April 12, 2010

Hola Familia!
Como esta!
Wow what a week. It was a great week. Well let me answer some of your questions that you gave me. The photo of the baptism with Trifi: the lady in the pink is sister Sotelo. She is the lady that washes our clothes for us and is a neighbor to Trifi. The lady in the black is her daughter. The lady in the black and white shirt is the aunt of sister Sotelo, not a member, and the mother of Victor, another of our converts. And I believe the lady on the right is the wife of the 1st counselor in the bishopric. She also is a neighbor to Sotelos and Trifi. The other lady I am not sure of her name but she is a member of the church.
I have gotten the ipod cord and the package, and I haven’t heard from Élder Bishop yet, and we went as a zone to T.G.I. Fridays in Asuncion last month.
We eat a lot of beef, chicken, rice, bread, empanadas, something called tortillas, like pancake cooked in oil. Everyone cooks food in oil here.
But I do have a little bit of bad news. The letters that I tried to send to Grandma and Grandpa Spackman and Rodgers came back. So now I have to look for envelopes. I tried sending them in the pouch system but apparently there is no pouch to Canada. So I am working on that right now. It’s hard because I don’t have much extra time at all to write letters. But I have a list of people that I have to respond back too. I got a letter from Sarah D. That was great to hear from her. (Thanks Sarah!!) And from the Young family (In Spanish), and Courtney Orr, and Anne and Megan (Thanks guys!!). I am going to be writing you back. Si o Si!
Something really cool happened yesterday. I gave my testimony yesterday and another elder did too. He has one more change in the mission than I do (6 weeks) and after at an investigator’s house they were surprised at how good my Spanish was because I have less time than him, and they could understand me. It really boosted my confidence. There are some awesome people here.
I talked to the bank last Friday and they are sending me a new Pin for my visa so I am waiting on that.
Oh and also. Shoes. Those Arnold Palmer shoes are dying here. One day I used them and at night the dirt had come in and got my foot all dirty. So I don’t know really what to do. They are great shoes but they are not meant for missionaries in Paraguay. My Ecco is just fine and my Merrell is great. But the other two are dying. Brother Sotelo is a shoe smith so I gave the shoes to him and we were going to look for new soles that we could put on them. But he is in a wheelchair so we have to do the searching and like a said we don’t have much time, and where you would get them is far away.
Well thanks for all your support. I am having a wonderful time here - learning a lot, and enjoying walking with a purpose. The past 6 weeks I read the Book of Mormon. My testimony has been strengthened. There is such a great peace you feel and peace and comfort. IT’S TRUE!
Con Amor,
Élder Rodgers