Elder Acor: 6/3/24

 ¡¿Americans in McDonald's?!

¿Mbaeteko? ¿Iporã?

I hope you've all had a fantastic week! I love seeing all the amazing things you're all doing in your lives so keep it up! Here in Paraguay it was a pretty interesting week for us.

Tuesday was definitely the highlight of my week. We had our district council in the morning which was fun to have with the new district this last transfer. After district council I had exchanges with my DL Elder Woodward. Before we started exchanges, since we had to travel far, we went and ate lunch with the other Elders. We went to McDonald's. Funny story apparently it was National Burger day or something so there was a really good deal. We didn't realize how much food that really was so we ended up ordering an insane amount of food. We were finishing up eating, regretting how much food we had just eaten, when all the sudden we here a girl say "Only 50 cents!" We all just shut up and looked at each other and we were all shocked because we just heard English. Well naturally we went over and talked to them. Turns out these two girls were visiting family that they have here in Paraguay. They are from the States, from Texas, and speak Spanish and English. They spoke better English though so that was super fun to talk with them in English. It was actually so cool because they both had awesome questions for us which were really fun to answer. Then our conversation ended with us giving them both a copy of The Book or Mormon. They were super receptive so hopefully the missionaries there at Texas A&M can baptize them. Pero vamo ver. Then the rest of the day I did exchanges with Elder Woodward. He's great and always has a ton of energy. We were able to have a good day. We got a couple of my friends here in Villarrica progressing a little bit more. He's super direct with the people so that helped see what people were willing to do.

Wednesday we were able to do some visits with our second councilor Ivan. We went and visited some young men and women to invite them to go to seminary. Then we were also able to have a lesson with a recent convert from another city who just moved here to Villarrica for a time. His name is Victor and he's a blast. He's kinda all over the place, but hey we wants to come back to church to go to the temple to be baptized for his dad, so that's super cool.

Thursday, I don't know if I've ever described what our lunchs are like on Thursdays. We go to our branch mission leader's house. In this family there is him, his brother and his dad, so no one cooks. They just buy food from local places, but they buy so much food and they make us eat at least three plates. The best way I can describe it is, imagine having a full thing of lasagna and having to eat that in between two people. Yeah it's exactly that and don't forget that there's dessert, but we survive every week thankfully.

Friday was an interesting day. Something about this area in Villarrica is the amount of referrals we receive. It's the most in the entire mission. We get about 6-8 everyday and they usually come from Facebook. The people fill out a form saying they want to receive a message and we get their number. These numbers build up fast and soon you have a couple hundred people to contact. So we dedicated Friday to that because there was a lot. It's always a very funny experience. We are still trying to find the most effective way to do it all.

Saturday is my adventure day every week. We went to Paso Yobai in the morning! We went and to eat lunch with the branch president which is always so yummy. Then I started my last fast as a missionary. It was kinda sad I'm not going to lie. We then went out and worked with the Elder's Quorum president there. Wow was it an adventure. We headed down really far from the city to go have a lesson. About two hours walking, but luckily someone drove us down. We had a good lesson with the daughter of some people we are teaching. Then we headed back walking. About an hour walking we got to our next lessons. We were able to talk with and teach Neri and get him all ready to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. Then we finished off the day with the hour walk back to the branch president's house. We've made a deal with a return missionary to come pick us up instead of an Uber so that's super awesome. We still pay him but it's much better and more fun with him.

Sunday was something different. At about two in the morning I woke up to my companion throwing up really badly. I started to get scared thinking I would start throwing up too, but luckily nothing happened. We woke up in the morning and I started to get ready to head to church and then my comp started throwing up again and probably sat there dry heaving for an hour. So needless to say we didn't go to church. Not gonna lie I was a bit bummed because I was excited to give my last testimony in Paraguay, but hey I'm sure I'll get another opportunity. It was a very boring day. My comp was in bed sick just trying not to throw up pretty much all day. Not fun at all.

This week had it's ups and downs. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about the exciting things coming up in my life. Every time I catch myself doing that, or getting distracted, or just feeling frustrated I just take a step back and think and calm myself down. Every time I do that I feel God's love, and him just telling me that everything's going to be alright. Sometimes I get focused too much on what other missionaries are doing or saying. It's better to focus on myself and what the Lord wants from me. It's more satisfying that way.

Thank you all so much for reading my email. Also I want to say thank you to all of you who have reached out because it really makes me feel good and gives lots of strength when I need it. It means the world to me! I hope you all have an amazing week!

¡Chau!

Love, Elder Acor