Elder Richardson

My New Companion is Elder Richardson from Alpine, Utah! 

HE IS COOOL! !!!!!!!!!!!! 

I think he will be my favorite companion of all time!  His dad was a mission president in Brazil and so he already speaks Portuguese and is pretty good at Spanish already.  He is super obedient and is already boosting the excitement for missionary work in the Branch.  He has 12 siblings as well. It will be a great 3 months of training....my training.  He is sweet.

This week we did a lot of exploring, and it was funny to see him experience the collectivo (bus) races and wildlife (cows and chickens).  We found a great family named the Paredez family!  They are 7th day adventists.  My favorite!... actually really difficult to teach.  They seem to only care about proving Saturday as the Sabbath day.  But I have given up Bible bashing and have begun the, "just read The Book of Mormon and pray", approach.  We will see how it goes with them.

We had an investigator at church this Sunday named Romina.  She is the cousin of Hermana Rojas.  She showed up to church with her 1 year old boy who cried and fussed the whole time.  DAG NABBIT CHILD, LET YOUR MOM REPENT!  but she said she liked church.  

I am pretty happy right now on my mission.  I really like Paraguay, especially when people feed me tortillas and mangoes.  

I am still a Zone Leader, which is fine, all that means is that I have less time to study and I am a lot more tired... woo hooo for serving others! I have learned some good leadership skills from it.

I am reading the part in The Book of Mormon right now where Alma is giving council to his sons in Chapter 37 through about 39 

Alma is one of my favorite teachers and in those chapters he puts all he has into it.  The most valuable knowledge he has he condenses to help out his sons.  In 37:8-9 , that is what Paraguayans need more than anything else.  We are not fighting against false doctrines but false traditions and there is nothing more powerful and tradition annihilating than THE BOOK OF MORMON!  It is something I love to talk about!

I hope all is well at home!  How was Aaron's birthday? What are his plans?  

Love, 

Elder Neifert