Settling in to a new area 2/29/16

I am doing great thanks for asking and I`m glad you guys had a good week too! It was very difficult to be honest the first few days, because like I said my companion and I are both new to the area, (Whitewash) so we are getting to know everyone slowly, with a lot of help from the members. And Paraguay doesn`t exactly have "streets", so there aren`t names or anything either, but it's alright, I know we have been called to this area for a reason. My toes are doing fine, thanks for asking, I`m making sure to wear my shoes that have a lot of space at the end for my toes.

We have also found a lot of investigators in this area that have been investigating the church for a long time. We are working with a family right now, that have been attending for 3 years, but haven`t been baptized yet because the husband has been waiting for all of his paperwork to be done to get divorced with his other wife. Now it is all finished so we are planning their wedding and baptism for the 12th of March! They are an awesome family, and the husband will definitely be a bishop, or a priesthood leader shortly after his baptism.

We also visited a sister who had her son leave for the mission on the day that we arrived to the area, and we were talking to her, and she said it was really hard to have him gone, but we reassured her that it is where he needs to be and that he is thinking of her too, and that he will come back, 2 years is short, right Mom? :) 

We are also talking to a lady who has been coming to church for years but her husband doesn`t want to hear anything about the church, and she needs to get married before being baptized, so prayers for them would be appreciated too.

Everything is good, it was tough at first leaving another area so quickly, but I know its what God needs of me right now, and I will follow! Hopefully my letter gets to you! I don`t know why it has taken so much time. Hope you have a good week and can`t wait to hear from you soon, hope Camille had an awesome 10th birthday! Woooooooo!

Te Amo!!!

Elder Spiro

Pictures of Alex saying goodbye to various people in Kennedy.....

The Elders seem to be glowing (or just super sweaty)!

New area: Posta Leiva and new comp:Elder Lopez

Hi Mom! Hope this email gets to you!

I will be resending all the pics I sent last week too, there was a lot of them.

Anyways, I have some more news, my toe is feeling great so don`t worry but I will be leaving the area again! We got the call this morning and my companion and I are both leaving for different areas. It really is kinda sad, to have to leave so many different areas after developing realationships with people and learning the area. I will be going to a new area in "whitewash" which is when the missionaries there before both left and so my companion won`t know anything about the area either! So wish me luck and many prayers!  I know that the Lord has called me to be here in this new area and I like what you said to me about Grandpa, that he never complained  and always looked for the positive in things, that's what I have learned here on the mission for sure.

This week was super, super humid and warm and it seemed like nobody wanted to talk to us. We walked a lot and luckily I put sunscreen on or I would have gotten burned pretty bad. I don`t know what else to say about the area though, because I`ll be leaving, but the members are really awesome and on Sunday we had a great lesson in the Elders quorum, the members were sharing a lot of their experiences and I felt the spirit very strong. 

Anyways, I will have more to write next week when I know my area better but its called Posta Leyba, and my companion will be Elder Lopez. Not the same Elder Lopez that I had before but I know this companion from before too. Hope you have a great week and my letters arrive to the house. I keep you all in my prayers and thanks again for all the emails and pictures!!

Love you!!!!

Elder Spiro

Looks like the wreath gave Alex a new 'do at a wedding

A little heat didn't stop them from doing service

A little excited about their fruit snacks!

Not so Happy Feet

{We didn't get mail from Alex last week on the 15th due to an email glitch so there will be double posts today 2/22. Reading about the "surgery" on his feet makes me so proud of him, he faints when he even thinks of doctors and hospitals so I know how hard this was for him.  Thank you everyone who reads his letters and sends him so much love and support! --Chris}

Hola Mama!!!!!!

¿Cómo esta? Estoy super bien, I just had a little trip to the hospital this week, but don`t worry its nothing major or crazy. My toenails have just been hurting a lot recently and when I walk it doesn`t feel too good. So we decided to call Sister Wilson, the wife of the President, to see if I could go to Asuncion and the hospital, and she said it was fine. So we went and the first thing the doctor said when he looked at my toe was “woah”, that's not really something you want to hear from a doctor.  I showed him my other foot and he said I had another ingrown toenail, so I told him to just take them both out. We waited for about 40 minutes, and I was freaking out of course because I don`t like hospitals or surgery, and then I went in and lied down and decided not to look at anything. He gave me 4 shots, 2 in each toe and then started digging the ingrown toenails out. I couldn`t feel hardly anything on the left toe but the right toe I felt a lot, and Elder Bowyer told me after he basically dug all the way under my nail and lifted it up to cut the part off. I`m just glad I didn`t look.

Other than that we had a good week, we ate lunch in Asuncion because that's where the hospital is and it was super fancy, the Burger King and Pizza Hut there are like fancy restaurants, it's weird. We didn`t have any investigators attend church,  but we are working hard and the heat seems to be worse now, we have to stop and ask for water a lot. But everything is great, this will be the last week of this transfer, it has gone by super fast.  We have interviews with President Wilson this week so that will be cool too. My companion is good, he doesn`t feel sick anymore.

I hope you guys are all doing well, it seems like you are all busy with work and school. Thanks again for all the pictures and emails . I just need to ask one thing from you, if you could send that picture of Grandpa on his mission, I think it's the one with him standing next to a street sign or something, I just remember always seeing it around. I want to try and take a picture just like it. But thanks for the bday package again, I`m sure I`ll be getting it soon. And I hope my letters can get there! They were supposed to be for Christmas :( Tenga una buena semana y can`t wait to hear from you soon!

Te Amo!!!!!!

Elder Spiro

His poor feet :(

Week of 2/8/16

Gracias para su email! I`m doing great and working hard! It was a really warm week but luckily we have passed the middle of summer so it will be cooling down a little more before my bday. It was cool that you got a chance to talk to Marcelo, he`s really cool. He was baptized about 7 years ago but fell away from the church because he had some problems with addictions. But now we are helping him come back and drop the addictions he had, he comes with us to lessons and helps a lot because sometimes the people don`t always understand the complicated things we teach, so he helps to simplify everything. He went with the missionaries for years before us to help them teach too, so its a big help for us.

We didn`t have any investigators come to church but we have found a lot of new people to teach which is awesome. We talked with a lady yesterday that is a friend of a member and after I said the opening prayer for the lesson, she started crying, it was a very powerful moment, something so simple as a prayer, the spirit can work in many ways. We also found a lady who had talked with the missionaries before but she went on a vacation and they never had the opportunity to talk to her again until us, and she was very nice and had a lot of questions which is always helpful for us.

Everything is going good, we are working hard to strengthen the ward, because sometimes when we get to an area the missionaries didn`t work well before with the ward, so we are having a lot more activities and visiting a lot of members and [performing] service. The time is passing by faster and faster each day, its kind of sad that I`ll never get that time back in my mission, but I know I just need to keep looking forward and think positive because if I`m thinking negative, our results will be down. That's something else I`ve learned: a lot of what happens in life depends on your own attitude.

Anyways, thanks for the emails and pictures as always and hope you enjoy the short break you have from work. My bday is in a month now, I can`t believe I will be completing 20 years of my life. Its super loco, and everything is too fast! Hope you have a great week and can`t wait to hear from you soon!

Te Amo!

Tu hijo,

Elder Spiro

Elder Spiro's work space

His bed, and even more important, University of Utah pillowcase!

Week of 2/1/2016

Hola Mama! 

¿como estas? Estoy super bien y gracias para su español, me ayuda leyendo y escribiendo también. Anyways, thanks for your email and pictures as always. We had a hard-working week. We had a zone training at the stake center and I learned a lot. President Wilson is focusing a lot on the self-sufficiency of the missionaries and putting a lot of trust in us. We are learning more about obedience because we have more rules now. It is good though, I have been thinking a lot lately personally and how I can be a better missionary and be a true representative (I forgot how to spell that word haha) of Christ. I also got the Christmas card you sent, I like the picture you picked for me, that is one of my favorites, I put the card on my desk to look at. 

We had our investigator Carlos (the 10 year old boy) come to church on Sunday. We passed by and talked to his mom and dad, but his dad wasn`t home and taught them. The mom always brings Carlos to church but she has 2 little babies and can`t attend herself. We are going to pass by with another family this week and share a video I think.

We are also helping a less active member to come back to church who is super awesome. His name is Marcelo, he always went with the missionaries before to lessons but he fell away and had some problems with addictions, now we are helping him and he has a facebook page, I think there are some pictures of us on there.  Luckily the weather was better this week and not too much heat, that helps a lot walking around all day.

I sent you guys letters for Christmas, hopefully they get there soon, and thanks for sending me a bday package mom, I really appreciate it. Anyways, hope everything goes good at the school this week and say hi to Nicole for me, I`ll try to ask around if anyone knows Elder Struhs, is he new? I feel good so don`t worry about sicknesses or anything Mom, I use bug repellent and we sleep with the A/C at night. Thanks again for everything and can`t wait to hear from you soon! Always keeping you in my prayers!

Rohayhu Mama!!!!

Tu hijo,

Elder Spiro

At some point you embrace the rain and decide umbrellas are for wimps.

At a zone meeting

Elder Spiro and his latest zone

Week of 1/25/16: Staying Cool!

¿Como esta Mama? I`m really good and happy, it is pretty cool having a companion that is American, but we talked a little too much in English and it was affecting our Spanish a little, so we decided to only speak in Spanish from now on haha. Everything is good though, but he was a little sick this week so we had to go to the hospital a few times in Asuncion, and that took up most of our time for the week, but we were able to visit a few new people and survive the heat haha. It is a lot nicer than the city though, because there is no concrete here besides a few roads and the heat is not as bad thankfully. And we don`t have to pay for the A/C in our apartment because it's included in the rent, so we are always using it a lot when we are in the apartment. 

Not much else exciting, none of our investigators came to church but we are going to search a lot this week for new investigators and less active members, because we always find new investigators with the less active members. The little 10 year old boy couldn`t come, but we talked to his Mom, and she is really nice and there are a lot of people that live in their house, which is awesome. We had a zone training video this week, there was a video for all the missionaries in the world from the first presidency and quorum of the 12, and it was all about the mission work, it was really helpful. 

Not much else new, I bought a pretty cool Paraguayan blanket and some other cool stuff, and a member that washes our clothes can sew, she makes really cool sombreros so I`ll probably ask for one of those. Let me know if you want something cool sewn :) But thanks for all the updates and pictures Mom, I`ll take some more pictures this week of the new apartment and my companion and me, too. Can`t wait to hear from you next week and hope you guys are all good and enjoying the nice weather! I keep all of you in my prayers every day!

Rohayhu (Love you in Guarani),

Elder Spiro

Alex' companion on the left and Elder Sherwood, who left for his mission the same day as Alex and we met at the Phoenix airport. Three Arizona boys!

New area: Kennedy, San Lorenzo and new companion, Elder Bowyer

Hola Mama!

Como estas? Estoy bien y feliz, We had transfers this week and we found out that my companion and I are both leaving! So now I'm here in my new area, its called Kennedy, in the city of San Lorenzo. My companion is American too, the first American companion I`ve had. He just completed his training, so this is his 3rd transfer of his mission. I`m working a lot with him with his Spanish and talking more during lessons and it has been a big help for me too, talking more and learning to explain and teach things more clearly.

Our area is really awesome, we have lunches with members basically every day and everyone is so nice here, I`m not in the city anymore so the houses are very poor and the people are very humble. The people are on their summer breaks so a lot are home and willing to let us share our message. We taught a 10 year old buy this week, he is very smart and reminds me a lot of Elias, and he came to church this week! His Mom brought him, she isn`t a member, and we invited her to attend, but she said she had to go back for her baby. So we will be continuing to teach them and helping them progress.

It has been very warm here lately, so I have been wearing a lot of sunscreen and drinking a lot of water. The area is really great, not too big, but lots of plants and houses, and lots of opportunities for service too! Not much else new, I`m the senior companion for the first time on my mission which is pretty cool, but I won`t be prideful about it, that's a problem at times, when a missionary receives a calling, he gets prideful. I know that is not what Christ would want us to be like.

Anyways, glad you had a good week and fun time up in Utah, hope Uncle Scott had a good bday! Hope you have a good week working at the school again! Thanks for everything Mom and can`t wait to hear from you next week, always keeping you in my prayers!

Te Amo!!!!
Elder Spiro

Last dinner in Fernando de la Mora