10-13-14 I'm Staying in San Lorenzo with Elder Hampton‏!!

Hi everyone!!! I have some great news! I'm staying in San Lorenzo with my companion Elder Hampton. I thought I was going to go, but I was wrong. I'm super excited and happy that I stayed. My week was super great too. It went by super fast, like all of the other weeks.... haha. My days are like a basketball game. You start it with the opening tip off and before you know it the game is over. Sometimes there are super long games when nothing goes right, but you win anyway and some times you just go Kobe and score 81 points against the Toronto Raptors. If that made sense, those are how my days are..... haha. At the end of the day, I sit down and sometimes I can't even remember what happened. If it wasn't for agendas I would forget everything. Now to tell you all about my week!

District Meeting: Like I said I thought that I was going to leave so I said goodbye to the district, but it turns out that that was unnecessary because I stayed. There is a sister that goes home with me in May and when we left she yelled, "See you in the airport!!" It turns out that I saw her that next Sunday.... haha. I sent a picture of the district.

Friday: We met two Paraguayans that are musicians. They live in the United States, but are in Paraguay for right now. There band is called The Vera's Brothers, and supposedly it is a popular band in the states. They live in Florida and they talked to us in English. Elder Hampton and I talk in Spanish all day so it was a little weird talking in English. They were pretty awesome and we are going to help them find true happiness and learn about the gospel!!

Saturday: We had a baptism on Saturday of Deisy Vera. One of the members of the ward, Daniel Gamarra, baptized her. He has helped us a ton visiting her and her family. Next on the list that are going to get baptized is her mom and her little sister. The way we found this family was a miracle. The grandma (girl with white hair in the picture), had lost contact with the church for two years and we were teaching her neighbors when Deisy called us over and we taught them and now we got to where we are now. Deisy baptized and her family learning about the gospel. It is amazing how God works. The baptism was really spacial, it was scary because it was the first time that Brother Gamarra had baptized someone. He is a convert in the church and was baptized this year in February. Deisy's mom came to church yesterday for the first time and she loved it so we hope to see a lot of progress with her to. Deisy's little sister turns 8 in December and will be baptized then :D.

Sunday: Church was awesome! It might have been the first time that we actually got to church early. It was nice to sit, relax, and feel the spirit. The classes were awesome and we learned about the responsibilities of being a parent (for my future self ;)) haha. I also learned about the importance of trials and hardships in our life so that we can learn, grow, and progress spiritually. I have had a bit of trials here in the mission, but what we learn from the example of Joseph Smith, our trials will be but a small moment and if we suffer them well they will be four our benefit. Later that evening, we had dinner with the Armoa family. We went over there and cooked cordon bleu and mashed potatoes, I felt super American! I crushed the crackers using their cracker crushing thing. Not sure what the name is but it was fun. I felt like we were in the Flintstones or something like that. Every Sunday night my companion and I have to do numbers and report them to the assistants. We finished at 10:20 and then crashed the bed. It was awesome. 

I started reading the Book of Mormon again. I have been reading a lot in Doctrine and Covenants, but I felt that after the conference I had to re-read the Book of Mormon. I have felt the spirit really strong of late and my testimony has grown more and more with a knowledge of the truthfulness of that book. If you don't know what the Book of Mormon is, READ IT. It will bless your life, I promise.

I have learned a ton about the importance of listening and accepting other peoples advice and opinions. My mom told me that sometimes I was a know-it-all- .....I feel like a lot of teenage kids think that they are, but I have leaned here in Paraguay the importance of listening to advice, accepting the error that I may be committing and changing so that I can be more Christlike. Something that after all these years, the influence of my mom had taught me. Don't be a know-it-all. haha. I have learned how to use the Atonement in my life to change the bad things about me and making them strengths. The scripture in the Book of Mormon, Ether 12:27 has helped me a lot to recognize my weaknesses and let Jesus Christ turn them into strengths. 

I know that this church is true. I can feel it in my inner being and I know that the feeling comes from the spirit. In the Bible it states, for your fruits, ye shall know them (I know the scripture better in Spanish, but I think that is it.). My fruits, I feel like are showing. As I live the principles of the Gospel I willingly come unto Christ and chose to try to be more like him. He invites us all to come unto him. I'm privileged to be here, helping others come unto Christ and learning about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm happy and I am filled with joy. Thank you for the support and love. May God bless you all.

Elder Jessop