Lets be nice to the servants of the Lord....Please 1825.1 miles walked in Paraguay

Hey friends and fam! It was an interesting week over here in San Lorenzo. Let us begin with the proclamation against the missionaries. Ha. Ok so in my area, there are some "asentamientos" or like, small areas of land were a bunch of people come to live. They live on someone else property, so its illegal but unless the owners say anything, the cops dont do anything. Anyways, its really dangerous for them! We have already seen one, with about 100 families get cleared. The police take everything and they are left with nothing. Its super sad, but logical bc, well, its illegal to be there. Its sad bc a lot of people live there bc they dont have money to pay for a rent on a house or things like that. Anyways, there are a lot of less actives that live in these places. And we visited one, who called us over a couple weeks ago. And she told us we cant come into this asentamiento anymore. The leader told the people to throw rocks at us if we pass through. So, we dont go by anymore. It is really sad, bc they are really rejecting servants of God. It makes me think of the Book of Mormon and the stories in it. When the people are not obeying the commandments, they throw out the prophets and righteous people. And what happens next? They die or get led into captivity. I couldnt help but think the police may be coming to this place sometime soon...

Anyways, on a brighter note. Its sunny today. Thats bright, right? Oh and we didnt really lose power that much this week! The recent convert that was baptized about a month ago has gone to the temple twice in the last two weeks and loves it. We had a conference with Elder Bednar last week and he said that recent converts who go to the temple to do work for the ancestors have a testimony so strong as they help their relatives. I know the temple is a very important part of this gospel. I challenge you all to make it out to the temple this week, even if it is to just walk around. You will feel the spirit of God and the peace it brings is incredible! 

On another note, Elder Bednar is absolutely hilarious. If I had a couple video links of his discussion, I would send it because we were laughing so hard at times!

Sorry my email is all over the place, Ill do better some other week!

Love you all,

Elder Zaugg

Step Stats

105238 steps and 57.3 miles

since I didn't get any pictures.....

NO HAY LUZ 1767.80 miles walked in Paraguay

Hey friends and fam! So my mom told me nobody got my emails last week....that would be paraguayan internet for you! But hey this should come through this week! 

It was an interesting week. Mainly because of power. Thursday night at 11pm the power went out. And our room did not have enough time to cool down so it was about 80 degrees at that point. I already couldnt sleep but by 1130 it was 90 degrees inside our house. Yeah try sleeping in that. Well I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to turn on the power so I could rest. hahaha Yeah about 10 minutes later I thought. "Wow. thats pretty demanding of me to tell Him to turn on the power." So I said another prayer, this time asking Him to give me some comfort to sleep and get some rest so I could work the next day. I took a cold shower and fell asleep in 10 minutes after the shower. Yeah my comp slept for like 2 hours he said, but I was out. I definitely learned a lot in that prayer. I learned that yes, we can ask Heavenly Father for the things we want. However, we shouldn't have our minds set on the answer we want. He provided me with the way to sleep, all the way until 630 am when I woke up in a pool! Yeah somebody put a pool in our house. Oh wait, never-mind it was just my sweat.

Well anyways, we went walking around our area that day (not that this is something new...we are always walking..) And everyone told us that the power would be out for 3 to 5 days because the power plant had an explosion and there were a bunch of areas and zones that didn't have power. Plus, the water works with the power here so nobody had power or water. Luckily, our water is different and we didn't lose water at all! So we walk into our oven-i mean house Friday night. Yeah it was 95 degrees inside. (thanks mom for the clock that tells the temperature. It really comes in handy) I laughed out-loud, took a cold shower and ate away my depression. (Thanks for the packages) Sour skittles really saved me there. I put 4 chairs (the ones in the churches) outside and tried sleeping outside our house. Literally, our block was empty and silent. Everybody went to a friend or relatives house that still had power. So we starting to sleep outside. But then. Guess what. At 11, I was looking across the street and the lights starting flickering. I knew exactly what that meant, jumped up, and ran inside. WE HAD POWER. I took another cold shower to clean off the sweat and tried to get to bed. Only problem was I was soooo happy and excited I couldn't fall asleep until 12...hahaha. But yeah, it was so great.

Come Saturday, we were contacting a bunch. We contacted one house and my comp asked for water. The lady says, "Theres not water, theres not power. I don't even have hot water to give you." We understood, talked a bit then left. Then, it hit me. Her kids were filling water balloons and throwing them at each other. And kept filling them with water. hahaha She just didn't want to give us water. Its chill. 

But yeah, thats pretty much the summary of our week. Hope you all enjoyed it! 

Elder Zaugg

STEP STATS

90500 STEPS AND 49.2 MILES

1. Smuchis. Soooo great. Its basically like Sauce! And Ivys Juice bar in one. So great. i will be going back as much as possible

 2. Paulistas. Just like Tucanos. But they have grilled pineapple with Cinnamon. wow. so delicious. We went for Elder Castros one year mark! 

 3. love my family

WEEK 33 NO LETTER BUT GOT PICTURES! 1718.60 miles walked in Paraguay

ELDER SMITH AND BRODY

steps stats

93500 steps and 51 miles

Grandma Power......1667.6 miles walked in Paraguay ..32 weeks

hey fammmm! Whats up! So this week was sick, found a bunch of new investigators and am really loving it in this area! We are going bowling this week, so I don`t have a lot of time! But I wanted to share a funny story.

We were contacting one day, (well, every day....) and 3 kids came out and and then went to get their grandma. Next thing we know, their grandma is kicking them, pushing them, and hitting their arms to make them come out and talk to us. She was commanding them to listen to us and learn from the bible that we were going to read. We shared the commandment, Honor your father and mother, (kind of ironic) and the grandma was praising the words we were saying. It was soooo funny. I was laughing super hard honestly. 

Also, our house flooded this week. That was fun. And, I am really clumsy. I fell super hard while we were walking and now my hip is a little black and blue. All hard work and good bruises here on the mission.

Love you all!

Elder Zaugg

Step Stats:

112436 steps and 61.6 miles

Below are scripture cases out of leather that a man in Paraguay makes.  Brody designed them.  One for himself and one for his brother Clayton!  So cool!!!

CHANGES.....7months.....1606.50 miles walked in Paraguay

This week was a great week! First, we had a baptism! This Saturday, Maikol got baptized! He is awesome. Seriously The kids in this family are like my little brothers! One of them told me on Sunday he would be sad when I left! But good thing is, I think Ill be in this area for a longgggg time! haha. Maikol is 9 and lives with his 2 aunts! The aunts have reactivated and are reading the book of Mormon every day with him! 

We had changes last Tuesday....ANDDDDDDDDDDDDD nothing changed! Haha. Im still with Elder Garcia in Del Maestro! This week, we finally found an inactive at her home. Lorena 22 and has not gone to church in over 6 months. We show up, and her mom, Celia is there too, who did not get baptized when Lorena did. Well, her mom begins to ask how do we know which church is true. Well, it just so happened that we were just about to talk about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. As we were reading from Joseph Smith History, the spirit was super strong! After the lesson, she told us she has been reading the Book of Mormon, knows it is true and wants to be baptized! She explained to us, that a couple of weeks ago, she had a dream that 2 missionaries came walking down from the street too her house. Later that week, we went bye her house, but a lady with a young baby said Lorena and the owner aren't home. We thought, oh man, that is probably Lorena. (people use that excuse so they don't have to talk with us) She told us that when her friend told us we came bye, she thought she missed her chance! But then we went bye the next week and found them! They both came to church on Sunday and were really glad they did! So this month, she will be baptized! It was such a cool experience, a testimony builder that there truly are people out there prepared to receive the gospel!

Thank you all for the emails and packages, it makes my day 10x better no matter if it is an awesome day or not! haha

Elder Zaugg

Pics

Baptism with Maikol

With Elder Smith, Flores, and Garcia waiting for the interview with maikol! 

98211 and 53.9 miles this week 

1.  Transfers/ Changes, what's new in your area?

no changes, nothing! well, in our ward one of the elders left and american came, so that was nice. Elder Bridge from San Jose. Elder Castro is the other elder and i really like him, his one of my better friends in the mission! 

2. How is your back doing?

my back is doing better. first, i think i am accustomed to so much empedrada, and i think its the dr schols that are helping so much! theses ones were different, but better! haha, they have a lot of support!

3. Did you get Gaga's package?

nope, i was in the office expecting to get her package but i didnt get anything! 

4. Are you running low on any supplies?

well it was funny. last week i ran out of deodorant so i bought one here and then i opened the package and saw you had sent some! haha. i could use some face wash and some acne stuff to put on the face when you sleep? ill need some hair gel but not for like 4 months..

5. What treats are you wanting?

the package was seriously the best one ive opened yet! it had everything i wanted!!!!! thank you so much! a treat hmmm..sour patch watermelon maybe? haha. Oh and the lara bars peanut butter cookie..so good. i loved everything in that package!" haha.

6. Who are you currently working with and how are they progressing?

right now, we are working most with C......, a 47 year old. Her daughter is an inactive member and we visited her last week (after searching for 2 weeks to find her home). We show up and talk about the book of mormon and share the first vision, reading from JSH and her mom tells us how she knows the book of mormon is true and wants to be baptized. So they both came to church on sunday and her mom will be baptized the 20! We are also working with a 16 named L...... She wants to be baptized, only problem is getting the permission from her dad. She's been to church 3 times now and so just needs the permission. Her mom said yes, but lives in spain so we are going to ask president if that will work! other than that, we need to find more people. I get a little frustrated her because the men want absolutely nothing! the guys here almost always couldn't care less about any church, and the girls will listen to us. We have another women, A....... 28, who has been to church 2 times, needs to get married, but her husband is the problem. Me and Elder Garcia are trying to find a guy to teach but we just cant right now haha. We found 1 on Saturday that accepted the baptism invitation but he doesn't live in our area but in Asuncion....haha

8. What is church like there, do you go for three hours and is there classes?

yeah, its the same here, just smaller. And they members have more than one calling, and for a long time. Honestly be greatful there are a lot of people in the US bc the callings here are like jobs...everyone has so much to do! and they usually choose not to do it hahaha. but there are some really great members too!

9.  Did you go to the mission office last pday?

yeah, we've been to the office 4 weeks in a row now...so guess what. 2 Mondays ago on our way back in a bus i saw a gluten free bakery. 5 minutes walking from the office. so last monday, we tried going and they had a sign that said they moved starting last monday. but still close to the office. so we went to where we thought it was but couldn't find it..and now i have no idea. haha i was sad. every monday, if we are in the office, we eat at burger king haha. I eat a chicken salad and a vanilla milk shake. Their salads are actually really good!

10. How are the mosquitos?  I have heard that dengue fever is going around?

no, it really isnt bad in my area! I saw Hma Ashby in the office today!  They are going to test her next for a different mosquito disease, one that is super new here and is coming from brazil...but she is still doing good under the circumstances! her mom still in your ward?

11. Clayton want's to know how San Lorenzo is different from Pedro Juan?

the food!!!!!! I don't get black beans at all anymore! and usually not rice either. its sad haha. but theres aa 17 yr old in our ward named Isael, he and i get along really well and we were talking, his favorite foods to eat for lunch is rice beans and meat. i told him that was mine, and he's going to give us food this week! haha he says his mom makes the best rice ever!