SEMANA 34!!!

Hola Todos!

(Haha) This week was a good one! Nothing super eventful happened, but it was an awesome week! We've really been trying to focus a lot more on working with part-member families. So, we've been working with this menos activo (less active memeber) named Marta and her 17 year old sister in law named Ana! They're both awesome! So, we were out early Sunday morning looking for investigators to come to church and they called us, and Marta was like, ¨Hey, we want to come to church, can you guys come get us?¨ We were just shocked, and we're like ¨YEAH¨ (haha) So, we walked clear to the other end of our area to take them to church, but hey, it was all worth it! (haha) We have a cita (appointment) with them tonight and we're gonna invite Ana to be baptized! Holla!

AHH!! Last P-day was the BEST!!! (haha) I told you we were going to go fishing with the FAmila Cesped right?  It was SO FUN!!!  haha I kept having flashbacks of my childhood fishing trips with Grandpa John!  The best part was after we ATE THEM!!!  Hahaha I ate river fish from Paraguay and they were really good!  It was a party for sure...  Haha I love the Familia Cesped.

Bueno Teofido is still progressing un poco a poco...  He couldn't come to church again this week because of his work...  BUT we had an awesome lesson with the Bishop and his wife!  We taught him the Restoration because he didn't really understand it the first time we taught him, and he understood PERFECTLY this time!  He's so awesome, hes reading from the Book of Mormon, saying his prayers and keeping all of his commitments except coming to church!  I will never understand why it's so hard for the Paraguayos to come to church...  haha but its fing we just need to have some patience!  

Yeah that's about it this week it was a good one!  Thank you all for the Birthday wishes!  Haha Hermana Bennett is planning something for Saturday during lunch I think so I'll let you know how that goes!  Have an awesome week! Love you all!

Hermana Austin

SEMANA 33!!!

Hola Todos!

Wow, this week was absolutely AWESOME! (haha) So, Patricia got baptized on Saturday, and it was great! One of the best baptisms of my mission, honestly! The entire Primary came to support her and her family, and they even sang a musical number, it was so cute! I just love the Famila Cesped so much! We stopped by and visited them yesterday, and they invited us to their house today for Family night! (haha) We're gonna go by at like 3:30 or 4:00, and get this, go FISHING!!! (haha) I'm so excited, it's gonna be so fun! We also planned a really cool lesson on being fishers of men...It's gonna turn out really awesome, and I'm super excited! Don't worry, I'll send pictures next week! I just feel so at home with them, it's the best! They told us yesterday that they're so grateful for all of our help and that they think of us as family. I just love the mission! I cant even tell you how happy it makes me to see this family coming back to church. We talked yesterday about the importance of the temple, and they told us they are going to start preparing to go! They're just an awesome family!

Also we had intercambios (exchanges) again with the Hermana Lideres (sister leaders) this week! I went to Fernando de la Mora with Hermana Cheney, and it was so fun to work with her for a day again! And see a different area! She's doing awesome, and it was a good day! Were like best friends!  

Also, Teofido is still progressing a BUNCH! He couldn't come to church this week 'cause he works every other Sunday, apparently, but si o si, he's coming this Sunday and is going to get baptized on my BIRTHDAY!!! holla! (haha) I'm so stoked its going to be great! He just gets it and it's awesome!  

That's about it for this week, it was a great week! I sure do love the Mission! Hope you all have a good one! Love you all!

Hermana Austin

SEMANA 32!!!

Hola Todos!  

Wow, this week was great! First of all...we came across a gold mine on Monday after I wrote you all. (haha) We were walking around the grocery store, and all of a sudden we saw JIFF Peanut Butter! (haha) I was like a kid in a candy store, no joke! (haha) It was the greatest P-Day of my life! We bought like six of them, which probably wasn't necessary, (haha) but that's what we did! Needless to say, we've been eating peanut butter with everything, and I'm hoping it lasts for a while, 'cause I love peanut butter!

Anyways, like I said, this week was awesome! First of all, I'll give you all a little update on Teofido! He's AMAZING! We were definitely guided to finding him and Ruth. Anyways, we visited him on Thursday with an RM in our ward named Fernando. Let's just say Fernando's legit! (haha) It was like teaching with another missionary.  Anyways, Fernando just got Teofido to open up, and he told us that he was in a really bad place when we found him, but since we've come and started to teach him about the Savior, his life's gotten a whole lot better, and that he's willing to do whatever it takes to change! He even showed it on Sunday, and came to church after working for 24 hours on Saturday! He's got his baptismal date for the 25th of April!  

We are also still working a lot with the Familia Cesped! You all already know about them and the situation. We passed by to visit them again on Tuesday, and to our surprise, Antonio had drank again... It was pretty sad, I'm not gonna lie, but we're learning we have to have patience! We talked about repentance and he told us that he wants to stop for his family. We told him we were there to support him, and that he just needs to keep TRYING to do the things he knows he needs to do. Saddest part about it, is we don't feel like we should wait any longer on Patricia's baptism. She NEEDS to get baptized, she's ready, and she shouldn't have to wait until her dad can do it. She's getting baptized this Saturday! I'm super excited, 'cause I love this family. I mean it's not exactly what I hoped for, but they're still doing awesome! They came to church again yesterday, and everything!  

Cool little tidbit on the familia Cesped! So on Saturday they had a Birthday party for their youngest Juancito. It was so cool! (haha) Marta made hot chocolate with cookies, and we ate cake with the whole neighborhood! It was so CHILL!! So Paraguayo. It was just like a little neighborhood get together! I kept thinking about the parties back home, and how much everyone stresses over the games, and the gifts, and every little detail, and here in Paraguay it's like "Hey Juan turned two, let's eat some cake and hot chocolate with cookies!" SUPER TRANQUILO!! (haha) I love it here!  

Anyways, life's good! I love it here, and I love being a missionary! Thank you all for your support! Have an awesome week, love you all!

Love, Hermana Austin

SEMANA 31!!!

Hola Todos!  

Wow, this week was absolutely NUTS!!! (haha) We had interviews on Tuesday, a Ward Activity (that no one came to) on Friday, and then Conference Saturday and Sunday... (haha) To put it simply, between all of that, we didn't have a lot of time to work! (haha) BUT it was a good week! Ruth got baptized yesterday, and it was a super stressful good day! (haha) I'm just going to tell you guys what I wrote in my journal last night, 'cause it about sums up my week!

5-Abril-2015

Wow, today was CRAZY!! To start things off, we woke up and had to cook brownies for Ruth's baptism. So, I start making the batter and realize that we don't have ANY eggs! So then, I'm just like, "Crap! What the freak are we gonna do?..."  There were really only 2 options, call the Elders and ask them to make them, or we can eat pororo.  I chose to call the Elders... Let's just say those guys are life savers!!! Elder Fox and Elder Gavidia were more than willing to make the cake! Slight problem was, there stove didn't work, so they had to bring the brownie batter to the church so that we could make it there.

But with that taken care of we left after our studies to look for investigators to take to church. So, we went looking for the Familia Cesped first, and they were home, but the cayway Paraguayos told us they weren't going to come, so we left them to go look for Ruth. So, we find Ruth along with some of her neighbor friends, and they were like "Hey we want to come too!" So, there I find myself walking to church with 5 kids under the age of 13...  Awesome. But hey, one of them named Yessica, who's already been to church a few times was like "Cuando puedo bautizarme?" ("When can i get baptized?") We were like, "This Saturday!" (haha) We have to talk to her mom, but there's a chance we'll be having a baptism this Saturday!  

Anyways, as we were walking to the church, we saw Teofido, Ruth's dad coming home from work. (He works 24hrs on Saturdays) So, we invited him to church and Ruth's baptism. He told us he was going to shower and meet us there at 1:30. We left, praying that he would make it!  

So, we finally get to the church, get the kids settled in, and then went to put the batter from the Elders in the oven. Psych! Hermana Austin and Hermana Bennett can't catch a break today. The oven in our church DOESN'T WORK!! (haha) Luckily there was a little bit of popcorn in the church, so we decided to just go ahead and make that! Poor Ruth, right? Anyways, so we missed the Prophets talk making the stupid pororo, and FINALLY got settled in watching conference. Let's just say kids and Conference don't mix... (haha) I felt like I was at home all over again, trying to get them to stop being noisy so they didn't bug all the members around us. Problem is, these kids aren't my siblings... so I couldn't be very persuasive... (haha) At about 1:45 I look out and see Teofido waiting in the Lobby!!! (hahaha) He came to CHURCH!!! It was great! He was in time to see the end of Uchtdorf's talk and listen to the choir sing! It was AWESOME!!

Bueno, it's a really long journal entry but let's just say Teofido coming to church completely made my day! He was also at Ruth's baptism which was GREAT!! He felt the spirit so strong and afterwards told me that he's going to do everything he can to come every week!  

It was a great week! I love it here, and we're working so hard! Even the days that are crazy are good days! (hahaha) Love you all; thank you for your support and prayers! Have an awesome week!

Hermana Austin

SEMANA 30!!!

Hola Todos!

So this week was really good! (haha) Definitely the best part was that it FINALLY cooled off a little bit! The weather has started to cool off and it's the best! (haha) I actually put on a sweatshirt the other night when we got back... Haven't done that since I was in my training!  

But really, this week was great! Ruth came to church yesterday again and is going to get baptized on Sunday in between Conference, which is going to be SICK because there are going to be a TON of people there! She's literally such an awesome girl. She lives alone with her dad and 4 brothers, and basically is the mom. She's told us that she cleans the house and washes all of there clothes and cooks. Can you imagine being 12 years old and basically being the mom? But she's great! She's super excited about her baptism, and super excited about the church! I just love her so much and I want what's best for her.

Also little update on the Familia Cesped... They are still doing good! Sad thing is, it rained yesterday before church, so they didn't come! Ahh, the Paraguayos are so lazy when it comes to bad weather... (haha) It was like a drizzle, and we passed by yesterday morning, and they were like, ''It's cold. We can't come today." So they didn't come yesterday... Sad thing is, Hermano Cesped was going to have an interview with the bishop to get the priesthood, and now we're going to have to wait 2 WEEKS because of Conference... But it's okay. I just need to be a more patient missionary... (haha) I'm so excited for Patricia's baptism though. It's going to be such an awesome day!  

Also, I finally feel like we have the confidence of the members! There's one family in our ward that's literally AMAZING! They're named the Familia Rios, and they're just the coolest most chill family ever. We ate lunch with them on Saturday, and then went to a cita (appointment) with Hermano Rios, and he just really opened up to us and told us his families conversion story, and get this! So, his parents met with the missionaries and wanted to get baptized, but had to get married to live the law of chastity, right? (haha) So, his mom decides that she doesn't want to get baptized if she has to get married. The missionaries were going to have a wedding and a baptism, so they invited his parents and they decided to go. So, his family shows up at the wedding and it was THEIR WEDDING!!! (hahaha) Can you imagine? Those missionaries sure had some faith... But it all worked out, his parents got married and baptized that day!  

Lets see... (haha) a whole lot happened this week but I don't have much more time! I love you all...thank you so much for your letters and support. Have an awesome week!  

Hermana Austin

SEMANA 29!!!

Hola Todos!

Wow, it was such a good week! Mirian got baptized on Saturday and it was awesome! (haha) She's so funny. She kept on saying AMEN at random times during the service...like the people would be in the middle of their talk and she would just blurt out AMEN... It was really funny, but really it was a great baptism. We finally got a little bit of support from the ward. The Relief Society President even made the cake! It was a good day!

(haha) So, on Wednesday we had to go to the office to take this test that we have to take 'cause Hermana Bennett's in her training... It's always kind of a pain to go to the office 'cause we have to get up like an hour early and we lose a lot of time traveling on the bus. So, anyways, we leave and catch our bus which was Linea 51 and head out for the office... Here's the thing though, when we travel here, we just know that we're supposed to get off for this random landmark that the Zone Leaders tell us about! (haha) So, in this case, we were looking for the Iglesia Catolica! (Catholic Church) We start going and I asked the guy sitting next to me if the bus was going to pass by the church soon and he was like, "No, you have to get off on this street and go in another direction." (haha) I was SO confused, and the thing that made it really hard was Hermana Bennett has no clue 'cause she's only been to the offices like twice. It was all on me and I was just praying that I could remember and figure it out. So we got off at one of the main streets in Paraguay called Mariscal Lopez, and took this guy's directions and took another bus and started down Mariscal Lopez,... I've been to the office enough times to know that there's a McDonalds right around where we need to get off. Anyway, we're riding along and NOTHING looks familiar! (haha) FINALLY I realized we were going in the wrong direction, completely! (haha) So, we got off, crossed the street, took ANOTHER bus, and finally found the McDonalds two blocks away from where we originally got off... THREE buses and a WHOLE LOT of money later! But, it was fine, (haha) we were just lost for a few minutes...

ANYWAYS... (haha) the Familia Cesped is doing AWESOME!!! (haha) They came to church yesterday and brought on of our investigators with them! patricia for sure is going to get baptized soon. We are just waiting for her dad to be able to get the priesthood 'cause it'll just be SO much better for the entire family if he can baptize her. But, for sure, it's going to happen sometime in the next few weeks!

We are also working with a guy and his daughter, Teofido y Ruth, and they are AWESOME!!! Literally progressing so much! They don't know a whole lot about God, or religion, but are ready and willing to learn, so we're teaching them! They're great! Ruth prayed for the first time yesterday, and it was so cute! She's 12 and has never prayed in her life. She also came to church last week and yesterday, and Teofido for sure is coming this Sunday! They're for sure going to get baptized! They both have a date for the 11th of April!

Anyways, that's about it for this week! Life is good, and I love the mission! Thank you all for all of your support! I love you, have an awesome week!

Hermana Austin