Hola familia y amigos!
Ok. Time is flying and there is not time enough to do everything we do and even less time to tell you how crazy this week was and all of the miracles that passed.
To get some main events of the week down, I will go by days.
Monday: Had a normal p-day, afterwards on the way to a Noche de Hogar we met Isidora and two of her daughters, Monse and Milagros. Due to storms the electricity was out and the water was cut, so they were asking neighbors if they could fill a bucket and some water bottles they had. The daughters were a little embarrassed to ask for water so we, being no-shame, we meet everyone missionaries, asked some people for water and helped them carry the water home. We set an appointment with them for the next day. We met with Natalia, Sedden and Maria, our investigators preparing for their baptism on Sunday.
Tuesday, we helped with a birthday party for some members and it was very fun and there wasn't much cake - but we got hot chocolate. We met with Isidora and her family and found out that they have a lot of faith and told us si o si they were coming to church that next Sunday.
Wednesday, funny story: Sometimes I get really fed up with guys that just say hermosas or preciosas or rubias while we pass by. We passed an old-ish guy that said como se dice amor en ingles? and instead of ignoring him, I said No se un poco, ik spreken de Deutch. I felt bad for lying, but he didn't say anything to us after that. I think being german makes us seem more intimidating - we had a good laugh that day.
Friday we cleaned out the font again, luckily a lot less dirty than the week before, and the bishop got the drainer fixed! So we didn't have to use buckets, we just had a lot of down time in the chapel waiting for it to unload. We did weekly planning and then I got the cable for the electric piano to practice for the choir number we are helping with for Ward conference and when I went to plug the cable in I broke the piano.... I felt so bad. We told the secretario and he ended up fixing it easy, no cost. Phew.
Saturday we filled the baptismal font - no problem. It just took time, nada mas. On our way to the chapel though we ran into Isidora and her daughter looking for a new house to rent - their landlord had called and was kicking them out and they needed to find a new place pronto. We couldn't help them find a house, but we were able to give them a tour of the chapel. Natalia, Sedden and Maria - after much teaching and repassing of gospel principles - passed their baptismal interviews as well.
Sunday was a day of miracles.
First, Isidora and her daughters came of their own initiative - that NEVER happens!!! She also practically bore her testimony during gospel principles class. After church, while we were proselyting before the baptism service, I ran into the Familia Baes - the family I met in Asuncion - who were visiting some family members. Then came the baptismal service. Everything went super well. Lots of members came, we had organized it well enough where we didn't do a lot but run around and make sure everyone had their assignment. Natalia, Sedden and Maria were baptized and clean from their sins, and their mom - who works all throughout the week, including Sundays - was able to come.
Maria suffers from epilepsy and didn't have an epileptic attack until after she was baptized and in the bathroom, out of sight of the members - she just fainted on me. She said if she had to have an attack she wanted it to be after she was baptized. Elder Silva, the Elder that baptized her, knew what to do and she recovered really quickly and was able to hear the talks afterwards without anyone knowing what had happened.
After the baptism we saw that we had three missed calls from Isidora and so we booked it to their house. They told us they lacked 100mil, not much, but enough to cause them to worry and they had to come up with it by Monday, today, to cover the deposit on their rent. They told us their dad just had to come home because he had the money, but they didn't know where he was. As we promised them that they would receive blessings from coming to church and following the commandments, their dad walked in. At the end Isidora said a prayer that brought us to tears. It was a day full of miracles.
It's been a cold week, de hecho, but we've been going well with our gloves and jackets.
I gotta go, I'll send pics next week!
With love sent from Paraguay,
Hermana Carr