Well it seems like Paraguayan winter is about over (it usually lasts about a month so it makes sense), so now we´re back to the sun. Luckily you all know me and know that I love the sun more than the cold, and the work here is so much nicer in when it´s warm so I´m excited. The only hard part is staying awake during the lessons we have in the siesta, haha but I think I´ll figure something out. This week was great. The new bishop that we have is awesome! He´s got tons of excitement for the work, and tons of excitement to do it right (meaning getting the members to do it). It´s really nice because he´s one of the few Bishops here that I´ve met that is willing to sacrafice a little now to get the work going how it should. I really hope I get to stay another change here in Piro´Y, but we´ll see here in about a week. A**** was able to get things mostly straightned out, he´s just got to wait a little longer to get everything completely straightened out, we´ll see when he will be able to be baptized. The familia C**** is so awesome! We had some great lessons with them this last week and the hermana , W****, says she´s completely convinced that this is the true church where she wants her family. They are set to be baptized a week from tomorrow but we´re going to ask them tonight if they´d rather just get baptized this Saturday! The hermana was super nice because our new mission president randomly just showed up to our sacrament meeting on Sunday entonces aprovechamos and we introduced him to the familia C**** and the hermana was just telling President how great we are and how patient and loving we are, SCORE! Haha. So I had this dream the other night that you came down Mom and met this family and it was super cool.
The 4th of July was fun. We went into Asunción and had hamburgers with freedom fries and got to meet the new President and his family. They seem really great. His son Preston is leaving on his mission to Chile the day Travis leaves for his mission and he´s pretty excited. He went up and gave a talk in Spanish for this little conference, he did awesome. Also here with him are his daughter that´s 16 and his son that´s 11, they seem excited to be here. It was weird hearing little kids speaking in English and talking like Americans with American personalities. The 11 year old kid, I think his name is Brian or something like that, reminds me a lot of Adam so that was pretty neat. President Mcmullin is a little hard to read, but he seems to like hard work and obedience so I hope we get along well. It´s quite the process becoming a mission president and it seems like a super hard calling, but I bet it would be super rewarding too. His wife seems super friendly too.
I hope Spencer can keep his eye on the mission and not do anything stupid in St. George (haha I only say that because I also had this dream that me and him and the gang all went and did something stupid and he wasn´t sure he would be able to leave on his mission anymore due to court dates and such). But really I´m learning a lot recently about how each of us are important in this work. It´s not just a coincidence that we´re members of the church, or bearers of the priesthood, or alive at this time. We were all chosen before to come here at this time. I was elected before to be one of the few holders of the holy priesthood and to use it here in Paraguay to bless the lives of others. I´m not just here because I happened to be in the church and at mission age, and I sent in my papers and they didn´t know what to do so they just stuck me in the Paraguay Asunción North mission, and now President didn´t know what to do so he just put me in Piro´Y. I don´t believe that. I believe that God knows me, and that He´s got a plan for me. He knows I´m here and it´s where He wants me. There are people here for me to help, and I´m not just someone whose been thrown into the system and is just another body to fill a space. We had a great meeting with our new bishop yesterday and he told us that he wants to be working with specific people and names. I believe that´s what the Lord does as well. He knows our names, they´re engraven upon his palms. I know He loves me and He knows me, I also know that He knows and loves each and every one of you, and He has a special use and purpose for each one of us right now. We´re not just bodies in the system, we´re specific people with specific purposes and needs and wants. It´s hard to fathom just how deep and profound God´s wisdom and knowledge and most importantly love is, but it´s real and that´s what matters. I hope you all have an awesome semana!
Con mucho amor,
Elder Zachary J. Hulsey
