Progress!

Dear Family,

This week flew by pretty fast!   We had stake conference as well and we had 4 investigators who showed up and a menos activo (less active) family!  We are planning on a few baptisms in the coming 3 weeks I think! 

We had a few great experiences with Ruben (an alcoholic). We showed up and he was drunk and he invited us in anyway. We said we would just pass by with a prayer and he decided he wanted to do it.   

He blessed all of the organizations of the church one by one including , "bless the relief society, the elders quorum, the high priests, the youth, the bishopric",......and then he paused and then raising his voice said, "but most of all, Bless that Primary!!!" and he ended it!   It was cool.  I have never heard anyone bless all of the organization of the church.

That same day we met Ruben´s nephew who actually wants to quit the party life and start keeping the covenants he made at baptism.  He asked us if we could stop by 2 times a week to help him overcome his addictions!  

A cool lesson we had this week was with the Paredez family!  They are the Seventh Day Adventists who cannot get past the sabbath day commandment and misinterpret the scriptures.  But anyway we taught them the Plan of Salvation and about how there are missionaries teaching the gospel in the spirit world just like us. They asked us a lot of questions like, "Well what if they don't accept it there?", and "What will happen to us if we don't accept the gospel?" (those are the best moments in lessons because you know they have desires to learn and you know they are listening)  and so we bore our testimonies of the blessings of accepting the gospel and following Jesus Christ by being baptized and repenting of our sins.  The spirit was super strong and they finaly at the end were still doubting the fact about the sabbath day and I just told her, "You need to go to church on Sunday and feel the spirit that is there, and then we will discuss more about the sabbath day."  We left that lesson feeling good, and there is nothing I would rather be doing than missionary work right now.

Elder Richardson is doing great and we are working hard together.  

These pics are a few families in the area, (back when I was with Elder Haworth).

Love, Elder Neifert

Lots of Service and studying about the Sabbath

Dear Mother, Father, Sisters, Brother,

I am trying very hard to focus on the mission right now...but i am also super happy and thank you for doing all of that application work for me! 

Good luck on your talk mom! I know you will do an awesome job!  

This week went by super fast!  We did A LOT OF SERVICE!

Our house flooded due to a big rain storm and we were up all night Tuesday squeegee-ing it out.  The same night the ditch that takes away the bathroom water got buried beneath about 4 feet of dirt.  So in the morning, we helped the owner of our house dig a big 4 ft deep ditch by about 8 ft long and 2 feet wide.  All of the neighbors came out to watch us dig. ( Like they had never seen a white man dig before....probably haven't)  I hope I did the Caucasian race proud.  

Here is the ditch we dug. 

We found a cool frog.

We later were asked by a very old poor woman if we would help her gather sticks so she could make fire to cook for the week.   Little did we know as we accepted that she did not want any ordinary sticks.  I asked her as we hiked 2 miles through the rainforest past many fallen branches and sticks, "Hey what about these sticks..they look worthy of gathering" and she would look at me like I was dumb and say, "No, they are not the sticks that will cook well".

The sticks she liked were the dead ones that were still hanging up in the tree that had been drying for weeks.  So she, using her machete, chopped down a skinny, but tall tree and made a pole.  Then finding another branch with a hook shape at the end, lashed it to the pole.  Using that 12 foot hook we pulled down dead branches from the tallest trees, sometimes with me on Elder Richardson's shoulders and him jumping so we could hook these most prized and sought after cooking wood.  We then made stick bundles which weighed about 70 pounds each and carried them all back to her house on our backs.  She carried one as well - equally as heavy as ours.  It was cool.  Paragauyan women are tough jungle wilderness surviving females.  

The chapel flooded as well, under about 2 inches of water so we spent 3 hours squeegee-ing on Friday too. 

This week I also figured out some great scriptures to explain why the sabbath day has been changed from Saturday to Sunday. 

  I liked using Hechos (Acts) 20:7, because it very clearly states that after the resurrection, the apostles partook of the sacrament (obviously a sabbath activity) on the FIRST day of the week, Sunday.  John 20:1 speaks of Mary going to the tomb on the FIRST DAY (sunday), and finding it empty.  Then jump to verse 19, and its says that on the SAME DAY is when Christ showed himself to his apostles, and then jump to verse 26, Christ appeared 8 days later (hoy en ocho), which means that the next time he appeared was indeed the next Sunday.  which is also when they partook of the sacrament.  In revelations, it says that Christ is the Lord of the day of the Sabbath.  Common sense shows that clearly, the day of his resurrection, when they partook of the sacrament, and then continued the practice on SUNDAYS (Acts 20:7), that clearly became his day.

1,800 points!

Dear Family,

I am having an awesome time with Elder Richardson!  We found a few families and dropped a few as well.  Romina didn't come to church, which was a bummer.  

We have been teaching a lot of Seventh-day Adventists.  They are great people who know how to pray!  I have had to study up a lot on my Sabbath day knowledge.

We have been teaching a really funny menos activo named Ruben.  Half the time we show up at his house he is drunk... and when ever we say something he likes to hear he says, "You know what Elder Neifert? I give you 200 points!!"  and I say, "Thanks" and keep teaching.  It is hilarius.  We have been using it now as an inside joke.  Another time we ate at his house and I said, "This food is delicious" and he asked, "how many points do I get, Elder Neifert?" and I said "1,800 POINTS!" and he said "Thank you very much!" in English.  It's funny.  He also has star fruit trees.  

I have been doing a lot of studies lately in the Bible and have learned a lot about agency and the connection it has with love.  If we truly love others we will teach them and supprt them according to their agency.

Thanks for your letters and love!

The pics are the hike we went on this morning.  We carved our names into a rock. 

There is a sistine chapel scene

 The sunset was outside our door this morning .  

 a toquise collectivo,

  O YE FAIR ONES  -  see if you can figure it out. 

Love, Elder Neifert

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

Saving a Cow

La familia,

Hey did I tell you guys we saved a cow?  The other day we found a cow on its back in a sewage ditch.  It's head was below water and its counterpart was mooing distress calls.  So we grabbed the rope tied around his horns and pulled his fat head out of the water  and then we helped him flop around and escape!  I don't remember if I wrote you guys about that.

Well this week was a good one, we found some people who are willing to keep commitments and who are reading The Book of Mormon.  I have been getting into a lot of Bible bashes lately which  the more and more i do, it becomes more and more pointless.

Hermana Rojas came to church for about the 4th time in a row and she is pregnant.  The dad is still giving us excuses that its hot and he doesn't want anyone to rob him while he is gone. Also that he doesn't want to wake up early.  So we talked about another guy who had to do some things he didn't want to (Jesus Christ) who asked to get out of it, but did it anyway because it was what his Father wanted.  It made him think a little, I am pretty sure.

We got changes this morning and I am training again! number 3!  And staying in Cañada Garay!  It has been a tough area so far, but we are going to work hard to have success.  

Thanks again for helping with the applications and prayers.  I need em!  

I hope all is well at home! 

Love, Elder Neifert 

BYU Essays

There were a few weeks where Elder Neifert was writing admissions essays for BYU, which accounts for the time lost on the blog.

Birthday Service

(Elder Neifert's sister asked that he do an act of kindness and tell her about it for her birthday) My act of kindness for your birthday:  I helped a lady carry her groceries to her house far away.  She had about 20 bags and had jumped off the bus about football field length from her house.  She was standing there not wanting anyone to rob her but still having to get her groceries to her house.  I don't think she planned it out before she bought all the groceries.  So I said, "Hey, would you like some help with your groceries" and she smiled and said, "Yes, I do" and so we hauled them up to her house and taught her the restoration.  She said she would read The Book of Mormon. So we will see.  

It made me feel good to know that god prepares people to hear the gospel.  Recognizing and taking advantage of the opportunity felt good.  She now knows that God has a plan for her, and that even though she has got a lot of worries about life, she can find hope, peace, and security from keeping the commandments.

Thats my experience... happy birthday.