Week 37

Haupei Yall! 

Shoutout to a brand new missionary we have in the family! HERMANA KRIEGER! 

Happy Things!

1. I hit 8 months this week! Woohoo! 

2. I went on divisions this week with Hermana Llanos again but IN ARREGUA! Yall I cannot tell yall how much a of a fresh breath of air it was to get out of the city and to a place full of green, normal paraguay houses, guarani, and just green for miles. It was a fabulous division too. I love learning from Hermana Llanos too! She has a lot of experience down here and was teaching me a whole lot of guarani! 

3. We were challenged by our zone leaders to practice teaching the Restoration in shorter than 10 minutes, asking good questions, and truly addressing the investigators needs with lesson 1. We got to test it all out with an investigator of ours, Blanca. We had more than 10 minutes, but with all our practice we were able to teach a really solid lesson 1 with her that was truly led by the spirit. The spirit was strong and Hermana Christiansen and I walked out of that lesson walking on air. We are so excited to see how sweet Blanca progresses! 

4. We have another investigator with aspergers, his name is Seba and he is 10 yrs old and the youngest in a part member family. We talked with his mom the other day and she doesnt want him to get baptized until he truly understands everything so we have been working really hard on being creative with him so that he remembers. We decided to review some of the baptism interview questions with him and we were so happily surprised to see how much he remembered and how much he has learned. He is progressing so incredibly. 

5. Special prayers for three other of our investigators that are SO READY to be baptized but just have to pull the trigger. Paola is looking for a new house, a single mom with two youngins, and going through a hard divorce. Francisco is looking for a new house too so that he can keep the law of chastity. Rafael is afraid of the water and that fear has kept him from coming to church for about a month now. Prayers prayers prayers! I know they work! We are going to see miracles here in Campo Grande. 

Spiritual Thought: "Just keep swimming!" -Dory. Or in more formal language "Perseverar hasta el fin!" or "Endure to the end." Yeah its hard and sometimes we want to just sit down and quit, but we have to keep pushing, or swimming, or we will drown! But we dont want to just float either. So push hard and make things happen with lots of prayer and the Lord will follow through. 

xoxo,

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

PS FHE in Arregua, Hermana meet up in Luque to finish up divisions! shoutout to Hermana Tandiman for the awesome breakfast, Teatime Bakery SO YUM, 8 months from my temporary desk lol jk its hermana evans!

Week 35 & 36

Haupei Yall! 

Happy Things! 

1. CHANGES! Helloooo from Campo Grande! My first day was changes day here in the office so it was prettyyy crazy BUT I got to hang out with all the trainers, newbies, and the ones leaving! We also got to do a really awesome service project at a local hospital with all the people above. It was a really fun moment to see the news and olds mixing AND I got to see the hermana lideres too :) I finally got to be with my new comp in the afternoon...

2. Hermana Christiansen my new comp! She is a gorgeous walking book of proverbs who is also the mission nurse, BYU student, from Idaho, and a fantastic missionary. I am so excited to learn from her in the short time she has left!

3. The new area is the most chuchi area there is in the mission! I am legit serving in the city of Asuncion! My district is the office elders and we are office hermanas on Monday and Thursday! We also have pday on friday (hence the email today!). It will be a really good time. We have SO much potential here in the area and we are praying to see lots of miracles this change.

Spiritual Thought: 

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." -i LOVE this scripture. I have been learning a lot more about getting outside of my comfort zone and being pushed to my limits, but sometimes fear of not being adequate enough or fear of being lost creep in sometimes, BUT what I have come to realize is that fear is inaction and fear is not from the Lord. If we have faith WE ACT. We act with power from the Lord, with love, and we have a clear mind when we have the Spirit to lead and guide us TO act. So to sum up, no fears just faith. 

xoxo,

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

PS CIAO to our fun zone in Luque Centro, las hermanas in my old zone, my super fun old district :), the drill girl and the cheerleader!

Week 36

Haupei Yall!

Happy Things:

1. Happy Valentines Day! We had a super fun one down here in Paraguay. JUSTAMENTE my package from home got here the day of AND we had a super awesome couples special from Mcdonalds for mcflurrys YUM 

2. We had a super fun Noche de Barrio here in Campo Grande. Picking back up my volley skills and enjoying all the awesome members. They have all been SO great to me. I adore this area!

3. Sooo my comp is the mission nurse and she has to start training the new nurse this change SO I get to do divisions! Hermana Llanos, the cutest chilean, and I get to switch areas each week while our comps do nursing duties. I am so so excited to be with her and to learn from her too. She is a doll! 

4. We have a lot of investigators that really are working hard on getting baptized! Sweet Paola is a great single mama who is so ready for a fresh start and to get baptized and Francisco is working so hard on finding a new house so that he can get baptized too! YALL there is so much work to be done here and I am so grateful to be a part of it! 

Spiritual Thought: "All will be well" -President Gordon B Hinckley. I love the optimism. I love the hope. I love the pure faith that this statement shows. This is my new motto and I hope yall can add it to yalls mottos too! 

xoxo,

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

Week 32, 33, & 34

Week 32

Haupei Yall!

Happy Things!

1. This week was not the normal BUT the happy news is that we are back to normal! I ended up staying for a little bit in the hospital, but I got the help I need, I got the right tools I need, and I am already feeling a lot better! We work hard out here on the mission and sometimes our bodies take a little bit longer to catch up. CHILL is a technique that has to be learned and applied to every phase of life and I am learning it now! Thank you for all the prayers. 

2. I was so lucky to get out of the hospital just in time for zone conference! Presidente and Hermana Evans actually picked me up and took me right to conference! I love them so much, I love their wisdom and guidance, and I know for a fact that I was called to this mission partly because they are the leadership that the Lord needed me to have.  I am so grateful to be in this specific mision.

3. 7 months this week! Man time is flying! The good has ALWAYS far outweighed the bad. 

The best part of this week has been all the scripture study I have been blessed to have this week as I have been getting better and stronger. One of my favorite stories is of Nephi in the Book of Mormon. He was commanded to go and get the plates of brass that contained the genealogy of his family. What I love is that he went into the whole situation without having all the answers to all his questions. He knew what he was doing(getting the plates), he knew where he was going, why he was doing it (it was a command from the Lord), he knew when he was supposed to do it, he had a lot of answers! But in his case he did not know HOW he was going to do it, but he is a rockstar and said, °And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. Nevertheless, I went forth.° 1 Nephi 4:6=7. And as he continued forth trusting the spirit he figured out the HOW he was going to do what the Lord had asked of him. I find myself in the same situation more than is ideal. I have almost all the answers to my questions, but miss the one answer that would °solve all my problems° but I have come to realize and know that it is in those moments that the Lord is helping us grow and testing our faith. I am grateful for not having all the answers and I am grateful for the principle of Faith in Jesus Christ that keeps me going always. 

XOXO,

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

PS 7 alfajores for 7 months! my comp got a package from home with MAC N CHEESE, and straight chillin in the hospital

Week 33

Haupei Yall! 

Happy Things!

1. Worldwide Missionary Broadcast! I am sure all yall mormon pals have already seen a few of the changes to our schedules, but truly the schedule changes just give us more flexibility and more responsibility in our days. We also get two hours more on Pday! so that is happy. I am just so grateful for the leadership in the church and that they truly focus on the missionaries and the work we do. They counseled us that if we want to be stronger missionaries, really we can apply this to all of us, we need to understand and more fully live the doctrine of Christ! sounds simple right? But true. so true. 

2. Divisons with the Hermana Lideres! I went to Bellavista this week with my mom and trainer Hermana Taylor! A whole 24 hours to work together, talk about everything under the sun, and just be with one of my old comps that I love so much. She is finishing up her mission in just a few months and it was a treat to be with her again :)

3. So, with me being a little sick, we did not get to visit all the people we have been working with, BUT we were so happy when we saw two of them come walking in to church on Sunday! Celina, the one who sees spirits, came straight from working a 24 hour day and committed to be baptized! And Maria is the mom of two converts we have, TWINS, that went to their baptism and afterwards was a lot more open to sharing with us. She has told us she wants to be baptized to complete her family. PS she is married to a member too. SO COOL. 

4.The best part of this week though was a really solid experience we had in a lesson with two jovenes this week. We had contacted their family before I got sick and never had the chance to go back until divisions when Hermana Tandiman and Blanco visited them. I was told they were purete so we went back to visit them. We walked up and they immediately pulled out the chairs and got ready to visit. We asked them to bring out their folletos that they had left with them and the boy David went to go get it. He came walking back out with a Book of Mormon and another folleto of the Restauration. I thought, wow Hermana Tandiman and Blanco must have really being feeling it with them on the first visit and gave them a Book of Mormon! Sweet! Come to find out, they hadnt given David the book of mormon, but that it was his DADs from elders from 2014. Their dad passed away last year and when the hermanas had given them the folleto they recognized the book of mormon on the back and went looking through their dads stuff and found it. It was a powerful testimony to me of planting seeds. We give out folletos, tarjetas, we talk to people on the street and invite them to come to church, but a lot of the times we never see them again or never see the fruits of the seeds we plant. The two elders who signed this Book of Mormon from 2014 will probably never know what happened to the man they taught a few times, but they prepared the groundwork for this family to receive us here and now. I am so grateful to have this testament to me that every little thing we are doing out here will be worth it. 

All my love, prayers, and hugs, 

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

PS Divisions with my mama hermana Taylor! sweet little Vero Marrecos and i matched at church on sunday! nyokis are my fave so this festival had my name all over it! and rainbows :)

Week 34

HAUPEI YALL!

Happy Things! 

1. Well this one is kinda sad, but way happy at the same time. Milva, one of the JAS here, is heading out on the mission in a week! She is going to BRAZIL! We had to say bye to here this week which was way hard, but she is so so prepared for the mission and the people in Brazil are so blessed to have her! 

2. We have just been trying to find and find and find this week, so everyday has been full of contacting and talking in the hot hot sun. We were finishing up a street and came to the last house, we were already late for a cita, but decided to knock the last one on the street. A sweet old grandma came out and welcomed us right in from the sun. She started telling us about how Mormons had visited her yearssss ago and had given her a book, but she gave it to her grandson who wanted a book because books are expensive here. I just happened to have another Book of Mormon on me so I pulled it out and she looked at it and smiled so big. I said it was a gift for her and she was just all smiles and kind words. She was so excited to have this gift. She loves that it is another testament of Christ and she wants to read anything she can get her hands on about Him and His love for His children. A tender moment :)

3. YALL ITS CHANGES WEEK. And Prez changed how they do them now! We got a phone call Sunday night from our Zone Leaders telling us what changes were, where we are going, and who our comps are. SO this one is sad and happy. Hermana Tandiman IS STAYING and I am LEAVING. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! I am so so sad. only 1 change here in Luque! BUT I am so so siked because I am going to CAMPO GRANDE with Hermana Christiansen! She is the mission nurse so I will be in good hands lol yall will get the run down on her next week, but I am still so sad to be leaving my dope comp and forever friend Hermana Tandiman. Luque is blessed to keep her! 

All my love and prayers from Paraguay!

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

PS i think my pday is changing with my new area so WRITE ME before friday!

Week 29, 30, & 31

Week 29

Haupei Yall!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2017!!! I cannot believe how fast time is flying! I hope that yall all had a great new years eve and are looking forward to a great new year! 

Happy new year things :)

1. Hermana Activity! These are not normal with the rules that we have BUT we got special permission to all get together and play volley and have lunch! I love each of these girls so much :)

2. CAMBIOS. super bitter sweet butt.....I left Mariano! I am now in Luque 1A, or better known as Luque Centro! My new, awesome, super cute comp is HERMANA TANDIMAN!!! She is the cutest, from Utah, went to BYU Hawaii before the mish and in one word she is DOPE. Legit. We are going to have the best time together! 

3. ANO NUEVO! A really sweet menos activo family I just met here in Luque offered us cena my first day! We ate real well and then headed home at the normal hour. We set the alarm for 1150, got up, went to the balcony, and watched all the fireworks! Drank some Fanta guarana to ring in the new year!!! It was a good one, but we were so tired so it was way chill.

Todays quick thought comes from Moses 7 verse 44 <And as Enoch saw this, he had bitterness of soul, and wept over his brethern, and said unto the heavens I will refuse to be comforted, and the Lord said unto Enoch, Lift up your heart and be glad and Look!> How many times have we gotten upset with how things were going and blamed the Lord? I can count a numberless times where I have prayed and said, Lord I cannot put up with this, but I know that he has the same response for each of us. Lift up your heard and be glad! Then look. And in the rest of this chapter the Lord continues to tell Enoch about the Atonement and the tender mercies of the lord. We must look to the atonement and we must lift up our hearts and be glad! We are so blessed and we are even more blessed because we know that through Jesus Christ we can be glad. WE CAN HAVE JOY! I encourage each of yall to make goals for this year for your spirit. Maybe its praying more often, reading the more than one verse in the scriptures, or maybe its planning service every week, but the best goal we can set is to lift up our hearts, be glad, and look to the Lord and his Atonement for each and everyone of us! 

All my love!!!

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

PS Hermana Activity, WE CAN DRINK COKE NOW!, Ano Nuevo Cena, the Dakar race came through town today! so sick! 

Week 30

Haupei Yall! 

Roll Tide Roll! Shoutout to the Tide :)

Happy Things!

1. Los 3 Reyes came this week! Dia de Los Reyes Magos here is more like our normal Santa Claus Christmas so Hermana Tandiman and I had a fun time trying to surprise the other with some good eats and cute gifts. I was super happy with some chocolate cake and all her love :)

2. CELINA! Wow we have been trying to find her since I first got here and we finally found her, taught her, and she came to church yesterday! She is a sweet sweet single mom who works so so hard to give her sons the best and is recognizing that the gospel is the best she can give to them for their lives. She told us that at church she felt so much peace and truly refreshed for the week. And that is how its done! Just one sunday in the chapel and people are truly changed. The spirit is so strong there and truly testifies that everything we teach is true. We are so excited to see how she will progress! 

3. Hermana Tandiman is so dope. I am so siked to be her comp. We are having so much fun working and finding. And even though we are sweating out a storm her in 100 degrees we make the most of it with ice cream and keep moving one step at a time!

Quick Thought:

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5. More than anything I feel that I am not just learning to apply this scripture, but being forced to. It is a lot easier on the mission to go out and work and be distracted from anything and everything that might be pulling at my attention, but when the day is finished and done, when we have talked to one last person, read one last verse, I feel very human again and weak. I am having to learn to trust in the Lord, truly exercise faith and confidence in Him and the grand plan he has for me and my loved ones. He is the only one that can comfort me, sanctify me, and give me the courage to get up one more day and do His work in His way, or with His understanding. He is the grand plan maker and He knows exactly what He is doing. I know that His ways are higher than my ways, and His thoughts higher than my thoughts. I find comfort and strength in Him. I know that we can all learn to trust him more, let Him pull us out of our comfort zones a little further, and let Him work on us to help us become more like Him. I am so grateful that He loves me enough to give me hard things to help me grow. I am so grateful that I have been raised by loving parents that have taught me and are firm examples to me of this strong faith and confidence in the Lord. I know I am who I am today because of my parents loving examples and their love of the Lord.

Thank you all for all your support and prayers on my behalf and for my family. 

All my love from Paraguay, 

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

PS beautiful Luque, some good home cooking thanks to mama, and my cute comp and our favorite thing PIZZA 

Week 31

Haupei Yall! 

Happy Things:

1. We had the coolest experience this week. We were really exhausted from the heat and it was the end of the day, but we had one more lesson planned a little far away. We almost made our way in closer to home, but something told us to go. We went to the lesson as planned and actually got to teach the mom of the home that usually is so busy she is in and out of lessons, so we have never actually gotten to really teach her. We sat down with her and started talking about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. We taught with as much energy as we could muster and truly the Spirit did the rest because when we asked her to read and pray about the BOM she looked at us and said "no i dont have to, i already know it is true. when can i get baptized?" when before she had told us she was catholic and did not want to get baptized again! Needless to say we were shocked out of our minds. Her name is Fanny. Keep her in your prayers!

2. Another one of our investigators, Celina (I think i mentioned her this past week) is doing so well! Well, after we got her a priesthood blessing from a member for her home and for her. When we visited her on Monday she told us she was seeing spirits, was not comfortable being alone in her own home, and could not pray because the spirits would become violent with her. After the blessing she told us she felt complete peace and the spirits have left her! It was an incredible moment to feel the spirit testify to me the power of the priesthood and how blessed we are to have the power of God restored to the earth!

3. Truly the best part of the week was getting a phone call from the mission telling me that all went well with my Moms surgery. I am so blessed to see the blessings come pouring in. The Lords timing is perfect and his love is so huge for us. I am so grateful for every prayer on behalf of my mom and all the support that my family is receiving. THANK YALL!

It is hot hot hot down here, but every day I feel the Lords protecting hand and the umbrella he is holding up to protect us so that we can do his work. I know that if we put in the work and try our best, he will do the rest! 

All my love from Paraguay! Les quiero muchisimo! 

Hermana Vergara

3 Nephi 5:13 

PS great views in the city, its Dengue season=got our nets up ;), and Hermana Roncallo, Tandiman, and Montaño! :)