CHRISTMAS!!!

12/30/13
Well some fun things happened this week so here we go.....

Lunes: After I emailed you guys we went out to catch a colectivo, but because it was the day before south american christmas we couldnt get back home until 8:30 which was tough. So when we got back we went to a couple people to finalize our chirstmas plans and then headed back home.

Martes: today was a great day!!! went to our district meeting where we read about christ and then got my package from you guys i did wait to open it, but after that we went home and had a real good lunch with hermana romana. Then the highlight of the week, i went to the ciber and skyped you guys!!!! that was so awesome the clarity and sound were definate frustrations, but the fact that we have the privalage and ability to do that was good enough for me :) then we went back home and got our daily studys in, and then headed out to enjoy the paragyuan christmas with a couple families, it started with the familia pineda we had some super delicious fruit salad there, then we went to the familia sosa and ate some good foods including pig, which is a speacial occasion kind of thing for them, and then went and ate some sopa de paraguay and more pig with the familia samaniego, we called it a night at 11 because we were so tired and bloated to the max. we went to bed and then at 12 oclock the night blew up with the sounds of thousands of fireworks, it was soooooooooo loud, christmas here is like the 4th  of july just a little bigger bbq and a little less lake time during the day. 

Miercoles: CHRISTMAS american style!! we woke up and headed over to the other elders house in remansito to enjoy a nice christmas breakfasti cooked some super good, kinda thick bacon, and my comp made pancakes we all got matching shirts from elder smith, his mom sent him to us, they were the shirsts they sold to support his brother when he had cancer and are super cool. His brother did pass away, and he is a great elder. there were tons of drunks out in the street today, including in the morning whne we were walking to and from houses. we theen had lunch and ate goat!!! or thats whatshe said untl i said that ive only tried lamb before and then she said it was lamb.. so mystery meat it was, and delcious it tasted!!! We did have to go get the hermana making us lunch some mayonese and while we were buying it this drunk guy bought us a 2 liter pop so that was cool. we got a couple lessons in and then started a division . I stayed in remansito with elder ellefson (he is in his first change) and elder worsham headed intomariano with elder Hulsey the zone leader. Elder Ellefson is awesome he is a convert and has a great story.it was great to get to know him.

Jueves: today was a good one. we started the day with a meeting with the branch mission leader, so that was nice to have since we dont always have those. and then headed to lunch with sosa. That was good. After that we got to work. we planned alot but only one plan worked out, we did get some good work in and did manage to get 7 for 7 which seemed impossible about halfway through the day, Today was SUUUUUUUPER HOT!!!! and it has been tough dealing with the heat and humidity... but we are managing to survive, january is the hottest month and then it should start cooling down from there. After our day we switched back and me and worsham were reunited again. we still dont have water...... its been tough but bucket shoers are become a habbit. 

Viernes: Got some weekly planning in to start the day today so that was good. then we went to the familia delgado were we had one of he best lunches in my mission it was like rice flank steak and then this chicken stuff that was sooooooooo goood we plan on having a FHE with them soon to make this chicken stuff so im excited! then we went and saw Lorena, shes about 35 years old and is our next planned baptism, she is the best investigador that we have had and she is progressing so good, she reads the book of mormon for hours each day and doesnt have any problems with any kind of commandments its truely a blessing. after words we went to my golden couple that has the wedding date for january 21st, and the guy wasnt there, but we talked with the girl and she expressed to us her doubts that she was having. It was tough to hear, but we are going to continue working with them and are still planning on the 21st. After that we went to the end of the year branch dinner. It was one of the worst and unlively parties ive ever been too. We ate food, listened to guarani folk music, and every one sat in a circle boardering the wall of the chapel, and very few people socialized... i now want to help them plan an activity at least for the youth that could be fun and more upbeat... hit me up with any ideas if you have any.... we went back home and got a call saying that we would find out changes tomorrow so that got the blood rushing, and then at 10:30 the power went out.. which was great for bed time at all... but it was sooooooo hot, the sirconditiopn didnt work and no one could sleep, at about 11:30 we got a call from our disrtrict leader (the other remansito elders) who also couldnt sleep and we said a 4 way group prayer.. i ended up saying it. at about 12:30 1 oclack it turned on and we were able to get acouple hours of sleep before 6:30... so yeah this week was a little rough on sleep.

Sabado: my and my comp arent changing at all.so that saved all that stress and struggle. we still havent had a drop of water and are going on 2 weeks, it was extremely hot today and we were both exhuasted from the lack of sleep we got, but the work went on with out a hitch. we walked alot today becuase tons of people werent home,but did commit our golden investigator to come to church again. so that was good, our day was ok, but we just havent had the sucess weve wanted recently, i think it all comes down to our finding skills right now. We need some new investigators and need some fast.

Domingo: We are slowly started to deecrease back down to where we were numbers wise in the chapel which isnt good. We had 44 at church 11 less actives, and 1 investigator. Our two most important where there though, lorena, and ariel and mercedes, we are really pushing for them to succed in the goals they have and so far they are at least showing they want to do it to. after church wewentto lunch and one of the coolest things happened!!! i was talking to the familia pineda, who had there grandpa in town, and he started talking about an american missionary from 20 years ago that bought land down hear and sisnt sell it too him, the missionary he was talking about baptized the first person out of all of there family, and they said that he still visits paraguay every now and then. I asked them if they knew his name and they couldnt remember, but then told them that i knew someone from my stake who did that. They asked who and sure enoguh it was ELDER CHAMBERS!!!, they said he would know Avelina (Lina) and Silvio (Yiya) Espínola and that that was her aunt. from the branch Zeballos Cue (Polte Neri Villalba) how crazy is that!!!!! it just goes to show, how big an effect one baptism can have!!!! after we visited some people and called it a day. Getting close to a new change here so getting excited to get some more good work done. 

Lunes: Today we cleaned the house a little bit, and ten headed out to luque. We did some window shopping but there are some super sweet recuerdos there i want to get some bad, but i have time in the mission. then we made our way to Loma Pyta and now im writting you guys..

well that was my awesome christmas week but the highlight had to be seeing you guys!! only 5 more months until mothers day right hahah

Love you all so much!!!!

Elder Jace Gummersall

VY'APAVÊ TUPÂRA'Y ARAREÑÓIRE (merry christmas)

12/23/13
ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!

Lunes: We had a NDH with the Family Samaniegowhich went really well, drew some pictures of eachother ao that was good, after words I had one of the coolest expierences in my mission that i hope to tell you about on skype tomorrow, but for the weekly email and for the people that read it, the less active couple we were working with on getting married ariel and mercedes decided to get married this januaray on the 21st!!! it was the best news i have recieved all of my mission and i was the happiest boy in paraguay like si o si!!! im just praying that ill still be in remansito next change to be here for it because ive been here 4 and a half months already and im worried i might be out, the first of january, pray for me :)

Martes: today we had district meeting which was good, we got complemented for our numbers which were actually very good, and it was nice to get the recognition. after we came back home and had lunch with hermana romona, it was super good and than after she just decided to come out and make us/have us make these napkin thingys so that was super fun and nice of her afterwords we got some good studying in and then we headed out to work. It was a good, super hot day and we worked reall good, at the end of the day we got a call from our district leader saying we are having a division in remansito tomorrow and im headed to the other half of remansito so itll be good to head back to the other side!

Miércoles: Made a little swith-a-row in the morning and got some studying in in the other house. It was good to get to know elder sprenger, he has a year and almost 4 months in the mission, is a convert from vegas, and is district leader, he is a great guy though who loves to have a goosd time and is pretty dang funny hahah. After that we had a really good lunch, it was super delish!! its like this potatoe and flour stuff with meat that is soooooo good, kelby you probably wouldnt like the texture but it tastes super good! atferwords it was super hot, we had a lot of tracting to do because he is looking for new people to teach, we had  aton of less actives we were working with in that area but not a ton of investigators. learned a lot but mainly to make sure the person doesnt feel pressured or obligated to do anyrthing, and that they do it out of there own free will i did also find some super dope cerro socks.... thatwas sick!!!, after that we switched back, it was a real good division...... oh and today was my 5 month mark!!!!!!!! que rapido eh???

Jueves: Today we had ourseleves a little zone christmas party!!! we went to villa hayas in the morning and headed to the chapel there to have a little spiritual thought, after that we went to the hospital there and sung chrisdtmas hymns to the people there which was really good, the people loved it, there we got some good group photos in from us four from remansito and other people got full photos of the zone that ill hopefully have soon. i also got a nice picture of a cat that looked dead on a bench, and one with elder sprenger in it... but dont worry it wasnt dead hahah but for reals that hospital is dirty and animals walk in and out.. be glad you dont work there mckenzie..... After that we went back to the chapel and had a gift exchange i had elder sanchez as my person to give a cheap gift to.. i got him a box of his favorite candys and also my sunglasses i brought because he loved them when he first saw them... it was god, he also had me and gave me a candy bar and a glass picture frame with a photo of christ and a photo of him behind it with a note... it was awesome! we ate a little lunch while it poured rain and then right as we finished up the rain stopped we headeed back home and got some work in. We did have ward consel tonight and that was lack luster.... something we are trying to improve, but met with arieak and lorena are two progressing people, lorena being someone that could be baptized here in january.. the 11 is the goal!! long but good day!

Viernes: Got some good weekly planning in there, and some planing in for the navidad, and then had a tough hard day.,..... aton of our plans and back up plans fell through and we werent able to visit all those we wanted, the work definately gets harder near chritmas time.... but we did visist lorena again and ariel and merceds and it was real good, i hope we can get arieal through the temple here soon!! there really wasnt two many things exciting that happened today, its super hot, and doesnt look like it will be stopping anytime soon so thats fun, but yup thats it hahah...

Sabado: I thought friday was hard but then we had saturady and even less people were home and it was even hotter, it was a super tough day, the good news though is that the quality of our lessons were super good and we were able to get in some real time good lessons and contacting in, but as for our goals this week has been very sub par... we do have high hopes for church and continue working with lots of menos activos cause this time of year they are the only ones letting us in.. tough life down here...

Domingo: This week was a tough week with the water, we had 1 day with it, and six days without it... the day with it was wednesday night, so yup always tough when ya cant start with a shower... but we got out the door, and got to church to find our numbers dropped a little for chirstmas as well, with 50 in the chapel 8 less actives and 1 investigator... but it was so awesome to have an incestigator in the chapel after soooooo long!! super awesome the meeting was really sub par but we are hoping that our investigator wont realize that. After we got some studying in and then headed out to teach, we taught manuel someone i havent visited since my first couple weeks here and he really wants to make a return... super awesome!! we also got to visit an other investigator we couldnt find all week and that also was super good! our weekly numbers ended up being really not that good, but i was proud of the quality of lessons and hopefull can improve the both in the next coming weeks, christmas is so close and it dont feel like it at all!!

Lunes: today has been crazy mainly becuase of how full the busses are... its nuts in the city, we went to pizza hut, and to the import stire.. basically the one store in paraguay that sells US stuff, i bought peanut butter and mountain dew to celebrate the christmas seasons, my comp boguht rootbeer so its gonna be a good chirstmas!!after that we struggled to get back home and in reality are stuck in loma pyta right now and thats why we are righting.. really rustrating but i just have to remember that there is nothing i can control....

Cant wait to skype you guys and see all your faces!!!!!! dont be late and please be on there!! you guys are the best!!! hope you all have a feliz navidad and lots of snow!!

Love ya tons!!

Elder Jace Gummersall

Bhuddist Temple

12/16/13
miEste semana fue superbien. y lo sigiuente es que pasó.....

Lunes: after I wrote you guys last week we went and a had a noche de hogar with the familia sosa which was good, and got a super delicious hamburger with egg afterwords for the "dessert" or dinner becuase here in paraguay they eat really late dinners.. but it was a super good one. 

Martes: Today we had a district meeting which went really well.and we found out that we were going to have a division with the Zone leader, or i was going to and my comp was going to mariano to have a division with his comp. after that me and my comp had a really good day and were just short of our goals becuase we lost an hour from the switch in the division. but it was all good. I got Elder Sanchez as my comp he is the man who wants to learn english so bad but hasnt had an english comp yet so has had to learn straight from the books, he know a lot though, he wants to go to spokane after his mission. hahah

Miércoles: today me and elder sanchez had a really good day, we got a lot of lessons in and i learned a ton from him. It definately is a little easier when a latino is with you to help explain everything better, and push through the lessons a little faster. We even went and taught the ice cream lady. Me and elder worsham get ice cream for about 20 cents alot here, and we have talked about the church with her but never had a sit down lesson for two reasons. First we normally get ice cream on our way back to the house and so we dont normally have time, and we never wanted to ruin our ice cream relationship, but elder sanchez was determined to teach a sit down lesson with her so we did and it went well, she is just really bus alot of the time so itll be tough to get back in haha. After he left i went and taught a lesson with elder sprenger while we waited for our comps to come back. so i basicallyhad a double division today... but it was good hahah. but it was a super good day, and really hot haha.

Jueves: Bueno, today was good put it did start a little rough, we had a super good lesson, put a baptism date with a lady and she said she wanted to but the date we put was too late becauase she was going to the chaco for 3 weeks in january and we cant do it earlier becuase she hasnt been to church yet so that was a little frustrating. after that we went and taught a kid named gabrial and his sister and they both look very promising so maybe we can get a baptism or something out of that!! we are hoping so they live right in front of the church so getting them to church shouldnt be the biggest trail like some of the others. then we went and had a power packed lesson with Ariel Santa Cruz, he is having some troubles between him and his señora,. they are both less active, arent married, and have a duaghter, she recently moved to her moms house and he didnt know what to do, we had a very good lesson about chastity and repentance and that he needs to talk to her and pray aot so that he can find the best route for his family, we have been working with them for 2 weeks now dont think thats the first lesson we dropped on him hahah. after we hadlesson with brian the 9 year old we are teaching who is having struggles picking church or soccer, we may have to drop hijm but his brother is a recent convert and so we plan on working with him still. then we had a super good meeting with our ward mission leader and for the first time have goals and a vision for the future things are looking good here in remansito!.

Viernes: had our weekly planning today and then lunch and then got to work. Today alot of strange and fun things happend. It started with this man we contated that had to have been drunk beyond belief, he shook and kissed our hands, told us to drink beer, said that wecan use his house or car at anytime, also he told us we should start building a house on his property so we can be neighbors, then his friend stood up stuck his hand to heaven and shouted out a pray i have never heard and all i remember from it was that he said so that we can drink the sweetest waters, then the kissed the pass along cards we left them and we left that house. Super awesome contact right! after we were contacting a house with a calf in front of the house and nobody left so my comp tried mooing to it and it responded, then i tried and it walked to us. So we had a conversation with a cow pretty awesome!! we got in 7 lessons today as well which was awesome. and found out that brians brother alexis wants to go on a mission when he is older which is awesome for us! we plan on helping him get ready for it and prepare even though he is only 13 haha. 

Sabado: Today haku!!! hot hot hotwe got 11 lessons in today!!! a super full day but it was super good! a couple highlights would be that we visited Ariel Santa cruz and his señora mercedes and they said they made the desicion to get married!! which was so awesome to hear, but then they said not until june. So we pulled out the Family prclamtion to the world and read it and talked about how they should pick an exact date, and that june leaves alot of time for temptaions, and that they need to pray about each date. It was a super good lesson and moment and im really excited about them!! we then went and taught gabriel, he said he had to work sunday and couldnt go to church, but his sister wanted to go but had to go to the hospitalbecause she was sick so that was tough to hear. he did ask about the word of wisdom an so we were able to get a good lesson in there. after that we set plans to pass by andgo pic up bryan and alexis in the morning! it was a really good day today!!

Domingo: We left the house at 7:20, visited 6 houses an nobody was up or ready to come to church with us!! it was tough... we got to church and presidant McMullin came to our ward today!! so that was awesome we also had our primary program which was super small but really good. it was a good way to get the branch ready for christmas. we had a good turn out with 64 people 12 less actives, and one investigator, so that was good, and we are definately starting to see more and more growth here in remansito! the sosa family wasnt there, which really was horrible becuase there son just sent his mission pappers in and the mission presidant came but it just goes to show you cant take your hands off the iron rod even for a second. We went and talked to them after church and they were so upset with themselves they made the desicion to repent and never miss again so we will see how that goes. we got 6 solid lessons in which is super good for a sunday!

Lunes: today has been a great one! we went to that buddhist temple and got to take a tour it is gorgoues inside! after that we went and got some ice cream from a place called todo lo que te gusta or everything you like, it was good and we went and got some lunch which was super good! and then we went to the office where my comp and elder smith (the new elder in remansito) got packages and i said good bye to elder shumway my grandpa and then we went and did some grocery shopping, then we came to the cyber to write you guys!!

Over all a super great week and numbers wise our best!!! i cant believe christmas is so close and cant wait to skype you guys!! im not 100 percent sure of the day because im not sure if anywhere will be open on the 25th but we will find out and do our best, when i know you guys will know... it maybe earlyin the morning for you guys so prepare yourselves.... ill let you know..

I love you guys so much hope all is well and everyone gets home safely this week!! stay classy and cool... its sooo hot here!!!

Love Elder Jace Gummersall

The heat is on!

Wow it got super hot this week!!! well here we go!

Lunes: I realized after that i totally forgot to write about my last pday so here i go. We went to pizza hut with almost all of our zone that was cool. after words elder sprenger one of the other elders in remansito had to go to this place to get some speacial shampoo stuff, so we went there with him and after asked what colectivo to take to get back to home. the lady told us and we hop aboard. After a little bit me and elder springer could feel we were going the wrong way, and we found out we were headed for pala loma not loma pyta so we got off and strated walking to a different road, and then found that super cool stuate i sent you guys a picture of last week. after we went shopping and to the cyber in remansito. then we had a NDH with the familia sosa it went well, it wasnt a lively opne, and the investigator we thought would be there couldnt make it, but we were able to get a good lesson in about family untiy and the importance of NDH and Family prayer and family scripture study and all that. It was a good pday.

Martes: Today was a little frustrating, literally every single plan we had didnt work out! so with that happinging we contacted alot and and found some good potential new people. we will see paraguay is full of people that ja poo (lie in guarani) in paraguay its the bigbest struggle. After along a little stressful day we enjoyed a half kilo thing of ice cream.. super good its super cheap and we eat it about 4 or 5 times each week i feel like tanner when i eat it that much hahah. oh also got a hair cut today that was good it looks like i get about one hairvut every change so i only have so many left know haha.

Miércoles: Today was Hakuetere´e (tooo hot in guarani dont know if the spelling is right haha) we had a super good lesson with Viriglio one of our most promesing investigators, and diego sosa, it was super good, about the plan of salvation, and we were so lucky to have diego there because he was able to help clarify some of his really difficult questions. afterwords we went and had dinner with the familia duré which was super good it was potatoes and flour with like a red sauce i loved it! after we went to bryan, a nine year old investigators house, and his mom a member for 17 years thats inactive told us she wants to comeback to church, which could be the perfect push for brian! super awesome for us. Then we went and had a really good lesson with the family saminiego, we talked about the attonement and what it is, they told us that recently they put the goal as a family to be at church every sunday which was probably the best news i have ever heard on my mission!! mainly because they made the descion themselves we didnt have to put that goal with them. 

Jueves: We had to get up at 4:30 am this morning because we had a 70 come! Elder Zeballos. It was super early but we went there and it was so good. We listened to president and his wife and elder zeballos and his wife, a total of 3 hours! it was sooooooo good i learned so much, but as a mission over the past 5 months the attendance of people in church has gone up over 600 people!! that is one of the goals of the seventy to increase the attendance. i also got two letters today!! a postcard form lithuania and a letter from utah!! it was so awesome i learned that letters take about a week to get down here, and then who knows how long they are in the office until they can get passed to me or i can go get them myself! super awesome though thanks guys i loved it! After words we went and taught a less active member Airel Santa Cruz and his señora mercedes, they are both members but are super awesome and we think we can help them get married and go to the temple to be sealled with their daughter! then we had the best branch consel i had since ive been in remansito because all the people that were supposed to be there were for the first time ever, and after we taught a little bit and then headed home. I did have the opportunity to give my comp a blessing today that was good, he is a really good guy!

Viernes: Last night in the middle of the night my fan broke, and since our AC has been broken for about 3 weeks now and the guy wont come to fix the last four hours of sleep were miserable. thankfully when we woke up estaba lloviznando ( it was drizzling how awesome of a word is that) when it rains or there is water it cools down a little, the proble is that after it gets way humid but it was nice that it was colder for sure. we had 6 lessons today a solid friday, but came home to a stiken hot house!! it was miserable we need to get our air conditioning fixed or something, we used the one fan rotating to sleep tonight, it was a little better than the night before.

Sabado: WE had a full and busy day all planned out and of course after we were killing it teaching wise, the AC guy called and said he could come out to fix it, so we had no choice but to get it fixed it took him 2 and a half hours and he had to change out some major pieces, but alass we have cold air now and it is magical (count your belssings people) then we taught brians dad (who was drunk in the moment) and it was quite funny, he kept saying es cierto no es cierto and entender good times with the drunks of paraguay. that was today.

Domingo: Today we left the house earlier than normal to drop the piano off at church ( i dont have time to practice now that im señor comp, because i have a million other things on my mind) and then we went to go pick up bryan for church, we were dissapionted that he left early with his grandma, but were glad to bring his recent convert brither alexis to the church. It was good. At church we had bracnh conference, the members got really excited for it and it was good. We had 63 people in sacrament meeting and 7 were less actives, and 1 investigator that we had really met yet so that was a great blessing. after church we went and taught the kid the came and even got to teach his parents, that might be the first family i get to help right there but if not the kid is  agreat guy and i think we can help him to! we then when and visited david gonzales and learned that he knows what tacos are and how to make them so that is a future activty that we will be doing. afterwords we went and taught santa cruz who didnt go to church because she works from 9 at night to 6 in the morning and she got home late, so she couldnt make it.. thats going to be a tough one to help them get there, but we are going to do our best. Also i thought i would let you know about my journal struggles, last monday i filled pu my first journal and didnt miss a day, but since then it has been harder to write in it because things just keep getting busier and busier.. hopefulloy ill be able to refocus and catch up on the days i missed but we will see.

Lunes: Today was great, went to asuncion becase my comp had to sign some papers, while he was gone i went out and exploeçred asuncion with some other missoinaries and found this awesome buddhist temple, we just missed the visiting hours, then went and got some lunch and after that went back to the office, i reunited with my comp and then we made our way to the cyber to write you guys, but the power was down so we went and shopped and then went to remansito where power was out in the whole city until 5, then at 5 it came back, i called our district leader and he said we could write until 7 hince the later letter, but yeah we have a NDH planned with the familia sosa again hopefully that one happens with the investigator this time.

Love you guys so much! got an email syaing we have the choice of skyping the 23, 24, or 25, for 40 minutes before 6 oclock, so let me know what time works best for you guys, and when you want to do it i think the 25 might be the best for here because lots of çfamilies want us to swing by the 24 but let me know what you think also if you could find my skype info, im not 100% sure what my username and password is that would be nice, let me know! cant wait to see you guys and have you tell me if i look fat or not hahha

Con cariño,

Elder Jace Gummersall

Thanksgiving

12/2/13
This week has been a full and fast one but not a ton of exciting things.. so yup

Lunes: After i wrote you guys last week we had two noche de
hogares...the first with the familia gonzales... which didnt go bad
but it wasnt the best, becasue the game we played kept getting messed
up by one of there kids.. a little frustrating but it still worked and
we will able to get the lesson across. After that we went and had a
NDH with the Saminiego Family, the fmaily of the brother of the member
who passed a way the week of D Todd Christofferson. that one was
sooooooooo good, every one had a good time, hopefully i can get some
pictures to you guys i don tknow this comp is really struggling. that
was basically the night.. the saminiego family is one of my favorites
now though, they are just so great and are strated to re activate and
everything!

Martes: Today we had district meeting,  it was really good the
district is a little bigger than before but it was a real good
meeting. different that it wasnt my comp who was teaching but it was
really good we talked abuot comp unity and all of that, and then about
the numbers we should be getting, but really how the love is the most
important part and what this work is all about. After we got some
studying in and then we headed out and taught  lessons, so that was
good. We wroked a litttle bit more than normal with the familia sosa,
had one lesson with diego, and then a different one that night with
belen, good day overall but nthing t exciting that happened.

Miércoles: A really good day here but really nthing intresting again,
it was super hot today and our air condition is broken, so that was
tough, we had  lessons and got some good work in, at night we had
dinner with a member, then we went and had a lesson at the familia
Pinedas house, we got there and one of the girls who lives there
wanted a blessing, the parents were gone because there baby had to get
surgrey so me and my comp had to give here a blessing without anyone
who really new exactly how to do it in spanish. My comp annointed the
oil, and then i gave the blessing, it went well, we used the mission
manual to help us but the goal is to learn it so we dont have to use
that again. After that we went and taught the familia saminiego again,
and they gave us dinner too so that was super dope double dinner haha.

Jueves: today we got in some exciting stuff, we hjad a lesson
scheduled for  in the morning but last night the sosa family didnt
answer there phone to confirm with us, nor in the morning so we went
out to go find them in there house and we couldnt. We went back home
and then got a call from then saying they changed the time to 11 sp we
got some studying in and then headed out to go teach there friend
Virgilio, he wantedto be taught in his farm away from distractions, so
he came and picked us and the sosa family up to take uis to his farm
minutes away, but in the ruta, there was this manifestaion or rally.
Every so often a group of peopl come down and block of the ruta to
protest the government, they block it off right in front of the bridge
so the traffic backs up pretty far. There is a law that says you can
only block the ruta for so long, so they stand on it, get off, wait a
little bit and then get back on again.. its like an organized rally
its different, but we got stuck in the traffic for an hour. So we
werent able to teach him after that we had lunch wtih the sosa fmaily
and then it strated to pour! we got in acoupl lessons, had another
dinner with a member, and then got in a few more, but when it comes to
numbers we had a bad day, alot of it because iof the rain, the people
dont come out or do anyhting when it rains here.. makes it a little
tough.

Viernes: Today it rained all morning!! we couldnt make it to lunch, so
we made pancakes and celebrated thanksgiving a day late. But it was
good, after that we finnally got all ready and entered the river
filled streets, it was crazy nobody was home, nobody was out, heta la
tuju, there was a tn of mud, and we walked through these huge puddles
of watermid calf high.. it was super awesome, and i actully enjoyed
it, minus that fact that we werent able to teach as many people as we
were hoping for. the rain and pancakes were the exciting things from
today..

Sabado: Today was a tough day as well we got in  lessons, with
gonzlas, urquart, virgilio, margarita, and saminego, the standouts
have to have been virgilio and saminiego. With virgilio i put a
baptism date and we really think that he will be able to be baptzed,
he is super intrested and asks tons of questions, he also saw D. Todd
Christofferson when he talked to the members of paraguay so we are
feeling really good about him. we are hoping for the 21st right before
the navidad. With saminiego we taught just the dad, who was the branch
presidant two years ago but is inactive now, we talked about nephi 3:7
and how really if he wants to be in church god will help prepare him a
way. it was s super good lesson to be able to talk to just the dad.
and get him straightened up a little. but that was our saturday.

Sunday: SOOOOOOO Blessed today first off it wqas super hot! but we got
to church and felt good, for it being a fast sunday and all. In
sacrament meeting we had 69 people!!! the mst ive ever had here and
16 of them were less actives from ourside and one investigator. it was
amazing and because there was more people the meeting was more
spiritual. So awesome and really such a great blessing, made me feel
way more acomplished for the week! After we had lunch taught a lesson
adn tehn went a taught another lesson, it was still super hot but
after the second lesson we went home t finsih our studying. within
minutes some of the strongest winds ive seen blew through remansito
and after that  more minutes and it was pouring super strong! it was
crazy it poured for like  minutes, filled the streets with water and
then passed on, we went out taught somne more lessons and the coolest
thing was happening a ways away. There was a group ofclouds and
lighting bouncing back and forth from the clouds, but not hitting the
ground it was one of the coolest things ive ever seen! well that was
my week felt like it was decent but always room for improvemtent.

Training is going well, im learning aton, but i fell like my spanish
is sufficent for now, i still study aton, but i understand almost
verything and feel really confident with it. Elder Wrsham is awesome
and we got some big plans for remansito here!

Love you all so much and hope all is going well

Always in my prayers and love you tons!!!

Love

Elder Jace Gummersall

Change, change, change

11/25/13
Well another week doing with a lot of change but here we go!!!!.....

Lunes: Today we hit up som ehouses.... like all members but it was good, my copm started saing good bye and we also went around with elder billings and elder merro (elder merro went home this week end of mission) it was good. after that at night my comp did some packing and i switched beds and sides of study desks and where my stuff is at.. to organize a little bit and because its a little more convientent. then we hit the hay.

Martes: we played pica volley for exercises its like volleyball but you cant use your hands all the people play it here its awesome!! and hard, then we had our district meeting, in remansito.. the photo is in our chapel where we have sacrament meeting.. little different eh? then we went and had a little bit of cyber time, and after lunch. WE went home and my comp kept packing and i finished changing my stuff overthen we went out and did a visit, and within 10 minutes the rain just strted pouring!!, we semi ran home, i was completetly soaked, a picture of my water filled shoes is included, you can see the puddles that formed after i dumped it out once. It also only took 5 minutes to get home so it took five minutes to be wet head from toe.. crazy!! at the house my comp finished packing and a made a new wallet that is a little more water proof, and is totally missionary approved. then the rain slowed down so we tried to go visit a couple more people so my comp could say good bye, but alot of them were already sleeping or there was a huge river infront of there house and we oculdnt pass, so that had to have been tough that my comp coulnt say bye to every one. Then when we got back to the home i got a call saying that i had to wear my suit tomorrow because i had to go to the meeting about how to learn how to train people.. so life got a little more real just like that haha.

Miércoles: Headed into Asunción at 6 in the morning and then had my training meeting.i learned some good stuff that hopefully i can apply here pretty soon. Then since my comp wasnt brand new they told me i didnt have to be there for lunch and we could go.. but since the other two missionaries that would be in remansito new nothing about remansito, and one of them was brand new, we had to go get lunch in asuncion and wait. it was good. Elder WOrsham is tall, ikupu in guarani. He is from utah and a good guy, he had some rough blows and a companion who is close to going home, and didnt work to hard so he asked for a change of trainers and got me. sO we gonna do some work here in remansito... aslong as the people understand us haha. We got into remansito that night, and after the three new people got settled in i took them to meet the president. It was good and pres is super excited for 4 in remansito, so am i i just nw ill miss some people from the other side too. 

Jueves: We had our branch ward mission leader meeting.. kind of a rariety here but a good start with the 4 missionaiers. That went well after we all went toi the sosa house for lunch. It was a good time, then i took the 2 newelders around there srea, that was a little tiring and long but a good start for them and just give them a little bit of traction before they really get going. AFter i had my first training session from the 12 week program book, it went well, we should be fine... hopefully for the next six weeks, i also found out that in the next two changes we will have more than 60 missionaies coming in so after this change i may ahve to train again.. our mission is incredibily young right now!! hah. toinight we had consejo or ward counsel, which was the best ione we have ever had to and after that we got a little work in, but basically set our selves up to work this weekend. 

Viernes: GOt a good weekly planing session in, it was two hours but my comp said he never had weekly planning before and it wa never that long, it was the shortest one ive had i think haha. after that we had lunch and i got to see how good his spanish his.. its pretty good and i think we will be able to handle ourselves here. I did realize that ive had a little shift of focus, becuase im working a little more with bringing people back to church, then trying to find tons of new investigators, but for me if a member finds there way back to activity im just as happy as if i get a baptism. Our first real lesson today was super awesome!! and the truth i didnt understand evrey word, but we taught a less active lady, and she started crying and saying she needs to change and go back to church and the spirit was super strong, its was a great start to this era of remansito elders.. pretty excited for the next 6 weeks. 

Sabado: Taught the saminiego family, not the one whose dad died but his brothe.. each time ive gone there the dad or brother has never been there but today he was, it was super good! we also met the husband of an investigator with a baptism dates husband.. he was super drunk and told us he wanted to change, but he wanted to keep smoking, it was really really sad, it would be tough to live like that, it was super hot today!!! but we were able to teach 7 lessons. and aught a lot of less active members. Tonight i was exhuasted and went to bed not feelinf the best.. my stomach hurt a little and i had chevivi (diarihai i dont even know how to spell that.. the runs). I went to bed after a while but then woke up at 1:30 to releave the bowels again, i couldnt sleep, until 2 when i through up twice.. after conqouring the double headed dragon within, i finnally got some sleep.

DOmingo: I woke up feeling way better, but super tired, nonethelss i made the decison last change if im ever sick to just work through it, so the dsay went on but i dint feel bad at all by the end. Church was full today and for the second week in a row we had 48 people in the sacrtament meeting. 6 Less actives from our side including all of the samenigeo family weve been teaching, and 2 investigators, one of which we were not expecting to be there!!! i taguht the gospels principles class about the scriptures.. it was super good, and one investigator was participating aton!! super awesome. after church, we went and found the urquart family and gonzalez family that we were hoping would see at church, and i really do think that next week at least one of those familes will be there.. we will see. Then we had lunch and taught victor, the guy i baptized it was real good. after that my comp got a little home sick, we had a good pep talk and talked about why we are in the mission and why we have to do what we are doing. we got out and taught a little more and met the dad of a nine year old investigator that wprks in argentina, he was drunk at the time but i think that he couyld change and come to church too.. that would be super awesome!!! 

Lunes: today we got up and started the day like normal. then we went mariano to play soccer with 8 other elders, that was super fun but it was also really hot!! then we went and ate some lo mito... again because its just so dang good!! and after we came here.. to the place im writing you now..

Thats my week pretty exciting my confidence in spanish has shot through the roof these last couple days as ive been forced to talñk more and really listen so that i can converse with the people. Pretty cool and really pretty awesome blessing from the lord to be able to do so much with the language this fast. 

Hope all is well with you guys and that you all keep choosing the right!! (deportapoña) in guarani!! teheheheh

CIao Ciao love ya tons!!!!

Elder Jace Gummersall

¡¡CHRISTOFFERSON AND CAMBIOS!!

Hola familia muchos cosas que hice esta semana, pero comenzamos...

Lunes: Today was probably the worst day in the mission and one of the worst ever, we came home and went to the familia Duré to meet with their neighbor that never came but they did tell us that the father of a family killed him self. The family is less active members one of there sons thats our age was starting to re activate, the mom was living in a different city 20 minutes from here and it happened in the morning meaning the 4 kids living there ages 20, 15, 12, and 6 woke up to find there dad there. My heart broke honestly and i feel absolutely horrible for them. We talked to the president who had already talked with the family, the funeral is tomorrow and he cant make it so he wants us to help out, but we have elder D Todd Christofferson so we said we would clean the chapel in the morning and see what we could do to help, i went to bed really considering missing elder christofferson to help support the family more.

Martes: Today was extremely busy, we cleaned the chapel and my comp made the descion to go to elder christofferson because really i couldnt decide. I kept thinking what would elder christofferson do.. but to him we went. we also got the contract of the new house signed before we headed out. We got there early and so we went to the distribution center, garments are 3 mil, (75 cents) so i bought two of each, what a steal right!! I also got letters from the neilson and casebolt family from conference weekend!! what a sweet surprise!! then we got to enter the building we had assigned seats, i sat in the middle almost against the wall on the left side behind the curtain but could see just fine. He started by saying he wanted to shake every missionaries hand so thats what we did first. He said nice to meet you elder gummersall, i dont remember what i said back, or if i was just in shock or taken a back a bit i dont know but it was awesome! his talk was so good it was like a question and answer and the general theme was that the spirit teaches of truth and the book of mormon invites the spirit unlike anything else, and a testimony of the book of mormon helps people have stronger testimonies of the gospel.. so read your book of mormon peoplke! haha. He spoke in spanish and i understood it all it was so good!!! after we all got a bag of food and headed home, we found a place close to our house that sells ice cream now and have been many times now haha.

Miércoles: we had lunch with the familia biaz today and finnally found out why they arent all in the chapel every sunday, its becuase if a storm comes in and they arent home the homes will all fall down they said that soon everything will be good, but they need more money before they can fix it all. Then we got some good ol´ language study in and helped a memebr move in all the super nice new stuff into the new house. Everything its super new, super nice and i kinda want to live there for that alone haha. We then went to the hermana istanizlada (hows that for a name?) it was her birthday and her son got her a microwave, i taught them how to use it, its crazy how a microwave can be the nicest and most hightec thing in the house but it is.Humbling for sure but she is so great! we ate some meat that was warmed in the microwave and she gave me a knife that had no blade so i got a work out in trying to saw this gaint pice of meat with a flat piece of metal haha. overall good day!

Jueves: We went back to the new house to organize all the stuff and unpack the new fridge and stove. we also had to wait for a lock smith to come so that the rooms could have locks. Then we went ot our house we have right now and talked to the owner about putting in a reserve water tank for the house! he is down so soon we should have a new one of those!! that means i should always have a shower hah! then we went and taught a lesson to glayds and rosanna, after we were walking and after a week and a half we finnaly ran into celia in the street!! she told us that she will be in the church thius sunday and we can talk more then! this week or numbers are not that good up to this point, but we have been having the highest quality of lessons so thats the most important part. 

Viernes: Last weekly planning with elder rodriguez... i think, becuase changes this pday and we are pretty sure we will be seperating, we will see. after we had lunch and then headed to mariano because my comp had to interview an investigator of the hermanas to be baptized, it was an eventful trip, my comp spilled juice all over his crotch and pants before the interview, then after we had to go to the elders house and got lost, we walked for an hour until we got there, and it was soooooooo hot. I bought a 2.25 liter jug of water and drank it all within 10 minutes!! after we made our way back to remansito, we swung by the house of an investigator and then went to go find celia, we were 8 minutes from her house when it strted to pour and was super windy! with in 3 minutes we were completely soaked, and yes we had umbrellas, my shoes were full of water and every part of my was soaked, we got to celias house and here recent convert bvorhter david was there so we taught him. I poured the water out of my shoes, it was probably about half a cup between the two shoes.. a ton!! after the rain stopped but not the wind, so that made us really cold becuase it was wet and windy.. the best mix!! haha. After we visited pedro we headed home to call it a night and i got to change and get dry and warm.. good feeling after the storm haha. 

Sabado: today was absolutely gorgeuos, not hot, a slight breeze and sunnny, we got some good work into today and had a ton of contacts!! nothing crazy or exciting happened today, the anticipation of changes is in the air and we can totally feel like som ecraxy things are gonna happen. but we havent the slightest idea. yup yup yup.

Domingo: Really good day today! We didnt have the piano because my comp wanted to play but didnt feel ready this morning so we didnt bring it, but we had 48 in the chapel!! almost 50!! it was sooooo good, 15 less actives that made a return! partly because of the horrible event that happened monday, there was alot of family effected by that, and partly because of our teachings, but the meeting was super good and we are hoping to only have more from here on out! we taught 10 lessons today!! a ton for a sunday, but the two most imiportant had to have been with the the sister in law of family sameniego, and then the family sameniego themselves, they need some help and are definately different, we taught about how good loves everyone, we are hoping that we can help them but really i have no idea how, we are gonna keep visiting them and supporting them through this tough time. Today i coimpleted my 3 change meaning only 14 left, not counting at all, i also left the airport 4 months ago menaning i have less than 20 months left.. crazy fast the time goes!! 

Lunes: today has been super full!! we didnt have water this mornign so we went to the other house to shower, how cool is that we have two houses right now hahah, but that house didnt have water either so i did a classic bucket shower in that house. we got called about changes this morning too!! my comp is headed to the office to in charge of all the money! he told me i will be having a comp that was in the mtc withhim and that he is really good. So im excited, i had a good personal study really good, we went to lunch and ate lo mito.. so goood. but at lunch i found out my comp heard wrong and i have a different companion, that came to the mission a change ago, and i have to finsih training him. So im like his step dad in the missionary language, and im still so young to be a trainer.. crazy.. my spanish will really be put to the test the next couple of days. After that we visited abunch of houses in remansito with elder billings and elder merro becuase its elder merros last pday in the mission, we only have an hour and a half to write but maybe ill get to write alittle bit tomorrow in the morning early. hot hot hot today!!

excited for the change of pace and hope all goes well and mainly that the people can understand me, and i can finish this new elders training good, and use the phone without problems.... its the hardest part.

Hey i started using the ipod this week, and i think you guys could email good songs that bring the spirit that i could have.. also if you wanted to put in a cord for the ipod so i can connect it to the computer that would be super awesome!! 

alright well love you guys aton got emails form tons of people today and plann on writing them all the next itme because i dont have a ton of time today.. love you all!!!!

Love ya!!!!!!

Elder Jace Gummersall

Trying to dry some soggy shoes

hot hot hot

This week got hot, sweaty, and a little stinky... enjoy haha..

Lunes: After the letters last week we went to super seis the best grocery store here, i got 2 very large boxes of Azucaritas, or frosted flakes, i dont know if they are better down here, or i just havent had them in forever, but i absolutely love them right now. Then i printed the photos of victors baptism to give them to him, But that night we couldnt find him, nor could we find celia (our next prospective baptism) so we had a Noche de Hogar with the sosa family and Froilan, it was super bueno! after that we made our way home. 

Martes: We had district meeting this morning where my comp had me teach about how to teach the apostasy. Ill send you a picture of the circle next week if i can remember to take one. But i taught that for 10 min to everyone, also an heramana taught for 10 minutes, and the other elders taught as a companionship for 10 minutes, it was a real good meeting. Afterwords we went to the internet cafe (cyber) and sent some stuff and then hit the streets house hunting, at the end we found a house that may be perfect but we cant talk to the owner until thursday so we just have to wait and see. We taught a couple people but plans didnt go as planned so thats never fun. We also couldnt find Celia again, so the little red flag is starting to go up. 

Miércoles: Today wasnt the best day either. We went and taught william, he thinks the book of mormon is true but doesnt understand the concept of priesthood, and thinks his baptism before is enough. so thats frustrating. Then we went to lunch with the Biaz family who is crazy!! and all over the place. We used two hours there because they wanted us to teach them something, but she wanted to wait until all her kids were there and ready so that was frustrating as well. We then used the next hour and a half teaching a less active family. Its tough for me to sit there for that long because the maximum should be about 45 minutes. But i stay quite because it is my comps job to start and stop each lesson. It wasnt until that night when my comp finally agreed and said we were spending too much time during the lessons and that i could help him manage the time better. It literally was an answer to my prayers. So that was cool. We also have over planned and area having to decide what is the more important thing... always tough.

Jueves: Started the day like normal, and then went to the house after studying a bit. The man is very nice and we are about 98% sure this house will be the new one so that's super exciting!! its pretty big and looks like it wont have any problems. i want to live there for the house, but want to stay in the other house for the area.. tough life i have here hahah. After we went to lunch at the sosa home. Only Belén (bethlhem in spanish) and diego were there and diego wants to add me and people from my family on facebook, so we will see what happens there. Then we went home to do weekly planning.. i dont like doing it thursdays but my comp wants to have divisions tonight so that is that. After that we went to the familia Duré where we waited 30 minutes for a neighbor who said they would be there, she went to her house and she said just a minute, and then still didnt show. That's the Paraguayan life for ya haha, then we had ward counsel with just president olviedo.. that is another area we are trying to fix, the ward counsel is super important but no one understand that here. after that we had divisions and i went to mariano like usual.

Viernes: HAKU!! or hot in guarani. I had a real good personal study, and then we planned for the day. We didnt know anyone that we were visiting, so lesson planning was all the same.. follow the spirit, and hope we can find their houses. that went well for some people and not so well for others. We didnt have the most numbers in the world, but it wasnt a horrible day. At the end we found out the date and time of D Todd Christofferson changed to Tuesday in the afternoon, we dont know why but how awesome is that!!! Ended our divisions and made our way back home, where i found out we had no water all day, and into the night. fun fun.

Sábado: We visited an investigator who we think really has the chance to progress and she recently claimed herself a pet anteater!! we didnt get a good look at it because it didnt want to come out of the house but how cool is that!! She lives really close to the river, and we found where the people that want to be are baptized in the river so that cool. Then we had lunch with president which was good, he help us focus our efforts in helping the less active. after we started a fast, so we could be better basically, and so we could find celia and that she will still want to be baptized, but we only abstained from food because it is super hot here. At the end of the night we went to visit a lady that elder rodriguez contacted yesterday and she might have a capabara but i cant be sure... can you guys look up how to say capabara in guarani, and tell me if they have a long tail and face that is elongated a little.. i cant remember exactly. We also were walking in the street and ran into 2 missionaries that are jehovah witnesses. We chatted it up a little an then went our separate ways.. it was cool. We came home hot and sweaty and like last night, this morning, and all day still had no water!! this is not the most ideal situation for summer time. especially because all the people are saying that its only gonna get hotter!!

Domingo: Let it be said day number three without water.. count your blessings. Today i took a bucket shower. Went down to the side of the house filled a bucket with water and then used a bowl to scoop out the water and pour it on me so i could be somewhat cleaner.. although i didnt feel that clean after. we went to church where i played three hymns.. its getting a little better each time so thats good. I also gave a talk today! i used about 13 minutes and spoke about prayer. I used the scriptures in 1 nephi 7 when nephi breaks the bands. In D&C when hyrum learns how to receive an answer, and it went pretty well from what i could tell. We didnt have any investigators in the church today which was tough and only had 30 people there. Victor got the priesthood today so that was awesome!! we then went around a taught a little during the day and then headed home. We couldn't find Celia again so make that 8 days without contact. Her member friend talked with her once and said that she wants to talk with us but is having struggles. Hope we dont lose this one, she is so ready for baptism. oh we also have to get up for the dentist at 5 tomorrow... wooooooooooo.

Lunes: got up early took or clothes to the laundry lady, and headed down to the south mission so my comp could go to the dentist, after a two hour collectivo ride we got there, and she helped him out. Then we took an hour collectivo ride, which was empty for a little bit, (amazing), to the office. There i got my name tag in guarani which was awesome, talked to elder Bayless who roomed with taylor demars and kaden wolf at BYU before the mission, and whose name is jace too!!, and we met up with some other elders to go to Don Vitos that was good, reminded me of chick filet just not quite as good. after that we made our way to the cyber where i am writing you guys!!

WEll this week has been another one in the books. Ive realized that a week feels like a day, a change feels like a week, and that the mission is flying by! cant wait to see elder Christofferson tomorrow!!! crazy, changes next wednesday but ill know about it next monday, almost certain ill have a new comp but not sure in what part of remansito.. time will tell.. 

Love you guys soooooo much!!! hope all is well!!!

Love

Elder Jace Gummersall

I know it sounds like a food but la garto grande is this animal that looks like a snake but is more like a lizard

mouse in the house

Yup this week we had interviews with the president.. and a bunch of other things happened too... but we´ll start with...

Lunes: After i wrote you guys we made our way home and to the hose of Celia. She is going to be baptized for sure either the next sunday or the last one before next cambios (changes) it was really fun. we played the game with flour.. a fan favorite i would say and everyone ended up fishing for the candy in flour.. it was a good time and a great FHE to have because she should have friends in the church for a while now. after that we headed home. My comp isnt the most cleanly person on the block with his food, not horrible, and really not that bad but he does leave food out at times and doesnt do his dishes that often. Normally not a problem for me, ive adjusted. But when we got home tonight I saw a mouse crawl behind the stove. We then spent the next 20 minutes standing on chairs trying to kill it with a broom. My comp had a good shot at it and hit it once, but after that its squoze its way under the bathroom door and vanished... so now we are living with a rat... and all the food is put away.. that was our eventful lunes.

Martes: Today we had district meeting in Villa hayas, because two weeks ago it was in remansito. It was good. I learned some good stuff but mainly came away with the fact that me and elder bonzo are going on a division in my area this week. We came to the mission the same time and he took three years of german before his mission so that means the spanish should be intresting. It should be fun though. Elder Bonzo is the man im excited to judge where my spanish is at. When we got back nobody was home. Its a pretty common case here during the ciesta, they are either working, or sleeping. You can find people sleeping at all hours of the day here in remansito. It was supppppppppper hot today and i got myself a haircut. The guy did not mes around he buzzed everything except the bangs. Cut them a little bit and then called it good. In reality my hair was cut really bad and doesnt look that good. But in this missionary world im living in its perfect because its just hair haha. We then went and visited monica who thought that the missionaries were prophets. That was interesting. I constructed a mouse trap today to. Peanut butter, dulce, and this toxic liquid stuff. Hopefully we will come home to a mouse already dead because i dont think i have the heart to kill it. After a long hot day of working, we came home to find nothing in the mouse trap, (you´ll get pictures) but we did get a phone call from the zone leader, saying that this week we will be having zone conference and that we will also be having interviews with president. So this thursday should be quite exciting!

Miércoles: today started with rain rain rain.. it started at about 8 in the morining and just kept dropping. we went to hermana istanizlada ( ithink thats how you it) she had these shish ka bob things that were just meat, but were super good, and she had a ton, i ate 7 and my comp 5 there was still like 15 left over haha. at the end of lunch the rain came to a stop and out into the streets we headed. We taught a couple people and were actually able to find needs of these people, that way we could teach them how the gospel can help that need in their life. Truly a huge help for us when someone tells us that kind of stuff. today was a good day we taught a total of 10 lessons. busy busy busy, as always. We got home to find out my comp left the water running so the house floor was all wet again.. he is extremely lucky that carpet doesnt exist down here our else we would have rotted floors. After that i shinned my shoes to prep for the interviews tomorrow. They looked soooooo good :) haha

Jueves: Zone conference this morning. We left early to make sure we were there with early with out any problems. we got there with plenty of time to spare and then got some studying in too. after that we had the first half of zone conference with just the AP´s and zone leaders while president kept interviewing. It was super good, we learned the importance of teaching the apostasy clearly and for understanding, because when someone understands that, they understand the need for a prophet and a restoration. super good! then president came in and basically gave us an overview of the things he taught the past which was awesome for me to hear all the topics he has already covered. Then we ended ( i said the closing pray) and then i waited for my interview with president. We went to a little dispensa right next store to the church and bought meat and bread and ate sandwiches as we waited. My interview was super awesome! he has so many awesome ideas. For every question or concern about our area that i had he had a brilliant response. It was incredible. After that we headed home. We did our weekly planning today because tonight we are starting divisions and and wont be able to do it tomorrow. That went well. After that we only had about 2 hours to work. We went and visited froilan and took pictures of his house that we might uses for the other missionaries. Then we taught him, after that we had about 20 minutes until the switch so we contiued the house hunt with very little success. Then we made the switch, me and elder bonzo headed home and it was there that i learned today was halloween!! all day me and my comp were saying that it was tomorrow but no it was today, we celebrated with the fake teeth and called it a night. (shows how much this country appreciates noche de brujas (night of witches)). 

Viernes: well today i was the senor comp, and had to take care of all the things im not yet that good at. namely Using the phone, and casual conversation for before and after each lesson and for lunch. But to my surprise i didnt really have any problems with understanding anything or conversing with the people. It was super cool. Today was super hot.and literally nobody was in there home, even the people that we confirmed with werent home it was super frustrating. We were able to have three lessons with less active members which was good, but werent able to have any lessons with members. The most disappointing was that celia wasnt there and our plan was to solidify a date for her baptism. After, we headed to Villa Hayas, ate some lo mito arabe (look up the recipe and make it, its so good (lunch  two pdays ago)) and then headed home. Today i was super tired but endeed the day with alot more confidence in spanish so that was good

Sábado: Today me and my comp got into a little arguement, but were able to solve that without wasting much time, nothing bad just a little disagreeing in views that we were able to clear up. Today wasnt hot at all, it was overcast, windy, and had the lightest little sprinkles of rain every now and then. We went to lunch at president oveidos house and he wasnt there to eat it with us so we ate it with his wife. She told us about how all the people in remansito are saying her husband uses the tithing money to support his family. The gossip down here can get pretty tough sometimes, and we have definitely heard that from members too. We tried our best to offer comfort and scriptures to help her and i think it ended good. After lunch we started our fast. Then went to San Antonio but the people who are usually in sanantonio werent there so we taught a lesson and headed back. After that we went on a house hunt again, finding alot of options, but nothing perfect, we did get some good contacting in. At the end of the night there was alot of people that told us they would be at church tomorrow so we were pretty excited. 

Domingo: We started the morning by going to the house of a less active, and investigator that said they would be coming to church. One was sleeping still and the other vowed next week he would be there with all of his family. We are really hoping that these guys will be there. Church was super good today. Victor was confirmed, and then we had testimony meeting. We didnt use the piano today because i wasnt 100% ready to play at least 2 hymns so im hoping i can have 4 ready next week. Since today was fast sunday we had testimony meeting, and you guessed it i went up and bore my testimony today. Just felt like i should, so i did. cool that i can do that with out problems now haha. After church we did something different. We went out to all of the people who told us they would be there to say we missed them and that we hope to see them next week. Hopefully this will help the people start coming to church. we then closed our fast went to lunch and came home to do our studies. After our studies we headed out to teach a little. We got 5 potential people who really look like they could be baptized in the coming weeks, and my companion (district leader) wants me to teach people how i teach the apostasy for the next district meeting (tomorrow) i guess you could say i learned somethings from the zone conference. We werent able to teach celia today because she wasnt home, but here recent convert brother who has slipped into inactivity was. We talked to him and i taught him the importance of the book of mormon, and we we need to read it everyday. After my comp told me that he got the impression that i will be in the office at some point in my mission. I said i hope not cause i would rather work 24/7 but only time will tell. He did want me to ask dad if he was ever in the office.. so dad were you ever in the office on your mission? haha. 

Lunes: todays been good we played some soccer with other missionaries.. i was picked first i think out of pitty but also was the only american there so i dont know why that happened. then we went to lunch at the same lo mito place as last time (not villa hayas) sooooooo goood. and then we came to the cyber to write you guys! good week for me!

Sounds like you all are doing great, my life is going well here in paraguay, doesnt even feel like were close to christmas but its only like 6-7 weeks away, and then i get to skype you!! crazy eh!! 

Hope all continues to go well for you guys love you tons!!!

Love 

Elder Jace Gummersall