Dallin's Blog (Paraguay Asuncion North Mission): Week 6 in Concepcion

Dear Friends and Family,

What a wonderful week! For those of you who don't know, this was the last week of the change here in Paraguay Asuncion Norte. That means that tomorrow we'll be receiving our changes... if we have them. Elder Brito and I wrapped this change up super well: tons of lessons, a few baptisms, and seeing tons of progress with our investigators. I'm really excited to see what the future brings.

Well, first off, this week I had another division. This time, with Elder Piriz, the Urugayan Elder I'm pretty sure I've talked about before. We had a great time laughing, practicing his English, "practicing" our Guaraní, and doing the things that missionaries do every day. One cool thing that we got to do was fix a fence for the mother of some of our recent converts! Finally, those skills I developed as a 12-year-old scout using a hammer and nails paid off. It was super simple though; all we had to do was nail long wooden slats/boards to the fence where older parts had fallen off. We had fun working together, and at the end we got to chat with our recent converts' mother. We've never really talked to her before, but I think that the little service we did might start to open her heart more to our message.

The best part of our divisions was the last lesson of the night, a lesson we had with A. I've talked about him a lot the past few weeks, so you all probably know by now that he prefers to take things super slow and cautiously -- he's even refused to offer prayers to start and close our lessons "until he feels ready." Well, in our division with Elder Piriz, I guess he felt ready! I asked him which of us missionaries he'd prefer to offer the prayer and he said, to my shock and happiness, "I'll do it this time." After his beautiful prayer, we taught about the Plan of Salvation and A basically taught us. He understands really well why it's so important that the Savior came to save us from our sins. It was a fantastic lesson and I couldn't stop smiling the whole time. I think that A will be baptized this next change if he keeps progressing at this rate!

Some other great things that we got to see this week were the baptisms of V and I. Have I talked much about them yet? V is the (11-year-old) son of a family that we contacted a little over a month ago that came to church all on his own every single week after our first visit. I've been amazed by his faith and willingness to act on his own to keep the commandments and the commitments we've left with him. He and his parents (even though they're stilll not members) have the goal for him to serve a mission someday! Awesome.

"I" is the (sixteen-year-old) son of the once less-active family, familia E. Their family is the best. Hermano and Hermana E speak mostly Guarani, which is hard sometimes. But the children all speak Spanish at least as well as I do, so we communicate well. But anyways, "I" is awesome. He's been inviting three of his friends to investigate the church and they all attended last week (and all attend English classes I teach each Thursday in the chapel), and he talked his older brother into marrying his girlfriend/almost-wife so that she can be baptized -- something she's wanted to do for a while. He, like V, really wants to be a missionary someday, and he's already doing a pretty good job of it.

Their baptisms were fantastic! So many people from the branch showed up to support them. Elder Brito joked a few times that our baptism had an attendance higher than the sacrament meeting attendance of Rama 2 (one of the other branches of Concepcion -- I'm serving in Rama 3). All-in-all, it was just an incredible day all around. (NOTE: I don't know how, but somehow, the camera corrupted all the photos I took before Sunday, which means that I lost pictures of the service I did, and the baptisms. I asked Elder Brito to send me the baptism fotos though, so I'll send those soon!)

It's been a really great six weeks here in Concepcion. Elder Brito and I have worked really well. I've been with him through the ups and downs of his mission -- and at this point, it is a for-sure-thing that he's staying out here in the mission a while longer. We've seen families and individuals turn their lives around, and we've got a handful of people that are preparing themselves now for baptism as well. I've seen so much growth in the people we've taught, in Elder Brito, and in myself during the few weeks I've been here. I hope I don't leave this week! I honestly have no idea what's going to happen in these changes tomorrow... I've loved working here with Elder Brito and If I stay, I definitely want his help working with the investigators we've got. But it's also possible that Elder Brito moves out to an area closer to the capital. Only time will tell!

One of the verses that's stuck with me this last week was Luke 17:7-10, which says:
"But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him... when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup... and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him?... So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

As a missionary, I'm really trying hard to dedicate all my "mind, might, heart, and strength" to the Lord, with that in mind, it sure is humbling to think that no matter what I do, or how hard I work, I will always be an "unprofitable servant." I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve the Lord here in Paraguay. I'm not the perfect missionary, but the work is perfect, and the Lord is perfect, and when all things are said and done, He will bless us perfectly for our efforts. All that's left for us to do is cheerfully do all that's in our power to love and serve the people in our lives.

I love you all! Thanks for everything you do. The Church is True!

Elder Fairbanks