Paraguay is going nuts with the weather here. It's sometimes cool and nice, then the temperature drops and it gets way rainy, and then the sun jumps out and it's hot and humid. The result is a lot of carrying an umbrella when there's absolutely no apparent need for one, and then immense gratitude that I brought an umbrella a couple of hours later when it's raining cats and dogs. ;)
This week has been good. It's been the first week since I've been out in the field with substantial uninterrupted work (although there were still a couple of interruptions). The only things that stood in the way were the Tuesday Zone Temple Trip!!!! It was so great! Also, awesome to get to go to the temple twice in five days. I have such a testimony of the temple and what we do there. It's absolutely straight from Heaven and I know that those are real covenants and ordinances of the Gospel that we do there. After the temple, we had a beautiful testimony meeting, where some Nivaclé youth who will be leaving on missions soon bore testimonies. Oh yeah, remember me emailing about Nivaclé youth? Those same youth have had their calls for a while and will be heading to the Buenos Aires MTC in early May. So cool!
After the testimony meeting, we ate pizza and watched the success video and a video that Elder Milton made about house maintenance. It was funny to see these things and not have had anything to do with them. Nice work Elder Milton. :)
And then there was the work. :)
We were able to find a couple of new investigators this week! One of them had a really good, spiritual experience with the video: "Because He Lives" and we shared quite a bit about baptism and the Restoration. She accepted everything wonderfully. Her only real trial is that she's now with a man who does not like religion at all. But she's married to another man with whom she's separated but never divorced, so things there will probably have to end anyways..... We'll see. That's something to worry about AFTER she has a firm testimiony of the Restored Gospel.
There's one family of incorrigibly inactive recent converts who never have a reason to not go and always seem desirous to change and come into activity when we visit. I don't know what we're doing wrong to not be able to gain their confidence. One night, when we didn't have time to share anything, but I had all the ingredients to make some good ol' American holiday hot chocolate (just means it's flavored up with nutmeg and cloves and other deliciousness), we even sat down and made them all cocoa and then just up and left. Result: they love us to death, and respect us a lot as missionaries, but still don't trust us enough to tell us what impedes them from coming to Church. I'm puzzled.
However, the parents of the mom are starting to listen to us, and there's hope that if we can get the WHOLE FAMILY to start coming, they'll all stay active.... But, we'll be praying and fighting a lot for that to happen, and proceeding with caution.
As a missionary, we try and work a lot, but I often feel a little self-conscious about how much I'm able to work. I'm always looking at how much we could work and comparing it to how much we do, or even how effective and strong the work we put out is. It's so easy to see imperfections and weaknesses, and I personally have a tendency to view these mistakes as sins. But I was reminded to read an article in the April Liahona (Ensign) about the difference between weakness and sin, and understanding how to overcome weaknesses helps me not to be so hard on myself for not serving perfectly. I know that we all have weaknesses and that we all choose incorrectly at times, but I know that God's grace uplifts us and strengthens us to overcome. It often doesn't come as we think it would. I always thought that God would help me and make eating difficult foods easy for me, but I still feel the exact same amount of anxiety as I used to when someone puts a plate in front of me. God more often than not strengthens us to be able to overcome the weakness instead of taking it away. So, I'm hoping for greater diligence this week, and praying for even more results.
I love this work though! This is a wonderful place with wonderful people and we're starting to scratch the surface! I hope that everyone can participate in the glory of this work and enjoy it thoroughly.
I love you all!
Sincerely,
Elder Harris
P.S. There was a wedding in the Ward, and we got permission to stay out a little later to see it. :)
The first picure is of the ceremony (only ever done by a judge, oddly enough).
The second is of Gustavo Cantero, the coolest Recent Convert ever (alongside Sofía) who worked the night as proffessional bussboy (I think that's how it's spelled.....).
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