HEY EVERYONE I JUST WANNA TELL YOU ABOUT AN AMAZING WEEK I HAD!!!
THIS WEEK WAS SO GREAT! On Tuesdsay we had a very good district council where we focused on relying on the Spirit and receiving personal revelation for ourselves and our areas. I really think that we all were able to learn a lot as a district and we also focused on how we should use the spirit to guide us when we are teaching people who are not progressing and keeping their compromises. I always like to learn from other missionaries and how they teach and I felt as though our district council was very effective!
On Wednesday I went on my very first division as an Hermana Leader and it was so great! I had the chance of going to Isla Bogado with Hermana San Martin! She is from Santiago, Chile and has been in Paraguay for 2 months (She´s in her second transfer of training). She was absolutely so great and it was so awesome to see how well she knows the area and get to meet some of their investigators. There are some solid people in Isla Bogado that the hermanas are working with! It truly just makes me so happy to see how missionary work happens in different areas! I am grateful for all of the experiences that I have had as a missionary thus far because it has truly helped me to become better and ready to help and relate to the missionaries that I am with and serving. Though Hermana San Martin was a little scared at first to lead the area for the first time without her companion, she did it fantastically! It was cool too because I had the chance to teach her different tactics of how to contact when we went to a sector that they hadn´t really worked in too much! Hermana San Martin truly has a sweet testimony and her desire to serve and help others come unto Christ is truly contagious! :)
On Thursday I went back to my area! We have been working with an investigator named Jessica. She was baptized about 8 months ago, but never got confirmed, thus she needs to go through the lessons again to be baptized again to receive the holy ghost. However, Jessica is someone who has been battling an addiction to Crack. She has left her family twice in the past 2 weeks without notice and though she truly has the desires to chance and be baptized, her addiction has been tough on her and her family. We've been trying to work with her on the a program to help her on her journey to stop her addiction and would appreciate if you all could keep her in your prayers! We also were able to receive 7 new investigators from Noche de Barrio from a family that is absolutely fantastic and want to be more involved in missionary work! It was so fun because as a ward many members get together and they are able sing hymns, share a spiritual thought, and then go play soccer, volley ball, or what ever type of sport outside! It is such a great way to get to know ward members and bring friends!
Friday I went on another division and had the chance of going to Anahi with Hermana Flores! She is from Guayaquil, Ecuador and has been in Paraguay for 10 months! It was truly so fun to go on a division with her because we both started our mission in Paraguay on the 26th of June! Hermana Flores is truly a great missionary and has a lot of love for the missionary work and her companion! I'm glad that I was given the opportunity to train because I have been able to relate to her and give some encouragement and support to her! She is doing a great job with training and it was so fun to help her study English during language study! Her and her companion are trying to study English together and i think that is precious! Their area is AMAZING! I absolutely loved getting to meet their investigators and a few recent converts! We even went on a visit with a member to teach a reference and it is a family! They were super receptive of the message of the restoration and that was super cool to see! Hermana Flores shared with me some of her struggles that she has gone through in the mission and testified of her gratitude for all of the lessons that she has learned and how her testimony has grown. She is a great missionary and truly has a great heart for the work and serving others!
We witnessed a few MIRACLES on Sunday! Saturday Hermana Torres and I started our fast and were fasting for our investigators and our area. I have just such a strong testimony of fasting and was grateful for the opportunity to fast. Though it was raining we were still able to find 5 new people to teach and that was pretty amazing to me! On Sunday we had a few investigators commit to coming to church when then the daughter got sick so they weren't able to come. Though we were pretty sad to hear that they weren't able to come to church we set a time to go teach them later that day after church. They agreed and we invited an hermana from our ward to accompany us for the cita! PRESIDENT.... IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! Heavenly Father truyl answers prayers because we were able to teach Lourdes, Sofia, AND Daniel! They are a family and it was the first time we taught them all together. I can´t even describe how powerful it was! Hermana Aida Nuñez Yurt was AMAZING as well because she is an RM and the Primary Pres so it was perfect for her to teach with us! We planned to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but then changed to reading the Introduction to the Book of Mormon because they didn't read the night before. WOW.... It was fantastic because we were able explain the Book of Mormon to everyone and focus on how it teaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After explaining the invitation and all we committed the ENTIRE FAMILY to be baptized on June 1st and THEY ACCEPTED!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW It was so powerful and they truly want to do it together as a family! What a blessing it was!
We also had the BEST missionary correlation meeting with our Ward mission leader and the first counselors of the relief society and elders quorum! Correlation meeting is where we have the opportunity to talk about how the missionary work is going and what needs the people we are teaching need and what are things we can do to help them progress! In all my time here in Paraguay these meetings didn't ever really happen in my past areas or weren´t very affective. BUT this time everyone was contributing and truly wanted to work on setting time to go on visits with us and we all decided to fast on this Saturday together for our investigators that we are teaching!
At the end of the day a family from Luque came all the way to Ysapy to deliver my shoes that Hermana Peery sent to get fixed so I wouldn´t just have 1 pair of shoes to use. IT WAS A MIRACLE because one of my shoes just so happened to break this week and I was a little desperate to get another pair of shoes. My rain boots also got a hole in them and my left foot was just swimming in water throughout the entire day on Saturday, BUT now I have 2 more pairs of shoes to use and honestly it was an answer to prayers!
All I can say is that Heavenly Father TRULY hears and answers prayers and fasts. My heart is truly filled with gratitude and I just wanted to share this with you all! I know that we just somethings have to exercise a little more faith until we can see the results to things that happen in our lives, but I want to challenge you all to be more attentive in your scripture study and always start with a prayer. I promise that if you do so you will find more answers to prayers and receive more guidance! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK ;)
ROHAYHU
Hermana Mendoza
pic 1 I wanted to try an oreo alfajor and it wasn't too bad
pic 2 How I had to dry my shoes after they got soaked walking through a river on a street. In Paraguay it is never a bad idea to always walk around with an umbrella hahaha
pic 3 scripture study gems
pic 4 divisions with hermana san martin
pic 5 when my shoes broke this week :(
pic 6 divisions with hermana Flores
pic 7 who says that you can't swim while you're on a mission?! My left foot was swimming in some water because my boot got a hole in it hahahha
pic 8 THESE COWS WERE SO CUTE HAHA
pic 9 MY SHOES!!!!!!!!!!! #eternallygratefultothepeeryfamily
