June 11, 2012

¡Hola Amigos!

Another fine week down here in Paraguay! We had another baptism this past week of Roy! We are teaching his family and his brother will be baptized this next week with his parents the following! WHOOHOOO! WE love the work!

This past week it got super cold down here! So I think I mentioned back in like December or January how hot it was down here like 110-120 degrees Farenheit, to my suprise it also gets SUUUPPPPEERR Chilly as well like 32 Farenheit with HUMIDITY! YIKES! It was so funny to see my companion and I wear aboslutely everything we brought to keep ourselves warm during the night. Seriously I wore 2 pairs of thermals, two shirts, two sweats, 4 socks, not including the two wool blankets that the mission leaves in every apartment! WHOOO WEEE it was freezing! Right now it isnt that bad! Only every now and then during their winter here it gets super cold.

I got my first dosage of food poisening down here in Paraguay yesterday morning. My companion and I did divisions to bring more people to the chapel and I felt miserable! After a long day of vomiting and diarreha we went back out to teach a few people! Dont worry I am much better now! :)

I cant believe I only have one full week left with my companion! The time has gone by super fast! We have changes the next week and with the new program they have with training it is set that one of us will leave! NOOOO!!! He is such a great Elder and I swear that I have learned more from him than he has from me! I have loved training, it is difficult but so worth it! I think that I have learned more of how to be a better missionary from this time we have together than any other companion that I have had. I will be super sad when we arent companions anymore! :(

The Spiritual thought for the week are 2 scriptures that I read while on divisions with the zone leaders. We went to teach a recent convert and we read Doctrine and Covenants 103 together. I love two verses that we read and I have taken them to heart. (I have my spanish triple so it might not be word for word in English)

27. No man fear to give his life for my cause because he who gives his life for my cause shall find it anew

36. Every victory and every glory is brought to pass through our diligence, fidelity, and prayers of faith.

I love these two verses because really I have come to realize that giving your life to the gospel really does help you  prioritize the things that matter most. Every challenge we face can be won through our "diligence, fidelity, and prayers of faith" I know that these things are true! My life is dedicated to this cause! I have come to know that the work of the Lord isnt only for my time here in the mission but throughout my entire life! My life is consegrated to the work of the Lord!

I love you and pray for your happiness and safety!

¡Les quiero mucho!

Elder Martinez

June 4, 2012

¡Hola Amigos!

¿Mbe´Chepa? Ypora

Wow! What a week of miracles! I love the missionary work and I promise that my life is dedicated to this work forever! Where ever the Lord calls me I will go! Whatever He asks me I´ll do! I love the work!

This past week we have found a lot of people! We found a youth named Roy who will be baptized this weekend! He is so smart and he invited some of his friends to the church yesterday and all 5 of them came! They all asked at the end what they need to do to be baptized! The Lord knows and prepares every single person in His own due time! There are always people ready! ALWAYS! I LOVE TO FIND, TEACH, and especially BAPTIZE!!!!!!! This month we are planning for miracles and expect to baptize a lot! WOOO HOOO! I am on a spiritual high right now!

Spiritual Thought for this week is this:

2 Nephi 33:1

“Y ahora bien, yo, Nefi, no puedo escribir todas las cosas que se enseñaron entre mi pueblo; ni soy tan poderoso para escribir como para hablar; porque cuando un hombre habla por el poder del Santo Espíritu, el poder del Espiritu Santo lo lleva al corazón de los hijos de los hombres.”

Sorry I dont have it in English, but to summarize what this scripture is saying is that the Spirit is the only one that can testify to the people of the truthfulness of this message of the Gospel.  Not only testifying but changing, telling, and prompting the people that this is something desirable or precious. The Gospel is so precious and the more that we share our own testimonies of this message, it not only strengthens our own but develops a change in others! How cool!

Recently a lady in our ward who works at a local shop bore her testimony to a customer about the importance of the Word of wisdom. The customer asked if they sold coffee, and because the store is owned by the Bishop he doesnt sell coffee. When the member shared her testimony to the customer she began to weep. She not only cried but returned to tell the member she will never drink coffee or tea again! The powerful influence of one testimony is extraordinary! Really it changes and blesses others to receive the góspel!

My challenge to you is to share your testimonies more often or with a friend who isnt a member to share with them (when the situation is appropriate) the way the Gospel and it´s commandments have blessed your life! I know that it can change the lives of many people!

I love this work! Every day I am out here my conviction to dedicating my life to this work grows deeper and deeper! I LOVE THE WORK!

Thanks for all of your support and love! Hope all is well!

¡Les quiero!

Elder Martinez

May 28, 2012

BUEN DIA!

Another fantastic week in PARAGUAY! What a whirlwind of moving apartments, teaching investigators, divisions with other missionaries, and running around like a madman finding all of the people in the street! The weather is still crazy with rain and then having it be super hot, the humidity is like a SAUNA! WHEW!

My companion and I are doing fantastic! We have been finding more and more people this week and have been committing more people to baptism than ever before. It is weird that although I only have a year in the mission I am ready to just take off like I just got here! The adrenaline hasn’t stopped! I love it!

I just want to share a spiritual thought really quick with all of you on the power of humility. Selfishness is the root of all anger and bad feelings, while humility is the opposite. We read in the scriptures that those that “humble themselves before God” are blessed. Jesus Christ Himself taught “blessed are the humble and the meek for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”. We know that as tough as it is at times, even when we feel like we haven’t done anything wrong, asking the Lord to humble ourselves helps us grow more spiritually than any other way. We are all here to learn and I know for a fact that the more humble you are the more the Lord is willing to help you understand and learn from your weaknesses that they may become strong. I know that this work is true and that the Lord sends those He calls for a reason. I am here to become the person the Lord wants me to become and to help others realize that potential within themselves by helping them be baptized! I love the work!

Anyways I love to be a missionary and wish I had all the time in the world to write to you more and more every week but I know that retelling my experiences after the mission will be even sweeter to cherish! 

Until then ;) Actually until next Monday!

¡¡¡¡¡Les quiero!!!!!

Elder Martinez

May 21, 2012

¡M´be Che´pa!

Hope everyone had a fantastic week and is just loving life! I AM!

My companion and I had an awesome week that just passed! We found a lot of new people and have placed 10 people with a baptismal date! We are really trying and working as hard as we can to find and see the results of MIRACLES! The mission is going great and the time is flying by! Right now it seems like there is not enough time in the day to visit more people, find more members and help others. My companion is really taking off and helping me every day to reach higher and higher goals! I LOVE IT!

Yesterday my companion and I had the opportunity to give a talk during Sacrament meeting. While my companion gave a great talk on missionary work I decided to speak a little about a principle that everyone is working with OBEDIENCE. Here in the mission, when there is no obedience there is no progress. Being a member of the Church is exactly the same result when there is no obedience- no progress. God has given us these commandments so that we can have that progress and those blessings. Without obedience there is no happiness. Being down here there are a lot of people who have sports clothing like Adidas, Nike, or Puma and are proud to wear it. I have learned to especially love Nike and their business slogan "JUST DO IT!". If we just do the things the Lord requires we will be blessed. "Just doing it" means to not complain, argue, challenge, or hesitate when the choice is ours to "just do it!". I have learned to love this slogan and live it by applying it! Just like the "blessed" and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God in Mosiah 2:41 we can always remember to "JUST DO IT!"

Eating a lot of mandarine oranges right now down here! Everything is going great! Plan to make brownies tonight at a family night activity with some members in our ward. They are dying to know what it is! So funny! Life is great!!!!!

I love the work and try hard every day to do my best! 

I hope all of you live to apply the Nike slogan and "JUST DO IT!" when the Lord requires

¡Les quiero!

Elder Martinez

May 13, 2012

¡Hola Amigos!

Another great week here in PARAGUAY! Hope all the mothers had a nice holiday and know just how much you are appreciated! I love you mom!

What a whirlwind of events have happened this past week with moving plans to another location, mother’s day, a marriage and baptism that fell through, and eating about a thousand mandarin oranges every day!

We have been planning on moving to another location because right now our landlords are smoochin off our electricity. The elders in the office came to help us find a new house this past week. We found one that is right next to the bishop and his grocery store. It is the perfect location. The only thing now is that we need to move by ourselves and the members help. We have it all planned to move this Thursday right after the new landlord signs the contract. It will be nice to not worry about problems like that from now on. This new house is super nice! We are really excited to live there!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to Skype my family to wish my mom a happy mothers day! Its always fun to talk when you are on the other side of the world! I love you guys so much!

So my companion and I were going to have a baptism of a couple but it turned out that the wife had problems with her license and so it has been postponed. We don’t know how much longer it will take to solve the problem because here there are thousands of people who have problems like this and so they will just have to go to the city to try and figure it out. Kind of sad… Other then them we are finding tons of people with real potential who are awesome to teach! The work is GREAT!

I love it here! Anywhere you go there are just crazy things happening! One of the things I especially love is just walking down a street and having hundreds of different fruit trees ready to be eaten! Everyone here is super nice about sharing as well! The other day we were just passing by a home with a giant mandarin orange tree. We politely asked if we could each have one. The guy said “are you kidding?” and brought us grocery bags to fill up with the oranges! “Pass by anytime and take as many as you want!” YEAH! THEY ARE SUPER GOOD! Anyways it is like that here! The people are super nice! And they give you fruit! HAHAHA!

Anyways the work is going great here! My spiritual thought for the week quick and simple: Whatever you are called to be, fulfill it! I have learned to love NIKE more and more just from being here on my mission all from their slogan “JUST DO IT!”. It is so true, the Lord didn’t put us here to have a calling and then do nothing with it, use it, live it, and just do it! The Lord blesses those he calls so just do it! If you want those blessings just do it! If you want more success in your life, don’t moan or complain, just do it! How much better of a world this would be if the people would just do what they said, and just did it! So for all of you from this spiritual thought of the week, when the Lord calls- JUST DO IT!

I love you and pray for all of your happiness and success!

¡Les quiero muchisisisisisisismo!

Elder Martinez