Primary President, Relief Society Class and walking 3 hours to meet investigators. Can you say Transfers?

Hey family,

So we have had transfers! I'm sure you are all very curious for what I wrote as the subject of this letter. Lets just say that I'm living in the jungle/country. Ha ha I'm not in Asuncion anymore, that's for sure. I'm in an area that is called Piribebuy. Before it was in the north mission and now it has been moved to the south mission when I came to Paraguay. We went to the terminal to meet my new companion. She is from Guatemala. All of my mission I have gone in taxi to the terminal but when we had found our new companions and needed to leave to go to our new areas. I went in BUS! And not just any bus, PUBLIC BUS. We were in the bus for 2 and a half hours with all of my bags and a ton of people. I couldn't even breath. It was crazy. And when it was time that we needed to get off the bus. We pushed the button that was above the door and asked three men on the bus if they could help me get my bags off. It was crazy! after that we walked 3 blocks to get to our house on the cobble stone. There aren't side walks here. I really truly was in shock when i got here. Ive gone ´campo´as they say here in Paraguay. 

The area has a LOT OF WORK!!!!!!! Its a branch with the normal assistance( attendance) of about 25. Yesterday I found myself teaching the primary for half of the day and after going to the relief society room to see if we were going to be teaching that class too. I about died when my companion told me that there are no families in our are that are active members of the church. There haven't been baptisms here for quite a while. My companion has yet to have a baptism and she has 6 months in the mission. I'm actually starting off where my companion from the MTC, left off. I'm with the companion that she trained. Well what are we going to do. We have so much work here it is crazy. The first day that i got here we had to walk to a part of our area that was about 2 hours walking.  My first two nights here in the mission I was so sore. My whole body aches from using muscles that I have yet to use in the mission. It was a lot of walking, but its so beautiful. So green and the palm trees. The area is huge. and there are tons of less actives to work with. I'm using my language study to learn Guarani. Its the main language in this area. The only way that I can think to explain this area is to tell you is like the church house would be in Manti, Utah, and my area includes Manti, Ephraim, and Mountain Green, and Moroni. We get to these areas walking. There are members that are in the far out areas that have been to the temple but don't have the means to get to church. Almost everyone receives us. If we get hungry we eat oranges that we pick off the trees in the walking distance. 

I think my eyes have been opened to the real Paraguay. Its incredible. President has told us that we are going to be the start of this branch. We have a church house but not much of the member support. Its hard to find investigators and invite them to the church when you don't know if there will be members in the church Sunday. Our district leader is branch president in his area which is a different area. Almost nobody has heard of the church here. We gave more than 10 Books of Mormon in the last 4 days. There are tons of people here who are so interested and so humbled and ready, they just fault the church support. Its just crazy. 

The good thing is that I don't have time to think about anything. I'm working my tail off and and I'm learning how to cook, and I have lost weight for walking miles a day. God wanted to humble me a little bit. I'm humbled. 

Pray for me,

Love you all so much,

Hermana Ross

Cambios

Hey guys hope all is well with you guys. I'm here, working, living, breathing. What more could you ask for? Right? Life is good, I really am just working. I don't really care what happens this week in transfers. If I stay I will be happy and if I go I will be happy. It's the way it is here in the mission. This week was the holy week here in Paraguay. At home is only Easter day, Sunday. Here it is a holiday all week long. We saw a whole lot of rain! A WHOLE LOT OF RAIN. until Sunday where the sun came out and the weather was perfect. I find that interesting because Sunday was the day that Christ was resurrected.  There are some really weird traditions here. For example Friday is when Christ died and we can"t eat meat this day. So I went without a whole lot of meat for this week. But they eat a ton of Chipa. We ate tons. It was delicious. I ate fish this week. It was disgusting but I ate it. They had fished it from the Paraguay River. My companion is used to eating fish for where she lives but it is not my favorite food. This area is really exploding with people who are ready to accept the gospel. We´re trying our best to help them. It will be sad that one of us will be leaving. The ward is amazing here. But we do the will of the lord. I don't like to think about how much time I have here in the mission. It gives me a headache. This is my life now, I don't want to be anyone else. I've forgot my first name and want to be Hermana Ross forever. I feel like I don't have words to tell you guys these days. Maybe that's because I am not used to speaking English, or I'm just lost more in what I'm doing here than in knowing what to write you guys. I´ll be sending pictures this week from my companions camera. Hope you guys like them. Really I  don't have any idea when I will be talking to you guys for skype. I had forgotten that mothers day is next month. When I find out you guys will know. Sorry that the letters are so short. I'm good and happy here in Paraguay. Love you guys too

Love Hermana Ross

This little girl will be getting baptized!

There is nothing like a good rainstorm.

The streets are like rivers here in Paraguay.

Eating mangos from the church.

Eating mangos from the Mango tree at the church.

Hermana Ovelar making Chipa and sharing with
us for the semana santa.

More Chipa!

.

Another Day in Paraguay!!

Hey guys, so the mission is the mission. This week we were able to see some awesome miracles. But the cool experience that I wanted to share with you guys this week is about a lady. She was a reference that we received from the general offices of the church this week. She went looking for the church website because she wanted the elders to come to her house. She lives literally in the limit of our area and the reason why those elders never could pass by her house is because they can't cross over their limits. So we called her up and she told us to come over. We went to her house and she had so many different questions. We didn't have much time to teach her but we gave her a Book of Mormon and explained why it was important and invited her to read it. We also explained a little bit about the restoration. So we left her with the Book of Mormon on Thursday and we came back to her house Saturday. She had read up to the 4th or 5th chapter in first Nephi. She said that if she finds out it is true she will be baptized. She is different than any other investigator that I have ever taught. She is so prepared. She said that she wants to know more because of some of her friends who are members. She said that we are the only church that she has seen that say and do the things they say. She seems pretty interested. She didn't come to church this week but we will be going to visit her again on Wednesday.

Transfers are in one week. I love this ward and I don't want to leave but a transfer will help me keep my mind off things. I really do what ever thing I can to keep my mind here in the mission. This week we could see this because we had 5 investigators come to church. 9 lessons with members and 19 other lessons this week. that leads to about 4 lessons a day this week. Not too bad. We have 4 with baptismal dates and 

we´re trying to find more people. We´re working. I told my companion that the only way we would be happy this week is if we got to work. So we did. 

Nothing is really new. Its hard being here. I love being in the mission. I'm here and this is my life now. I am actually dreading the day that I have to come home and face the reality that faces me there.  So I'm good. I really was able to see a whole lot of miracles this week. I didn't have time to think about anything else but the mission. 

Sorry my letters are so short. love you guys tons,

Hermana Ross

This is what it looks like after just 2 minutes of rain!

This was conference day waiting for the bus. These are the rocks that I walk every
single day. All of the roads are like this and by the end of the day.......my feet kill!

This was yesterday proselyting in a little park in the area.

 She is 12 years old and we are teaching her and her sister, and her brother. She loves to read the
 Book of Mormon. This is where we taught her, in the Young Women's room. 

150 Baptisms in our mission this week!!!

Hello family. Wow it sure sounds like you all had a really interesting week. Me too! But some cool news. Our mission baptized 150 people in the month of March. How cool is that? Maybe not one of them were my baptisms but its great to see that there are a whole lot of people who are accepting the gospel. Congratulations to the two boys from the ward who received their mission calls. Nate  will LOVE PARAGUAY. Rohihu Paraguay. That's I love Paraguay in Guarani. Just so you all know Guarani is really the language of Paraguay. Ive been lucky because the two areas where I have been are in the city and we speak a lot of Spanish. In the north mission you will see that it is a lot more poor and there is a lot more Guarani. When do they both leave?

 We´ve been having rain again. Hermana Hidalgo found an umbrella this week. Don't worry about sending one. But we´re all good. Just getting wet and trying to find new people. Ive seen a lot of happy and sad moments in this area. We have had to drop a lot of investigators that really weren't progressing.  Our 23 year old investigator is drinking again and doesn't want to hear from us. And we´re at a dead end again. But yesterday we prayed that the Lord would guide us to people who are ready...... and guess what he did. He lead us to a FAMILY!!!! Who have been to the church, who want to be baptized and who are willing to do the things the the lord has required them to do. Its a family of Five. (A mother.and a girl who is nine,  and a child who is 8 and and another child who is 7). They are amazing. The dad is a little less responsive to hear from us. Before he didn't like that the elders were passing by to teach his wife (girlfriend) the gospel. he is a little more responsive to us but they both need to get married. Tonight we are going to have a family night with them. Yesterday we also found a girl who is 15 years old and she told us. What do i have to do to enter into the church of Jesus Christ. We explained that she needed to be baptized like Jesus was baptized. She said.... When can i be baptized?..... She has never gone to church but she is going to be baptized on the 19th. I can feel it! I'm really excited for conference and that we are going to be able to take these people to hear from a prophet of god. Do you know how powerful it is to people who don't know the church to hear that there is a prophet who is guiding the people in the world like Moses or Noah. Ha ha Liz couldn't believe it! She is so excited to go with us Saturday and Sunday to hear the words or the prophets. But mom I didn't get to hear the women's conference. But it sounds like it was pretty amazing. 

Ha ha sorry I tried sending pictures with my camera and something else but it obviously doesn't work. We´ll have to see what happens. 

I can't wait to hear the conference talks. It is like my spirit is craving it. I wish i would have listened more to the prophets before i came on the mission. Because its not the same listening in Spanish then to hear and understand their actual voices. 

Hey if Nate has questions about Paraguay he or his family can ask me. but I think that I have told you guys a good amount of what happens here. Just prepare for the hottest days of your life! 

I'm so happy to hear from you guys and hear that you all strong and firm in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But i know that the church is true and that God is so aware of each and every one of us. I love to hear from you all. Thanks for the big letter. 

Love, Hermana Ross.

Crazy week.....y no bautismo,,,,

You guys know what. Satan sure loves to work when it means that someone wont be baptized. One sister wasn't baptized this week because her husband has yet to receive his license. We´re waiting for a miracle with them! But I can't do a thing about it and we have to keep going.

This week has been one of the craziest weeks of the mission for me. Monday we went to the offices to practice for a choir that my companion and I were in for a conference we had Wednesday with Elder Viñas. We sang, "I stand all amazed". but in Spanish...Asombro me da. Tuesday it RAINED!!!!!!!!!! NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I SEEN A RAIN LIKE THAT!!!!!!! We had to cancel our lunch because we couldn't cross the route because it was a river. Literally it was like the rapids. WE could have taken a boat to get to our lunch. I'm sure you guys could find on google videos of how CRAZY the streets are in Paraguay when it rains like that. And my poor companion really doesn't have clothing for the cold or for the rain. I gave her my umbrella for the day and I just used my rain jacket. But it was crazy. I have some pictures that I want to send you of how wet I was but I wish I could have taken a picture of how crazy the streets were. The water would easily been to my waist or above. Wednesday is the day we had the zone conference with Elder Viñas. He told us that the people we teach are our children. We need to treat them with love and care.  We have been teaching young man who is 23 years old. Sorry I don't know if I have told you guys this story yet but he has problems with the word or wisdom, but he really has a lot of faith in Christ. We didn't know what exactly we could do to help him stop drinking. So we took the picture of Jesus Christ where he is leaving the tomb. Its the picture that is on the pamphlet of the plan of salvation and told him that if he drank he would have to tear the picture in half. He looked at us in shock and straight up told us that he wouldn't be ripping the picture. We told him that every time he drinks it is like he is really denying Jesus Christ. And making him suffer for his sins again and again. When we returned to teach him yesterday the picture was there and it hadn't been torn. He told us that he skipped going to hang out with his friends to watch soccer because he knew that he would be tempted to drink and he would have to tear the picture in half. This worked really great for him and is a great idea for any other missionary!  But the conference was great with elder Viñas. Thursday we found out that our dear sister wouldn't be getting baptized this week. Friday was a normal day with lots of walking to get to know our new area. Saturday we had another opportunity to go to the hospital to help with operation sunrise. HAHAHA funny story of the week. We went to the hospital in normal clothes but with our badges. We entered a bus and the moment we entered two rappers entered after us. We sat down while these rappers asked the bus driver if they could rap on the bus. HAHAHA They were doing improv. Well the rap was about the lovely sister missionaries that were sitting in the front of the bus, the hermana Ross, and the Hermana Hidalgo, and something about José Smith, and Jesus Christ. Well the whole bus liked it and they earned a good tip from almost everyone. I never thought that I would see that in my mission but it was interesting. After they ended I couldn't get the drunk guy who was in front of me to stop asking me to marry him. He kept saying that he was always in love with the rubias con ojos azules. Blondes with blue eyes. HAHA I am an outsider here even though I've been here for a good 10 months. When we were going to the hospital we totally left the mission on accident and had to take 4 different buses to get to the hospital. Well to say the least it was an interesting day. Sunday we didn't have any one of our investigators that came to church! AHHHH frustrating. But we keep going. I'm going to be sending you guys some pictures to you guys today. so hopefully you will forgive me for the short letter. 

I ask God every day that you can receive the blessings for my work here. I love ya. And sounds like you all are having tons of fun. Well, Love you all,

Hermana Ross

Tiffany sent pictures but we could not download them. Sorry!

Cambios. Y 10 meses en la mision

Monday, March 17, 2014

OK first off its really weird to have you guys know what happened in the transfers before I tell you. The girl that you guys are talking to through face book will be leaving on a mission this next week. But.........We weren't transferred. It has a been a great blessing. This week we will have the wedding and baptism. Next week we have another baptism for the husband , and the next week another couple. But what happened is we are with a new area. In our ward there were 6 missionaries And now there are only 4. So we have to get to know the new part of our area. We have practically all of the members in our area. Poor elders in our ward. But we have lunch every single day this week and all of the young women live in our area now. So we keep going.....haha its a lot of work this gran obra. haha So many many many miracles we saw this week.

One sister was supposed to be baptized last week but someone had robbed the licence of her husband. They couldn't get married and she couldn't get baptized without getting married. We were praying a ton to hope to see one huge miracle because it is about one month waiting for him to receive a licence again. We only need a copy of the license and we were asking him to really truly think if he had one in someplace. So this sister was really sad because she really wanted to be baptized last Saturday she said I wonder if in his high school they would have a copy of the license. And they called, and they do. So God works in mysterious ways. We have been working with her since day one here in Ettiene, and 8 other elders have been working with her before us. 

Funny story. This Sweet sister has three daughters. The oldest one is 6 years old and she bit my companion on the hand yesterday because she wanted to drink from the water bottle . hahahahahahahahah I always joke with the Hermana Hidalgo about the dogs in Paraguay. SHE HATES DOGS. She always says I hate dogs because they have teeth......I always respond that those children have teeth too..... ahhahhahahaha and she has yet to be bitten by a dog but a kid....YUP!!!!!  

In our ward we have two elders from the states. Elder Jessop from California and elder Arrington from Farr West. We´re working hard in the ward. The family Britos wont be going to Utah in April because they want to wait for their son who is on a mission to come home from Brazil. 

I"ve seen a great change in my companion. This week we were teaching a ton of lessons. We have found a lot of new people and this same night my companion looked at me in surprise and said.... you know what...I haven't thought about my family one single moment today. hahaha that's how it is in the mission. The only time that we remember about the family is in the night time. Sorry my English is terrible and I don't know what else I can write. But everything is good. 

Mom I'm good with what ever you want to send. But i would love a journal. Ive written in all of my journal and don't have any more pages. My peds are a disaster. My feet are so ugly. I've gone through two pairs of shoes and am down to two. hahaha

I can see the blessings of the lord in my life as well in the life of you guys. I'm praying a ful for you dad. And for grandpa. And for all of you. I'm not the same person i was before the mission and the thought of coming home makes me sick..... haha I don't want too. but  I love you guys and miss you guys. 

HermanaRoss

Week of transfers.......I don't want to leave.

3/10/14

Sent:	Mon 3/10/14 8:34 AM

Dear family,

Sorry  I don't have much to write this time but I love you all so much. We have baptisms lined up for every weekend in the month of March. Its been a miracle. The only sad part is that we aren't going to be seeing the blessings of our work as a companionship together. We don't know who will be going but we know that someone will be going. And this week we have a wedding and a baptism. Who we have been working with for three months. Nothing is new. I'm just working, that's the only thing I can do right now. I love this area. I love my companion. I just don't like that things have to change. 

So I know that I can't just leave you guys hanging with just this little information that I have for the week but we had a funny experience that happened yesterday.

Yesterday we had a fast with my companion and I because we totally forgot to fast the last weekend. Well after church we had two families come up to us saying that we had lunch with them yesterday. My companion and I didn't know what to do because my companion had said yes to one family, and I had said yes to another family. We didn't feel good to cancel one of them when we had told them after church that we would be going to have lunch with them. So when we ended our fast we prayed that God would make a way that we could eat two lunches. HAHA My companion and i were laughing after this prayer but we went to one family, ate barbecue with rice salad and it was so delicious. But she gave us a lot of food. We ate all of it. Then we went to the other family...... hahahahahahah they had tried to do barbecue but it hadn't completely cooked yet so they offered to give us lunch for the next day. HAHAHA God answers prayers. 

I'm grateful to see the blessings that are happening in your lives. I'm happy here in Paraguay. I feel like I'm from Paraguay. HAHA I don't want to think about coming home right now, so I don't. I'm just working and praying that you guys can receive all of the blessings that you guys are in need of right now. Thank you for your love and support my dear family, and I can't find anything that will work to send photos.... and the reason the letter is a little short this week is because we have a district activity this week. Life is crazy. 

love you guys so much,

Hermana Ross

Me an Hermana Hidalgo in front of the temple in Paraguay.

 Barbecue and rice!!