Another weekly email...because I can't think of captions! :)

AH! Hola mi FAMILIA! 

It's been another great week! Ah.. first off.. THANK YOU for all of the birthday wishes! It was a fun day! So.. this week.. every day at the end of the day I would write something down that I wanted to tell you on a sticky note! Perfect idea right? Yeah.. I thought so too.. and then I lost the sticky note. So yeah.. hopefully next week we'll be in full operation. haha.. anyways. I'll try and remember everything that I wrote down! My fingers are flying. 

So.. we found this family a little while ago. Their name is Familia Lopez. They live on this lot and they have like 3 houses. And honestly.. I don't even know how they are all related.. but somehow they are all cousins and nieces and nephews and cousins or brothers or something. Like somehow they are all related. Their grandma lives there and then everyone just lives and helps out together. As far as I can tell... there is really isn't any organization. Haha.. it's seriously awesome, but so different from anything at home. They really don't have parents, and they kind of do what they want. For this reason.. all of the kids seem older than they are.. or more mature, and when we are teaching them I have to remind myself that they are young. ANWAYS. We found them because the mom of one of them is less active. And we started teaching a few of the kids that were there. We are teaching this one boy named Brian.. he is 15. Then Brian has two cousins.. one Jorge, and the other Lionarda. Jorge and Lionarda are 18. Lionarda has a 2 year old son. But mainly we are focusing on these three. Their grandma is super catholic but lets them listen to us. Honestly.. up until this point in my mission, I haven't loved a family so much. I LOVE them. They are phenomenal. Especially Brian. I have to remember that he is only 15.. because the way he thinks and answers questions is far beyond his years. We have really focused on teaching the Book of Mormon with them.. and it has been awesome. I want them to be baptised so badly. This week we also passed by with a member who is preparing to serve a mission.. and it was awesome and he beared testimony of the book of mormon. 

We are praying and working super hard this transfer to find familiy's to teach and baptize. This week we were able to find I think two family's that I think have so much potential. One family is SUPER brazillian.. and speak so much portuguese.. but I'm actually getting better at understanding it. It's seriously a miracle. 

i'm kind of at the point with the language.. where basically I understand everything in a lesson. I'm getting to a point as well.. where I feel like I can express most of my feelings about things during a gospel related discussion. haha... but once we leave the lesson.. or people start talking about something that isn't church related... it's definitely more difficult. So yeah.. still working on that. It's getting better every day. I'm loving the language. 

Another person.. her name is Dorca. We found her just walking on the street once day.. and decided to stop and talk to her. Most of the time.. this is how we find people. We don't have a problem stopping and talking to people who are sitting outside or walking. Anyways.. we found her a little while ago. Honestly I didn't think she was very interested and I kind of forgot about her. But one day this week.. most of our plans fell through.. and we didn't know what to do. We decided to pray right there on the side of the street, and she came to our minds. We decided to pass by and she was at her house! We started talking to her, and started teaching the Restoration super basically. We spirit was strong. She only has two chairs in her entire house.. so she brought those out for us to sit on.. and she sat on her motorcycle seat. it was so funny. The chair i was sitting it.. it was the smallest thing you guys.. so funny. Anyways.. she sincerely seemed interested this time and was answering our questions so well. I had a super strong feeling in the middle to invite her to be baptised. I was scared at first. In Preach My Gospel it tells us that we should be inviting people to be baptised the first time we teach. And Hna Olvera and I are trying to be more in line with Preach my Gospel.. ANYWAYS.. I just decided to do it at the end of the lesson. The spirit was there.. and I knew that my job was to simply invite...

So I did. I invited her. And she sat at thought for a couple seconds.. and then she said.. but I'm already baptised in your church. I was baptised when I was 8 with my family but my parents got divorced and then we stopped going. Then she asked if she wanted to come back to church if she needed to be baptised again. i ALMOST FELL OUT OF MY SEAT. haha.. I was dying. It was awesome. We obviously explained that she didn't have to again.. and yeah. We passed by yesterday and she wasn't there. Her husband isn't a member.. so we are praying SO hard to be able to teach him this week. That would be a miracle. I love them!!! And to think that we might not have even found out that she was a member if I never invited her to be baptised. Yeah.. it was awesome.

WOW.. before this email get's 500 pages long. Saturday was my birthday! It was a pretty normal day of work.. but we found another family to teach that day! I hope to teach them this week! We are working so hard to have a baptism this transfer!! Anyways.. it turned out to be a great day! We have dinner with the same member every week.. she is the relief society president and goodness.. I love her so much. We ate a yummy pudding thing.. and they sang to me. i felt so happy.. and very loved in that moment. Her son is our ward mission leader. So he was there.. and it was just great. She gave me a plastic rose and some hand lotion. Seriously the sweetest thing. Her name is Hermana Neli. 

anyways.. some other fun things that happened this week.. hmm. We ate a lot of chipa.. and it is SO good. I love it. Umm.. when we walk to the house of familia lopez.. we walk by this bar.. and we basically got chased by a pack of small black dogs for about a block. It was seriously so scary.. we had SO much adrenaline.. haha. we laughed after but it was scary in the moment. We decided it was a sign that we shouldn't walk past the bar anymore.. hahah. Umm.. I ate sugar cane with a less active this week on her porch. It was so delicious.

Ah.. basically the days are getting better and better. Of course I still struggle.. but I'm learning to just rely on the Lord more and more. It's so great. Being a missionary is so fun. Even though many days are long.. and it rained SO much this week.. and the streets are muddy and there a lots of bugs.. we laugh a lot and it's just great. I love this gospel.

wow.. I'm sorry this email is so long. for those of you who made it to the end.. CONGRATS. 

I love you all. I FEEL your prayers. Thank you for them. Prayer is so powerful. I love you all. 

I love you all. 

Hermana Ehlert

Transfer Numero Uno...Done!

HOLA MI FAMILIA!

Can you believe it?! I'm already done one transfer out here in the field. I can't believe it. As I have talked so much about in the past.. time is a VERY strange thing out here on the mission. 

ANYWAYS. I'm not going anywhere and niether is my companion for this transfer! Thank goodness! I'm so excited to have another 6 weeks to work in this little town in Paraguay. I am seriously learning to love it.

AH.. I always sit down at the computer.. and can never think of what happened or what to say. I'll try and do better next week!

So this week. My companion is an Hermana Leader.. so we travelled all the way back to Posadas this week for a meeting she had to go to.. which there and back.. is about 24 hours on a bus.. so that's awesome. But it was great! Travelling is fun.. but it's hard to be away from your area for so long and not see the people that you are working with. 

When I was in Posadas, I went on splits with an Hermana named Hermana Averett. Basically we just worked a normal day in her area and it was so fun. It's fun to be in a different area, and see the differences, and the people, and how another missionary works and teaches. So that was fun. We were in a little city just outside of Posadas, called La Valle. anyways.. it was great. She is super fun. and I learned a lot of new things. 

We got back to La Paloma finally Thursday afternoon and went right to work. Man.. I really feel like after a full transfer of hard work, and adjusting, we are going to see the fruits of our labors. I'm seriously SO excited for this upcoming transfer. I am just so ready to work hard and get things done. 

It's seriously incredible to see miracles day and after day. The Lord is SO aware of us.. and SO in the details of our lives. We just have to look for Him. This transfer, Hermana Olvera and I are going to work our hardest.

I know that our Father in Heaven, is a God of miracles.

I am loving this work more and more every day. Even though I can't speak any better.. I am going to try my hardest to just do my best, and be okay with the small offering that I am giving to the Lord. 

I hope this makes sense. My thoughts are kind of all over the place. I love you all though! Thank you (again) for you prayers and support. ALSO.. BIGGEST SHOUTOUT to Seth for getting his call! Brazil!! WOW. 3 Lawrences!! 

I love you all. 

with so much love!

Hermana Ehlert

this is just me on one of the main streets in my area. isn't it beautiful? Also.. I'm a grey blob.. so that's nice.

we did some shopping when we travelled! We were waiting for the train and took a quick picture! Love these girls.. ALSO.. got to see Hermana Jackman this week.. and it was SO fun. She was my comp in the MTC.

Feliz Dia De Madre

HOLA MI FAMILIA!

First off.. Happiest of mothers days to all of those moms.. or future moms out there. Thank you to all of those mothers and mother figures in my life. You are all an incredible example to me.. and your strength and example strengthens and lifts me! THANK YOU.

Hmm.. this week. It was a crazy one. I also think throughout the week of things that I want to tell you all.. and then the second when I sit down at the computer.. I can't think of a thing.

We tried really REALLY hard to find and teach prepared people this week. We want to have a baptism and soon.. so we are working hard and being obedient as we can be. We found a girl.. she's 16.. and honestly super super awesome. We asked her to be baptized, and she said yes!! It was awesome. But the thing is.. she works every Sunday.. and is also living with her boyfriend and isn't married. So we are definitely going to have to help her work through some things.. but we're going to keep up the faith.

The language.. ah.. I'm sorry I'm talking about it again.. but it's still a struggle. I CANT WAIT for the day when I will be able to express myself how I want. Goodness. There are days when I don't even hear a word of Spanish.. we teach SO many Brazillians.. which means Portuguese. Haha.. it's an adventure.

We laughed a lot this week.

Oh.. another thing that happened.. I think I told you all about a girl named Carol.. we contacted her late one night on our way back home. But anyways.. she was awesome. We had a few SUPER spiritual lessons with her and I know she felt it.. but this week she told us that she didn't want us to keep coming back. She is having a really hard time with the Book of the Mormon.. and believing that we can have another book apart from the Bible.So we asked her to read one more chapter.. and pray sincerely.. just one more time.. and she said she would. We haven't been able to contact or see her since then.. so hopefully she is okay.

I'm still learning and growing.. and learning to love this work. It is so hard... but the work of the salvation of souls has never.. and never will be easy. I'm working this week on seeking the Lord's approval in my life. Really trying to align my will and actions to his will.

I'm so grateful for this gospel. It rained and rained yesterday.. so not many people to church. I gave the Sunday School lesson. It was fun.. hahha. The people here are patient and loving with me. We made brownies for everyone that came to church.. which was a total of 14. It was awesome though.. because as the Lord promises.. he was with us and his spirit was real and strong.

Also.. ate some fun things this week.. including chicken feet pasta. It's always an adventure for sure.

I love you ALL. Thank you for your letters, thoughts, and prayers. Is there anything that I can do better or include more in my letters home?

xoxo.

Hermana Ehlert

xoxoxo from Paraguay!

Hello my family. goodness I love you all so much.

OKAY. This week. the days were long.. and the week was semi fast... haha. I'm learning to love being a missionary more and more every day. It's definitely still a struggle.. and super hard.. but I just wait for the up moments. 

So this week... TONS happened I couldn't write everything if I tried.. BUT.. a few things..

President travelled up here and we had interviews.. goodness they were awesome. my mission president rocks. I told him how I've been struggling.. and he gave me a good insight.. SO.. he said.. how we define and identify ourselves.. is by who we surround ourselves with. we are what and who we surround ourselves with... does that made sense? and I'm struggling because everything that I knew before this is gone.. and different.. and right now.  I'm just finding myself.. and rebuilding myself.. it sounds cheesy.. and I don't even know if it makes sense to you all.. but it made sense to me. it was great. he really is such a great man. he isn't afraid to tell me how it is.. and I love and appreciate that about him.

What more.. we don't have a church in La Paloma.. we have to travel about 10 minutes by car.. because the church here is getting fixed.. so once that is done.. HOPEFULLY we will be able to have more people interested and coming.. 

goodness..  I just want to baptize everyone. I want to set this place on fire. EVERYONE needs this gospel. Another thing I realized just personally this week... is truly how blessed I am. I was sitting in a house of a recent convert named Luis.. he is the greatest. and so funny.. and I also don't understand a word he says. he speaks solo portuguese.. so that's awesome... but anyways.. his house is 2 rooms.. with wood walls and a cement floor... and huge cracks inbetween the ceiling and roof.. and that i where he lives. he has a folding table and 3 folding chairs... and yeah.. just made me realize how blessed I am. even to know english.. to be able to hear and understand the words of our prophet and his apostles in my native tongue is such a blessing. wow. 

It rained a lot this week. super muddy everywhere. winter is defintely coming here.

The langauge is still rough.. basically.. I'm fluent in Spanglish.. and I'm also perfect and pretending I know what people are talking about. I am so good at picking up ques when to nod and smile or to say sorry... so basically that's awesome. 

Anyways.. this week is going to be a good one. I love the people here. Miracles are about to start happening here.. in this little town. I know it. a few things happened today at district meeting that just lit a fire under me.. I'm so ready for this week. I love you all so SO much. Thank you for your prayers. I feel them. they are real. 

xoxoxo from Paraguay!

Hermana Ehlert

this is me and hermana murphy when we were at a conference! 

this is my cute little pension