Justin Call's Mission to Paraguay

Good morning Brothers and Sisters, What a wonderful opportunity it is for me to stand in front of you all and report my mission experience. I had an amazing mission, some say I didn't change that much which may be true in some aspects, however, I grew and strengthened my testimony and knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now more than ever I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and that the Book of Mormon really is the word of God. I don't think I could have asked for a better mission. I love my mission. For those who don't know or don't remember I served in the Paraguay Asuncion North Mission. I am so blessed to have served there. I know that I was foreordained by our loving Heavenly Father to serve my Paraguayan brothers and sisters. I love them very much.  So that you have a better understanding of what it is like in Paraguay, a little information about the church is important; there are two missions, about 400 full-time missionaries ...

 

Dear Family and Friends,  I cant believe this is the last letter I will be writing, this week has been great I have had a wonderful end of my mission I and have learned so much. This last change has been great for me, and I really felt that the Lord sent me here to amparo with elder Roeller for a reason and know that the Lord knows me personally and knows what I need, I also feel that I was sent to Amparo and that I am leaving it better than it was when I got here, I also know that God blessed me with the opportunity to return and visit my converts from Aregua, Last night I got to go visit Osvaldo and Adela and also a family that me and E Eliason started teaching that were baptised shortly after I left. They are really an awsome family too that have great testimonies. It was so much fun to see them all there again after so much time. I was able to leave them with my testimony of the chuch and of the happiness that  comes from keeping the comandments. I was greatful for that op...

Dear Family and Friends,  I had another great week, we found some good new investigators and brought five of them inchurch,  I feel that the branch is getting better now, we had those first few weeks I was here that were full of so many problems, but I feel that they have strengthened me and the other members of the branch. The attendance is rising weekly. It has been tough for me to come here to amparo and leave all of the people from saldo and the success there but I know that the Lord sent me to Amparo for a reason. I learn alot from elder Roeller hes a good missionary and always positive and animating. I am greatful to finish my mission with him. We had some special changes in our zone and since Wendsday I have been with elder Roeller and Elder Patterson. Elder Patterson is from Canada and is Elder Humphreys` best friend from back at home, its cool because we are great friends.  I am not sure we sill have a baptism before I go, because the girl that was close, needs m...

Dear Family and Friends,   It is great to hear from you all again today I cant believe I have just two more Pdays, it is going by so fast. I love being a missionary. We have so many wonderful opportunities to learn and to grow. I have learned alot, today we took a bus into Asuncion to go to the doctors office because my comp. has had a few problems in his chest on the bus we where just laughing and talking about how our mothers would react in the situation being on one of these buses. It was pretty fun to think about, it brought back memories of my first weeks here, the shock mode of being so close to so many unknown people in a vehicle driving wayto fast through ridiculus traffic. I have really come to love there culture and way of life.    In our Branch we are doing alright there are still alot of problems but they seem to be alright this week there werent any break downs so that is good, we afound tw...

Dear Family and friends,  Thanks again for your great letters, I love reading your letters, they usually help me remember how great my family is. I this week had some of the most spiritual and most challanging moments of my mission. It has been  a great week. The highlight would be our zone conferance on Wednesday, it was my last one, my best one and one I wont forget. President Arnold from the 70 was there. He is one of the most amazing examples I have ever met. I had about 6 hours of conferance and training, and a 10 min personal interview.. The spirit present was so special. In one of the moments between sessions he pulled me off to the side and told me several things with tears in his eyes about how the Lord feels about me.  I stood in shock abit that the Lord would think so great of me, he mentioned that sometimes i am just to hard on myself but have no reason to feel like so much lower than most people- It was a moment I will never forget he didnt know I would later...

Dear Family and Friends, Well it is sure nice to hear from you all again this  week I bet it is wierd to have just two kids at home. We had a great week we really did, we had some experiances that just reminded me how blessed I am and how perfect the plan of the Lord is. First of everything went great with the baptism we were really pleased with the support of the members at the service and angelicas dad was too. They are a really neat family one of those families that who know why they went in active because they know alot about the church and have great testimonies we need a ward mission leader and are hoping that he will get the call.  Secondly we had a really cool experiance with a contact. We decided to contact this random house and started talking to a lady. we introduced ourselves and asked if she had ever talked to missionaries before. And she responded  yes I have just once in Mariano roque alonso, And asked me if I knew Carlos Bernal I was like ya I ws teaching ...

Dear Family and Friends,  Wow it sounds like things are changing alot at home I cant believe Hannah and Evan are at Collage. Reading hannahs letter made me feel really weird I just cant believe she is at collage. This week has been amazing for several reasons. First off, Elder Roeller is awesome and is helping me out so much he is from Dallas Texas and is one of the most positive people I have ever met. I knew him before and thought he was just prideful but I have realized that its not that he is prideful but that he is confident with himself. I learned there is a big differance between pride and confidence. He is helping me be more confident and just feel good. I have always had the problem of never being fully satisfied with who I am or what I do. I am excited o continue to learn and change with my companion. I know God hears and Answers prayers, He loves us and wants us to be happy. Elder Roeller is an answer to many prayers.  The area is great also I am so close to where i...

Dear Family and Friends, Thanks again for all the emails, and dont feel bad for not sending me anything for my birthday. I am way too spoiled here anyway. This week was kind of crazy or unexpected but filled with blessings and challenges. It is wierd because I feel so young still in the mission yet after wendsday I will be the oldest along with my group. the time goes way fast. Transfers are on wendsday, but last tuesday I got the news that I was leaving so last tuesday I said goodbye to everyone and packed my bags. I left wendsday morning. So where am I? I am in Luque with Elder Ferwerda until wendsday basically just waiting for my companions comp to die or go home and for Elder Ferwerdas comp to come in.- ELder Ferwerda is form St george UT, but on wendsday I will go with Elder Roeller, From Texaswho is with Elder Smith from Rexburg who is Kyson Dana´s best freind. Elder Smith goes home this week. you might Have to think for a second to figure out what I just wrote. haha I dont know ...

Dear Family and Friends, It was nice to hear from you again this week. It sounds like you had a great time at lake powell. The week just flew right by again and I am still doing great, I think I am doing even better every day. I had a couple moments this week where I thought a bit about what I didnt know when I got here and how differant the culture is. I had to think hard because now it is a part of me or at least so normal I have basically forgotten how different it was for me when I got hear. I really love it. This week we had Angelica´s baptism It turned out really well we did it on saturday and she asked my comp to do the baptism so it was neat because it was his first to perform convert baptism. He was excited about it and did a great job. there were quite a few members mostly youth at the baptism. Our ward has a lot of youth so it is great for missionary opportunities. Juan and his brother Junior are doing awesome, Junior is reading lots and loves church. he is really excited fo...

Dear FAmily and Friends,   I had another great week and it passed by way fast. I really cant believe it is august already. We have continued to see lots of blessings and miracles. This week was full tblessings and challanges. First of the blessing...The youth have gotten supper excited with the receint baptisms and have really taken off. There are several of the members that are really good friends now with Sergio Ever and Juan. One of the Sevastian is 18 also and preparing for a mission He visits them almost every day and has been teaching and inviting the siblings of Sergio and Juan. Sergios brother always goes to the activities but wont share with us or go to church I think he will come around though. Juans family is just golden. Juans brother Junior went to church and is excited for his baptismal date for the 20th. Juans sister started to share with us just a little bit but wasnt able to go this week to church but commited to for the next sunday. Juans mom still hasnt gone to c...

Dear Family and Friends,   Thank you for the letters and pictures. It looks like you had a great time there in martins cove.,It sounds like you are having a great summer, The house looks great and the grass is tall. ahaha.   I had an awesome week again. Really we are receiving so many blessings from the Lord I  have never met such prepared people. to receive the gospel in all of my mission, On sunday Angelica and Evers mom Nilda came to church they are looking really good for baptism and are really excited about being members of the church. Another blessing is the Second counsler hired Evers Dad to help him in construction and they started today it will give them the oppurtunity to become friends and talk about the church. We are also working with a new family infact we are going to go help them move once we get done writing these letters. The dad is a less active member, that has recently come back to church with is wife that isnt a member., we havent really st...

Dear Family and Friends,   Thanks again for the letters, I am sorry to hear that Great Grandma Call passed away. I love telling the Paraguayans that my great grandma had 14 children.Most Paraguayans have quite a few too, but I have always looked up to great grandma she has always been a great example-.   This week was actually pretty warm. It warmed back up to the point of sweating a time or two. It feels like the cold is on its way back though or at least today it cooled down- . I enjoy the heat now more than the cold. This sunday it rained again with is always a bad thing because the people dont like coming to church in the rain. At home I liked when it rained on sundays...I guess just because I didnt have to worry about how many investigators I had in chruch. Supprisingly we did alright this week and quite a few members came in the rain we also have some awesome investigators. Anivel the other friend of Sergio and all them came again he knows alot now and has...

Dear FAmily and friends, Thanks for all your letters this week, mom you are probably right about writing small letters but I really love hearing about what you are all up to. I will try to keep writing good letters too. somtimes I dont feel like writing a lot and other times it seems to just flow. I have had another great week it basically started with a call from President. saying that he had decided...orhad felt, not to close the other side of Salado, we got the changes and my comp and I are staying together and Elder Hatfield stayed also and Elder Moran came in. I lived with elder Moran in Pedro Juan so we have been together a good chunk of my mission. He is a good kid he came with me and goes home six weeks after due to the differance in the MtC. As for the work I was glad after all to stay in just my area. we will be able to continue focusing on the families of Sergio, Ever and Juan. Speaking of Juan He got baptised on Saturday. Sergio Baptised him!!! How cool is that. It was an a...

Dear Family and Friends,   Thanks for your letters this week it was great to hear from you it sounds like you had a boring week or you just didnt have much time to write. Its ok though I had another awesome week it was a bit crazy and I am ecited for the work in Salado. On Friday I Got a call from Elder Hatfield one of the elders in my district saying that his comp was getting special changed on Saturdayand that he would be leaving on wednesday because president has to close a few areas because more missionaries are leaving than coming for the next couple of months. Which leaves me and my comp in charge of the whole ward. It was a big suprise to me becuase it is a huge area to walk. We now have just over 100 active members with several hundred less active members.- It seems like tons of people to visit. It makes me think of the missionaries at home just the two of them and like 16 wards and 2 stakes, so I guess one ward is nothing.     I am really excited for the work we ...

Dear Family and Friends,   Another week has come and gone, I had a great week but it passed by super fast quite a bit happened so th only problem is it is super cold. This morning was in the mid-low 30s Imagine that without any kind of insulation or heater. I was freezing! Luckly w have fairly thick blankets so i didnt freeze. We had a baptism service Saturday night in the cold and there were quite a few people there taking inacount th cold and rain. Adry got baptised and also Cesar the 8 yr o.ld grandson of sister Medina. They both asked me to baptise them. I was hoping Adry would let Ever do it but she didnt want him to. It was a nice service. Evers mom and one of his other sisters came to the service so that ws cool there were four investigators there. Sergio ad Ever are doing great I love to see how much the ward is using them and giving them opportunities to serve.they are becoming strong converts. Juan and Anival to of their good friends re doing grea...