Saturday, October 31, 2015

October 26, 2015

hello lovelies :)

So I don't really have two truths and lie this week.. sorry. I am running out of ideas! 
haha. 

umm. This week. It was really REALLY hot. Like seriously.. sorry if its tmi.. but seriously never sweated so much in MY LIFE. woah. yeah. You basically don't stop sweating. It's just hot. And we haven't officially even started summer yet. We freeze big water bottles to take out with us.. but within at hour they are melted and the water in warm. and to top it off.. it's seriously like 100% humidity. like its killer. woah. 
so yeah. Weather. 

Um. It was kind of another slowler week number and lesson wise. Ugh.. We are trying SO hard and trying to be so obedient and faithful and not get discouraged and just keep going. Me, personally.. I have been studying lately and one of my personal goals is just working on giving everything little part of me that I have to these people, and to this work, and to the Lord. I want to give everything. i'm working on not getting distracted and just giving myself over to this work. It's exhausting, but honestly, but it makes the days go by faster when I'm not thinking about myself.. and honestly, at the end of the day, I'm happier too, because I can look back and honestly say to the Lord and myself that I gave everything and that is all that he requires. I'm no where near perfect at it yet.. Self mastery is a hard thing... but poco a poco. :)

Something crazy this week.. we were visiting a less active.. and he claims to not have gone through the veil when he came to earth.. and he knows everything from the end to the beginning. It was funny.. and very strange. 
Um.. to keep going with the theme of last week of jehova's witness.. 3 people asked this week if we were testigos..... dangit. We happily claimed no.. and were actually able to make a few good contacts though. so that was great :)

Another funny thing.. people always think that I look like movie stars from the states.. this week I got that I looked like first... wait for it.... Hannah Montana.... and then the lady who told me that was with her sister.. and he sister disagreed and told me that I looked like..... wait for it.... Lindsey Lohan. So that was funny too. we laughed and laughed about it. 

Hermana Lopez and I laughed a lot more this week. Hermana Lopez is missing her family a lot so I am trying extra hard to be happy for her. It's hard when you miss your family.. and if your companion isn't happy, it's even more miserable. Even though it was a hard week, it was a happy one too. 

One way that I am focusing on giving more of myself to this week is charity. Wow.. I have been studying charity this week.. and it has just been the best thing. Truly we have all knowledge and faith to move mountains.. but if we do not have charity.. the scriptures tell us that we are nothing. It really hit me this week.. and as I talked to people this week.. I constantly was trying to focus on loving them like christ would and say the things that he would say and do the things that he would do. 

We are in the last week of this transfer. crazy right? Time is flying for me. I'm just about half way. woah. 
Saturday we planned an activity. As of now on my mission I have planned a total of 2 activities.. and both of them were in La Paloma.. and both of them were utter failures.. but this week we planned an activity and invited the entire world.. and it actually turned out GREAT. It was SO fun. We had a lot of members and less actives. Like LOTS of less actives. It was great. We only had 1 investigator come.. but it turned out to be a great Saturday night. Everyone loved it and it just felt so good. The spirit works in great ways. 
and then Sunday.. we had the highest asistence that we have had since we have been here!! So that was a great improvement too!

So isaias. He was very busy this week with work and school.. so we were only able to meet with him once.. but when we got to his house he was so happy to tell us about what he learned from nephi and what he was reading. My heart was bursting with happiness. It was awesome. He didn't come to church though. so this week we will be focusing on that and trying to help his realize that to recieve an answer he needs to come to church.. and that even though it's hard.. Heavenly Father will bless him for his faith and sacrifice. 

I want to leave you with that this week. 

I love the quote from "Praise to the Man" that says.. "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven". I can't remember how the rest of the song goes in English to save my life.. but that line has kept me going through my mission. And it is OH so true. 

Sorry this was the most random and scattery email ever! I'll try to do better next week! 

I love you all! Have the greatest week! 

LOVES! 
Hermana Ehlert

Also.. this is a family home evening we did. It was super fun!! 
I LOVE THESE PEOPLE. 

that is typical for lunch. Rice with beans and fried meat. hahha 
thought it would be fun to show you all. 
so we carved a watermelon for halloween. Hermana Lopez has never done anything like it.. haha it was super funny. 

Our pumpkins name is wilson. Hermana Lopez named him. hahha




Monday, October 19, 2015

October 19, 2015

 hola mi familia :)

Two lies and a truth!
1. I got proposed to this week. 
2. We were on a bus and a car hit us. 
3. Isaias has told us that he doesn't want us to visit him anymore.
1. TRUE. hahhaa.. and believe it or not it's actually the third time that someone has asked me to marry them on my mission. YIKES right? It's usually from drunk guys.. and this week he was especially drunk. shoot. 

2. False. But everytime we ride buses I think it's a miracle that people don't crash here. It's so funny.. the traffic here is nuts. If there are traffic rules or laws.. no one follows them. It's just so funny. But as of now.. we are safe and haven't been in an accident :) hahah. don't worry mom!

3. FALSE. And thank goodness. He is doing very very well actually! I love him so much! He is reading the book of mormon still. We studied and read with him 1 Nephi 8 this week about Lehi's dream. It was so great. He is drawing connections and applying the things that he is reading in his life now. and telling us about it. We also had another charla with him about the spirit and how we can recognize answers from God. It was very neat and we left him with the challenge to truly try and find out for himself and to have real intent. We explained to him that if he wants to know that the Book of Mormon is true just because he is curious.. he won't actually get an answer. But the Lord will only answer us if we have the intentions to ACT and do something about it after we get an answer. he still hasn't come to church. We don't know what more we can do to help him come.
hmm.. what more. This week was kind of hard number wise again. We are TRYING trying trying our best to be obedient and follow the spirit and do our best and work hard and love the people.. but our plans keep falling through. It can be discouraging with long days.. but we are working through it together. Hermana Lopez is so great. I'm lucky to have her. 

We did have some good miracles and found some people will some good potential.. but we'll see what happens this week! 

Something funny that happened this week is that we were going to visit a less active.. and we were walking up to their gate.. and there was already someone there. We quickly realized that they were missionaries!!!...... but from Jehovas Witness. or here.. they are called testigos de Jehova... great.. now we are competing with the testigos. boo. But it was funny. We laughed and laughed. we initially thought they were elders!!.. but we realized that obviously it couldn't be and they didn't have name tags.. and then we realized who they were. It was funny. hahaha. 

This week also was EXTREMELY HOT. but also we had some rainy thunderstormy days as well. Crazy weather here.. but always an adventure. Love paraguay. 

Anyways.. I'm working hard. I am seeing growth and change in myself every day.. and every day I am more grateful for my mission. For all the things that I am learning. I love this gospel.

We talked, this week, in district meeting. I gave a capacitacion.. I don't know what that word is in english. But like a little talk thing. and I talked about when we are rejected we are becoming more and more like our savior.. because he was rejected throughout his whole life. 

Anyways.. I love you all. I hope you have the greatest week. 

xoxo 
Hermana Ehlert


Our zone made zone jerseys! Arent they sweet? Here is Hermana Lopez and me.


when we made them.. we put the number of how many months that we had at the time. When we ordered them I had 6 months.. and Hermana Lopez had 1! so they are even more special. haha.






Tuesday, October 13, 2015

hi family!

hi family :)

so its only been a few days since I last wrote.. and not much has happen that is worth telling. 

We had a lot of our planned lessons fall through. so we ended up contacting a lot.. it was kind of rough. on friday.. we didnt have one lesson. not one. but we contacted some really great people that day. we walked and talked to the entire world it felt like. lots of rejections.. but a few gems.. so we will see how they turn out this week :)
We did have a lesson with Isaias this week on Saturday. We taught the plan of salvation. he is reading the book of mormon and is half way through 1 nephi. I love this kid. 

I just wanted to tell you all a little bit about the lesson with him though. it was incredible. the spirit was tangible.. and it was so cool to see the spirit working in him. I heard one time.. I cant remember if it was in the mtc or before my mission.. but I heard one time that we arent really teaching this people new things. they learned and accepted these doctrines before this life.. and what we are doing is just bringing this truths back to their remembrance.  Thats what it felt like.. and he even told us.. "This just makes sense doesnt it?"
The spirit was testifying and bringing these things back to his remembrance. 

The spirit for me in that lesson was just this peaceful calm feeling. I havent stopped feeling that way since we left that lesson. Even though it wasnt a great week number wise.. the lord has blessed me with the spirit and I know that we are working hard and doing his work and his will here in Hernandarias. 

I have felt his peace and assurance and love in my life and I know that he is real. I am so happy and I know that he is happy and proud of me. 

I have been working on this week.. trying to see others through christs eyes. it was something that they talked a lot about in conference... and it is changing the way I see things and people and the way I work. 
I am so grateful for the spirit and this work and the love that I feel for my Savior, his gospel, these people, and this work. 

I love you all! 

Have the best week. Thank YOU for your prayers. 

xoxo from paraguay! 
Hermana Ehlert

Friday, October 9, 2015

HI... finally :]

Ah! What a crazy week it has been. You all just have no idea. 


1. I'm no longer in a trio.
2. I have been out of my area more than I have been in my area this transfer. 
3. I wasn't able to watch conference because the power went out. 

1. okay.. true. crazy right?! Right now it's just me and Hermana Lopez again. So last week.. on Wednesdaywe were eating lunch with a member.. and we got a call from our zone leaders. They told us that we had to travel BACK to Posadas that night because there was emergency changes and Hermana Palomares was going to be with another Hermana in Argentina. We were all dying. It was crazy. We had just gotten back to our area and hadnt even been there for more than a week.. and we already had emergency transfers. To rewind a little bit.. when I first got the news that I was going to be in a trio.. to be honest. I was not that thrilled. I had been in a trio doing divisions before and it's hard and just not that fun. But we were just getting adjusted to eachother and everything was MUCH better than I thought it would be.. and then boom. changes. So we went back and started helping her pack and everything and then we left. Another 6 hour bus ride back to posadas to drop her off and then just turn around again to come back to our area. man.. I love LOVE my mission.. but travelling is definitely a downside to the mission here. we travel LOTS. So yeah.. it's just us now. I was very sad to say bye to Hermana Palomares. she is a light and I learned SO much from her. I was really lucky to be able to be her companion even if it was only for a short time. and I know that I will see her again in the mission!! So that was comforting. So now Hermana Lopez and I are back and getting back into our normal routine of things. Man.. I love Hermana Lopez. She is amazing. But yeah.. you never know what is coming next. 

2. true. It's just because we have been travelling so SO much. To do paperwork to be legal here.. or drop off or pick up companions.. there is always a million things going on. It's really hard because it's really important to be in constant contact with the people we are teaching.. and it's hard when we aren't in our area. but we are praying like crazy to help them not forget what they are learning and feeling and how they are changing. 

3. false. THANK GOODNESS right?! Okay.. conference. wow. I loved LOVED it. Because I'm in a Stake now.. we were able to go to the stake center and watch it there.. and guess what?! There was an option for all the gringo missionaries to watch it in English. YES. It rocked. I loved it. It was such a blessing. Some themes that I picked out from conference were 
-Sabbath Day observance. I actually wasn't surprised with this one. We, as a mission have been focusing and talking so much about it. In our wards and branches and stakes.. the leaders have also really been stressing the importance of the sabbath.. and how it helps us remain more unspotted from the world. 
-For more.. there was also a lot about the gospel of christ.. and how it helps and protects us. whether it's commandments or peace or strength to keep going.. or consuelo?.. (I don't know what that word is in english).. but yeah. And just following christ.. and how if we are living the gospel and being true disciples of christ it doesn't matter.. everything will work out. Like Sister Marriott said.. it doesn't mean it will work out right now.. but it will work out" and that ALL things are for our good. 
-We can find peace and happiness and purpose in this life no matter what our challenges or problems are that we face. 
-another cool part for us as a mission was when Elder Fransisco J Vinas spoke.. I don't know if you remember.. but he came to our mission in May I think it was? We were able to meet him. He is incredible. I loved his talk.

It was so funny.. all of the gringos before conference were sitting in this little classroom waiting for it to start.. and it was so funny. It was like christmas or something. So awesome. Anyways.. I won't bore you with more of my thoughts and revelations.. but I TRULY hope that each of you were able to listen and think about what was said. i know that those men are truly inspired and prophets and apostles of God. How amazing was it to watch the 3 new apostles be sustained? I LOVED the testimony of Elder Dale G Renlund. It blew me away. 
Also.. sweet President Monson. I'm worried about him. He looked struggly. 

I was then thinking about last year.. and where I was last year listening to conference. I remember sitting in my apartment watching it with my roommates.. and it was then that I recieved an answer to go on a mission. I had prepared questions and prayed to know if I should go.. and it was then that I recieved that answer. How Grateful I am to have recieved that answer... and now here I am. I am so grateful for prophets and apostles and the love that God has for us to give them to us. 

Another HIGHLIGHT... ISAIAS came to conference! The sunday morning session! It was a huge step for him because he will NOT come to church and we are working SO hard on that. He is progressing very well. He is reading the book of mormon from the beginning and every time we pass he has more insights and is marking the things that he likes. He is almost done 1 Nephi. I LOVE him. We are trying to get him to accept a baptismal date but he is still hesitant. The book of mormon is powerful and I know as he reads he will recieve an answer. 

Anyways.. I love you all. I hope you have the best week. Sorry.. I was at a meeting this monday.. and haven't been able to write until this morning! We are busy!! But I should be able to write this monday again. I love you all! 

xoxo from Paraguay. 
Hermana Ehlert