Satans Getting Rocked

Fam, Friends. We're so back. Another blessed week down in Paraguay, let's get straight to it.

Lluvia

The heat has chilled out because their fall/autumn is starting up here. So we've been richly blessed with some rainfall, a little too richly blessed. It's been straight dumping all week. Paraguay doesn't have the killer drainage system that the states have, so the roads flood in like 5 minutes tops. Before you know it, you're walking up a road/temporary river shin-deep in water. It's wild. But, you know, it's a good time, I love it.

Richie

Brothers and sisters, Elder Raddie and I had something wild happen to us this week. So, we're walking, right, and it's dark or whatever. This car drives by us, then stops, rolls down the window, and in perfect American English goes, “Yo dudes? Do you guys need a ride or something?” Brother, I was tripping so hard. I haven't heard someone speak English to me other than missionaries since January, so I'm straight bugging out like, yo, is this even real? Anyway, his name's Richie, and the guy's from Vegas (a fellow Nevadan), and his dad's from here in Oviedo. Apparently, his life before was pretty wild, but he's out here in the middle of nowhere Paraguay to change and to “find God.” I told him, “Brother, that's our JOB, that's what we DO,” so we got to teach him a little there in the car, all in English, which was so weird because I haven't done that yet, but it was so cool. I'm super stoked to see where this goes.

Drunk fella

Elder Radcliffe and I found this dude in the streets the other day, and homie was absolutely SLAMMED. I've never seen anyone that drunk in my life. Luckily, we were able to lead him back near his pad. This whole experience was so funny. (Reference the Google Photos).

The Work

We've been going hard. And it's starting to pay off. A once dead area is now living and breathing and starting to be successful. We had the coolest experience Saturday, and it totally reminded me of why I'm out here and what I'm here to do. Some of you might think I'm out here just so I can learn Spanish, so that when I get home I can take girls on dates to Mexican restaurants and impress them by ordering in Spanish. And although that is the main reason I am out here... hahahah, nah I'm playing. But for real, there really is a reason I'm out here, and that reason is to share the hope, peace, strength, protection, cleansing, and healing power that is Jesus Christ, his Gospel, and his Atonement. This gospel can change their lives forever. With this gospel applied in their lives, their pains and afflictions can be swallowed up/consumed completely by the pure joy which is in Christ & his atonement. Anyway, so Elder Raddie and I are out in the boonies of our area like an hour's walk from the pension. And it had been raining all day, so we were out walking on the flooded muddy roads for quite a minute looking for the reference point who we had been in contact with. At this moment, we were feeling a little under the weather, literally… (that one was for all the dads on the chain, you're welcome). But in all seriousness, we were feeling a little down because we had some people who were just being tough, and on top of that, we're feeling a little fatigued from walking in the rain all day. This all turned around once we finally found the house we were looking for. As we entered the house, there were 4 people anxiously sitting there, with 2 seats already prepared for us. As we sat and taught, the spirit filled the room, there was even a crying baby, and all 4 of them hit a little tag-teamed también taking care of the baby so that the other ones could listen and learn. I can't describe this moment properly, but it was beautiful, as we taught, the spirit activity confirmed the truth of our words to them and this enlightenment was visible, tangible even. At the end, we extended the baptism invite, all 4 eagerly accepted, and they are getting baptized on the 27th. Not only did all 4 attend, but one of them brought their Sister. This experience was one so deeply fulfilling.

ST

Just wanna share a little thought that I loved from a talk I heard this week, there's a talk that's called “Stand Forever” by Lawrence E Corbridge. I strongly recommend you go listen to this talk, it's crazy. Near the end of his talk, he just goes crazy and it's just straight doctrinal poetry. What I love is he talked about the “primary” and “secondary” questions of the gospel. The primary being the important ones and once the primary ones are answered, the secondary questions either disappear or become insignificant. The primary questions include “is God our loving Heavenly Father” “is Jesus Christ the Savior and Redeemer of the world” “the Book of Mormon is true making Joseph Smith a prophet of God'' things like that. The secondary questions are all the unimportant ones, right? Anyway, he states the truths to some of these “primary questions” and after stating each one he repeated this statement 4 separate times: “I know this by my experience—all of it. I know this by the evidence, and the evidence is overwhelming. I know it by study, and, most surely, I know it by the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost.” I thought this was beautiful. It's okay to have questions, but never doubt, everything around us is living proof of our Heavenly Father, his love, and his plan.

Thanks for tuning in.

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Hop on the Google Photos for the day-to-day action: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6pnXadUF4PCYgUtV7

Love you all, get after it this week.

Elder Pickett