Email 12/17/09

This week was amazing! Aida´s and Rodrigo´s wedding went off without a hitch. It was so amazing to see him get baptized. I was so happy. One thing that´s funny about weddings here is that people get dressed up for a nice party. It looked like Aida and Rodrigo were going clubbing, not getting married. But the best part is that they really did get married. It´s funny how a mission changes you, I don´t even worry about things like that any more. I just worry that they come, that there´s water in the font and that no one touches the cake before it´s time to eat.
The rest of the week was crazy. We got invited to go back to our Pentecostal church but we had a really bad feeling about that so we didn´t go. But the best part is that this Saturday the Bassist for the Pentecostal church band is getting baptized with his wife, Lorena. His name is Mario. Really cool guy. He´d been going to church with us but he´d been fighting SOOOOO much about the Book of Mormon. He loves the Bible so much that he couldn´t except anything else, but sometimes he´d get nasty about it. Last Tuesday he told me that he knew that the Book of Mormon was a lie. I asked if he had prayed about it. He said he didn´t need to, he just knew it was a lie. I felt this VERY large burning sensation inside and I told him to stop talking. I told him that he COULD NOT tell me that Book of Mormon was false unless he prayed about it. If he received an answer from God that it was false then that would make things different, but under the current circumstances he COULD NOT. He didn´t say a single word for the rest of the lesson. We left and I didn´t have a clue how this was going to end. The next day at about 5 o´clock in the morning we get a call from him, asking us to come right then. Mainly because I was VERY tired we passed by a bit later. We walk in and him and his wife are beaming. He sat us down and then he started crying and his wife started talking. I was VERY lost because up until this point the wife never said anything. She goes, "After you left last night my husband just felt sick. He felt so horrible and he couldn´t figure out why. I felt that it was because you had offended him so I told him to pray to feel better. He told me that he didn´t feel worthy to pray and asked me to. I prayed and he said that I didn´t do it right. He said that I had to ask if the Book of Mormon was true. I said that he already knew it was a lie and he turned so pale. I felt bad so I asked God if the Book of Mormon was true and then my husband started feeling better. His color came back and he started crying and then I felt so warm and I felt so happy and I know it´s true. We know it´s true." I was very much in shock. I felt like Clark Griswold, nothing could have surprised me more. After several moments of silence, Elder Evans asked, "so, you guys want to get baptized?" They´re getting baptized this Saturday.
I did get a transfer. It was so hard leaving Hernandarias. We got pictures and email addresses of everyone. I hadn´t really thought of it before but I was there for 6 months. That´s a long time. There are so many wonderful people there. People I´ll never forget. I couldn´t believe how hard everyone was taking the news. EVERYBODY cried. The three hardest for me were Berna and her kids, Antonia (the lady whose little sister we baptized) and President Cortti. I just got so close to EVERYONE in this area. Even some of the nonmembers I was friends with (people that worked at some of the shops) got a bit teary eyed. I feel so good because I´m leaving with NO regrets.
The way we do transfers is for those that are outside of Asunción, the people that leave go on splits together to get to Asunción and then the Elders that don´t have transfers stay together. How are mission does it is that ALL missionaries that have transfers go to Asunción then they go to their new area.
I´m now in an area called Itá. It´s South and East of Asunción. It feels just like Ca´a Guazú except the city is bigger. My new companion is Elder Ariste, from Peru. Really small guy. He has 6 weeks in the mission and he has SOO MUCH FIRE!!!!! I love it!! One thing that´s funny is that we live with the Zone leaders here and one of them is my old companion Elder Reed. I´m really excited to be with him again. So that means that there are four Elders sharing an apartment. I pretty excited.
The pictures on the Family Blog are amazing! I can´t believe how big Jordan Swapp and Angie have gotten. I almost didn´t recognize them. It´s crazy how time flies. I show pictures of me just before the mission and no one believes me.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills