Elder Acor: 4/1/24

 

¡Felices Pascuas!

¡Haupei! ¿Mabetekopio?

This week was pretty good. It was a weird one because here in Paraguay they take the Holy Week and Easter very seriously and there's lots of vacations and so there wasn't a lot of people home. Made it a little difficult trying to teach lots of our friends because they just weren't home. Then trying to find new people was hard because not many people were in their houses! We were still able to have some good success and see some miracles.

Tuesday we had a solid district council. Then we had the opportunity to go and make visits with a recent convert from another ward. His name is Hector, he's 18 and he's from the ward in Ñemby. We share a building with Ñemby so we always see him there. He also hangs out with us on Pdays. It was super fun to have him join us. He speaks lots of English thanks to him watching lots of Tiktoks in English. He has a really strong testimony and he could share some awesome things with our friends.

Wednesday was quite a long day because many of our friends were gone. We passed by a ton of our friends but they just weren't home. So we passed by and shared with a lot of our members giving them nice messages about Easter and the resurrection. Pretty much every house we stopped by they gave us something to drink and some kind of food so that was fun!

Thursday was even longer. We went out to work in the morning and we passed by a ton of our friends houses. Contacted a ton of people and there was just nothing. It was pretty crazy. Then supposedly there was going to be an activity at the church so we went. Are church isn't in our area so we have to take a bus there. We showed up and then no one was there. Then getting back to our house to plan was chaotic. We waited for a bus and many passed and I didn't know which one to take. Then people started asking where we were going to try and help us. It was just a mess, so we just ended up taking an Uber haha. That night we were able to participate in a fun tradition here in Paraguay. We made Chipa! Photos down below.

Friday was a weird day. With following Holy Week it's the day of Christ's crucifixion. That means everyone stays in there house. Almost every business is closed. It's super strange. In the morning we were able to have our interviews with President Faúndez so that was amazing. Always giving me the best advice and helping me come up with solutions to my difficulties. I told him as well that my Dad also served here in Paraguay, which he didn't know. The goal now is to find people that knew my Dad, because President Faúndez promised me we'd go on a trip together and go find that person. The rest of the day wasn't awful but we did end up only getting to teach one friend and the rest were members who were home.

Saturday lots of people still weren't home but the world came back to life a little and it wasn't so quiet. In the morning we were able to visit the Correa Caceres family and give Mirta a blessing because she wasn't feeling good at all. In the afternoon we able were able to go to the baptism of the other Elders in our area. Their friend's name is Pio and he's 70 years old. We walked into the chapel about fifteen minutes before the baptism and I've never walked into more of a chaotic situation than this. There was water all over the floor. There was buckets full of water, trash cans full of water, then to add on to all of the the water was yellow. We joined in on the chaos and helped clean up and make sure the font was full enough to baptize Pio. It was hot in the chapel as well. We finished getting everything done. Luckily there were us Elders and four other hermanas to help with everything. Then we literally only had our Elders Quorum president come, but it all turned out ok.

Sunday was Easter so it was awesome! We were combined with another ward so there was lots of people. Pio was also able to be confirmed. There were also some really good talks by our branch presidency and the bishop from the other ward. After church we had to wait with one of our older members for here daughter to come pick her up and we waited about an hour and a half with here. It was fun to talk with her though. Sunday night we were able to have a good lesson with Mirta and her family. To remind you guys we've been teaching Mirta and her family for awhile now. She's a member from almost twenty years ago. She wants to come to church so bad with her family but there's always difficulties. Well we sat down and she told us she has a tumor in her abdomen. She said thanks to our blessing she could feel better. It was extremely tender talking about this with her. With her husband and her kids there. We were able to talk about Christ's love for her. Then explain many plain and simple truths so she could feel comfort. The spirit was so strong. She shared with us is that all she wants is that she can go to church with her family and that they can be baptized. Many tears were shed. I want to ask that Mirta Cáceres can be present in your prayers and that she can overcome these difficult times.

This week definitely wasn't an easy one. I do want to clarify, just because it wasn't easy doesn't mean I wasn't enjoying it and not smiling. I found many tender mercies this week. This week our friends just really weren't home and that ment tons of contacting and lots of rejection, but I love just being able to smile and talk to people. If they don't want to hear about there Savior that's there loss haha. I loved being able to share about the Atonement in everysingle lesson this week and the importance of Easter. I've studied about it all week and I've learned so much and my understanding of what truly happened and how it affects my life and the lives of others really helps me appreciate it more and be more thankful. Jesus Christ lives. He truly is the Christ and our Redeemer. He died and suffered for our sins and aflictions. Jesus Christ is always here for us it really is our own personal decision to come closer to him.

I love you all so much and I hope you all have an amazing week! I hope you all can feel God's personal love for you this week. Also make sure you take time to watch General Conference this week!

¡Chau!

Love, Elder Acor 

Ps Happy early birthday to my mamá mañana!!!! Woot woot 🥳