New Companion, Same Area

¡Hola!

Tanto Tiempo!!! Sorry about not letting you know about cambios - it completely slipped my mind! I’m still in Ca’aguazú, but Elder Beramendi se fue al Ciudad del Este para ser un líder de distrito. Needless to say I was a little nervous to show my new companion, Elder Villegas, quien es de Santiago, Chile. He’s been out for 9 months, and was the trainer of Elder Clyde, another missionary who came with me. E’ Villegas arrived yesterday around noonish, and then we took a taxi to our pensión, where we could drop off his stuff. Then we ate lunch at a small restuarant called Bamboo. They make some great empañadas de Jamón y Queso, y tambien de ‘Mexicano’. Our district eats there after every district meeting. Anyways, about 3 we headed out after a quick planning session. We contacted a little bit, and talked with a conversa reciente y nuestro nuevo líder misional. Right when we got there, it started pouring like NO OTHER. By the way, I love idioms now. They are so great! So we spent about an hour, hour and a half, sharing scriptures, sang a song, and our investigator that lives with them came out. So we taught a quick lesson and checked up on him. Also, we talked about Guaraní and English. Fun stuff! Pala is shovel, and aguata he’ta is caminando muchismo. And Haku terere’y is demaisado calor. It was funny because one of the younger sons was trying to teach me the pronunciation... good stuff.  We left when we thought the rain had stopped for a while, enough to make it home. NOT! We got soaked! Plus I made a turn way too early so we got ‘lost’ a little bit. Not completely, but enough to not know the area too well. But we made it back, soaked to the bone. How about that for a welcome to your new area?? It’s all good though. We’ll probably be getting a lot more rain, now that it is full-on fall and going into winter. Changing the seasons in your head es tan díficil. Haha.

As for me, things are going great. I am getting accustomed, a little bit, to the weather and lifestyle here. My Castellaño (Spanish is from Spain, not spoken in Sudamerica... so they tell me... :) ) is getting better. I can understand the majority of the Spanish now. E’ Villegas speaks much more quickly than E’ Beramendi, so that will help my understanding a lot. We had a bautismo with the family Cuyari. Five of the kids were baptized. The father was baptized during conference and the mother, hopefully soon. She is re-timida, so we need to figure out how to help her, with the help of the members, because she only speaks Guaraní. But our other investigators are great! We had 8 baptisms last change, all in the month of Abril, and we should be have some more pretty quickly! E’ Beramendi really did work with his old campanions, during the past change, we’ve been able to prepare more people. If all goes well, we just might have up to 5 or 6 more this change! Yeah! I’m re-animado sobre esto!

Oh! Funny story. Because E’ Sorensen’s, a missionary in my district from Folsom, CA whose been out one change more than I have, his companion changed to be a Zone Leader in Encarnación, we were on divisions yesterday. As we were walking to his area, we were stopped by a jovencita, cerca 16 años, who said ‘Excuse me, but do you know English’ with a States accent. Qué sopresa! She had lived in CA for 5 años but had moved back to Paraguay. E’ Sorensen couldn’t talk in straight English - he had to use Spanglish. But we invited her to our English Class every Thursday, and she said she’s going to bring her classmates (when we talked to her, there were about 5 or 6 guys who were her classmates), so they could learn English. We were so surprised! How often does someone stop you in Paraguay, especially in Ca’aguazu where not everyone even speaks Spanish, and talks to you in perfect English??? So that was pretty cool! That’s my English for another month.... hahaha.

Yes... times. I’m 3 hours ahead of you right now, because of the time change this past month. Elder Watson and I SHOULD be on the same time, but I’m not sure. I haven’t caught him online yet so I can’t verify. But that sounds like a plan. I need to ask around to see if someone has telephones we can use... I think our Branch President does but I am not sure... but definitely. Probably around 4ish your time. That’s 7 here and should give me a good hour to talk and half hour to make the trek back to our pensión.

Woo hoo! Pictures! I still have yet to receive my first package, which I will probably get later this month. I will ask the adminstrador if he has received one tomorrow or the day after. That way I will know for sure if I get it at the next zone conference.

Woo hoo! Great to hear from Josh!!! I’m so excited for him! I can’t wait to hear where he is going! I’m sure he is really excited to be getting ready! I got his Dear Elder last week at zone conference, so I will work on a response that will hopefully get there before he leaves. :) I know that he is preparing his best to be an excellent servant of the Lord. Suerte amigo!

Oh, because my letters probably haven’t arrived, I want to wish Abe Wilson, Jon Cannon, Ryan Gillis and James Meiling the best of luck! That is amazing where you are going! I know the Lord has called each of you to the place where you will work the best in the Lord’s hands. Thanks for always being friends! If you can, let my parents know your mission addresses so I can write you! If anyone else from my BYU ward has received calls, I’d love to hear where to! I wrote a letter to Abe about a month ago, actually a little bit more, but if it takes 3 months, there’s no way he’ll get it before he hits the MTC. But I’m so excited for them!! Yeah!

Oh man! I bet the fruit trees are going to town!! The fruit should be pretty good by the time I get back! Sorry mom! I wish I could do that [mow the lawn], but I’m a little far to help out. We’ll be back before you know it.

Elder Bednar!! Sweet! Take advantage of it and take some good notes! :) I’m excited for y’all!

That’s too bad about BYU. I’m sure they will turn it around [They lost pretty bad to TCU in baseball].

The work here in Paraguay is going great! I’m having the time of my life! I’m learning so much! It is such a blessing to be able to serve the Lord and learn by the Spirit. It’s amazing to see the changes of Gospel of Jesucristo puede hacer in people. One of our investigators gave a prayer this past week where I could feel the Spirit so strongly. This really is the work of the Lord! I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the same church established by Jesus Christ when He came to the Earth. I know that the Book of Mormon contains the teachings of true prophets y las enseñanzas de Jesucristo. It truly testifies of Him. Through its teachings, along with the Holy Bible, we can come unto Him and prepare ourselves through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by proper authority (Baptism too!) and enduring to the end that we can enter the straight and narrow path that Jesus marked for us. Through ordinances like Baptism and the receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost we take steps towards returning to live with our Heavenly Father. I know that we can know the truth of all things through the power of the Holy Ghost. All we need to do is seek, and we shall find. Knock, and He will answer. I invite all to pray to our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, giving thanks and asking to know the truth and answers to our questions. I know that the Book of Mormon can answer questions of the soul, like ¿What purpose do we have in this Earth? and ¿ How can I avoid sins and live a better life? The answers are in this book. Sincerely pray, and you can know the truth for yourself.


Anyway, I am out of time. I love you! Take care of yourselves! Sigan adelante siempre! Les quiero mucho!!!

Con amor

Elder David Watson