Wow well first Feliz Navidad Y Feliz Año Nuevo. Wow this is so crazy. It is 2018. The year I spend in Paraguay jaja that is so awesome. Alright I got a lot to catch up on.
Before I talk about last week though we are gonna talk about how I started off 2018 rough jaja. So everything was closed for the holiday, which is why I am emailing on Tuesday. There was literally no one here. But we walked up and down the streets and searched for a place we could buy a soccer ball. Hermana Ostvig played soccer before and we wanted to do something fun on p-day. So we finally found this pharmacy that was open and I bought this soccer ball that was kinda cheap and wasn't super good quality but we got it so we could play. So we were so excited we got home and changed really quick and it was going to rain. So we said a prayer and asked for 1 hour to play soccer. One hour without rain. So we hurried and ran to the church and started playing. We were both so excited to do something outside of the house. We started playing and I kicked the ball up, but a gust of wind took it way farther than I had meant for it to go. It flew out of the fenced field in the church and got stuck in this really tall tree in someone's yard. 5 minutes. We had the soccer ball for 5 minutes. So we went to this persons house and was going to ask them to get our soccer ball back. I felt like a little kid again. But because of the holiday no one was home. So it was very depressing because we had to just walk back home without this brand new super cheap soccer ball that we only had for 5 minutes. I was so sad and I felt really bad because I was the one who kicked it. But our prayer was answered because exactly 1 hour later it started to rain. So there are ups and downs to everything jaja. Heavenly Father answered our prayers..... but we lost our soccer ball.
But anyways last week was full of just so much amazing stuff.
First Rosie was baptized!
It was so incredible but very, very stressful jaja. So I am out of my training. We had cambios and Hermana Robinson left to San Lorenzo and I stayed here in good ol Fernando de la Mora. So my new companion and I had to plan this baptism and with cambios and trying to adjust to a new companion and new routine it was kinda stressful. But it was good. So we started planning the baptism and it was really sad to say goodbye to Hermana Robinson. For our investigators, the members, and me. But poor Hermana Ostvig just got thrown in right before everything. So we invited everyone. Everyone said they would come too. The day of the baptism comes but no one else does. Rosie and her family show up late and no one else is there. Not going to lie it made me pretty frustrated. Rosie is really special and she has made a lot of big changes in her life to be able to get baptized. I wanted it to be really special for her, a big Bienvenida into the ward so she could have a great day. And no one came. We waited a little but decided to start anyways.
We had the baptism service and after she bore her testimony. She was so excited to bear her testimony. She got up and started talking about all the bad things she did in her past. She then talked about how Hermana Robinson and I had changed her life and she will never forget that. Tears were definitely shed. The Spirit was so strong. And it was a good humbling experience in my mission. I don't think Rosie cared that no one showed up. I think she had an amazing experience and she felt the Spirit. Which is all that matters. She is so amazing it is just a huge testimony builder for me that really this gospel changes lives and really if we rely on Christ and through Christ we can do all things. Sunday she got confirmed. That was stressful too because she was late. She showed up just as they were announcing her name. The glow on her face just made me cry. I cried a lot 23 through the 25.
Because on Christmas I got to skype the family. Ndirachori.
That was so great. I cried like a baby jaja. The rest of Christmas though we didn't do much. Paraguayos celebrate Christmas at midnight. So 24 is noche bueno and they all get ready and at midnight they eat a ton of food and blast music and they all set off a ton of fireworks and they just go crazy. Then the 25 they all sleep and sleep and sleep some more. So Sunday night we got to spend some time with a family in the ward. We went with Family Cordero and we sang Christmas Hymns to different people in the ward. Then we went back to their house and started to eat. We didn't get to stay long before we had to be back in the house. But it was a lot of fun. We had a guitar and a violin and it was definitely a lot. It made it feel more like Christmas though singing Jingle Bells in English for everyone. Guys I don't know the words to that song. But it was fun anyways. Okay lets see. Rosie, Christmas eve, oh by the way didn't sleep like at all that night with all the fireworks jaja, what else Skype. What else happened. THERE IS SO MUCH TO CATCH UP ON. Okay what else. Nestor y Amelia are still going strong. They are so great and help out in the ward so much. They just seem so happy and we had lunch with them and I cant even describe how great they are.
Okay that was like a super quick recap on what happened last week. I didn't get to email because we skyped. But this week was kinda crazy. Hermana Ostvig is my new companion.
She has only been out for 1 transfer more than me so we are both pretty new. At first it was kinda hard to adjust. New companion, new routine, new everything. But it is good. We are actually pretty similar. We have the same interests and it has been fun to get to know another companion. She is funny and positive and wants to work. We have some good times so far. But the past week has been really crazy. So almost everyday every single one of our plans has fallen through. If we have an appointment with someone they cancel or aren't home. So we have doing a lot of contacting to try and find people who are ready to listen to the gospel. We found this one lady who was Catholic and she went on this rant about how we cant be fanatics about religion but then how much she adores Mary. We contacted this one house and the lady came out in a towel and was very mad we interrupted her while she was in the shower. We found this old lady and we was cleaning her patio for her church group to come over and she was pretty old but her shirt had a picture of Virgin Mary and it said Mary is my home girl on it. We talked to these people in the street and in the middle of us testifying she got really close to my face and said you two are so beautiful give me a hug. And we visited this lady named Gladys and she had an accident and fell so now only have her body functions properly. She is really sweet and lives alone so we went and visited her and she let us enter her house and she literally lived in this grass field and a shed over her head.
There was like a foundation of a brick house but it was just crumbled to bricks. I don't know how old the house it but it was no longer a house. And she refused to leave. She lives alone and we were trying to teach her and she told us her whole life story and how her brother wants her to leave the house but she wont. It was a crazy lesson. This week we really focused on to listen to the Spirit and to go where Heavenly Father needed us to go. We were walking one morning and our appointment had been canceled so we were looking and walking from house to house. But here at noon is the worst time to talk to people. They call it. Ahora es la Hora. It means this is the time where I eat and if anyone interrupts me then they better watch out. So we were trying to contact some house and we were getting no luck. We turned this corner and were wondering where to go. All of a sudden a guy walks around the corner. He walked up to us and was like hola Hermanas. So we started talking to him and it turned out he was a member for almost 15 years now. He served a mission in Uruguay. We started talking about missions and he got really quiet and looked at us and his eyes started tearing up. He thanked us. He told us he had been inactive lately. That he had stopped going to church, reading his scriptures and saying his prayers. But talking with us, he remembered why he needs to do these things. He gave us his testimony and it was so strong. It was incredible to know that we were suppose to be on that street corner when we were. Sunday was a pretty hard day because literally everyone is in the compaña for the new years. The streets were so dead. But it was crazy because the people we did contact and talk to were again a little strange and crazy. We contacted this house and again, two days in a row, a person came out in nothing but a towel. But this time it was an old guy and he said he was showering, but he didn't seem to be in a hurry because he talked with us for a bit. It was very uncomfortable. With all the holidays there hasn't been a lot of people around. But we did finally find one of our investigators. We taught Jana one time and the lesson went really good and she has so much potential, but we just like disappeared. But yesterday she called us and it turns out her grandma was really sick so she has been in the compaNa this whole time and she doesn't get cell signal so thats why she never answered our calls. But it has been good experience to be able to rely on the Spirit and go where we are needed. That is something I have been trying to work on better. 
Sorry this email is like all over the place. I've probably repeated myself a ton. The main point to focus on is that God has a plan that is perfect for each and everyone of us. There are going to be times when we don't understand why something is happening in our life. There are going to be trials and tribulations. There are going to be times where you are tempted to ask Why me. Why is this happening to me. But what we need to remember is that we are promised if we endure our trials well, we will be able to triumph our enemies and we will be exalted on high (Doctrine and Covenants 121Ñ 7 y 8) Gods plan may be different than ours. We may think we know best. But we don't. Our Heavenly Father wants to have success. He wants us to be able to have everything we want in this life, but in His timing. He knows when we need something and when we just want it. Heavenly Father will bless us and help us if we are willing to do our part. If we show our faith and love. If we pray and read our scriptures everyday. Go to all three hours of church every week. And if we constantly look for the still small voice of the Spirit we will be able to see wonders and miracles in our lives, and that I can testify. Life in Paraguay is crazy. This year is going to be one of hope and growth. Thank you to all of you for supporting me and for your prayers. I truly feel them every day here. I love you all and I hope 2018 is the best year you every have! That is until 2019 jaja.
Ps This joke is really lame and I am sure you have all heard it a thousand times but it wouldn't
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