Monday, January 26, 2015

Bautismo soy el mejor

Hey,

This week went by quick.  It feels like I talked to you guys yesterday.  I am emailing quick this week so that I can try and send a lot of pictures.  Hopefully they will go through and make up for the shorter emails this week.

Congrats to Sara and Dima on their upcoming missions.  London and Hungary, WOW! I know they are both going to do great.

The week was great.  I had my first baptism on Saturday.  I baptized a Woman/Mom by the name of Graciella.  She lives on her own with 6 children.  It was awesome!! It only took me 5 tries to get the baptism prayer right...hahaha.  I had a hard time with her name.  It was super long and is very hard to say, but the 5th time was the charm. :)

We found the single Mom.  She has been working in Asunción to support her kids.  It turns out she has been going to church in Asunción and reading the scriptures all the time.  If she is able to come to church this week we are going to bless her baby and then baptize her on the next Saturday.  Hopefully everything works out for her.

Today we are going to talk the Dad of the little girls.  Their uncle (the man who was struggling with the drug problem) who is going to be baptized on the 7th, is going to go with and and help us talk to him.  Hopefully it will all work out.  I will send you pictures of him and the girls today.

The little girls all came to church again.  When we arrived at their house on Sunday they were all cleaned up and in dresses ready to go.  Their Aunt Graciella (the woman I just baptized) had helped them get all ready. It was AWESOME!

Not much else has happened.  Pretty much the same old same old.
I'm going to send pictures right now. Hopefully it works. :)
Good hearing from all of you.

Love ya,
Drew
Elder Heugly

We also received an email from Andrews companion Elder Diaz.  He wrote us last week thanking us for his Christmas package and we wrote back to him.  It was nice to hear from him and get a little more insight into what is going on. :) 

Thank you for your emails, they really do inspire.  Yes it is hot here.  We had been working with Estanislao, the fatehr of the three girls, but he is almost always drinking when we get there with his friend.  It is actually a sad story.  He isn't married to his girlfriend, and he leaves the house a lot while his girlfriend works in Asunción.  She comes home only on the weekends.  The girls have to cook, clean and wash clothes.  The men here don't really do anything but "work".  The work they do is not like the work we think they do.  There is a lot of laziness here.  There's no concept of self discipline so it's harder to get people to live certain principles or give up something for the Lord.  For example when Estanislao leaves, he just leaves.  He doesn't tell his kids where he is going or when he'll get back.  They are used to it though.  It's kind of a culture thing, most of the time the paraguyan women have no idea where their man is.  He'll just say "I'm going" and they leave.
The woman who was just baptized this week (I'm sure Elder Heugly told you all about it) is a tougher situation.

There are a lot of trees and foilage everywhere and a lot of mud.  This is my 5th area and my second hot summer.  Paraguay is great, although I'll probably kiss the holy land when I step off the plane.

What's it like to be a mother to children.  My girlfriend wants to have 9 children.  I've tried to develop responsibility and constant work ethic skills on the mission, but somehow I still feel like the same person.

I feel like the Gospel saved me.  I was baptized when I was 18 and my parents were not in agreement but they are more relaxed now.  What really helps me get through challenges is the thought of Eternal life.  Salvation was never easy, wasn't bought cheap and never short cutted.

Any other questions for me or that you want Elder Heugly to know?

Elder Diaz




Me and the other Elders and Hermanas at our church open house a couple of weeks ago.


Me and some of the children that came to the church open house.


Me and my buddy Ramon.


Me and the little girls
Joanna holding my hand
Dianna is the one in gray
Luisa is the one in pink


Me and the girls being silly.

First baptism Graciella 
The woman with the baby is a member and these are all of her 6 children
Dang I look good in white :) 


Here is the funny picture I owe Dad
Don't I look  good :) 

Monday, January 19, 2015

Heartbreaker

So we weren't actually able to have our baptisms on Saturday.  It's kind of a touchy subject but here's the story...

There are 3 little girls that are sisters, ages 10, 9 and 8.  They live in a really poor part of my area.  All 3 of them want to be baptized and come to church every week. We were really excited but it turns out their Dad is CRAZY!  We have talked to their Mom and she has said they can be baptized but we also need their fathers permission.  We need a signature from him saying that it is o.k. 

We went last Sunday to pick them up for church and nobody would answer.  We thought they were gone but it turns out they really were there but their Dad wouldn't let them leave.  He is a crazy guy and his wife works all week long in Asucnción and he is home alone with the kids.  The girls are amazing but him...not so much. ;( 

We went back to the house to get his signature and he told us No they can't be baptized.  It really is so sad.  He doesn't let them leave the house and they just stay home and clean all day long until their Mom comes home on the weekends from work.  

I don't know what I'm going to do but I'm trying to think of something.  It is so sad.  I just want to kidnap them and take them home with me.  Hopefully I can figure it out but pretty much that sums up their story.  Please pray for them and pray for their Dad.

On the bright side of things we are baptizing their Aunt this Saturday.  For sure I will send pictures home of that next week.  I forgot to bring my camera this week so for sure photos next week.

Don't worry about me though.  It's a sad story but unfortunately you see a lot of sad things here.  
I know how you fell though about the kids. (referring to the children I told him about from Mexico) I just want to take them all home with me or give them money or something.  It's really hard to see where many of them live.  I might just be bringing a few of them home with me after my mission. :) hahaha

Things are really good with me and my companion and the other Elders we live with.  We have been together for a while and get a long great.  It's definitely going to be weird to change.  We all have a really good time together.  

I did buy Elder G some shoes.  He loves them and hugged me for like 15 minutes.  He is a really good guy.  It was the first time I have used my debit card and it worked great.  Thanks so much for everything. 

We also found the woman that was living alone with her children and the new baby.  Turns out she has been going to church in Asunción and was living there for a while.  We thought she had disappeared but she is back.  She is also probably going to be baptized as soon as she figures out her schedule.

Things really are great.  I love and miss you all a lot!
Love, 
Drew 

January 12, 2015

The email from last week was not my fault.  The computer kept deleting everything that I was writing so I finally just gave up.  Things should hopefully be better this week.

We had an open house on Sunday and everything went well.  A lot of people came.  I brought 10 kids to it that live in a very scary part of town.  They loved it and loved the church.  They all came back with us to church on Sunday and 3 of them are going to be baptized this Saturday.  I will send pictures next week of all of it.  I can't send pictures this week because the internet isn't working too great.  They are going to be cutting out the lights in Yaguaron and so I am having to write everything really fast.

3 baptisms this week and then another next week.  I will tell you all about them next week.  Hopefully after these baptisms we will be able to baptize the man with the word of wisdom issues.  He is working on it.  All of them are related so it's pretty amazing.

They haven't told us anything about our new mission president. He won't be here until the summer but it should be interesting and exciting to have someone new.

Love hearing the stories about Mexico.  It is always nice to hear what is going on at home.

Talk to you all next week. Sorry this weeks is so short, problems of Paraguay ;)  I promise a longer email and pictures next week.

Love you all,
Drew

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Happy New Year...

Hi everyone,

New Years was good.  We went to bed at 10:30, not much of a New Year Celebration but we had to go home early for safety reasons.  Everyone here likes to party and drink on New Years and it isn't really safe.  The people here go crazy.  They all get drunk and just party all night.  There was loud music starting from 6:00 at night all the way until 6:00 in the morning.  They love their loud music, alcohol and parties.

So sorry to hear about Bridgers Dr. Appt.  I'm sure you will be able to find something else he can eat besides his favorite PB and J's.  Poor Guy.

Poor Grandpa too, what's up with all the Dr. stuff.  I am not a big fan of hearing about this stuff. :(

So glad to hear Cody and Romney are enjoying their missions.  It will be fun to talk to them and share stories even though mine are obviously going to be the best. hahahaha

Me and Yaguaron are going to be together for a while.  I guess this is where I am supposed to be.

I am still enjoying all of the Christmas goodies you sent.  I am eating them slowly, little by little to make them last longer.  I did think about what you asked me on Christmas.  Besides water I miss Dr. Pepper, we can't drink dark liquids on my mission, wings, playing basketball, driving and music, I love my music. ;)

This week has been great. It has gone by so quickly, it feels like yesterday was last Monday.  We have found a lot of new investigators and have had a lot of success.  We have an investigator that has already been going to church and wants to be baptized.  He just has a problem with marijuana that we need to help him clear up and he will be good to go. :)   He is a really cool guy and he is looking to change his life.

We also came across a man this week that said we had saved his life.  His wife had just left him because his daughter had recently drowned in the river. He said he didn't want to live anymore and was planning on taking his life if it weren't for us.  Pretty amazing.

We are also having an open house this Saturday at the Church.  There are going to be a lot of people there.  They have announced it on the radio, Facebook, T.V. and even sent a letter to the government. I will let you all know how it goes next week.

Things are going great I feel like I finally have the groove of the mission now.  I don't feel like a new missionary anymore.  I'm loving it and time just seems to be flying by.



Love you all,
Elder Heugly

Elder Heugly and Elder Justiano (from Honduras) 

Elder Heugly and his district 
 Hoping I don't get in trouble for posting this picture. :)  This was actually sent to Laken and she shared it with me.  The cute Elder on the left has developed a small crush on Laken thanks to the ornaments for the Christmas tree I sent him.  He is the Elder who likes to kiss the pictures ;).   

Elder Heugly, Elder Justiano, Elder Diaz and Elder "Kissey"  I am not sure of his last name ( I need to ask Drew) but for some reason this name just fits. ;)

Still in Yaguaron

Hi everyone, how are things going?  It was awesome to be able to talk to you all on Christmas Eve.  It definitely didn't make things easier though.  It's fought to be away from everyone on Christmas.

I am so glad you all got snow for Christmas.  Christmas isn't the same without it.  I just pictured Mom going down the hill sledding and to be honest that is a really funny thought.  HAHAHA of course she waits to do all the fun stuff when I leave.  I see how it is :)

Christmas was kind of lame.  We had to go home early for safety purposes so we ended up just hanging out in the house, singing Christmas songs and lighting off sparklers.  That was pretty much Christmas for me.  I did get all of the gifts for Christmas.  I think my favorites were the back pack and soccer jersey, that was way cool.  Thanks so much for everything, I love it all.

I was supposed to get up super early today for transfers but it turns out I am still in Yaguaron with Elder Diaz.  It looks like I will be here for a while.  I think what will end up happening is Elder Diaz will leave next change and I will stay here with a new companion.  I will get to show them the area and then after that companion I will probably leave the area.  I will be in Yaguaron for a while.  It's pretty unusual usually after you are trained your companion leaves and goes somewhere else.

I haven't tried to use my debit card yet.  I'll give it a try next week.  I am going to buy the other Elder from Bolivia in our house some shoes.  The two pair he cakes with already have holes in them and he has been here less time than I have.  He needs a little bit of help.

Not much happened this week.  It's the holidays and they go crazy with their parties.  No one was home and so we didn't get to contact many people.  It was kind of a dull week.

I love you all
Elder Heugly


P.S.
Mom, sorry for no pictures.  We found a better place to email from (the place I skyped you all from) and  I can send pictures easier no,  but I let the Elder (the one with the holes in his shoes) borrow my camera.  He doesn't have a camera to send his family any pictures. :( I will send some home next week I promise.  So sorry.

Drew

Christmas came early...

Christmas came early this year and I have to say it was the best Christmas ever.  Because the cyber was closed on Christmas day we were able to Skype with Andrew on Christmas Eve.  It was so fun to see him and hear his voice.  We were even able to Skype with his companion Elder Diaz who was extremely nice and told us some great stories about Drew.  Apparently Drew didn't eat anything for the first 2 weeks he was there.  No wonder he is looking so slim :).

It was so good to hear he had received his Christmas packages but we weren't surprised to hear he had opened them all early.  He is our child who can't wait for Christmas each year and is always the first awake on Christmas morning.  Would you believe we slept in until 8:00 this year!?! It was heavenly!!  We loved hearing he had hung up the paper  Christmas tree we had sent him and had actually hung all of the family picture ornaments.  All that hard work didn't go to waste. :)  He did however inform us that he had to take down many of the pictures because one of the other Elders living with him was kissing some of the pictures i.e: those of Laken and my darling nieces.   Drew said it made him a little uncomfortable...hahaha. Silly Elders!

We are now counting down the days until Mothers Day...4 months to be exact! 

Christmas Catchup...

I can hardly believe I am so far behind on the blog.  I guess being more organized should be one of my New Years Resolutions.  A lot has happened with Andrew the past month.  He is doing well and is loving Paraguay.   It was great to talk to him on Christmas Eve and see how much he has changed in the past few months. We love and miss this cute missionary.

12/15/2014

Hey Everyone, 

I will try and send pictures today if I can today but it took me 30 minutes to get on the computer today.  I am hoping the internet gets better. 

So excited to be able to talk to you all next week.  I am not sure what time yet but I will give you a final time next week.  I might need to change the date also because the cyber might be closed on the 25th.  I will finalize everything this week and let you know.  

This week has been decent, not much has happened.  Church was good but I messed up playing the piano last week because the dang button got stuck so this I got fired...it was a disaster. hahaha  My new calling is a visiting teacher for women.  Other than that not much is happening.  Tomorrow I go to another area and am doing divisions with the zone leaders which means I will have water for the day.  That will be nice.  We finally figured out whats wrong with the water in our house.  The owner of our home has been getting the water illegally so things could be getting a little crazy at our house.  The water people from the city are coming to look at things today, that should be fun.  

Other than this nothing has really happened this week.  I will try to be more interesting next week. :) 
Oh I did get lost for  a while in the middle of nowhere, that was fun!! Besides that things have been pretty much the same.  

The members here make fun of me, it's pretty funny.  They make fun of me for being blonde, last time I checked my hair was brown.  So strange!?!

Everyone here is getting ready for Christmas.  Their biggest tradition down here is that they all take care of a pig all year. They get them nice and huge and then they kill them and eat them with their families on Christmas.  We are working on somewhere to eat on Christmas.  They don't decorate really but I have seen a couple of houses put up lights and I have seen a couple of Christmas trees.  They don't really do gifts on Christmas they just have a big family dinner.  

Thanks for the inspirational message.  I appreciate it a lot and as usual it was good to hear how everyone is doing.

Love you so much, 
Elder Heugly





I think I need to be a little more specific on what types of pictures I would like?  I am not exactly sure what he was thinking when taking or sending these pictures?  I am going to blame it on the heat.  


12/22/2014

Hey Everyone, 
So since I get to Skype with my family for Christmas I only get 15 minutes this week to email.
All is well with me and I hope you are all well.  Talk to everyone next week.
Love, 
Andrew