12.20.2011

Happy Merry Jolly Christmas!!!! Almost
   

Thank you for the letters family, sounds like everything is going well! To answer your question they have Christmas lights and Christmas trees (nothing like the states due to the poorness) but it so cool to see the wooden 1 room houses everywhere with a huge radio blasting music with a Christmas tree and lights next to it! It’s about a 1000 degrees and I am half black right now so its kind of different but it is way cool. Here, Christmas is celebrated on the 24 at 12 o’clock at night. And yes dad I did open the box but the only thing that I touched was the candy.  I haven’t opened the boxes yet. I will be able to call through Skype on Sunday.  Thanks for making the accounts dad. 
    

This last week was full of little bit of everything. I had to travel a couple times to do divisions with some other Elders and so the week went very fast and it seems like I never get to sleep. Elder Paladines and I are finding many families here in our area but it seems that the other churches sent out a decree against Nephi. Every single family that we found on the second visit just mobbed us on Nephi and destroyed him because he is not in the Bible.  We got very good at defending Nephi, we are praying a lot to find people that will progress.  I don’t complain for the miracles that we see but we really need to work with members and find some new people.  My companion has been in this area for 7 months so he knows almost everybody ha! Some of the miracles that we saw this week were in the zone that is working hard.  We had a good number of people baptized and confirmed, which was fantastic we are very happy for that.  But we only have one person planned for this week in the zone.  She is really cool her name is Estela I don’t’ think she will ever go inactive!    

This last week my comp and I were going to a visit someone and as we were passing the house of prior investigator he told me that a 19 year old kid almost got baptized there a while back but his parents were going to kick him out of the house if he got baptized.  All of his friends stopped talking to him so he told the missionaries to go away! We decided to see what he was doing so we entered and his parents weren’t home and we shared with him and at first he was very cold and acted like he didn’t care and wanted us to go away but the spirit did work on him and he started crying and telling us how he keeps receiving answers about how the church is true.  He said it is just too hard to accept what will happen to him if he joins.  We talked it through and he decided to get baptized and probably right now as I type he is fighting with his parents.  He really is a good person and I know he will be a leader some day in the church!

This mission life is a time machine, the weeks fly by.
     I was thinking about it the other day and I think for the first time in my life I will be able to actually live the Christmas meaning.  I have the chance to not focus on myself not even a little but to completely serve others. I love you all and hope that you freeze your little tootsie off because I am being baked alive in this heat!
 Elder Shaw


12-12-2011

What’s up my fam.

Happy Merry almost Christmas. It is coming very fast!!! Thank you for the letters mom dad and Nicole.  It was great to hear from you! Dang mom you are all over the states, but your trip sounded very fun. I’m glad you enjoyed passing time with your brothers and sisters. Hey how is basketball going for Braiden and Caleb? Braiden what is happening let me in? I just got done playing with my companion elder paladines and he actually knows how to play a little the little Latin. That or i am very bad at basketball right now... which is very true. Everything is going very well here in Pilar. Our zone here in Pilar is awesome. It’s one of the smaller zones in the mission but we baptize just as much as any of the others cause the elders are so dang awesome. I have done divisions twice already to try and help prepare the baptismal candidates in the other areas for their baptism and it is looking very well. There is a missionary that is in his third change and is already training... very young, but an awesome missionary and we have many Latinos in our zone. It is so cool! Dad as for the answer to your question, ya we still have a lot of time to work just time to sleep is what is killing me ha. 5 nights in a row I got like 3 or 4 hours of sleep due to traveling to other areas, but we have bikes here so we can get to are appointments pretty fast! It is so cool, we are having a lot of success, and I have found that my prayers have gotten a lot longer now and more frequent due to all the people that i pray for now. This last week we found a great family that accepted a date on the first visit very willingly and are reading a lot!!! We didn’t have to much luck with amount of investigators in the church but this next week we are going to do better i know it! Another thing that i am learning here in Pilar is how to work with members. Everybody always told me you will never have real success if you don’t work with the members and thought thank you i already know but really it is all about the members. We spend all day every day teaching the Freidns cousins and family. It makes it so much better! I love this work it is so much fun.  A mission is hard, teaching, walking, eating, and baptizing tired but at the same time it is so much fun. You can laugh and love life living the law of consigaration. Braiden you are going to love the mission i hope you are preparing a lot because if you do i like me in... 6 months you could have your call!!!! YA BOY!ª!!! (Maybe he thinks Braiden is a senior)  Dad i took your advice and starting studying the bible dictionary... it is full of information. I don’t have much time to study it but i still study.
 Oh one story before i go! We were doing an activity where a family writes down the friends and family that are not members we do a kneeling prayer together and they ask God which of the people are ready to receive the gospel. This woman said one of the most powerful prayers i have heard! She had so much faith in her voice and then after the prayer sat there and with our looking at the paper said a name... Catolina. We then went out side and sat down and began to plan what we were going to do. Right when we finished guess who entered... ya Catolina and here family. It was one of the coolest most obvious answers to a prayer i have seen. We were all so surprised. We then talked to her and her family what we had planned and it went well. A little testimony that God answers prayers and to keep praying. I love you and am excited to talked next week. This is the true church and it is so awesome! 
love you elder shaw

12-5-2011

Dear Familia

I love you family, and I really hope everything is going very well during this Christmas. I really can't tell you how much I love you and don't miss you haha.... just kidding but I have hit a new high for the love for this work.  My new comp is a Latin and his name is Elder Paladines he is really excited to talk to you during the Navidad.  This elder is amazing he is such a hard worker and baptizes so much.  He has already taught me so much, I feel like I am starting from scratch again he is so cool and its really the first comp that I have had that has a lot of charity and it's so nice cause we get along perfectly.  Not dissing on my other comps I love them but he is very cool.  My new assignment is really teaching me a lot, I'm learning to show love and be a better person.  Right now I'm having to gain the confidence of the other Elders in my zone right now but they are all so great.  We have the greatest zone in the mission!!!!!!  Ii don't have p'days anymore because we are always traveling.  I'm in Asuncion right now writing in-between a meeting and my 6 hour bus ride back to Pilar.  Oh ya i am now in Pilar (the capital of basketball in Paraguay and I can't even play it!!!!!) but it's a nice flat safe town and guess what!!!!!!  Me and my comp are 2 of the 4 elders in our mission that have bikes!!!  Man can I tell you that the first 2 days my butt hurt so bad, I couldn't sit down in the lessons to teach the people.  I had to prop myself up on my elbows! It was bad.  In our zone we have two district leaders that are new and a Elder with only 5 months in the mission that is already training another! So we have to help a lot of the leaders and work with them to improve the missionary work.  Dad thank you for the paragraph you sent me it really drives me to be a better example.

 

I dropped studying Guaraní cause now that I am with a Latin comp I feel like I have forgotten some of my Spanish.  H just dominates me ha.  So I need to better my Spanish.  The area where I am is so used to Latin's and perfect speakers that some of the members are are correcting my Spanish to make it perfect and it's kind of confidence stabbing me but I continue to work on it.  It's also weird having a companion that talks more than I do. I am so used to trying to save everything situation and trying to keep things under control in a lesson but this guy is a wizard!  I'm excited to be here and to have this calling! I understand that I'm nothing without the Lord and that I wasn't called for me but to help the others.  We have a couple baptisms planned for this week , and they will get baptized for sure!  We want to focus on families cause we are not teaching many families right now.  One thing that I have learned from my new comp (I'm now the junior comp) is to lose your fear, and talk with anybody without fear, inviting everyone to get baptized the first date. I pray for you.  Feel free to pray for  some of our investigators (Else, Aniceto). I don't remember very well but I think it is in Helaman 10 it talks about trusting in God to the point where he had all power. I am sure Nephi gained that confidence from the Lord from many years of obedience and faith. Follow his example my fellow brethren and sisters.   As for the Christmas here. We are planning an activity in the church.  A talent show for everybody to come and tour the church and then watch a talent show.  And me and elder Paladines we are going to cut watermelon up and cups of milk and drink it in front of all of them..... I'm pretty sure the last time was in my head but I will be really funny cause people like dye at the thought of it. but I love you and hope to hear from you

chou

elder shaw