Letter #45 - September 22, 2014

Hau-pe chera´a!!

That's some good ol Guarani for ya :)  Just stoppin' in for the weekly letter from your favorite missionary down here in a country nobody knows.  Just kidding :)  I hope every one had a great week, we sure did!! This week was the fastest of my mission.  We did divisions with the Elders in San Pedro (a village about 3 hours outside of Encarnacion) on Tuesday and it went well.  It is a super small town and so we ran into each other a lot.  We decided to have all 4 of us work there for a day in an effort to help the Elders a little more.  I went out with Elder Arevalo, a brand new 18 year old missionary from Lindon, UT.  It was fun to be able to work with someone brand new and super young!! Made me remember when I couldn't understand or talk to anyone ha.  Good times.  We got back to Ita Paso on Wednesday afternoon and so we didn't have a ton of time to work this week.  We really only worked 20 hours this week out of the 50 or so we normally have.  We had some really cool experiences with the Morel Family this week.  They are a family of less active members whose mom is coming back, but whose dad´s work prevents him from coming.  We passed by and began to challenge the Dad to look for a new job.  He told us that the job he had now paid a lot of money and it would be impossible to find another job as good as it.  He said even if he did find another job he would have to work more and it would pay less.  We told him "Hermano, you may feel like that, but we promise you that you will actually work less, and gain more!"  The spirit filled the room and the couple told us they would kneel together and pray about what to do.  It was an awesome lesson.  We went back 3 days later to follow up and the Hermano told us that they had decided that he couldn't do it.  He couldn't bring himself to quit his job.  We had decided to share the story of the Young, Rich, Ruler and how he followed everything the Lord asked, but couldn't give the Lord Everything.  We talked about how the Lord requires sacrifice from those he loves to try them.  Then I felt prompted to share Alma 20:23.  King Lamoni´s father says he will give up half of his kingdom to have his life spared.  Then I read in Alma 22:15.  The king says he will give up everything he has in order to know God and have eternal life.  We talked about how the Gospel is like a Pearl of Great Price that once found, is worth whatever sacrifice necessary to obtain (Matthew 13:45-46).  We then asked him "Hermano, what would you give to have eternal life?"  The answer shocked us both, he said " I will quit my job."  We were so happy!!! He really understood what we were saying to him and the importance of church attendance!!  We had so many awesome (and crazy) experiences this week but as always, they will have to wait another year to tell them all.  Crazy to think that I come home a year from today!! Starting to hit me how fast the mission really is.  Gotta make every second count!!

Jaji-tupata (Talk to you later)
Elder Ollerton ;)