Abby in Paraguay: October 17, 2016

HELLO from Ysapy! Boy this week was a busy one! I took lots of photos as well so get ready for an email overload! hahaha So I will just write some of the highlights from this week. All of the missionaries in our zone participated in a stake activity with all of the youth. A TON of youth attended which was SO awesome! We did divisions with the other missionaries and with the youth and taught less active members in the stake. Our investigators Claudia and Pedro attended Sacrament meeting! The attendance this Sunday was 130! It was the Primary Program. They sure loved it and there little girl did too! It reminded me of the boys singing! aw sure miss them!

We had a really great lesson with Andresa and Christan. They were thinking about splitting....we had them read the Proclamation to the World and discussed with them the great roles that a mother and father play for their children. I expressed with great love that their child is their joy and I know that they want what is best for Angel. I said the true way to happiness is this gospel and living by it's principles. The spirit was so strong! We also taught Olga who is a member and is struggling with her health. We read
D&C 58 verse 4. It talks about with great afflictions comes great blessings. This was such a great reminder for me. We constantly need to be firm in our faith. Through the Savior and through our faith we can do all things. She is in the hospital but was able to recieve a blessing. MARINA had her baby! It is a boy! I am very close with this family. We were able to visit her yesterday! We also visited a member in our ward who is struggling with her faith as well. I discussed how we constantly need the Savior in our everyday lives. Afflictions help us cling to our Savior. What was sweet was that she wanted me to say the closing prayer. I did!
I ate bamboo as well as a tart mango with salt. Hermana Maldonado LOVES tart mangos with salt and bamboo. She said people from her area eat this all of the time. I also got to experience and watch chickens getting ready to be cooked. Their legs were all tied. One was already dead but luckily we left before anything else happened haha
It is starting to get SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hot in PARAGUAY! HOLY COW! People say just wait until December! As Hermana Maldonado would say....Santa Vaca hahaha All the electricity went out in Paraguay yesterday. We have had lots of storms which make the weather EVEN hotter. THANK GOODNESS FOR ICE CREAM. Today we had a zone activity! It was fun getting to know our Zone better. We played Volleyball and shared pictures and had a water balloon fight. YAY for p day clothes! Hermana Maldonado loves the Sunscreen that we packed haha of course I let her use it! WOW everyone is getting engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So crazy and so exciting! I am so happy for Hanna and Abbey! Mckay visited Upstage! I am sure that was fun to see and catch up with him. Hope he is doing well! My Spanish is IMPROVING! WOOHOO! Overall it has been a great week! It makes me so happy to hear that all is well for you guys! LOVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE everyone back home! Sure appreciate your prayers!

Love,

Hermana Alexander

D&C 58:4 For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.