The food here is different, REALLY different. I definitely miss my mama´s cookin! But we have lunch appointments every day with members, mostly the Martinez family. They´re like the Heiner family of Caaguazú! The grandparents feed us every Wednesday, and their kids feed us every other day of the week, so its really nice to not have to worry about lunch. We have a lady that lives around the corner from us that does our laundry and she´s really nice! She´s reserved, doesnt say much, but she´s still really sweet. My apartment is the nicest one I´ve seen out of all the others I´ve been to when we do divisions, so I feel pretty lucky! We stay nice and warm at night because we have a heater/AC unit on our wall by the ceiling. They look different here than in the States, obviously.. We only have hot water for the shower, which I´m greatful for! Its the one where you can have the choice of hot water, or pressure. I take the hot water :) And if you touch the top, it shocks you.. Needless to say I´m hunched over quite a bit every morning so that doesnt happen to my head. So lifes pretty dang good here in Caaguazú!
My companion tried telling me I´m starting to go bald.. He´s a liar! I´ll never lose my hair.. I hope. He´s been cooking breakfast for like the past week and its been really good food! I think I´ll do dishes if he cooks.. which reminds me, Mom- can you send me some recipes? Like for breakfast and dinner stuff? That would be awesome! We ran out of skittles today :( thats the last of our American candy..
We had a baptism on Saturday! Vacilia Acosta Ramirez, she´s 24 and she´s awesome! She´s the one that bore her testimony last week, it was all in Guaraní.. But it was still good! The Spirit was definitely there.. She takes care of another one of our investigators named Evelio. I love that guy! He´s super funny and he always asks us how to say things in English. He was in an accident 14 years ago and he´s parylized from the shoulders down. We teach him like every day, and he´s really close to baptism as well! As for the marriage of the other investigators.. We´re still working on that! We still are trying to get Rumilda´s birth papers so they can get married. She´s still excited to get baptized, but was really bummed that it wasn´t this last Saturday because it was announced in church the week before. But we´re not giving up! We found another family to teach!! We taught the son and daughter twice, and the mom once (one time with the daughter). I´m really excited for them! The son´s name is Juan Carlos and he works for Grandma and Grandpa Martinez in their store. He said that his family has gone to church a few times, so hopefully they´ll be going a lot more in the future!
Last night we were on our way out to the Ralón family to teach them (they live about 2 miles out of town).. And my companion stopped walking. He said, ´´We need to go see Hermana Celestina.´´ Well, we went.. We got there and she started telling us how here head and eyes have been hurting her lately and she cant sleep. She went to the doctor and she has high blood pressure and some other things. Well, right before we got there she had just told her husband that she needed a blessing.. Its crazy how the Spirit works! So I gave her the blessing, my first one and it was in Spanish. It was kind of hard, but I did it.. Afterwards, she just looked really happy and was greatful we came by. What an awesome experience!
I think about you all a lot! I was really sad on the 4th because I knew that everyone was together.. I wish I could have been there! I´m glad I got to hear about all the games and food and fun though. I´m glad everyone had a good time! I´m having a great time here. Some days are really hard, other days are harder, and the rest make up for those days. I´m learning a ton here! I love it.. Whenever someone told me the mission was hard, I honestly didnt believe them.. Its the hardest thing I´ve ever done in my life! But the good that is coming from it, makes it totally worth it. Its hard to forget abut yourself and all the fun things you did back home, but the more you focus on your purpose on the mission and the people in it, the more you forget about yourself and serve others. And the days fly by! The weeks go by even faster.. I´m excited for whats ahead! Bring it on Paraguay!
Mi propósito como misionero es invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo.. Ayudarles ser feliz y traer esperanza en sus vidas. Estoy aquí para mi familia también y por los bendiciones para ellos. Se que este Evangelio es el Evangelio de Jesucristo.. Él vive y nos ama. Él quiere que encontremos felicidad y propósito en esta vida que nos ha dado. Tenemos la oportunidad de cambiar nuestras vidas por la mejor. Dios quiere que regresemos a Él después nuestro vida terrenal y podemos mediante nuestra fe en Él y Jesucristo.
I hope you all have a good week! I know I will!
I love you!!
Elder Colby Dane Heiner
