Hola mí familia,
How is everyone this week? I got super lucky with my computer this week and the keyboard that i´m using is brand new and says exactly what each key is so it´s a lot easier to use. That´s cool that Spencer and Caleb are watching stand and deliver, it seems like just yesterday Andrew and I were watching that same movie, but we were´nt cool like them so we didn´t have girls come over and watch it with us. I can´t believe you guys bought new couches! I´m not going to recognize a thing when I get home (just kidding, congratulations).
So I got the other two packages (the ones to help me prepare for Christmas) the day after Christmas, haha, but the timing couldn´t have been better. I also got a package from the Otterstroms that day that had a pillow case, some treats, and some really nice notes. Cam Carter wrote his in Spanish and it was really fun reading it. He gave me some great advice about learning the language that has actually helped me a lot this week. But what I loved the most were the testimonies in the Christmas tree. I kept them all and I read some whenever I need a boost (also let uncle mike know that I found Elder Seaton. I ate lunch with him at zone conference a few weeks ago and he loves uncle mike. He also knows Andrew´s brother big Steven and I think he stayed the night at their house once, small world right). One of the testimonies was from grandma and it couldn´t have come at a better time. We´ve been working with an inactive guy whose wife is not a member. He´s down to come back to church but he recently was in a motorcycle accident so he can´t walk or get on a bus. They have two little girls and his wife wasn´t really interested in listening to us. But a little while ago we did some service for them during a visit and I think it really touched her heart so she let us start talking with her. I realized their situation was pretty similar to grandma and grandpa´s when grandma got baptized, so I decided to read grandma´s conversion story. After I read it I was still a little unsure about how I could use it to help this family, but then that day I got the package with grandma´s testimony in it and it was super clear to me how to share it. I felt super good about sharing the story and how I could use it to help them. The lesson was super powerful and spiritual, however she told us that she´s not ready to change, she really doesn´t like the idea of not worshipping the Virgin. But when we left I feel like we really planted a good seed and I honestly feel like one day they will be sealed in the temple. But that was hard, losing one of our best investigators. We also talked with another one of our greatest investigators, a family that was pretty interested, but they told us that they don´t want to change because they´re to afraid of what their family will say. People are funny because even if they know it´s true, sometimes they´re still not willing to change. There was this one couple a few weeks ago that straight up told us that they´re going to stop reading the Book of Mormon because they´re afraid it´s true!
So I still don´t know what´s going on with changes, we´ll find out tonight. Everyone thinks that my companion will go and that I´ll stay but we´ll see. I don´t mind either way, or even if we stay together another change. I like the area. It´s been different getting along with a Latin companion because he and I think very differently. For example here on holidays, people don´t eat dinner until like 10:00 at night. So last night we got invited to dinner at 10:00 and he was like sure that´d be great! Things like that happen a lot, but we always talk and pray and it always works out. I´ve learned a lot with him. My companion is super patient with me and he´s got some really great qualities about him too. Whenever I start thinking about something annoying that he´s doing I think, I guarantee it´s pretty annoying for him to have an American companion that barely speaks Spanish and I think about what I can do to help him.
On Sunday I gave my talk. It was funny because two weeks ago when they asked me they told me my topic was Christmas. When I missed it they did not tell me that I would have the opportunity to speak the next week, so I gave my same Christmas talk and tried to apply it more generally, I think it went okay. Also on Sunday we had an investigator in church! Johnny, he´s Antonia´s son and he´s 15 came pretty much straight from a quince (the big party for you´re 15th birthday) so it was quite a sacrifice. He and his mom are progressing, it´s great! we´ve also been teaching a girl named Mari (she looks just like Mariah Reber) and her boyfriend Abraham (and they don´t even live together! Rare find). They came to the ward Christmas party and even sang 2 karaoke songs! The problem is that Mari´s sister kicked us out twice so we have to get creative. Luckily there´s a member girl who's preparing for a mission, her call should be here any day now. and she lives really close and she and Mari are the same age.
Well it´s about time for me to go. I love you guys so much and espero que pasen el año nuevo excelentemente! Things are pretty great out here in the Paraguay. Keep on keeping on the right path and fighting the good fight. Remember that God wants us to succeed. We can be sure and take comfort that everything that happens to us, when we´re trying to live right, is for our good and often times is how God is preparing us for something else and helping us reach our full potential.
Con Amor,
Elder Hulsey
