Another week has passed and we remain here in Capiatá. This week was interesting because we were able to explore quite a bit more of the area that we inherited from the sister missionaries who were here before us. We've found some interesting things, but nothing really reportable yet... This week was pretty chill to be honest and there were a lot of rejections, so we're starting to look at how we can start working with members to get some better investigators who are genuinely interested in receiving us and not just willing to sit and listen.
I have some fun things to report and then spiritual, so we're going to do fun first! We visited a cemetery today! And the cemeteries here are totally different. They make houses or shrines and I'm not sure that there's always a body associated with the shrine or house. But we took loads of pics, so enjoy!
Walking around in there helps you to understand just how epic a Paraguayan zombie apocalypse movie would be. ;)
Due to strong Catholic roots, there are crosses EVERYWHERE that bear an inscription, INRI, which I believe to be what was inscribed above Christ's head (hear is Jesus, king of the Jews). It was really cool and interesting to see. But it's also kind of creepy walking by there at night, especially after seeing how extensive it is and how many bodies there really are.
But there's more! There are two other cemeteries, that makes three, and they are one after the other. So I've got more to show! Yes, that second one is a full sized Paraguayan house for a family of deceased.
Also, we found one with a coffin still there. Kinda eerie.....
And then one of the cemeteries was a Korean cemetery, which was more similar to one of our own. All in all, it was an interesting morning.
In other news, I'm kinda sick today and have been since Friday. This week was pretty tough to keep focused, but we persevered and found strengths. It's when you're weak that you get the chance to show where you're strong, and we did a number of things well and actually ended up with better numbers as far as number of lessons goes.
This week we found out that Natalia Castellani's "boyfriend" who prohibited her baptism is actually her CURRENT husband whom we've never met and who continues being staunchly Catholic. She hasn't told him she's been meeting with us and this whole moment was a pretty big surprise. But, a better surprise is that she remembers and has a testimony of EVERYTHING. It's been seven years since she investigated the first time, but she's still retained it all it's crazy! She even has a goal of being one day sealed in the temple to her husband. I couldn't believe it! So, when she saw that we had some pamphlets that she never saw the first time around, she demanded something new from us, and we took the opportunity to leave her a copy of The Family, a Proclamation to the World and invited her to read it with her husband. She accepted. Fingers Crossed!
We haven't gotten much work done this week, but we had two cool things happen this week:
Lesson with Brother Benitez
After our lesson with Natalia, we stopped by a less active member family, to see if she was there with her husband who is never there but needs help. He was! We taught him about the word of wisdom and he confessed to difficulties with drugs and alcohol, but he totally wants to change! He really does! Although they promised to be in church but weren't there, we made some real progress in that visit, and I think we're getting him on a track to being in the church. Furthermore, he admits his need for help and was really just humble. We're coming back for a visit today.
Paola
She's getting baptized this week! This Saturday! Yeah!
So, we did have a number of good things going this week and I'm happy. I know that the Lord has been very kind to us and blessed us in so many ways. I invite all of us to have, as President Uchtdorf invited, a spirit of gratitude in all that we do. I love you all!
Have a wonderful week!
Elder Harris
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