Playing around at a park

Jerseys that I bought

August 8, 2011

Hola familia!!!1
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW
MILAGROS (miracles)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOWOWOWOWOWOW
Well now to explain.......Bueno! I think that all of the continuation has a lot to do with the fast that we did and I am sure I can say the fast that everyone around did for the obra misional! (missionary work). Right after we started our fast we got a call from an ex-missionary who we have been working with ever since I have been here. He has never been to church. He called us to give him a hand because he hadn't been feeling too good. Well he came to church. Today we went by his house and we set goals with him that he will always be strong and come to church. We had received a reference from him. One of his neighbors just had a baby 9 days ago and is SUPER interested in the church!!! We have a family to work with!!!!! which is my dream!!!!
The older son of the Gonzalez family came to church for the last 20 min which was great because it was the first time in 15 years!!!!
But the best thing!!!! was that there was a young woman that got up to bear her testimony and the spirit filled the room, everyone was silent.... She bore a STRONG testimony and touched the hearts of everyone there. It was an answer to our prayers!!
I got your package that you sent for my birthday! Thanks!!
I am sending pictures of:

- the shirts/Jerseys that I bought, each shirt does not have a name behind it but you can talk within yourselves about which one will be for who, or **IMPORTANT** if anyone wants another color!
- today at a park playing ultimate Frisbee and playing around (Elder Halliday is in the background)
- pictures after our super - long travel
As of last week I lost 2 Kilos! haha about 4.5 Lbs haha line for line, precept for precept.
Thanks for everything! Love from afar,

Elder Lucas Rodgers

Three Nametags!

August 1, 2011

Hey Family!

Sounds like it was a good farewell. I have sent a letter to Spencer. I’m not sure if he has mentioned anything. It was a good 3-4 weeks ago. Well good news - we have been teaching and working a FULL SCHEDULE!!!!!!!!! and it really is noticed when I wake up in the morning and my companion tells me that I sat up in my sleep and started teaching the lessons in Spanish, of course hahahaha. Multiple nights I have been sleep walking, teaching, praying, exercising hahahaha. I understand when they tell you that the work should be part of you, ha ha.
We have Ramon Ortega with an invitation to be baptized this Saturday, and Rafaela Rivas also. We will see. They still are missing some things but I know that by Saturday they will be ready. The topic came up with Ramos that the family is eternal. He has a hard time believing that.... what a chupa (cheap) doubt! The second Sunday when he was at church in priesthood meeting that came out as a doubt. There was a returned missionary there that explained a little bit to him. After church Edgar (ex-missionary) was commenting something to us about the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was a topic that I had heard about but the actual topic and information was unfamiliar. Yesterday we had a FHE with his family to help the inactive brothers; although they did not come.... We talked about missionary work with the family then Edgar got out a paper called "Los Escritos del Mar Muerto" (The Writings of the Dead Sea) and wow, it was interesting. I’m not sure if you guys have heard of that.
Today I will buy the shirts and we’ll see how they turn out. Hopefully there are no "I don’t like that color" haha. Well all is well here in Paraguay. I am sending a picture of another plaque (nametag) that I got this week. Look carefully there are 3 different languages there, Portuguese, Spanish, Guarani.
You guys will have to send me pictures because I am 100% sure that Dad will be hiking! Enjoy it. We are hiking down here on rock roads. The only thing missing are mountains but while we were going to Yby Yau there was some great scenery. If you google it you may be able to find pictures of the landscape. Try Amambay, Paraguay scenery or "cerros" (hills), something like that,
We had a great meeting with President. I am excited to use what we learned to help and find more and more people!
With love from a cold, rainy, foggy, humid Pedro Juan Caballero!
Love Elder Lucas Rodgers

July 25, 2011

Hey Family!
We broke a record here!! We had 60 in church. There has been more than that in the past, a long time ago, but it is the most that I have ever seen! Jorge Gonzalez went to Church (that inactive family that we found) with his other *girl-who-is-a-friend* haha.
Rafaela went to church. Her son Cristian was baptized with Elder Thomson, and we have been working with the mom. But problem, she doesn’t read! So we are going to be passing by during the week to help her. At the end of this week we will be going to a missionary capacitation (ability) meeting in Yby Yau, with Concepcion. So I will be seeing some old companions I left in Concepción and a book of Mormón on C.D. So I have asked Elder Salvatierra to bring it for me. We will give that to her (Rafaela) so that she can listen to the Book of Mormón while she is working, cooking, and resting. Her son (18 years old) and his girlfriend just had a baby so we are going to be trying to share with them too.
I will take out money next week to make the orders for the ao´poi (aow-po-ee) The dollar is low. I was thinking of taking out Gs 1,000 mil. I think that would cover 6 nice, well made shirts. Let me know what you think. The dollar is 1=3.80 so it would be about $263, more or less.
We are planning an activity, a big activity called Paraguay Pyhareve (Night of Paraguay). We are going to be inviting EVERYONE!!!! There will be Paraguayan food, dance, music, culture! It will be great. We are planning for the 11th of August.

Send a letter to Josh Hunter and tell him that he has to WRITE ME!!!!! and if he doesn’t....... bad things may occur....just saying....
If it would be possible to attend Brandon Wight´s farewell that would be great. He attended mine, and I am, well-a little far to attend his, to send my congratulations. Tell him to write me, that I have been waiting... haha(And if you see Jordan Crane there gently remind him that I have not gotten his letter...)
I wrote a letter to Brother Godfrey, and sent it with an Elder who was to go to Asuncion for changes, to get sent, but as I had other things to send and they never got to the office I am worried that the letter was never sent properly. So keep me updated if he has received my letter.

Bad news, I think that I may have lost my camera.......although all the pictures are backed up on my drive. It’s not a big loss but I have to do a big search. Our house is only 3 rooms so it shouldn’t be toooo hard to lose something in there.
But thanks for everything, family. I love you all SOOOO MUCH!
Send my love to all!
Élder Lucas Rodgers
LA OBRA DE DIOS ES MARAVILLOSA! ME ENCANTA!!! (The work is wonderful. I love it.)

Luke and Elder Alvarez from Honduras