Okay first off, Dad, I promise I didn´t forget your birthday!! I sang to you and everything and had an alfajor in honor of Argentina :) I hope your day was amazing! I love you tons! Oh and did you get my card?? I hope you did :)
Second, Thankyou Beechers for the fun package!!! It was the sweetest surprise! And oh my life ALi is going to ECUADOR! MY COMP IS FROM PUJO, ECUADOR! shut up that´s so cool! And mom thank you for the hand warmers SAVED OUR LIVES! Paraguay is BIpolar so bipolar. I don´t understand the weather. Well I guess it is kinda like AZ. It will be super hot for a few days, down poor for a few and the streets become rivers, and then it´s like 45 degrees for the following 3-6 days. We slept with the heater by our beds again and I wore my thermal garments (need to get more cuz the are the best). Paraguay is FREEZING right now. Today was such a fun Pday! Hna Toctaquiza and I made PIZZA! I´ll try and send the pic. And I tried making brownies but I think we burnt out our stove making the pizza... not sure :I
So A REMINDER: please please please if you can send letters this way with my same address (I forgot AGIAN!) but addressed for Hermana Toctaquiza for her birthday. I also forgot to mention she is in love with the movies Grinch, Hotel Transilvania, and Shrek. She quotes them all the time and its flippin hilarious cuz its in Spanish! The best part is you guys I AM UNDERSTANDING her!!! ahhhh serious my Spanish is the best it has been his week! I am so happy. Plus Hna Toctaquiza and I are studying language for 1 hour instead of just 30 minutes yay! We are reading and translating the Book of Mormon. I think she really wants to learn English; it is so fun! One of these days I´ll write an email in just Spanish :)
So this week we got 20 lessons with members SO STOKED! Seriously the work really picked up. The Lord is answering our prayers. Still strugglin to get investigators to church and SAD NEWS: we didn´t have the baptism. Although we are planning it for this week.
So neat story... Saturday Hna Toctaquiza and I did divisions (we did that Saturday and Sunday... it is when we split up: I go with a sister or young woman in the ward and so does she and we visit our investigators/proselyte) Kinda intimidating but we did it! And Kataryn (the cute young woman who accompanied me) and I had the neatest experience. We got a new investigator (that means they commit to baptism btdubs) named Reina (rey-ee-nah). She is about in her 60s or so and lives with her mom (90 mas o menos) who is really sick and crippled.
So here is what happened: Reina came to the gate as we clapped. We introduced ourselves, talked for a bit, and then she said I better go cuz she needed to tend to her mother. I felt impressed to ask her if there was anything we could do for her. She looked a little stunned or taken back I think. haha well gee idk i guess (was the look she gave us). She glanced up at me with a hopeful eyes and asked if we would offer a prayer. She brought us in her house and my heart just ached as I saw her crippled mother in the chair (she reminded me of great nana). You have to practically shout in her ear to talk to her. We knelt around her and offered a prayer. Then Reina´s mother asked if we would sit and stay (in really jumbled spanish almost like a moaning). So we taught the Plan of Salvation (covering our purpose here on earth, the atonement, and the afterlife). I felt prompted to share one of my favorite scriptures (I have discovered on my mish) John 14:18. It is so powerful. After Reina read it she just started to bawl and looked up at us saying Halelelujah (Praise the Lord and all that haha :) but the Spirit was so strong. She expressed to us how hard it was and unexpected this was to have her mother this way. She said they just weren´t prepared. We testified that through Christ all is possible. He knows how to lift our burdens (Alma 7:11-12). She told us with tears streaming from her eyes that we were angels sent from heaven to teach her. She said bless your hearts for you are doing the Lords work. I have never been so sure that this Gospel is true and that this work is real. The Lord our SAvior Jesus Christ lives and we can live with him again someday. She expressed that she felt so at peace with us and our message so I testified that she can receive this peace forever by following the example of her Savior and be baptized. She excepted right away as her last tears traveled down her sore cheeks. A few kisses goodbye... I kissed her mothers hands and felt the love of dear Great Nana oh my heart wasw so full. What an incredible experience. I am so thankful the Lord trusted me to be the tool in his hands to bring the Gospel to Reina. I am excited to continue teaching her.
Con Cariña (significa ¨with love¨)
Hermana Owen
P.S. So I am in love with the sound track from the Joseph Smith movie (is there any way you could get the music and send it to me via email? And the Narnia soundtrack? And the soundtrack from Prince of Egypt? haha love you all so much!! Have a wonderful week! Love Hill
