My first real talk in church, and Paraguay turns 200!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Hello to all!
This last week was an eventful one (like always), and I am sure I will forget to include many great events, but I will try my best to remember it all!
Paraguay celebrated 200 years as being a country on Saturday, May 14th. It was cool to see all the country pride around the city. Everyone had there bicentennial pins, soccer jerseys, flags, and hats on, and were really excited for the big holiday. I am really glad I was able to be here in Paraguay on such an eventful day!
... we always seem to eat weird things...this week wasn't any different. We ate cow hooves, kidneys, and we are almost positive that we ate some cow utters. He was really excited for us to try them, and we did our best to stay positive and swallow them down. The next day we went by his house he was killing a pig, so we saw part of that too. He cut off the "male parts" of the pig, and gave them to the pig's brother to eat.
I talked in sacrament meeting yesterday, making it surprisingly my first real talk in Paraguay. I was asked to speak on missionary work, but since it was Mothers Day here, I included some of my thoughts on the blessings I have had from the things my mom has taught me. Anyone who knows my mom knows how great she is, and so it wasn't hard to talk for a while about her. But the talk went really well, we had a great day at church yesterday. Our family we are working with came to church (only the lady because her "Señior" had to work somewhere). Also our investigator Cristian was able to come to church this week for the first time. We have been teaching and working with him for a really long time, and he finally was able to come. He loved it so much, that he asked if he could move his baptismal date up because he already feels ready. He is a great kid, I love working with him. He already has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, and is reading every day. I know that the challenges will continue to come, because its never an easy road to baptism, but I am looking optimistically to the future. Our family has a baptismal date for next Tuesday, the last day of the change, and we are working really hard to make it possible. It isn`t a secure date yet, they still have some work, but I hope that they can understand the importance of marriage and baptism, and that I can be a part of that special day for them.
I am loving the mission more and more every day, and am really enjoying my time in Bella Vista. We get changes next week, and its possible that I will go to another area. I don't know where I will be in a few weeks, but I am doing my best to take advantage of every day here, because its already changed my life more than I could have imagined. Thanks for the emails, letters, packages, prayers, and support. Keep me and the people here in your prayers.
Until next week,

Elder Babcock