Mosquitoes, Brownies and Upcoming Baptisms...

Hello Everyone,

My week here was good.  Unfortunately the baptism of Carlos didn't quite work out.  He got very  busy with work so things got hectic and never worked out. When we went for his interview he wasn't home.  This week for sure he will be baptized and we should also have another baptism if things go well.

There are so many people here who know what we are saying is true but they are scared to accept it and be baptized.  I just can't ever loose hope.  One day they will and all I can do is get them started on the right path.

There isn't much new going on.  This past Sunday we were able to get a lot of people to church so that was really cool.  The members are finally starting to help out.  The brownies we have been making them are really paying off.  We are talking a lot of their neighbors.  There is a  family we have gotten close to and they love us and are really helping us out in this area.  They just needed a little love and are slowly coming along.

The weather is good.  I don't think it has changed since I've gotten here.  It's just super hot and then it rains every once in a while, like once a week.  I guess it is supposed to get colder but I haven't felt that yet.  I guess we shall see.

The mosquitoes are going crazy right now.  They are everywhere and the bug spray doesn't work at all.  Hopefully they go away soon.  They are annoying.  Yesterday was the worst sleep of my life.  All night they just kept flying into my ears, it was awful.  Then this morning the shower blew up on me and shocked me.  It was pretty rough but I'm still alive. ;)

No more pig stories this week.  I think I've had about all the experiences with a pig I can take.


Sunday we received an email notification that there was a comment left on the blog.  Rarely are comments left so it definitely caught my eye.  The comment is as follows...

Emilio FernandezApril 26, 2015 at 4:56 PM

Good morning, how are you?

My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.

I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.

For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Paraguay? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Paraguay in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:

Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain

If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.

Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.

Yours Sincerely

Emilio Fernandez

We shared this story with Andrew in hopes that he would be able to send this Man a message.  Missionary work from across the globe. ;) 

Andrew's reply: 

I would love to send this man a message.  I have no clue where a post office is and have actually never seen one since I have been here.  The way we send letters is through the church.  I would be more than happy to do it.  Sending him a book of Mormon would be easy as shipping is free from the distribution center.  I will look into it this week and see what I can figure out.  Excited to do this. ;) 

As for Mother's day I still haven't gotten everything figured out. Transfers are on the 6th and so things could change for us.  Hopefully I will know more by next week. 

Love you all a lot

Elder Heugly

Drew

 Asunción at night.  This picture was taken from the second highest building in the city which would be about the size of the building Dad works in. 

 Me and Elder Jensen with a member and his cousin who we are teaching. 

Some sort of bike race that was taking place.  There were 1,000's of bikers.

April 20, 2015C

Hi Everyone,


All is well here in Centro.  I'm awesome and everything is going good. Our apartment here is small.  Before I was living in a house and so it has been a bit of a change.  It's very old but it works so I have nothing to complain about.

The branch here is kind of tough.  The members aren't really excited about doing missionary work  so we have been baking brownies and writing letters to ask them to get more involved.  It is working, we are making progress.

We are entering the rainy season.  The rain in centro is worse than in Yaguarón.  There is no mud but there are a lot of hills so the water just rushes down the hill and it destroys us.  It's alright though, it's better than the mud.

The weight is just melting off  (he is down 50 pounds) but here we eat a lot so I'm not losing or gaining so it's nice.  We eat a lot here.  Sometimes we eat 2 meals a day with members so it's nice.  I'll make sure and send some pictures next week.  Today we had our district activity and I forgot to bring my camera.  Next week I'll send home some good pictures.

The week was really good.We have a baptism scheduled for Saturday if all goes well.  It looks like we finally did it.  There hasn't been a baptism in this area in a year.  His name is Carlos and he is one of the poorest people I have ever seen or met.  He supports his Mom, Sister and Niece by selling on the buses.  He doesn't make much but he is so humble and has given up drinking and smoking.  He is always reading his Libro de Mormon.  Please keep him in your prayers this week.

After Carlos we don't have anyone to work with.  We get rejected a lot but it is what it is.  We have Carlos and that is all that really matters.  After he is baptized we are going to work on his family.

Crazy story of the week would be that...well I don't know how to say it without it sounding bad but,
(I will say it for him...they castrated a pig).  Apparently it calms them down.  It was the weirdest thing I have done yet.  No worries though the pig is fine and I'm just a little bit scared!

Sounds like everyone is doing well.  I can't wait to see and talk to you all on Mother's Day. You guys are pretty lucky to see my beautiful face. ;)

Love you all,
Elder Heugly
Drew

Testimony builder...

Hey everyone,

This week was a tough one. I am in a very tough area but have learned a lot being here.  I have learned to trust in the Lord and am learning to have faith.  Being in this new area is a real testimony builder.  So many people tell us that we don't have the truth but they just don't know.  We are rejected so many times that it is actually helping my testimony grow stronger.

Not much is new this week.  A lot of rejection but no worries we are still going strong.  We aren't going to give up and are searching for that golden person who wants to know the truth.

We have a few people we are working with but I don't really like to consider them investigators.  People here are mostly catholic and really like arguing so it's hard to have a good lesson and feel the spirit.  The problem is here in this area the people are educated and like to analyze everything and look for problems.  Most have the Internet and this gives us a lot of problems as well.  They look up anti Mormon stuff and its become a real pain but we try and help them understand what they read isn't true.

One investigator whose name is Luis comes to church every week but doesn't want to be baptized.  He has a few doubts still about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.  Today we are going to his house and we are going to have family home evening with him and make some brownies and watch the restoration movie and invite him to be baptized.  Please pray for him today also please keep us in your prayers that we will find that person who is looking for us.

Mom asked about the killing of the pig.  We did kill a pig and BBQ it and it was quite the experience.  First they grab him by the tail and then flip it over so my companion and I got to help flip it over.  Then someone takes a knife and they stab it in the heart.  After the pig is killed they cut it up and BBQ it.  It was actually very delicious.

Tell mom to not get too excited about skype yet. ;) We still have quite a bit of time until Mothers Day.  I don't know if I will speak in Spanish...I know you are all dying to hear it. hahaha Maybe you will get lucky and I will get a phone call while we are talking and you will hear me speak. ;) We will see though.  We will just let it be a surprise.

Sounds like everyone is doing great.  I can't wait to hear how Sam and Bridger do with their games.

All is good here.  We are fighting against the odds but we will continue to fight.

Love you all a lot

Elder Heugly

Drew

 The pig we barbecued

 Me and a turtle we found 

 The scariest bridge of all time.  It shakes and half of it has fallen in.  We have to cross it often and I don't like it. 

Me on the bridge

 This is Robertito.  He comes with me and Elder Jensen often.

April 6, 2015 Conference Weekend

Hey everyone,

This week was a great one.  My new companion is great, his name is Dawson Jensen.  He is a really nice guy and we get a long really well.  He has been out a year and a half.  He cooks breakfast all the time and is a really good cook so he has already won me over. ;)

The branch is good here.  It's actually smaller believe it or not than the branch in Yaguarón.  It's the only branch in the city of Asunción and there are a lot less people that go but it's because the city I'm in is mainly a lot of businesses so there are less houses. However we do have a good amount of less actives too.

Mcdonalds last week was great! I got myself a nice burger and then we also ate at Hard Rock café and I ate another burger.  It was delicious and I even bought myself a sweet hard rock café shirt.  A member payed for our Mcdonalds so we ate like kings last Monday.

I did miss our families traditional Easter breakfast of  homemade egg Mcmuffins.  It wasn't quite the same without them.  Sounds like you all had fun in Midway.  Looking for golf balls though? I guess that's what life has come to without me.  Kind of sad, hahaha, just kidding it actually sounds like a blast!

Conference was good.  It stormed here and it knocked out the signal for the first session so we ended up going to an investigators house and watching the first session with him on his computer.  It was actually really cool to be able to do that.  Then we ended up watching the rest of conference at the church but we were able to watch them live.  Conference was really good.  They talked a lot about the family and a whole bunch about getting married.  Didn't really apply to me since I'm never getting married...hahaha just kidding, maybe one day in the near future. ;)

You will be happy to know I didn't fall asleep once.  Pretty proud of myself for that. ;)
My favorite talk was by Elder Andersen the Music of the Gospel.  I also really enjoyed Elder Ballards talk on the greatest generation of young adults and missionaries.  Pretty much I thought conference was awesome.

Things in my new area are a lot harder but this week we had a lot of success in a scary part of our area.  We were able to get 4 people to come to conference and found a few new people we are working with.  I think we just might break the Centro curse.  My new area is a good combination of both the rich and the poor of Paraguay.  I like to be in the poor areas more but we can't be there for too long.  It isn't very safe.  I am about 3 hours or so by bus from my old area.  We usually walk everywhere  but if we are going from one side of our area to another we take the city bus because we are lazy and my new area is a lot smaller than my last area.

I had my interview with the mission president and he said I am in the most dangerous part of the mission...hahaha I love it! The interview was really cool.  He said my Spanish was outstanding and that he was proud of me and that he sent me here to centro because he said he felt like I could make the change.  It's one of the hardest areas we have and so that was really amazing for him to say that.  I am hoping we can make a difference.  There hasn't been a baptism in our area for over a year.

We are definitely planting seeds everywhere we go...soon enough you are going to see a bunch of mango trees.  :)

Love you all. Until next week.

Elder Heugly
Drew

 Me and My companion Elder Jensen at Hard Rock Cafe'

 Chilling at the beach

 Enjoying lunch at Mcdonalds with a member

 The main streets of Asunción.  It was Holy Week so the streets were pretty dead this week. Usually they are really packed. 

Watching conference with our investigator Reuben

New Area and New Companion

Hey Everyone,

It's been a great week.  I am in a whole new area and it's a whole new world here.  I have a new companion too.  My new area is called centro and it's really crazy.  It's located in downtown Asunción.  It is so different than Yaguarón.  I actually have to ring doorbells now and the people are much different.  They are much more educated.  There are no dirt roads and everyone has cars.  There are restaurants here like a Hard Rock Café, burger restaurants, Pizza Hut and Mcdonalds which is where we are headed after we are done here.  Right now I'm in a really nice mall.  So different than where I have been living.  I'm also really close to the river too.  I'm sure you can look up this whole area on google maps.  All of the streets have names and everything. :)  It is just so different than my last area.  I have spoken so much English this past week.  The people here are more educated and their houses are really nice.  It was quite shocking to come here.  I actually even taught my first lesson in English...CRAZY!  Most of the members here know English and use it in their jobs.

There is however a part of my area that is really scary called the chacaritas where we can't enter.  We can only go in with a member and we went in yesterday and it's crazy.  I saw a knife fight in there...pretty scary.

I am loving it here.  It's just so different.  All of the houses are smashed together and there are so many different roads and alleys to get lost in.  I actually prefer the ghetto areas the most.  The more wealthy people are the more unfriendly and accepting they are.  They haven't had a baptism in my area in over a year.  I am hoping to break this! :)

I'm glad that Romina messaged you.  She is awesome and I'm glad to hear they liked me there. ;) I do miss Yaguarón.  Especially since I left behind 2 baptisms.

My new companion is Elder Jensen.  He is from Utah and he is at least 6'5" or 6'6"...not exactly sure but he's tall! He is an awesome guy and a good cook so that is a bonus.  We get along really well.

Sounds like things are pretty boring and  the same at home.  I need some more stories!  Pac Man is a scary game Mom so you will have to watch out. hahaha

All is well with me.  I'm trying to get the camera to work so I will try and send a few photos if I can.  It can be tricky and sometimes takes a while to connect but I will do my best.

Today we are going to head out to a whole bunch of the tourist spots here because this is one of the best tourist spots in Paraguay so I will send some good ones next week too.

Oh and I still want you to come pick me up.  I have promised a few people that I will for sure come back and visit.  Can't let them down. ;)

Love you all,
Drew

 Our Mission Calendar with everyones pictures and all of the transfer dates marked. :) 

 My Old district when I served in Yaguarón.  

 Saying goodbye to Ana and her family.  Ana was my first investigator when I got to Yaguarón.

The Olmeda family.  The couple that was married and baptized that I taught but wasn't able to go to since my transfer.  

March 23...Really Sick

Hey Everyone,

Glad to hear everyone is doing good.  I can't believe Tyler is already home from his mission.  Time flies by quick for sure!

How awesome you got to meet someone from my mission.  I don't have any clue who she is, I'm not always good with names.  She would have come home almost 6 weeks ago, that is when the last changes were.  I will look for her on our missionary calendar and see if I recognize her.

I'm glad she filled you in on some of the ins and outs of Paraguay.  I am definitely not in the rich area but I know all bout the motorcycles.  They're called moto churros and they are a real pain.  I'm pretty good at avoiding them.  You just have to know where to be and where not to be.

I'm also glad that someone from Paraguay contacted you.  Yesterday at church I got a lot of the members Facebook info and emails etc... since transfers are this week.  The girl that found you on Instagram is one of the members and she recently served her mission in Uruguay.  She is pretty awesome, her name is Romina.  Glad you got a little glimpse of Paraguay.  The members here are pretty funny.

I'm gearing up for the move tomorrow.  I'm almost 100 percent sure that I'm going to be moved.  I get the call at about 9:30 P.M. to let me know if I go or not. I am ready to see another part of Paraguay even though I really like it here.  I'm excited to see another area.  Having running water will definitely be nice. Tomorrow I'm going to go around saying my goodbyes so that should be fun.

This past week was really good and we had a lot of success even though for the first 3 days of the week we didn't leave the house.  I was really sick with some messed up stomach problems but I am good now so no worries.  I didn't go to the doctor or anything but Hermana Agazanni cured me with some Paraguayan tea so all is well again.  Seriously though...I was dying!

I did finally get my package.  Thanks for everything.  I have almost eaten it all already because if I am being transferred I don't want to leave anything good behind. hahaha

This Saturday we have a couple being baptized and married in the same day.  They are awesome.  Their names are Arnaldo and Suse and they are great.  I was able to teach them all of the discussions but I won't be able to see the baptism and marriage.  That is the hard part of leaving an area but at least they are still doing it.

I'm glad I won't be missing the Heugly family easter party this year.  Looks like I will only have to miss one.

O.K. so funny question...is Christian getting fat or is it just me? Seriously get that kid outside doing something. hahaha  Just kidding...love you Christian. ;)
Until next week,
Love you all. Drew

 My companion and one of the young men from our ward at the Yaguarón rock

 Me and my companion at the Yaguarón rock

The  Yaguaron rock. Yagua means dog in Guarni so that is why the dog is on there. 

Birthday Celebration

Hey Everyone,

I sure hope Dad is having a great birthday today.  I just sent him his birthday email and hope he likes it.  Thanks Mom for the reminders.  I did remember Dad's today but I am sure I will forget someone else's.

My birthday was good.  I didn't end up getting your package yet (UGH!! It's been sitting at the mission home for 2 weeks now!) but hopefully this week I will...who knows.

I did get to do something fun for my birthday.  My companion tricked me outside at 6:30 in the morning on my birthday and dumped water on me.  :) Later we went for lunch at a members house.  His name is Gustavo Nunez and he served us chicken, steak and churizo.   He also made me a cake and sang Happy Birthday in Guarni.  After that we just had a normal day.

Last week was pretty rough.  We just got rejected a lot more than usual but this week we have done well.  Things are going to be good.  I will be leaving Yaguarón on the 25th of March.  I am sad to leave.  I will be leaving behind a lot of people I have grown to love and will be missing 2 marriages and 3 baptisms. I will be getting a new companion as well.  Changes are hard.  I like it here but it will be nice to get to know another part of Paraguay.

The zone conference was good.  We learned a lot and they changed a couple of things and added some more rules, as if we didn't already have enough.  hahaha  While we were there we got to watch a movie called Meet the Mormons.  I guess it is going to be in theaters and so that was cool.  I think we saw it before anyone else.  It was a good movie.  (Do I dare tell him it has already been in theaters here and is already on DVD ;))   My zone sang la luz de la verdad.  Not exactly what that would mean in English but it was awesome and I have to say we sounded pretty good.

Thanks for letting me know about Chase (his cousin) I will definitely keep him in my prayers and will write him and let him know how much I love him.

Love you all and hope you have a great week.

Elder Heugly

Me and Gustavo Nunez, the member who fed me lunch for my birthday

The lunch that Gustavo fed me...chicken, steak and chorizo 

 The cake that Gustavo made me

 Just me modeling for the camera :)