this mission is growing incredibly fast.

Speaking of President, he finally read my letter and gave me permission to do the ecclesiastical endorsement for BYU. Still waiting for it to load. He also, for the first time, sends his greetings specifically to all of you (the family).

And, most of our attention was focused on the baptisms in our area and the other areas. Oh, the missionaries who came to split my area finally had their first two baptisms, too! Like I said, we are finding great families or groups of young adult men --they are usually willing to chat--but no one came to church apart from those you saw in the pictures. We are having trouble with reactivation--the Castro family, whose daughter we baptized a couple months ago, told us they don´t want to come back to church :( --but with a fully armed Elders Quorum, the branch councils are now going to implement the 5-5-5 plan that all wards here are supposed to use to focus on reactivating 15 families.

I do love the chapters about the sons of Mosiah. There are many, many things there that led to their success. Some are their spiritual preparation, their love for the people, their simple form of teaching according to the needs of those they taught, and their focus on important doctrines like the Atonement. They also taught people who were willing to be converted and sacrifice anything to accept the Gospel. Those are great chapters to analyze again and again.

As always, I enjoy hearing how everyone is doing so I can pray for all of their individual challenges. I, too wish I knew the transfers. I´ll let you know next week!

-Elder Wesley Morgan

No Subject

I´m trying not to explode at the internet man. I just spent an hour writing emails to everyone on another computer as I waited for the website to load. When it didn´t load and I switched computers, everything was erased. It´s a good thing my favorite Avenger is Captain America and not the Hulk.

There actually wasn´t much news this week, but I had written a lot of details. Unfortunately, I don´t have the time or patience to write all of that. Basically, we found a lot of great people this week, in part due to our ward mission leader, who is sacrificing a day of work each week to visit investigators and less actives, and his son, Daniel, who is finally helping us. We sure have great members here. Unfortunately, none of the new people we found came to church. Cristian came, and his girlfriend, Ilse, realized that if he died tomorrow, it would be her fault that he wasn´t baptized. Somber, but true, and we reviewed the option of separating until her divorce is finished and they can live together as a married couple.

Cristian´s cousin Alex came to church again. He is no longer dating Siliva (teenagers...), but they both want to be baptized this week!

I have had to testify a lot about the Restoration this week. So many people think we are just another church, but if that were the case, I wouldn´t be here. This is the only Church that Christ directs personally, and we have all the other truth that is found in other religions. We try to explain that to people, but many of them tell us that they would rather stay with their religion than ask God what they should do. Alas. We do what we can.

Haven´t heard of the parasite pill or travel plans, but I'll let you know. Thanks for all the news. Be patient, and don´t lose your temper. Even when they erase all your hard work. Haha, maybe I´ll be over it by next week. In any case, I love and keep praying for all of you.

-Elder Morgan the Older

Progress

We are seeing some excellent progress in the branch. I am excited to hear that you have a new Elders´ Quorum Presidency. We do too!! When I got here there was no one in the presidency. Yesterday Alberto Sostoa was sustained as president, with two counselors (one is his dad who he is helping reactivate) and a secretary. I don´t know if you remember that Alberto is Delfina´s husband who was inactive before he moved back here and we helped baptize her. He is a natural leader, and I am so excited to see progress here! Our ward mission leader is helping us reactivate recent converts, one of whom--Juan Martinez--received the Aaronic Priesthood.

We only had three investigators in church (saying "only three" is also a sign of progress). Cristian, who is still waiting for the divorce papers came with his cousin Alex, who we have been teaching. Best part: Alex randomly showed up with Silvia to one of our lessons with the Melgarejos. He´s dating Silvia and he is very excited to be baptized on the 25th. Though she still acts very unsure, I am pretty positive they´ll get baptized together. What a miracle! They also want to go to EFY the week after (they´re both 17).

Luján did not come to church and her mom is gone so much we couldn´t teach her at all this week. Though she likes coming to church with us, we´ve decided to postpone the baptism until her mom or her uncles (The Garcías--those recent converts who have also been facing some work and social difficulties) are reactivated and can take her to church. I just realized that you can´t say uncles in English to refer to an aunt and uncle. I´ll leave it that way just for fun.

The Meza family is also a disappointment. We were pretty gung-ho about their baptism (they seemed to be, too), and we talked about the law of chastity to explain why they´d need to get married before their baptism. Now they don´t want to talk to us...Lesson learned. I´ll be sure to teach a few more of the doctrinal lessons to strengthen the faith of the investigators before teaching a commandment that could try their faith.

I´ve realized that I talk a lot about what these people do, but not much about what they are like. That may be for lack of time, but I do wish you could get to know all of them. My best way is just to compare them to people you know. Like my companion, who--musically, religiously, politically, and in many other ways--keeps reminding me of Tony. He´s a lot of fun, and we have been very good about communicating openly and being patient with small differences. For example, there´s Sister Guerra, the Uruguayan Relief Society President who is SO crazy I can´t even explain it. There´s Rubén Ledesma, the young (20) man who came to live with his active grandma. He was born in the church but never really developed a testimony. He knows he should come to church and do the right things but seems to have a lot of bad influence from his friends and his personal feelings. It´s really interesting to help people like that. Perhaps someday we´ll have enough time to talk about all of the great people I´ve met and who they really are.

As far as Elder Morgan goes, I do wish there were faster progress in the Zone and with the investigators, but we are working hard. I have been sick this week (cold), but I´m finally recovered. Only the 2nd time I needed to ask for a health blessing on the mission. I don´t even want to talk about how skinny I´m getting. New favorite fruit--Mburucuyá (passion fruit in English). It´s hard to describe. Sort of like sweet lemon, but all the seeds are mushed together in a goo that´s inside of a very hard shell. Reminds me of an alien egg. There´s fruit everywhere in Paraguay, and that´s the latest one that falls so much people just give it away.

I do also wish I could explain more about the culture. Part of the problem is that I don´t want to say anything negative, so you only hear the positive things. In this city, there are a few many asphalt roads. The rest are cobblestone, and there are quite a few dirt roads. It´s interesting here, because there is a lot of urban influence from Asunción and tourism, but there is quite a bit of rural culture, too. We have 70-80 in church every week, but the other two companionships are finally starting to bring people to church, so that should go up as we continue baptizing and retaining.

Also, we are in the South America South area, which is Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. I can write anyone in those missions for free, which is nice. Our mission baptized just under 1,400 last year, and President Agazzani´s goal is 2,000 this year. He likes it when people tell him he´s crazy.

Thanks for all the other news from everyone. Not all the news is good, but it gives me things to pray for. I know the Lord is with us, no matter what happens. Just trust in him! Love you all!

-Elder Morgan the Older

La Orientación Familiar (Home Teaching)

Last week, I didn´t even have time to write everything I´d planned. I also wanted to mention the Leadership council, which went very well. We talked a lot about working more with members and being obedient and formal. Supposedly, we are one of the most formal missions in the area (dress and conversation), but we have to keep improving, as with everything. President Agazzani also explained why numbers are very important to him and to the Lord--they represent our work efficiency and the amount of people receiving their salvation. He showed us that this mission baptized 500 more in 2013 than in 2012! Definitely the fastest growing mission in the area. I am very grateful to be here in Paraguay at this time, and the goal is to keep growing at an accelerated pace.

This week we had a lot of success with church attendance. I don´t know if I mentioned that we called group leaders (like a branch president) in Atyrá and Tobatí? That was a big step, and they are both doing well. The group leader in Tobatí has a sister (Teodora Meza) here who we have been trying to teach for a while, and he finally brought her daughters to church. We helped them move on Saturday, and their stepdad also seems interested in the church. The only complication is that he hand his soon-to-be-wife are never home at the same time. But we´ll see what happens.

Luján also came to church again, but her mom and the Garcías (her cousins) continue to fight so neither one comes to church. We need the support of all of them to help her get baptized and stay active. In that same neighborhood (Buena Vista), we are also teaching the Kiese family again. I think I´ve mentioned them--they are young adults who were baptized but never confirmed. They just need to quit smoking and come to church so they can get baptized again--which should happen soon.

We still have Gustavo Resquín and Emilio Portillo coming to church, but neither wants to be baptized. So weird. And Cristian is waiting for Ilse´s divorce so they can get married and baptized. We´ve got lots of miracles on the way.

We also called Delfina as Relief Society secretary. She is very timid and was scared the first time we mentioned giving her a calling. But she seems to have changed a lot and wants to contribute to the progress of the church. That made me so happy!

We´re giving out a lot of callings, but what we need now is Home Teaching. I cannot express how important that is. We have converts who fall through the cracks because no one knows who they are or helps them feel welcome. Elder Keller has the vision of assigning everyone a Home teacher, and we need that. For example, in that same neighborhood where we are teaching a lot of people, we found a young couple who'd been living in Barcelona for a few years. They seemed to know a lot about the church, and we taught the whole Restoration to them. When we invited them to be baptized, they admitted that they are already members. If they had a home teacher assigned, we would have already known that. President Thomas S. Monson, the most inspired man living on the earth today, chose to speak about the principle of Home Teaching instead of many other topics he could have mentioned in General Conference. It´s simple, but it is eternally important.

My favorite gifts are the belt--I really needed one--and the flashlight. It´s pretty awesome. That reminds me, President Agazzani said that the church is trying to get missionaries to change from backpacks to shoulder or waistbags, so having a little, but powerful light really helps. Yes, the next transfers are the last Wednesday in January, and I´m almost positive I´ll be leaving to do my last three transfers in one area. And Go Colts! Haha, and thanks for letting me know about the job opportunities. Maybe I'll end up just teaching at the MTC, like many people have suggested. I love you all! Don´t worry, be happy!

-Elder Morgan the Older

P.S. Along with doing your home teaching, read the Book of Mormon! It´s so important! (Moses 7:62)