Hermana McKayla Jean Thacker: Miracles...

Monday, October 7, 2013

Hey Family, Paraguay so far, is great. I was expecting a culture shock and...it didn't happen. Everything is pretty normal here. The food is normal, the clothes are normal...but we are definitely not normal...haha. I don't know if I mentioned it in the last letter, but everyone honks at the "rubias", aka blondes. We are quite the hot commodity. I even got a proposal this week... he will listen to us give the lessons if I become his wife! It's a shame that he didn't get to hear the gospel, but...I was just too young for him...haha!

Okay, enough with the joking. I have so much to tell you. My first story is pretty funny. We are supposed to get five contacts a day, so we were walking the streets on our way to our next appointment. There was an older couple sitting outside, that my companion had talked to several months previous, but they weren't interested. We decided to say hello, and be friendly little missionaries anyway. As our short conversation drew to an end they asked us to please look for their lost dog, and they described him. If we saw him, they asked us to let them know. As we walked away I told my companion that we were going to find their dog and then they would agree to be baptized! Great plan, right! Haha! So we were walking along and we saw a dog that matched their description, but honestly, we had no clue. There are more dogs here than people, so who knows? We kept walking then turned back and decided to see if he would follow us. He was not enthuised with the idea, so we again walked away. We also looked to see if he had a collar we could drag him by, but he didn't, so we kept walking. Then I turned around, politely asked my companion to hold my books and my cardigan, and I pounced! At this point, we are praying that this is their dog and no one is going to come and shoot us for stealing! We started walking back to their house with the big, ugly, stinky dog in my arms. When we get back to their house, the old woman has a very confused look on her face and I am really worried at this point. Then the old man walks out and smiles a very large smile! Whew! It was their dog! And he asked us to come back and share our message with them under his mango tree. Yes, he definitely emphasized the "mango tree" part. I am very excited!

Also, mom, you asked where I was writing from. I am writing from an internet shack. It is very interesting. They time you and you pay according to the time you use. There isn't much in the way of technology here. Everyone does have a TV and a cell phone though. EVERYONE! It is ridiculous!

Next, I move on to a more serious note. This week, Oct. 1st to be exact (McCoy's B-Day), I woke up thinking about McCoy. In personal study, I felt drawn to study about eternal families. I am so grateful for that. To me, that is the best part of the gospel. I thought about how different our lives would be right now if he was here with us. Anyway, I was thinking about him for most of the day. It was Tuesday and we hadn't had any luck all day. We went to 11 of our investigators houses and either no one was home, they ignored us, or they didn't want to be taught. We were both pretty frustrated. We always, always have a back up plan and even our back up plans had fallen through. We were walking the streets considering what to do when my companion mentioned that there was an old woman in one of the coming houses. They had dropped by once, but she had been busy with a friend. We decided to stop. When we clapped at her gate, a 70ish year old woman walked out and began talking. We asked her is she was familiar with the Church and she answered no. We starting giving her a brief summary and when we showed her the Book of Mormon, her eyes got big. She said, "I have that book!" We asked if she had read it, she answered that she had read the entire book and she knew it was true! With wide eyes we asked if we could go inside and share with her. Two and a half years ago, some elders gave the book to her, but they didn't give her any information other than that. She didn't know how to find the Church, so she just read the book. When the sisters stopped by several months ago she didn't realize who they were. The miracles didn't stop there though. As we sat down, we started Lesson 1, but before we got far she stopped us. After saying that she felt she shoud tell us, she shared a story. Her daughter died several years ago due to an unexpected illness. In January, she lost her only son, who was in the military. She had no clue where they were or if she would ever see them again. We immediately switched gears and taught her about the plan of salvation. It was so amazing to have the knowledge and to be able to promise her that she could live with them again forever! This gospel is such a blessing and it hurts so much to see people reject it because they don't believe that God could love them and know them as he does.

I love you guys and miss you all to pieces! You heard the conference talks! Help the Missionaries! They really do need it! And every investigator needs a friend, and they need to feel welcome. That goes for the less active too. Member missionaries are such a relief to us. Anyway, my soapbox is over...I love you all and miss you tons!!!