July 17, 2017

I am doing really well! We had a great week of events.  On Tuesday, we had Zone Conference with all of the missionaries and were able to listen to President Evans along with our other leaders.  Sure was a good experience.  He mentioned a lot of things.  Repentance and Baptism was the focus (watched videos of apostles giving talks in the MTC - for missionaries)  and we read parts of the Book of Moses. Also talked on how we can contact by using the Family Proclamation.  Hna Gomez and I did a practice with President Evans.  On Tuesday, we started the day off early and visited Carmen.  I even peeled yuca and they were quite empressed haha Later that day we had interviews. It was so great talking to President in person.  I also had my 1 year anniversary being in Paraguay (passed the 13th) We have been sharing Alma 50:20 with the families in our ward.  Also we visited Beatriz - after running into her on the bus (she isnt a member, but her daughter and husband are) Her daughter is struggling with depression and I cannot fully express the experience I had with this family.  Sure have lots of love for them.  We shared DyC 31:1-3 with Beatriz and had her put her name in instead of Thomas.  We tried contacting references from last Sunday - that was an adventure.  ALSO we painted with the Benitez family and shared a message with the Hermano.  It was his first time.  We shared and read the whole chapter of Mosiah 12.  We talked about keeping the commandments.  On Sunday I got to work in YSAPY with Hermana Tandiman.  It felt good working in my old area.  We had success and contacted Dino.  Hopefully he will progress.  It is SOOOOOO cold in Paraguay.  So glad to hear that everyone is doing well.  Sure love hearing from you guys and being somewhat caught up haha EFY will be such a good experience for the boys.  Thats fun that the Zwalhens are coming over.  Make sure to tell them hi.  I wish I could have heard Matthew and Joeys talks.  I know they did a great job.  SUPER exciting about Dad.  WIll be an experience.  He will be such a good teacher.  LOVE YOU ALL.  Also shout out to Em for her birthday!

Love,

Hermana Alexander

Alma 50:20  Blessed art thou and thy children; and they shall be blessed, inasmuch as they shall keep my commandments they shall prosper in the land.  But remember, inasmuch as they will not keep my commandments they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

D&C 31:1-3  Thomas, my son, blessed are you because of your faith in my work.  Behold, you have had many afflictions because of your family; nevertheless, I will bless you and your family, yea, your little ones; and the day cometh that they will believe and know the truth and be one with you in my church.  Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation. 

July 10, 2017

I cannot fully express how amazing this week went. SO MANY BLESSINGS! We visited Carmen again and she told us that she prayed and knows that this church is true.  Hermana Gomez and I were beyond excited! She attended church with us along with her mom.  We are now  teaching her mom and she is very interested in the church.  We also met her other daughter and we are going to teach her along with her husband.  Carmen has a baptism date set for the 29th and we are hoping that her mom, sister, and brother in-law can accept a baptism date as well further down the road.  We also had an activity yesterday with the missionaries in our zone. From now on we are going to help each other out every sunday and work in our areas - so this week everyone in our zone came and helped us receive more investigators and references.  I did a division with Hermana Christenson.  She is just barely ending her first 6 weeks in the mission field. We sure had a good day together.  It's going to be fun finding out what area we'll work in next Sunday.  We have zone conference tomorrow.  It will be interesting to see what will be talked about tomorrow.  Oh, I also have been introduced to a lot of the members.  I loved meeting the Lucas Family and the Chavez family.  We had a good laugh with the Chavez family about nino jesus - we barely could get through a normal prayer.  SO much happened this week and I can't quite remember everything.  I have been really good about writing in my Journal and plan to do so everyday until the end of my mission.  Next week I will bring my journal so that I can write you more details, but what I have written is pretty much the best of the this week.  LOVE YOU ALL! SHOUT OUT TO DAVD! SOUTH AMERICA IS THE BEST! (ps changes are in two weeks! AWW 3 more for me) I think Itagua will be my last area, but we will see! 

Love,
Hermana Alexander

Happy 4th of July!

Cutest puppies..We named them Jasper & Jacob!

Love this spot!

Beautiful sunsets!

Yummy waffle!

It is such a pretty city! Lots of little shops and stuff!

July 3, 2017

Hey! I don't have much time to write, but I just want to say that I love you guys! Loved the Temple picture of the Alexander clan.  Dad looks so skinny! You all look so great! Emily looks amazing and so happy! I am sure the wedding and reception was really nice.  I finally got my package! I dont have time to send pictures, but will send one next week along with a 4th of July picture! My comp and I loved all the goods.  This week was quite a week.  I got sick as well and took a long time to recover.  Had a really high fever for a couple of days.  Sure felt the prayers.  I actually recieved a blessing and it quoted a scripture in D&C how when we go through lots of afflictions, there are blessings.  We also have a picture of Christ on our wall and I couldnt help but think that our Savior knew exactly how hna Gomez and I felt.  Luckily we attended church and were out all day today.  I am excited for this upcoming week.  Crazy news - got a call about flight info awww also funny thing - we were on a collectivo and this guy rapped about me haha well this cypher is going to close, but my comp wants to write her family tomorrow and I want more time so expect me to be online.  LOVE YOU

Hey just wanted to say HAPPY 4th of JULY! I am online...hoping you guys are online too P day was good! We went to Asuncion and stopped by luque.  We went to lunch and spent some time with other missionaries. My day is going pretty well today.  We had a reunion with the missionaries.  We have one every tuesday.  I have to go, but was so nice to chat for a sec LOVE YOU! 

June 26, 2017

So this week has been full of events - not sure exactly where I want to start. Oh and my area is city and open fields - Itaugua is HUGEEEEEE! I will start with our investigators.  So this week we taught Samuel along with a member jose.  We taught him about the Restoration and even shared the Restoration video.  He talked with some Elders a couple years back and he actually remembered some of the doctrine.  The spirit was so strong and he even accepted to get baptized on the 15th of july.  We are hoping that he will continue to grow and commit.  I also had another great experience this week - we were at an inactives house and painted her nails along with her cute daughters.  What was really neat is that I learned a bit of the traditional dance of Paraguay.  There was a huge celebration this week for San Juan.  We also did a Noche de Hogar with the Benitez family.  Sure family to me.  We talked about the 10 commandments.  I also met Carmen who has been an investigator for awhile and we taught her about the Restoration and she accepted to get baptized.  We are working a lot with family history and the member progressing sheet with our recent converts and inactives.  We also helped with a wedding and a baptism for the Elders.  CRAZIEST THING - Hermana Gomez is super sick and we were at the hospital until 11:00 last night. She has had a fever for 3 days.  We didn't even go to church.....  She is getting better.  There is this HUGE flu going around here in Paraguay.  I am actually starting to feel sick, but I'm taking meds and we'll probably take it easy this week.  I was with her the whole time - blood tests, exams, etc It was quite the experience.  Our first time - at least we were going through it together. She is sure a trooper.  We talked with President and Hermana Evans.  The members here are wonderful! They took us down to Asuncion and helped us with the meds and all.  HUGE shoutout to Hermano Acosta! So crazy about Emily's wedding.  A bit bummed that I didn't get a pic in time.  Our District leader picked up my package today and I should get it tomorrow.  We have a meeting with our Distrcit.  Poor Elders had to truck it along with them in collectivos and kept telling me how HUGE it is haha   Also love the trek and Mexico pictures! Sure looks like you guys are busy!  

LOVE YOU ALLL

Hermana Alexander

 

June 19, 2017

MEXICO LOOKS LIKE A BLAST! Seriously LOVE all the pictures - HOT DANGGGGG! I have a good looking family.  Sure a neat experience for you guys!  Seriously so happy that you got some great family time along with serving the people of Mexico.   
So this week was the week for changes and I am in ITAUGUA with Hermana Gomez from Columbia.  We had a great first week together She made me fried banannas - they are like french fries (she bought the banannas green) What is even crazier is that we have had 2 of the same companions - Hna Rodriguez and Hna. Roncallo )  
So we found 3 new people this week.  We are now teaching Beatriz, who is the mom of a recent convert and her husband is a member.  For along time she hasn't wanted to hear from the missionaries, but now she wants us to keep teaching her.  We taught her the Plan of Salvation.  We also met Samuel, he is a friend of a member and he attended church this Sunday.  He participated in our class and even said the closing prayer.  He is ready.  President also spoke in church and afterwards we had a meeting with the youth about preparing to go on a mission.  I am part of a ward with so many youth! It is awesome! We also contacted this young girl and we taught her a bit of lesson 1.  Cannot wait for what happens next week.  Love you guys!  

Hermana Alexander

June 13, 2017

HEYYYYYYY so sorry that I missed y'all yesterday. It was a holiday in Paraguay so all of the stores/cyphers were closed.  MUCH HAS HAPPENED THIS WEEK!  I will start off by giving you the upates on the changes. SOOOOOOOOOO Hermana Roncallo and I are both leaving Mariano!  We are heading to Campo Grande tonight to spend the night with the Hermanas there and then on Wednesday we will find out where we are going and who we will be with.  Hermana Roncallo and I aren't quite sure if we will be comps for this change, but whatever happens is suppose to happen.  I am really excited to see what's in store! We had a good week and a really great lesson with Naty and her aunt about our purpose here on earth and how Christ is our Savior.  We also had some interesting first contacts..especially with Ericko. 

We had a great reunion today and you will be happy that I took lots of pictures this week. I am sure blessed! This change was sure a journey, but I learned that God always has something greater in store for us - we just have to get over the humps along the way and let Him be in charge. Having a positive attitude is KEY!  The mission is about our investigators, but also sometimes more for our companions.  I sure love every minute of the mission.  I loved all the pictures that you sent.  I totally forgot about the upstage shows! I know that it was great!  I am excited about your Mexico trip! Cannot wait to see all the pictures! Also trek will be a really great experience! Super crazy that School is out! I know that the boys just love that! How awesome about baseball too! I sure love you guys and really feel the love and support! You are the best! LOVE YOU!

Hermana Alexander

Excited to hear from Sister Hilton!

June 5, 2017

Hey! So the Temple trip didn't quite work out this week, but we'll go soon! This week was a good week and full of many interesting events.  I was able to meet recent converts, Erica and Yanina.  They are the cutest.  We sang and shared a message with them.  They even showed me their pigs - got some pictures with them.   Earilier this week, we went to the hospital to do some test for Hermana Roncallo.  We will be back in Asuncion on wednesday. The first test she had was negative, so hopefully the second will be the same and we can go from there.  Today we had a good P day - we had a yummy lunch and we went with two other Hermanas.  As for the work we are doing our best.  We are just planting seeds and continue inviting people to feel the love that God has for them (one time visit or contact) - just sharing our Testimonies on the streets.  We have faith that Naty is growing spiritually and recieving a testimony.  Also changes are coming up! We find out the news this Sunday! Sounds like you will have a great summer! Super exciting about Mexico and Trek. I sure love you all and really appreciate all your prayers.  I love you guys! 

Random Things 

We had two rappers sing on the bus

I got a HUGE hair in my eye from this other woman (we were on the bus - it was the entertainment)

We ran out of gas on our stove (was sunday so we did noodles in a cup)

Rains, stops, POURSSS