Elder Acor: 9/18/23

 

Bautismos del Este

¡Hoooooooola a toooooooodos!

This week was super long. Probably one of the longest weeks of my mission but it was still super good.

To start off on Tuesday when I was still in Posta Leiva I got a message from one of our members that they wanted to have their sons baptims on Wednesday. So Tuesday night and Wednesday I was going pretty crazy trying to plan everything and fill up the font and by refreshments. Plan people to talk at the baptism. It was so crazy. We had the baptism of Nico and it was super awesome. They lost his membership records so it was a rebaptism but it was still a very nice and we had such a spiritual experience.

Thursday morning we got transfer calls and I got news that I would be leaving Elder Villarreal and Posta Leiva and that I would be going to Ciudad Del Este! I really loved my time in Posta Leiva and I am sad to leave it so soon but I am happy for this new opportunity. Also I won't be sharing an area with Hermana Berg or Hermana Robinson anymore (They both wanted a shout out in my email) I am super happy because I have wanted to come to this zone my whole mission. It's on the other side of Paraguay and it's the city bordering Brazil. So maybe I'll learn a little bit of Portuguese. I am here with Elder Woodbury who is still in his training so I will be finishing his training here. If you're counting that us now six transfers straight training or around eight months. It's my calling I guess.

Friday I traveled a ton. I'm used to it because now I have traveled to all of the far areas here in the mission so I have taken some really long bus rides before. After nine hours of traveling I made it to Ciudad Del Este. I made it to my apartment and crashed because I was so tired.

Saturday was a crazy day. I spent most of the morning cleaning the apartment and unpacking my things then we went and visited some people in the morning. My comp got a lost for a little bit so that was a fun experience I got to explore my new area. Then the whole afternoon we had to drain and fill the baptismal font. The one thing with this font is that it drains super slow. Like from full to empty is a good three hours. We then cleaned the font and started filling it up prepping for the baptism. I am so thankful that I got to come here for this baptism. Our friend Bruno got baptized. He is one of the most prepared people I have ever met. My companion told me that they found him only twenty days ago. That's so crazy because he already knows so much. Already turned his life around much. Even today he is fasting to know if serving a mission is something in his future. I am truly amazed by him.

Then Sunday came around and we got to go to church. Our apartment is right next to the church so that is really nice. I got to meet all the members and that was awesome. They are so amazing to work with and so easy to talk to. I think I want to be with new American missionaries all the time because The Gift of Tongues goes hard. It was so easy to talk to everyone and I just had normal and natural conversations with everyone. Also everyone didn't believe that I was from the states because I could speak Spanish super good. So that's a little confidence boost. My poor companion is still learning and forget to confirm lunch so then last minute our relief society president made us food quick and dropped it off at our house. Then we got calls and texts from two members saying that they made lunch for us. That was pretty awkward because we were already eating in our house and here we were with two families waiting for us. Let's just say that my companion learned his lesson. That same night we went and visited all the people that have baptismal date. It was super good to get to know them but wow, we walked so much and it was hot. I am a shade darker now.

Well that's it for this week. One of the craziest and longest weeks on my mission for sure. Lots of lessons learned. I am super excited to be here in Ciudad Del Este. Thanks for reading this long email hope you all enjoyed it!

¡Chau!

Love, Elder Acor