"THIS YEAR HAS FLOWN!"

"Things continue to be good here. We had a baptism on Thursday night!! Jorge was baptized. Yay! Last week at this time we weren´t exactly sure if it was going to happen, but we truly have seen miracles this past week and he was able to baptized. He was so excited and happy...and we were too! He has changed so much from when we first met him. At first he just wanted to talk about religion but not commit to baptism or anything. But now he understands the importance of repentance and baptism and has a strong testimony of the gospel. As I said, we have seen miracles. The hand of the Lord is in this work. His work. He really does have a plan for everyone and everything. We couldn´t do this without Him!"

"So yesterday was rainy...ALL day. And today again. I´m not too fond of the rain. It's pretty....but everyone is always locked up inside. Yesterday at church we only had 44 people in our sacrament meeting...!que poco verdad?! People here tend to think that rain means a free day or rainy day schedule...but thats not the case! As we say here in paraguay....igual no mas!"

"Okay, at times I am caught off guard at how little some people have here. This past week we visited homes that literally had nothing more than a matress on the ground and piles of clothes and a bag of rice and noodles stashed away in the corner, bad scent, etc., it's sad. However, one woman who we visited with said ´we´re poor but happy´. What a good attitude. Here she was in her house that she has lived in for years, raised her kids, with little to no money, but she understands there is more to life than the riches. Such humble people. On Friday morning Hna Jara and I were just getting ready to study and happened to look at the window to see a mother and daughter with baskets of fruit walking along our street. We decided to go down real quick and buy some. Instead of wanting money the mom asked if we had any winter clothes we could exchange for. We went back up to our apt and found some clothes that other Hermanas had left behind. The mom was so grateful!"

"This past Saturday was Mothers Day here in Paraguay...it's always May 15th. So Friday night our ward had an activity...talent show! It was a lot of fun. I helped the primary kids sing a song and Hna Jara and I also sang a song to the melody of ´Follow the Prophet´ but changed all the letters to talk about our ´Madres en Paraguay´. It was fun!"

"So i´m excited because next Tuesday, the 25th, we are having a big conference because our Area President of Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina is coming! He has asked us all to study about covenants to prepare. Def looking forward to it!"

"Well, things continue to progress and go on here. We´re teaching lots and helping people to prepare for baptism. Just this morning I read in True to the Faith how ´conversion is a process, not an event´. At times it's hard for me to accept this because I just want people to be converted right then and there!...however, I have seen over and over again how that's not the case. It really is a process. Hermana Jara and I are working with our investigators to help them in this process. We have an investigator, Pedro, who is 17 years old, has been to church twice and has a baptism date for later this month! Yay! We hope that all will go well with him."

"I only have 2.5 weeks left with Hermana Jara. She has told me that she basically feels about every emotion knowing that she is ending her mission soon. It's definitely a bittersweet time. She has really been such an example to me of working hard until the end. Here she is with just 2.5 weeks left...at this point, I think a lot of missionaries seem to feel ´trunky´ and maybe not be totally on board. But she continues to work hard and consistently invites others to come unto Christ."

"On June 2 Hna Jara will end her mission and June 2 is exactly my half way mark! Wow. Just really can´t grasp onto time. In fact, the other day I was looking back in my journal...and I noticed that May 17th of last year was when I had my interview with President Thomas and my mission papers were sent to SLC. Wow! This year has FLOWN."

"Well, off to do some grocery shopping this afternoon, going to make banana bread (finally!), write letters and read some Ensigns this afternoon! We still don´t have our May Ensign....but am soo looking forward to when we finally get it! Tonight we have 2 appointments planned and an FHE with Lourdes and her family! Yay!"