Merry Christmas to everyone! How has your week gone, are you so excited for Christmas?
You may be wondering what is up with the subject line...well, i am going to tell you. This week it rained like crazy, and when it rains, we get to walk in rivers ALL DAY. My companion and I were trying not to think of what was in the water, we probably don't want to know. We were walking in the water past our knees, trying to be as modest as possible, past all of these cars filled with people who were probably thinking...what is their problem? Are they insane? The answer is...only slightly. We just have to hope that our future children will only have two eyes, one head, two ears, and all of the normal amounts of body parts, because this water is so gross!
This week was interesting. My companion and I are still both pretty new to the area and the ward, so we didn't really realize that the problem here isn't the investigators, it is the ward. We only had 46 people at church on Sunday, partly due to the rain, and partly due to the fact that we are in Paraguay. We are really focusing in on less actives, we have around 125 only in our half of the ward. We were thinking that we don't really want to baptize anyone if the ward isn't functioning. We were asking around, and only one or two people are reading the Book of Mormon on a regular basis, and no one is having their family home evening. These two things are so incredibly important: simple, but important. We are working on a program that will help these people to read the Book of Mormon, and gain a testimony, so that they will have the desire to work and push themselves out of their comfort zone. So...maybe we won't have baptisms, but we will have visiting teachers, home teachers, testimonies, and work, work, work. I am so excited:)
This weather is SO bipolar. We were dying of heat the first half of the week, and the last couple of days we almost wore nylons because it was so cold. It can't seem to decide what it wants to do.
We had 2 investigators in church this week, Freddy and Monse. Freddy is 14 years old, and the cousin of a less active. We got both him and the less active to church, and they are both reading the Book of Mormon. We have now made that our own little personal requirement for baptism. They have to be reading the Book of Mormon on a regular basis before they can be baptized, because the Book of Mormon is the foundation of everything we do, and if they have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, there is a better chance of staying faithful. We have another investigator that came last week, but couldn't come this week because her grandson was sick. Her name is Felicia, and she is also reading the Book of Mormon. She wants us to teach her grandson and her daughter so they can be baptized as well...but does anyone know how to treat a gambling addiction? Suggestions would be appreciated.
Jodi, thank you so much for the package, and thank you everyone for your testimonies! I love to read one every day, and it will be so sad when they are gone:(
I hope that you all have a wonderful week, and that you can recognize how blessed you are to be able to be in the states, with all of the wonderful ideals and traditions that Christmas there brings. I love you all so much, and I hope that you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Hermana Farish
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| A gross, dirty, stinky, mosquito filled river. Whoopwhoop! |
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| Our sad, strange little Christmas tree |
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