5-14-14 Ché Paraguayo‏

Hellos everyone!! Happy Mothers Day!!!!!! I know that it is not until Sunday, but Every day should be a great day for good ol´ mom. Right mom :D

This week was pretty good and I will let you guys in on what happen in just a bit. 

El viaje al templo: We went to the temple this week in Paraguay. It was a pretty short trip now that I'm here in Asuncion, but it was excellent. I sent some pictures to you all of the temple and some of the missionaries I was there with. The Elder who is my companion is the Elder who is about the same height as me and that is American, his name is Elder Peterson and he is excellent. We are doing tons of stuff together and we are enjoying the ride. He is the lucky Elder that will be with me when I hit the half way mark. Every time he hears a plane he tells me how long I have left until I'm done, which is really bad but we just kinda laugh it off. I don't want to leave, it is not my time yet. I learned a lot when I was in the temple and especially I learned about the importance of the plan of salvation. The reason why missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints invite people to be baptized is so that they can know about the plan of happiness that God has given us so that they can find it and not only find it but receive the happiness that God has promised us. I like seeing people happy and I know that getting baptized will help them be happier, then these people will have the opportunity to do other covenants with god so that they are even more happy. Everything God has done is so that we can be happy and it is kinda cool.

Stake Conference: We had stake conference this weekend and it was awesome and they had a really cool presentation about missionary work, which involved 4 teenagers. There was a 16 year old kid in one of the wards in the stake where I'm serving who is a member and he shared the gospel with his friend. His friend ended up being baptized and was baptized about 1 year ago. The friend shared the gospel with a different friend who ended up getting baptized too and he got baptized 6 months ago. Then the kid who got baptized 6 months ago shared the gospel with another friend who got baptized 2 months ago. It is amazing to see the chain that was shown here when one kid shared the gospel. The first kid decided to share the gospel with his friend and as a result 3 people got baptized. If you are a member reading this I invite you to share the gospel like these young valiant men and the Lord will bless your life and if you are not a member yet I invite you to research and talk with the missionaries and listen to the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

WE are still looking for a house here too but we think that we might have found one. It isn't much of a house, it is more like a giant room with a bathroom. I will let you know what happens.

I love you guys and I got to go. I will be skyping the good old family this week and hopefully that will be extraordinarily awesome and I am very excited.

Elder Jessop

I'm Staying In Ettiene

Hello everyone!! 

I'm still here. Sometimes I forget that... I feel like I'm in a whole different world sometimes. This place where I am at reminds me a lot of Los Angeles, but a little less American. It is a very wealthy part and the people are excellent for the most part. It has been fun up to this point in Ettiene.

Martes: We had changes this week and I am now the District Leader of the offices of the mission here in Paraguay and I stayed here in Ettiene and I got a new companion. His name is Elder Peterson and he is from Texas and I will send a picture of us in the coming weeks. We have quite a bit in common. We both played high school football and he has a football and it is awesome. I haven't touched like a real football in a while. 

Miércoles: We had to go to the terminal for the changes and I got to see tons of missionaries from the mission. I saw my trainer Elder Morgan, who goes home this change and I also saw Elder Evans who I trained in Paraguarí. Missionaries keep leaving and leaving and coming and coming it all happens so fast these days, but the changes are always fun to ask the missionaries how everything is. 

Jueves: We had lunch with a member who is in the High Council of the stake here and they fed us and gave us a couple of references that we went and contacted. We contacted one of the references and his name was Diego. He use to have a huge drug problem, but now he quite all the drugs, but he still has a tobacco problem, but with the Gospel of Jesus Christ anything is possible. We taught him and invited him to be baptized and he accepted in the first lesson and we invited him to go to church and it was an excellent lesson that we had.

Viernes: Friday was kinda rough. We walked pretty much the whole day and it was very awesome. We tried to bare our afflictions the best that we could and endure the rejection. We did have a great lesson though with one of our investigators Josefina and she is really progressing and that made it very very worth it. Every time we bare our afflictions with faith, the Lord will sustain us and lift us up. That is what I learn that day.

Sábado: There was a baptism this day of a girl named Concepcion!!!!!!! She is about 70 and was baptized. She came to church every week and she was finally baptized on Saturday and it was a very nice experience. I forgot my camera, so I didn't take pictures but the sisters did and she was just so happy after she was baptized. She was like shining and had a big old smile on her face!! I knew in my heart that she was clean and Concepcion even said it herself. 

Domingo: Diego came to church!!!! We went and got him at his house and we walked to church together! This was his 2nd time and he said that he loved it. I was very excited to see him all ready to go when we went to his house. After church we also went looking for a house. We have basically been mandated by our President to look for a house and nothing else, but luckily we think that we might have found one and I am really excited to go look at it today! I will let you guys know on that later.

We are entering into May again and it is crazy to think that the time has passed so fast. I am getting my hair cut today too. It is weird really, life just kind of goes with or without you and we should really go with it. I have seen the blessings of the Lord in my life as I have gone with life in the way that he went with his. I love Paraguay. I love missionary work and I love seeing the faces of the people who ask God about our message and accept it when they receive an answer from him that it is true. I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Congrats to Johnny and Meagan for there wedding in Lake Arrowhead. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there but I know that you are both very happy!

Elder Jessop

HAPPY EASTER!!

Hello everyone!! I have 15 minutes to tell you all that's happened!! Happy Easter!

Tuesday: We had a district meeting and the Zone Leaders came to it, so we were not the only Elders and we learned a lot about the importance of being with members and talking to them often and how we should use them. We also learned how we can always invite people to be baptized the first lesson and even the first time we meet them. Tuesday we also had to cook at home and that was a small but delicious meal.

Wednesday: We had an awesome lesson with a girl named Josefina who went to church this week and we are teaching her a lot and she is preparing to be baptized in the church soon. She is awesome and I will let you guys know more about her later. We also ate at a members house on Wednesday, we ate like milanea which is a meat type thing and it was one of the first houses that had a salad here so I ate all of it.

Thursday: The rain started on Thursday. Here in Paraguay for Easter they have a thing called Semana Santa and everything is canceled. This day we were invited to a members house to eat dinner named Estela and she gave us chicken and meat. That evening we also had the chance to be apart of a blessing of a house of some members who just moved in. The Melgareho family. 

Friday: Friday it rained hard. I taught my first lesson in English too while we were in a members house. He knows English and he has Parkinson's disease and we are trying to help him. The Relief Society went to his house and cleaned everything, which was very nice. His name is Javier and he also gave us a music player that looks like a plane. I took a pic and I'm sending it to you.

Saturday: It rained a ton today too, but it was an awesome day while we were walking in the rain. I had a baptism interview this day too of a guy who is like 70 and he doesn't want to get baptized yet until he feels better health wise.... He is 70 and I pray that he gets healthier so that he can get baptized.

Sunday: EASTER SUNDAY!! Here they don't do Easter egg hunts, but church was very awesome. Josefina came to church and the bishop talked about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and how one day we will all be resurrected like he was. 

I had an experience that kinda rocked my world. We ran into a couple of 20 and 18 years old kids yesterday and we taught them about Jesus Christ and we invited them to be baptized, but the 18 year old couldn't stop laughing. I find out that right before we got there he was smoking marijuana. We are going back there Tuesday, but after the lesson I realized in what different stages in our lives we are in. We are the same exact age, but in levels totally different. I look forward to being apart of his change of heart, but it was amazing to see how equal we are in terms of age, but also how different and far apart we are in the stages of our life. For that I am grateful for Heavenly Father and his love. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice.

I love you all. Today we are doing an Easter Egg Hunt. I am way excited. New change is in 3 days and we got new agendas.!! Love you all be safe!

Elder Jessop

Ettiene‏

This week went by way fast and some things might of happen, I'm going to try and tell you them.

Walking: We walked at least 20 miles this week at least. All we do is walk and I'm lucky that my shoes are staying together because here they have stuff called empadrada and is it basically compacted rock into the ground. It hurts to walk on sometimes and my shoes are holding up so that makes me happy. 

Zone Conference: This week we had a zone conference and we studied a talk by an apostle named Elder Bednar about the importance of being a missionary that Preach My Gospel teaches us to be. We studied a lot about that and how we can always try to keep improving and never stay in a static state. 

Eyes: My eyes are getting better. I still have an infection in my right one, but the doctor said to keep using the eye drops and I will be fine. I am not going to lie, but sometimes I forget on purpose because I hate eye drops. My mom and sister used to have to tie me down to put eye drops in my eyes, but they will heal soon. 

Food/Work out Plan: OK in case you all haven't noticed, I have been gaining a little bit of weight thanks to the Paraguayan food. The food here is not very healthy for you at all. I have made a plan for exercising and eating so that I can get back to my normal weight and be good again. My exercise plan consists of:

                1. 1 thousand jump ropes

                2. 100 push ups (30-25-20-15-10)

                3. 50 russian twists

                    40 abdominales

                    30 knees to chest

                    20 leg lifts

                    100 flutter kicks

               4. 50 double jumps.

An I got 30 minutes to do it all. It is good fun and I hope it helps me loose the paraguayan fat I have gained jajaja. I also am trying to eat better and tell members healthier foods. Whenever I say that I don't want more because I am full they think I don't like the food and they get offended, so I end up eating more so they don't get offended, but I get fatter. There is a win win situation here and when I find it I will tell you all haha.

Love you all. I am out of time. Have a great week!! Que Dios les bendiga.

Elder Jessop

General Conference‏!!

Hello everyone today is a great Monday here in Paraguay! 

Nice and hot and I'm like sweating from every pore. It is not the most attractive thing in the world, but attractiveness rules fly out the window as a missionary. A couple great things happened this week and I'd like to tell you guys all that happened, so I will. Obvio.

Tuesday: We had the district meeting and the sisters and my companion are awesome. I've got the sister leader trainers in my district and they do work. It is definitely different coming from a district of all Elders and coming here. During the district meeting we talked about the importance of studies and how we need to have efficient study sessions to have the spirit with us daily, so we can be guided to the people the Lord needs us to meet.

Wednesday: We had interviews with the President of the mission, President Aggazani. He is from Argentina so his accent is really different from the Paraguayans. My interview was like 20 minutes, usually they are 5 to 10 min. His timer on his phone went off to tell him that he needed to end the interview and he just kept going. We talked a lot about plans and how we have to have plans so that we can achieve our desires. Then he talked to me about girls & how I can't just go home one day and have a plan to date every girl I can, but I have to have specific plans and cut down the girl pool so that it is easier to find the girl that I am looking for. That was an awesome interview. Desires with specific plans leads to specific results.

                   

I also got my giant package from my parents this day. It was like 15 kilos which is like 35 pounds. I got my package from the mission office, I had to carry it to the bus stop, had to get on the packed bus with it, then I had to walk a mile from the bus stop to my house with a 35 pound square box. You should have seen the peoples faces when they saw me. Blonde guy walking around the street with a big old box. That was quite the adventure. My parents sent me Oreo's, Cheese Its, canned foods, a party bag of Reese's Pieces, pudding, apple sauce, and peanut butter. They sent me a jump-rope too, which I have used every day since. It was almost like my parents thought I was starving or something haha. I thank my parents for the box, but the best part by far was the bubble wrap. I'm still popping every little bubble I can. 

                   

I also had to go to the doctors today for the first time on my mission. I have an eye infection it turns out, so I bought some drops and I should be good as new. The presidents wife told me that I needed to go, so I went. I´ll let you guys know if it goes away next week.

Thursday: Weekly Planning, nuff said.

Friday: Friday was a great day. What happened exactly I don't remember, but I know that it was great. I will take better notes next week.....

Saturday and Sunday: These two days we had General Conference, which is a semiannual conference that the church does every 6 months. It was awesome and we had two investigators go. If any of you didn't have the opportunity to hear the conference you can get on LDS.org and look them up. The North Americans were in one room watching it in English and the rest where in the Sacrament room watching it in Spanish. I watched two sessions in Spanish because of our investigators, but it was still pretty cool. Hearing the words of the living prophets and apostles was excellent. 

I know the church is true. I know that there are living prophets and apostles on the earth today and that they are called of God. 

The mission is going by fast. It is April already and before I know it I will be home.. I have felt the love of the Lord in my life and I know he lives. 

Elder Jessop

This Week Went By Fast‏..........

Greetings from a big city in Paraguay. Good old Elder Jessop is here to lead the way with a great letter to write to everyone. This week went by fast! I was thinking today about what I was going to write to you all and the only day I could remember was yesterday and as it so happens, yesterday was a great day. 4 investigators went to church yesterday!!! I'm going to tell you a little bit about them in a second.

Jorge: Jorge is a guy that lives with his dad. When we met him he wasn't working, his wife had just had a miscarriage of his two kids that were going to be born and he was pretty upset at God. His first question to us was, "Why would God leave a guy without a job and why would he take two of my kids away from me if he really is loving." I will tell you right now at the moment I didn't know what to say, then I thought about his question long and hard and I opened up the scriptures and we tried to teach him why something like that would happen. The scriptures are a powerful tool to invite the spirit. The next time we visited him during our visit he told us that he had found a job and that we brought him good luck, then I remembered the importance of recognizing God when he blesses us. He then came to church last week and yesterday he came to church again. His job makes it hard for us to visit him, but he is progressing very well and is way happier than the first time we met him.

Arnaldo and Elizabeth: These two also went to church yesterday with their 2 year old son. They are not married, but they want to get married and they want to start keeping the commandments of God and they came to church and it was really funny what happened. They got lost and right before sacrament we had to go find them and they were walking in the complete opposite direction. At least we found them and they made it to church and they are awesome.

Josefina: This girl was a contact who has been to the United States several times and the first thing she told us was that she wanted to go to church. AND SHE CAME!!! It was awesome! We called her Sunday morning and she was like yeah I'm coming. She had a great time and she sat with the Relief Society President. We haven't actually taught her yet, but we are going to her house tomorrow. We will find out more about her tomorrow.

Honestly I am having a great time. I love it here. It is a lot of work and my body is definitely getting its use, but it is amazing all the things that are happening. I'm changing. The members of my family are changing too. I love every second. I know that the church is true and I invite everyone who reads this email to find out for themselves if it is true. I know it is, if I didn't I wouldn't be spending two years of my life here, but I know it is true. I am giving two years of my life for the salvation of many. It is worth every second.

Elder Jessop

Week 2 of Ettiene

This week it rained. I sent pictures of a flood last week, but this week it was way worse and we are looking for a new house, so I happened to have my camera with me because I have to take pictures of houses. Yeah anyways HI. I'm doing great here from Paraguay. I'm on a computer here in a Cyber place and there are 2 kids next to me listening to country music.... It is really weird. I'm going to tell you all what happened this week now.

Rain: Yea so it rained for three days straight and the roads flooded. It was quite the experience. A lot of the cars got stuck and we did too. That day we taught 1 lesson to a girl named Lorena. It stopped raining for 30 minutes so she let us in haha. We were pretty wet, but we did a lot of things and we found a lot of people knocking on houses. A lot of the houses here have big giant gates and have speaker boxes, so you can walk up on a house that has one of these and they don't even leave the house. They just say "Que dicen". We found a nice trick that keeps us healthy and gets the people to leave their house. WE ASK FOR WATER!! Here in Paraguay it is really hot and the people feel bad, so sometimes when the people don't leave the house right away to talk to us, we ask for water and they come out and we talk to them. In my other areas that wasn't a problem, but here asking for water has worked great! In the rain it doesn't because know one wants to leave in the rain, but it works when it is not raining. 

FRANCISO VIñas: This last Wednesday a 70 came to talk to us name Francisco Viñas. He is a leader of the church here in South America and he talked to us a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what we have to do to accept him into our lives so we can be better missionaries. It was a great conference and it really helped me remember the sacrifice that Jesus Christ did for me. He died for me and through him I can be saved if I do my part. He has already done his, it's just up to me and everyone of us to do our own part.

LUNCH: Elder Arrington and I cooked on Wednesday too before the conference and we made an egg thing. He washed the potatoes and chopped them and cooked them. I cut the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and hot dogs and cooked them all and then we mixed the potatoes with the other stuff and it was a great lunch that we might do again this week.

Everything is going great here. We are working with 4 investigators right now named Lorena, Jorge, Arnaldo and Elizabeth. Jorge went to church Sunday, Lorena is going to get baptized and Arnaldo and Elizabeth want to live according to the laws of God. I will let you know more about them next week.

I love you all and I hope that you all have great weeks filled with laughter. Always gotta laugh sometimes.

Elder Jessop

I Got Changed!!

Hello everyone!! I got some good news! I got changed!! I moved to Asuncion. I'm like in the city and it is giant. Cars everywhere, the houses are giant, it is chuchi(rich) land. I'll tell you about the week now.

Ettiene: I got moved to a place called Ettiene and I am a district leader again, fourth change in a row. In my district there are 3 companionship's of sisters & my companion, and I. My whole district is filled of sister missionaries. I cant do divisions, but I have the Sister Leader Trainers in my district, so they do divisions for me. I also have a new companion named Elder Arrington and he has 3 months less than me in the mission and is from Utah. I'm really excited to be here and I will let you all know about the miracles that happen here in Ettiene. We are looking for a house to move into, we don't have water here and I have been bucket bathing for the last 5 days which has been really fun. We literally fill up a bucket, get a bowl, and dump water over our heads. The amazing life of being in South America.

Dog: I sent pictures of a dog because my dog bandit looks exactly like the dog I met here in Paraguay, so I took a picture of it and sent it. It made me really happy. :D

Flood: It has rained 3 times this week and I guess when it rains the streets flood here too, even though we are in the city. It is really funny to see the crazy drivers drive in the rain. The drivers here are nuts and in the rain it is even worse with pot holes everywhere and stuff.

Scripture Covers: I also got some really COOL scripture covers for my Spanish scriptures. There is a guy here named Gustavo who makes scripture covers for the missionaries in all of Paraguay and he made mine too and they are sweet. I took and sent pictures so you can all see how cool they are. They were expensive too (for Paraguay), but way worth it. 

Soccer: We had our last district activity in my district in Paraguari and we played a lot of soccer and my team lost. (See photo of our team) There really isn't winning and losing but we lost.... Soccer here is like more important than everything. When your team loses it is like the end of the world and the World Cup in Brazil is coming up, so things are about the get crazy, but luckily Paraguay didn't get in, but I feel really bad for the missionaries in Brazil. They are not going to be able to leave for days.

Things are going great here in Paraguay. Time is flying really fast. I haven't been here that long, but it has been a long time. I'm loving every second and learning everyday. I learned a really good lesson about listening to the Spirit and the importance of having it always with you. We need to invite good things into our lives so that we can have the spirit, if not we will loose it. It is a blessing to have the gift of the Holy ghost in my life. I just did my shopping for the week and it is time to finish. I have been on for 59 minutes, so that means that it is time to get out of here. Love your guts! Have a great week & please and stay safe :D

Elder Jessop