This week has definitley been one of change and
having to get adjusted to things again!! Monday and Tuesday were spent
saying goodbye to Members and investigators in San Vincente and then
finishing packing. It was difficult but at the same time I am growing
to understand the need for change and understanding to have faith in the
Lords need for me somewhere else. Wednesday Bright and Early at 4
o'clock we hopped on a bus to head to Posadas and find our new
companions. I had to say goodbye to Elder Izurieta in Obera about 2
hours outside of Posadas so that he could stay and wait for his
companion. It was a fast goodbye and I am going to miss that guy a lot!!
When I got to the terminal in Posadas I was greeted by Elder Sattler
and Elder Duke and it was great to catch up and talk with those guys!!
I knew that Elder Seethaler my new companion was coming from Paraguay
and he would be arriving later so I just got comfortable!! We all talked
and laughed together about anything and everything. Then out of a taxi
came Elder Seethaler. First impressions, well he was playing with
playing cards doing magic tricks, he also was super sweaty and had a
weird accent. He came up and gave me the hug of death!! He squooze me so
freakin hard my back popped like 5 times haha. Elder Duke just started
laughing. I was like o' crap I may have got my first weird comp. Elder
Seethaler, Elder Piriz, and I hopped on a bus headed North towards our
new areas. It was a 5 hour bus ride to our first stop and then another 2
hours to Puerto Esperanza. I slept most of the way but when I was
awake I spoke nothing but Spanish surprisingly. Elder Piriz doesn't
speak English so I didn't really have a choice. haha. We left him at our
first stop and Elder Seethaler, our zone leaders and I rode the rest of
the way to our new area. Puerto Esperanza had missionaries 25 years ago
but for whatever reason we are the first ones there in 25 years!! We
have around 10 members here, all of which are from the same family, and
all of which are inactive. We had a grand total of 16 people in
Sacrament meeting and we have no idea how! In short Puerto Esperanza is
awesome!! In 3 days of working here we have found 51 investigators a lot
of whom have been people who just stop us in the street and want to
know who we are. We have 45 people with a baptismal date of March 8 and
most of them are huge families of around 10 people or more!! We are
truly being blessed here and we can already tell that the church in
Puerto Esperanza is about to explode in numbers!!! We had a really cool
experience this week with the most active member in the city. This
family has an 18 year old son who has gotten into drugs, tattoos, and
just a lot of bad stuff. When we passed by on Valentine's day it was
this son's birthday and he wasn't with the family. The dad told us all
about how he was feeling and about how he was very concerned for
everything that his son was participating in. We began to talk to him
about faith and he told us all about how he knows that things are going
to get better but he still didn't understand the trial and why it was
happening. I felt prompted to share D&C 121. The story of Joseph
Smith in Liberty Jail. I shared it and then bore testimony of the
truthfulness of what it said. This father asked me to say a prayer for
his son and so with this family we knelt and prayed. When I finished I
looked up and this father was in tears. He walked over to me and
hugged and held me. I felt the love that this father had for
his son and it really made me miss my dad. I know that our Heavenly
Father is the same way with us. He really does weep when we are sad and
when we mess up. He loves us so much and this experience was something
that I will never forget. In short, Puerto Esperanza is amazing and
everything about it is perfect!! Our pinch is huge, 2 stories!!! Short
rundown for the week, Elder Seethaler is from Payson, turns out he is
super awesome and we have a great time!! I live in a jungle, super
accepting people here, and our pinch awesome. Also there are some of
the freakiest bugs here ever!! haha
I love you all and I hope to hear
from you all soon!!
I Love you!
Elder Ollerton
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