Getting colder!

FRUSTRATION!!! I want to send you guys pictures of the temple and the baptism, but this computer is being a bugger and won't let me download the pictures from my camera!!!

Ok, counting my blessings...... at least I can still email you guys! (She said with a determinedly positive attitude)

We went to the temple on Tuesday, and it was just the most wonderful experience and definitely the spiritual boost I needed. You can surely bet that I cried A LOT. The coolest part for me is that I understood all of the Spanish!! Now I just have to wait another 9 months to go through and do it again ;)

Evelyn got baptised on Saturday!! She kept messing with us and telling us that she had changed her mind. I knew it was just a joke, but I started panicking a little bit when she was half an hour late to the baptism.  (By the way, a very normal occurrence at all of the baptisms here. Mormon standard time + Paraguayan standard time = disaster) It had rained the entire day the day before, so the temperature dropped way super low. The poor girl got dunked in freezing water in our little baptismal font outside! Nevertheless, I am super proud of this spunky little single mom, and I am so excited to see her progress in the Gospel.

Winter has finally come, so Hna Escobar and I went and bought a bunch of warm clothing this morning to get us through the super cold nights. Contacting should be really interesting, since we have to clap at the gates of the houses. It's now a process of taking off our gloves every 5 minutes or smacking our numb hands together with the hope that it will make some sort of noise. Keep us in your prayers, please!

Mom, I absolutely LOVE this scripture!! Also, did you see the First Presidency Message for this month? It's about following the Spirit in doing family history, and I think you'll like it a lot. How is your calling going, btw? Finding lots of people to baptise, yet?

Sorry this isn't too much for this week, but trying to figure out how to post my pictures sucked up all of my time. I love you guys! Please be careful when you go repelling, and have a ton of fun! Totally not jealous.....

Con muchísimo cariño,

Hermana Jeppesen

Half Way Done!!!!

Hola Mamá,

DID YOU KNOW THAT I'M HALFWAY THROUGH MY MISSION?? Holy cow, how crazy is that?! They've have been the longest, and at the same time shortest, months of my LIFE. This first half of the mission has been insanely challenging and at times incredibly difficult, but at the same beyond rewarding and something that I will NEVER ever forget. I am in love with this work, and I can't wait to see what the rest of my time here will bring me!

This week was pretty tranquilo'pa. We found a couple (Blanca and Freddy Sanabria, with their little son Freddy David) who just moved into our area right in front of a family of members, and they have immediately accepted the Gospel and are planning to get married and baptised NEXT WEEK! We are super duper stoked. It just goes to show that miracles really do exist, and the Lord puts people in our way that have been truly prepared to hear the message that we have. The only challenge right now is that Freddy speaks more Guaraní than Spanish, and he doesn't know how to read. We're a little at a loss of what commitments to leave with him at the end of the lessons, but HEY! that's why we have district meetings every week!

Also, we're going to have a baptism this week! FINALLY! Our investigator Evelyn (aka crazy, sassy 18-year-old mom who has become one of my besties out here) has been with us for 3-4 months now. She readily accepted the Gospel, but insisted on waiting to get baptised until the 24th of May (don't ask why, you'll just roll your eyes...) and now the time has finally come! Honestly, at this point she might as well already be a member. We have been waiting for this day for a WHILE. I'll make sure to send lots of pictures of her special day next week!

Today for P-day, Hna Escobar and I went to the lakeside tourist town of San Bernardino and goofed off for a couple hours. MOST importantly, we had Burger King for lunch. Nothing reminds me of home more than some good ol' fast food ;) The lake Ypacaraí is very beautiful.... from a distance.... and very contaminated. Ask anyone in town about their lake and they go off on a ten minute ramble on how beautiful and popular it used to be, and how almost nobody goes now. Sad story. BUT we did climb to the top of a hill and get some awesome pics!

TOMORROW WE ARE FINALLY GOING TO THE TEMPLE!!! Geez luis, the whole district is so gosh darn excited! More than anything, I'm just excited to go and finally understand everything in SPANISH! 

So that's what's going on down here! I love you guys, and it was so wonderful to see your faces and hear your voices last week. 

Con MUCHÍSIMO amor,

Hermana Jeppesen