Dallin's Blog (Paraguay Asuncion North Mission): Cold week in Aregua! (Week 14)

Dear Friends and Family,

When I was with my former companion Elder Silva, he frequently joked "it looks like Paraguay doesn't know how to be cold!" Well, he was wrong. Paraguay knows how to be cold and this week it's kept Elder Smith and I bundled up really nicely.

But all that coldness hasn't managed to slow down the work in Paraguay: I started off the week with divisions with my Zone Leader Elder Garcia (from Uruguay) and even though the cold was inescapable, he worked me hard -- and he just had one white short-sleeved t-shirt on! I spent the whole day shivering like crazy (despite my long-sleeved shirt and sweater) as we jumped from lesson to lesson -- we had a lot. When we finally got back to his house I had to hop under the covers of the bed right away to warm myself up. Even after tracting all over Elder Garcia's area during the day, he still had a few lessons he wanted to get done, so we woke up early in the morning the next day to get our studies out of the way and get out teaching as soon as possible. It was a rigorous schedule that we kept on the division, but it was so cool to see how much work a companionship can accomplish if their hearts are in the work! I don't know that I'll keep waking up early to follow his example... but I'm excited to work hard according to the normal missionary schedule!

When I got back to our area, I had a pretty interesting lesson with a less active family named Familia A. Hermana A is awesome and cooks for us frequently, but she keeps our lives interesting! This week her new big thing for us was: "I'm all confused about the scriptures now because I recently learned that they're all symbolic." She proceded to preach to us that the story of Adam and Eve as found in the bible is really just symbolic and that "the fruit" was actually sexual sin... We did our best to explain that as members, we believe that Adam and Eve really did literally eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but how do you use scriptural backup to your teachings if the students interpret the scriptures symbolically? After we got home that night, I had a pretty in-depth study session of the topic and I found a great quote in Jesus The Christ about it:

"I take this occasion to raise my voice against the false interpretation of scripture, which has been adopted by certain people... that the fall of man consisted in some offense against the laws of chastity and virtue. Such a doctrine is an abomination. What right have we to turn the scriptures from their proper sense and meaning? What right have we to declare that God meant not what he said?...Don't go around whispering that the fall consisted in the mother of the race losing her chastity and her virtue. It is not true; the human race is not born of fornication." -- James E. Talmadge

You could say I'm pretty excited to show this to Hermana A. I love teaching people new things!

While we were contacting this week we also found a pretty interesting family named Familia Z. We spent a good while talking to the family and teaching some doctrines before we learned that Hermano Z is already a member and more than that, due to some sort of misuderstanding, he was baptized twice into the church... once when he was eight, and then again when he was twelve... in his own words: "I'm already more converted than you both!" The bad news is that I have no idea what church protocol is on twice-baptized members, but the good news is that the family is very receptive to our message and that none of his other family members have even been baptized once: We'll be working to re-activate, and baptize this family over the next few weeks!

Another cool thing that happened this week is that Hermano S, the father of two of our recent converts invited US to go on visits with him! (normally we're the ones doing the inviting) We went out with him, got a bunch of lessons with him, and the best part is that he showed us an awesome investigator! This guy (named E) is stuck on pretty much bed rest for the next 3 or 4 months because the bones in his foot are shattered. It's a sad situation, but he's the perfect investigator: one that is humbled by the trials he's suffering, and even better, one that can't run away from us! I've got a pretty good feeling about this E guy!

My last bit of fun news form the week is that I had another interesting experience with familia A. We eat with them on sunday's after church, and this week, we had the pleasure of watching her husband kill, de-feather, wash, and cut up, the chicken that was to be our lunch. It was an... interesting experience. After Hermano A killed the chicken, it spent the next 2 minutes jumping around the yard flapping its wings and falling upside down. Then we ate it. It tasted pretty good though, so it's all good.

This week, I've been studying about "conocimiento" (I think that means knowledge in English). As I studied I came to understand that as members of the church, all the spiritual things we've come to understand we've learned from the Spirit. In Matthew 16:17, Jesus explains that the knowledge that Peter has that He is the Christ came from the Spirit. It says: "And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simn Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Here in the mission, I've learned so much about the gospel, and this week, I learned that all that comes from the Spirit. We literally can't understand gospel truths with our natural minds. We have to be taught these things from the Holy Ghost. So keep studying the scriptures, keep praying, and the Spirit will teach you "line upon line, precept upon precept" until we have a large "conocimiento" of gospel truths.

I love all! Thanks for your love and support!

Elder Fairbanks

"Awkward mate dulce selfie!"

"Awkward division selfie with Elder Garcia while he's eating on a colectivo."

"Elder Smith rockin' to the moon"

"There's a fair going on right next to our house.. It plays popular Spanish music so loud that it shakes our room as we try to go to sleep. It was even crazier the next day!"

"Can you see the ferris wheel?"

"One of our favorite drinks down here in Paraguay is 'Mate dulce.' You put a shredded coconut in a guampa (the cup), pour milk with burnt sugar in it, and drink it with a bombilla (a special straw with small holes in the bottom that let the milk, and not the coconut, through."

"My first sock hole in the mission! Does that mean I'm working?"

"Late night meditation (or, in other words, as we were taking a back way to a lesson, we wasted time taking advantage of a pretty good photo op"

"Me and my bike! Today we had a zone activity and went to a park where you could rent a bike to ride around, play soccer, and a bunch of other fun outdoor activities."