We are in the Lord's hands

First and foremost, investigator update. Rocío was having a lot of doubts about if she could stay faithful after being baptized. We had a really powerful lesson last Monday where we read Ether 12:27 with her and assured her she was important to God. She and Reynaldo accepted the baptismal date, but unfortunately it did not go through because she does not have a Cedula (ID). Supposedly she can get a Contraseña (temporary ID) this week, but now she is doubting their marriage again. With the Lord´s help, I am sure we will be able to help her overcome her doubts and be baptized this Saturday. Sergio is finally working on getting his Cedula, so he and Blásida should also finally be baptized this week! Daisy is still a great example for them. She is about to turn 10. Unfortunately, Freddy and Antonia decided they want to join the Iglesia Belén (Bethlehem Church). That was pretty tough, and we are going to try to teach them one more time to see what we can do. We also finally talked to Aníbal for the first time in a while, and he is working on his divorce. With all these issues, it would be easy to say that I had been robbed a of a few baptisms, but that is not the attitude to have. They aren´t my baptisms, they are the Lord´s. I can do very little, but he lets me be an instrument in his hands. When they are ready, he will let us bring them into his church.

Conference was amazing! Yes, I do wear my sandals, pretty much everywhere. Any missionary coming to Paraguay should buy really good sandals. Also, my glasses are getting pretty scratched up. It is almost to the point where I can see better without them. What do you think I should do?

Great to hear about all the rest of the news of the family.  I did get Tony's email just barely.  Hopefully I will have time to respond to you all next week.  Also, Brittany may want to know that there was a time change here.  (Our little blog clock updated automatically!  So we're all set.)  We are now 3 hours ahead instead of two.  One more question, just out of curiosity.  How many people did Dad baptize in France?  On the topic, I guess I'd be interested to hear how many from Tony and from your dad if you remember.

I love you all. Stay strong the faith. Thank you for your support!

'Elder Wesley Morgan

Elder Morgan's favorite treat - alfajors!

Elder Morgan's handy skills - fixing his own tie.  He was proud enough to send this picture, so it's going on the blog.  :)

One of Elder Morgan's favorite quotes from General Conference.  This is taped on his desk.

Empanadas that Elder Morgan's companion taught him to make

Visual aid from a lesson Elder Morgan taught this week (click on the pictures for bigger pictures): This was a lesson about the law of tithing and fast offerings.  This list shows the requirements we are given to follow.  Not very long.

This other side shows the list of blessings we get if we follow that short list of requirements...

...and the blessing list just keeps going and going and going!  We only are asked to do so little, and we are blessed so much.  Elder Morgan said you can do this with any principle of the gospel.  (Also, isn't he cute?!  He's so excited to share the gospel message.)

 

Amazing General Conference!

Sorry again about the email from last week not sending. Hope that doesn´t happen again. Or maybe I´ll get sent to an area with no internet access someday...haha, we will see. Before I talk about the awesome conference, I am going to send you the recap of our 5 main families that I sent to President Agazzani to keep you updated on our investigators, and so you don´t feel like I am not writing enough in Spanish. ;)

 

*En nuestro planeamiento semenal, tuvimos 5 familias (11 personas) que podían bautizarse ésta semana (el 13). La mayoría no asistieron, entonces no todos van a bautizar esta semana, pero todo de ellos deberían ser bautizados este mes.

 

Sergio y Blásida Herrera: Bautizar Daisy fue una decisión inspirada. Ella es un buen ejemplo por ellos. Lee y ora cada día, y siempre ora para que puedan ser bautizados. Todavía están esperando su plata para conseguir sus papeles, pero el otro desafía ahora es la Palabra de Sabiduría. Sergio toma a veces y Blásida fuma uno o dos cigarrillos cada día. Ellos saben que la iglesia es verdadera, pero no sabemos como ayudarles el próximo paso para seguir el Señor.

 

Reynaldo y Rocío Baez: Asistieron la Conferencia! Y vieron el bautismo después! Ellos quieren bautizarse, pero la cosa es que su fecha era para el 20, y están listos ahora. Hoy vamos a intentar otra vez convencerles a hacerlo una semana antes, porque nunca es demasiado pronto para vivir la ley de Castidad, tener una familia mejor, recibir la remisión de pecados, y empezar una vida nueva como un discípulo de Cristo.

 

Ismael y Patricia Sanchez: No asistieron a la Conferencia porque la Familia Ramos, que les debían haber buscado, no se fue. El tiene mucho interés, pero todavía no ha recibido una respuesta que debe ser bautizado. Ella no ha recibido muchas de las lecciones, y estamos tratando a ayudarles a leer juntos para que ella pueda tener un testimonio también.

 

Carlos y Angelica Ramirez (todo de estos apellidos son de los hombres ahora; ninguna pareja está casada) : Él es el hombre que caminó a la iglesia la otra semana. Además dijo que ha sabido todo su vida que esta es la iglesia verdadera! Hay problemas en su relación, entonces éso va a ser un desafío.

 

Freddy y Antonia Aguínaga (y su hermana Selva): Ellos debían haber sido bautizados hace mucho tiempo. Me dio cuenta que somos los primeros misioneros que han sido serios sobre compromisos con ellos. Antes, pensaron que estabámos allí para cantar himnos y charlar un poco. Tienen testimonios de la iglesia, pero no quieren hacer las cosas pequeñas para progresar. Les amo mucho, pero sí no empiezan a cambiar, vamos a tener que dejarles.

 

Well, that was a lot! We are also finding a lot of new people all the time. On the street of the Baez family we found two other less active families. It is funny and sad that there were three member families on the same street who did not know that the others were members of the Church. This week we finally got to do service! I loved that. We helped the Portillo family rebuild their house. All we did was move bricks and boards, but it was fun. It has also been reeeally hot. It is 43 degrees Celsius right now, but it´s not all that bad. I got to do companion exchanges twice this week, which was a lot of fun. With Elder Gary Nielson, I was listening to "El Yivneh Hagalil" and he said he remembered the BYU Men´s Chorus coming to sing that at the MTC. After talking for a bit, we realized that was when I gave my talk there, which he remembered. Pretty cool!
 

So, NOW I understand why missionaries are so excited for Conference. I learned a lot and felt the Spirit strongly, as always, but this conference is going to change my life. My favorite talk by far was by President Uchtdorf about enjoying the moment. That is a problem I have had all my life, and it has gotten worse on the mission. I am always worrying about the time rather than the people we are with. I loved his analogy about music--we don´t just listen for the last note. I have to be happy with who I am and what I am doing, and I am definitely working on that now. I also loved the talks by Elder Ballard, Elder Bednar, Elder Bowen, President Eyring (Sunday Morning), Sister Burton, and everyone else. :) I was impressed with how up-to-date this conference was, speaking about important issues like abortion and same-gender attraction. I love the unequivocable way Elders Anderson and Oaks talked about our position on those issues. I can also testify, like Elder Whiting, the high standards of temple construction after touring the Buenos Aires temple. The amount of money spent on temples is insane. I loved Thomas S. Monson´s talk in Priesthood, especially when he said we need to picture the people we meet as they will be when they get baptized. That is something we already do and will try to improve. All the music was amazing, and my favorite was Shane Warby singing "Does the Journey Seem Long" after President Packer used it in his talk. Elder Gonzalez repeated the invitation to be baptized that he gave to everyone in Paraguay and Uruguay at our recent regional conference (including his mother). When Elder Cook mentioned those huts in the amazon with Satellite dishes--yeah, that is definitely Paraguay, too. I wish I could comment on everything, but suffice it to say that if you were listening to something and thought, "Wesley probably really liked that," then yes, I did.
 

And how about that announcement about the mission ages changing?! WOOOOW! That was incredible. I cannot even begin to fathom what that is going to mean. The best way to state the significance of that would be to quote Elder Dyer, who was sitting next to me at the time, "These truly are the last days." I would love to hear what Daniel´s plans are now. I know that this should all be considered prayerfully. Ah! I am still so excited! I wish you could have been in the room when we found out. (The picture I sent is the missionaries in the English room in the Stake Center. That was when we were singing Called to Serve). Also, knowing that this will be posted on the blog, I would like to suggest that the following sisters prayerfully consider preparing to serve: Stevie Carr, Mariah Kerr, Missy Marsden, Jackie Clark, Liz Hilton, Sophie Siebach, ShaNae Foster, ReyLynn Reid, Jasmine Jones, Maddie McCann, Haley Wilson, Sheri Millard, and Maryn Abunuwara. Those are just a few suggestions, of course, and for all I know they are all married by now. Now more than ever, I would love to hear updates on mission calls and marriages.

 

One last thought from conference. Elder Bowen´s talk made me think about Dad, but his and Elder Perry´s talks also made me think about my relationship with you, Mom. I love and miss you a lot, and I realized that besides taking care of me, you were also my best friend. You talked to me and helped me with so much. Like Elder Perry, I am appreciating the little things you did for me. I hope you´re proud of the good work I am doing, and I will try to keep doing it better ever day.

 

Love,

Elder Wesley Morgan

 

*In our weekly planning, we had 5 families (11 people) that could be baptized this week (on the 13th).  The majority didn't come to church, so they will not be baptized this week, but all of them should be baptized this month.

 

Sergio and Blásida Herrera: To baptize Daisy was an inspired decision.  She is a great example for them.  She reads and prays every day, and always prays that they will be baptized. Still they are waiting for money to get their marriage papers, but the other challenge now is the Word of Wisdom.  Sergio drinks sometimes and Blásida smokes one or two cigarettes a day.  They know that the church is true, but we don't know how to help them to take the next step to follow the Lord.

 

Reynaldo and Rocío Baez: They attended Conference!  And they saw the baptism after!  They want to be baptized, but the thing is that the date was going to be the 20th, and they are ready now.  Today we are going to try once again to convince them to do it the week before, because it's never too soon to live the law of chastity, have a better family, receive a remission of sins, and begin a new life as a disciple of Christ.

 

Ismael and Patricia Sanchez: They didn't attend Conference because the Ramos family, who should have picked them up, didn't go.  He's very interested, but he still hasn't received an answer that he should be baptized.  She hasn't had many of the lessons, and we are trying to help them read together so that she can have a testimony also.

 

Carlos and Angelica Ramirez (all of these last names are of the men now; neither couple is married): He is the man who walked to church the other week.  He also said that he has known all his life that this is the true church!  There are problems in their relationship, so this is going to be a challenge.

 

Freddy and Antonia Aguínaga (and his sister Selva): They should have been baptized a long time ago.  I realized that we are the first missionaries that have been serious about commitments with them.  Before, they thought that we would be there to sing hymns and chat a bit.  They have testiomonies of the church, but they don't want to do the small things to progress.  I love them a lot, but if they don't begin to change, we will have to leave them.

¡¡Primer Bautismo!!*

As you can see from the pictures, we had our first baptism this week! It all started with the interviews on Thursday we had with President Agazzani. I was a little nervous because some of the missionaries were telling me about some of the harsh things past Mission Presidents here have done, but it turned out to be good old, laid-back President Agazzani like I expected. He gave us a lot of great advice, including the fact that we can baptize Daisy Herrera! We have been waiting so long for Sergio and Blásida, we did not realize she did not need to wait. It was quite the adventure getting everything ready, including emptying the font with buckets & rags so we could clean it. And due to the late notice, pretty much no one else showed up. But it was a great experience for everyone. I got to give a short talk about the Holy Ghost, one of your classic, basic talks for a primary child who is being baptized. But, most importantly, this motivated Sergio to work extra and do all the paperwork he needs to so they can be married and baptized this week! Also, Rosillo came up to us after church and said she definitely wants to be baptized on the 20th! And, after weeks of saying he would come, Ismael & Patricia showed up at the last minute to sacrament meeting. It was truly a Sunday of miracles.

I also have to give a shout-out to our ward mission leader Elio Martinez. He is a convert less than a year, but if he didn´t tell you, you would never know. He is a big guy who rides a motrocycle (reminds me of Hagrid, but he is bald and has glasses), and he has such a powerful testimony. Last Monday we had FHE with him, the Vargas Family, and the Herrera Family. We watched Finding Faith in Christ, and spent most of the lesson eating pizza while the members shared their testimonies. It was a great night. Hermano Martinez also helped us with Freddy and Antonia Aguínaga, who were having marital problems again. Though it was hard to even get them to talk to us, by the end of his powerful pep talk, they were crying and holding each other. It was another powerful lesson with him.

This week I did exchanges with Elder Beatty, one of the Zone Leaders. I love doing exchanges, I always learn so much. He taught me how to focus more on teaching principle by principle, and not moving on until they understand. For example, if they don´t get why a prophet is important, the Restoration will not be that significant to them.

I am very excited for General Conference (we do get to hear it live), but I do not feel like some of the other Elders who say they are so much more excited than before their mission. Maybe that is because I have always loved it. More exciting news, Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Mervyn B. Arnold are comig on the 27th to do a conference for all the missionaries in Paraguay! Also, our mission had 115 baptisms this last month. It is the first time we broke 100 in a while, but our goal is to stay above that from here on out.

Hmm....more on the culture here? Have I told you about mate or tereré? It is an herbal drink that everyone drinks through those metal straws. Missionaries are not allowed to drink it, which may be because of past missionaries who did not know how to drink it, or because everyone uses the same straw. They share everything here; their hygiene sure is different. But seriously, they are always drinking tereré. Always. And their cups or wampas, usually have the one of the logos of Cerro Porteño or Olimpia, the two biggest soccer teams. There is a HUGE rivalry between them, and I have chosen not to take sides.

I am pretty happy, and I really love working with Elder Izurieta. We are hoping that this month will be full of more baptisms and confirmations, so get ready to post a lot of pcitures!

I love you all,
Elder Wesley Morgan

*First Baptism!

There is Power in the Book of Mormon

This week, we have focused so much more in teaching from the Book of Mormon. That book really is the key to gaining a testimony of this church. Our investigators are starting to realize that we are going to ask about their reading and assign them chapters to read EVERY visit. But we also need to remember that our job is more than just that. As I learned from the Da Silva family, that´s what preachers from other religions do with the Bible when they come to houses. We are here to love, support, pray for, encourage, and serve these people. I found a comparison, or maybe even a parable, this week that helps describe how we should use the Book of Mormon. Often we find people whose motorcycles or cars need help (like our investigator Carlos Ramirez, who arrived at church 20 minutes before it ended because he had to walk half the way after his motorcycle died :D what a guy). In those moments I have wished that I knew enough about engines to fix all their problems, and then they would say "Wow, these missionaries are great! We should listen to them and attend their church." But that is not the case. All we can do is help them push their car up the hill, or other similar service. And, if they want to listen to our message after, they will listen. It is the same with the Book of Mormon. At times people will tell us about their problems, and I freak out trying to think of the chapter that will solve that exact problem. But that is not what we do. Preach My Gospel chapter 5 explains a lot about how we should use the Book of Mormon. We testify and invite people to read it, focusing on the parts that will help them understand the doctrine and gain a testimony. Then, if they are willing to do that, the Spirit will help them find the answers to their own problems, and they will resolve their own concerns.

The difference when people read or not is usually pretty obvious. For example, Sergio and Blásida Herrera were pretty depressed last Sunday because he still isn´t receiving his salary, so they are not even sure how long they will have enough to eat. We promised them if they read and prayed every day, they would be blessed with the money they need. The first half of the week, they read every day, and they were so much happier. (Side note: They also loved my brownies...which were tough to make. I discovered that a stick of butter here is a lot bigger than in the US, so I had to remake the batter. Also, all we have to measure is half a cup, so I really don´t know how to measure tablespoons or teaspoons). However, by the end of the week they had gotten casual with reading and Sergio chose the faster way to deal with problems--drinking. We talked to them a while, and they realized that drinking will not help. We went and got them Sunday morning, and it was fun to bring them and all three little girls to church! Hopefully this week things will change for them.
 

Reinaldo and Rosillo, the investigators from Stake Conference, are very diligent about reading, but they did not attend church. I think they will next week, because their testimonies are making progress. José, the husband of Paola, a recent convert, is another tough situation. He reads the Book of Mormon with her, but he is very Catholic and refuses to come to church. We´ll see what we can do. Freddy and Antonia, on the other hand, did not read at all. They chose to attend another church with their uncle. They are so close to being baptized, and I really love them, but they have to make the decisions to keep progressing. I really am learning a lot of patience here. One more update: Aníbal has a strong testimony and is very ready to be baptized....except that he is living with a woman who is not his spouse. He has a wife who he left but never divorced because it is expensive and takes a long time. It looks like now he will have to do that, or maybe move out so he can be baptized. We really don´t know what to do. But Lucio Vargas, the newly reactivated member who has helped us teach him said something that really struck me: "If these Elders baptize you while you are not keeping the commandments of God, it means that this is not his true church." Wow.
 

Now, to answer a few of your questions. There are not sisters in this district. We see the other four elders in our ward often, because every monday we go to the same part of town to do our grocery shopping. We do have sufficient to eat, but we have to be smart about how we spend our money. That is about the only thing we do in the city, and every once in a while we get everyone together to play soccer. The gold tie was the one I gave away. Those white handkerchiefs you gave me have been awesome to help deal with the heat and sweat. On P-Day we do our shopping, clean, write letters, and..that´s about it. There never seems to be enough time to do everything. I´ll leave you with something a little more light-hearted, a Spanish conversation I hear sometimes that makes no sense in English.

 

"¿Y después?" (literally: And after? meaning: How´s it going?)

"¡Al pelo!" (literally: to the hair! meaing: So good!)

 

I love and pray for you all! Keep reading the Book of Mormon and praying to the Lord for help. If you do what He asks, he really will help you at all times and in all things.

 

-Elder Wesley Morgan

No Subject

*Editor's note: I always use the subject of Wesley's email as the blog post title, but he didn't include one and I didn't know what to put instead.

Well, I was all excited to start off this email by saying, "Surprise! We had a baptism!" We have been trying to get Chilo baptized for a few weeks now, because he has attended church the required 3 times. He works and travels a lot, so it is difficult to find him. But on Friday we met with him and went over the baptismal interview questions. He didn´t understand everything perfectly, but it sounded like he was willing to follow Christ however he could. Unfortunately, when we brought the Zone Leaders to his house for the interview, he was not there. We had lunch with his mom Ursula, a recent convert. She called him and found out he had been drinking the night before. No go on the baptism. I guess it will be good to have more time to explain the doctrine better to him.

One more piece of sad news. Junior and Perla (yes, he is the often drunk Brazilian), have decided they don´t want to visit us anymore. That happens a lot; we are often changing who we visit depending on who is progressing and how much time we have. One of our biggest challenges is teaching and planning so we can meet with as many people as possible. But Junior and Perla were possibly my favorite people to visit with. They were really fun and very smart. The thing is, they didn´t do their part to read and attend church in order to receive an answer to their prayers. He gave us a 20 minute talk about why he thinks all churches have the same doctrine but different customs, and that Joseph Smith could not be a prophet. Pretty sad, but we are not going to give up completely on them. I really feel like they will get baptized, it is just a matter of time.

Now to answer some of your questions. A bit about my companion. He is 24, and he has a girlfriend who is serving in the mission in Argentina right next to ours. He loves video games, so we talk about things like that a lot. He also loves singing bass. He is pretty-laid back, but he is a good missionary. He has not always been completely active--he read the Book of Mormon cover to cover for the first time on his mission--but he knows a lot about the gospel. He hasn´t gotten to baptize anyone yet, but we will change that soon! Transfers are every six weeks, so that will be this Tuesday. (That is why I have the picture of the new, fresh planner). But it is almost certain that he will stay with me to finish my training.

I have not gotten to do much more cooking than what I have told you about, just basic pasta, rice, etc. But with the members and those basic meals, we definitely get by. I did buy some peanut butter, but it is more like peanut frosting. I am going to try to make some brownies with it today to bring to FHE with the Herrera family, Sergio and Blasida. They have three little girls who are almost exactly like the daughters in Full House.

The cards in the picture are what we made to help prepare Daisy, the oldest, for the baptismal interview. They know the church is true, but they have had some job issues recently--he hasn´t received his pay in about a month, and they were not very well off in the first place. For that reason, they have not come to church, and he drinks sometimes. We are really trying to work them a lot this week to strengthen their faith that if they sacrifice the Lord will bless them. We might even baptize them this Saturday if they are ready. We have so many people who I know could be baptized with just a little more time and effort on their part to read, pray, and attend church.

One miracle this Sunday--2 investigators unexpectedly attended the Stake Conference! We sat in the hall (because it was so packed) and listened to a broadcast from Salt Lake of several General Authorities, including Neil L. Anderson, who did not use a translator because he served in France and lived in Brazil (which was obvious in his accent). President Monson also spoke. The investigators were Reinaldo and Rosillo, the niece of a less-active family that lives about 40 minutes away from us. Right now most of the people we are teaching live in two groups, each 30 or 40 minutes walking from the main highway, where we live. Last Monday, we walked 40 minutes in the mud, and you can see in the picture what that did to my shoe.

I also must have eaten something bad, because I threw up before, during, and after the one lesson we had time for. Not a fun day.

I´ll do a quick clothes inventory, so you know how things are holding up. I gave away one tie to the Vargas (less-active) family, but I got two from the Baez family, the family of Reinaldo and Rosillo! (As you can see from the picture...one of them is really weird).

I opened up all the short-sleeve shirts, because it has gotten so hot that long-sleeves are not bearable. (It´s about 97 and huuuumid right now). My shoes and suit are doing very well, though they are getting a bit dirty. I´ll work on that today during P-Day. Pants are also doing fine, and I have no choice but to wash the dry-clean ones. Those are actually much more comfortable than the black ones from Missionary Mall, which are thicker and a bit too small (but, as you may have discerned from the pictures...I am losing quite a bit of weight). I don´t like the Missionary Mall mesh socks, and I don´t know if the belts will hold up for two years. I do use the jacket without the liner when it rains, along with the boots. I don´t know if I will ever use the liner. It is so hot down here. But I love it!

I don´t have time to write that much, but I sure am receiving a lot of letters. Glad to know people are thinking about me, and know that I pray for you all often, too. Love you, Mom!

-Elder Wesley Morgan

The Weirdest Experience of My Life

This week´s Paraguayan culture lesson: never complain about how early you have to get up for school. Many of the schools here start at 6 am! Just about everything here is earlier. Church is at 8:00, but sacrament meeting is last. We meet in a regular chapel, and there are about 100-150 active members in the ward, though with the rain not many people came to church. It has rained a lot today and yesterday. Anyway, to answer your other questions, I only spoke once to introduce myself to the ward, but I play the piano every other week (which is sometimes rather interesting). I have not dreamed in Spanish yet. There are 10 missionaries in our district, making it one of the largest. In my apartment, the only rooms we have are the ones I showed you, but that was about half of each. We share a bedroom (as is required by the Missionary Handbook). We have a stove, oven, pots, pans, and some measuring cups in metric and English measurements. 

Well, as I said, with the rain, not many people came to church. We have also been doing a lot of baptismal interviews (that is what the District Leader does), so there has not been much time to teach our own investigators. Aníbal finally came back to church, so it looks like he is well on his way to baptism. We are hoping to see more progress this week, especially with Chilo, the Herrera Family, the Aguinaga family, and Junior and Perla. We also have found a lot of new investigators, some with a lot of potential, like Zunilda, whose husband is very inactive. Then there is Francisco. He is the reason for the title of this email. He was a reference from a member, and the lesson started off great because he had already read a bit of the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, we could not get him to understand that this book means that we are the only true church of Jesus Christ; he was stuck in the mindset that all you need is Jesus. We testified and taught the best we could, but we had to get to an interview, so we asked him if he would offer a prayer before we left. Lesson learned: even if you are in a hurry, take the time to teach your investigators to pray....it´s worth it. He stood up and went back and forth between recited prayers (which his family would say with him), and dramatic prayers, which were not all just to God the Father. This lasted for about 15 minutes. It was so hard not to laugh when he started to SING to the Holy Ghost in a weird melody he made up as he went. I still laugh when I tell other missionaries about it, and now every time they see us they sing "Espiiiiiiiritu, Espiritu Saaantoooo." Yeah, the mission is an adventure.

To close, I want to share an experience in Spanish I had during companion exchanges that meant so much to me. *Estábamos enseñando la Familia Da Silva, nuevos investigadores. Intentábamos a enseñar la primera lección, pero ellos estaban hablando sobre lo que ellos creyeron en su iglesia. Éso es un problema que he tenido varias veces en la misión, pero sabemos que hemos sido llamado para enseñar, no para ser enseñado (DyC 43:15). Finalmente, cuando la madre dijo que pensó que solo estábamos allá para decirles cuales partes de la Biblia ellos deben leer, yo dijo,"No, estamos aquí para mucho mas de éso. Estamos aquí porque hemos sido llamado por un profeta de Dios." Expliqué mas de nuestro propósito, y testifiqué la historia de José Smith. Ella preguntó como podía saber si es la verdad, y leímos Moroni 10:4-5. Ella lloró un poco, y sabíamos que, finalmente, el Espíritu ha testificado de este mensaje de la Restauración. 

Little by little, I am becoming the missionary I know I can be. I love you all and thank you for your support. It means so much to me. :) 

Elder Wesley Morgan 

*We were teaching the Silva Family, new investigators.  We had planned to teach the first lesson, but they had been talking about what they believe in their church.  That is a problem that I have had several times on the mission, but we know that we have been called to teach, not to be taught.  (D&C 43:15).  Finally, when the mother said that she thought that we were only there to tell them which parts of the Bible they should read, I said, "No, we are here for much more than that.  We are here because we have been called by a prophet of God."  I explained more about our purpose, and I testified of the story of Joseph Smith.  She asked how she could know if it is true, and I read Moroni 10:4-5.  She cried a little, and we knew that, finally, the Spirit had testified of the message of the restoration.

Beautiful Paraguay

Well, here are some pictures. There is one of our kitchen, which is a million times better now than it was when I got here.

Our shelves of food and pamphlets.

My bedroom--Ken Kenworthy will be happy to know everyone thinks his map is awesome.

My desk, along with our chart of investigators and how they are progressing towards baptism.

There are also two of the view from our apartment.

Unfortunately we cannot take pictures while proselyting, so that may be the best you get for now. Just know that this country is beautiful. The ground is red and full of hills. The trees are green, and there are hundreds of different kinds. That street you see in the picture is the biggest highway in Paraguay--it goes from here to Asunción. And that is about the only named street in our area. Other addresses are just general distances and landmarks, which has made it a little hard to learn the area. We are doing a lot of searching for less-active members in our ward right now. There are about 600 on record. We are trying to work with ward leaders to get home teaching and other programs going to help that. One great family is the Vargas family. Lucio, the dad, is pretty much a younger John Lisonbee. They were less-active when we got here, but they love having us over to teach investigators, and they attend almost every week.

People in Paraguay are so inviting, which is a contrast from Buenos Aires. Sometimes we will just say hi and they will pull out chairs so we can teach a lesson. Part of that may be because there are missionaries of other religions who often stop by and share scriptures. These people are very religious. Sometimes we ask if they believe in Jesus Christ and they look at us like we asked if they drink water. They have a lot of faith, and many people have vivid dreams, some of which have helped them be converted. One thing we have been working on is helping people say real prayers. They are so used to reciting prayers that they don´t understand the concept. This is part of the 8 Fundamentals, which we studied in the CCM and now during our training program. Those fundamentals are great ways to apply the principles of Preach My Gospel to make our teaching effective. They are:

• The Doctrine of Christ--The Missionary Purpose (More simply: love them and baptize them)
• The Role of the Holy Ghost in Converstion
• Revelation through Prayer
• Revelation through the Book of Mormon
• Revelation through Church Attendance
• Teach People, Not Lessons
• We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up
• How to Begin Teaching

Well, I am going to do a bit in Spanish again. Maybe I will do this every week. *El principio de ésta semana fue muy bien. Estamos trabajando MUCHO con los miembros, y es obvio que hay una diferencia en las lecciones. Junior Ramos, un joven en nuestro barrio, nos acompaña mucho. El va a ser un buen misionero. Tambien, estamos intentando a trabajar más con el líder misional de barrio, Elio Martinez, y los otros lideres. Hno Martinez es un converso reciente, pero tieno demasiado energia y testimonio.

Unfortunately, the end of the week was not as successful as we had hoped. We had one investigator at church, Chilo. That was a miracle. He is the son of Ursula, a recent convert (she is pretty much Grandmother Willow). He may even be ready to be baptized this week! We´ll see. The Aguinaga family, Freddy, Antonia, and Selva, did not attend, which is frustrating because they are so close to being ready. They know it is true, they just have to accept it. We have made progress with Junior and Perla, and he has been drinking less after we taught the word of wisdom**. He also told us he turned down a $50,000 offer to deliver drugs to Brazil because of our lessons. That´s exciting. Anibal missed church again. We really have to find out why. We also could not meet with Alejandra this week. I am going to try to keep you updated on these people, especially those who I think will be baptized, but if I ever forget to tell you about anything, feel free to ask. (Like Miguel, who has succumbed to pressure from his neighbors and does not want to visit with us anymore).

Utah is called the factory because that is where all the missionaries come from. Guarani is hard to learn, but I am picking it up little by little. Glad to hear about Romney, BYU football, and Daniel´s internship. I am so excited for him! Things are going well, overall. Last P-Day I tried to make Sopa Paraguaya. I have a lot to learn about cooking. But it was surprisingly edible. I also made no-bake cookies with some Peanut Butter that the last missionary left. Everyone in our district loved those. (Luckily those are hard to ruin). The fondo is pretty far away. I would guess about a mile. We do a lot of walking, which I enjoy. Fasting made it tough, as did the heat, which is back. But, to paraphrase a slogan from some sports company that I cannot remember, Pain is temporary but Conversion is forever. Yeah, that didn´t sound as cool as I was expecting. Pretty much we are doing all we can to help these people come to Jesus Christ, and that is what is most important. I love you all!

-Elder Wesley Morgan

*The beginning of this week was very good.  We are working A LOT with the members, and it's obvious that there is a difference in the lessons.  Junior Ramos, a young man in our ward, is accompanying us a lot.  He will be a good missionary.  Also, we are planning to work more with the ward mission leader, Elio Martinez, and the other leaders.  Brother Martinez is a recent convert, but he has a lot of energy and testimony.

**The Word of Wisdom is a law of health that was revealed to Joseph Smith by the Lord that Latter-day Saints live by.  We are promised physical and spiritual strength if we follow it.  To learn more about it, visit here.