CAMBIOS!

Hey everyone, I've got some good news! Maria Nancy got baptized!! I have pictures and we got her to do a thumbs up. This week is also change week and I'm the District Leader so I'll be giving out the changes to the members of my district tomorrow. I'm going to be staying here in Paraguarí because I'm training Elder Evans, so that's pretty obvious haha.

LUVIA: This week it finally rained in Paraguari. It usually rains at least once every week, but it has only rained once in two months, which was basically killing all the plants and stuff because they were suffering from the heat, kinda like humans. Ya the heat is brutal, but through sacrifice brings blessings.

BANANA: We opened the biggest banana that I have ever seen the other day in terms of width. I have a picture. Elder Goodell busted out a banana out of the fridge and it was GIANT. I might be building this banana up a little bit to high, but I want you all to know that I saw a really big banana is all. I hope you enjoy the photo that I will send.

We have also been meeting some really great people here that we are teaching and I would like to tell you all about them:

Celia: This girl is ready to change her life. She had a three year old girl that died and she said that she would do anything she could for her daughter. She actually just moved into the area and she told us that before she would hide from the missionaries when they came, but she is now grateful that she is new neighbors of a member and that she can listen to us. 

Miguel, Miriam, and Graciela: This is a family of three who used to go to church all the time, but they just stopped going one day and never got baptized, but they want to go back. Miguel has been drinking since he was about 14 and he is 53 now, but he said he wants to stop drinking because he understands the importance of baptism. We are going to keep teaching them. The girls are great and are really interested and we are going to keep teaching them.

Nilda: This girl knows everything about the church and she always used to reject the missionaries, but she works with a member and Nilda asked the member to contact us so we can go to her house and that's what we did. She grew up Catholic, but doesn't go to church (just about every Paraguayo here). She is awesome and her family is just as awesome too.

Life is good here in Paraguay. I'm about to go buy food, so I'm happy about that. I love you all and I know that I'm far but you are all close in my thoughts, and heart.

Elder Jessop

The Hottest Week of My Life!

My dear family and friends, what I am about to tell you is something really awesome. I probably just went through the hottest week of my life ever in the history of my 19 years of living. It has been so hot!! Sometimes I just feel like falling on the ground and roasting to death and let me tell you, that is not an awesome feeling. I have to drink like 8 liters of water daily, which has been a blessing that I have enough water. I've been drinking from the tap and its not killing me so I'm planning on doing it until you know, the day comes. but yeah hot. They should change the name of the country to hot. It has been over 100 every day for the past week. The hottest it got was 107 I think. That was a great day actually, a day filled with miracles. OK enough of that I'll tell you guys what happened now.

Maria Nancy: Maria Nancy is a girl that is supposed to be getting baptized this Friday, which was a miracle. Her mom Luz Maria and little sister Maria Soledad, were baptized in December and she was going to get baptized then, but she went into the bathroom with her baptism clothing and walked out and told us that she was not getting baptized and that was a really hard day. It was a great day too because her mom and sister got baptized, but still it was difficult. We committed her to pray specifically about baptism and if she should do it. We straight up taught her one day about the importance of baptism and when we finished the lesson with her she said the closing prayer and the words, "Do you want me to get baptized?" left her mouth!! It was really awesome and we passed by the other day and asked her if she wanted to get baptized and she said yes!!! Prayer works and God answers them when you are sincere and specific. 

I have to go really soon because the Internet shop where I'm at is closing for the siesta. Also unfortunately I don't have pictures this week but next week I will. Yeah the siesta is just when everyone here in South America stops working and sleeps for a good couple hours. They take a big break and the siesta starts at 1 and ends at 4. 

I love you all, I also want to wish my awesome sister Amanda a happy happy happy birthday. If I could sing to you I would but I can't haha. I love you Amanda and happy birthday and those of you who are reading this make sure you wish my sister a happy birthday. 

Have a great week!

Elder Jessop

A Week of Miracles!!

Hey everyone, Elder Jessop is here to tell you how great of a week I had! OK I had a great week. That's all. :D

OK really though I'll tell you all why it was so great. It was literally a week of miracles. Starting off on Wednesday.

Zone Conference: Wednesday we had a Zone Conference and it was the first Zone Conference of the new year and it was awesome! We set a baptism goal for the mission and the mission has a baptism goal of 2000 people! Man it was really awesome and I learned a lot of stuff, especially about the importance of remembering that I'm a representative of Jesus Christ and how we should act around others. Yes we are young adults and we like to goof around, but we must remember our calling.

Baptisms Guazu: There were 5 baptisms this weekend in the branch where I serve and 5 confirmations too. It was a week of miracles. I'll tell you now who they are and their names.

Eva Rodriguez: Eva is an awesome women. She is 60 years old, the one with the glasses, and I had the opportunity to baptize her. We went into the water and the first thing that she did was thank God and then me for the opportunity she had to get baptized. I remember the first day we walked to her door just a month ago and she told us how sad she was and how she was looking for happiness, and then she thanked us that day because we were smiling so much haha. I'm really grateful for her and for the opportunity I have to be a part of her life. She definitely has found happiness and I'm happy for her.

Ana Maria: Ana Maria is a girl that at first didn't want anything to do with the church, she went one Sunday and told us that our church didn't have any vigor. We kept stopping by and she decided to go one Sunday again and she told us that she loves how nice the members are in the church and she told us that members in her other church always called her bad names because she has a couple health problems. She is awesome and I love her very much and I also baptized her right after Eva. She really has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and she loves the church and she will now have the opportunity to be happy always.

Maria: This is the different Maria and she is the pregnant one in the picture. Two of us baptized her, Elder Goodell and I. I just helped bring her up really and she is awesome too. She always smiles at church when she sees us and talks to the members. She is pretty young, but she will have the chance to grow in the church and raise her child with great principles. 

Mabel: Mabel is the little girl that got baptized with Eva, Ana Maria, and Maria. She does not talk Spanish, only Gaurani. I had a hard time doing her baptism interview because she didn't talk Spanish haha. I had to talk in Guarani and ask for help from a member of the church. She is an awesome girl and I'm glad she had the chance to be baptized with her sister.

Belen: Belen was the only member of her family that wasn't a member of the church. The first time we asked her if she wanted to get baptized she told us she would never get baptized, it is awesome how God changes peoples hearts. She is the one that got baptized by herself Friday instead of Saturday and Elder Evans baptized her. Belen is awesome and I have really seen the change in her as she started going to church and receiving a testimony of the church. That testimony led her to the waters of baptism, and it was an awesome day.

Torta time: Torta means cake. Elder Evans and I made a GIANT cake. We cut it into really small pieces to feed everyone and you can see by the pictures how many people were there in the room. It was great and I cut the cake with elder Goodell and we had a lot of fun doing it.

My dear family and friends that are reading this letter from Elder Jessop. I want you all to know that I love you all very much. I've been gone for about 8 months and I've had several great experiences. I gave a talk in church yesterday and I talked about what missionaries do and about the hardships of the mission and the rejection and the people who don't accept us, or throw rocks at us, or whatever else you can think of. Then I started talking about the people that do accept and how that makes it all worth it. It really does. Every second is worth it for those people who accept because if I wasn't here they might not have accepted. I love you all very much and I hope you have a great week.

Also, Elder Evans cut my hair, that's why it looks TERRIBLE.

Love you all

Elder Jessop

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