A new companion, Elder Yardley

Hola Mama,

Todo esta muy bien, I am doing great and healthy and happy, so last week I was going to have a new companion named Elder Morales but it got changed again because of a mix up in the mission office and my new companion is named Elder Yardley. He is from Idaho, he is really tall, probably my only companion I have had taller than me, but he is a cool guy, we get along and joke and everything, it's always different to have a companion from the same country. At this point I`m not worried about the English but companions from the same country a lot of times understand each other better. We had 2 investigators come to church this week, Leila and her mom, and we will be having Leila`s baptism this week so pictures are on the way! Allan is going to walk with her every week to church until he leaves for his mission and we are on the search for another adult to help when he leaves.

Not much new this week, just the same missionary work, never easy but always worth it. I hope you guys have had a good week, Dad told me its your anniversary tomorrow so HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!! WWOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! 24 years! Haha, hope you guys do something fun, and I`m glad to hear Camille did well in the primary program, it's crazy to imagine 150 kids, we don`t even have half of that of people that attend church but we are working hard to improve it!

I like the picture of Gavin, he looks huge! Thanks for the package you guys sent, I got all the candy and pictures that Camille sent and your letter too. I`m always hesitant to eat the treats because I want them to last longer, but if I wait I won`t be able to enjoy them, so I just eat them anyways.

Thats about all for the week, I hope you are all doing well in school, work, and at home, I always keep you in my prayers and am thinking of the things you have written me each week. Can`t wait to hear from you soon!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

He got the stuff we sent! Only took a month!

Elder Spiro, Elder Yardley and some ward members

The elders, Allan and Elias

Same area, new companion:Elder Morales

Hey Mom!!!!

Thanks for the emails and pictures as always, I`m also happy because the Utes won!!!!!! I`m sure the game was super stressful, but I`m happier to just hear they won, that game is always the most important of the season for sure. I`m glad you enjoyed your birthday too, and I hope you got some help from the family with the little kids.

So the news is I won`t be going to a new area, but my companion will be going to the mission office for his new area though. I`m not sure who my new companion is because nobody has called but I will find out very soon. [[in his email to his dad he found out he has a companion from the U.S. named Elder Morales]]

We had a good week, we got the signature for Leila`s dad, but we won`t have her baptism yet because the mission asks for a responsible adult to bring her to church every Sunday, and we just have Elias bringing her to church, and he is only 12. We have met a lot of new people this week though, a lot of people have asked us to visit them, but the only problem is that they need to come to church!

I was thinking about 9/11 the other day, I will always remember the day I woke up and turned on the TV, and every channel had the video of the towers burning down and I didn`t understand why. It makes me happy to know our country is growing and progressing, and I am grateful to have a lot of the freedoms that we have.

I like the pictures of Camille playing the violin with Abbey, I hope she continues playing and practicing and is not like I was when I started playing just to complete a credit for school haha.

Anyway thanks again Mom for everything, I will update you next week on who my new companion is [it's Elder Morales haha] and how things are going in the area! Have a great week and GO UTES!!!!!!!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

:) :)

Teachin in the Rain...

Hey Mom,

Thanks for writing me as always, I always enjoy hearing from you and the family, even though I don`t always write much in return (sorry) But I`m happy that the Utes won and you and the family had a good week at school and work. I`m sure you are excited to celebrate your birthday this week! I`ll be searching for birthday gifts here, but they will arrive around the next year, so just be patient haha :) But HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! 

I am doing well as always, it has been raining this whole week and it has been cold but I am trying to enjoy it because I know the heat is coming soon. 

It was rainy on Sunday, so we didn`t have very many people come to church, but we had 1 investigator. She has been investigating the church for about 2 years, and she wants to be baptized but she has to get married and her boyfriend has to get divorced first so I think that will be a long process. We are going to visit them and see how the process is going.

To organize a wedding here we just have to have copies of the IDs of the people who are going to get married and also of the 4 witnesses of their wedding. We have the wedding on Saturday, and when the wedding is over, we have the baptism, so it all works out well. We put up decorations in the church and the relief society helps us a bit too. [[I asked him what it took exactly to put on a wedding so quickly]]

We have been working with Elias`s little sister Leila, who is 9 years old. She wants to be baptized but we just need the signature of her dad who lives in a different city. Elias is going to go to his dad`s house to get it. The guy that has a drinking problem hasn`t talked to us much lately, we only found him at his home once and he said he was busy, so we`ll see how his process goes I guess. 

Not much else new, this is the last week before we recieve transfers, so next Monday I will inform you if I am leaving the area or not, and if I have a new companion. But everything is great, I`m learning more every day and really starting to understand my purpose as a missionary and the infinite amount of things there are to learn in this world.

Hope you have a great week, thanks for the pictures and emails, the only things I have been thinking for the Christmas package was a few P90x disks, but I`ll let you know which ones because I don`t have weights here to use.

Can`t wait to hear from you soon! Have a great birthday week Mom!!!!!!!!!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

Elder Spiro and his district

Fany and Adrian's baptism and wedding

Hey Mom!

Estoy muy feliz y con mucho animo para seguir trabajando en la vina del Senor! I`m glad to know you had a good week and I hope you enjoyed the Dbacks game, even though they lost by 13 :/ It looks like you are all well though, and studying and working hard.

I had a great week, we worked hard, it was a bit stressful this week though because we had to plan a wedding and baptism. But it all went great. The branch members helped us decorate and supported by bringing some food and a cake, so we are very grateful. It's nice to see our efforts are making an impact. We also had branch conference, and the church attendance was 108, when normally only 60-65 people come every week. Fany and Adrian, the investigators who got baptized are very happy, and their family is too.

Not too much else new, we had a guy come up to us during the week to ask for help, so we have been visiting him at his house these past few days, he has basically lost everything because of his drinking habits. And now he is selling his things for money to keep drinking. I feel really bad for him, he is always alone and when we visit he starts to cry because he wants to change but his addiction is very strong, we are going to keep helping him little by little.

Not much else new, I have been learning a lot personally these past few weeks, things are starting to be more clear for me now, things in the scriptures and teachings from the church that I have always accepted but never really knew what it meant. It's difficult to describe really, but I`ll give an example. The other day a missionary was quoting the scripture that says we are not of this world, that we are here in this world, but not of it. I finally understood that we are sons and daughters of a living God, that we chose to be here on the Earth to be tested, so that we could be like Him one day. He just wants us to be happy, He knows at times we will experience trials and problems, but we will never be left alone.

I hope you have a great week, thanks for everything and the packages you have sent, I haven`t gotten them yet but I`m sure they are on the way. I wrote a letter to Nana but I can`t find a place to mail it yet. Can`t wait to hear from you soon!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

Fany and Adrian's wedding

The elders and Allan Torres, the branch president

Week of 8/22/16

Hola Mama,

Thanks for the pictures and email, its crazy to see Jake`s family growing up, I remember when I went over to his house almost every day to hang out with them. Emma and Larry look so big haha, just another example of how fast time goes by. I am glad to hear you are all doing good and I hope the chipa is good too! The Sopa Paraguaya is like a cornbread, its good with rice and beans.

All is well here, we will have a wedding a baptism this Saturday, we finally found a judge that isn`t going to charge us a ton of money and an arm and a leg. We went to visit the family the week before and we were thinking in changing the wedding and baptism for another date, but they told us they were confident that God would provide what they needed for this week! They had more faith than us haha :) We had found the family looking for some recent converts on a teaching record we had in the Area Book. We are also working with Elias`s little sister Leila, and to help with teaching young people/ teenagers we usually use a lot of videos or pictures/drawings to help them understand better. Its always good when they are participating in the lessons, when they can have moments were they can apply what they learn from the lesson into their lives. At least that is what we try to gain when we read scriptures with them.

The weather is becoming a little more warm now, so we are entering into the summer. Lots and lots of water and sunscreen. We still have to wear long sleeve white shirts because of the mosquitos and dengue. But all is well, to tell you the truth I am running out of new things to add, when the time comes to write you all, I forget the spiritual/crazy experiences I`ve had during the week. They are all written in my journal, so I`ll just have to note stuff down before I write you guys.

Thanks again and I hope to hear from you next week, y tenga una semana pora (Guarani) y lleno de felizidad y bendiciones!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

With Allan Torres, the branch president.  He is serving a mission in Peru in a couple of months.

Brenda's baptism

Hola Mama!

Gracias por su email and all the pictures too, I`m glad Dad had a great Bday and you all had a good time at the Shakespeare festival, its crazy that a year has passed since the last festival, I still remember the email you had sent from last year, a lot has changed since then.

I had a great week as always, we had Brenda`s baptism and it went great! I had the opportunity to do the confirmation. We had the baptism Sunday in the morning before the meetings. A lot of members came and showed their support for Brenda and her family, because her family is now attending church again. It was a little stressful getting everything set up for the baptism, though, because on Saturday we were filling up the baptismal font, and we were filling it with warm water, but it turns out the warm water is super dirty, so we had to drain it again, and clean haha. The drain is super slow so we had to take the water out with buckets, and when we were filling up he font again the water for some reason stopped coming out, so we had to wait until the morning on Sunday to fill it all the way again.

But everything went well and we are now working with that family I talked about last week. They attended church again on Sunday and are now preparing for their baptism and wedding. We are just looking for a judge to marry them. They are a very nice family, and are showing their desires every week by attending church.

Not much else new, the weather is getting a lot warmer now so I am drinking lots and lots of water during the day. I have been talking to Jake, who just got home from his mission, it's crazy how fast time is flying by, he told me it's a little tough to adapt to the world after he got home haha.

Hope you and the family have an awesome week, I`m glad to hear the U.S. is doing well in the olympics, how is the cooking foods from different countries going? You should make something from Paraguay and send me a picture when you make it! I reccomend Chipa Guazu or Sopa Paraguaya. Always keeping you in my prayers! Can`t wait to hear from you next week!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

Zone training

Splits with the zone leader

With the branch president, Allan Torres

Brenda's baptism 8/14/16

Elias' baptism and a visit to the temple

Hola Mama!

Todo tranquilo pa, I`m glad that you are all doing good and had a good first week of school, and you are enjoying the Olympics, it would be cool to see Paraguay win a medal, I haven`t seen any advertising for the Olympics yet here. Glad to hear other young men will be serving missions, I don`t know those guys, but I`m sure that they will learn a lot. 

I had an awesome week with a lot of great experiences.  On Saturday in the morning I had the privilege of going with a convert of my first area in Paraguari named Felicita to go to the temple. I went with my trainer Elder Chalco because with him we baptized her. She went to the temple to recieve her endowments. It was such an awesome experience, and we saw her son Josue who we also baptized, he went to do baptisms in the temple. I was physically exhausted after an we had to make it back quickly for Elias`s baptism because it was the same day! We got back an hour before the baptism started and we had a great service, a lot of members showed up and supported Elias. His Mom Leonida, who is also an investigator, came and was crying and thanking the branch for the support for her family, I think it was one of the most spiritual baptismal services I have had in my mission.

And, on Sunday, we had 6 investigators come to church! A family came that we had found earlier on in the week, the grandma and the dad are baptized, but the mom and the son aren`t. The grandma can`t walk very well but she made the effort and they all came to church! They are very humble and willing to listen to our message, and we have plans for their wedding and baptism this 27th of August!

All in all a great week, we are seeing the fruits of our labors, with obedience and patience, I am seeing the blessings we have received and can receive from the Lord. I am doing great, I hope you are all well too. Brenda is going to be baptized this week, right before the meetings on Sunday because most of the leaders have an activity on Saturday, so we`ll see how it all goes.

Thanks for the emails and pictures Mom! Always praying for you and the family, have an awesome week! Go U.S.A.!!!!!!!!!

Rohayhu

Elder Spiro

Burning trash in the backyard

With Elder Chalco and Josue at the Asuncion temple

Visiting the temple with his trainer and converts from his first area

Elias' baptism 8/6/16