Monday, August 20, 2012
Last Zone Conference... 8/20/12
Tah Kunash (Nivaclé)
Sounds like all is well back home and that everyone is really busy. Things are good here in Paraguay and in our area. I never get tired of the amazing sunsets here in Paraguay, and this beautiful place here on earth that God made. I sent a picture of me and my companion in La Abundancia setting up baptisms for this Saturday. We were on our way out and we had to snap a picture of the great sunset.
Mirta is doing well. It was kind of a harder week because her baptism is not going to happen this week, but it will the next. She was really excited and ready for church this Sunday, but Satan really put his hand in this one, and her daughter was very ill. So Mirta had to go to the estancia (special home) where her daughter lives and care for her. It was a de repente (impromptu) trip that she had to make and she couldn't make it to church, but she is excited for next week, and for the blessings that await her. This next Saturday we set up some baptisms out in the Indian tribe in Abundancia, and the people are excited to have a baptismal service. There is a choir out there that sounds AMAZING!! Hopefully, they are going to be able to make it to the service as well.
This area is amazing and it is such a cool experience to be able to hear all the different languages, but it can be hard sometimes when people come to church who only speak Spanish, but the leaders speak another language during the meetings. It can really hurt the interest in the investigators and the desires they have to join. It is another barrier that is kind of holding us back a bit, but really nothing can stop someone from making this covenant with God.
Other than that nothing too crazy or interesting has happened. We don't have a huge investigator pool right now so that is something we are working on. We need more people to teach and we are going to contact a ton this next week to try and find some good quality news. Tomorrow is my last Zone Conference and I will give my last testimony to a couple zones. It is a little scary that it is already here, but I am excited to let others know about my opinion and thoughts of the mission. I love this church so much, and more than the church I love the gospel and the teachings that it holds. Nothing is better to base our lives on than the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the great blessings we receive from it. God has truly blessed us with the Book of Mormon and the teachings that it has. I love you guys so much and am so lucky to have a family who supports me and loves me in all that I do. God bless.
Love
Elder Pearson
Sounds like all is well back home and that everyone is really busy. Things are good here in Paraguay and in our area. I never get tired of the amazing sunsets here in Paraguay, and this beautiful place here on earth that God made. I sent a picture of me and my companion in La Abundancia setting up baptisms for this Saturday. We were on our way out and we had to snap a picture of the great sunset.
Mirta is doing well. It was kind of a harder week because her baptism is not going to happen this week, but it will the next. She was really excited and ready for church this Sunday, but Satan really put his hand in this one, and her daughter was very ill. So Mirta had to go to the estancia (special home) where her daughter lives and care for her. It was a de repente (impromptu) trip that she had to make and she couldn't make it to church, but she is excited for next week, and for the blessings that await her. This next Saturday we set up some baptisms out in the Indian tribe in Abundancia, and the people are excited to have a baptismal service. There is a choir out there that sounds AMAZING!! Hopefully, they are going to be able to make it to the service as well.
This area is amazing and it is such a cool experience to be able to hear all the different languages, but it can be hard sometimes when people come to church who only speak Spanish, but the leaders speak another language during the meetings. It can really hurt the interest in the investigators and the desires they have to join. It is another barrier that is kind of holding us back a bit, but really nothing can stop someone from making this covenant with God.
Other than that nothing too crazy or interesting has happened. We don't have a huge investigator pool right now so that is something we are working on. We need more people to teach and we are going to contact a ton this next week to try and find some good quality news. Tomorrow is my last Zone Conference and I will give my last testimony to a couple zones. It is a little scary that it is already here, but I am excited to let others know about my opinion and thoughts of the mission. I love this church so much, and more than the church I love the gospel and the teachings that it holds. Nothing is better to base our lives on than the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the great blessings we receive from it. God has truly blessed us with the Book of Mormon and the teachings that it has. I love you guys so much and am so lucky to have a family who supports me and loves me in all that I do. God bless.
Love
Elder Pearson
Monday, August 13, 2012
Time is flying way too fast. 8/13/12
Hey Everybody!!!!!
Things here on the dusty streets of Filadelfia are great! We are working hard and this next week is a big preparation week for the baptisms that we are going to have. I was sick this past week, like the worst I have been my whole mission, so we didn't get to work as hard as we could have, but it was still a succesful week. I am feeling better though, so this next week we are ready to give it all we got. I won't lie, the time is flying way too fast and it feels like the weeks are going by faster and faster.
Honestly, nothing too big or eventful happened this week. We went to Abundancia again and we had the chance to talk to some more people who want to be baptized out there. So we need to go and teach them and prepare them for their baptisms. The only thing is a lot of them don't know Spanish. They speak Nivacle, so we will have to go with someone who can translate for us. I usually give the Sunday School class on Sundays and this last one went really well. The people here are very shy sometimes so I wanted to get them talking and active. We talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost and I did an activity with them. I drew a maze on the board and told them to close there eyes and try to complete the maze and get to the end. They couldn't do it, so I had someone come up and try while I told them softly where to go. Kinda corny, but they loved it and they all wanted to try. I compared it to the spirit. It was fun. Besides that we are preparing Mirta for her baptism and she is doing awesome. The Lord has really blessed us to have an investigator like her. She is really guapa, and just wants to follow the Savior.
Rohayhu Iterei
Elder Pearson
Things here on the dusty streets of Filadelfia are great! We are working hard and this next week is a big preparation week for the baptisms that we are going to have. I was sick this past week, like the worst I have been my whole mission, so we didn't get to work as hard as we could have, but it was still a succesful week. I am feeling better though, so this next week we are ready to give it all we got. I won't lie, the time is flying way too fast and it feels like the weeks are going by faster and faster.
Honestly, nothing too big or eventful happened this week. We went to Abundancia again and we had the chance to talk to some more people who want to be baptized out there. So we need to go and teach them and prepare them for their baptisms. The only thing is a lot of them don't know Spanish. They speak Nivacle, so we will have to go with someone who can translate for us. I usually give the Sunday School class on Sundays and this last one went really well. The people here are very shy sometimes so I wanted to get them talking and active. We talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost and I did an activity with them. I drew a maze on the board and told them to close there eyes and try to complete the maze and get to the end. They couldn't do it, so I had someone come up and try while I told them softly where to go. Kinda corny, but they loved it and they all wanted to try. I compared it to the spirit. It was fun. Besides that we are preparing Mirta for her baptism and she is doing awesome. The Lord has really blessed us to have an investigator like her. She is really guapa, and just wants to follow the Savior.
Rohayhu Iterei
Elder Pearson
Friday, August 10, 2012
I love these people... 8/6/12 )
Hey Everybody,
(Pictures Below)
It was great to hear that Elder Holland was in the ward you attended on Sunday. Nothing better than seeing an Apostle walk through the door at church. Ha. That is a way cool experience too Mom.
(Pictures Below)
It was great to hear that Elder Holland was in the ward you attended on Sunday. Nothing better than seeing an Apostle walk through the door at church. Ha. That is a way cool experience too Mom.
Things are going great here in Filadelfia. We are working hard and have had some good success here in this area. The Lord has really been blessing us here and I think we will see some great miracles. Mirta came to church and is doing well. She invited her vecina (neighbor) to come as well, which was awesome, and I think they both really enjoyed it.
This week we went to a place called La Abundancia ( I think you can look it up on google earth) and it was a cool trip. We take a bus for an hour, and then usually have to walk for another hour, and then we are there. It is a place that is all members of the church, with a HUGE chapel, and we go out there every once in awhile to set up the baptisms that need to be done. There is another little tribe that goes to church with them that live like 10 mintutes away that we walked to and checked out. It was cool, and I think lots of them want to be baptized. At least that's what we have heard, so we will have to check it out. It's just hard because they only speak Nivacle, which is a really hard language and we only know a couple of things, so Carlos from Abundancia goes out there to talk with the people and see if they have desires to keep going. With a ward family that always goes hunting for their food, we had rabbit and sweet potatoes that they found out there. He is always hunting for his family and the tribe, and said he is going to try and get us some ostrich to eat. Ha. AWESOME!!
This week we went to a place called La Abundancia ( I think you can look it up on google earth) and it was a cool trip. We take a bus for an hour, and then usually have to walk for another hour, and then we are there. It is a place that is all members of the church, with a HUGE chapel, and we go out there every once in awhile to set up the baptisms that need to be done. There is another little tribe that goes to church with them that live like 10 mintutes away that we walked to and checked out. It was cool, and I think lots of them want to be baptized. At least that's what we have heard, so we will have to check it out. It's just hard because they only speak Nivacle, which is a really hard language and we only know a couple of things, so Carlos from Abundancia goes out there to talk with the people and see if they have desires to keep going. With a ward family that always goes hunting for their food, we had rabbit and sweet potatoes that they found out there. He is always hunting for his family and the tribe, and said he is going to try and get us some ostrich to eat. Ha. AWESOME!!
A really hard part of this week was a funeral we had. It was the first one on my mission and they asked me to give the dedicatory prayer over the grave. It was the first time in my life I had done that and one of the few times I had been at a funeral. It was a 4-year-old son of some members. He was pushed into a little pond in the village, and didn't know how to swim, and was found floating after 10 minutes. Out here they don't know CPR and the closest hospital is a 20 minute walk so it was hard to do anything to save his life. But, we had the funeral and it went well. We read in Alma 40 verses 11 and 12 and they really show, at least in my opinion, the hope that we can have even though death will come. Even though we die, we go into Paradise and we can rest with our Heavenly Father.
Then we made some firewood for an hermana. The wood was SUPER HARD and the Ax was really dull, which gave us some big o blisters. Ha Ha. I love these people so much and know the Lord blessed me when he decided to send me to Paraguay.
Then we made some firewood for an hermana. The wood was SUPER HARD and the Ax was really dull, which gave us some big o blisters. Ha Ha. I love these people so much and know the Lord blessed me when he decided to send me to Paraguay.
I am so grateful for all the support that you guys give me, and especially the support and love I feel from my Savior. Love you Guys!!
Pearson
(It sounds like you guys had a scare with grandma going to the hospital, hopefully all goes well and she can leave back to the house.)
(It sounds like you guys had a scare with grandma going to the hospital, hopefully all goes well and she can leave back to the house.)
Monday, July 30, 2012
Things are great here in the Chaco! 7/30/12
Things are great here in the Chaco!!
We have been working hard, and have really been looking for some teaching opportunities through the members. The work in this area is a little bit slower just because everyone is either a member or has been contacted and taught before, or they are Mennonites and want nothing to do with us. So really, members are our only way. They are awesome though and have really helped us out a lot.
Some different things that happened this week.... We were walking down the street on a Saturday night and a drunk guy was walking around with a rifle. It kinda scared us a little bit, but everyone here hunts for their food. At least the Indians do, so everybody has guns, so it is pretty normal to see. It just gave us a little startle. Ha.
We have an investigator named Mirta and I would love for you guys to pray for her. She has the strongest desires to be baptized, but is not married to her husband. But, her husband is an alcoholic and when he is drunk he gets mad at her and hits her. She was hit so badly last week that she was not able to come to church becuase she needed to stay in bed to rest. Her husband ran away, and she might have the possibility to live on her own, which is what she wants. She has so much faith too, and told us she knows that God will bless her in her life. Even though she has problems and trials she knows God loves her and will get her through them. So if you could remember her in your prayers that would be awesome.
We had a good Sunday, and one of the best things about our ward out here is that everyone knows how to sing really well. All of the Nivacle Indians have really good voices and know how to do parts and everything. We sang 'God Be With You Til We Meet Again' for the last song and it sounded sooo good. The spirit was really strong, and then I gave the sunday school class. It went well and I got them all to participate a lot which is really important here. The people can be a little shy here and it is always good to get them excited about the classes.
Well, that is all I think. We are working really hard and we might have the chance to open up a little indian tribe out here called, Yalve Sanga, you can look that up on Google. It is by Abundancia. I will let you guys know more about that next week and I promise next week I will have some photos.
We have been working hard, and have really been looking for some teaching opportunities through the members. The work in this area is a little bit slower just because everyone is either a member or has been contacted and taught before, or they are Mennonites and want nothing to do with us. So really, members are our only way. They are awesome though and have really helped us out a lot.
Some different things that happened this week.... We were walking down the street on a Saturday night and a drunk guy was walking around with a rifle. It kinda scared us a little bit, but everyone here hunts for their food. At least the Indians do, so everybody has guns, so it is pretty normal to see. It just gave us a little startle. Ha.
We have an investigator named Mirta and I would love for you guys to pray for her. She has the strongest desires to be baptized, but is not married to her husband. But, her husband is an alcoholic and when he is drunk he gets mad at her and hits her. She was hit so badly last week that she was not able to come to church becuase she needed to stay in bed to rest. Her husband ran away, and she might have the possibility to live on her own, which is what she wants. She has so much faith too, and told us she knows that God will bless her in her life. Even though she has problems and trials she knows God loves her and will get her through them. So if you could remember her in your prayers that would be awesome.
We had a good Sunday, and one of the best things about our ward out here is that everyone knows how to sing really well. All of the Nivacle Indians have really good voices and know how to do parts and everything. We sang 'God Be With You Til We Meet Again' for the last song and it sounded sooo good. The spirit was really strong, and then I gave the sunday school class. It went well and I got them all to participate a lot which is really important here. The people can be a little shy here and it is always good to get them excited about the classes.
Well, that is all I think. We are working really hard and we might have the chance to open up a little indian tribe out here called, Yalve Sanga, you can look that up on Google. It is by Abundancia. I will let you guys know more about that next week and I promise next week I will have some photos.
Love you guys a ton, and thanks for everything!!
Love
Elder Pearson
PS.. Our street is Calle Boqueron and calle 6 en Villa Amistad. Hopefully, that will help you look up something on Google Earth. Ha. It honestly reminds me of an old western cowboy movie out here, like cowboys and indians stuff. It is awesome!
Love
Elder Pearson
PS.. Our street is Calle Boqueron and calle 6 en Villa Amistad. Hopefully, that will help you look up something on Google Earth. Ha. It honestly reminds me of an old western cowboy movie out here, like cowboys and indians stuff. It is awesome!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Changed to CHACO 7/23/12
Hey Everybody!!
CHANGES!!!
SO, I got changed out of Yvera and I am now in a new place, which really seems like a new country. I am in the furthest away area in the mission and it is a pretty rural place. It is THE CHACO! It is a place called Filadelfia and is in the middle of nowhere. My new comps name is Elder Anderson and he is wayyy cool. We get along really well. I hope he kills me out here. We cover 2 Indian tribes, the Nivaclé Tribe, and the Guarani Tribe, and a whole other neighborhood with all German people. It is nuts when we do our shopping on p-days. It is all in German and everyone is speaking a different language here all the time. Ha Ha. It is kinda crazy. I have not taken any pictures, but I willl take some soon to send home. I am honestly so grateful to finish my mission out here in the chaco with such humble people. The Nivaclé are way nicer and more receptive, but the Germans really want nothing to do with us. It is a little taste of a mission in Europe. Ha. But, things are good, and luckily, a lot of people speak Spanish.
It is like my first area and we ride around on bikes everywhere because everything is farming out here. There are three main factories, the dairy factory, chancho, and horse feed factories. So basically, instead of water, we drink yogurt. It is awsome! Church was great and I am teaching a lot of the classes. The people know a lot, but are still not capacitated to teach the classes yet, but we are getting there. Things are great though and we are working really hard. The people here go to work out in a place called the Monte, and they work for weeks at a time, and then hunt and bring back the food here to Filidalfia. It is so cool, because a member is going to hunt us Ostrich to eat!! Awesome. The people are so amazing here and are so humble. I love them. There are noooo lights at night either so the stars and the moon are amazing!!! I really hit the jackpot for my last moments here in this amazing país de Paraguay! God bless you all. I love you so much. I can testify that the Lord knows us and only wants that we are happy. I am learning Nivaclé now so I am going to come home speaking a mix of way too many languages. Ha. Love you guys.
Elder Pearson
CHANGES!!!
SO, I got changed out of Yvera and I am now in a new place, which really seems like a new country. I am in the furthest away area in the mission and it is a pretty rural place. It is THE CHACO! It is a place called Filadelfia and is in the middle of nowhere. My new comps name is Elder Anderson and he is wayyy cool. We get along really well. I hope he kills me out here. We cover 2 Indian tribes, the Nivaclé Tribe, and the Guarani Tribe, and a whole other neighborhood with all German people. It is nuts when we do our shopping on p-days. It is all in German and everyone is speaking a different language here all the time. Ha Ha. It is kinda crazy. I have not taken any pictures, but I willl take some soon to send home. I am honestly so grateful to finish my mission out here in the chaco with such humble people. The Nivaclé are way nicer and more receptive, but the Germans really want nothing to do with us. It is a little taste of a mission in Europe. Ha. But, things are good, and luckily, a lot of people speak Spanish.
It is like my first area and we ride around on bikes everywhere because everything is farming out here. There are three main factories, the dairy factory, chancho, and horse feed factories. So basically, instead of water, we drink yogurt. It is awsome! Church was great and I am teaching a lot of the classes. The people know a lot, but are still not capacitated to teach the classes yet, but we are getting there. Things are great though and we are working really hard. The people here go to work out in a place called the Monte, and they work for weeks at a time, and then hunt and bring back the food here to Filidalfia. It is so cool, because a member is going to hunt us Ostrich to eat!! Awesome. The people are so amazing here and are so humble. I love them. There are noooo lights at night either so the stars and the moon are amazing!!! I really hit the jackpot for my last moments here in this amazing país de Paraguay! God bless you all. I love you so much. I can testify that the Lord knows us and only wants that we are happy. I am learning Nivaclé now so I am going to come home speaking a mix of way too many languages. Ha. Love you guys.
Elder Pearson
Monday, July 16, 2012
My theme for the last three months...plant as many seeds as I can. 7/16/12
Hey Everybody!
It is great to hear that Elder Bastian made it home safely and that his homecoming went well. It is pretty weird to think that he is already home and how fast things are moving. Changes are tonight and I will most likely be going somewhere else for my last 2 changes. We shall see what the Lord has in store. Love you guys!!!
Elder Pearson
Another week has passed here in the beautiful country of Paraguay, where the mandioca (yucca) grows like grass, and the Guarani (native language) flows like the wind!! Ha. It's just an awesome place here ok.
It was a good week. It was the last week of this change, so we were stressing really hard to get people ready for next change, especially getting them to church. We have really been struggling with that lately here in this area and it is just hard to see people who want to know, just won't put in the effort to go to church and receive the witness there. But as missionaries the only thing we can do is invite the spirit to testify to the hearts of these humble people and pray with all our might that they will let it in. Then depending only on them, and their agency, they can be saved and receive that testimony of this Gospel. I have really been thinking a lot about these last couple months that I have left to spread this beautiful gospel throughout Paraguay and it makes me think of everyone we talk to everyday. I read a scripture in District Meeting in Romans 1:16. It really sets the tone for me of what I feel and how I want everyone else to feel about the Gospel. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why I try not to stutter before going up and talking to a very mean looking man, or a group of jovenes (youths) that will maybe make fun of me. Nope, it doesn't matter because I know it is true and I know they need it, so nothing should stop me. It is kinda my theme for these last 3 months I have and I really want to plant as many seeds as I can and feel accomplished at night when my head hits my pillow.
It is great to hear that Elder Bastian made it home safely and that his homecoming went well. It is pretty weird to think that he is already home and how fast things are moving. Changes are tonight and I will most likely be going somewhere else for my last 2 changes. We shall see what the Lord has in store. Love you guys!!!
Elder Pearson
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