Hapoicito! Week 11

Hapoicito!

Paraguay is killing it. I cannot believe I have reached 2 months on the mish! I am also so excited football starts this weekend! Lets go cougs and roll tide! 

Happy Things!

1. Sick week. Now, that doesn't sound super exciting and it wasn't, but it was a fun experience! My poor mom, Hermana Taylor, got so super sick Monday night and we stayed in until Thursday...I did a lot of reading, dancing to church music, and figured out how to make bread from scratch! I also felt so motherly taking care of my mom and happy news is she so much better now! We are ready to go to work this week! 

2. 100 degrees in winter. Cannot believe it. That is a new thing in my record book. It is only winter here and we hit 100 degrees. and its humid here. It was fun to hear all the people tell me that this is not the worst of it and that i still have to survive summer...i think i am siked? 

3. So sad news is that ALL our investigators dropped US this week. it was so backwards! it was also super hard, but then we turned around this weekend and found a purrete family. Paola, Gustavo, Jonathon, and Jocelyn. We taught the first lesson with just Paola and the whole time we taught she agreed with everything we said! She is so prepared and when we extended the baptism invitation and put a date SHE ASKED WHAT TIME! lol. we were shocked. 

4. NYOKIS. Paraguay has got to be the best place ever because every 29th of the month there is an incredible tradition. There are these incredible little pastas called nyokis. and i am obsessed. I have never loved such a little carb so much. Blanca, one of our amazing converts, works at a restaurant and knows i love them so much and shared this tradition with me last night. And tonight. Shes making nyokis. I just about cried when she told me. Food is really my love language. I feel so loved. 

Quick thought: "If you haven't chosen the kingdom of God first, it will make  no difference in the end what you have chosen instead." We cannot be neutral here in this life! We have to make that choice. When we choose the kingdom of God we choose to love the commandments and be obedient even when its hard. It is so important and our salvation depends on it. I know that the Lord is waiting for us and will always accept us, but we cannot procrastinate. Make the choice today! 

All my amor,

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

PS. sweet cichikins had his first birthday monday! 2 alfajors for 2 months! 

Week 10!

Hola Familia y Amigos!!!

So crazy thing just happened... I just wrote out a whole big email and the computer shut down and erased it all! I am also just about out of time so maybe I can type real quick and remember! life in paraguay...its about to becoming a hashtag!

Happy Things!

1. It got cold again! So its a big switch up from the heavy height I am  still not used too! BUT our shower broke. AGAIN! so not the best time, but it sure was funny to see a broken shower! 

2. we went to the temple today for p-day! It is just a chico one but it is just like the one in Alabama and my heart was so full walking in! I am so grateful for temples and that we have the saving ordinances we do in the temples. I am so grateful I have an eternal family because my parents were sealed in the temple! The spirit was so strong there even though it was not open and we were just cleaning. I love it!

Crazy happenings so sorry for the short email, but I love you all! I know the Lord truly takes care of the rest when we give up our will to him! Have lots of faith, keeping fighting the lucha, and love the Lord!

Love, 

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

Week 9!

Hola Yall!

I hope life is fabulous and I hope life is treating yall well. I know a lot of yall are starting back to school this fall, which is so crazy to believe, but I hope this semester starts off great!

Happy things!

1. We are house hunters! Our dueno has been causing issues with the office and the office has asked us to search out a house and move ASAP. We are working on filming a House Hunters International Paraguay Episode. Stay tuned...

2. ONE OF OUR CONVERTS IS PREGNANT! for 3 months. we have been calling it since I got here and she FINALLY told us. Our sweet sweet Ramona is going to have a baby in January! Hopefully while I am still around...

3. So this past week on Monday was a little crazy and we split up our cyber hours in order to go get some work done. We left the house to finish cyber later that night and they were all closed! Luckily we found this really awesome guy who let us use his computer to send off a quick big email. While my comp was finishing up her email I had this crazy opportunity to teach Juan! It was like a super long contact/como comenzar with him. He even asked us to come teach him and accepted our baptism invitation! The people here are truly prepared by the Lord!

4. We had our baptism! My second little convert! Tatiana. Wow I cannot believe I still havent told yall about her! She was my very first lesson here in our area. My first ever investigator! She has been through several sets of sisters because her whole family, who was baptized before she was 8, has been menos activos for a while. We were shocked when in this very first lesson she realized that she has to be baptized. It is crazy how a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation that the Lord has for us truly changes our desires. We continued to work with her obviously and her whole family is active now AND she was baptized! She is 12 years old, but she is so mature, especially in her knowledge of the gospel. It is such a blessing so see how the gospel changes families! 

5. We had divisions with the Hermana Lideres! Hermana Jara and Hermana Trujillo! I got to go to their area of Campo Grande to work with Hermana Jara. She is such a spit fire. She is peruvian, so full of energy, loves this work with her whole heart, and has so much to offer! She truly has found pure joy in this work. Campo Grande is only her second area and she has been there for 7 months! She heads home in December which really stinks, but we are trying so hard to get her out to BYU! She might have a sponsor which will be a huge blessing! 

So we had a rough sunday. 5 of our 7 baptismal dates fell. It is hard thing to learn that you truly cannot control other people! They have felt the spirit, they know this gospel is true, but there still is not that fire that drives people to enter into this pathway of the gospel of Christ! So many people in this world are procrastinating their repentance! We live in a world where Satan has lulled us in to laziness or contentness. We think we are already saved and we practice selective obedience. We truly only have two options- to love the Lord or be disobedient and love Satan. Something that helps me is praying and studying commandments until I love them. Its this love of the commandments and a testimony that obedience truly brings blessings that make me WANT to be obedient. Especially on the mission with a billion more rules, obedience is truly what brings success. When we are doing our best to love the Lord and show him that we appreciate this gift of salvation that he has already given us, we. see. blessings.

Press forward with faith, daily repentance, and a love of the commandments!

xoxo,

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13

PS reppin BYU in our killer bunk beds, Tatiana!, cleaning the font, divisions!

Week 8!

Hola Yall!

Wow. I think I am losing track of which week it is honestly...but time is flying here. Every day is a whirlwind and when we reach weekly planning on friday we feel like we just planned yesterday! I hope all is well with each of you! We hear a little bit about the olympics here, but you know for safety measures: USA USA USA

Happy things! 

1. I stole a phone. Noelia has a phone that looks exactly like ours...and I took it! the next morning it started ringing and my comp thought I brought a phone...lol it was pretty funny 

2. Tatiana. Another investigator I havent even told yall about! She is literally like a little sister out here. She is 12 years old and gets baptized this week! Today we made pancakes with her and her sister for almuerzo! so fun. so cute. 

3. There is something I love getting to share out here on the mission and every time I get to the spirit is incredibly strong. I believe that Jesus Christ established his church on the earth during his time on the earth. When he died we lost that power and authority of his church because we did not have prophets or apostles. God loves each of us and all his children and called a prophet in our day, Joseph Smith, to restore his church. He had an incredible experience called the first vision. I know it in spanish and we recite it everyday, but until I get to share it with people for the first time and proclaim the amazing news that Christ´s church has been once again restored to the earth, the spirit re-testifies to me each time of the truthfulness of his experience. I am so so grateful for this knowledge I have!

Thank you for all your support and all the messages you have been sending! I love getting updates on your lives and seeing pictures is my favorite part! This life is so good and we are so blessed to be living it!

Love, 

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13

PS Photo with Noelia Barrios! She turned 19 this week! And pancakes with Tati!

WEEK 7!

 Hola Yall!!!

I am having such a hard time believing it has already been another week! Quite honestly Hermana Taylor and I cannot believe we have only been together for 3 weeks! Training does feel quite long, but we are having such a good time and the days literally fly by!

Happy things!

1. So this is a funny story... We had a baptism! My first ever! With my first investigator that I fully taught! We found and taught Eugenio in 10 days. He was so so ready what can we say! And he had already been attending church before I got here and the sisters had never taught him! It was such a crazy day of cleaning and filling the pila. He was also super late to his baptism BUT he got baptized and got confirmed sunday. And his big smile shows how full of the spirit he truly is. 

2. We found a family! I was told on my first day to find a family and help them be baptized to be able to go to their sealing while I am still on the mish and we contacted in to one! They are so prepared. Their dad, Javier, has been menos activos since he was a teenager! The rest of the family, Carol the mom, Karen, Javier, and Patricia (sweet sweet 6 month old) are so prepared for this gospel. They are seriously purrete. They also live in the most chuchi house here with guards and everything. So unheard of here in Mariano. Please pray for them! 

3. We are also working with another young soon to be Mom! Melissa was a reference and she is truly the sweetest. What is so great here in Mariano is that there are a lot of young girls like 18-20ish that we get to teach and get close with. She is definitely one of them! She came to church and loved it and wants to have her baby grow up in this environment, but change is hard for anyone! We are excited to work with her. 

4. Last week we went to the beach! Oh wait. Paraguay is land-locked. So not really, but there is a place here called Playas de Arregua! Super cute, super far away, and super worth it! It was fun to pretend I was at my favorite place in the world for a day!

It is getting super hot here already and energy runs low when you are walking in the hot sun every day. We were eating at the President of the District here (kind of like the Stake president) and we were noticeable tired and hot through lunch. He is an inspired man and shared with us his testimony of this work. He shared his gratitude for the work that we have been called to do in the hot sun, on our feet all day every day. I have never met anyone who expressed so beautifully how amazing and beautiful missionary work is. He lifted our hearts up that day and gave us more animo to go out and teach. I know that as we give our all to the Lord, he will put other people in our paths to answer our prayers, to lift us up, and to love us. I truly know that when we serve our friends and families we are directly serving our God! I am so incredibly blessed by this gospel and this opportunity I have to share it!

Ten una buena semana y disfruta cada dia! 

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13