ROCÌO got Baptized! / 1 Year Lessons Learned

ROCÌO got Baptized! 

This week we worked super hard on preparing Rocìo.  She got home from the chaco and she had read a lot of The Book of Mormon and wanted to be baptized.  It was the most spiritual baptism I have ever attended.  

Rocìo is 11 years old and lives with an inactive member.  She is an orphan and has only one sister who is living with this bum out in the middle of nowhere. So Rocìo is pretty much alone family wise.  We reactivated the inactive member first and then we began to teach Rocìo, and she just took the scriptures and ate them up.  When I asked her why she wanted to be baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ, she told me because she read The Book of Mormon and felt in her heart that it was true.  I prayed extremely hard that she would feel the love of her Heavenly Father during the baptism.  During the service we sang ''How Great Thou Art'' and she started to cry while still smiling and singing, and then I just got flooded with the love that God has for each and every one of his children.  The most beautiful thing was the pure intentions of Rocio´s heart/desires to show her love for Him through baptism.  The Lord answered my prayers and I feel like I have a lot more purpose behind why I am here in Paraguay.  

I really don't feel that I have been in the mission that long.... and I am absolutely sure that I am not the greatest teacher in the world, but the Lord has made up for my weaknesses and faults and I have a sure testimony of His reality and love.  

Some of the things I have learned in my first year in the mission are...

- Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and loves us more than we can understand.

- Our Heavenly Father is a father who sees us as we can be and is ready to forgive if we let Him.

- The spirit is real and can fill the holes and heal the scars left behind from sins.  

- In order for people to change it is extremely important that they have a knowledge of who it is they want to be more like.

- Every once in a while even a blind squirrel finds nuts.

- A study of the scriptures changes behavior and thoughts faster than any other method.

- Prayer is truly a personal communication between us an our Father in Heaven.  He has never left a prayer unanswered when I have asked with faith.  

- Speaking Spanish is a lot tougher than I thought.

- I think I understand a lot better now the role of the gospel in a search for happiness

- Obedience equals power.  If you want to truly help someone grow closer to God, you need the spirit as a constant companion. He is always the one who should lead the lessons.

- It is very hard to teach someone, until they know how much you love them.

I am sure there is more than that but I think that is good.  Some of the things I want to improve on in the last half of my mission....

- I want the spirit more prevalent every day and listen for and understand him.

- I want to finish memorizing all of the scripture mastery.

- I want to love people more and find more ways to show it.

- I want to be a more powerful teacher.

- I want to perfect my Spanish

- I want to be an uplifting influence to every one I come in contact with.

- I want to baptize a lot more people.  Not for me, but for him.

There are probably a lot more goals I could put down, but that satisfies me.  

Another sweet thing I figured out this week:  Israel Gonzalez got baptized! He is in my first area! He is the husband of Carmen, my first baptism.  So THAT IS A COMPLETE FAMILY WHO WILL GO TO THE TEMPLE IN A YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Elder Bredsgaurd and I taught that guy a ton.  Apparently he just woke up one day a few weeks ago and decided to be baptized!  

That is all for this week.  I am so happy right now.  This whole week has been a week full of happy things!  (except for a funky pita pocket I ate.  When people make burgers or lomitos or burritos or pita pockets they lather that baby with garlic whip.)  

I hope every body is doing well and I am happy Jessi found a crib.   (Elder Neifert's sister's family found housing in Colorado Springs)

Love, 

Elder Neifert  

Finished Jesus The Christ

It has gotten warmer!

Indexing!  That is awesome!  I don't know anything about it, but it sounds like something good! Good Luck!

That is so weird thinking about missionaries visiting you guys while I am out here, I wonder what they do all day?  I am sure its at least a little different than what we do every day.

Spiritual experience of the week:

 I finished JESUS THE CHRIST on Tuesday!  That book is incredible and has really helped me taste a little bit of how deep the gospel goes. So many of the things Christ did during his life show how merciful and loving our heavenly father really is.  I loved the quote from Elder Packer that the spirit/reason/love behind all of his parables and actions is shown when the Jewish priests bring the adulterous woman before him.  She was obviously guilty, but forgives her and tells her to, "Go, and sin no more."  That made a big impression on me and how I truly do not know how much love and compassion our Father in Heaven has for us.  It helped me remember that WE in reality are his investigators, and he tries without tire, very patiently to lead us to greener pastures and greater heights.

We are working pretty hard on just finding all of the less actives now.  We've worked our area hard and  through every page in the area book.  We had to drop a few investigators this week including Gilda.  We showed up with a member and she was drinking some beer in front of her kids and didn't want to stay for us to teach her.  So we taught some of her friends there that were drinking and dropped some of the "biggest cane" I've ever dropped.  Meaning that we told them straight without mercy.  That was a sad lesson and I guess we will just give Gilda some time and probably pass her off for the hermanas (sisters) to teach her in a few weeks.

Paraguay is a funny place.  The people here have a really good sense of humor.  Whats really really funny is that many Paraguayans truly believe that Americans are after their Agua Dulce (spring water), and that missionaries are spies of the government.  

Anyway, don't send a package.  I am doing good in the hood.

Love, Elder Neifert

20 second interview

I found some people this week from MIAMI! It was crazy!  They didn't want to talk to us about missionary work, but it was fun hearing about the United States!  

Elder Smith and I are staying together here in Concepcion, which is good.  I am happy to stay here, I think.  

Today we played soccer.  Americans vs. Latins.  I think we all know who won that one.  

We had interviews with president yesterday and my interview lasted like 20 seconds.  He just asked me, "How are you doing?" I said, "I'm doing fine."  And he said "Well that's good then - we don't have much to talk about." ....and that was it.  

I like him a lot.  He seems like a cowboy.  His family is really funny, too.  His youngest son just stood at the door of his dad's office and said to every missionary going in, "GOOD LUCK." 

We haven't had too much progression with Gilda, the widow with 6 kids. But I think we are going to have a breakthrough this week.  She isn't keeping commitments yet, but she invites us over all the time. 

I have decided to focus more on the family this week rather than her personal faith or spirituality.  Because she's trying to raise 6 kids and I am sure she has noticed how difficult it is in a world that is getting dirtier and dirtier, so we'll be focusing more on the role of the gospel in preserving and protecting families from the evils of the world and satan.  

We found out that the reason that she stopped going to church and won't go to church is due to the death of her brother a while ago.   I think we will be helping her to see that God is a loving father, who suffered more than we can ever imagine as he sent his only son into the world knowing that he would suffer the pains and sins of all.

That family I think is the most special family I have met here so far and I really hope she begins to progress or I think we will have to drop her.  

That is awesome you found somebody to serve!  There are no such things as coincidences.

There was guy in a movie I saw here who had the calling of assistant ward mission leader.  He took his call and he prayed, fasted , and did all he could to receive inspiration and revelation to magnify it.  The guy got 50 baptisms in 2 years.

BOX? WHAT? I am in no need of a box, I would rather you keep the mulah and help me bring things home for you guys.  DON'T SEND IT, PLEASE! I am doing just fine.

Keep on keepin' on, good fam. 

Love, Elder Neifert

Mordor and the Shire

Hello family,

Well, changes are coming up today and I have a feeling both Elder Smith and I are being changed.  but we will see...

That's awesome you saw Aunt Cindy, Mom!  How long did you guys study the constitution? 

This week was an okay one.  The person we were about to baptize this Saturday left to stay with her mom in the Chaco.   The rest of our investigators are not doing their part, so we will be starting all over investigator wise again.  

We helped the brick makers again for exercise this morning, this time unloading their oven and stacking a lot.  I finally got man hands again from stacking bricks.  Shaking hands with people all day doesn't give you very many callouses.   We also played some football this morning, splitting up teams: Mordor and the Shire (good vs. evil).  It was pretty funny to see how many quotes we could come up with.  

This week went by kind of fast and Elder Smith and I are sort of running out of ideas.  We've worked really hard in this area, but I guess we have been planters instead of the harvesters this time.  

Here is a pic that my comp got while I was eating some pepas.  I love pepas.  

 

I will have to write you guys next week and let you know what happens with the change.  

This week I have been working a lot harder on my Spanish.  I guess I am fluent in that I can understand just about everything, but when I speak it is definitely not perfect and it's a little difficult when the people don't speak Spanish well half the time either.  

 

I love you guys and I hope the week is full of spiritual experiences and good things.

Love, 

 

Elder Neifert

It's a ...Brick... House

Well well well,

Somebody's got to pay the piper. (Elder Neifert's dad was working while his family was out of town) Stay strong, my good man.

Its a lonely thing to be a hermit.

I have been looking for sloths and other wildlife, and the coolest things I have seen are flocks of parrots. I saw a flock of about 100! I have got to catch one of those babies one p-day. No sloths todavia (still). (Elder Neifert's family went to the zoo and the sloths reminded them of him. He does a great Sid the Sloth impersonation (from Ice Age.)

We got to meet the new President - President McMullen and his family this week in Santani. They are a pretty cool family. He told us how he got called. First he got called one day at work by the secretary of Elder Anderson and she asked him to come to his office with his wife. So he went and Elder Anderson was super nice and just asked him about his family and very specifically asked about each one of his children and his financial situation, then he said that he would call them back if the first presidency needed them. So they got called back and talked with Elder Uchtdorf and got called as mission president. Then he got set apart by Elder Packer! Talk about a spiritual high!

This week we did some awesome service for the Dominguez family. They live way down by the river in a pretty poor area and they make bricks for a living. The dad is jacked (strong), they make bricks like the Egyptians. Just about every day he makes 1,500 bricks! Solo (alone). They bring the material from up the river and put it in the grinder thing that they mix with dirt and water. Then they hook up the horse to turn the grinder and mix the clay/dirt and it pops out the bottom. The clay is crappy clay mixed with rocks and dirt to make more bricks. So the bricks in the end are pretty crappy.

Here are some pictures:

We ve got some more baptisms coming up, I think, in the coming week. We will see, though, because the girl who is going to be baptized might head out to the chaco for a couple weeks.

Hang in there dad!

Aurora got Baptized!

Well guess what, AURORA GOT BAPTIZED!  Elder Smith and I gave her over to the missioneras (Sister Missionaries) when they came and she finally got baptized!  Elder smith and I taught her all the lessons and the sisters got her in the water!  It was a super spiritual baptism and I felt the Lord's love for her during the whole meeting!  I should have gotten a picture with her, but the dang camera died on me after 2 pictures. DANG!

We had a good week!  Following up on Gilda, (the lady whose husband died and has 6 kids)  we decided to win her heart by making tacos this week.  It was a bad idea...all of her kids are under 12 years old and it took about an hour and a half longer than we wanted to cook them and left very little time to share any message.  But I went back and taught her this week with a Paraguayan RM and we made a little progress. She was drunk, so it was a little tough to see if what we were saying was entering in. It was pretty much a lesson of inspired questions and we figured out her doubt I think.  We'll be going back this week on Tuesday!  

We found a few other new investigators who are good ones. I taught some people in straight Guarani with the Paraguayan RM, so I didn't understand anything and just tried to bear my testimony at the right time.  But they accepted the Baptismal challenge and we'll see what happens.  It felt a lot like how lessons were at the beginning of my mission.  I didn't understand a thing, but igual (I still) I felt the spirit working.

I am still having my mind blown by Jesus the Christ.  

We didn't get to see the devotional on missionary work and we don't have the conference edition of the Liahona yet because we are far out.  Every little bit of news I hear about the devotional just makes me sad that I didn't get to see it.

Anyway, I love you guys and I hope everything goes well for the summer plans! Thanks for the letters and pics.  I like them.

Love, 

Elder Neifert

Fishing Analogy

Buenos Dias,

Wow, that is a long drive, I am glad you guys got there ok! (his mom and younger siblings drove to Utah)

I don't know how, but Paraguay is now really really cold.  I think I just got used to it being extremely hot, and now that its a little cold I am dying. (it was in the 60's that day)  Thank you for the hat and gloves you guys sent, they are saving me. 

I started reading Jesus the Christ a week ago and I am about in the middle.  THAT BOOK HAS MELTED MY BRAIN!  I now am reminded of how very little my knowledge is of the Savior and the depth of his words and parables.  All of the sudden things are starting to deepen - the symbolism and references used in His gospel.  Right now I am studying the sermon on the mount.

We really weeded out the investigators who will be progressing and those who probably won't. 

A good teaching experience this week that we had was with a lady named Ghilda.  She was a reference from a contact and we learned that her husband had died about 3 months ago and that she had 6 young children.  So of course a light-bulb went off in my head, DING: we are going to teach the Plan of Salvation, because she is probably having a lot of questions right now about God, and death, and the life after this one, and why bad things happen, and where her husband was, and if she would ever see him again.  So we got in the house and she told us right off the bat, "you guys will not be able to convince me to change my religion, but we can talk anyway."  And so we jumped into the Plan of Salvation and how God has made this wonderful plan so that we can live with our loved ones forever and have eternal happiness.  We asked her questions and she answered that she didn't have any doubts she would see her husband again, and that she knew where he was, and had no question that she would see him again.  And that was when we found out: She doesn't need Lesson 2, she needs something else.  It was already too late to try and teach the restoration or anything else, so we bore our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and Christ's love for us and left her with pamphlets and a commitment to read and pray about it.  Obviously the lesson was more complicated, but there was just something weird about walking out. 

That lesson helped us realize that unless we teach according to her needs or the spirit, nothing happens like it should.  The lesson gets taught, but the relevance isn't there for the person.  There are not desires to ask questions or keep commitments.   And all of the sudden we are preaching to a statue.  I like to think of it as if I am fishing.  Some times the fish like worms, and other times they like crickets, or power-bait.  It just depends on the desires of the fish.  Of course all of the bait would fill the fishes stomach, but he or she is looking for something specific.  God is the master fisherman and He knows just what type of bait is needed for each fish. That is why it is so important to be in tune with the spirit, because he will tell you what to teach and what questions to ask so that the investigator will be hooked on the feelings of love, peace, and happiness that Christ offers. 

We will try again this Tuesday and we hope to get another shot at finding her needs.

Also the dang shower exploded while I was using it.  It has been a very cold couple of days. hahaha. 

I hope everyone is doing good!


Love,

Elder Neifert