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| Love, Share and Invite |
7/3/23
¡Hola, hola, hola!
My first real week here in Posta Leiva has come and gone! It went by super fast but it was such a great week and we saw so many miracles.
We got to start off this week by doing our first district council together as this new district. Honestly everyone is super awesome and I am very excited for the rest of this transfer. Everyone is so great. After that it was a lot of walking around and trying to find people that the other Elders were teaching. Also we were trying to find members. That's one of the great things about a white wash is that you don't know anything so you kinda just go ahead and wait and see what will happen. We found lots of great members and lots of people we can continue to pass by and teach.
The next day was a pretty wild day. We were able to find some awesome people. The main miracle that happened though is when we passed by an inactive member's house. We showed up and a teenage boy about sixteen years old asked us who we were and we told him we were the missionaries. He then opened up and told us to come sit. We talked with his aunt who has been a member for about ten years now. We then started talking to the boy whose name is Angel. We asked him if he knew much about the church. He said no so we took the opportunity to teach him the first lesson with his aunt. At the end we invited him to be baptized. He seemed like he really liked the message; he just felt unsure about baptism. We told him to pray about it and then we could pass by and see what he thought. We then started walking down the path from their road and we were just talking. Then we hear someone running after us. We turn around and it's Angel and at that moment he said he made the decision and wants to be baptized! Such an amazing experience and one of the coolest on my mission for sure. So please pray for Angel Quintana. That he can be blessed with knowledge and strength to be baptized July 22nd.
The next day was Thursday and it was quite a long day because we had to go to the doctor because my comp has been having problems hearing out of one of his ears since he got off the plane here. Turns out it's just super swollen so they gave him some medicine to fix it. Also everytime I go to the doctor here in Paraguay (never for me but always for my comp) I gain a new appreciation for America's health care. The end of the day we had the chance to go meet with a couple that has been meeting with the missionaries for awhile. They are both awesome people. Their names are Mateo and Selsa Duarte they are both in their late fifties. They have pretty much all the lessons. They've come to church seven times within the last three months. Mateo really wants to get baptized but his wife Selsa is very active in the protestant church. The thing is she believes The Book of Mormon is true. We just need some patience with them but they'll be baptized. I know it.
Friday I got to do the baptismal interview of one of the friends of the hermanas in our area. It was super fun and I really enjoy doing the baptismal interviews. Then we were able to have our branch night. I'll tell you something, it is way bigger than my last area that is for sure. We got to play some soccer which was awesome and Angel showed up and now a ton of people know him.
Sunday was good this week! We actually showed up on time this week so that was a big blessing. The thing is that my phone died in the middle of the night so we woke up at like 7:30 and we could not go walking with Angel to church so he did not come. The thing is that Mateo and Selsa came! For the seventh time! Little by little they are realizing the truth and I know they will be getting baptized here soon. We also had a ton of recent converts come so that was super good. I love seeing people that were baptized recently talking about their conversion experience.
The title of my email honestly is an invitation. Yes you all have already probably heard about the importance of these things. The thing is when members love, share, and invite with others you have no idea the difference it makes for us missionaries. When members do these things that is when you see people having fifty baptisms in one week or something crazy like that. So reach out. Share something, and invite someone to come to an activity from the church, or read The Book of Mormon or something small.
That is all for this week! Thank you so much for reading this email and I hope you all have a fantastic week!
¡Chau!
Love, Elder Acor
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| What else could possibly go wrong? |
6/23/23
¡Hello, Hola, Haupei!
Wow, well I'd say that my last couple emails have all been pretty chill and nothing too crazy has happened lately. Well everyone, this was easily the crazy week of my mission so far. (Sorry for the long email but I'd say it's worth the read)
Let's start off with Tuesday. Honestly it was a normal day in Encarnación. We had a big district council for the last one of the district councils and we went and ate at a nice restaurant. Then we went and worked like normal. Honestly it started off slow but we ended off the day talking to a reference we received and his name is Diosnel Espinola. He is super interested and in this lesson, it literally being his second one we've had with him, we invited him to be baptized and he said yes. He also said that he wants to get his whole family baptized so that's awesome!
The next day was Wednesday. It was a pretty crazy day. We were waiting and anticipating transfers so we had to prep some stuff and that took us a while. Then we did and we went and visited our friend José who had come to church just this last Sunday. We talked with him and he's super interested. We asked him to pray and ask Heavenly Father if he needed to be baptized. He said he'd do it so we pray he gets his answer.
Well everyone, that's about the end of the normal missionary work. Wednesday night we got news about transfers. I am going to be leaving Encarnación after three transfers. It's sad but it was expected. My greenie Elder Bauman is going to continue crushing it in our area and baptize a ton of people. I got news that I was going to an area called Posta Leiva, fairly close to Asunción. It is closer to a city called San Lorenzo. Also I would be sharing an area with hermanas. Not only that but that I would be white washing the area of Elders too, but wait there's more. I got news that I would be starting the training of another missionary! Super crazy stuff.
Well Thursday rolled around and because I was far in Encarnación we had to travel. Had to say goodbye to Elder Bauman which was sad but he's gonna crush it. Our trip was about a seven hour drive. Honestly not the worst trip I've had. I got to see some old mission friends so that was good.
The next day was transfers. I was able to see even more mission friends which was awesome. Then we had the training of the new missionaries. My new greenie is Elder Villarreal and he is from Bolivia. He is honestly super awesome and my first comp who is younger than me. He is eighteen years old and our birthdays are two days apart. After the training we got to go to the super nice mission home and eat Hamburgers. Then late at night we headed to my area. My phone had to make a security backup so we had to wait quite a bit which was awkward. Finally we made it to our house and we just passed out. We had no energy to unpack.
Then we woke up and unpacked all our stuff which took quite awhile. Then we had to clean some baptismal clothes because surprise, surprise, we have a baptism. For some reason there was like a poop stain on one so I had to clean that. Then our phone wasn't working well. We didn't have any of the WhatsApp chats from the other Elders. That was a little chaotic planning. We then go to the church to fill up the font. Took us a while to figure it out. Then we started filling it up. It was coming out yellow and we didn't know why. We were told that the drain also didn't work so we started draining it with buckets. Then someone came and fixed the drain. Then we waited for that. We filled it up again and it was clean. Then it was time for the Baptism. Honestly, super amazing tons of people showed up from the branch and I was able to get to know them. Well right before the Baptism, uh oh, guess what the water didn't turn off all the way. So I kid you not there was water coming up into the room. It was bad. Then the baptisms happened. One of our friends whose name is Andrés. He has been coming to church for awhile but he just didn't have permission from his parents. After many years he came back and got baptized, so an awesome experience. Then a little boy got baptized too.
Well after that exhausting day I slept super good. We woke up for church and I was getting excited to meet all the members. Also our mission president was coming to our branch too to speak so that was awesome. So we show up at around 8:40 for church at 9 like normal...like every other area I've been in. No, not this area. Church starts at 8:30 so guess who comes walking in late infront of everyone, and worst of all in front of President Faúndez. He just looked at me and gave me a funny look. Well church started and what the hermanas told me is that we were going to sing a special number because the president was there. Well the first hymn they sang was the first we chose to sing. We all started stressing about what we were going to sing. Then, they just never gave us the time. So it all worked out. I had Elders Quorum after and I got to sit next to president. Had to make sure all my answers were really good. After church everything was almost chill...we just didn't have lunch. We asked the relief society president if she could help us find someone to eat with. She said yes. We talked with the family, got their location and went. Well, the location was bad and we ended up walking an extra hour. Also it's hot here again even though it's winter. Legit it's 90 degrees.
Well everyone, if you're still reading you're awesome and a true friend so thank you. This week I have genuinely learned so much. With all the craziness that has been going on I really had to rely on our Savior. Through prayer I felt a lot of peace. I received confirmation that I truly have been called to do this work and that the savior wants me here in Posta Leiva in the role as a trainer again and also a district leader. I'm loving the mission and time is flying!
¡Chau!
Love, Elder Acor
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