Entering Paraguayan Winter...

Dear Friends and Family,


Winter is finally starting here in Paraguay (Which is great because I'm tired of sweating all day, every day), but the bummer is that that means it's starting to drizzle a lot more. I've only lived here for a little over a year and a half, so I'm not 100% sure what kind of weather the seasonal changes typically bring, but this year the sky is dropping a lot more precipitation than usual (and with that we've been dealing with astronomical levels of mosquitos and mud and all the other unpleasant things that being wet all the time bring). At least it's not hot! Haha.


So, like I said, it's been raining a lot more lately; not the typical 5 minute torrential downpour traditional to Paraguay. But instead, unceasing day-long-drizzles. It's not raining enough to get us soaked, but it's wet enough that we can't enjoy being dry either... and with that weather, it sure seems like the majority of people have started their annual hybernation, because we're being received a lot less in our regular contacts. The climate change has brought some blessings with it at the same time, though! We couldn't do as many visits with investigators this week, but we sure did get to know a lot more members! One of the bigger struggles I've had in Mariano C is that I've never gotten around to knowing the members super well. There are so many that regularly attend (about 200 people in the regular weekly church services) that it's almost impossible to put names with faces (or even start recognizing faces at all for that matter) unless you visit those members during the week. This week -- not necessarily by design -- we kept on stumbling across member after member. We'd go to lunch with some members we know and they'd give us a list of 2 or 3 less-active families we could visit, and a bunch of stuff like that. When this Sunday rolled around (and the rain finally started drying up), I recognized a lot more faces in church! It's an exciting time to be working in Mariano.

Though it was harder to find new investigators this week, we are still seeing great progress with some of the people we've found before: M (a 24-ish year old, studying to be some type of industrial engineer) read the Book of Mormon on his own and is coming up with really great questions; A (a 50-ish year-old grandma whose catchphrase is "no hay drama,") understood really well the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to know if it's true; M and D (the super awesome investigators I've mentioned before) are just as awesome as ever and will both be baptized within a month or two; and S (a 25-ish year-old) shared with us some really interesting stories about her oldest son (who is 4 currently) and how when he was about two he would randomly say things like, "You guys aren't my parents. I left my papa God and my mama and 'mi amigo fiel, Jesus' (my faithful friend, Jesus) in Heaven." These are some of the success storeis from the week.

On Thursday, I also had the opportunity to do divisions with a fairly new zone leader named Elder Vargas from Chile. He's an incredible teacher and I probably learned more from him than he did from me! Haha. We had a pretty great day -- including a fun visit to an alcoholic new investigator of ours named D. In the middle of a lesson in the which he asked for our help to get him to stop drinking, he repeatedly grabbed a bottle by his feet to take quick gulps of alcohol despite our invitation for him not to drink during our lesson... I really hope we can help this guy out!

ZONE CONFERENCE IN CONCEPCION

After we wrapped up our Thursday divison we prepared ourselves for a weekend trip to my favorite city in Paraguay (yeah, I know I shouldn't have favorites). Friday afternoon we had a great trip up with familia Evans, and, upon our arrival in Concepcion, we ordered pizza and icecream for the conference the following day. The conference on Saturday went fantastically and we all enjoyed the trainings prepared by President, Hermana Evans, and the Zone Leaders.

After wrapping up the conference I had the chance to go back to my old area, Concepcion 3B to do a 2-3 hour division with Elder Staheli, another new, great zone leader here. We didn't have much time, and the point of the division was to work together, not to visit all my favorite members and converts, so we mostly just contacted and looked for new investigators for the elders that are currently working in that area. But in the last 10 minutes of the division (before we had to walk all the way back to the center of Concepcion -- a 40 minute walk) I had the chance to stop by the Familia Encina (one of my favorite families in the whole mission) and say what was probably my final goodbye to them in person. (Concepcion is so far away that I won't be able to travel out there to say goodbye when I actually finish the mission.) Though it was short, it was a very sweet experience, especially hearing that they are all still active in the church and that "I" is the new 2nd couselor in the young men's presidency of the branch. As far as I am currently aware, there is no joy greater than helping someone come to know the truth of the restored gospel and seeing them months later, just as firmly fixed in the faith.

La Familia Encina

Concepcion, Paraguay

After the divisions, Elder Villacreses and I waited for our bus to leave Concepcion at 11:30 to take us back to Mariano so we could attend church services there. We got to Mariano at 5:45 in the morning (after not sleeping too well on the bus itself), slept for half-an-hour more, and then went to church where... I accidently took another hour long nap during sacrament meeting... haha. All I remember is thinking, "I have to stay awake," pinching myself, lifting up one of my legs to keep my focused, and then waking up five minutes later with the same thought, only to fall asleep again and repeat the process. It was a long hour of constantly waking up without ever realizing I was asleep. It sure was good to get a regular night of sleep Sunday Night!

Anyways, that's a quick run-through of my week in Paraguay. We wrapped up our last trip of the change too, so from here on until transfers Elder Villacreses and I are just going to be working in our area, waiting to know whether or not we have changes!
I love you all tons. Thanks for the love, the support, and the emails! I hope everything's going well for all of you!


Love,


Elder Fairbanks