Email 11/02/09

This has been another amazing week. I gotta admit I´m EXHAUSTED. Like the time when dad and I unloaded 12 ton of brick. Or when we did the roof. It´s been awesome to say the least. This week went by SOOOOOOOOO fast.
The rain finally stopped. The funny part is that it went from biblical rains to biblical sun. Funny how that works.
This week we had zone conference and interviews with President Callen. I absolutely look forward to my interviews with him. It´s a real treat. The one thing I love is not that he treats me like we´re ole buddies, he´s very clear that he´s the chief and I´m the indian, but it´s that he makes me feel SOOO loved and respected. And quite honestly he makes it fun. He asks about the work, the baptisms, what part of Preach My Gospel I´m studying, what I´m doing to help Elder Blake, what the area needs, etc. The interviews always go WAAAAY too fast but I guess that´s what makes them fun. Zone conferences are pretty wonderful too.
You guys are gonna laugh at this, we use a taco meat recipe for our empanadas so it gives them a kick. One thing that´s really funny about Paraguayans is that EVERYONE loves spicy foods but EVERYONE is scared to cook with them. There´s a little vegetable stand close to our house that sells fresh red peppers. Think the red stuff you put on pizza but fresh. It´s amazing what wonderful flavor that gives to anything.
This week the miracles just kept coming. Usually when we clap houses we just find the wife at home. We then teach her a principle and then ask when we can teach the WHOLE family together. We then make a time to come back. When we do the husband is ALWAYS surprised to see us and that we know his name and that usually means that the wife was scared to let him know that she´d invited the missionaries over. So needless to say that in the past year I´ve got VERY used to the surprised looks. Wednesday I got a surprise. There was a lady the week before named Juana that we met and she was REALLY interested and so we made an appointment to come back and talk to the WHOLE family. We came by Wednesday and her husband Jorge answered the door. “Elders, my wife told me all about you. Please come in. I´m excited to hear more about your message.” I was completely shocked. In all the houses that I´ve clapped, and there´s been a LOT, I´d never received that reaction. I was very pleased. They came to church Sunday and they´re going to be baptized in November.
Our baptism this week was a wonderful little “free gift”. There is a woman named Antonia that got baptized on Valentine´s day this year with her husband. She is the oldest of 13 children. Most of her family are members but VERY inactive. This whole month her nine year old sister Fatima came to church with her. Last Sunday Fatima came up to me and asked if she could be baptized this Saturday. I didn´t even know she wasn´t a member yet. Our charge from Elder Aidukaitis was to baptize EVERY week and we´ve been blessed in a way to fulfill that charge.
Weddings here have to be done by a judge. Bishops and other religious leaders don´t have the power to marry. We had the wedding in the church.
Transfers will happen on Wednesday. That´s when our new elders are supposed to come in. We´ll see what happens. I really feel I´m going to stay here but I felt the same way about Ca´a Guazú.
Please send Aunt Trisha and Uncle Jay my love. That is so exciting. I´m going to miss them when I come back.
Thank you so much for the letters. I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills