Dallin's Blog (Paraguay Asuncion North Mission): Our friend Goyo

Dear Friends and Family,

This last week was one of the most interesting weeks I've had for a long time. After leaving Asuncion and heading back to our area on Friday evening (after p-day), Elder Crofts and I stayed in our area all week. So for the first time in about two months, I was a "normal" missionary again. It was a great experience. We followed a regular scheduled routine, I kept up on fitness, we ate good food instead of just snacking on fast food, and best of all, we had some great lessons and met some great new people this week.

First off: Fitness

Lately I've been super dedicated at my morning exercises. I've done them off and on throughout my mission, and I've stayed in decent shape, but for some reason, these last two or three weeks, it's been really easy to wake up in the morning and hit the exercises hard. Then, after a whole week of good exercise, last night Elder Behrens convinced me to work out with him before going to sleep. I figured exercise is never a bad thing, so I agreed. He destroyed me though! He had me doing jump-squats, 2 minute wall-sits, abdominal workouts with weights, and tons of other stuff that left me exhausted. I thought I was working out well before, but 20 minutes with Elder Behrens taught me that I could definitely work out harder than I have been... we'll see what happens down the road.

Aside from regular fitness, another blessing of staying in my area (Mariano Roque Alonso) all week was that we actually ate some good food! We're away so often that we don't have members scheduled to feed us, but Elder Crofts and I have gotten pretty creative with our meals. Normally, we fry up some chicken with noodles, rice, potatoes, with some sort of sauce or spices, and stuff like that (recently we've experimented with baking food too). Elder Crofts is the chef of the companionship, and he does a great job, but this week, I threw in a few contributions of my own, namely: chinese fried rice, mashed potatoes, and pancakes. My fried rice ended up a little dry and I didn't cook the potatoes enough, so my mash came out lumpy. But I'm getting some good cooking practice in, so before long, I'll be a cooking master!

Elder Fairbanks

Elders Crofts & Fairbanks

Like I said earlier though, the best part of working in your own area all week is meeting, teaching, and helping the people there, so I guess I'll take a second to talk about a few of those people we've been able to meet, teach, and help this week.

E & N:

This is the couple that lives down by the river and has a super adorable little girl named M. Last Saturday we went to their house to invite them to church on Sunday, but there, we met N's sister who told us that E had her baby and that they were living in her house because it was more comfortable and safer than their little house by the river. She gave us directions to it but... directions here in Paraguay are never too reliable, so after looking for about half an hour, we decided to try another day...

Sunday afternoon, after having a few lessons we thought: hey, we're pretty sure we figured out the general area E and N live, let's pass by to see if they're there. Well, after just a few minutes of searching and asking around, we found them! We had a great lesson about the plan of Salvation and how they can live together as a family forever, which got them kind of excited, especially considering their new baby girl. Later in the week, in divisions, I stopped by one more time to visit them. We had a decent lesson about the restoration (E and N were both kind of tuning out despite our best efforts to keep them engaged), but in the end, when we invited them to church, to pray, and to read the Book of Mormon, they finally got more focused and excitedly said they would be coming. I'm really excited to see how this new little family progresses!

I spoke about her once before. Elder Crofts and I stopped by to visit her after receiving her as a referral from another investigator. After that lesson, Elder Crofts said "she's going to get baptized." because it went so well and she expressed her desire to learn so sincerely. Well... I'm not doubting her sincerity yet, but this week, we passed by 3 or 4 times on different days, but no matter when we stopped by, we just couldn't get ahold of her. Hopefully we can fit in a lesson with her this next week!

I'm getting to know E more recently. She's an investigator Elder Crofts taught for a long time before I got here, and the only reason she hasn't been baptized yet is that she has to get married to her boyfriend/husband/roommate dude. Pretty much every single lesson with her we teach the importance of the law of chastity and try to make a goal with her to get baptized soon. Well, we passed by Sunday afternoon and had a regular lesson with her. She was responsive and positive as usual, but we could tell that the importance of her marriage still wasn't sinking in. Before leaving, we opened up to one of my favorite scriptures of the bible, Matthew 10:39 (He that seeketh his life, shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for for my sake, shall find it -- or something like that). We explained that often in life we have our own plans as we look for happiness, but that really, until we set those plans aside and put God's will first, we actually won't ever find the happiness we're looking for. We ended the lesson on that note, and as we wrapped it up with a prayer, we could hear her crying. I didn't know her super well, so after the lesson, I asked Elder Crofts if we had said something that offended her, but he said something like: "I think, after all these months of listening to us, it finally hit her that she's going to have to make some changes. She might finally start to progress." When we passed by later that week, she firmly told us "I'm not going to get married." At first, Elder Crofts and I were both kind of shocked and disappointed at her response, but she continued explaining that she's already started looking for a job so that she can move out and live on her own, because in her mind, that would be better than marrying the man she's with now... We left her with the counsel to ask God in prayer what path she should take, so I don't know what she'll do, but she is starting to realize the need she has to make some changes in her life. I think we'll be hearing good news from her in the future.

GOYO

This is probably the most interesting man I've met in my whole time down here in Paraguay, and I'll just tell you guys now, we didn't have any special or spiritual experiences with him... One day Elder Crofts and I were walking down the street next to the river in our area and a car driving down the road in our direction swerved at us and stopped right in front of us before passing. We both thought we were going to get robbed, but out of the car hopped the happiest little German dude ever. Recognizing us as gringos, he started speaking to us in pretty good English (though with a odd, high-pitched, almost caffeinated-excited accent). He introduced himself as Goyo and told us that we needed to visit him someday. He explained where he lived and we marked down the visit. When we finally got around to passing by, he was out fixing his car. He invited us in and had us help him hold wires for him as he connected a yellow, flashing police light to the top of his old, falling-apart car. As we fixed his car -- and later, after we sat down and tried to start teaching him -- he told us all about himself. He's of German descent, though he was born here in Paraguay. He is fluent in Spanish, Guarani, English, German, Dutch, Macá, and Nivacle (the last two are other indigenous languages from Paraguay). He reads a little bit of Hebrew. He practices Judaism. He doesn't like the German Mennonites in the Chaco; he called them Neo-Nazis and said that when he's visited them before, they've said, "Goyo, your hair no is blonde. Your eyes no are blue. That is not good." Oh, and he's a private investigator... In the time we had together he also showed us his favorite brand of beer (though he only drinks "once a year"). Elder Crofts and I really don't know what to do with the guy! But we have decided that after the mission, I'm going to write a book set in Paraguay, called "Our Friend Goyo," about Paraguayan culture, customs, and all the weird things Goyo told us... So in about 5 or 6 years, keep your eyes open for "Our Friend Goyo" in bookstores near you!

In summary, it was just a great week; I've had great spiritual experiences, I've been able to work hard, and I got to meet and teach great people that might progress. I feel like the Lord really has been blessing me a lot the past few weeks. I have 5 or 6 more stories I'd love to share about some of the great lessons, teaching experiences, and things that happened over the past week, but I shared some of the key highlights, so that'll have to be enough. Just know that I'm doing fantastically down here and that I love you all tons! Thanks for all the support.

Love,
Elder Fairbanks

And here are some scriptures and their respective time frames that really surprised me during my personal studies

3 Nephi 5:1 [21-22 A.D.]

3 Nephi 6:16 [30 A.D.]

3 Nephi 7:8

No matter how good our lives are and how blessed and converted we are personally, if we don't keep humbly doing our duty, things can take a turn for the worst pretty fast!