Leaving Cuidad del Este

Traslados!!! [Transfers]

So these past 6 weeks have gone by so fast!!! This morning the Zone Leaders called us and said that I will be transferred to Rama 1 [First Branch] in Encarnacion [Paraguay]! It is right in the center of the city again, so I will have now served in the very center of the three largest cities in my mission! President must think I’m a super city girl, haha.

I am so sad to go. We have so much going on here in CdeE 1. I love it and I’m going to miss our investigators so much! Victor is going to get baptized and I’m not going to be here... and Armando and Francisco as well... so that is sad, but I know that I taught them what they need to know to get baptized and that I’ve helped them gain that testimony, and that is the greatest that I could have done!

I head to Encarnacion tomorrow night. So tonight I am going to say good bye to our investigators and tomorrow to some members. And then pack all night! Fun.  But I am excited for the change. I know God knows what he is doing. I’m going to miss Hermana Pitts so much... she is the greatest and it was so much fun together!

This past week we had splits with Hermana Rigtrup, Utah, and Hermana Watts, Nevada. It went really well! They have bikes in their area so I rode a bike for the first time on the mission! That was pretty sweet!

But guess what!!? As we were on splits, Hermana Pitts and I did service for one of their investigators. They live on a farm, so we went to their cow barn, and first we cleaned up... which means that we shoveled cow poop; heck, that stuff is HEAVY! If you can imagine, these two North American girls in their skirts shoveling cow poop in the middle of Paraguay... hahaha, yup, that was us! We then helped them milk the cows! I haven’t milked a cow since I was like 4! It was harder than it looks! And then they gave us 2 liters of the milk. So we went home and boiled it and it was pretty great, haha. But afterwards I smelled awful! Like a huge stench of cow poop.

After that we went to the house of these two ladies that the sisters had met the night before. The lesson was AMAZING, like one of the most spiritual of my mission. We basically just talked about Jesus Christ and testified of him. The Hermanas loved the way that we pray in the church and both wanted to try it out that night with us. They were so excited! It was very special! 

Then Armando! Heck, he is awesome. He is one of our investigators, and is amazing. He has so many questions, but they are good questions. He wants to know if the church is true. He always reads everything and prays and has come to church for the second time in a row yesterday! On Thursday, we had a lesson with him and some members. The brother got into some deep doctrine stuff. He explained really well and it was super spiritual. Yesterday Armando had even MORE questions about what the brother said. So it is really trying, and it is testing how much I actually know. But it surprises me that I can answer almost all of his questions!

Armando

 

 

Hermana Pitts and Armando

Me with Hermana Pitts and Armando

Victor is going to be baptized the 30th!! That is the plan, anyways. He is awesome and is so humble, and honestly he is amazing! 

Lots of work this past week, lots of fun and lots of success. It was great and it makes me even sadder to leave but I know I’m needed there in Rama 1! It is where Hermana Pitts was before she came here, so she has told me a lot about it!

Hermana Bernal from Hawaii gave me some plum powder and we ate it with pineapple. I felt back in Hawaii again.

 

I know this church is true. I feel it every time I teach. I know that God loves each of us! I’m so thankful for my trials in life because I have learned SO much from them and have really come to know my Savior! Chao from Ciudad del Este, next week it’ll be from Encarnacion!! And I’ll be with Hermana Martinez, a different one, she is from Uruguay!

Hermana Newell

Itaipu and A Week of Miracles

Sooo, I officially went to Brazil today!!!

Two weeks ago we crossed the bridge [River Paraná, separating Paraguay and Brazil] but we weren’t sure if we actually hit Brazil, but today we went to Itaipu. It is the biggest Dam in the world, right here in Paraguay!!! 

And part of the tour enters into Brazil. It was pretty sweet! Honestly though, the Dam, heck it was amazing. It was HUGE!

We took a tour bus ride and they explained everything.

Brazil and Paraguay from the middle of the dam

Then for lunch we had Paninis and Waffles!!! It has been like a year since I’ve had waffles. It was awesome! So that was P-Day!

Oh, but do you want to know the terror of the day? Every night we are supposed to send a text to our district leaders when we arrive home, right? So, last night our zone leaders call and are like, ¨Did you hear from the sisters in Hernandarias 3?” And we were like, “no...” The sisters had never sent anything and their phone was off and we couldn’t contact them. So Elder Rigby went over to their place with his comp, and the owners said that they couldn’t go up to see if the Hermanas were home. So the Elders went back home. This morning they went back over and they contacted us and said that the girls weren’t home!!

So now Hermana Pitts and I, the zone leaders and Elder Rigby are freaking out. We don’t know what happened to these girls and we are in Paraguay, so anything could happen. We called their Branch President. He went over there again, and finally the Hermanas call us! They are like, ¨Hey so we are at home, what´s up?” Heck! So they were at home the whole time, but their phone stopped working... yeah that was awful this morning... but they are safe and sound so all is good!

This past week was great! Except the trip home from Encarnacion on Tuesday was AWFUL, AGAIN, but it´s all good! While there we received a reference for an investigator. His name is Armando. His mom is going to be baptized in a different town, but he came to Ciudad del Este to study and he lives super close to us! So we met with Armando, he is SOO cool! He is 18, the first lesson, he asked how he could serve a mission! He took the lessons from the Elders with his mom beforehand! So we have had two lessons with him and he came to church yesterday! Tonight we have another lesson and hope to set a baptismal date! 

This past week we had a ton of little miracles and tons of lessons with members which went really well! We found tons of new people and families and we have been seeing huge progress in our investigators. Victor is going to have his interview this next Saturday, we hope! He is the coolest! 

We almost got eaten by a dog the other day... but all is well! Ha-ha. Uhm, que mas? My Guarani and Portuguese are honestly getting a lot better! I can understand the Portuguese and I’m practicing speaking it. And the Guarani I can understand a little bit and say some things. It is going well! 

Thank you all for everything! 

Hermana Newell

Many Conferences and a Baptism

So this past week was very hectic! On Wednesday we had our zone conference with President and Sister LaPierre.  As leaders we were in charge of putting it all together. So we had been working on it for that past couple of weeks. It went really well! That night we had the baptism for Julio and Carlos! It was soo amazing. They are adorable and were so excited to be baptized. It was really sweet! 

Carlos and Julio with their mom, Liliana, at their baptism!

The next day, Elder Madder and a few other Elders had emergency transfers. Uhm, so it is a rule that we can´t play soccer in the mission and some of the zone leaders were playing soccer, so President decided to switch them out... so it was really strange! He had to leave that night. It was super sad because he and Elder Morris were like best of friends! (They were the elders in our ward.) And so Elder Gomez came, he is a mini misionero [youth]. He is cool. 

Friday we had splits with Hermana Nilson and Martinez, and then Saturday and Sunday was General Conference!!!! 

I absolutely loved conference! Every talk, I learned something and God really answered my questions. I loved Elder Eyring’s talk and President Monson was amazing. His talk was short but so powerful! And of course, Elder Holland was amazing. I also, along with my mom, really liked the talk about the refugees and how we really need to help all, no matter their circumstances or past, to accept and help, to make a difference in the world and help God`s children. I loved them all. I don’t have my notes with me right now, but it was amazing! 

The cake for a birthday after conference.

Then! At 11 Sunday night (yesterday) we got on the bus to come to Encarnacion again for our leadership meeting. Heck, it was the worst night ever, haha. At like three in the morning three ladies with babies got on the bus, soo of course, we stood up so that they could have our spots because the elders were already standing. And the Paraguayan dudes don’t do anything!!! So we stood up for like three hours and I was so car sick. But all is well now! Tomorrow night we do it again to go home!

Traveling to leadership meeting. We practically had the whole bus to ourselves!

These were the 10 commandments in the bus... interesting, we thought, haha

I love the mission. It is the greatest thing out there and I have learned so much about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I love him and I know that he lives! This is his church and we have a living prophet!

Hermana Newell