It's been a long week. I have about a million things to say. But as always, my cyber time is finite. The cool part is that I'm writing from the "chuchiest" (most technologically advanced) computer that I've typed on in over a year. But more on that later!
Leading up to changes last Tuesday was nuts. I was so stressed and worried. The truth is that my transfers in Concepcion were the best of my mission up to that point. I worked hard, led my area, found new people, saw miracles, baptized, and I grew a lot personally. I didn't want to leave behind our great investigators (I, R, R, L, C, etc...). I didn't want to leave behind my ex-trainee Elder Smith, and I had heard some rumors of visa problems that would prevent new missionaries (rumors that, if proven true, would mean CRAZY transfers and a lot of areas shut down). Monday night last week, I was full of so much anticipation for learning the changes that I had trouble sleeping well! It was ridiculous.
Well, Tuesday morning, I woke up, studied personally and with Elder Smith (though it was kind of hard to focus on studies), and then we headed out to Rama 1, where the changes would be held. We arrived, had a testimony meeting with the other missionaries of the zone, and then we heard the changes. An area in Horqueta was closed. Concepcion 1B was closed. (The rumors about the visas were true). Elder Barreto was shipped out of his area... and I was shipped out of mine, leaving behind Elder Smith to take care of the people we had found together.
After hearing the changes, Elder Smith and I started the long, stressful process of packing, organizing the house, and saying goodbyes. The hard part of being a missionary in an area far from Asuncion is that you can't just say "bye" to everyone until 9:00 PM and then pack up your bags, go to sleep, and take a taxi to the chapel for changes. You have to pack up everything in the afternoon, run around as fast as you can to say farewell, and then be ready and waiting with all your bags at the bus terminal at about 10:00 to 10:30 p.m. to take a big "chuchi" bus to Asuncion, where you'll finally learn where you're going and who you'll be with the next morning. I rushed to pack and then went from house to house to let people know that I'd be leaving. For time's sake, I could only spend about 10 minutes with each individual or family, and even on that accelerated schedule I couldn't say bye to some of my "favorites." After the long day, Elder Barreto and I hopped on the bus towards Asuncion...
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| Dallin's final district meeting in Concepcion: with Elder Saavedra |
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| Dallin's final district meeting in Concepcion: Elder Smith, Elder Fairbanks and Elder & Sister Cranney (headed home) |
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| Good-bye to the E family ("the young men, at least") |
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| "Their nickname for me was 'Captain America.' So that's the story behind the salute." |
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| Familia C. |
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| Familia G. |
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| Elders Fairbanks & Saavedra |
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| Dallin's final district meeting in Concepcion |
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| Saying good-bye to I.R., "our miracle investigator." |
When we got to Asuncion, the assistants came and gave us colored stickers to put on our luggage to help with the logistics of the whole transfer process (it's sort of complicated). But truth is, I was a little disappointed because I saw that my stickers meant that my luggage would be shipped to Mariano Roque Alonso, the zone that includes Villa Hayes (my first area). I love that part of Paraguay, but I wanted to get to know other parts. Resigned to the likelihood that I'd probably return to Villa Hayes or a neighboring city, I hopped in the van and nervously waited to get to know my new comp. In the end, we went to Mariano, but that wasn't my ultimate destination. When we got there, Elder Bickley (one of the assistants) told me that my comp would be Elder Villacreses, one of the most humble, hardworking missionaries in Paraguay right now, and that my area would be closer to Asuncion. After a short wait, I got to know Elder Villacreses, and I learned where I would be going: Moroni.
So yeah, my new area is Moroni, and my new comp is Elder Villacreses (from Ecuador).
FUN FACTS:
-Moroni is the area of the first chapel and church unit here in Paraguay.
-The original sign from the first chapel in Paraguay is actually hanging on the bedroom wall in the apartment where I now live (I'll have to take a picture of that sometime).
-I will be attending church every week right next to the temple (yup, the temple is in my area).
-Are you guys familiar with the gospel art book of the church? Well if you have one, you should open it up to the page of a man baptizing a small girl in a baptismal font with light blue tiles. That man is the stake president here and that baptismal font is the font in the chapel here. (Hopefully, I'll be baptizing in that same font.) His daughter (the little girl in the photo) is nineteen years old now. Sort of cool, huh? It's not every day you meet people in official church photos.
Asuncion is a lot different than Concepcion. My area is full of mansions and BMWs are more common here than motorcycles. The people aren't very humble (financially) and it's actually been pretty hard to have lessons! In Concepcion, if we contacted a house, it was pretty much 50/50 chances that they'd kindly reject us or let us enter to share something quickly. Here, it's more like a 90% chance they'll rudely reject us, an 8% chance they'll kindly reject us, and about a 2% chance we'll actually be able to share something (and that doesn't even necessarily mean that they're interested in our message).
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| Here's the photo that Dallin describes above |
One of my favorite parts of being here so far, though, is working with two of our recent converts who are from Angola, Africa! Their names are M and S and they are hilarious. In Angola, they speak Portuguese, ("Man Portuguese. Not the woman Portuguese that they speak in Brazil." -M). That means that they have awesome half-African, half-Portuguese accents while they speak a complicated mixture of Portuguese and Spanish. On Friday, we headed out with Manuel to do visits and had a blast talking to him about the dangers of African lions and safari trips and how he wants to visit the USA.
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| "M's caption to the photo is 'tres extranjeros en un pais extranjero' or three foreigners in a foreign country (one American, one Ecuatoriano, and one Angoleño)" |
I wrote recently that this week we'd be hearing from Elder Rasband of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles as a mission. One of the perks of serving here in Moroni is that I actually got to see him twice. On Saturday, our whole mission joined up to go to a big conference (with the Asuncion South Mission as well) to hear Elder Rasband. It was a great reunion. Elder Rasband read portions of the dedicatory prayer of Paraguay for the preaching of the gospel and it was awesome to hear about how "temples" would bless the lives of the people and how the Lord will bless the missionaries that serve here to reach the people and help them change. The focus of Elder Rasband's message was to "elevate our vision" as missionaries. He said that President Hinckley often said, "You just have to do your best." But in one meeting with the Apostles, he said, "I've often said 'you just have to do your best,' but now I tell you that you have to do your very best." He said that as missionaries, we're working well and helping a lot of people, but that we can work harder and do more. The Lord is hastening his work and the church is ready to explode here in Paraguay. We have the Lord's promise that "hundreds of thousands will come to the truth of the gospel" (which is especially significant because there are only 90,000 members currently). It was a really special meeting and Elder Rasband actually gave every missionary the chance to personally shake his hand.
My second meeting with Elder Rasband was on Sunday. My new stake in Paraguay had the privilege of hearing him speak there in a special conference. The cool part? I was a last-minute addition to the special choir that sang "I believe in Christ" in Spanish, Guarani and English for the apostle. So during the conference, I had the privilege of sitting in pretty much the front row and then I sang, standing barely 10 feet away from Elder Rasband.
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| Elders Fairbanks & Villacreses (back left) & the special conference choir in Asuncion |
After the conference, Elder Villacreses and I were asked to do special divisions with two elders from Pedro Juan (a far-away city), who were staying here in Asuncion to do immigrations on Monday (today). So, on Sunday afternoon, I had the privilege of working, once again, with my ex-comp, Elder Brito. He's doing fantastically and is loving the mission in his new area, Pedro Juan, where he's training another Elder. It was fun to have the chance to catch up with him.
As I studied this week, thinking of all the crazy new changes in my life and of the new challenges I'll be facing here in Asuncion, I was touched by Nephi's words, "For I pray continually for [my people] by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry" (2 Nephi 33:3). Maybe here in Asuncion it will be more difficult to have lessons or to see investigators progress, but God expects me to care about them and worry about them just as much as I did in Concepcion. So while I work here in Moroni, I'll do my best to "pray continually for [my area]" and to really do my best to love the people here and to help them progress.
And that pretty much concludes my weekly letter. It's been a crazy week and I could literally write a decent-lengthed book about all the things that happened, but that's enough for today!
Love you guys!
Elder Fairbanks
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