This was an incredible week. Sadly most of our investigators all fell. Silvio started avoiding us, Carlos´s wife doesn´t have a testimony of the church so she isn´t helping her kids at all. Normally that would seem pretty bleak. But Yessica is my ray of sunshine. She gets baptized this Saturday. Her testimony is SOOO powerful. She knows that the Book of Mormon is true and she wants to share that with her whole family, her friends, everybody really. She is always just so happy and she seems to animate the whole ward. Everybody has agreed to come to the baptism and I think I´m going to be able to end the mission on a VERY high note.
The zone conference was amazing. Zone conferences usually have about 2 or 3 zones in it and at the end President gave a little bit of time for the "trunkies" as we´re called to give our last testimony. There was an amazing spirit there. I loved it. It´s a beautiful feeling knowing that you made a difference. There were a lot of REALLY good friends there that I couldn´t forget even if I wanted to. President Callan´s daughters were there for the conference. I felt a little bad for them because absolutely everything was in Spanish and they sat there for all of it. It think it´s cool that they can still see their family.
The way it will work next week is that Monday and Tuesday will be normal for me, I´ll work like normal. Wednesday I´ll go to the office and spend the night there. I will still write next week.
And the money is in the office. Elder Bowns always takes care of me. But I do my part. The last couple of months either he or Hermana Callan have been calling me for food questions like what is cornstarch in Spanish or what brand is best or does shortening exist in Paraguay or things like that. Well it turns out that Hermana Callan wanted to make an official Paraguay Asunción Mission cookbook. It has a lot of normal recipes like meatloaf, how to cook rice, stew, things like that plus Paraguayan food (the few that are worth eating) and they put it in Spanish and English. We all got them at Zone conference yesterday. President Callan told me that the majority of the mission will starve when I go home. I hope not :-)
I´m very excited to work this week. Please send my love to the family, the Raineys, the Broadbents, the Millers, the Holts, the Marxs, Maria, Sister Thompson, Vicki, the Carrs, Sister Jestes, everybody. I´m excited to sing hymns in English again. I´m excited to squeeze my nephews. I´m excited to make jokes and laugh...in English. I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
See you all next week.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Email 07/26/10
The weather has improved a whole lot. The week started off rainy but it ended nice. It´s still fairly cold but I like it that way. It´s a shame that I can´t bring it home. Carlos and his family are still going good but they had to go back to Argentina for the week to get the rest of their stuff so we couldn´t teach them much.
One thing that Elder Nolet and I did this week is we worked out of our Area Book. The idea is that in every area there´s a big folder where you keep...like a journal of what we do here. And so anybody that you teach and whatever it is that you teach them should go in the book. We know that not everybody that we teach will get baptized but maybe someone else can baptize them later. So Elder Nolet and I were going through these entries and we found a LOT of good people.
We found a guy named Silvio in the Area Book that´s nothing short of amazing. He plays the drums in a band and he is REALLY smart. We gave him a Book of Mormon and gave him Enos to read. We saw him a couple of hours later and he told us that he had finished and asked if it was a hint to make him pray the whole day. It is SOOOOO hard to get people to read on their own here and it is so wonderful to find someone that does that.
We also found a great family called Familía Almada. They are amazing people but it seems that the old missionaries trained them wrong. They told us that they didn´t like it when the new missionaries used the Book of Mormon all the time and when they only wanted to spend like 30 or 40 minutes. So we were walking on egg shells for a little bit but I think we won them over.
That´s so cool to hear about the ward. We´re so blessed to have such a great ward with the members and leaders that live there. I´ve seen when things aren´t...run as they should be and how much that kills everybody.
One cool thing is that next week for p-day Elder Pitcher and I will go back to Itá to visit our people. He was in Itá before me and he goes home with me too. I´ll write next week but with the traveling it might just be "Hi, bye."
Thank you so much for the encouragement that you always send me. And I´m still working strong. I´m blessed to have a very driven companion and a very inspired president. And thank you so much for taking care of the missionaries in your wards. I´ve been blessed so much. Especially in my last area with the Espinolas. People like them make it seem that home is so close and that the family isn´t far away. Thank you so much for that.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
One thing that Elder Nolet and I did this week is we worked out of our Area Book. The idea is that in every area there´s a big folder where you keep...like a journal of what we do here. And so anybody that you teach and whatever it is that you teach them should go in the book. We know that not everybody that we teach will get baptized but maybe someone else can baptize them later. So Elder Nolet and I were going through these entries and we found a LOT of good people.
We found a guy named Silvio in the Area Book that´s nothing short of amazing. He plays the drums in a band and he is REALLY smart. We gave him a Book of Mormon and gave him Enos to read. We saw him a couple of hours later and he told us that he had finished and asked if it was a hint to make him pray the whole day. It is SOOOOO hard to get people to read on their own here and it is so wonderful to find someone that does that.
We also found a great family called Familía Almada. They are amazing people but it seems that the old missionaries trained them wrong. They told us that they didn´t like it when the new missionaries used the Book of Mormon all the time and when they only wanted to spend like 30 or 40 minutes. So we were walking on egg shells for a little bit but I think we won them over.
That´s so cool to hear about the ward. We´re so blessed to have such a great ward with the members and leaders that live there. I´ve seen when things aren´t...run as they should be and how much that kills everybody.
One cool thing is that next week for p-day Elder Pitcher and I will go back to Itá to visit our people. He was in Itá before me and he goes home with me too. I´ll write next week but with the traveling it might just be "Hi, bye."
Thank you so much for the encouragement that you always send me. And I´m still working strong. I´m blessed to have a very driven companion and a very inspired president. And thank you so much for taking care of the missionaries in your wards. I´ve been blessed so much. Especially in my last area with the Espinolas. People like them make it seem that home is so close and that the family isn´t far away. Thank you so much for that.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
Monday, July 26, 2010
Email 07/19/10
Happy Birthday Mamma. I love you and miss you so much.
This past week was a wonderful week up until the end. Wednesday night, we were at the chappel and a guy came up to us. He said that was a member and he had just moved to the area. We looked on my map and thankfully he lived in our area. His name is Carlos Ibarrola and he is heaven sent. He told us that night that his inlaws weren´t members and that his stepdaughter wasn´t either and he made the appointments to for us to teach them. I was practically in tears, I was so happy. We taught his daughter Carol and things just looked wonderful. But then on Saturday came the rain and it didn´t stop until a couple of hours ago. It stormed all weekend and the rain was VERY cold. It just killed Sunday. We couldn´t drag anybody to church. It´s funny how things happen like that.
Elder Nolet was born in the church. He has a year in the mission. He´s a good teacher and a very good worker. It makes it nice to be able to end on a high note. We communicate fairly well but he walks around with a dictionary just in case, and yes you say his name like Chevrolet.
As for the chess master, I usually last about 10 minutes or so against him. He´s really good.
Sorry it´s short this week.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
This past week was a wonderful week up until the end. Wednesday night, we were at the chappel and a guy came up to us. He said that was a member and he had just moved to the area. We looked on my map and thankfully he lived in our area. His name is Carlos Ibarrola and he is heaven sent. He told us that night that his inlaws weren´t members and that his stepdaughter wasn´t either and he made the appointments to for us to teach them. I was practically in tears, I was so happy. We taught his daughter Carol and things just looked wonderful. But then on Saturday came the rain and it didn´t stop until a couple of hours ago. It stormed all weekend and the rain was VERY cold. It just killed Sunday. We couldn´t drag anybody to church. It´s funny how things happen like that.
Elder Nolet was born in the church. He has a year in the mission. He´s a good teacher and a very good worker. It makes it nice to be able to end on a high note. We communicate fairly well but he walks around with a dictionary just in case, and yes you say his name like Chevrolet.
As for the chess master, I usually last about 10 minutes or so against him. He´s really good.
Sorry it´s short this week.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
Email 07/15/10
This past week was going pretty slow. Lot´s of walking and not much teaching. Carmen´s kids got SUPER sick. She has a 5 year old that had to go to the hospital. They didn´t come to church but it´s looking very promising for Sunday. One thing that´s very interesting, her son Gabby, 15 years old, is a chess MASTER. He´s going to a tornament in Brazil next year. So that´s how we were able to get her sons to open up to us was playing with them. Of course they kick the snot out of us but surprisingly I can hold my own (the spirit manifests itself sometimes is strange ways).
Elder Swink had a transfer. My new and last companion is Elder Nolet. He´s from France. He lives in Quebec now. So he´s learning English and Spanish. It´s kinda funny to hear his VERY strong French accent when he speaks Spanish. He has SOOOOOOO much drive. He works SOOOOOOO hard. I´m VERY excited to end my mission with him. There´s of course personality differences but I´m excited to be with him.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
Elder Swink had a transfer. My new and last companion is Elder Nolet. He´s from France. He lives in Quebec now. So he´s learning English and Spanish. It´s kinda funny to hear his VERY strong French accent when he speaks Spanish. He has SOOOOOOO much drive. He works SOOOOOOO hard. I´m VERY excited to end my mission with him. There´s of course personality differences but I´m excited to be with him.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
Email 07/05/10
Today, our zone got together and that´s why I´m writing a little later than normal.
I don´t know if you have heard anything about this yet but last week the First Presidency changed how often missions do interviews and zone conferences. Normally both are zone once a transfer but now they say to do them every other transfer. So this transfer we have interviews and next transfer we have zone conference. So this transfer I don´t get a zone conference but I will for the next one.
Life continues to be good. Sadly neither Mauro´s family or Efrain´s family wanted to talk to us this week. We keep trying to find other people though. Someone we have found is a woman named Carmen. The other day we were walking in the street and some drunk guy wanted us to give him something to read. As we were trying to get away from the drunk, this woman nearby saw us and invited us over. We talked to her and it turns out that she´s a member. Carmen was baptized 34 years ago and left the church shortly thereafter. She´s 46 now and she has 4 kids, three of which are in need of baptism. She just needs a little bit of a push and then she´ll be there.
The World Cup continues to be crazy. Tuesday Paraguay made it to the quarter finals and it was madness! Everybody was yelling and screaming, running in the street, it was quite entertaining. Saturday night was when the played again. We couldn´t get ANTHING done. Absolutely everybody and their dogs (and that´s not a pun) was watching the game. The funny part was what happened afterwards. Paraguay lost and afterwards everybody was just so sad and so somber. After the game it felt like a Tuesday night, just quiet, nobody in the street.
Thank you so much for the travel advice. It´s nice to know.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
I don´t know if you have heard anything about this yet but last week the First Presidency changed how often missions do interviews and zone conferences. Normally both are zone once a transfer but now they say to do them every other transfer. So this transfer we have interviews and next transfer we have zone conference. So this transfer I don´t get a zone conference but I will for the next one.
Life continues to be good. Sadly neither Mauro´s family or Efrain´s family wanted to talk to us this week. We keep trying to find other people though. Someone we have found is a woman named Carmen. The other day we were walking in the street and some drunk guy wanted us to give him something to read. As we were trying to get away from the drunk, this woman nearby saw us and invited us over. We talked to her and it turns out that she´s a member. Carmen was baptized 34 years ago and left the church shortly thereafter. She´s 46 now and she has 4 kids, three of which are in need of baptism. She just needs a little bit of a push and then she´ll be there.
The World Cup continues to be crazy. Tuesday Paraguay made it to the quarter finals and it was madness! Everybody was yelling and screaming, running in the street, it was quite entertaining. Saturday night was when the played again. We couldn´t get ANTHING done. Absolutely everybody and their dogs (and that´s not a pun) was watching the game. The funny part was what happened afterwards. Paraguay lost and afterwards everybody was just so sad and so somber. After the game it felt like a Tuesday night, just quiet, nobody in the street.
Thank you so much for the travel advice. It´s nice to know.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
Friday, July 2, 2010
Email 06/28/10
Bishop Rainey is right. All of the Chileans say it gets pretty freezing down there. And it gets pretty cold here. It only gets to about 30 degrees or so but it´s so humid that it just goes right through you. I´ve been using that big overcoat of Howard´s. It´s been saving my buns, and that´s not a euphemism. The funny thing is how much all of the natives freeze. They HATE the cold. They just can´t take it. Everybody´s completely covered up.
We didn´t get any referrals but we did find some good people this week. We´ve been teaching a guy named Efrain. He´s 24, doesn´t have a job, lives at home and plays computer games for the few hours that he´s awake. The problem is that with his lack of drive it also means that he doesn´t keep any of the commitments like going to church. To make things even better, Saturday night he got SMASHED off his rocker and nothing would wake him up Sunday morning. His parents never seemed interested before but they always wanted us to come because they thought that some religion, regardless of the source, would make a good change in him. So far, no luck with that. But...Sunday afternoon we went by and the rest of the family was there and they seemed VERY interested. I guess that we teach everyone for a reason, even if that reason is to find somebody else. And we couldn´t talk to Mauro or his family this week. I hope we´ll find them soon though.
In our mission we have a delivery system. So through this we can send and receive letters from our converts. I´ve sent letters but I´ve almost never received any responses. Wednesday when we were walking around, I saw this really tall guy that looked familiar. It was my first convert, Eduardo. He´s even got tired. I was excited to seem him and he was just as excited. He´s still active and he´s preparing to go on a mission. He turns 19 in a couple of months. It made everything worth it. Just to see him and see that the light in his eyes is even brighter than when he was baptized. It so exciting.
We get lunch on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Familía Rolon feeds us on Thursdays and the Familía Coronel feeds us on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We usually only get about 15 people in church every week. But what´s funny about all of this is that I don´t feel discouraged. I know I wasn´t sent here to fail and that gives a whole lot of hope.
About 2 or 3 times a week I get a phone call from somebody in our zone asking how to cook something. It´s pretty funny because it´s usually something like hamburger or pasta or tacos, the things I always took for granted that everybody knew how to do.
Oh and I got Brother Carr´s letter. Thank him for me.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
We didn´t get any referrals but we did find some good people this week. We´ve been teaching a guy named Efrain. He´s 24, doesn´t have a job, lives at home and plays computer games for the few hours that he´s awake. The problem is that with his lack of drive it also means that he doesn´t keep any of the commitments like going to church. To make things even better, Saturday night he got SMASHED off his rocker and nothing would wake him up Sunday morning. His parents never seemed interested before but they always wanted us to come because they thought that some religion, regardless of the source, would make a good change in him. So far, no luck with that. But...Sunday afternoon we went by and the rest of the family was there and they seemed VERY interested. I guess that we teach everyone for a reason, even if that reason is to find somebody else. And we couldn´t talk to Mauro or his family this week. I hope we´ll find them soon though.
In our mission we have a delivery system. So through this we can send and receive letters from our converts. I´ve sent letters but I´ve almost never received any responses. Wednesday when we were walking around, I saw this really tall guy that looked familiar. It was my first convert, Eduardo. He´s even got tired. I was excited to seem him and he was just as excited. He´s still active and he´s preparing to go on a mission. He turns 19 in a couple of months. It made everything worth it. Just to see him and see that the light in his eyes is even brighter than when he was baptized. It so exciting.
We get lunch on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Familía Rolon feeds us on Thursdays and the Familía Coronel feeds us on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We usually only get about 15 people in church every week. But what´s funny about all of this is that I don´t feel discouraged. I know I wasn´t sent here to fail and that gives a whole lot of hope.
About 2 or 3 times a week I get a phone call from somebody in our zone asking how to cook something. It´s pretty funny because it´s usually something like hamburger or pasta or tacos, the things I always took for granted that everybody knew how to do.
Oh and I got Brother Carr´s letter. Thank him for me.
I love you all so much.
Elder Frank Wills
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