And Where Are You From?

Hey everybody. My inbox was stuffed full this week and I basically can't express my love for all of you. Darn you wonderful people, may God bless you in every aspect of your lives.

This week was another shoulder to the wheel week. The funniest thing that kept happening is that people kept asking where we are from. My companion, being blonde and blue-eyed, everybody thinks she's German. So the conversation goes like this. Swear it's been the exact same about twenty times:

Us: Hi do you want to know about eternal families and or the restoration and or about Jesus?

Them: I have faith.

Us: Great, us too! How do  you show your faith?

Them: Wait, where are you guys from?

Us: We live in Itaugua.

Them: Where are you really from?

Hna Noorda:.... the United States.

Them: Oh you're American! And where's the other one from?

Me: From the United States also....

Them: Oh I thought you were a Paraguaya.

Us:.... So do you want to hear about the gospel?

EVERY. TIME. I am not a Paraguaya okay? Admittedly a lot of the people here have brilliantly green eyes because of European immigrants in their history but for reals I'm so white I just don't get it. hahahha anyways. #whyamItellingthisstory?

Sooo this week was good. The field is white and ready to harvest here in Itaugau. We've met so many people that are sincerely interested in our message, who really have faith but it's so hard to get them to progress. To actually do something to show their faith. So this week we're really thinking we are going to circle in on that very simple subject and make sure they really understand the basic principles we've already taught.

The capilla was empty again this week and I have never been so sad in my life. I know they feel the spirit. Why don't they come?! Agh.

Sergio was so cute. We went and visited him this week and he said, I only have thirteen more days until my baptism! Fourteen if you count today! And my heart basically broke. YAY. Everyone is asking if these kids we are teaching have parents. Yes they do. Yes, their parents support them in their baptisms. Yes, we teach their parents also-- occasionally. We are really trying to get family lessons and this week we had a lot of success with that! :)

Speaking of FAMILY we are teaching one! Esteban, his wife Maria, their kids Lela, Sebastian and Janet, who is three. Lela is fourteen and loves the book of mormon. Janet cries because she wants to go to church so badly. Sebastian is shy. hahhahah We adore this family. We know they have the right spirit, the right attitude about the gospel. They are so open to sharing with us. The only problem is they are as a pareja, uneducated. Which makes teaching eveeeeerything a lot harder-- we run into that a lot here. Its basically like permanently teaching primary. We need a lot of examples, demonstrations, fotos, repasos...what's that called?.... REVIEW oh yes. Those things. It makes studying fun!

Anyyhooow. Things are rolling. Power's out right now, showered in the dark this morning. But cest la vie! Loving it.

Muah! Love you all, have a sunshining week!

Hna Scott

Sweat or Rain, either way I'm soaked

I never want to hear you complain about weather in the States ever again!! hahahah this week has been super crazy! Like one day its a good 80, 90 degrees and the next day its 40 at the most and pouring! Con: I never know what to wear n the morning. I should start just tossing a coin for whether I should dress for heat or cold. Pro: I wear scarves and sweaters waaay more than I thought I would ever get to wear them! :D  :D :D

Sooo how was your week!? Mine was good! Aside from insane weather-- oh my gosh justin bieber is playing in this siver right now. Paraguay is so weird. Anyways-- soo yeah it was good! We tried to set some fechas [dates], trying to find people who are prepared for the word. I get so excited... like for example we're teaching this kid named Carlos and I shouldn't say kid because he's like twenty but anyhow, we set a cita [appointment] with him because his sister called us and was like, "hey, carlos read his libro de mormon and he's waiting to talk about it with you." and we're like WHAT HE READ HIS SCRIPTURES WITHOUT US and we freaked out and we set a cita and we're talking and he's like, "I don't know, I just FEEL something when I read this. I don't know how to explain it." And I'm like YES SPIRIT WOOO LETS DO THIS and so we have this great lesson but then he doesn't come to churchhhh. Dear all of you: JUST GO TO CHURCH OKAY? RAIN OR SHINE WE GO TO CHURCH. RAIN IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO NOT COME. 

But I have hope for him. I just am praying that the Spirit will work on these people, that they'll really think about our message and then act on it. Its like we throw out all these seeds of faith but you have to cultivate it, you know? I can't cultivate your own faith, you have to do that on your own. 

And it's been really crazy because I told you about Sergio, our 11 year old investigator who kicks all other investigators butts (he goes to church. Alone. Every Sunday) his COUSIN named David who is 12 decided that he wants to get baptized the same day as Sergio. So we're teaching them, we love them. Also this other 12 year old named Jose Luis is really interested in the church so we're working with him too. Juventud of Israel am I right? Like, it's all about these kids with real faith. I feel really blessed to be focusing all my time on these young men. They can do a lot, just these kids. Their faith is perfect. They drink the gospel like a coke, man! They just love it! "Become as a little child" indeed. "From the mouths of babes." 

So we just keep chugging along. I made this plan of salvation drawing/map for Sergio, and now we use it in basically every Plan De Salvacion lesson. Its so much easier to teach when you have a nice visual. 

Speaking of visuals! I have seen for the first time a hen gathering her chicks under her wings and it made me feel so good to think that Jesus does that for us because it really was so sweet. "Come here, baby chickens, let me keep you dry from Paraguay rain!' so cute. Yay for Jesus. He's the best. I've received so much strength from Him this week. 

Love all of you! Keep on writing me, I looove iiiit! Good luck with school, and like, Halloween is coming right? So enjoy the scary aisle of walmart for me! :) 

OH and me and Hna Noorda made Schnoordas* again! But now we can't turn our oven on! So we are just eating the batter until we can get another lighter so we can turn on the flames so we can heat the oven so it will cook things. BAHHAHAHA our life is so ghetto. Also I scrubbed all the tile in our bathroom with a toothbrush today. Just letting y'all know. 

KISSES! You're all wonderful! Have a kickin' week!

Hna Scott

Also we saw an emu. Is it a wild emu?? We have no idea. Emus are weird and gross-- I hope I never see another one. 

*Schnoordas:  See this excerpt from a personal email I got from Kaitlin last week for a definition.  "So story for you! Hna Noorda and I tried to make cookies for ourselves using the Scientifically Proven Best Cookie recipe right? But the ingredients are a tiiiiny bit different in paraguay, and we dont have measuring cups, and we don't have a beater.... soooo we did our best and they actually turned out really good! More bready than anything! But it was delicious and still tasted of home. I was thinking of you haha. We decided to call them Sc-noordas because they arent good enough to be called cookies hahahaha. So we enjoyed them all this week."

What's up peeps!

I wish I had something exciting to talk about, but I don't have anything. 

Ciao, 

Hna Scott

PSYCCCHHHH hahahah this week was bombin! Where to start! So like, I'm permanently exhausted! All the time! I wake up tired, I go to bed tired, always tired and its great! The worst part of the day is definitely exercise time. After that, I'm alright haha. I'm like, my life is exercise why do I have to set apart time to do so?! But whatever its fine. 

This week we worked real hard trying to get people to General Conference and ultimately were unsuccessful. But we learned a lot juntos [together] about profetas and apostles and why they are important to us. Its like, these little things, little truths that I've taken for granted my whole life and know I'm getting the opportunity to figure out why they are important, so it's been a cool smash of learning for me. 

LIKE get this. Biggest thought of the week. Repentance = joy. How can this be? Well I asked the same thing! Repentance makes us all sad because we're screw ups right? WRONG. IF we repent, we know there is a Savior that can heal us. Through the Savior's Atonement, we find hope. Hope that we can repent, that we can progress! What is the purpose of life? To progress and "men are that they might have joy" verdad?[true?] VERDAD. Soooo when you repent, you realize you have hope in greater things to come, and this hope brings you joy! Sick, right!

To answer general questions, this week we've been really proud of our investigator Sergio, who is going to get baptized the end of this month. He is 11 and he reads his scriptures like there is no tomorrow. So listo [clever]. WE also met this sweet old woman named Rutilia, and as we walked away from our first lesson with her, I looked at Hna Noorda and I was like, she already knows its true. And Hna Noorda is like, I know. And I'm like, what do we do ? Shes like, we get a fecha [date]! And so we go back for our second lesson and Rutilia wont except a fecha for her baptism and its driving me nuuutssss! Like you know its true JUST DO IT but she won't because her whole family is catholic and shes scared to leave her church even though she openly admitted she knows her church is wrong. Sigh.Praying for inspiration. 

What else! Oh it rained! And we got caught out in the boonies with no boots or jackets or nothing and it was so hilarious. We like got all soaking wet and we knock on the door of this guy and we're like hi, we're the missionaries and we have the gospel. WE hand him this soggy book of mormon and we have mascara running down our faces and mud up to our knees ha!!! He laughed openly at us and I can't judge because I would have done the same thing. 

OKAY I know this is too long already! I love all of you!!! Keep the faith, glad that we could unite as a church and hear the inspired talks this week. I was thinking about how wonderful it was that no matter where we are in the world, we are united in General Conference. #Godisawesome

Have a kickin' week!

Hna Scott