"Let it Snow?"

Greetings from Summer in Paraguay!

Hello hello my dearest family!
Sorry for not being able to write
yesterday. We had zone conference
so today is our P-day. The conference
was spectacular as always and we got some
great advice as to what we need as a mission.
It is starting to dawn on me that my time
here as a missionary is WAY too short.
It makes me panic a little to think about how

quickly this time as a missionary is passing.
I am starting to wish that girls could have 2 years also.
Don't worry though, I´m not going to extend 6 months, but really I just
feel so blessed to be here as a missionary! This is the best
experience I have ever had in my life. Never again in my life will
I have this calling, blessing, and opportunity. I hope and pray that
I am noticing and taking every opportunity possible to share the gospel.
I honestly didn't love this place at first, but I can tell you right now
how much I love Paraguay. I love the
people here so much!! I love my mission so much! I love to bare my
testimony about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I love telling
the people here that Christ came to visit their descendats and that
He lives today. I love to tell people about President Monson and the
Quorum of the 12. It fascinates me and I know without a doubt that
what I tell these people is true. The past couple of weeks, we have had
some miracles. I've seen old investigators come back and want to be
baptized. They remembered how they felt when we taught them,
they've seen the Book of Mormon make changes in their lives and in
the lives of their husbands and children. It really gave me hope that
my efforts haven´t been wasted and that they felt the Spirit and knew
what they needed to do through me and my companion. The sad
thing is when they deny what they've felt and choose not to continue,
but the more I read the Book of Mormon and the New Testament,
the more realize that rejection, sadness, and disappointment are
not new experiences. For example, I am reading in Alma again about
when Alma gives up the judgment seat to go and preach the gospel.
I'm sure this wasn't easy. In fact, Alma was el juez superior, but he
gave up his position because he saw no other way to rescue his people
except with the strength of pure testimony against them (Alma 5:19).
He faced those who had kept the commandments, but many more who
had forgotten and chosen poorly. I love chapter 8 when Alma is leaving
the land of Ammoniah after having suffered many afflictions, being
kicked out of the city, smitten, all of his words resisted, when an angel
appears to him and tells him to lift up his head and rejoice. The angel
doesn't tell him to rejoice because he baptized literally thousands of
people before or because he had a high position of both government
and church. No. The angel tells him to rejoice because he has been faithful
in keeping the commandments of God from the first day that he heard
the words of Abinadi the prophet (Alma 8:15). To me this was really
noteworthy.We have much reason to lift up our heads and rejoice as we
keep the commandments faithfully and listen to the words of the prophets,
both ancient and modern day. This wasn't all though. The angel tells him to
go back and we know that he went speedily. What a great example of
faithfulness and diligence through trials. I have no doubt that the
Book of Mormon was written for our day and age. It has helped me
immensely this week. I´m so glad that you all got your packages and
were able to visit Elder Earl! That was really nice of him to do that for our
family. Speaking of packages..I got my Christmas one this Saturday!
(THANKS AUNT SHERI) I was so excited! But it is sitting in my room
tempting me every day. I know it will be worth it to wait to open it on
Christmas. You are so wonderful to have sent me something. Serioulsy,
thank you so much! I got your letter about Christmas in the field Dad.
Thank you so much. I really loved your advice and am excited to pass
a Christmas here with the people in Paraguay. The only downside is that
we have transfers 15 December, so I might be in a new area, but still, it
will be fun for me to serve other people on this day and help them grow
closer to their Savior Jesus Christ. Its the only time of year where
almost everyone (at least in this part of the world) is thinking about
Jesus Christ.What a great opportunity! Honestly, Christmas here is a
lot different. Some people have lights and a few decorations up. There
was a snowman yard art the other day that said "Let it Snow" which
made me laugh. Really though, I feel so blessed. Sometimes it makes me
sick to think of all the "things" that I've received in my life that I didn't
need or that someone else could have used. For some reason,
I was thinking about when you first got married mom and dad, and how
I thought we were poor because mom made our clothes and our house
was smaller. Coming here has really opened my eyes and made me
appreciate how truly blessed we are. The people here that offer us their
best food, that buy us a soda (which is a huge luxury) that often offer us their
chair and table to eat first because they only own 2 chairs in total or their
kids wait for us to eat first and then eat whats left. It has truly humbled me.

I know that they are blessed when they help us, but still, it breaks my
heart and fills me with joy to see their smiles when they give to us. It makes
them so happy. Christmas here will truly be one that I will never forget.
Dad, I really understand why you don't like to receive gifts. Still though,
I hope the giving will continue in our family, but more with service, advice,
counsel, time, and love. That's great to hear about Corey and Katie!
Send them my best! Corey and I are going to be neighbors down here for a bit.
That will be so much fun. What part of Brasil is he in again? I can't remember
the mission name. Also if you could send me his address, I would appreciate it.

I love you tons!
- Hermana Rae

Beautiful!

Wow wow wow, what a week! This was honestly the best week of my
mission so far!  We seriously saw so many miracles. I don't
even know where to start.  Yesterday, 6 investigators came
to church (12 if you count all of their babies and kids).
It was the biggest storm I've seen so far here in Paraguay.
The streets were literally rivers. But igual, la gente
vinieron. We are working with 6 families
right now that I just love but are tough. Mostly, were
trying to complete families, where the mom and children are
members, but the majority of the time the husband isn't.
We did a special fast for them Saturday to Sunday and
I seriously testify of the power of the fast. It was amazing.
The most difficult thing for us has been to find the
WHOLE family together so we prayed specifically for the
OPPORTUNITY to teach them. Heavenly Father answered our
prayers. We went Sunday in the morning to pick up a
family for church. The missionaries have taught them a
lot before and the elders gave them to us as a reference.
The mom cuts the strings off of jeans all day for her work.
The little kids too. There are tons of Korean jean factories
and everyone in that area works for them. They live in
pretty humble circumstances but work really hard and many 
many hours. We started going to their house to help them
and relieve at least the little kids so that they could go
play. They told us that they have a testimony of Joseph Smith
of the Book of Mormon, they really are a great family, but
we could tell something was up since it had been such a long
time and they still hadn't been baptized after such a long
time. We felt prompted to talk with them about the word of
wisdom again. They told us that they had no problem with
it and were keeping the word of wisdom. The next morning
when we went though, we found him really drunk and drinking
with his friend outside of the apartment. The kids were
watching. We dropped the cane pretty hard. He kept
saying "forgive me, forgive me please." We went inside
the apartment and his sweet wife was there getting the
kids ready for church. She seemed really embarrassed.
It hurt my heart so much to see how sad she was.
After many words with the husband, we asked him to say the
prayer. We all knelt down and I have never heard anyone ask
more times for God to forgive him. I started to cry as he
said the prayer. It hurt really bad to see him make a poor
decision for his family. He watched as his whole family left
with us for church. As we walked, the rain started and
we gave the little kids and mom our umbrellas. I will never
forget the contrast of those little kids in their home,
sadly watching their dad and them being in the church happy
with the members and their mom. The best joy and the
greatest sorrow. Were went to their house again after
church and are going again tonight. Were not giving up on
them just yet.
  There were like a thousand other cool things that
happened this week. I seriously love being a missionary.
I know that God answers prayers and fasts. I know that God
lives, that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that through the
prophet Joseph Smith, God restored the same church that
Jesus Christ previously put on the earth. I love the
covenants I have made in the temple. I thought about them
a lot this week and realized how much protection I have
a missionary and endowed member of the church.
Anyway, please have a wonderful week.
I looovee yooouuuuu!!!!
Love, Rae

Wonderful Fruit

I don't know if I told you, but there are Plumerias here right now
(white and yellow, deep purple, pink, yellow, and white)and there are
also poinsettias everywhere.
Hermana Jara and I are both still here in Amambay. We didn't end up
having changes yet. I really REALLY love this ward though and the
people here so I am ok with not changing for now :).
The heat was killer again. The other morning I drank 2 liters of water
by like 9:00 and kept drinking throughout the day. The heat is still
miserable but I am getting more used to it.  I guess.
 We found a really cool family this week! I was so excited.
We were walking and decided to knock on a random door. An older
single lady greeted us, let us in, gave us water, and told us that she
was Catholic but that her brother who had died 3 years earlier was
Mormon and had served a mission many years earlier in Uruguay.
She told us that the people from the church were really nice but
took us into a room where she had a shrine of Saints, Jesus,
incense and things like that and told us that she wasn't interested in
changing religions. It was really important to her and she was
so sweet to us. We taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel
though and visited for a little bit. She gaves us a little bag
of cookies and a piece of candy as we left. It was adorable. She
then told us that her niece, the daughter of her brother who passed
away lives close and that we could visit her. We went to visit her
and her family and they are great! They were kind of busy when
we came but were going on Tuesday to visit with them. We stopped
by yesterday too and visited with the members son and granddaughter
and they were really receptive. I really think they are going to progress.
As it turns out, the man who died was inactive towards the end of his
life. But i truly believe that things dont happen because of coincidence,
and that perhaps there is a concerned father on the other side
trying to help his family. Once again, our Heavenly Father really
is in the details.
 This morning was fun. For our P-day we went to the city center with
one of the girls in the ward Vanessa Alvarez. We eat with her family
on Sundays and they are the best. Her dad is an artisan and does those
really cool scripture covers made out of leather. They're amazing.
Anyway, we took some fun pictures and went to a museum. We ate
the BEST empanadas that I've ever tasted. It was weird though. I felt
like a tourist kind of. It reminded me of being in London or Paris...all
big cities have the same kind of feel. It was fun though. Ill send you
pictures.

Guess what? My mouth and dry skin are cured. A sister in the ward told
me to boil guava leaves and put the juice on my skin and it cured me!
I couldn't believe it. A modern day miracle. There are natural remedies
here for everything. It seems like that principle of there being an
opposition in all things really is true. Where the sun burns your skin,
there grows aloe or guava leaves to cure them. Go figure.
   MY testimony is growing so much and I never want to forget the
experiences that I am having here.

Sometimes, many times, fulfilling our callings takes a lot of hard work.
I have seen many of the sacrifices that people here in Amabay have
made to fulfill their callings. I hope our ward and stake are doing well.
We really have such wonderful people in our ward and I love
them better and help the 27th ward in whatever way possible once I return.
   Please send my love to the family. I hope Aunt Lauren is feeling
 better! I am continuing to pray for her and for all of you every day.
I can't believe Ive been out 5 months. It has passed by so quickly
but I feel like I have been here forever. I really love it here.
 
Anyway, I'm out of time! love you love you love you!! BTW(by the way)
it's fruit season and I ate like half a watermelon the other day.
RRRIquisimo!!
All my love,
Rae

...Small and Simple Things

Wow,  what a week! So much has happened!It really has been a
lot of fun and incredible. We had Zone conference and interviews
with President Callan this week which was so great and very much
needed.  Our leaders are so inspired. President Callan focused a
lot on effective planning  (PME ch 8) and following the Spirit
(PME ch 4). He  also talked  about obedience with exactness.
Well, I have to admit that I learned so much and figured out
that there are many things to improve. We focused on changing
some  of the simple things....by small and simple things, great
things WILL come to pass. We went to pick up some investigators
with a member (a young girl and her sister who speak mainly
Guarani­)but we couldn't get a hold of any of the other
investigators so we figured they wouldn't come.
When we got to church, we had
5 investigators that we  hadnt even planned on being there!
One was a young guard who we always pass by on our way
home. We invited him to church twice when passing by and
he came with his girlfriend!  It was so great! This
week also, We  taught Virgina´s daughter. We thought she
wasn't going to make it to church but she came  yesterday
anyway! It was  such a blessing to us. Yesterday  after church
we found  18 new investigators and were able to teach  6
lessons with members there as well as 2 other lessons and
1 to a less active. We had a wonderful lesson Saturday night
with the  husband of  a member here and it  was so
special. I feel so blessed that my Heavenly Father gave me
the opportunity to see other people come unto  Christ
and change their lives. That is the gift and how happy we have
been to see it.
 The members have been so great too! I really love working
with them. Sometimes it is difficult for them to open up and
talk to investigators but it makes such a difference.
  I am learning so  much and have SO MANY things I want to
read and learn.
   I am doing great and am finding ways to adapt.
By The Way... I got my packages!!   And it came so fast!
Thank you so much! Well, I am  out of time.
I love you all and have a wonderful  week!
Love, Rae

The fruits of Paraguay

This week was a busy one. Honestly, some days were pretty
tough and I  was feeling kaigue (lazy  in Guaran­). But we
had such a cool experience on Sat that I want to share
real quick.
My companion and I were following up on a reference that
we got from a little girl who is always  playing with the little
girl of a less active family with whom we are working.
She comes to church and told us we could visit her mom .
Her moms name is Graciela. We went  to find her like 3
times but her house is confusing  because it is behind
these apartments...hard to describe.  Anyway, we clapped
one of the doors and a lady answered . We said, ¿Graciela?
and she  looked confused but  said, ¿sí? soy yo. We asked
if she was the mother of the little  girl. She said no, but we
asked if we could come in anyway. She looked hesitant ,
as most do, but let us in.  We talked about her family
and  her husband who had passed away 3 years  earlier
and her  daughter who had recently gotten married and
moved away. She was very sweet.
We shared a very short message about the Restoration with
her because  she had to go to work but she told us we
could come back  the next day (sat). When we came back
Saturday she was just getting home from work  so we came
in and she sat down with us. She was  excited to see us and
began to tell us what had happened the night before.
Turns out, she has a new fiance and they're getting
married next month (VERY rare in Paraguay).
They were talking on the phone and she told him about
our visit with her and how weird it was that we called her by
name. She  said also that she never lets people in but that
she  felt like if she would not have let us in,
that she  would be denying the Lord.
Wow. Anyway , her fiance asked her what we were
like and what the pamphlet looked like that w e gave her.
Turns out, he just barely started to receive the missionary
discussions also and that the had met with them 3 times
already.  The both of them  had gone to the Catholic church
last week but  Graciela kept telling us that "it just doesn't
fill me" and "there are things that just don't make  sense.
They don't really explain." This being the case, Graciela and her
fiance prayed to the  Lord to  send them the way and promised
that if they found it, they would follow. She said  that
she was sure this isn't coincidence .
Family, our Heavenly Father LOVES His children.
This had nothing to do with me and i know it.  But wow,
He really loves them. She also told us about many times
that  she had prayed,  especially after her husband died,
for comfort and direction. She described how she felt
afterward...like she was covered with piel de gallina
(chicken skin or goosebumps). We had a  wonderful lesson
with her,  and are going to have a family home evening with
her and her fiance tomorrow night. They went to his ward
yesterday so I am so excited to hear how everything went.
It was so cool and such a blessing to me. I wish I had time
to tell you all the miracles that I am seeing but there
just isn't time. I love these experiences though.
Things are going well here with the work. We found a lot
of people this week to teach.  Besides Graciela , none of
them came to church, but I really have faith that they will
progress. This whole  "respecting others agency" thing
is really hard sometimes.

Paraguay is  beautiful , no?   Its really great here. Sometimes
I am shallow though and miss my car and  carpet and washing
machine. Sorry for being  materialistic, but its true.

 I was thinking as I was writing this that there are some fun
novelty things about Paraguay that I forget to tell you.
I know Grandma Dixie really liked  hearing about all the
greenery and gorgeous flowers. There are so many! It is beautiful.
It has been really weird weather
my whole time here. Either way cold or miserably hot.
I arrived in the end of winter here. As  summer begins though,
were  starting to see more fruit.
There is this little orange one called nisporo
that its really good and we always clap peoples doors to see if
we can have some.  There are mangoes like crazy here. They're all
over the floor.  One of my  favorite trees is the mora
(or blackberry/mulberry) trees.  Delicious. We also see cool
animals sometimes. Tons of cats and dogs with missing limbs,
but also monkeys,  and  bats swoop down near our heads at night.
Sometimes I pick of frogs to scare my comp. ha ha. and there are
lizards too. I love it. Nothing dangerous. No worries.
Love,
Hermana Edwards

Remember the storm in the 'Testaments' movie?

I lived it yesterday . Haha, Really the storms here are wild. But today is a
beautiful gorgeous day in Paraguay. Love my comp, I love this work,
I love these people. Really this has been a great week and I have learned a lot.
A great week in the sense that I am a missionary...I love that part.
Really though, it was kind of difficult. Virginia was going to be baptized
this Friday. We had everything well-planned and ready to go.
We were so excited for her! But Thursday night she called us and told
us that she wasnt going to be baptized. It seriously broke my
heart. Sometimes the sacrifices people have to make to be baptized are great,
but I know that it is so infinitely worth it. It is their personal salvation in fact.
Sometimes that is hard for others to grasp. Virginia is great though.
We are still working with her and she came to church yesterday!
It was great. Speaking of church yesterday, it was wonderful.
It was the primary presentation and it was incredible. It made me think of
that conference talk (maybe Elder Christofferson ?) that said we should have an
eagerness and willingness to learn as children do. We can really learn so much from
children. We ve been working with a less active family with a little 4 year old girl
named Cami. She is incredible. I think I mentioned her in my last e-mail but I just love
her and am learning a ton from her example of being above all loving, eager, and willing
to learn.
We had 12 investigators who were going to come to church yesterday. We did
divisions with ward members to go and pick them up but only one of them
came. (heavy sigh). But I am learning more and more not to get down.
To keep trying to work hard. It s funny because the times that I would
usually be upset, annoyed , frustrated, sad, etc at home , I would be in
my room or eating ice cream or something . But here, I dont get that
time to lay on the couch and sulk. I have to keep working and learning to be positive
despite how I am feeling. I am not saying that I always suceed at being positive, but
really, it is a lesson I am being forced to learn. Forced. Haha. But I am trying to do
better and be happy despite the circumstances.
It has been sweltering hot here. My shirts are always wet and have lines from my
backpack. ¡Que vergüenza! I have never sweat so much in my life.
And everyone keeps telling me that this is nothing . That the heat is inexplicable.
I am really in for it. I wish I could share Paraguay with you. I cant thank you enough for this
experience. I wouldnt trade this for anything.
I know Paraguay seems a world away but people really arent that
different from each other. I am learning that still more and more.
I really love the mmembers of this ward here in Amambay.
They are honestly incredible. They work so hard
and love this gospel so much. It has been such a pleasure to
work with these ward leaders. I am also appreciating more and more
the members back at home there in West
Jordan. PLease tell the ward hi for me. I love the service they render. It really takes
some sacrifice at times, but I know this is the Lords work and they will be blessed. I was
wondering how Grant is. He is such a great example. We really have such a great
ward.
Tell all my friends that I love them!
Today we are going to Mercado 4 and I am so excited.
Grandmas and Grandpas, I hope are doing well. I LOVE your letters. It seriously
means so much and I love to hear about the family. Im sorry I never write. P days are
wild here. I hope no one is mad at me because I never write anyone back. I m sorry.
Well, I gotta run! I still have to write to President Callan (who is great! )
Love you all and have a great week!
-Hermana Rachel Edwards

We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet...

This  week really was a lot better than the last one.  The funny thing
is that I am learning, I am happy,  and I lived through it.  Amazing
how that happens right ? In Matthew 10, the Lord tells the apostles
to shake the dust off their feet  after others don't receive them.
That's exactly what we need to learn to do.  The worst thing that
dust can do is be a little uncomfortable,  irritating, or annoying, but
 its not going to kill me. A little dust never killed anyone...
I think.   Don't quote me on that.   Everything turned out fine. 
Lorenzo got baptized on Wednesday and nothing went according
 to plan.  But he got baptized.  He just wept afterward. 
It was an experience I´ll  never forget.  It was so special. 
I am learning so much and I am being forced to learn to
just go with the flow . To do my  best but to adapt when  changes
come.   Virginia is getting baptized this Saturday and I am so
 happy!  She is so wonderful!  She asked us  our names and so
now she always calls us  Ana  Belen and Raquel.   haha.
We've tried to explain that we´re referred to as Hermana
and Elders, but she  always calls us by name. We are
 working on kindly breaking the  habit.  Conference yesterday
 was incredible! I loved every second of it. The member
were so faithful. It can be really expensive to take a
whole family to the stake center (in Centro) so the church
hired a collectivo ( a bus)  to take them. We took some
less active members with us  and it was a great experience.
 One of the little girls in  our ward ¨Cami¨ is seriously an angel.
 She is 4 years old and has  such incredible love and Spirit.
I thought about her a lot yesterday during the conference
when they mentioned loving like little children, and having
a willingness and  eagerness to learn. I realized how selfish
and self centered I've  been and how much more I need
to love others.  There is  a test at the end of  Preach My
Gospel in  chapter  6 about Christlike attributes that I love!
I take it  every change  but I went through this morning to
 find what I  can do specifically to have more love and charity
for others.  Here is an idea for a FHE  activity = make copies
of the little test and  have each person fill it out.  
I learn so much every time.    Another idea...we
were meeting with our ward mission leader this week
 and talking about PMG.  1st that every leader  should have
a copy and 2nd, he told us that their family has gone through
the FHE manual like a thousnad times and that  families could
 use PMG for FHE lessons. I loved the idea. 
Start with the families.  Can you imagine if everyone lived
and shared the gospel the way preach my gospel says ?! how
 wonderful it would be .    We didn't get to see the Saturday 
sessions of conference but they are going to give us a
Liahona next month when it comes out. I am so excited!
 I loved Elder Hollands testimony of the Book of Mormon. 
My love for that book has grown exponentially  here on my
mission. I'm embarassed that it was right there in front of
 me all this time and I didn't appreciate it. I think it was in
Elder Christoffersons talk about stewardship where he talked
about parents who allow children to  make their own religious
 decisions is denying God...or something like that.  And that
quote he read from Elder Eyring. Wow.  Basically I  just want to
 say thank you mom and dad.  Thank you for encouraging me to go to
activities, church, seminary, sit down and watch conference ,
practice being reverent... All these memories of little life
 lessons that come flooding back. I am so grateful.
You taught  and still teach with love. I can honestly say now
 that I go to those meetings, sit reverently, etc, because
I love God, not because I am obligated to do so.  I hope
 I can be half the parents that you have been to
me. I hope I can remember.  Don't let me forget Ok?
     Mom, I got  my package! I cried.  A lot. Right after
I finished writing my email last week, the Elders called
and brought  my package over. It was the best thing in the
world and I really felt your love so strong. You are  so
 dang thoughtful! It was everything I could have asked
 for and more.  Thanks for being my parents. 
Hey, guess what I just realized?
I have almost been on a mission for 4 months!
Wow, I cant believe it. Have the best week ever.
I love you all so much!
Love , Rae