Obera 12 - Voy a Encarnacion

2 November 2015
(Semana 30)

Well this transfer week brings TWO big peices of news...

first, Hermana Rigtrup vis staying in Oberà and will be TRAINING!!!! Wooooooo I´m going to be an abuela!!!! I´m so proud of my little hija!!!! and second, me voy a Encarnaciòn!!!!!! En PARAGUAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, I´ll finally be crossing the river, to the land of Burger King, Pizza Hut, and really good shopping. My new companion is Hna. Aquino, de Buenos Aires. YES I HAVE A LATINA COMPANION! After insanely neglecting my progression of Spanish for the past 3 months, I am very very very excited to have a Latina companion again. So, I don´t know too much about the new area except that I am like right in the city. like there aren't that many houses...so this should be interesting. I´m thinking of lots and lots of street contacting, which has never been my favorite, until nowww he he he its fine El Señor will for sure make that weakness into a strength :) 

Well, the news of my transfer to Encarnacion has me feeling all kinds of nervous and excited, but mostly feelings of peace, which is exactly what I prayed to feel when we got the call this morning from the leaders. This past week in Oberà was for sure a challenge, but the church was FILLED with 60 people which was much much improved from last weeks 25...everyone looked super happy yesterday for fast and testimony meeting. i dont know, there was just a really good spirit there. as for our area, we have 1 new investigator, none progressing (for now) and its just feeling a little dry. HOWEVER...hna rigtrup and i just finished a very capo and veryyyy detailed plan de area that is going to BLOW THESE AREGENTINES OUT OF THE WATER; at least it better we spent about 8 hours on the thing. Seriously though, we were CONVINCED we were staying together for another transfer, so we made a list of like 30 things we could do to keep having fun and not get sick of eachother. We even went to the Libreria (the bookstrore) and bought this game called, "Estanciero- juego traditional de Argentina", which turns out to be EXACTLY like MONOPOLY, which I love. and its even better because it is authentically Argentine :) We are determined to finish at least one game before I get shipped, off and I am currently in the lead...I´m honestly probably going to kick Hermana´s butt because I own the Buenos Aires monopoly (the most expensive) and I just put a third house on each of them muahahah :)

haha alright, what else happened this week...

oh yeah, on Saturday our lunch got canceled, so we took the liberty of making a fried empanadas feast (of which I will NEVER DO AGAIN), which was delicious, but the repercussions were almost immediate :/ hehe seriously though something that is delicious? sliced bananas and apples, fry it in empanada form, and then smother it in dulce de leche. yes.

Oh yes...the reason why the week was so hard...this week our recent convert was having a birthday and having a big asado (BBQ) of which we couldnt stay for. When we dropped off his card and refused to come in, he told us that he is sick of our lying and decieving and isnt ever coming to chuirch again, doesnt want to see us again, and we are bad missionaries...yeah that was about the most painful thing I´ve had to hear in the mission so far. Rejection from normal strangers is hard, but it happens, but the things that he said were so cruel and really destroyed my animo...thinking about it later, there were more things that we could've done to help him, but he had no right to tell us that. And its okay that he doesnt recognize all of the things, the prayers, the studies that we had directed towards him over the past three months. I know that Heavenly Father has seen our efforts, I know that I´m not a bad missionary. It was very rough and very humbling, and just gave me another opportunity to pour my heart out in supplication to the Lord, and find the strength and comfort that I needed.

With these recent converts and honestly anyone, the biggest struggle is to help people to become autosufficient. I can´t help but remember that quote from AP economics, "give a man a fish, feed him for a day. teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime" How?How do we teach them? How do we get them to really want it?  I can honestly say that I feel like I´ll be leaving the area better than i found it, which is always the goal. The progress has been so very minimal, but the spirit that was in the church yesterday was different, was better, and that to me IS something...also, something funny, yesterday i had to teach a class of 10 jovenes. they. are. crazy. teenagers are crazy, but their testimonies were so powerful, and such an inspiration to me. It was such a good opportuity to fill their young minds with my love for the mission work and this Gospel...

Sometimes I get so frustrated and forget that 1. this isnt my work, its His, so it doesnt matter if it isnt going my way. and 2. that I have been called to this work, this mission, this area, because He needs me here. I know that those things are true. I know that patience, humility, charity are virtues that I have yet to master, but I´m striving to gain everyday. Some of the most powerful tools would be prayer and our scriptures. 

This week I´ll be ponderizing Enos 1:4

And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.

When I read this verse, I could feel the Spirit testify to me of the power of prayer. I know He hears us, KNOWS us, and LOVES us. 

woah i cant believe im really going to paraguay...and that I have to pack. not too excited about packing, but oh I am excited for this next adventure :) thank you for everything, especially for some of the amazing emails I got this week, yáll are the best. 



have a good week!

les quiero

chau

hermana cannon