I Go On Splits With A Cockroach, 7 = Silence, And I Age A Bit

 As Gallacher would say: "What's up Yall's?"

I'll jump right in. 

To start for those of you were anxiously asking yourself "Will he fold and buzz cut for his first haircut in the Mission?"  I bring good tidings of great joy... my first haircut  actually turned out awesome haha and was far from a buzz.

Tuesday we drove into Asuncion to renew our visas so.... we stayed the night at the mission office and woke uo at 5a Wednesday morning to go to immigrations ( apparently all missionaries in Paraguay were living here illegally or something like that...) We were in and out of visas by 8am and then just sat around with the office guys and our zone waiting for our ride. That was until we got a picture of some Old lady on my like legit legal Paraguay Visa. ndeeee (dang in Guarani) like what?!? Looks like I have aged a bit since I got here or something.

So, with this minor setback we were told we'd have to go back to immigrations the next morning to fix it. That night, since we had nothing else to do trapped in the mission office, me and Elder Webb went on splits with one of the APs. Elder Webb calls him cockaroach so I am blanking on his real name haha. 

But anyways that night we went out and since all our teachings fell through, contacted the whole night! And it was an adventure! To start, the very frist house we contacted, we walked up clapped and were waiting when this random white guy walked up to us and started talking to us. Turns out, 1. He's American and speaks English 2. Is a Member (and a returned missionary!) So, we were talking with him when the woman we contacted walked out of her house so we turned around and started teaching her and the American, whose name is Bryan, just jumped right in and started teaching with us! Haha apparently he was bored in the States and so was living in Paraguay for 3 months! 

After the lesson, we came to a 4 way crossroads and with no clue where to go we all closed our eyes and pointed in a random direction. Time after time, with a few exceptions we would all point in the same direction. And we would walk down the street and contact 3 houses at the same time! We stayed out so late contacting everyone that we could find that we had to run back to the office to get back by 9:30.

Friday, safely back in Piribebuy with an actual visa picture... I had divisions with Elder Viareal. So I went to Eusibo Ayala for the day with him. We went to an area called Christo Redentor and met up with two 16-17 year old priests of the ward, Richard and Jesuś and together us 4 went and taught together! And thats when the rain started... we taught a lesson and on the way back the rain got so bad we ran from shelter to shelter since I gave my rain jacket to Jesuś to use I was completly exposed. There wad lightining, thunder and hail! And we ran through fields and towns until we finally took refuge at Richards house. Since the rain was so bad we stayed st their house and played uno for 2 hours. They have a rule where if you play a 7 everyone that speaks or makes noise has to draw a card. Needless to say, I drew a card or two or twelve.

Saturday, since its the last day of transfers after ending divisons in the morning, we went out and "explored/looked" in a new area for people! Because our area is HUGE and so we really only work in Piribebuy central, since everything else is just countryside and little communites. Anyways, we were walking for an hour through literal jungle on these little dirt paths when we miraculously came upon a beautiful house. There we met a man named Wilson, who is the father of 8 kids. We taught him and it was really cool because he told us from the get-go that he prefers Guarani, over Spanish... and so my comp popped off with a just a ton of Guarani he knew! We gave him a book of Mormon in Spanish, but promised we'd come back with one in Guarani! That night, we found Wilsons house was only the beginning of a whole village/town of houses that have never been touched or taught by missionaries. House after house recieved us, and we found over 15 new people that night. The field is white in what we have called "yvy iporãva" which is Guarani for "The Fertil Land" aka Piribebuy 1.2 aka Pateo'eti.

All in all this week has been full of miracles and adventure.

1: Yours Truly as a 90 year old Paraguayo

2: Richard, Jesus, Elder Villarreal and I in a dark tunnel

3: Us again walking and waiting for inevitable rain

4: The Paraguay Asuncion temple! It was on our way to Immigrations
5: The Jungle/Savanna we walked through

It sent to earlyyyy haha this is always why you should proof read first kids. My 10th grade English teacher would be dissapointed. She litterally told me once that I needed to be smarter with my emails because I sent her a poorly grammatized email once haha and now look where we are! 

Anyways, it sent before I could attach this. But hey maybe you'll read this part because you'll be to lazy to read the whole first part but will instead, want to see what I added haha. 

A passage from Mosiah really hit hard this week for me. Alma Senior is talking about his life and trials and afflictions and expounds:

 "Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth." (Mosiah 23:10) 

I have seen this be so true this week. There have been afflictions there have been hardships without a doubt. But as I have prayed to God earnestly night after night I have seen him bless me. And, I know that he can make me, ME, Jay Ralphs, now Elder Ralphs an instrument in Gods hands. And I csn testify if you seek God he will answer your prayers and make YOU, yes you a light and a strength in the lives of others!

Love you all, God loves you, focus on your relationship with Christ this week will ya? If you have a relationship with him ALL is possible... I promise in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Ralphs