This week was a good one! So I`m starting to get kinda used to life as a missionary and stuff. I`m getting the hang of it! Here`s like my usual schedule... We wake up at 6:30 then we work out-mostly like stretches and stuff, then we get ready for the day and at 8 we have personal study, then at 9 we have companionship study, then at 10 we have language study and then at 11 we have my training studies-it`s called The First 12 Weeks. Then we go to the house that we eat at for that day and then go out and work! We visit investigators and members and teach them and we also contact and try to get new investigators and people to visit. Typical missionary stuff! Haha but I love it so much. It`s really crazy how much I have learned. Like just about myself and also like the language and the gospel and stuff. It`s way cool. I seriously love the scriptures! I never thought I could be as excited to read the scriptures everyday as I am now. It`s crazy. It`s still super beautiful. I love it so much. And you should just see the sunsets! Wow! They`re beautiful here! Also the language it still coming along. It gets tough sometimes. I just want to be able to tell people how I feel and I just can`t sometimes! It`s gets frustrating, but I know that, again, WITH TIME, I will learn it! And I do learn more and more each day. My roommate, Hermana Hunt, was talking to me the other day and she said something that really helped me. She said... You just need to not worry about it. It`s not gonna be easy and it`s not gonna come overnight...I don`t know if you understand, but It`s a freaking LANGUAGE... You just need to try your best and not be afraid to talk. HAHA that`s exactly how she said it too... Hermana Hunt is like one of the funniest people. She can make anyone laugh and we just click with eachother. It`s funny though... She always makes fun of me for that fact that I have colored contacts. She thinks it`s so high maintainance! Ha, she`s preobably right, but it`s funny... The language, though, hasn`t stressed me out too bad. I`m just trying and doing my best with it, so yeah! With Heavenly Father`s help, it will definitely come.
So living conditions are good. One day this week, we didn`t have water at night... But that`s the first time it`s happened since I`ve been here. I`ve heard that in other areas it happens a lot more often. But yeah, things are great. My companion and I get along great. She is really good at Spanish and teaches me a lot. It is kinda hard to speak Spanish all the time though, because there`s 3 Americans and one Latina living in our home. So it`s usually English.... But we`re gonna work on that! The food is the same. We just eat lunch usually at members homes and it`s always been rice with some sort of meat. But it`s tasty. They give you a lot of food.... And you have to eat all of it! So that is kinda rough.. It`s great though! Also, it seems like we haven`t walked as much this week, but I`m getting used to that too. The really bad blister on my left foot doesn`t hurt anymore. So that`s good!
I`ve been contributing a lot more in our lessons. I have extended the baptismal invitation to a few people in the last few days, so that`s cool. Also, I have done better at contacting people in the streets. I have a lot of help from my companion though.. It`s good cuz I definitely need it! She`s a really great trainer and a super awesome missionary.
We had a baptism this week! It was on Friday. I don`t know if I can call it my first official baptism in Paraguay, because the family was being taught by Hermana Braunersrither and her old companion, Hermana Sanchez... But it was really cool to see! It was the familia Maldonado. There are three girls--the mom, Lourdes, and the two daughters, Sandra (23) and Natalia (11). It was really cool because we`ve been visiting with them this past week and I`ve seen a TON of progress with them! You can just tell that they have a huge testimony of this gospel and they were just ready to be baptized! It was awesome! Super cool experience.
Today, because it is P-day, we went to the stake center and met up with our whole zone (well, most of our zone cuz some people just didn`t wanna come) and had a BBQ type deal. It was cool cuz I got to meet a ton of the Hermanas and Elders that are serving nearby. Everyone is really cool! Also, I got to see Hermana Dunagan! She was in the CCM with me and she`s also in my zone.. So I was so excited to see her again! So that was pretty fun.
So, this week should be a really good one. We have Stake Conference. Also, we`ve planned some Family Home Evenings (Noche de Hogar) with a few familias, so that will be fun! Something really cool that happened for me this week was that we were teaching this lady who is catholic, Mabel, and she was crying and telling us about some hard stuff in her life. Then she was looking through Hermana B`s lamina (?) book and was just looking at all of the pictures of like Joseph Smith and the stories from the Book of Mormon and the Bible and I was looking at the pictures as she flipped through them and then all the sudden it hit me! I just had this overwhelming feeling of the spirit! It was so cool. I just remember thinking to myself, wow.....this is the true church! It was kinda a small experience, but it was cool! Just another testifying moment for me about this awesome church and how important this work is. It`s just really cool that I wake up every morning a missionary and I get to go out and do what Heavenly Father wants. I love it! I know I say that every week, but it`s so true! I love Paraguay and I love the people and I love this gospel! Anyway, this church is great and so true and I can`t wait to hear about next week from you guys and write about what happens here! LOVE YOU GUYS A TON
Love, Hermana Whittaker
(P.S. I was going to send a lot of pictures this week cuz I have some of the Maldonado`s before their baptism and other ones... and I totally forgot to grab my cord to plug in my camera.... So.. next week for sure! I`ll send home a lot of pictures!)
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