My trainer is Hermana Robinson. She is from Highland Utah and she is so nice and amazing!!! She has been on her mission for 8 months now. It is crazy. Sadly we are getting transfers the week before Christmas so you wont be able to talk to her because I will have a new companion.
Paraguay is so much fun. After Hermana Robinson and I got into our area, we put my bags in the apartment and grabbed my scriptures and we went to an appointment right away. We taught a man named Juan and he is so cool. He is shy and kinda quiet to himself but he is getting baptized next month. He has been investigating the church for 7 years and he finally accepted baptism so that is so amazing and exciting. We were kinda worried with cambios if he was going to be okay since I am new and he is shy but I guess he likes me because when I said the opening prayer it was short and to the point and he liked that jaja. We then were walking back to our apartment that night and a little boy ran up to us and said he wanted to be baptized. So we started talking to him, and by we I mean Hermana Robinson jaja, and it turns out his family isn't members but he heard about the church and wants to be baptized. Literally, guys I don't know how much more I can tell you this but this gospel is so true. There is no way with my awful Spanish that people would want to invite us back but its because I am not the teacher. I am just the messenger and the Heavenly Father, through the Holy Ghost is the teacher.
Paraguay is so amazing though. The people here are so pure and kind. Oh and everyone is just a little crazy. It is so funny. People will go like 100 Km down the road and motorcycles drive on the sidewalk. People drive on the opposite side of the road and it seems like everyone has the right away. People just cross whenever they want and cars don't stop you do. Honestly it is so cool. I have already almost been hit by a car jaja. And dogs here are fun. They just do whatever they want. One already tried to bite me jaja. I thought my Spanish was getting better but being in a place where no one speaks English and they speak Spanish super fast and kinda mumble, man am I so confused all the time. I feel bad for the people who have to listen to be. But it was nice.
Entonces we then spent all day Friday clapping doors, yes it is the same as knocking doors but a lot of people dont have doors here so you clap outside the houses. But we went clapping and we got some contacts but not as many lessons and references we wanted to. I feel really bad for Hermana Robinson porque I don't contribute much to the lessons because my Spanish isn't super grand. But I try really hard to talk when I understand what is going on. The walking here is definitely rough on your body. There are sometimes sidewalks, I happen to actually be in a really like nice and rich area, but the roads are like all cobble stone and most of the time we walk on the road because the sidewalk isn't big enough for both of us. But we also taught Juan again and man if I could describe it in one word it would be WOW! We taught about priesthood and the restoration. Before Juan never believed Joseph Smith was a prophet. And Friday he said he believed the First vision actually happened and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Than he was given a blessing by a member and the Spirit was so strong. You could just feel how amazing it was. And at the start of the lesson Juan seemed really agitated and we almost didnt teach him but we stayed and it was definitely worth it, because he was tearing up at the end and I think it really helped him realize the power of God. Then it was so amazing because we had General Conference!!!! Saturday session literally spoke to me so much.
Watching conference as a missionary is so different because you are constantly trying to improve and thinking of your investigators. It was so amazing. On Sunday we invited 8 of our investigators to come and watch it and the morning session would have been perfect for all of them. However, none of them showed up. Then a huge storm hit and the power shut off. It was so cool because we had to do our studies by candle light. Then it got closer to the second session and we were worried because the power still wasn't on but then we prayed and it stopped just in time to watch conference again. The second session we had two of our investigators show up and it was so amazing! But then we were kind of worried with every talk that went by if it was going to make them upset or answer any of their questions. We finally realized we had to just let the Spirit guide them that we couldn't do anything about it. And let me just add when everyone said it rained here, they were not kidding. It stormed and when it rains even a little, all of Paraguay like shuts down. It is so strange to see the streets of Paraguay empty. My Spanish is a working process. I don't know how many times Ive said that but it definitely needs work. But everyone here asks me which of my parents are Latino or if I am from Chile or Peru or some other South American country jaja and I laugh and say no porque si yo fuera Latina mi Espanol seria meyor which is no because if I was Latina my Spanish would be better. I tell them I am Korean and always the next question is if I can speak Korean which I reply, no puedo hablar Espanol entonces no puedo hablar Koreano. I cant speak Spanish so I cant speak Korean which really doesn't make sense but when I say it they all laugh and I think it is because of my bad Spanish that they understand.
I cant tell you all how much my mission has changed my perspective on life. I was so excited to get out and serve that I believe I have missed the real reason why we serve. I just wanted to be a missionary. I wanted to have a name plaque and have crazy experiences I could tell for the rest of my life. But as I have gotten here I realized it isn't just those things or sharing the Gospel. I am a messenger, a voice and some legs, to bring Gods children back to him. I feel humbled with the people of Paraguay. They are so sweet and kind and pure. They don't have much and what they do have they give to the Lord no matter what religion they are. I am in a richer area of Paraguay and still there isn't much. I find myself constantly sad that I don't have the language to be able to share my love I have for these people, but I don't need to be fluent in Spanish to do that. Because my actions and the language of the Spirit is stronger and louder than anything I could ever say. I am excited to be able to learn and grow and serve and fall and rise and do all the things which the Lord has in store for me. I love all of you so much and I know Heavenly Father loves you even more!
If there is one thing I learned from being on my mission and listening to conference it is that if you have a prompting, if you feel you need to do something for a neighbor or friend, if you think you should call someone, do it. Sometimes the Lord will send help, but that help will come from you. You could be someone's Guardian Angel. Just a thought. I love you all.
This church is true. Also side note. The temple in Paraguay is closed but Hermana Robinson and I got the opportunity to clean it. Which was very unexpected because she cleaned it last week. But I really wanted to be able to go to the Paraguay temple and see inside before I left my mission and it will be closed for like 3 years so it was a definite answer to my prayer!!! So we went and got to clean it and take lots of photos and it is so small, but so beautiful. It kinda reminds me of the Provo City Center temple but tiny. Yesterday was a holiday so we didn't get to email, that is why I am emailing today. Normally my p days are on Monday but sometimes the power will be out or things will be closed. I love you all. I don't have a lot of time so I hope this email makes sense. I cant tell you how amazing it is here in Paraguay. The things you do are so different and amazing. Hope everyone got the chance to watch general conference because it was so amazing. Much love! Chow!
To Heaven and Back!
Hermana Davis
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