Nov 24, 2014
Ok. So this week was crazy, and I dont even know how to tell you about everything. So I will just make a list of firsts.
First comp in the mish . . . .my trainers name is hna lindsay and she is from idaho. Its crazy because there were 5 na hermanas that needed trainers in the mish, and there was 4 latina trainers and 1 northamerican one. And I got the na one! Still trying to figure out what that means . . . haha, but it is a blessing none the less because we have a lot in common. I like her a lot. She reminds me of Katie a ton. She is really chill but also happy and also just really good at teaching.
First rainstorm . . . oh man it rains in paraguay. And the streets are like streans. I have heard they can become like rivers but so far they are just streams. But we got soaked so we went and grabbed trash bags from a members house so we could keep on working. Then we went out to work again. And then it REALLY started raining. So we clapped at the house of some random person and she let us sit on her patio to wait out the storm. She was really nice, but one of the more hard to understand people. Well, everyone here is hard to understand but rather she couldnt understand me. Neverless nice. All the Paraguayans are nice when you clap their doors.
First Sunday . . . . . . without any investigators coming to church. So this one was actaully a little disheartening for me because I was so exited that all the people we had talked to had said they would come to church, and then nobody came. But apperantly this is fairly typical in Paraguay. Well really all missions but especially paraguay they say they will do something and then they will forget to do it. But I love them none the less, and next week we have an openhouse of the chapel. So after that i have faith that more people will come to church once they see how normal and cool it is. Also I love the ward. They are super chill. This week was the primary program and the little ninos were sooo chulina (cute).
First chipa, gueso, empanada, etc. I LOVE paragayan food. So far it is pretty normal, but really good, Especially the empandas. I love the empanadas. I love them.
First week in Paraguay . . . so good, so different, so full of emotions. I cant believe I have a year and half of this.
Well, love you all.
Hna Jarman
Hello Fam! How is hawaii!!!
I assume it is pretty good becasue no one wrote me. but DONT FEEL BAD (mom). Haha the only person that wrote me was trent so be glad he is now oficially almost part of our family or that would be sad. Oh, actually katie wrote in the letter too. So props to katie and Trent. And you are engaged. Oh my goodness! That is probably the favorite moment of this whole entire week. I am so happy for you!!!
This week was . . . good. But also hard. I promised all of you that I would tell you if I have hard weeks if you tell me when you have hard weeks because then we can stay close while I am so far away. Anyway, so now you have to keep your end of the deal.
I am learning how to be a missionary, And being a missionary is not exactly the ways of the natural man. Entonces, I have a LOT to learn. The mtc was just really fun and I learned spanish and it seems like you are really good at spanish compared to your peers, and then you come out in the field and realize you know nothing. Becasue they dont have lesson plans in paraguay, you never know when or what you are going to teach, which is hard because then you just have to shoot from the hip`and use whatever spanish you have. Which is not a ton. But the spirit has helped me so much this week. So that has been a miracle. And also when you cant talk to people it gets kind of lonely. This is why I think I have a comp that is northamerican. Because sometimes I just need someone to talk to. And someone that understands. And she is really great. And I think that it just takes a bit to get into the missionary mindset. I have always seen missionaries with this mindset and have always wondered how they could be so happy, so hopeful, thinking everyday that they were going to find the perfect person that we could baptize that Saturday, knowing full well that it is equally as likely that you will go whole changes or multiple changes without any baptisms. Or that you make plan after plan, prayer after prayer, trying to get your investigators to church and then your investigators just ignore you on Sunday mornings. How can you be happy doing this. I didnt get it. But I read my setting apart and some talks and pme about what a sucessful missionaryis. and I think I am finally starting to understand. First of all, missionaries are not baptizers they are representatives of christ. And christ didnt just bring people to the waters of baptism. He brought them closer to God, he taught the gospel, he conforted them, he brought more light into their lives. This is what he did, and as the people who walk the earth in his place now, this is what we do. We want to baptize, but this is not the only thing we should want as missionaries.
Tambien, it is a characteristic of God, in fact one of the characteristics that makes god god, is that he promptly forgives us for not fulfilling the comnmitments he has given us. And missionaries become about to forgive their investigators as rapidly as god, feeling as fully certain as God does about us, that we will do better next time, that we have the potential to do better, but also comnplete faith in us that we WILL do it, because he has forgotten our past transgressions.
This is the miracle of the atonement. In my setting apart blessing and in my fathers blessing it talks very specifially about how i will come to have a working and living understanding of the atonement. And I think that I am starting to learn the miracle of the atonement. Because this week made clear to me that I cannot serve this mission alone. I cannot learn this language alone. I cannot have the ability to forgive those that have frustrated me alone. But the miracle is that I never was supposed to do it alone. Only one was supposed to do it alone, and he has already done it.
This is my testimony. I love you all. And dont worry about me. I am fine. There are angels around me to bear me up, and if I have learned this much about the atonement in one week, I cant imagine what I will learn in the next 80ish weeks.
Love,
Hermana Jarman
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