36th Letter

¡Hola Amigos!

WOW! I HAVE WITNESSED A MIRACLE THIS PAST WEEK!

So I believe in last week´s email I had told you about a family that we had found just walking down a pathway and how we taught them about the Restoration. For the past 2 weeks my companion and I have been going to and from their house teaching them all of the lessons and everything they wanted to know about the Church. This family is absolutely AMAZING! They were sent in our path by the Lord so that we could teach them. They accepted everything we taught them and have been living, breathing, and doing all we have asked. Well, they are now members! That is right! This past week we baptized the father, mother and their 10 year-old son. AN ENTIRE FAMILY! What a miracle! 2 weeks is all it took for this family to be baptized! They were prepared so well and every day my companion and I give thanks for their commitment to follow through and to become members of this Church.

There is a scripture somewhere in Doctrine and Covenants 88 or 89 that says something like:

"And I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my angels round about you to bare you up..."

My weekly message for this email is to always remember the small and simple miracles that the Lord places in our paths.Too often we take things for granted in our lives, and I believe that coming on my mission has helped me 100-fold in realizing that there are miracles all around us. It is a miracle that I am here writing you from another hemisphere, it is a miracle that I have been born in the church, it is a miracle that I am learning new things day after day ;) Along with realizing the miracles we receive every day comes the deep appreciation of those miracles through our prayers. I know that the Lord blesses us as we give thanks for his helping hand. I know He listens and guides our lives to people, places, events, and situations. I know that he is on our "right hand and on our left". I am sooooooooooooooooooooooo grateful for Him!

Know that this work is powerful and impacting! This work not only changes lives but blesses them. This is the only true work that the scriptures tell us "rolls like a stone cut out of the mountain without hands". This is the work of God, and I am so grateful to be a representative of His Son Jesus Christ!

¡Espero que todo esta pasando perfectamente con sus vidas!

¡Les quiero!

-Elder Martinez

35th Letter

¡Hola Amigos!

Another wonderful week down here in Paraguay! I love our new ward that we have here in Ytororo! The members are so dedicated and care so much about missionary work. Hopefully with this much enthusiasm we will be able to work wonders down here!

So I have to tell you about a family we have found here in our area. My companion and I were just walking and we found an old man cutting grass by the side of a field. We asked him if we could help him and he said no. After we offered to help we asked if we could go and share a message with him. He said yes, but at that moment he was busy so we set up an appointment at a later time. We came back to the directions he gave us to his house with a member and found that a family of 5 were all waiting for us. We taught them the first lesson and invited them to pray about what they have heard. The dad said he knew it was true already and that he would pray but he knew that we were sent by God to his home to teach his family. He said he has been looking for a way to have more peace and a better feeling in his home, and that we had brought that peace....WOW! We set up other appointments with them and they came to our ward activity we have every Wednesday night. The WHOLE FAMILY! We have kept on teaching them and they assisted church yesterday for the first time! They love the members and the whole way the Church functions. We had a lesson with them afterwards and put them with a baptismal date for the 17th of March. Every single one of them accepted. This family was prepared by God! We have been so blessed!

I was reading this morning our purpose as missionaries in Preach My Gospel. Every single one of the scriptural references tied all back to baptism. Preach & Baptize. One of the things that is so essential more than the baptismal statistic is the way we help our investigators get to baptism. The reasons why we baptize are more important than a number. We offer the way to repentance. We offer the way to salvacion. We offer the way to a happier, more peaceful, eternal perspective on life. That is why we baptize. A missionary´s purpose is to help others come unto Christ and to be saved by his atonement through making their own covenant of baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost.

I know that families can be together forever! I know that the Atonement of Christ is the key to all of our problems. I know that Christ lives! I know that God lives! I know that this work that all the missionaries in the world are doing is helping others receive the blessings and happiness of the Gospel! I love this work!

I pray and hope all is well with you and your families!

¡Que Dios Les Bendiga!

¡Les quiero muchisisisisisisisismo! ;)

-Elder Martinez

34th Letter

¡Hola Amigos!

So I am now transferred to a new area called Ytororo in Nemby, Paraguay. It´s about 1 hour of where I was before but I am still in the Asunción area. My new companion is Elder Valle from Melbourne, Australia born in El Salvador. He is fluent in both Spanish and English and has a killer accent! He is a convert for about 2 years and has only been in the mission for 3 months. We are excited to work together and help the people of Ytororo!

I came into a great ward here and a huge area! I love it already! We have a pretty nice pension and at times the water or light will go out. Other than that its great! We have lunch appointments every day except Monday (pDay) and Thursday (weekly planning). We have found a few people in the few days we have been together. One is a man named Francisco who completly wants to change his life around. we found him walking down a road one night and just started to talk to him! So cool! Another is a family of 5 we found and the dad is a sailor! I never knew that a land-locked country with no oceans, seas, or huge rivers had jobs for sailors. If they have a navy, I guess so right? Anyways we taught them after just contacting the dad one day and they are really interested in the Gospel. Hopefully we can help them out more!

Anyways there isn´t whole much more...but I have included some pictures with this email.TAKE A LOOK!

Loving the mission!

Les quiero,

Elder Martinez