The Trio...

Hola todos, que tal?

This past week was super fun, we were in a trio with Elder Johnson because he is waiting for his new American companion to arrive. So it was a absolute blast working with him for a week. He's a super hilarious guy and also a very good missionary. He's been in Paraguay 4 months more than me and his Spanish is ridiculously good so it has definitely inspired me to continue grinding on the language study.

Last Monday was pretty interesting, after P-day ended we went out and visited a couple of people. We went to this one members house named Diego Ferloni and he proceeded to tell us his whole life story and a good chunk of it was about America. I guess he lived in the states for like 5 years. But when he first said that I was pretty sceptical because a lot of Paraguayans claim things that in reality have never happened. But as the story continued to unfold, and the details became more clear he definitely was in the states for a while. The part that really got me was when he said he lived in Provo and did a semester at BYU taking english courses. Where he said he worked at this restaurant called the Bombai House. I said, "no way you mean that restaurant with the ridiculously good Indian food?" and he said "yup" I was their dishwasher for a while. He also said that a rich BYU girl took him to Toucanos. And once he started talking about the rich BYU girls with their really nice cars I that my man was telling the truth haha. Long story short it was a really fun time hearing this guys story and about living and experiencing a lot of the same things I experienced while at college.

This week we also had the opportunity to do some service. These people are adding an addition to their house and need to put down a dirt base to then pour concrete overtop. They had a pile of dirt and they just needed it moved and leveled out so that when the time comes they can pour cement on it. I was super stoked because this is basically what I did when I worked construction back home, always preparing stuff for concrete. However I was cringing the whole time because the way they were doing it was far from the correct way and I have no doubt that when they finally pour cement that it's all going to crack. But... that's Paraguay for you, I tried to do the best I could to make it a actual sure foundation but it's going to take a lot more than I could do haha. But it was definitely a blast to work side by side with my companions and get my hands dirty using a shovel and wheelbarrow again.

We also did some other service this week at a members house. They live on a farm (different from the cow milking place) and have a bunch of animals. We spent the morning with them and helped them around their yard cleaning up and making everything nice but then it was time for lunch. They told us to go catch one of their ducks that was running around their property. So naturally they got a good laugh watching 3 guys chase ducks around until finally we caught one. Then they told us to kill it and take all of the feathers off. So that's what we did. About an hour later we had a delicious duck and rice lunch. To get to this place we rode in a car of another member and this was the first time I've been in a car on the unpaved rock Paraguayan roads. And let me tell ya there is a reason all of their cars are barely holding together and it's because when you're on these roads it's like they just put the car on a giant vibrating plate. I would not be suprised if everytime they drove, screws and bolts wiggled loose. But it was definitely nice not to have to walk there, I forgot how much quicker cars can really go compared to walking.

We also got a new mission president last week but it was last Monday when we actually heard from him for the first time. It was a zoom call with the whole mission that we do every Monday night. Before the meeting started he was going around saying hi to people and a lot of us were in soccer jerseys. There are 3 main teams down here (cerro, olympia, and guarani) and missionaries buy their jerseys a lot. So as he was looking around he couldn't decide which team he should support so he said "well I guess theres only one thing to do in a situation like this, when I have such an important question in front of me, I'll pray about it this next week and get back to you on what is the correct team" he was laughing and definitely joking around with us. I really like him so far he seems like a super nice and fun guy as well as a spiritual one who will do a great job leading this mission.

We were meeting with this one family the other night and I was whistling a little bit before we started sharing stuff with them. They yelled at me to stop because it's really bad to whistle at night. There is a huge superstition down here about this guy called the "bombero" and apparently if you whistle at night you basically call him to you. And when that happens a bunch of bad things happen to you. They went into deep detail about how this guy can disguise himself as any kind of animal or anything and if you whistle when he's near he'll come for you and make bad things happen to you. Or he will haunt you, or he'll stone you. So basically just don't whistle in the dark haha.

We also met up again with the family that lives really far away and can't make it to church because they don't have any form of transportation, and they have little kids so it would not be easy for them to make it to church. But we have continued visiting them, they really want to get back to church and in the middle of trying to buy a moto (moped, motorcycle) in order to come to church. They have 2 daughters one that is 11 and one that is 7. The 7 year old turns 8 at the end of this month and really really wants to get baptized. So we are planning a baptismal service for her as well as her older sister, for the end of this month. But in order to be baptized you have to go to church at least twice before you can be baptized, but it also counts if we go to their house and teach them "come follow me". So we did that yesterday. Before we left I said a prayer to help my Spanish to be able to talk to these people and share this lesson in a way that the kids can understand. I felt the spirit come over me and knew that he would help me when the time came. When we got there I basically shared the entire lesson and it was amazing all of the stuff I have been studying was just there in my mind ready to be used. I talked in probably the best spanish I ever have so far. And these kids and the mom could feel the spirit. The kids were getting engaged in the lesson and it was honestly such an amazing experience.

Yesterday at church we also had 7 of our investigators (friends) show up. Which was awesome. We had so many people come to church that they had to bless the water twice because they had to refill the tray. It was amazing to see how our little impact out here is actually working. Between getting members to come back as well as our friends to come. It's always a great day when you can see the fruits of your labor and I definitely could yesterday. It was a great day because of that and inspired to continue working super hard and never slow down.

Also at church was this one member who we have visited a couple times who is probably 70 years old, and can barely walk. She lives an hour walk away from the chapel, but that's an hour walk for us. She can walk maybe half as quick as we can but she was there at church on time, if not even a little early which is super rare for Paraguayans they are never early or on time. But after church as we were saying goodbye to her she just started walking down the street. There was no moto, no car no nothing. And you did not hear one complaint out of her. She was perfectly happy to come to church and then walk back home. Her testimony definitely hit me really hard. There is nothing more important in this world than serving our Heavenly Father, in whatever form that looks like. If it's a 2 year mission, or a walk to church, Heavenly Father is immensely grateful for whatever sacrifice we make to serve and follow him.

All in all this week has been amazing, I love all of you guys, write me if you can I'd love to hear from you.

Elder Schofield