Feliz Lunes!

Another transfer has come and gone, and I'm still here in Obligado with Hermana Garci­a! Woohoo! We both love it here and love the Branch and all the people. Now we will have three transfers together in this area. We are going to try and make it four. But now I have probably just jinxed myself haha.

We have been working a lot with a man named Juan these past few weeks. He is a member of the church but has been struggling a lot lately and hadn't come to church, or been praying, or reading the scriptures for quite some time. But we really felt like we needed to start visiting with him, for some reason we couldn't forget about him. Anyway, the other day in one of our lessons he told us that just a few weeks ago he had been considering never going to church again, he felt that he was failing God, and didn't think he would ever be able to go back. But then he said really soon after he started thinking this we arrived and started visiting with him, and he always looks forward to the lessons because he feels something different when we are there. Then he told us that when he went back to church for the first time he felt that same feeling of happiness and goodness again! He has been working a lot to repair some of his mistakes, but he has a true desire to change and be changed by Christ.

Titus 3:2-4 My companion and I have been studying about charity and trying to develop a more Christlike love for everybody here. "To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared," We can stop judging and criticizing others because we too make mistakes. We can start loving and helping others because we have seen the example that Christ gives us.

I LOVE you all and hope even more that you know that Christ loves you about a bajillion times more than anything we can imagine!

Have a marvelous week!

Hermana Simmons

heat and help

Short email this week!

It's hot. As in, "I have never sweated so much in my entire life, I didn't know it was even possible to drink 6 bottles of water and then sweat it all out in 6 hours" hot. yeah. It’s great. haha. But hey, I’m getting awesomely tanned and my hair is slowly becoming more and more blonde. Maybe all this heat will just turn me into a supermodel by the end of the summer haha.

Wow, and with the heat I have received such a strong testimony that CHRIST STRENGTHENS US. We can literally receive physical strength and be comforted as we pray for the help we need. When we humble ourselves and keep God’s commandments, we will be worthy to receive His divine power. There have been times when I thought I would not be able to keep walking, but when I prayed and asked for help, it is as if all of a sudden my entire mindset changes. I’m happier, I don’t feel so tired, I realize that I can keep going, and keep a good attitude at the same time.

"And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness." 1 Nephi 17:3

Love you all!

Hermana Simmons

P.S. I ran into Elder Gallini!  Haha I don't remember how we are related (and neither does he), but his mom did let him know that he had a distant cousin or something here in the same mission.

Elder Josh Gallini

(son of Heidi Breinholt)

Another Week :)

This week we had interviews with President LaPierre, and they went well! It really is amazing how devoted he and his wife are to their mission, the missionaries, the people here, everything! Talking with them makes me want to do better!

Yesterday in our testimony meeting, nearly all of the members went up to bear their testimonies. We would have gone over time, but the Branch President thinks that the "one hour and ten minutes" of sacrament is fixed in stone, plus everybody was hungry from fasting, so he got up right on time to close the meeting haha. But it was great, the Spirit was so strong as everyone shared how they knew that God our Father lives and that we are His children, and that through His Son, Jesus Christ, we can be saved.

Also, we taught the Principles of the Gospel class to our one investigator who came and to a few other less active members. We asked one man to give the opening prayer, and he started to get nervous and told us he didn't think he could do it. We assured him he could, and just then our investigator, a woman named Flavia, also began to encourage him! She explained to him in Guarani that all he had to do was start with Heavenly Father, give thanks, ask blessings, and close in the name of Jesus Christ! It was great to see her share her own testimony of prayer! And in the end, Severiano gave the opening prayer and was so happy that he did!

Good news!!!!!! I talked with my old companion, Hna Tapia. She told me that she got in touch with my other old companion, Hna Gunter, who is still in Santo Tome. Mariela and Fernando, the couple who got married and then both were baptized, are both still very strong in the gospel! Mariela is a teacher in the Relief Society, Fernando received the priesthood, and a few of their children have decided to be baptized as well!!!!! Seriously, I am so excited and happy for them. They changed so much in the short time that I knew them, and their life just keeps getting better and better! Christ can truly change people! He can change us if we let Him!

Oh, and on Saturday Hna Garcia and I missed the bus from Trinidadback to Hohenau ("missed" is one way to describe it, "the bus drivers come up with their own schedules and change their minds all the time" is another haha) Anyway, we ended up walking from Trinidad to our apartment in Hohenau. It took us a little over two hours, and that is walking at a decent pace, and only stopping to rest once (for about 4 or 5 minutes). But hey, now we can tell all the members in Trinidad that they never have an excuse to not come to church, because it IS possible to walk all the way there.

I remember learning in Sunday School that the first law of heaven (or something like that) is obedience. D&C 63:5 "Behold, I, the Lord, utter my voice, and it shall be obeyed." God is completely loving, merciful, patient, etc. But He is also perfectly just. We must obey His commandments and turn our hearts over to Him to partake of His mercies. Obedience brings blessings, and exact obedience brings miracles!

I love you all! Have a great week! Sorry this letter is so long!

Hermana Simmons

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Yep, It's definitely "primitive" at times, but the way I see it I only "have" to live primitively for a year and a half, while basically everyone here lives like this their whole life. I'm glad I get the chance to really see how blessed I have been in my life. I'm considering that one day when I have my own kids we'll have to do a "Mission Week" once a year, where we can't use dishwashers, washing machines,  dryers, toasters, microwaves, etc... Where everyone has to do their own cooking (from scratch), and the electricity gets shut off every once in a while and we take cold showers haha. 

Julia and Bernardo decided to not get married. In the end, Bernardo didn't want to spend the money (they really are quite poor), and we did EVERYTHING (honestly, everything) in our power to help them. So Julia couldn't get baptized. And now she thinks that she will never be able to get baptized (she has had several baptismal dates fall through), and so she thinks it would be better to just stop taking the discussions all together. It's pretty sad. She still has a strong testimony, but she is just letting Satan's sadness and disillusionment get the better of her. We are hoping that in a few days or weeks she will change her mind.

But, there are other people who are progressing and who are doing really well!

Also, not much has been said here about that new movie ("Meet the Mormons"), but it sounds great! I guess I just have to wait another year to see it with you all. I'm glad everybody is doing well! Love you!

Hello!

We are in the rainy season here! The other day started out unbearably hot, so Hermana Garcia and I left the apartment without umbrellas. That was a mistake. About two hours later the downpour started. We were without jackets, boots, umbrellas, grocery bags to protect our books. And we were a 20 minute walk from the apartment (and that's in good weather conditions when we can walk quickly). It was actually pretty fun. We got completely soaked, head to toe. After a few minutes we stopped trying to avoid puddles, because honestly, it wasn't making any difference. We marched through the fields, on the pebbled paths, and muddy dirt roads (that had converted into muddy running streams) as if they were all pavement. But we survived, and in the process we met some other good people who also got caught by surprise in the storm.

General Conference was amazing! I didn't understand everything, but I did understand a lot. I can truly testify of the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues, because Heavenly Father helps me so much. Even when I can't understand every single word that someone says, I do understand almost completely the message or idea that they are conveying. I especially loved the talk by President Uchtdorf and the talk by Elder Hales. It was also exciting to have some of the speakers speak directly in Spanish.

I loved conference, and I loved hearing the prophet! I know Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet on the earth today, and he receives guidance and direction for us. It is so important to give heed to what they tell us.  "Wherefore, the prophets, and the priests, and the teachers, did labor diligently, exhorting with all long-suffering the people to diligence; teaching the law of Moses, and the intent for which it was given; persuading them to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was. And after this manner did they teach them. And it came to pass that by so doing they kept them from being destroyed upon the face of the land; for they did prick their hearts with the word, continually stirring them up unto repentance." Jarom 1:11-12

We need to always "prick our hearts with the word" by listening to the counsels of our prophet, and always be in the process of repentance!

Sorry I can't respond to any letters this week! We are a little short on time!

Love you all!

Hermana Simmons

Hola

Feliz Primavera! (Sunday was officially the first day of Spring here)

This week I think Heavenly Father really wanted Hna Garci­a and me to learn about free agency. We had scheduled the wedding and baptism of Julia and Bernardo for this Saturday, and so we planned on traveling out to Trinidad (where they live, about 20 minutes away in bus) every single day this week to support and encourage them. We truly love their family and want the best for them. We even fasted last Saturday so that this past week we wouldn’t have rain and Bernardo would be able to get to his work- and even though it was cloudy and windy all week, it only rained once and that was only for about fifteen minutes. It would rain at night, or in other parts of town, but where he worked and where they live it was nice and dry.

But in the end, Julia was not able to be baptized this week. They simply couldn't afford to pay the judge the fee for their wedding. It was really difficult for them to reach this conclusion, but we are going to keep visiting her and her husband to help them strengthen their testimonies and put their trust in the Lord. Please keep praying for them!

Really, that is pretty much all we did this week. We have been traveling out to Trinidad a lot, and I feel like all week we just talked about how we could help her family and we studied all the blessings that God has in store for His children. And is truly humbling to realize that if I, who have only known Julia for a few weeks, can feel so much concern for her and her family, how much more concern does God have for her? His love for us must be so unimaginably huge! His true "work and glory" really IS to bring to pass "the immortality and eternal life of man." He wants ALL of His children to come home to Him, it must be heartbreakingly sad when one of His children decides not to listen. It motivates me to be more obedient, more humble, more patient, and just a better person in general!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17

I love you all! I know my Savior lives! I know my Heavenly Father loves me and you and all His children! This Gospel is marvelous, and God’s plan is wonderful!

Hermana Simmons

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There are so many people that struggle with things way bigger than what we can imagine, that we are never ever justified in judging someone because we have no idea why they are the way they are. The Branch President's son here is often bullied and teased in school. The kids say he smells bad and never showers, that he can't speak right and is always yelling. What they don't know is that Enzo is deaf in one ear, so he yells because he can't tell how loud he is speaking, he has speaking problems because his dad also speaks very slurred and difficult to understand, and his ear clogs up because it doesn't function properly and that's why sometimes it smells strange. People can be cruel; we all just need to be a little more patient and loving.

Thanks for your letter! I LOVE the pictures! I love and miss you!

Hermana Simmons

I love being a missionary!

Hola Hola!

This past week has been, in a word, loca. (If I were forced to choose another word, though, I would choose "purete", which is basically Spanish for amazing)

We have been meeting with a woman named Julia for several weeks now. She is so ready and excited to be baptized, but has been trying to save up money to get married as well. Hna Garci­a and I have been praying and studying a lot to help her for a while now, and we felt that the time was right and Heavenly Father would work miracles if we just set the goal and did all the possible (and impossible) to help Julia and Bernardo (her boyfriend) get married.

We all fasted together, and the miracles keep coming! First off, Bernardo has not been able to work the past few days because of the pouring rain. Since our fast, the sky has been completely clear and sunny! Second, it normally costs 300 mil guarani to get married on a Saturday, but we talked with the judge and she said it would be totally fine to knock the price down to only 250 mil. Third, Bernardo at first did not want to spend the money to get married. He said that they already had two daughters and were living together and he did not see the point in making anything official. But we talked to him about Heavenly Father’s plan for eternal families, and now he is working just as hard as Julia to help make this wedding happen! Ah! This week has been amazing.

On a side note, I found out that I am allergic to a bug here. I can’t remember what it is called, but I think it is some kind of mosquito. Anyway, it bit me right on the ring finger of my right hand, and my finger got super red and started to throb. The next day, it had swollen a ton. So on Sunday while visiting a sister, we showed her my hand, hoping to receive some advice on how to make it improve quickly. Without even waiting she told me she had the cure. She grabbed a bottle from her medicine cabinet and began pouring a little bit of the liquid onto my hand. It helped a lot! When I asked her what was in the bottle, she told me it was alcohol and marijuana! So that was probably the closest I have ever gotten to drugs haha.

I can’t believe that I hit my six month mark this week! The time has flown by! But I really do enjoy being out here. I love this area and I love all these people! In Mosiah 8:18 I found a scripture that I liked. "Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings" I can truly testify that when we trust in God and have righteous desires, we can see miracles happen in our lives. I know that I am exactly where my Heavenly Father wants me to be, and I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and that through faith in Him I can serve these Paraguayans, because they truly are amazing!

love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Simmons

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Yeah, I’m starting to be extraordinarily grateful that I am going to be in the mission for two "winters" instead of two summers. The "winter" here is not winter at all. And I can’t even imagine the heat that is going to start arriving come December and January. And I think God understands that I absolutely hate feeling sweaty and hot, so that is why I had to wait to start my mission in March, so I would only have to make it through one South American Summer!

Thanks for your letter! I love you!!

Hna Simmons

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And thank you for the information! haha At least now I know not to waste any money buying those chia seeds. My companion and I bought some last week just to see what they were like, but we really don’t like the taste and didn’t want to be eating them for nothing haha.

Honestly, I don’t think my skin would be this bad, but it’s the fact that we give "besitos" every time we meet with people. Instead of saying “hi" or shaking hands or just giving a hug, people go up and do the whole cheek to cheek salutation thing. I'm so accustomed to it now I am worried that when I get off the plane in a year to say hello to everyone I’ll start giving besitos instead of hugs!

Thanks for your letter! Love you!

Hna Simmons

Hello

Feliz Lunes!

Well, summer is definitely coming. I thought that it was hot earlier, but now it is just getting hotter. And the natives say that this is only Spring. Woohoo haha. Bring it on, I say. Also, I am getting some fairly awesome tan lines from my shoes and my watch, and my hair has changed color. When people in the mission office see my passport photo, they don’t believe me when I say that I have not dyed my hair blonder here in the field. The sun just bleaches it a ton.

In further news, we have been waging a war in our apartment this past week. A desperate battle over the kitchen floor. We have killed five cockroaches in the past few days. FIVE COCKROACHES. And that’s not counting flies, ants, or other little bugs. Today we thoroughly thoroughly thoroughly swept and mopped and mopped some more. And then we sprayed bug killer all around the floorboards and doorways and everywhere. I guess the good news is that I am not so terrified of spiders anymore. Instead of running and shrieking away from bugs, Hna Garci­a and I run and shriek towards them so we can just kill them and get it over with haha.

This week a woman named Flavia came to church with us, and she also brought her boyfriend, which was amazing because we have not even been able to talk with him yet. She raised her four children alone and now owns a small kiosk and is living with her boyfriend. She is an incredibly strong person, and I really admire how receptive she is to the Spirit. Even though they live half an hour away from the church, she got on her motorcycle and drove out here because she truly has a desire to know and understand the truth. There are so many different churches and denominations here, and Flavia wants to know which of all truly comes from God.

I have been reading a lot in Alma lately. I absolutely love the discourse he gives in chapter five, and this week I really want to study more the questions he puts to the people. These scriptures really are inspired and, to me at least, hit me directly in the heart. It is a chapter I like to read again and again because I always have a lot of room to improve, and the questions Alma poses are really the questions that matter. "Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?" Alma 5:27

Love you all! Have a marvelous week!

Hermana Simmons

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Yes, and definitely here in the mission field I see the whole spectrum of missionaries. People who use any type of anything as an excuse to not work, and people who refuse to go back to the pension until they contact "just one more" house. It really depends on the person if we let the mission change us. I have been reading a talk titled "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence Colbridge (or something like that). It is fantastic, and I definitely recommend you all to read it. Because it doesn’t apply just to being a missionary, but the type of person we want to become. If we want to serve the Lord unhappily and with resentment, or wholeheartedly witholding nothing. When we keep the commandments because we truly love God and want to please Him, we will receive the blessings promised. But if we do not give our hearts and minds over to God, in the end it will be as if we had not kept the commandments at all.

Love you!!!!!

Hna Simmons