Last transfer: Centro and 6 more weeks!

Hey Mom,

So the news came in, and my last area will be in the city, an area called Centro. And I will be the district leader. I feel a bit nervous to be the district leader, but I know that the Lord will help me. I feel a bit sad to be leaving Kennedy, I have worked hard here and I wanted to see the baptism and wedding for the Mendoza family, and Antonio´s baptism, but I know that Elder Kjar and his new companion will do well in taking care of the area.

I got the package that you guys sent! We had the conference with Elder Bragg of the 70, and that was awesome. I felt the spirit very strong and I am ready to work hard in my last transfer. It was funny bringing the package back on the bus from Asuncion, the people kept looking at the virgin Mary stickers that you guys had put all over the box haha. 

We finished Elder Kjar´s training and he is very ready to be a normal missionary haha. I know that he will be a great leader in the mission, he is very obedient and will be a great example for other missionaries. 

I don´t know what else to say, I feel very nervous, and today will be busy with packing my luggage and saying goodbye to all the members and investigators. Sorry to not write much, next week's email will be longer!!!! 

Love you!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

The last English class for Elder Spiro in Kennedy

Eating Lomitos

He got his Birthday package!

The neighbor's dog seems very receptive to the teachings

A service project

Both elders obviously glad to be done with training

7 weeks left!!

Hey Mom,

All is well, we had a good week. We have been talking with the Mendoza family and she said that next Sunday she will have off, and she is looking to be able to have every Sunday off and possibly another job where she doesn`t have to work Sunday. We have been praying a lot for their family, they know a lot of members and also Dario (brother Mendoza) always goes to the church on Thursdays to play soccer. 

That is something very common in Paraguay, grown men playing lots of soccer/volleyball in the streets. They also have a sport where you only use your head, feet, and chest to get the ball over the net. Its called piki.

We are also teaching a man named Antonio that is 32, he has been studying with the Jehovah`s witnesses too, and we had a lesson the other day where we taught him about the Plan of Salvation. He said he really enjoyed how we taught and that it was much different than the Jehovah`s witnesses. He accepted a baptismal date but wasn`t able to come to church on Sunday, we don`t know why yet.

Other than that, all is pretty normal, we will have a conference this week with a member of the 70, so that should be fun. And Elder Kjar`s Spanish is coming along great. Many members comment how much he has improved. I know the Lord blesses us with the gift of tongues as we study diligently to obtain it. We also went to the temple to clean it this last week, that was really enjoyable too. When we are outside, we can  hear the noise of the streets and cars, but when we enter, it's complete silence.

Other than that, not much else new, hope you are all doing well, next Monday will be the last transfer for my mission, so we will see if I stay in the area or go to a new place. Can`t wait to hear from you soon!

Burger King!

Cleaning the temple

11 weeks with Elder Kjar

Week of 2/13/17

Hey Mom,

Thanks for the emails as always, and the pictures as well it's crazy to see how much Will has grown and Theo has gotten fatter haha. I am doing well, the sad news is that Nancy Mendoza got a job to pay for some of the house bills and she has to work on Sundays. We have talked with them and she and her husband still want to get baptized and married, but they want to wait until the 11th of March now. I might not be in the area, but I hope that they can still follow through with their goals. They are a very special family.

Other than that we have been finding a few other families. Tatiana and Deisy are attending church even though their mom hasn`t signed the permission yet, lots of prayer and fasting. A member brought a family to church this week, the only problem is that they don`t live in our area but we talked with the Mission President`s wife and she said that if they desire to be baptized, we can organize something so they can attend church here in Kennedy. The church that is part of their area is super far from their house.

Interesting note, we were writing in the morning but the power went out in the whole city so we had to wait until the afternoon to be able to write again. That happens a lot, the power going out, another blessing of living where we live. I won`t take for granted many things now.

We have been working hard and I hope to be able to send some pictures from our trip to the temple to clean this Monday, it was another great experience. Many of the worries and preoccupations of the world leave my mind as I enter into the temple, it really is a blessing.

Hope all is well at home, to answer your questions, we do try to speak spanish constantly.  It helps Elder Kjar learn quicker, and it helps me as well to not get into the routine of speaking English because it affects when we teach/talk to people.

Have a great week and can`t wait to hear from you soon!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

District activity

Pizza! With corn on it!

Enjoying some ice cream

10 weeks out!

With the other missionary roomies

Week of 2/6/17

Hey Mom!

Happy to hear Camille is doing better, and her arm is healing fast, I have been praying extra for you all this week. And it sounds like you are all eating a lot of cookies haha. I wouldn't mind a box of the trefoils too, thanks :) 

Not much new here this week, we were working hard trying to find new investigators and all, because only a few of our investigators are progressing. On Sunday, a storm passed through in the morning with lots of rain, so I knew that we would have very few people attending church. We had only 20 people come, and we combined with the branch that shares our same building. It was fast and testimony meeting so I decided to bear my testimony and that made me feel better, I always enjoy Sundays even if we don´t have investigators at church. 

The Mendoza family is doing well, we are visiting them with lots of members, and in the ward council we had, we started planning a bit of their wedding and we are going to have a family home evening with them and some other families next Monday. They always give us food when we go to visit them, and we talked with them about the temple, because they had a daughter that passed away as a baby, and they seemed very interested in that.

Not much else new, no news with Tatiana and Deisy´s mom yet, we will keep praying for them and hopefully at least in the future she will accept. My companion is doing well, his spanish is much better and he is learning a bit of Guarani too, he is much more diligent than I was when I was learning spanish :)

Haha, hope you guys have a great week. I will try to take more pictures and can´t wait to get the cookies you guys send :) Can´t wait to hear from you soon!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

Elder Kjar at nine weeks out!