LUKE 15 VERSE 10 AND D&C 18 VERSE 13

MAY 19 , 2014

Hey family this week we were able to see some big miracles. I want to tell you about a young man who is 22 years old and he wants to be baptized this Saturday. He is a miracle, and now I'm going to tell you why. My companion started her mission here in Piribebuy in December and until now has not had one baptism in her mission. In her first month here she was able to contact this young man and get to know him. He was a young man with a whole lot of problems. (I don't know if i told you guys this but the first thing that we teach here is baptism. With the baptismal question we are able to get a feel of what they really want and need so they can understand that this is the only church that has a true baptism. It works great!!!!!) well this is what the missionaries taught. Well the missionaries didn't think that he was going to progress so they stopped passing by. Well the my companion passed by again with the her companion and they taught the concept repentance and baptism again. This time he paid attention and wanted to know more.....now I'm going to tell you why. He had some serious problems with the word of wisdom. . He has been through a whole heck of a lot in his life until now. He didn't have anywhere else to go. When two sister missionaries passed by his house. And taught him that Christ could take away his burden and forgive him of his sins. He asked how? REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM!!!!! He began coming to church. Stopped drinking, stopped taking drugs. When the missionaries started teaching him he was smoking 7 packs of cigarettes a day. After about a month of teaching he was only smoking. And its been hard for him. The missionaries bought him so much gum to help him that he was only smoking about 3 cigarettes a week. And now he has stopped. He wanted to be baptized. The members in the branch asked the missionaries "what kind of people are you teaching?" "Aren't you girls scared of what he is going to do you?" "HE WILL NEVER CHANGE WHY ARE YOU WASTING YOUR TIME....." Well those two missionaries, with a lot of  love, saw him how Christ saw him. And showed this young man that EVERYTHING WAS POSSIBLE WITH CHRIST. He had a lot of repenting to do, and when he came to have his first baptismal interview, didn't pass because of some other problems that he had with the law of chastity. The leaders told the sisters that they couldn't tell him when he would be baptized but he had to continue showing that he was repenting by going to church every single Sunday and trying to improve every single day. After about one month of assisting the church every single Sunday for a month, the elders called and said that he could be baptized 15 of April, 2014. He was so dang excited. He told the missionaries, Finally Christ can help me with all of these burdens that I carry. The day after he got a call from his boss calling him to move to Asuncion to work. He had to move. The sisters, sad and worried went to tell him goodbye, giving him a whole lot of gum so that he wouldn't be smoking like before, said goodbye. And he left them with the promise that he would come back for his baptism and that in Asuncion he would be going to church. These sister missionaries never heard from him again. Yesterday, he, moved back to Piribebuy. Found us, told us of every church that he had been attending, How he had been reading the Book of Mormon and that he wanted to know if he could be baptized this Saturday. He had been smoking, but only when he got really nervous. He can be baptized this Saturday if he doesn't smoke all week long. The reason I put in the subject these scriptures is because that is how god feels for this young man. HE WANTS TO BE A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST!!!!! He has changed. I might not of known this young man before, but the young man that I got to know yesterday is more humble and ready for baptism than any other person I have met in the mission. He has worked his buttte off to get to this point.

God is so happy with one sinner that repents.

Don't ever judge a book by its cover,

Never judge someone that enters into the church of god, because one day he may be a leader in this church. That is how I saw him yesterday. 

We are seeing so many miracles. I think that when I started the mission I had my eyes only opened to teach those that were living as close to the gospel standards as is possible in this world. But this last week we began to teach those that were so far from the path of righteousness but have such a desire to be there that they are doing whatever is possible to be there. Its incredible. Ive seen the scriptures D&C 18 be applied in my life in the mission this week. My joy is without words, and I am so happy. I'm not worried about anything. I just want to do the will of the lord, keep going, and find people like him,. READY!!! 

I know that this week i will have one year in the mission. Next week i will be going to the temple.  I hope that you all enjoy the blessings of the gospel every single day. Keep going, stay strong..

Love you all,

Hermana Ross,

The slugs in the street are almost as big as my hand.

This is our next door neighbor named Juancho. He tells us Hola when we leave our house.
He loves our mango tree in front of our house.

Spider eggs from the window.

Pancake night with dulce de leche because we didn't have any syrup.

Nino Jesus bus

Taking the bus to stake conference with the branch.

This kid reminds me of my brother.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

It gets so freaking cold here, I just keep thinking....... I'm going to die when i go back home. I'm so dang used to the heat of Paraguay my body cant handle the cold. It was a cold week. The 22 year old young man we've been teaching wasn't baptized because he had smoked the week before. Really he is a miracle. He will be baptized this week if he keeps up the no smoking thing. He really has been through a whole lot in his life. But he is a whole heck of lot more ready than anybody else here.  Did you guys ever read about the virgin of Caaupè. Everyone here are Catholics and are dropping us like bombs. Its been a little discouraging. And I remember how it is in Utah. Everyone judges very easily. I sure hope that I've overcome that because I know that I was like that. But It doesn't matter when it all comes down to Christ. For every single catholic who has slammed a door in my face telling me where to go to, I will remember this young man, one of the people who had lots of sins and is willing to do anything to be clean. There are some nice and bad things about being in a small town. But there is gossip and it spreads like wildfire.  Its not very fun. Just learn that obedience is the key to EVERYTHING.

Funny story. So we were doing a division with the sister leaders in our area and as we were studying the Jehovah witnesses sister missionaries came knocking on our door. That was sure interesting. They are really scared of us. 

Tomorrow I'm going to the temple and I'm so dang excited. I haven't been in forever. 

This Sunday it rained all day long and we had an assistence of 26. When we got to the church at the hour it started there were four of us. And that wasn't even the branch president. Our district leader calls every Sunday to ask about the attendance in church and when he heard he just laughed and said that there were 5. Four elders and one investigator. This area has some serious work. 

Well we are coming to the end of the transfer. 

We`ll have to see what happens, how I hold out. 

Hermana Ross

One nice reason to have a face book account.  My mom found this picture with my previous companion and asked if I knew the young women that got baptized.    It is the sister that wanted to get baptized but her fiance had lost their marriage license for them to be married. She couldn't get baptized until they had their marriage license.
This made my day!!!  

We found this spider in our apartment.   It is about 3 inches wide.
The cold weather is bringing them in.

 My companion in the rain.

Me in a down pour.

It has been a year!!!! Time really does fly!

Just a little drenched!!

Welcome to the Jungle!!

My companion and I took some pictures this week and she is going to let me use her camera to send you all some. 

My companion was born in the gospel and her mom and dad served missions as well. I don't know much about her life but she is the oldest of 6 or 7 and she's serving here in Paraguay and her younger brother is now serving in Ecuador.  She came with only two pairs of shoes and now they are breaking. She is a very humble and loving person.   She will be leaving this area in 3 weeks when we have transfers again. She has 4 transfers here in Pirebebuy. 

I will never ever learn Guarani completely because not even the people here speak all pure guarani. I'm learning phrases and small things but really it is not easy. It sounds like Chinese or Japanese. I only know how to say "lets go to the church", yaja tupaope. Or greetings. It's almost impossible. But now I will be ordering a badge that is in Guarani. Monday we had a family night in the house of less actives with members that are active. It was completely in Guarani. I didn't understand anything. Absolutely nothing. 

we`ll see how that goes....... 

This week we did a lot of walking. When I send you all pictures you will know what I mean. There is a lot of walking and not a whole lot of teaching. We have a church house, its very small, and we have a branch president. Its our district leader who doesn't have one. This week we were able to see the family who is the Relief Society President and Elders Quorum President come back to church with their family. As a missionary its also our job to re activate those members. it was pretty powerful to see this family bear their testimonies in the reunion. when we had 42 people there. The most that there has been in a good long time. There are tons of families who have such strong testimonies and love the church but don't have the means to get to the church because of how far away it is. This is a big problem here. BIG PROBLEM. 

I've found some huge spiders here. I'm also so absolutely surprised at how green and how many hills are here in Pirebebuy. It is difficult. These members have a whole lot to learn, but were trying our best to help them learn. 

So this is what we are going to do for Mothers Day. We have the option to talk to you guys this Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. My companion and I want to try talking to you guys Sunday at 5 in the afternoon in the time of Paraguay. If I'm not able to find a computer of one member this day we will be talking to you guys Tuesday around 5 o'clock Paraguay time again. The problem is there is limited access to Internet and Sunday we cant use the cybers(cafe') because it is the Sabbath day. So I'm going to try with all my heart to talk to you guys this Sunday but if you don't hear anything. Monday i will be writing you guys to confirm my plans for Tuesday. Sorry it is the only thing that I can do. 

I'm without words. I'm working and don't have time to think about anything really. The day that all of the things at home will hit me hard is when I come home. I hate thinking about facing that day. t will be so hard and I don't want it to come. I will be like Jane and be about to leave and then decide to stay living in the jungle forever where I don't have to face the real life. ha ha, just kidding. I love you all so much.....

Hermana Ross

My sweet companion from Guatemala.

This was a small creek in our area. it rained buckets of water Wednesday.
This was what it looked like after.

Doesn't this look like a jungle?

These pigs belong to a member.  The mother pig is very protective.

This is the pathway to a member's home.