week One

Hey all!

So you are all probably wondering why I´m sending my email on monday.
well monday is my actual pday. on transfer weeks we get one on
thursday so the new missionaries can get everything situated.

Packages can be send here send them to the mission home and put a
religious sticker on it and it will be all good. also send pictures
because the members love seeing you all.

Well this past week has been full of interesting experiences. The
first one occurred Friday night. We just finished dropping off our wash
to Hma Lopez when returning to our home (which is right above a tinny
store, there are many houses that have little stores in them) there
was a group of people parked outside drinking. I could see that my
companion was getting kinda nervous so when they yelled out ¨hey
where is my friend?¨ he started freaking out a little bit.

I being the person that I am was like oh look people who speak
English. I speak nothing but Spanish and Guarani all day so lets have
a little chat. It turns out that the guy speaking English one, wasnt
drunk yay, and two is American but has lived in Paraguay for the last
20 years or so. We sat down and chatted and the focus was all on me.
Not in a negative way like why are you here? and such and such. It was
more ``welcome to my country, we are so happy to have you here. we are
a bunch of lawyers and judges who come here every friday to hang out.
so if you ever run into trouble just tell us. now i want to give you
some advice.´´ tony (his name) started to talk about how much he
admired us and how his focus was that i am safe and do my work in his
country and to know that i have people that i can depend on.

This is not the first time this has happened. Yes, the first one in
English, but in multiple homes of investigators and members they are
completely focused on making sure that i am safe.

honestly how saweeeet is that. it just shows how truly humble and
kind these people are. I am so grateful to be with them and showing
them the gospel.

Second story. (prayer and family)

So we were teaching an inactive and her family one night and after we
left and got home i came to realize that i lost the only picture that
i have of my family (send more please they love seeing you all).
honestly it killed me. i didnt sleep well that night and that is all i
thought about for the next morning was how i lost the only photo of my
family. i went to read all of the letters and advice that was given me
earlier on that day which did comfort me but i still wanted to find
the picture. i honestly love my family so much and they are such a great influence in
my life. that is why this gospel is for the family is so all can feel
that love for the family.

me and my companion knelt down and prayed for me to find my scripture
just a small and simple thing. later on in the day we decided to visit
that inactive family. when we got there she came out and said ``elder
wilson i have the photo of your family you must have dropped it.´´ I
was so happy to see it and we were able to do a great lesson on the
family because of it. i know that the lord answers our prayers both
big and small that is a perfect example of it.

Sunday

so sunday we have to hurry a little bit faster to get ready because
our church is at 8. if i was at the Y that would have killed me but
here I'm fine. we go to church which is a 15 min walk from our house
and had a great priesthood meeting. the ward attendance goes from 28
or so to 50 depending on the week. then we go to do our Gospel
principles class but unfortunately no one was able to come. so we went
outside to call up our investigators to see what was up and see what
we can do to help them get to class.
so here comes the interesting part. the ward missionary asked if i
played piano and i said i did for a while and i can read music so i'll
try to get a song down for sacrament so i went to practice 10min or so
before sacrament. after some practice a piano player came on in and
said that he knew how and i was all good. as i got up to talk to my
companion 


but i love you all and care for you dearly. i am so grateful for this
gospel and the joy that it brings.

love,

Elder Parker Wilson