Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Week 10(Dec 5, 2011): Emi and the Power of the Atonement

Dear family,

Well i am herree!!! I am writing this email with mariachi (i don´t know the actuall name) blarring in the computer lab that we go to every pday on mondays!

My first day here, we landed and it looked like a jungle!! For the first time I was kinda scarred..! But President Callen and his wife were waiting for us at baggage claim and we had about a day of training and classes with him and his wife and the trainers for about a day and then, my trainer, hermana plumer came and picked me up!! we took a taxi to our house about 15 minutes away in our area Ñemby! It poured my first day and the streets flood really fast here so we tried to stay on the sidewalks as much as possible as we walked to our first appointment!

My companion is very hardworking and i really love her... she is so kind and fun so it has made the transition easier :)

It is interesting but I don´t believe that I would have choosen paraguay for a mission if i had had the choice! not that i don´t love it, but i do come home every night smelling like i have been camping and empty my shoes of all of the red dirt (all of the roads, except for the main ones which is very few are paved but are rocky with red dirt everywhere!)... called empiedra. Crossing the street with a mother pig and her babis is normal and having roosters at most of our lessons is too!

BUT because this is the Lord´s work, and not mine and because my Father in Heaven knows my strengths, weaknesses and desires so much better, He has blessed me to be here in Ñemby, Paraguay with these humble, beautiful people. And as i am teaching in lessons, I can´t help but thank Father in Heaven for sending me to such humble, god-loving people! I feel the support of your prayers- thank you a thousand times.

Yesterday at church was so neat! Some people bore their testimonies in Gutani, the indian language here, which i of course did not understat at all!!

We also sat by Fransico with one of our newer members, Emi. Hermana Plumer told me that he used to be a bum on the street and always was drunk but a couple years ago two Elders taught and baptized him and you would never know now! We had to help him get on the bus to get home because he can´t see vvery well... he was a very strong testimony to me of the power of the Atonement.

Also, Sister Leonor Danduro, a member of twenty years, told us yesterday her son, Vinciente Francisco had told her that he wanted to be baptized! He is 38 and lives with her... he was born with severe mental disabilities and so his brain functions more like that of a child. We went to their house later that night and taught a part of the first lesson and focused it on prophets with our gospel art book. his mom is at every lesson with us to help him and us and helps him to read and pray and keep his commitments. He was so excited when i gave him his very own book of mormon at the end of the lesson... he had the biggest smile and then kissed the book! He loves his savior and Heavenly Father and wants to learn... it is a privilege to teach him and so many others who have such a strong desire to follow and love our savior.

I love this Gospel, I know that it is true. I thank my Father in Heaven for allowing me to born in a day and age with the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love you all so much. SO MUCH!

Con muchisimo amor,

Hermana Natasha Jones

ps. i am out of time and cannot figure out my camera... i PROMISE to send picutres next week.. those are always the best part of emails! i wish i could write in words how much i love all of you!

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