Niko Cleanse...

Well this week has been one for the books without a doubt. 

First and foremost it all started with me teaching some lessons in English. We went to lunch as a district and sitting outside after we paid, there were these German looking people. So naturally we said hi and then my comp tried talking to them but they just looked very confused. And then I tried talking to them in English and they knew English so we started up a conversation. I found out that 2 of them were German and the third one was from Poland. They were very interested in what we were doing here In Paraguay and equally we were also interested. They had very hippie vibes if you want to say that, they had full dreads, tank tops, shoeless, people. I'm not being judgemental just trying to give you a picture. But I talked to the polish guy the most because his English was by far the best. I asked what he was doing in Paraguay. He told me that he was searching for God so I was like, "hey that's kinda what we do." But I asked where he was in his search for God and he said he's basically found Him and now just following Him. 

He started to tell me his story saying that back in Poland he was a big drug user and had a very busy normal life with a job and house and everything. But one day he had a very spiritual experience when he took DMT, which is a very strong hallucinogenic drug. But he said ever since that day he stopped taking drugs all together and started his search. He quit his job and went to India, Portugal, Switzerland, Great Britain, Germany, and France on this search. Talking with every religion he could find and trying to understand it but at the same time forming his own beliefs. He basically took all of the good beliefs from every group and formed them together into his own personal beliefs. As he started telling me this, all of this beliefs really aligned with our own. Just slightly different. As I started sharing what we believed he kept saying, oh that makes sense, I see it like this as well. I shared with him the whole Plan of Salvation and the Restoration and he loved all of it. I explained the Book of Mormon and that really it's a book of answers for us to better understand who is God and Jesus for ourselves. And he loved and said he would read it. We didn't have an english copy with us, so we downloaded the app on his phone and he said he would read it for sure. The only bummer is that this guy lives 3 hours away by car in a Hindu colony so I'll probably never see him again but it was one of the coolest experiences I've had in a long time. 

Also this week our friend Mica got baptized!! She's super cool and was super excited to get baptized. She knew it would change her life and was 100% in without a single doubt. It was a pretty special day not gonna lie. 

This week I was Inspired by my good buddy Elder Dutson who is from my MTC group. A little background there is a brand of Soda here in Paraguay called Niko that is actually cheaper than water, for about 60 cents you can buy 2 liters. So Elder Dutson did a thing with his district to see if they could drink 9 liters of Niko in under 24 hours. This is where I was inspired. I then inspired the zone and said that as a zone we are going to drink 200 liters of Niko in under 24 hours. Which means about 11 liters for every person in the zone. But there's a couple people that don't want to do it. So my goal is 15 but I think I can beat that as well. It's 7 am right now and we started at 6 last night and I have now drank 8 liters. So it's very possible. The body may be rejecting Niko at this point, but anything for the zone. 

I'm pretty sure it's like a juice cleanse that people do just with Niko, there's no sugar, at least that's what the label says, and my pee is the most clear I've ever seen in my life, so it has to be pretty healthy what we're doing here. 

This week I went on divisions like 3 times it was all super cool, I was able to give a blessing to one of the Elders in my Distrist and it was one of the most spiritual experiences I've had probably in my life. Elder Ray love you man. All In all it was a fantastic week. 

I went  on Divisions with Elder Emery, a Paraguayan dude. In his branch there are these 2 recently returned sister missionaries who planned a family home evening and invited a whole bunch of their friends and family to come and participate with us. So when we got there we were super hyped we were all ready to make brownies and share some stuff with all of these people. And then nobody showed up. It was just us and the return missionaries and another girl sitting out front of a house making brownies. The coolest double date I've ever been on haha. They were pretty cool but I'm pretty sure one of them has a boyfriend so that's a bummer, might have to work around that. For legal reasons I have to say this is a joke haha. But it was cool to hear their testimonies and experiences from their missions. 

Also on Divisions with him I bathed a house, all of the houses are brick with a smooth stucco finish and with all the dirt here they get really dirty so to clean them they straight up bathe their houses with soapy water and sponges. It was pretty fun and the family we did it with was super cool. Had a great time. I also did some other service at a members house with this older member dude. We used this hoe/spade lookin thing to weed a whole bunch of area. And we were sweating so much but the dude was super funny we kept making fun of each other as we were working and honestly I left that house very happy. It reminded me of working with Dad in the backyard and I miss doing  work like that a lot. So it was really refreshing to do something like that again. 

It was a great week can't complain about anything, I was slightly sick with a pretty stuffy nose and some aches and pains but we're big chillin now, nothing is gonna stop the Lord's work out here especially not some stupid sickness. 

I love all you guys and love hearing from you.

Elder Schofield 

Mica's Baptism

After the baptism.  His suitcase was full of soda and didn't have wheels haha

This random dude drove us an hour back to our house.  It was awesome. And FREE!

Birthday of Elder Emery

Chileno Elder Belen

Changing a light bulb

Our "double date" with the two returned missionaries when no one else showed up.  And the random shirtless guy in the back that we didn't notice until later. 

Some homies while on divisions

Bathing the house

Niko Challenge

This girl is 14. She's awesome. She is in another branch from me.  She has been her class YW president since she was 11. She fills in teaching whenever the leaders don't show up.  She is speaking Guarani so I got a video for you guys.  This is the native dialect and the second national language of Paraguay. They still teach it in schools.  Some families only speak Guarani, so we are unable to communicate with them.