Being creepy and cooling off with the fan.

 Reenacting a pic of my Dad on his mission to Colombia.

Took forever to write today because we went on a sweet hike to a place llamado (called) Cerro Mbmby! 

It was tiiiight. In Dad terms my “saw” is very sharp and hopefully I will leave enough time to send the pics today!

This week was Swagalishish. . . but in a spiritual way. 

We had alot of animo... which I don’t know how to say in English. I’m losing mi Ingles! We had tons of spirit and we worked hard! To save time and still get the info out I will paste my weekly email to my Mission Presidente.

 Hola Presidente!

Well, we had a very good week in Yby Yau. We had lots of animo and worked HARD! I loved it! We are trying to really focus on finding the people ready for our message and also the leaders we are looking for for our ward. Hermana Willis told me a story of a town that wanted a chapel so they looked in the phone book for a carpenter and started there (teaching and eventually baptizing him and so forth). We are doing the same thing. If we want this strong ward, we’ve gotta look for the leaders we need. We organized a list of our ward and much like a fantasy football league we put investigators and members into callings. We know that that isn’t going to be exactly how it turns out or anything, but it is helpful to have a goal of a dream of who these people could become. We also, of course, had some spaces blank and there we wrote attributes we would want in these people and recognize (such as a loving disposition, a want to follow christ, humble etc...) and now we are finding and fighting like lions to find these leaders we need. 

This week Daniel Vera (an investigator) came to church and it was AWESOME! Nothing quite like those people who are looking for the truth and then do their part-  searching to find it! Compromisos (promises) are So SO vital in conversion for that exact reason. God sends us blessings when we keep his commandments. We (as missionaries) explain these commandments or compromisos and invite them to keep them. In turn we invite them to partake of the sweet blessings God promises all who keep the commandments 

 (Mosiah 2¨41). 

The reason we get so stoked when people keep their compromisos is because we know that God will bless them and then they’re gonna want more and more of that same happiness! It is easier to explain the promised blessings and peace of the spirit once they have had a taste. 

I am learning so much from God, The Elders, the investigators (and All the people here) and SO SO SO much from Hermana Willis. I thank God every day for this opportunity to truly get to know Him, get to serve and help my brothers and sisters and get to strengthen my own testimony and knowledge of this gospel. Win! Win! Win! situation. Its not always easy, but as long as I look up rather than down on hard days, I always remember and see that is it worth it. 

Let me know if there is anything more I can be doing to serve you, your family, the mission, my ward, the people--- Anything!

Thank you for all that you and your Wife do. 

Love Hermana Valenzuela 

That is a pretty accurate recap of the week and it went by in a flash, a happy flash. 

I can now pray in Guarani... except only the steps of praying. For example: I can say “Father in Heaven”, “I am thankful for”, and “te pido por”, and then “In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen” , .... but then the actual things I still have to say in Spanish, because I don’t have the vocab I need yet “but I´m learning” (Mr. Beans guy in Rat Race)  

I can also say things like “May we sing for you?”, “May we pray?” , and

 “It is hot”(used daily)

Pray for my Guarani, because I super want to learn! Also pray for Romina and Lorenza who are being kind enough to teach us for about 30minutes a week. We had 54 contacts this week and I said WOOHOO! and HNA Willis said “Oh yeah, your Dads number!” -proving that I talk about you guys (maybe too much) but it’s only because I super duper (like the skate team) love you all! 

This whole mission thing is going along swimmingly and I thank all for their help-(Prayers, financials, emails, letters, packages, happy thoughts, EVERYTHING!) 

I couldn’t do it without you!

I called the office this week and they said there is MAIL for me!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! It usually takes about a month for it to actually GET to me because we are in our little corner of the jungle, but even just knowing it’s there is comforting.

Same thing with home. Sometimes I get a little teary (or a lot) thinking of home but even just knowing home is there is comforting. You are all there and eso me da consuelo. It makes me think of our other home, Cloud 9, los cielos, Heaven.... I know it’s there and I know He is there. I know that my Redeemer lives... What comfort this sweet sentence gives.... 

That is my message after a happy week (not an easy week... but happy) of hard work. .... On to another I go! 

I continue to invite those who want to know the Lord more to seek and they WILL find, knock and it Shall be opened unto. . . but first you gotta keep your compromisos! (To see these same thoughts put more beautifully read a talk David A Bednar gave feb 3 2006 llamado (called) Seek Learning by Faith) 

Love to all from the sweaty jungle of Paraguay,

Hermana Valenzuela