Rain, Rain, and More Rain...

This week was pretty slow because of quarantine but still a good time. It rained about everyday which was honestly really cool. I've never experienced rain like this before. I'm used to it raining for like 20 minutes and then passing over, but here it's a different case. When it rains it really rains and there is not much you can do to stay dry. 

My rain jacket has honestly become my best friend right now. But let me give you a scenario, take a heater like the ones you put in your tent when you're camping in the winter. That heater is me. If anyone knows me they know I always run very hot. I'm a straight up furnace 24/7. Now take that heater and shrink wrap it. That would be my rain jacket. Now place that shrink wrapped heater into a steam room (that would Paraguay) and now you know just a little of what it is like walking around here in the rain. I am really grateful for my armpit zippers in my rain jacket. They make a big difference and I swear it was a prophetic revelation to put those bad boys into the design of the jacket.

I had a pretty cool experience this week. While we were teaching the Martinez`s the family with the husband in a wheelchair. One of the sisters named Julia is always the biggest skeptic of what we have to say. But this day she was feeling a little sick so we asked her if she wanted a blessing and if she had faith in a blessing. She said she did. After the blessing her eyes were red and teary and she could barely get out a "gracias" without her voice breaking. I knew she felt the spirit and couldn't deny it. 

We also spent an evening with a members family, the mom is the relief society president, the dad is a member but inactive, and they have two kids Denis who is like 14 and Ivan who is 9. While there I was talking a lot with the dad, he is a metal worker and knows anything and everything that has to do with building with metal. I talked with him the best I could about construction and my job I had operating excavators back home. He was taken aback when I told him I operate heavy machinery and thought it was super cool. This was an awesome conversation because for the first time in 3 weeks I felt like he could understand me and we had a real conversation. He also said that my spanish is better than the previous American who was in my area and that missionary has been out for 4 months so that was a big confidence booster.

Ivan has not been baptized and has been working with the missionaries for some months now and he finally decided it was time to be baptized. Because of restrictions we were only able to have 12 people at the baptism which was honestly really cool. So it was Ivan and his family and then we invited the Maritinez`s to come too. It was a really intimate setting because there was so little of us. And afterwards the Martinez`s seemed very excited to get baptized the following week. 

This Sunday was fast Sunday because last Sunday was district conference. I had the opportunity to bare my testimony and it was really cool. I thought about what I wanted to say before I went up, because I was stressed about my Spanish. But once I got up there the Spanish just kinda flowed out of me. It was a big difference between the first time I had to speak in church. I know that the gift of tongues is real I have no doubt about that.

I love all of you and love hearing from you,

Email if you want 

Elder Schofield

Ivan's Baptism. 

Terrible picture quality. but the person taking the picture didn't really know how to use a camera. 

We had dinner with Ivan's family. They taught us to make a traditional Paraguayan bread called chipa. It is basically an herb bread and every family has their own recipe. 

This is how you make the chipa. You wrap a stick in dough and then cook over open coals. 

The only way to go out and protect the books when its raining with the rain jacket over top.

Just a little light rain. 

This is the civil registry, just an old warehouse. We have been helping the Martinez family with getting the marriage requirement for baptism figured out. 

We had a leak in the ceiling overnight.  It got one of my note cards wet so now my desk and scriptures are permanently stained. 

Dad was right about the avocados.  The family was shook when I told them how small the avocados are in the States. 

This quarantine has really improved my house of cards building skills. You can only read and study for so long. I laid in the hammock and read the book The Saints for about three hours yesterday. I really need to be able to get outside more.