Postcards From Paraguay

Mba'éichapa! Well here we are in Yby Yau, only this week when I say "we" it`s only 50% the same as it has been the last 4 months. Of course I am still here and the other 50% is my new Compañera,Hermana Santos! She is from Guatemala and it a Hoot and a half! I love her to death and it only been 5 days! I pray that together she and I can suffer with joy! We really have very similar personalities and I LOVE observing a new missionary. I love how this gal teaches! She is so funny and bubbly, yet not afraid to say it how it is. We are here to preach repentance and she is not afraid to BE BOLD! I hope it rubs off on me. We are going to try to focus this week (and maybe this change) on our Jumbo list of MenosActivos and see if we can help some of these brother and sisters who have previously felt the stirring in the hearts REMEBER,REMEBER! It´s funny how you can live in the same place, but when it´s with someone new everything feels completely different! We welcomed Hermana Santos to our crazy jungle town with a classic chaotic Tarde De Rama. We may have scared her a little bit, but I think she`s getting a feel for the craziness that is our lives here. We did our weekly cleaning the chapel on Saturday and then we went home to prepare to teach our classes Sunday. Also this week it´s our turn to teach Instituto. I wasn´t kidding when I told her WE are the ward here. haha. We really do it all, but at least we do it together. That´s what I love most about this area/our little ward; because we are so few, we REALLY support/rely on each other and we make an excellent team. I called my family yesterday. It was the best and the worst. hahaha... Like eating ice cream after a month of dieting, of course it`s delicious!, but knowing you can´t have it everyday almost makes you wish you hadn`t eaten it and tasted of it`s sweetness! I sure do love the faces that smiled back at me on the computer screen. I think the part that got to me most was talking to my little brother, Justiz. He is leaving for his mission in August (Dominican Republic).That was the last time I will be able to talk to him in a very long time. He asked for advice and I just welled up and bawled and told him to give his whole heart to Our Lord. Also my Dad asked me to bear my testimony to all of my family... I felt like Moroni, though he wasn`t fancy in writing, God chose him to seal up and write the last testimony in all of The Book of Mormon. Although I didn´t speak as eloquently and magnificently as I would have wished, I hope that my simple testimony of a Father in Heaven who loves us touched their hearts so far away. Just as Moroni`s has, through the power of the Holy Ghost, touched millions of people`s hearts years after he carved his testimony on Golden Plates and sealed them up in obedience to Our Father in Heaven. I hope my Family (and anyone who reads this) knows that I KNOW there is a God. I know that he is Our Father and I know that we find the way back to Him in this, His true and Restored Gospel! I love my family and I really really hope (and pray constantly) that they each will follow Christ, repent and be welcomed happily home because I want my family to be Forever. I know that families CAN be together forever. I know it now even firmer than I did 4 months ago. The mission is at times hard, especially after Skype,but I know that my Example/my actions is the strongest tesimony I can give to those I love SO MUCH. I hope they can hear my actions loud and clear. I pray that they will open their hearts and listen. Now I am just refocusing on Yby Yau and these souls, these sons and daughters of My God, these My other brothers and sisters, whom also need to hear my testimony, need this light and truth in their lifes, need to know that Father in Heaven wants them to be able to come home. They need to "know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins"(2Ne25:26). I miss my Family, but I love this work. I love bringing joy and love and knowledge of Eternal Families to people`s doors. I am sad when those doors get closed in my face, but I press onward because I know how vital the message I carry is. We have the truth! And we have the INCREDIBLE privledge to help bring that truth to the World! It´s hard work, sometimes it is REALLY REALLY hard, but it never stops being worth it. With all the love in my heart Hermana Valenzuela