Happy New Year !!

Hello everyone!! Happy New Year first and for most and I want to tell you all that I've been here for 6 months in Paraguay. I'm almost Paraguayan only I have blonde hair and blue eyes. That little difference will not stop me. A couple things happened this week that I would like to tell you all but first I'm going to begin with a list that I have.

We are teaching a couple of people that are preparing themselves to be baptized really soon and I want to tell you all about them:

Eva: Eva is a 55 year old really awesome Paraguayan women that I found doing divisions with a missionary in my district named Elder Caballero. We walked up to her house, not knowing what we were doing, and we decided to clap (in Paraguay instead of knocking on doors they clap). We went into this door and the wife of her nephew greeted us with a really nice smile and it turns out that she was a member. She let us in and Eva just started telling us about her struggles and how she is looking for peace and how she wants to find it. She told us how she prayed to God to send his messengers to her door and what do you know, good old missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints showed up. The first thing she told us is that she loves it when we smile because we always look happy. She is getting baptized this Saturday.

Ana Maria: Ana Maria is another really nice lady that at first did not like the church at all because she is from an Evangelical church. We got her to come to church and she told us that our church did not have any vigor. She told us that she had her church. What we decided to do was to keep stopping bye and saying hi and she told us randomly one Saturday that she was going to go to church Sunday and low and behold, SHE CAME! That was awesome and then she told us that she really likes how she feels welcomed in the church and she never feels like that in any other place. She also came to church again yesterday and she is getting baptized this Saturday. 

Belen: Belen is a girl that is 12 that is the only member of her family that is not a member. Her parents are not members either because they don't want to get married, but all of her brothers and sisters are members. I asked her one day if she wanted to get baptized and she told us that she would never get baptized because she is Catholic. She then started coming to church every Sunday with her cousins that are really active and her cousins started teaching her a lot and we would occasionally ask her if she wanted to get baptized and she kept saying no. One day, actually this last Saturday, we passed by her cousins house and she happened to be there and she came up to us and told us that she wanted to be baptized!! That is a testimony of member missionary work. She is getting baptized this Friday.

There are many other people here that we are teaching and I love it. There is a girl named Maria Nancy that almost got baptized with her mom and sister but decided not to, but she keeps coming to church and I know she will get baptized some day. I'm really seeing the blessing and miracles that come daily as I'm here in Paraguay. 

Today is Monday. Right before this typing letter. Elder Goodell and I, (Elder Goodell is another missionary in my district) decided to by 1 kilo of ice cream and eat it. Today is the 21st birthday of Elder Goodell so we went all out. I have pictures :D.

Also, I had a really wonderful experience talking to a girl that told us that her mom had just died. She told us that she would never see her mom again and how she is sad and prays every night to see her mom in her dreams. We started teaching her about eternal families and about the purpose of our existence and how with the power of God we can see our families again after this life. She didn't believe us even though we testified to her over and over again, but even if she doesn't believe that, I'm extremely grateful for the opportunities that I have to teach the people here. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to live with my father in heaven after my life and to have my whole family there with me. I know that families are eternal. I love being a missionary. It is a short time in my life, but it has been the most blessed and enriching experience I have ever had.

Thank you all for the prayers and for the support. I love each and every one of you and I hope you all have a great and fulfilling week.

Elder Jessop

We Wish You A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year‏!!

Hey Everyone, a lot of stuff has been happening. It's almost 2014!!! I hope you all enjoy the ball drop tomorrow. 

I'm going to tell you what has been happening: 


SKYPE: I Skyped with the family for Christmas!!! That was the best Christmas present EVER!! It was a scary experience because we are in a third world country and there are not a lot of computers with video cameras so we had to find one. We kept looking and looking and then we found one. A member told us that we could use her laptop to do Skype on Saturday she told us that and we went back Wednesday. The actually day of Christmas. We went to her house and she told us her laptop broke. Well that was a big bummer because we didn't know what we were going to do. Our families were waiting for us and we didn't have a computer. We started gathering supplies from members. We got to the point were we had a microphone and a video camera but we didn't have a computer, UNTIL we found one!!! We found that another member had a laptop and we used his laptop and we did Skype. It was awesome to see the family. It had been about 7 months. It was a blessing and a great experience. 


Pedro: Pedro is a young child who got baptized before Christmas. He was the reference of a member and he told us that he wanted to get baptized even though his family was making fun of him for doing it. He told us with his own words "They laugh at me because I'm Mormon, but they are not going to beat me, I'm going to go to church because I like it." This kid is 10. HE IS AWESOME. Beyond words he is awesome. 


Elder Evans: I forgot to tell all of you about my new companion his name is elder Evans and he is straight out of the MTC! I'M Training him!! I will be with Elder Evans until March. He is from Arizona and is 18 and everyone tells him that he is a metai. Metai means little kid or child in Spanish. He is awesome and he really works hard, but yea he is tiny. I'll send some photos. His first week here in the mission he had the opportunity to baptize Pedro and that was a great experience for him and me. Training is a whole different experience  Now I understand why my trainer, elder Morgan, did the things that he did when I first started the mission. We are going to have a lot of fun together. 


Subiimos una montaña: YEA WE GOT TO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN. OK it is not really a mountain, it is more like a hill but it is pretty big. I have pictures and I am sending them as I write. It was really fun. I'm really afraid of heights, so I am surprised that I went so high. It was pretty fun. We saw a giant tarantula which wasn't very fun, but it was pretty sweet. 


Fla Fretes: We had dinner with a family here that is less active that showed me how to cook a meal. I don't know what it is called, but man was it really good. MOM would be so proud of me. It had chicken, rice, onion, carrot, tomatoes  garlic, and other stuff but it was really really good. I'm sending pictures. This is a great family that we are trying to reactivate and we thought it would be a great idea to have dinner with them. It was an awesome dinner with an awesome family. Here they eat dinner at like 9:00 at night. It was a late dinner but really yummy. 


Mission Activity: This last Friday we had a mission activity for Christmas and have the mission came. We climbed the Hill of a city called Lambare, we had a white elephant, we had Pizza Hut!!!!!! And we had fruitcake for dessert. It was a great day and we were literally there all day. We left at 4:00 in the morning and got back at 9:30 at night. My district and I had to sleep at the zone Leaders house the night before so I slept on the ground, but it was way worth it. 


Happy New Year everyone. The mission is changing my life. As I enter a new year I feel as if my whole objective in this life has changed. Instead of thinking about myself, I think of others. Instead of working for my own gain, I work for the gain of others. Instead of loving myself, I love others. I am changing and I am truly grateful. I hope you all have a great week and start off the new year with a splendid letter from good Old Elder Jessop. 

I love each and every one of you and I am grateful for your support. 


Elder Jessop