¡Hey there!
What a cool story!! Isn´t it so cool how the Lord works? It´s an incredible thing that He can use us to bless somebody without us even knowing it. All that we have to do is live worthily to have the Spirit with us to guide us in our daily lives, and we can be part of the Lord´s marvelous work every day.
It´s been a pretty good week. We didn´t work super effectively this week, but it´s motivated us to do better from know on. So I suppose it´s alright. I´m just gonna start from the top of the week and make my way down.
Monday- We visited with our recent convert Ariel, and he told us that he wants to serve a mission! So cool! He told us that it really impacted him to listen to President Monson in the conference and just knew that he needs to go. And he had already talked to his boss about leaving to serve a mission before he even told us! Gah! So awesome!
Tuesday- Biggest. Storm. Of my life. We were walking home from the other end of town when some HUGE winds started coming in. Seriously, it was intense. We were walking down the street and had to stop for a minute becasue the wind was picking up all the dust from the roads and was blowing it every which way. It felt like we were in the middle of a dirt tornado/hurricane. And I could hear in my mind the music from the Wizard of Oz when the witch is flying past.. Haha but we got onto the main road and one of the streetlamps ahead of us exploded- yikes! For a second, I thought lightning hit it because it was lighting up the whole sky, but it was just the wind and such. We stopped to talk to an investigator when, seriously out of NOWHERE, it started to POUR. No joke. One second, we were dealing with a bunch of wind no más, and the next, we were suddenly underneath a waterfall. It was incredible. And then… the light went out everywhere. But we had to be home by 9:30, so… we put our books in a plastic bag, pulled out the cellphone with its flashlight, and started booking it throught the wall of water. Within 3 minutes of starting, there were already ankle deep rivers along the sides of the roads. Haha if there had been any people out, they would have thought we were crazy- a couple of sister missionaries just running and laughing through the rain, one with a big plastic bag and the other with a little cellphone flashlight. And it wasn´t complete until we stopped to buy some lomitos. Haha ay what a night!
Wednesday- We learned that the storm hit a lot harder in Mariano the night before. There were buildings that collapsed including a shopping center and a military training camp, trees all over the place, and the mall was left without a roof. Five people were killed. But it was an incredibly beautiful day. We took it as a sign of the mercy and the love of God. It was like he was telling us all, ¨I know you suffered. I know it was hard. But know that I love you.¨ Isn´t that just how God works? I feel like every time something difficult happens, he always blesses us. Many times, we just don´t see it. I also managed to break the cellphone that day… The blessing afterward? That this week, my hija has to be senior companion so we don´t have to run the risk of me breaking it again… Que suerte. 🙂
Jueves- A liiiiittle bit of a rough day. Let´s just say it was the first time I´ve had a real companionship inventory. But we got things worked out and all is well. And the same thing happened that day- things were rough, but the Lord blessed me with some tender mercies. One was a lesson that we had with an investigator that night. My companion shared the story of the First Vision, and as I was testifying of it, the Spirit just filled me up. I knew it was true. I know it´s true. It´s why I´m here. Because the Heavens are open again. Because God loves us. Because He wante us to have all we need to finish the run successfully. I just turned to our investigator and asked if she could feel what I was feeling. And I knew that she could. I could see it in her eyes. It was just a cool moment. I find it incredible that our testimonies can grow as we share them. What a blessing. 🙂
Friday- Not much happened. We had a pretty intense weekly planning, analizing the week and why we weren´t working very effectively. We made some very specific goals to improve, so I´m excited for this next week.
Saturday- Worldwide service day! We went into Asuncion to clean up. It was kinda fun- we all met in the plaza to find out where our groups had to go for the cleanup. There were tons of missionaries there- from our mission and from the south mission. We got to work a couple blocks away cleaning up along a stream and a bridge. It was naaasty, but it was a good time. 🙂
Sunday- Awesome day at church! We had a whopping 44 people in Sacrament meeting(granted, 5 were visitors, but hey, it still counts). Also, one of our recent converts, Lucía, got a calling in Young Womens. Also, Ariel received the Aaronic Priesthood. Also, one of the counselors in the branch presidency that´s been less active for a while conductedthe meeting. Also, we passed around a list during sunday school for the members to sign up for times to go to lessons with us- and the results were phenomenal. I´m excited to be able to work with the members more this week. We´re gonna be passing around the list a lot more often. 🙂 So it was a super great day! Hermana Pingel was definitely happy. 🙂
Which brings us to today, which has also been a good day. I took my shoes in to a zapatero to get them fixed, which was sorely needed… Also, I learned that instead of scrubbing each individual item of clothing, I can sort of simulate a washing machine in the sink. Rock on. It´s proving to be much more effective.
Aaand funny story of the day: We were walking home when we saw an old lady walking along the side of the road with a walking stick and a couple of bags. So we went over to help her with her bags, and she started right up in telling us all about her whole life story. It took us about twenty minutes to walk two blocks to her house, and then another twenty to leave the house… Haha when old ladies want to talk.. It´s practically impossible to end a conversation. Haha she wanted to show us her house so we went in and she showed us around. After a while, my hija told me to go over and look at the birdcage that was next to her. So I looked and there was totally a bird skeleton inside. Haha the lady came over and told us that it was just a rag and that she didn´t have the heart to let an animal die. She told us that the bird flew away and that´s why there wasn´t a bird in there anymore. Haha fun fact: They use the ¨It ran away¨ excuse in Paraguay too. We almost died laughing. I love love love the people here. With all that I am. 🙂
Well, I best be going. Lesson of the week? Heavenly Father loves us. And we can always recognize His love is we look for it each day. It´s always there. Challenge of the week? To look for it in every moment. It´ll work miracles. I know it because I´m seeing them every day. I love you all lots and hope that you have the best week ever! Know that there´s somebody in Paraguay that loves you!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Pingel
P.s. Did McKay already apply for college?? And at BYU-I? Sweet! It´s gonna be a party!
P.s.s Sister Schoppmann seems like she´s a super awesome missionary. You should give her a hug and tell her hi from me. 🙂
