I'm finally done!!

WOO! My training is finally over!! Ive officially been here in Paraguay for 3 months now and every day gets better!! And MOST importantly Angelica was baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOO!! She is soo happy to be a part of the Lords only true church and to finally have some direction in her life. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to teach her and help her on her way to the Kingdom of God. :) She is so awesome and I will be sad if I have to leave her. :(

Speaking of that, transfers are on Tuesday!!! Crazy. I'm really sad cuz I'm almost positive that me and Hermana Rios will be leaving each other. Shes such a good friend and I know that Heavenly Father sent her to me to get me through these first 3 months. But I am very excited to be able to have a new companion that I'm sure I will learn so much! Here's to a new adventure! 

 

CHRISTMAS IS SO SOON!  We are able to Skype Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. But Ill just keep it to Christmas day so that all of you who are planning on coming, it wont be an inconvenience. I'm not sure what time I will be calling though...hopefully i will have a way to let you know! Also, sad news. I only have 40 mins to talk to you all. :( So sad right? Well figure it out!! :) I'm so excited to see you all!!

 

So funny thing about Obama. Remember the language here? Guarani? Well Obama is a word in Guarani that means: ya se mudo which means he's already gone! hahaha isn't that awesome? I thought so! Guarani is REALLY hard but I'm hoping to learn some so I can be able to speak it a little bit! 

 

OH! Thank you so much for all the letters!! :) I got so many today! And i got you package Jess! But I'm not gonna open it until Christmas! And mom and Em, I don't have yours yet! Hopefully soon! :) Thanks! I feel so much love and support from you all! 

 

My Spanish is getting better and better. It really just depends on the day! Some days I can understand basically everything! But others....yeah. haha But I know that if I have to train this next transfer, the Lord qualifies whom He calls. And I just have to have faith in that! :)

 

I love you all and am ecstatic to talk to you in a lil more than a week!! :) 

 

Con Amor,

Hermana McIntyre

Trainin is almost over!!

Hola!!

How are all of you? From the letters I got you all seem to be doin really awesome even if it is in the negatives! Yeah...that doesn't sound like too much fun! I would send the heat if I could but if there's anything Ive learned here its that everything is up to the Lord. So....sorry! Enjoy the snow though! Winters my favorite time of the year so its sad that I'm missing it. Oh well I guess!

Well its getting close to Christmas and I am sooo excited to talk to you guys!!!! :) :) AH! Sorry if I'm a mess!...but seriously! I miss you all so much. I have the best family in the world! No joke. :) So all of the decorations are going up in peoples houses and its kinda funny cuz they still decorate with mostly the same things like snowmen and it just seems so weird cuz they definitely don't have snow here! But one thing that's different is that they put fruit out with the Nativity..haha I don't know why, but they do! haha BUT! Yesterday we were tracting and found a house where they were about to decorate their Christmas tree and they let us help! Ill attach the pic for you guys! :) It was so fun and nice to get into a cool house a lil bit! 

The mangoes are comin on full force and they are so yummy! Don't be too jealous Ben! :) I could eat so many!!! There's just trees and trees of mangoes every where! and then people selling Watermelon all along the streets as well! SO yummy!

So Angelica is going to be baptized on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 I'm so excited for her! She is happier and happier every time we go to teach her a lesson! And way excited for her baptism as well. She reads the Book of Mormon every day and loves it! She also told us yesterday that she wants to go on a mission as well! Isn't that so awesome! We also have a little girl that's 9 named Dulce that might possibly be baptized on Saturday as well. Its depending on this week! Cyntia is still doing okay but she just hasn't been coming to church. People keep telling her really bad rumors about the church so that doesn't help much but at least she comes and tells us right?

This is the last week of this transfer and I have no clue whats gonna happen. I find out next Tuesday where Ill be going and who I'll be with. Exciting right? Ill finally be done with training!

Well I love you guys a ton! And like I said am so excited to talk to you in 16 days! :) Keep up all the missionary work! You make me proud! :)

Con Amor

Hermana McIntrye

Sending Thanks from Paraguay

Hola mi familia!

Well it sounds like you guys all had an amazing thanksgiving week! I so wish I could have been there so spend that precious memory together but I know that there will be many more to come when I get back! Thank you for remembering me on Thanksgiving! Don't take this the wrong way but I tried not to think of you guys..haha only because its a hard day to be away. But I got through it and it was actually pretty good! A family from the ward that we live right next to invited us over to have dinner with them! :) I was so happy! It definitely wasn't the same as our Thanksgivings...but it was still pretty good! I was so grateful for them and their willingness to let us come over and enjoy dinner. (Their two kids went on missions to the US and the mom always travels there so that's why they had a dinner) But yeah! It was fun!

This week has been full of storms! We had 4 bad storms this week! (see picture) They are so crazy! Its kinds fun, but kinds not cuz it makes the work hard cuz no body comes outside when its raining and no body wants to let us in cuz were soaking wet. haha I don't understand why....

So Angelica!!! She is so stinkin amazing! She is progressing so much every day and is loving everything that we teach her and every time we come back shes glowing a bit more. Its amazing what the gospel will do to ya! :) Then on Sunday she wore a dress!! That's such a good sign. Usually investigators will just wear jeans and whatever they want, but she dressed up and did her hair and it was so awesome!! She is getting baptized in less than 2 weeks now on the 14th and she is soo excited! Reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and all! Ah! I love her so much!

So Happy Birthday to Michele and Ezra this week!! Enjoy your birthday and don't forget how much I love you both! 

Thanks everyone for all you do! :) I love you soo much and am so grateful to have everyone of you in my family.

Con Amor,

Hermana McIntyre

Milagros!!!

Wow was this week amazing!! First, it started off with Tuesday being able to listen to D Todd Christofferson. He talked a lot about us as missionaries needing to actually know the Book of Mormon so that when we need a scripture we can flip right to it. So it is my personal goal to know the Book of Mormon b y heart. I have been studying it a lot more lately!! Also, we were able to ask him questions if we wanted and I got to ask one!!! It was so awesome! I asked, how can we show our investigators that they are children of God and have them actually believe us. It was so amazing to get advice from an apostle of the Lord. :) And I did get to shake his hand!! Everyone did actually. We single filed it right on up there! haha :) Then Cyntia!! She is just so amazing and seriously a miracle (milagro) from Heavenly Father. We found out Monday that she had to move out of her house by the 18th and she also said that she wouldn't be able to come to the appointments because she needed to find a place to live. We were so sad!! But we decided that we just needed to pass by her house anyways and see if the owners would let her come out. So we said a pray and headed to her house! When we got there they said that she wasn't there as usual but we knew that she was! So Hna Rios just starting yelling her name and she came out! haha It was awesome! She ended up coming with us to a FHE with the bishops family and she loved it! Ever since then we've been looking and looking for a place for her to live and found one!! Which is crazy cuz there's like no places to live here! Well that are cheap. And she came to church as well! She is progressing so fast and her date to be baptized is the 7th of December! Woooo!

Then this week, on Wednesday we had a huge storm! Which is totally normal here but we were just walkin around in it and getting completely soaked! haha it was really fun until it got cold and no one wanted to let us in..haha but then! as we were walking down the street, a huge bolt of lightening seriously hit right next to us! we screamed so loud and my heart was pounding! haha but it was really funny at the same time! haha kinda..

 

Its still super hot here! And our AC is broke so that makes nights super fun..haha just makes the experience better right? :) But were looking for another place to live since ours is so small and we live so close to a member that Pres Agazanni wants to move us out. Not to mention i stepped through the floor last week....haha whoops! Its normal though! Im used to things like this happening now. But I don't think Ill ever get used to the humungo cockroaches!! so nasty! Especially when one is accompanying me in the bathroom during the night. Yuck! All is well though! And don't worry mom! I'm safe!! :)

 

Oh also this Sunday was the Primary Program!! It was so cute! Its always my favorite Sunday in the whole year! :) And I could understand pretty much all of it! Its amazing how fast I'm understanding Spanish! But I gotta cuz I only have 1 month left in training and then I could be training!! AHHH!!  

 

I love you guys so much! thanks for the letters as always!! Hasta Lunes!

 

Love Hermana McIntyre :)

Another Week Down!

Man this week flew! And was it hot! Almost every day was up close to 100!! Crazy right?! but the people keep tellin us, oh this is nothin! haha....yeah...but since every one is asking questions about what I do only a daily basis so here it is! So we get up at 6:30 every day and exercise and get ready and eat breakfast until 8. Then we study until 9 personally and then for 2 hours as a companionship-. Then finish with 1 hour of language study! I have never studies this much in my life!! But this is one of the many things that I want to continue to do when I get back. Study the Book of Mormon for an hour every morning possible! It just starts off the day so well! Then we either go eat at a members house or make lunch. Then we get to work. We proselyte and tract until 9 and then come back and plan for 1/2 hour and then have until 10:30 to do whatever and get to bed! Exciting right? haha but the people here back every day different. The funny things people say or the looks we get as 2 blondes are walking down the street!

I am so excited though because the watermelons are on in full force! People walk around with these huge carts in the streets selling them! And then there's mango trees everywhere!!!! I'm so excited! I'm gonna be so full of mangoes its gonna be great! Most of the people just let you take the mangoes off of the trees!! WOOHOO! 

 

Well this week was really good but pretty rough as well! haha This is when I have to take the advice of Elder Packer I think, Come what may and love it! But I have a feeling that this week is gonna be great! :) But one good things that came out of this week is Cyntia! We found her while just walking down the street. Both me and my comp felt like we needed to talk to her and so when we did she said that she had seen us 3 times before and wanted to talk to us but just was too afraid. So we had a lesson with her that night and she is so excited to be baptized!! She is the most prepared person that I have ever met! Satan is already testing her too! Its crazy how that works. Shes living with a family that doesn't like us very much. So they found out that she was taking the lessons and kicked her out. But shes like oh its okay! Now I can find a better place to live! I love her so much! Its crazy how much love you can have for these people here! 

 

Well sorry that I'm writing so late! I'm in the choir that's singing for Elder D Todd Christoffersen tomorrow!!!! Wooooo! Im stoked! I cant wait! :) I love you guys a ton! :) Hasta Lunes!

 

Con Amor

Hermana McIntyre

Noviembre!! Loco!

Isnt it so crazy thats its November already? And that Ive been gone for 3 months! Thats whats even more crazy! So  just so you all know, Ill be sending pictures to Em to put up on the blog so make sure to loook at them! :)

 

 Sorry to hear about all the sickness! :( I'll be praying extra hard! I know Heavenly Father is watching over all of you always! 

 

So this week was good! We weren't able to get a lot done cuz of lots of meetings but I'm hoping this week can have more work in it! So the investigators that we are focusing on are: The Familia Silvero. Pedro y Norma are the parents and the their kids Julian, Julie, Ellee, y Adriana. They are so awesome. Norma is pretty catholic (as is EVERYONE here) and so shes been a little closed off but shes beginning to open up a lot and its so awesome! :) then Pedro doesn't really like going to church or anything only working on cars. haha but they are so awesome! Then we are have Nancy y Dionisio. Dionisio is atheist but he is very open and a deep person! Hes reading the Book of Mormon and likes it so far! We think that something happened in his life that made him feel this way and to not believe in God. Then we have lots of other people but they are our main ones right now. 

 

Funny story: So we contacted this house and a girl came out and said that her name is Leticia and then a guy came out and I asked his name and he said Jose. But I heard him wrong and so I responded with mucho gusto Cosa! hahaha (cosa is thing in spanish) He just gave a really weird look and then started laughing really hard! They turned out to be really awesome and accepted a baptism date right there at the door! I cant wait to teach them today!

 

Well I hope this week goes better for everyone and that by nest week people can be feeling better! I love you all!!

 

Love,

Hermana McIntyre

 

 

BAPTISM!!!

This is of the familia silvero! :) Well Norma and Julie and our Bunny teeth! Aren't they awesome?

Happy News from a Stranger!

Hi,

My name is Alicia Anderson and I met your daughter in Asuncion, Paraguay while I was there on an Operation Smile humanitarian mission. I am a registered nurse from Salt Lake City and have gone with the organization on 3 previous missions fixing cleft lip/palates for children and adults. We performed 102 surgeries in Asuncion. It was a fantastic experience. I'm also a member of the church and when I saw her and her companion, I was so excited to see sister missionaries in Paraguay!  

My mom recently received a phone call from a woman who had met my brother on his mission in Buenos Aires, Argentina and it made her day. I wanted to do the same and notify you that I had met her! 

I met her when her and her companion came to the hospital we were working at. They met and played with the kids and families who had either just received surgery or would be the following day. She is doing great, loving the work and the people! She told me to tell you she loves you very much!

I hope this finds you well and wish you the best. You have a wonderful daughter!

- Alicia Anderson