Mail Me A Birthday Gift - The Bigger The Better

Well if you ask me, this will be the best letter any of you ever get from me, because it was received on the world´s best and most important international holiday - MY BIRTHDAY!

But that´s just my opinion :)

Thank you all for the birthday wishes (Kitty Kat, I did get yours, but I can´t write back because I can only write family through the internet, but thank you! :D).  It makes me feel at home.  And it doesn´t hurt that like 6 members have offered to feed me and give me cake haha.  But we´re just going to visit the first member that asked me (to be fair in choosing) and just do a small something.  I actually don´t know what they´re going to be doing, but I told them that we´ll still be working today and that I didn´t want anything big.  So we´ll see what happens.  This is my last birthday that really matters haha.  Weird huh?  After 21, who cares how old you are?  There are no more milestones.  I mean, maybe if you hit 100, that´s an accomplishment (or maybe a punishment, depending on how you want to think about it), but other than that there are no fun birthdays anymore.  So I´ll try to enjoy this one and sleep as much as possible :)

Luz Gets Baptized

¡Hola mi familia y mis queridos amigazos!  Hace mucho que no les escribo más en español, y quisiera hacerlo hoy :).  ¡Disfruten el trabajo de traducir!  Quizás puedan llamar a Cristina para que traduzca esto.  Estoy muy bien aquí con mi nuevo compañero.  El es rre-bueno, tiene mucho ánimo y muchos deseos de servirle al Señor.  Estoy leyendo el Libro de Mormón en Guaraní.  Puedo entender la mayoría de lo que leo, pero me es muy difícil hablar todavía.  Esta semana voy a mandar por un libro que enseña Guaraní y estudiar eso hasta el final de mi misión.  6 meses es bastante para aprender mucho Guaraní.  Vamos a ver qué pasa.

Ok, that´s enough of Spanish.  You´ll have plenty of translating to do with that paragraph :).  First news is first: we had the baptism on Saturday!  I´ll attach pictures that Elder Beckett took from his camera.  That little girl is the sweetest little girl I´ve ever seen.  Her family is so incredible as well; I´ve really come to love them.  Her little sister Asir didn´t get baptized yet, but Luz told me that after the baptism Asir said "I wanted to get baptized with you." haha.  She regretted not doing it.  We´ll see if we can set something up for her in the next coming week.  She already has her interview, she could get baptized tomorrow if she wanted to.  Also, one of the friends of Luz´s family came to the baptism.  Her name is Chila.  She had talked with missionaries before, but

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

So a quick little news before I forget.  Last week, the company that sends us our letters every week lost the envelope for our area.  So Dear Elders from about 3 weeks ago are lost, and if you´ve sent me a letter in the last month or 2, its possible that it got lost as well.  Bleh, drives me nuts.  But what can ya do?

Some better news: we´re having a baptism on Saturday!  She is the sweetest 10-year-old girl I´ve ever seen.  Her name is Luz.  Her mom, her aunt, her 2 uncles, and both her grandparents are inactive members.  Even though they are inactive, they are just an incredible family.  Luz´s mom told me that her daughters tell her how I´m their friend and also how it´s my birthday on the 28th, so she went out and bought me a cake to thank me and to celebrate.  I about cried, it was so nice.  We´re working with Luz´s little sister Asir as well.  She´s 9, and isn´t quite sure if she wants to be baptized yet or not.  But she comes to church with Luz (they come all by themselves), and the Primary has done a fantastic job making them feel part of the ward, so she likes it and I know she´ll come around.  I hope my package with my camera is in the office tomorrow when we go for Zone Conference so I can take pictures Saturday and send them to you guys.  I´m really excited about that.

My New Companion...Another Trainee!!

Hello my family and friends!  Really though, you´re all my family :)

Ok, so I´ve got some good news and some bad news.  I´ll start with the bad so we end on a good note.

Yesterday during changes I met up with Elder Patterson who is in Guarambaré (my old area). Do you remember the story I told you all about, about that old guy (the dad of a member family) who hit my companion when he was drunk and how we had the chance to teach him a few times?  Well, Elder Patterson told me that he died about a month ago.  He was lost for about a week and didn´t come home, and they started to worry.  They started looking for him. 2 or 3 of his grandkids found him behind the cemetary.  He was murdered :(.  Elder Patterson told me that they described the body, and he was brutally murdered.  It was really savage, so I´ll save you the details.  Poor guy.  The family is doing well and continue active in church, thank goodness.  The missionaries are visiting them almost every day.  They are coping well and learning to depend on the Lord, so they are moving on little by little.