On Monday I lost my AGENDA! 

It was terrible and we´ve been super lost without it! I plan everything and have all the references and phone numbers and blahhhh.... it was terrible terrible terrible. 

 I think  lost it on a bus. Im also sad because it was the Agenda I have used the best. SUPER full and organized and... I feel like a lost a chunk of my mission! 

Today we went Bowling. Elder Guther and I quoted Jim Gaffigan. Laughs were shared. I tied with my comp (really she won but I was winning like the whole time and then she said we should tie so I threw gutter balls but then she passed me up!) We also ate pizza in a cone. 

IM NOT EVEN KIDDING YOU! 

This week God answered prayers and worked miracles. We are working with a lot of people and I feel like I am running 1000 miles an hour.  I´m planning weddings (like decorations, food, the judge EVERYTHING because she´s 19 doesnt have a Mom and doesnt know how.... neither do I, but if we don´t do it they´ll never get married and keep breaking a commandment so... Pray that I can be like J-Lo in THE WEDDING PLANNER. because I feel like her) We also are teaching one investagator over the phone which is weird, like a long distance relationship, but he REALLY wants to be baptised and has been attending church for like half a year or more, He just doesnt have ANY time to meet with us... but we cant baptism him without him knowing what he is covenanting with God. so... (is covenanting a word?) 

We also help a jovensita with life advice without actually telling her WHAT TO DO (because thats not our place) even though she asks! for example: We cant tell her "you should come clean and stop lying to your Dad" so Instead we just teach about the importance of Honesty. We cant tell her to find a new boyfriend (or better yet, stay single for a bit and GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF) hahaha but we CAN just teach her about her worth and that she is literally a daughter of the Creator of this Universe- and so we just teach and guide and urge.  We also talk to like a bajillion people and testify that Christ church, lost for a long time, is here on earth again and invite them to ask for themselves. I think a lot of them don´t do it because they avoid us, reject us and or/never come to church or read the Book of Mormon. 

They hear words, but they don´t listen sometimes. Its tough but something I learned this week was the importance of Patience. Why is Patience so important in missionary work? because these people who `aren´t getting it` are souls of our Heavenly Father. What does that mean? The worth of a soul is that every soul is potencially a future god. Now I don´t know how all things work, or how it was eternities ago,but I do know this true Doctrine: "As man now is, God once was; as God is now man may be" And I am glad that patience exists and that My God is Perfect, Glorious, Loving and Almighty!  If I can help even a little bit in the journey of my brothers and sisters to become all that they can be (future gods) it is worth all the patience I can muster.  Alma 26:30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that PERHAPS we might be the means of saving SOME soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some. one soul. that would be worth it because one soul is one future god. That´s worth it. I love My Father in Heaven SO much and want to help Him in His work and His glory, which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39) So basically... I am tired but happy and this is still SO cool and SO worth it and I still can´t believe He loves me enough to let me be a part of it! (but I believe it.... I believe it! why does she keep saying I wont believe it?) 

Xoxo Hermana Valenzuela

 SPEAKING OF PATIENCE THERE IS A LITTLE GIRL IN THIS INTERNET CAFE SCREAMING FOR NO REASON! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAiohcfñdsiobfn

Pizza in a cone.. Miracles happen.

I had to trade in some of the crappy pans we have in the office... as a result I went everywhere today with pots in my backpack (potS not Pot ) and a frying pan. It was kind of awesome. 

I made so many Tangled jokes.

We don't know how to bowl, but we WON!

We went bowling.

Dear everyone, 

This week went well. 

We had like super high numbers so maybe our district and zone leaders will be happy. I´m just happy because I am helping people find the truth and loving my brothers and sisters. 

I like that. I love much and do what I can. 

Today I traded all but 30 minutes of my internet time to travel to a member´s home to eat tacos with other missionaries from Mexico. I love you all dearly and I miss you... but I regret nothing. TACOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOs XoXo Hermana Valenzuela

We found out that the little pizza place we discovered last week DELIVERS!!!

These are statues of Paraguayan Myths (the Bombero! he kidnapps babies who get out of line!)

And the other one kidnapps RUBIOS!  (ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

We bought this baby cereal and eat it for breakfast. Just thought you all should know.

These are the "Planchas de Crane" written on pass-along cards covered in foil

They are passed from missionary to missionary. We are currently the keepers and must keep record of the people of Paraguay.

This is Anibal and Viviani. We are planning their wedding! Stay tuned!

One day after our lunch appointment was forgotten a SWEET investigator (Elena) had prepared us these platos for cena! She didn´t even know what had happened! MIRACLE!

Also the cookies in my backpack are from this super funny investagator (mariajose) who was like "¿van a llevar las galletitas?" and then just opened my backpack pocket and dumped them in. 

She is hilarious (She´s like if Aunistee and Tidwell combined)

I LOVE her. Her mom said she can´t come to church. Idk what we´re gonna do, but if ya´ll could pray that Maria José can accept the Gospel (and maybe her mom, too) that would be awesome.

Well Well Well, I really never have any idea what to write. 

Tons of stuff happens all week but... I think that when I walk through the door to the Internet Café it´s like the Veil and I forget everything.

 I made Budin de Pan. Mom you´re gonna LOVE it!... I think. If you don´t, don´t lie and say you do, but... I made it twice this week to practice so that I can get really good at making it for you... and also for me because I love it. 

 The biggest thing that happened this week didn´t even happen here; On Wednesday Elder ZMAN started his Mission! HOLLA!!!!!! BALLLERRR!!!! 

(check out his blog here---> workofjustiz@blogspot.com)

 Which reminds me, I am teaching my comp English... 

but mostly just the important stuff like what´s a BALLER!

TWICE this week we got to our lunch appointments and no one was home so we had walked all that way, in the sun, HUNGRY, FOR NOTHING! We went to nearby(-ish) members and begged for bread (but actually they gave us pasta, SURPRISE!) On the Second occasion I was pretty hungry and sad because they had forgotten us for the second time this week.... and I am a softy. Well I was playing with this member´s dog, Lula and she didn´t want to play with me (bit me). I just set my head on the table and started crying because I missed Dagnee so freaking much. It sound sad but it was also super funny. The best part was to get myself to stop crying I had to think of something happy/funny and all I could come up with was when Aunistee was a Giant Teacup head and then a bag of seeds! HAHAHAhahahahahaa I keep doodling it everywhere and laughing. 

 We made a ton of cookies for a Relief Society activity and then the Relief Society Presidentt never came to do her part the next day and when we got there on Sunday all the cookie packets (cutely decorated by yours truly) were just still there... 

 This could seem frustrating to some, but I chose to see it as "hey! cookies!" and we ate. 

We taught this one lesson to a super cute lady and she said she didn't know who God was. We taught her how to pray. We taught her who God is and who Jesus Christ is. At the end of the lesson I said "If you remeber ANYTHING we taught today I want you to remember this: Everything we just said could be a Lie and the ONLY way you can ever know for yourself what is true is by praying and asking your Father in Heaven" It wasn´t what she was expecting... "HEY! We could be Lying!" but, she said she would pray so that´s good.

 Also this week we were walking by a little Red Brick despensa and the BEST smell-goods entered out lil´ noses! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm we thought and we asked "What smells SO good?!!" PIZZAAAAAAAAAAA Homemade pizza from a little paraguayan Abuelita and her Nietita. 

I WANT THAT!

 I started proclaiming my love for pizza to my comp, the Abuelita, and her Nieta, and to the young-man standing by waiting for his order. 

"I LOVE PIZZA!" I shouted. "PIZZA IS EVERYTHING! PIZZA IS ETERNAL! 

PIZZA IS MY BOYFRIEND!" 

I explained with devotion (the last sentence is Guarani) They laughed. Then we asked "¿how much?" The answer was more than we had.... :( 

As our hearts sank a MIRACLE happened. The young-man stander by handed us the change we needed to make our pizza dreams come true! 

 His name is Pablo (thanks Dad). 

 We thanked him graciously, wrote down his adress and said we were going to stop by this week with a present for him. 

"What are we gonna give him?!" I asked Hermana Linares. " The book of Mormon, Dummy!" she lovingly replied. hahaha I hope he gets baptised because if they ask "How did you hear about the Church" he can say "it was all thanks to Pizza."

 Ok enough about Pizza.

 NO ITS NEVER ENOUGH! 

The pizza was so good and I ate it in the streets with my Columbiana best friend who I seriously LOVE. Ok. 

Seriously enough about PIZZA. 

 This week I taught a Menos Activa Jovensita about what is an Ordinace and what is a Covenant. We talked about the covenants she has made (baptism) and the ordiances that are related (firstly entering the waters of baptism and then weekly with the sacrament to renew the promises). Then I asked : "What covenant is next for you and what blessings are promised with it?" She didn´t know so we talked briefly about the temple and left her some scriptures to read. She thanked us and said "I didn´t know there was more to do!" 

Here is where I will begin talking to you, dear reader. Baptism is the gate... the door... of the path to Eternal Life... but Exaltation is gained only after we ENTER that path and KEEP WALKING until we reach it. There are more covenants to make and more blessings and knowledge to recieve along the way. After you find the keys to a BEAUTIFUL mansion (the priesthood) and open the door (baptism) are you going to stand there in the doorway looking at the closed doors down the hallway? NO Way José! There are treasures behind each door! What blessing lay in the covenants we make in God´s Holy house! Through the ages God has always made Covenants with His Children (Us).We are and have always been a Covenant people. Ultimately, in the Temple, we can be sealed to our families for Eternity. That is when we may become joint-heirs to the blessings of an Eternal Family (as God promised to Abraham, Issac, Jacob and their posterity). Thus, Celestial Marriage is the Covenant of Exhaltation. Bastism opens the door. It is essencial and the only way to take upon us the name of our Savior, accept His atonement and be cleansed of our sins, but baptism alone is not enough for all that God has prepared for us. It only prepare us for the greater blessings ahead! I pray that all who read this, wherever they are on their journey in life, will pray and ask what is next for them in order to prepare them for their next covenant with our Father in Heaven. I testify of the blessings he POURS out over His covenant keeping children.

 In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

This is My awkward, AWKWARD district before Hermana Bautista and Elder Chacon left. This basically sums up my whole change with them.

Here is our room where we have our Confession Sessions//aka Dr Phil office. hahaha

Hermana Linares goes home in 4 months and I am here to help her remain calm. hahaha (Also our whiteboard with some nice "Smashing Pumpkins" lyrics)

Here  is the best story I forgot to tell you guys: for those of you who know me know that my biggest fear is LICE

WELL

One time we went to a menos activos house and they have a daughter who is kind of autistic or something... idk... but she is special and like 16 years old

Well  we greeted her (cheek kisses) and then she asked us both if we had lice

"umm.... no" I replied as my heart halted and my insides shrunk

Then... without being able to stop myself I asked "¿do you?" dreading the answer like I have never dread anything before in my life. 

She smiled and nodded afirmatively! 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

so...

So now I wash my hair with this lice killing shampoo and cry every morning

Nightmares come true

This is a pic I snapped at one of our Lunches. 

It`s a pasta dish called Tajarin.

It´s just like... mediocre pasta with LOTS of Oil (Aciete is a Paraguayan Staple food), a basic tomatoe sauce and chicken.

It´s just. . . food. Neither here, nor there.

Served with mandioca and/or bread.

Accompanied by fresh, DELICIOUS juices!! I do love the fresh fruit juices! :)

This is what I eat everyday or some variation, but similar (instead of noodles its rice or instead of chicken its red meat) 

I haven´t seen a vegtable since Yby Yau (where I was in charge of my own lunches)

I feel like a blubberous whale and it`s REALLY hard to walk around after lunch because it`s not like a light sandwich or a salad or something to fill us up and keep us going.

It´s HEAVY. Always! and 

... I am dying.

The grass is NOT greener on the other side. I am eating my words (along with oily pasta) from when I said I was excited to have the members give us lunch.

The grass is not greener, in fact there are not greeneries whatsoever. 

MEAT and CARBS and JUICE.

It´s not that it is gross, it´s just I really want a Carrot.

I asked to use a Menos Activos bathroom and they have a TUB! I got so excited I took a picture. I love baths. Why am I always living in countries with no Tubs?! THIS ISNT NO MORE BATHS!

At night we drink matè dulce and I take pictures of the moon a lot

Hi! 7 more days have passed us by!

 I love being able to say that I used the hours in those days to try to tell my brothers and sisters about our Father in Heaven and what our Big Brother and Savior did to help us get back home. 

This week I am happy because my earthly brother, Justiz, will soon be doing the same thing with the hours in his day! (on Wednesday! GO ZMAN! I LOVE YOU! RETURN WITH HONOR!) 

I have good friends doing the same with the hours in their days.

 I am on a mission doing good works with the time that God blesses me with.

 I have the support of a wonderful family back home.

 I have the strength and help of the Creator of this universe by my side at all times. 

I have made covenants in the Lord`s house and have the promise of Eternal Life so long as I keep them. 

I know who I am. I know God`s Plan. I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ. I`ll honor His name. His truth I will proclaim. God had been so good to me. 

 Also, I am getting really good at making banana bread. 

 Please pray for Familia Garcia Sosa Familia Perez Viviani and Anibal Familia Rios Maria Jose and Alana Mirtha Espinosa And Everyone else here that we are teaching or supposed to teach and Everyone in Yby Yau that I miss teaching

 XOXO Hermana Lib

Where´d you go? I miss you so. Seems like it´s been forever since you´ve been gone..............

 "What happened to your update on Monday?" you may be asking. 

Well, the Cyber we we´re using decided to close early despite the fact that there were CURRENT CUSTOMERS. loco. so. We worked an extra hour that night and came back today to finish our P-day Internet time properly. 

 This week has been a total flipside change! I´ll start with changes which took place last Wednesday. Hermana Bautista and I parted. It was awkward but fine.

Then I found my new companion (More in the Doctor Who sense, not Firefly). Hermana Linares is from Bogota, Colombia. She is tiny, adorable and the breath of fresh air I needed. Woot woot! Whilst in the offices, we passed by a table had a bunch of crap on it and a note reading "free stuff, take what you need". We "needed" a lot, hahaha and had fun finding the random forgottens of past missionaries. 

We have an electric kettle and a bombia now. We also found a bottle of mystery pills. I´ve been taking 3 daily. Livin´it up! (Jk they´re vitamins). I got mail, which is very important. I love letters. 

Congrats Thomas Turek on the getting married! I don´t have your Email, but... maybe you read my blog. I got your invite!Thank you. You both look fancy. However, I will not be RSVPing because I will be here HLJing (CTRing in spanish).

 Other letters include a random letter from a Sister in the south mission I met for 5 seconds in customs, A letter from Argentina, a super ugly picture of me from the Herman Lideres they had printed and written a note on the back and 2 letters from Granee. Then we waited in the offices... for what? To see the corpse of the DEAD Elder Muñoz finishing his interveiw with Presidente and on his way to see his folks whom were waiting for him at the Temple. So cool. 

And I also saw Elder Benevente! (and Hermana Willis but she took off fast and is not in the photos) it was like an Yby Yau family Reunion!... minus H.Santos because she is still in the jungle. I love her and still call her and sing her to sleep. hahaha really. 

Then we went home. The SECOND the door closed behind me I started crying and told Hermana Linares EVERYTHING I hadn´t been able to say for the last 6 WEEKS!! She laughed and promised we were about to be best friends. We told jokes, shared photos from home, told "boy" stories, mission struggles, how long til we ´Die´, etc...and all other get aquanted rituals necessary to be regular lady missionary compañions/friends. 

Sufficeth to say... she´s like a person. Not a Potato. 

And I am so happy.

 I asked her to help me remember how to be normal too and she said OK. So.. Thats what we´re doing. Some of our tactis in doing so are: actually talking to each other! 

We had a "confession session" where we shared some real ´dr phil´ moments and listened to some sweet jams she brought. We also have a "work hard, play hard" philosophy (And That´s MY new Philosophy-Sally Brown) meaning that doing "nothing" on P-day is not an option. This P-day we went to the botanical gardens in Asunción with a member from the ward, her daughter and her daughter´s friend. It was super fun. 

We went to this super mediocre museum and then walked around the grounds. We took a million pictures (because Hna Linares studied and enjoys photography) and climbed a lot of trees. Afterwards we got dropped off at a place to eat Pizza! and then took the bus home!

 (I haven´t had too many bus rides yet because I am scared to get lost, but Hna Linares says "Trust me" and I do) Basically, Life is good! And since I´m the one who "knows the area" and I Don´t, we´re just clapping at doors and finding a ton of new AWESOME people. 

 Opening our mouths and KILLIN´ it... Spiritually speaking. 

 "Remeber only God can judge us, Forget the Haters...cuz somebody loves ya.... 

AND WE CAN´T STOP... And we WON´T stop" 

In other more spiritual Lyrics: Onward, ever onward as we Glory in His name! 

Forward, pressing forward as triumph song we sing. God our strength will be; press forward ever, Called to serve our King. 

 XoXo Hermana Valenzuela