Feliz Pascua .....2066.1 miles walked in Paraguay

Hey friends and fam! Happy Easter! Here, it was more of Semana Santa. Down here in Paraguay, they celebrate Thursday, and Friday a huge ton. They celebrate more of his suffering and death, rather than his resurrection. It was very interesting. On Thursday, everyone cooks a bunch of meat and a huge meal, to kind of signify the last supper. Then, they dont eat meat on Friday out of respect of Jesus Christ. There is no work here on Friday at all. It was silent here! Plus, it rained Thursday, Friday, Saturday so it kind of put an end to the would have been parties haha. But Sunday, the beautiful sun came out and it was a sign to me, that Christ, our Lord and Savior resurrected on Sunday, and He lives!

So Thursday, we went to Rosanna and Diegos house and made Chipa! It is basically like bread, doesn't taste to similar but hey, its gluten free! (usually) We formed it like Playdoh and made some pizza, elephants, $, and some normal circle ones. It was superrr fun! On Friday, it was Elder Castros birthday so Hma Leo (featured in pic with the Feliz Pascua sign) made us food. Wow, she is seriously the best. She cooked sooooooooooo much food! It was amazing. My comp and I made cookies (gluten free using rice flour) and a Snickers apple salad! It was amazing! Tasted sooo good! haha Everyone loves the cookies here and want us to make more!

Funny story

A couple weeks ago, we were in a lesson with a menos activa. We had taught her a couple times but didnt like to pray. We asked her again and she said, no, its better if you do it. so i said "Ok, I will say the opening prayer, and you will say the one to close ok?" She liked that, but I guess didn't understand. I started the prayer, said a couple things and then paused, and she literally "finished" the prayer by saying "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen." And she was super proud of herself and thought she was doing the right thing. Honestly, I was shocked and laughing so hard inside haha.

Well I have run out of time!

love you all!

Elder Zaugg

STEP STATS:

119850 Steps

66.1 miles

 "When you don't want dengue fever" HAHA

 Hermana Leoncia's  Cooking is Amazing!!!!!

 Hermana Leoncia and Elder Struhs

 Happy Birthday Elder Castros

 Happy Birthday Elder Castros with Hermana Leoncia

 Making chipa......Mine is an elephant

Making Chipa, it's an Easter Tradition

 Elders Zaugg and Struhs

Made cookies out of Rice flour, and they were sooooo Good.

The Holy Ghost is Free...Week 38 2000 miles walked in Paraguay

Starting the email is always the worst. I never know what to say and feel like I say the same thing every time. Lets get right to the chase I guess. 

So this week, we had a lesson with two members, Mercedez and Maria Isabel. They are the aunts of Maikol who was baptized about 2 months ago. When we got there, they told us that one of their kids told them, "Mom i think we need more "spirituality" here". So we shared a scripture with them and set the goal to have family prayer every day. After, they asked us how to help them with Maikol. He is a little rebellious right now and they think he is feeling a little abandoned by his parents so is not listening to them. We told them that we are not counselors, but missionaries. But we told them the Holy Ghost can help. In the scripture in Moroni 8 25 and 26 that we shared, it reads the Holy Ghost will stay with us, through diligence in prayer. We explained that if more "spirituality" is in the home after family prayers that can help them all have more patience and more love in the home. They then asked us if we know a psychologist. And we started talking about that, but then at the very end of talking how it was expensive, Maria Isabel turns to Mercedez and says, "Hey, we gotta get on this family prayer. The Holy Ghost is a lot cheaper than a psychologist, its free!" hahaha We were laughing super hard. Looking back at it, it is very true, and the Holy Ghost will always help us! We read in the bible that the Heavenly Father sends the Holy Ghost in His name, and He is the comforter. He brings feelings of joy, peace, happiness and other good feelings. If we put our trust in the Lord, we can receive the comfort we need through the Holy Ghost. 

Oh, and HAPPY EASTER WEEK! I love Easter, and being on the mission has helped me understand the true meaning of Easter, Jesus Christ and his Atonement. He lives. Our Lord and Savior LIVES! Jesus Christ suffered the sins, pains, trials, and afflictions of the world. He paid the price for our sins, and through Him, we can become clean and return to live with God again. He suffered our pains, He already passed through our trials. The Atonement is real. It works just as much with repentance as it does with comfort. Because He suffered for our pains, He knows how to give us strength. We can call on the power of the Atonement through prayer, and through the Holy Ghost, we can receive the strength, the comfort we need in our lives. I am so grateful for my Savior and His Atonement. I love the new video the church produced, you have probably already seen it but heres the link anyways!

https://www.lds.org/church/news/watch-and-share-2016-easter-video-hallelujah?lang=eng

The mission is the best to help me realize the true meaning to our lives. I have learned so much about my Savior and my love for Him has grown so much. I hope you all enjoy Easter, and take some time in between eating all the candy the Easter Bunny brings to remember your Savior, Jesus Christ!

Elder Zaugg

sorry, i have no pics this week. so like, just go watch the video. or go look at the blog or something...

http://elderbrodyzaugg.blogspot.com/

Average 56 miles walked in Paraguay.  I will have a new pedometer today!

Elder Castro& Bridge on right, Elder Struhs on Left

Elder Castro

Yessica, a new convert of Castro & Bridge

Elder Bridge getting in some stretching....They were on splits together

Cambiosss.....(Changes) 1944 Miles walked in Paraguay

This week we had transfers! Im staying in the area, but I got a new comp, elder Struhs from Idaho! He has 16 months in the mission. And we are ready to work! We have baptisms coming up for some of our investigators. Sorry, I dont like sending the names home, basically because I dont want to count the chickens before they hatch. Usually for about 5 baptismal dates, about 1 person actually gets baptized. 

But on April 2, we have a baptism date for one investigator named Celia.

its crazy. ive never felt love for someone that i met like 2 months ago like this. its not like love like i want to marry you, but like i want to help you.Shes 48 and her daughter is 22. She isnt a member, yet, and her daughter is reactivating right now. We have been working with her for a month now, and she let problems get in the way but wants to be baptized now. She shared her testimony with us, and knows it really is the only way to live with God again, to be baptized by someone who holds the authority of God to act in his name and preform the saving ordinances, one being baptism by inmersion. But yesterday, Lorena told us she didnt want to go to church anymore. And then we sat in silence for awhile. I told her straight up with the most love and sincerity in my heart that she is making the worst decision she could make in her life right now. and then we just starting talking about her testimony, questions about joseph smith, the church, the book of mormon, and stuff like that. Really for like 15 minutes we talked, the whole time she was crying bc she knows she needs to go back, and inside wants too. She knows Joseph Smith was a prophet because the Holy Ghost testified to her of that. She knows the Book of Mormon is true because the Holy Ghost testified to her of that. She knows the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the church of Christ restored to the Earth today to provide the path for everyone to return and live with Him and our Heavenly Father again. and honestly I shed a couple tears. haha it is so sad honestly, when someone starts turning away from what they know to be true. You really begin to develop the love for these people and the desire to help them on your mission. The holy ghost was so strong it was crazy. Honestly, i never understood the holy ghost until i got here, but it was strong and i know for a fact she felt it so strong and thats why she was crying. But her mom asked her after she said she didnt want to go anymore, "you dont want to go anymore? Now all of a sudden your saying you dont want to go anymore? Why? Well (she turned to look at us) Well i guess i will go solo to church this week." then cried pleading for us to help her. Honestly, some times the mission is so great. that was one of my favorite lessons bc i know her mom is going to be baptized in 2 weeks and i think she will reactivate now! i hopeee and pray! We could use your prayers too👍

love you all! Shoutout to my mom, my grandpa, my sister Lucy, cousin Eli and everyone else that had birthdays in march! 

Elder Zaugg

PICS

Noche De Hogar with Hma Leo (lion) and we made nachos and mexican tacos. so great. They loved them. Hma Leo is the best missionary grandma ever haha she always gives us food and lunches and yeah shes great

Going to average 60 miles for the week, since my pedometer broke! :( My mom is sending another soon!

Elder Molina- the tradition is when you die (means finish your mission) you get egg and flour thrown at you!  Pretty funny.....

Elder Texeira.....1884.70 miles walked in Paraguay

This week was a great week, mainly because we had Stake Conference! Elder Texeira came from the 70, and wow, it was such an amazing talk. He talked about repentance and the 3 things we need to change in order to completely repent. First, our thoughts. Second, our beliefs. And third, our actions. First, we need to change our thoughts for the best, or that we don't want to do that sin again. When he talked about beliefs, he used the example of our friends our peers. When someone asks us to "sin" again, we say no. We believe it isn't right and are not going to do it. And 3, our actions. We have to leave the sin in the past, and never return to do it again! This is what leads to true repentance. He talked for 45 minutes and nobody was bored haha. I was talking to Hermana McMullin after and she said, "It is very rare to hear a talk about repentance that is uplifting and joyful!" And i said it was so true, and it made me feel like he was recruiting me to join a club or something! haha It was awesome.

Oh and remember the asentimiento I told you all about last week? This week we were told that they were given a 10 day notice to be out until the police come and clear them out! Hate to say I saw that coming.

Today, we went to the FIFA confederation of South America museum! It was super cool to see all the history, plus, there were so many of goal highlights of the COPA Americas and World cup victories, i was nearly in heaven haha. 

We have transfers tomorrow! I'll let you know what happens next week!

Elder Zaugg

Step Stats

109,139 steps and 59.6 miles 

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