17th Letter

¡Hola mis amigos!

Another wonderful week here in Paraguay! Coming up close on the end of my ¨training¨ here in Centro. Next week I will see if I stay here or get transferred to another area. My companion and I have almost the same amount of time here (he has 3 changes and I have 2). We will see!!!

Anyways, for those of you who read the blog you should check out some of the photos I have taken here. I just sent some more to my parents and they should have them update on the pictures section. This week we went by many of the historic buildings, monuments, cathedrals, and just the regular streets of Asuncion. Take a look!

Things are going fantastic and I just love to help down here. Sorry I don´t have too much to say, but all is well :)

Hope everyone is doing great!

16th Letter

¡Hola Otra Vez!

This week was fantastic! My companion and I went to a leadership conference (because my trainer is the District Leader), and we had General Conference this past weekend. It was very eventful, especially with all of the pouring rain we got down here! It was truly unbelievable to be in a place where the rain is like stepping into a normal shower with water comino in all directions. I´m reminded of what Forrest Gump said about the rain when he served in Vietnam, ¨There was rain that came down from up above, rain that came in sideways, and then rain that came from the ground up¨ Funny…because that is how it is with rain down here J

We are just starting to transition into Spring down here. We have temperatures of 106 degrees with humidity! I drink about 4-5 liters of water a day if not more! :) Its funny because everyone else down here is just used to the weather, while my companion and I are sweating up a storm. Its actually quite funny! You always have to look on the sunny side, being pesimistic only makes things harder.

Just like all of you members of the Church had the opportunity to listen to General Conference down here. It was really interesting to hear it in Spanish and English. I got to see the Saturday morning session in English at a members home, and saw all of the rest (including Priesthood) in Spanish except for the Sunday evening session. It was very different listening to the translation in Spanish because just like any other language there are words that don´t have the same meaning or translate over the same, so listening to both was ¨Chiki¨.

How exciting to hear all of the new temples that are being built! Crazy to think that there will now be 2 temples in Provo! I heard the congregation gasp when the Prophet announced that and it was funny to hear all the people buzz.

I really enjoyed the talk by the younger member of the seventy the last part of the Sunday afternoon session. He talked about being a ¨REAL¨member of the church and trying to have the Holy Ghost be your constant companion. It was cute to hear the story about him and his daughter when they were hiking up the tall mountain to get to the top. I also enjoyed the Elder Yamashita talk about missionary work. It made our (the missionaries I was watching it with) day to think about how awesome this opportunity is to have such an impact on people.

Anyways, I loved to hear from Conference and the beautiful music from the Choir. Watching the first 10 seconds of each session where they show the temple and other backgrounds of Temple Square reminded me of home! Not in a sad way, but in a very comforting way.

I love you all and pray and hope that all of you are doing well!

¡Les quiero muchismo!

-Elder Martinez

15th Letter

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

How is everyone doing??? I love all of you very much and give thanks for all of the great examples you have been in my life!

Life in Paraguay is going, going, going! I love being a missionary! It seems like every day brings something new and different and being put in difficult situations and learning to grow from them seems to be the best way of spiritual growth! I love it! So yes I have heard that the Utah Utes have won 54-10....GO UTES! It is a rare thing to be a missionary and be a Utah Utes fan! How sweet it is :)

I had a lot of unique experiences this last week:

• We had a service project were the Asuncion Stake helped paint and clean a school building. We had a lot of missionaries (two zones) and many members. It was amazing to see all the members work together to help this school look like a brand new building! Who knew that just some watered-down paint would do the job :)
• We heard about the Pope trying to be imprisoned for scandals dealing with children. Being down here in Catholic country, something like this is GOLDEN! The people are really starting to see the differences and unique circumstances that the scriptures have been prophesying about for all these years! Crazy!
• I had my first hair cut down here for only $3! They did a great job and I just still can´t get over how inexpensive things are down here.
• It rained like none other down here! I couldn´t believe how much rain literally was poured from above! It was like being in the shower with 1000 times the pressure. If you were to stay out in the street for 3 seconds, you were drenched. That was a fun day...

Anyways we are constantly working down here! There isn´t a break for the missionaries! I am so proud to be a part of this group to help share this gospel! I´m excited to see Conference in just 2 weeks! Life is great!

¡Les quiero muchismo!
Elder Martinez