Baptisms and Transfers...

How's it going everyone? This week was pretty neat.

First and foremost we had a baptism this week, well actually three. Two of them are sisters and are daughters of a member. They are 10 and 8 years old. They are super sweet girls and were extremely excited to get baptized. Basically jumping out of their seats in order to be baptized. I baptized the younger one named Joanna and Elder Stillwell baptized the older one named Mariella. It was a really sweet to watch how happy they were. Mariella was really worried to get baptized because she's afraid of the water. I guess a lot of kids here are afraid of the water because really they don't go into water like at all. They don't go swimming and they never go in the rivers. But before the baptism we asked her how she felt with the water and she said she's not afraid anymore because she knows that God is on her side. So that was really awesome to hear.

Maria Gomez also got baptized. She is part of the family Martinez, and told us the other week that she wanted to be baptized. She pretty excited to be baptized and it was really cool because I had the opportunity to baptize her. It was really cool because in my first transfer here in San Ignacio I found her and her family. And then I had the opportunity to teach her all the lessons and watch her grow spiritually and finally to close it all out I was able to baptize her. All in all an amazing experience working with her.

This week has been crazy we knew that transfers were coming up at the end of this week so we went around saying goodbye to a lot of our friends because we were pretty sure I was leaving this area. So when we went down to Santa Rosa, I was saying goodbye to a bunch of people. And one of them is named Raquel, she's super cool and really likes the lessons but as we walked up to her house she invited us to play volleyball with her friends. Which of course we said yes and we played volleyball with them. We had to catch a bus at 5:00 however to get back to San Ignacio in order to help with the Self Reliance classes at the church. So we were playing volleyball and I asked what time it was and they said 4:45 which was very unfortunate because the bus station is like a 25 minute walk from where we were. They all were joking at us saying we were going to have to run to the bus stop in order to make it. So as we were walking away we looked at each other and started running down the street. Once we started running we could hear all the people laughing their faces off at the two of us running to our bus. It was super fun and we made some solid friends there.

We also went on divisions with the zone leaders this week. Which was super nice. Because we had so much to get ready for and prepare because of the baptism and because I was saying goodbye to everyone. I was on divisions with Elder Farmer who is a super cool guy from Utah. He also trained one of my good buddies from my MTC group so that was cool too. We had a great time going around and teaching. I definitely learned a lot from him. And Elder Stillwell was on divisions with Elder Cook who is going home today actually. He has finished his mission and is on his way back home. He's a super cool and funny guy. Especially when we all played poker together one night.

Also, I got a notification on my Google photos that a year ago today I was hiking the Tetons with my cousins and Austin before my first semester in college started. I cannot believe that it has already been a year since that. The time truly does fly. And before I know it I'll have a year out here on the mission. Which will blow my mind.

An interesting thing however, as I have been going around saying goodbye to everyone and getting ready to leave San Ignacio. The Lord has other plans for me. Actually Elder Stillwell is leaving San Ignacio. Which is really sad because he was telling all of the people in Santa Rosa that he would be staying and that I was the one leaving so he didn't really get to say goodbye to them. He is headed up to a place called Yacu (said J-CU) and will be with a Paraguayan for his last transfer. It was really sad to say goodbye to him because we have become such good friends over these past 3 months. And I know that I won't see him until I end my mission and we are both at BYU together. It was definitely sad to see him go.

And now to the part you have all been waiting for. What it happening to me? I will be with the Elders from Pilar for a week in a trio waiting for my new comp to get here because I am training a brand new Elder straight out of MTC. His name is Elder Hall, and as for now that's all I know about him. He's from the States and because the missionaries from the states always get here a week late into the transfers, for this next week I will be with the other guys from Pilar waiting for him to get here. Also, because I will be staying in San Ignacio I am also the new District leader. Which is absolutely insane. Considering there are 2 other way more experienced missionaries I my district who would do a way better job than me. But clearly the Lord has a plan for me and I trust Him completely. I hope that I will be able to train Elder Hall in a good way and lead my District, but I know through the power of the Lord I will be able to do it.

Because Elder Stillwell is leaving, yesterday we went around saying goodbye to people. Here in Paraguay there is this thing called a "dispedirse" which basically means to say goodbye to people and kind of wish them luck in their future endeavors. And also tell them how happy you are to know them. And it's like a big part of life down here if you do not "dispedir" yourself, people low key get offended. And a lot of the time they will give you like a little treat or something to remember them by. So it was really cool but really sad at the same time when we went around to all of out close friends here and Elder Stillwell had to say goodbye. A couple of them were pretty emotional which caught me off guard. I didn't realize how much we truly meant to people but it was really amazing to see how much these people appreciate us and what we do.

It was definitely a really weird transfer because in my mind I was leaving San Ignacio and we told all of our friends that. But in reality it was Elder Stillwell that was checking out of here. So I flipped my mind back around and I'm ready to see how it goes with Elder Hall here in the great San Ignacio.

I love you all, if you want to write feel free I'd love to see how you're doing.

Elder Schofield

Joanna and Mariella

Maria

Gustavo and Adaliz

Daisy and Denis

Veronica and her son Gael

Carlos Armoa

The Delvalle family. These two little girls got baptized.

The Elders in Pilar had these shirts made for us. They have our names on them and our mission patch. They found some guy who just made the patches up from a picture they showed them. On the back it says the District of Outcasts because we are on our own clear out in the boonies.