Run Elder, He has a Mechete!

¡Hola Familia!

I hope you guys all had an awesome week! Mine was full with so many crazy things! I'm going to try and just say some of the highlights though!

Last Monday! Was probably my funnest P-day that I have ever had so far! So we were having a zone activity planned by our zone leaders and their super rad. We woke up and left in the morning all the way to Asuncion from Itaugua where I am. We all had heard rumors of a KFC that just opened there and they say it's the only one in all of Paraguay! So of course our whole p-day is going to be searching for this KFC because there is like ZERO American food down here! After 2+ hours of sketchy collectivo rides and being packed into the collectivo like sardines we finally found it!!! You guys are all probably laughing but you seriously don't know the joy that overcame me when I turned the corner to see an actual place that sells American food!  This KFC attracted like all the missionarys in a 3+ hour radius from it -haha. I met so many new missionarys it was so much fun. There were probably at least 20 missionarys that came from all over just to eat some KFC. Anyway, after that all of our zone got to go bowling and I had so much fun! The Elders and Hermanas here are so funny. It makes it even more fun because my Spanish is terrible -haha it was great. After we were walking out you will never guess what we found next..... An actual frozen yogurt place! it was seriously just like Menchies or Krave like REAL ice cream! so yeah, this day was pretty much heaven -haha. All in all, having KFC and ice cream was totally worth the standing for 4+ hours straight on a super sketch collectivo, so squished I couldn't move in the scorching heat -haha. Man I love paraguay.

Tuesday was a really really really long day, but it was super good too! First off it was pouring rain and not just for some of the day or for a couple hours.  It rained for the whole entire day! like full out pouring! It was soo much fun! The roads turn into legit rivers here when it rains this much. I was loving it so much! The rain for sure made up for the fact that we were walking all day long and not one person let us in or came out when we clapped their house. That's the other downside about Paraguay, if it rains even a tiny bit everyone stays inside and just sleeps all day. All work is automatically cancelled and people just sit at home the whole time.  I think Paraguay people are legit scared of the rain because throughout the whole town there was no one outside! But you know its all good, we were completely soaked head to toe and I had the funnest time! This was probably the closest I am going to get to swimming for the next 2 years -haha. 

Just a little story, everyone here always thinks I am from Germany. like everybody! -haha I have people ask me about it all the time. But when we were walking back at night from a members house these two drunk guys saw me and started doing the Hitler sign with their hands and running around saying over and over "Im a Nazi, Im a Nazi" -haha  

Saturday, In the morning we went to the familia Mendez house to do some service. They are probably my favorite family in this rama. But anyway, we got to cut down some trees in their yard with the other Elders and pretty much just messed around with the machettes the whole time -haha yeah, I'm lucky I still have all my fingers.  After we went to this family's house that have 2 out of the whole family who are progressing really well, but when we went to their house almost no one was there. The grandpa was outside and we started talking to him when their uncle I think, came out totally wasted and sat by us and started going off about his life.  He was saying he is straight up going to hell and their is no hope for him because he has done way to many bad things in his life.  We started teaching him a little about the atonement and how he could have so much more happiness in his life.  What he said next, even though he was drunk, just made me feel so bad for this guy. he said while raising his 2 liter full of beer up "this is my only happiness, there is no hope for me" This was just really hard for me to see, If only this man knew how much God loves him and how much he wants the best for him.  If only he knew his divine potential and how capable he really is.  If only he knew the true happiness that comes from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is why I am here. I am going to work as hard as I possibly can, giving it all that I can give, no matter how many countless miles I have to walk every day or trials I have to go through so that these people in Paraguay can know these things for themselves.

Sunday, was a pretty chill day at church just like any other sunday. I am getting to know the members a lot better and they are all so great! Today in church one guy named Fernando who is a special Ed guy sat next to me in sacrament and he was so funny to talk to. For some reason he loves hanging around me and we're already starting to become really good friends, I love it. But anyway, after church we had a ton of studying to do because I'm still new and have to have so much more time to study. After all of our studys we only had time to fit in one lesson but this lesson was so crazy! It was with these 2 sisters and their grandpa. They were all progressing really well and we even had babtism dates set. But when we went there and sat down, the sisters told us they talked it over and they want to stay with the Catholic church because they have been in it their whole lives.  We knew there was some questions or need that they had because it just didn't make sense.  After talking for a bit we found out their real doubt was about babtism and that we don't baptize babies. We were explaining this really well and they were learning so much. It was hard becauswe their same uncle was still super drunk and kept inturrupting our lesson and going off about the wierdest things.  Their uncles friend that was just as drunk as he was, was walking around the yard too but he wasn't bugging us that bad.  We got done explaining about babtism and by this time the spirit was definitly with us, we were teaching with such power it was so cool. I'm still not used to how cool it is to teach with the spirit and authority it's the coolest thing I have ever experienced. But by this time a car pulled up to the house and out came 3 more completely drunk guys -haha. They were just chilling in the front yard on the street talking and trying to walk without falling over and other drunk people stuff. Our conversation just led right into how we knew that the book of mormon is true. My comp. gave a killer story and I just got done telling how I came to know it was true and mid-way through one of the most powerful testimony I have ever givin, out comes the uncles friend that is completely drunk shouting stuff at the drunk people on the road with a machette in hand ready to straight up kill somebody. Oh man, it got real so fast. Next thing we know the dude with the machette goes straight for one dude in the front yard but the grandpa is such a baller and straight up tackles him and tries to wrestle the machette away. By this time all the drunk people are screaming and fighting and it's complete chaos with us right in the middle. Talk about straight adrenaline rush. We dodged a couple dudes and ran as fast as we could past the guy with the machete -haha just a tad bit sketchyyyyy. Man paraguay is always an adventure. Im lovin it! 

I love and miss all of you!

I hope you all have an awesome week!

Elder Midsize(Nyberg)

The Menus Activos

Hola Familia!

This week has been super good! I totally forgot to tell you about my branch last time and about fast Sunday so I’m gonna talk about that then just some highlights from my week!

Last Sunday was my first fast Sunday in Paraguay! In the mission we fast for a whole 24 hours and it’s pretty killer but the president told us we can drink water because its so hot we might legit die if we don’t -haha. But my favorite part of the day was the testimony meeting by far.  I am already starting to love these members of the rama (branch) here. It’s not super big like in Utah so it feels so much more like a super close-knit family.  After having a hard day contacting in our area I love to come to a rama activity because I feel so at home.  Their testimonies totally took me by surprise. Like most of these people have only been members for a year or maybe a little longer but their testimonies are rock solid! Ah, they are all such an example to me.  One of the coolest parts was this rad old dude that’s way funny went up and spoke pure Guaraní in his testimony and I didn’t understand one bit but I could feel the spirit so strong during it! I thought it was so cool just because even though I couldn’t understand what he was saying I knew what he was saying was true. But I love my rama so much! All the little kids and the youth love to mess with me because I can’t speak Spanish -haha we have so much fun.

Wednesday, in the morning I had my first zone conference with the AP´s and the president, It was super cool and I definitely learned a lot! I also got a better perspective on how much I still need to learn.  I have been really hard on myself lately because I want to be the best that I can be and I want to know everything that I need to know to teach as soon as possible. I’ve learned no matter how hard I study every day and night it’s going to take a really long time to get all this stuff down. It’s a really long process and not something I can just pick up fast. Even though this kinda sucks because it means I’m going to be playing charades with my Spanish every time I talk for a little while -haha. But I know that I will get there and I am gonna get all this stuff down perfect with time.

Thursday, I had an experience today that really kind of shocked me. In the mission I have always seen the scripture D&C 84:85 where it says that what we need to say to these people while we preach the gospel will be given to us in the very moment we need it. This night we were teaching these 2 teenagers and 1 adult who are all menos activos (Less Active members) for a couple years and when we teach, my comp. Always decides what to teach but he got completely stumped and looked at me for help. Without realizing I just started talking about faith. I seriously had no idea what I was going to say, I was just as stumped as my comp was, but as I opened my mouth, thoughts and ideas were just coming to me and some how they actually understood me in my terrible Spanish. It just came to me naturally and this lesson was probably thee most powerful lesson I have ever taught. I know these things were inspired because that was for sure not the Nate Nyberg I know teaching. That was someone else. Having the spirit and authority with us this strong while we teach is straight up one of the coolest things I have ever experienced.

Friday- today was my first division with the zone leader who is right next to my area named Elder Smith. He is way rad. We had a lot of lessons with people throughout the day and were super busy so that’s good! I was almost shocked at the fact that not one person ignored us or yelled at us today -haha I guess I’m just used to my area in Itauguá. Today most of our lessons were taught in these houses that are legit made out of wood and metal scraps put together. It amazes me that people actually live like this. I had a super cool moment today in the middle of a lesson. We were teaching this family that are all menos activos and it was pouring rain so all 8 of us are huddled in their little tiny make-shift house made out of trash. I had just barley got done saying something and Elder Smith started going off teaching more and I just kind of zoned out for a bit and thought how cool that exact moment in time was.  Here I am some 18 year old kid in a crazy foreign country, where they don’t speak my language, chillin on this makeshift chair inside a hut made out of trash that these people call a house, in the pouring rain with 8 people huddled inside, looking down at the chickens running around my feet and the dirt they have as a floor, teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just thinking of this moment made me so happy. I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else in the world right now except here. I am loving life so much! These members down here in Paraguay are some of the happiest people you could ever meet and they have legit nothing! Except the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If these people can be this happy everyday while the only thing they have in this life is the gospel, what more do we need?

I love and miss all of you!

I hope you all have the best week!

Love,

Elder Midsize (Nyberg)

                                                              Everyday life in Paraguay 

Itaugua

¡Hola Familia!
 
This week was kind of a hard one but it was a really good one too! I’m just gonna run through some highlights and stuff.
 
Tuesday was way rad. First we woke up and had all of our normal studies and stuff. Then we got to take a collectivo (a super sketchy bus that are always hand painted with super cool vibrant colors and stuff that I ride all the time that's always jam packed and you have to run and jump on to get on -haha) to another town 15 minutes away called Mboi´y for a district meeting and our whole zone was there.  I got to meet a ton of new missionaries and it was so cool to talk to all of them that have been serving here for a while and listen to their stories. I love getting to meet new missionaries because we're all so similar and become best of friends super fast! Anyway, my zone is way cool and we had a big meeting all in Spanish (I barley understood any of it) but it's all good!  After that we got to go hit up a Cyber (a sketchy internet cafe place- like the one that I'm chillin in right now writing this on a barley functioning keyboard.) Then this night we had English class at the church where we teach the members or anyone that wants to learn English. I thought it was going to be kind of like a chore that we have to teach a whole class but it was probably the most fun I've had since I've been here! It's so funny to teach these kids all these English words especially because I don't even know half the words I'm supposed to teach in Spanish so I can explain it to them. It ended up being like a hour long game of charades and by the end my stomach was in serious pain from laughing so much! but, yeah. Life is good and I'm lovin it here!

kkkkk so here is a pretty funny story that happened this week... So we just finished our last lesson of the night and we were both on our way back to the house when we passed these two girls chillin on the corner of the street with very very very low standards -haha. that's the best way I can describe them. Once they see us they come up to us and my comp saves us and tells them that we don't speak Spanish so they wouldn't bug us, but they just start asking our names being all flirty. We just kept walking past saying we have to go in English and while we were walking away they kept shouting something at me that I didn't understand, so I just gave them a half smile and a quick thumbs up and just kept walking. When we got back to the house I learned that the words they said meant I looked really handsome and stuff like that.  I also learned that the thumbs up in Paraguay when you do it to a guy means what’s up but when you do it to a girl it straight up implies that you want to hook up with them -hahahaha. yeah, so. I accidentally told 2 girls workin the corner that. Great..... Another normal day in Paraguay -haha

Thursday was a good day but we didn't have lots of success.  We didn't have any appointments set up for this day because we're both brand new so we went out contacting for the whole entire day. A day like this means it's going to be a day filled with a lot of walking. The whole time we were out we talked to almost everyone we saw and a total of 2 people let us in just to talk with them. Our area is definitely a difficult one. One of them to let us in was a man in his 30´s named Bruno. Right when he said his name was Bruno I almost laughed because I thought how much Kiwi would love to hear that I'm about to teach a dude named Bruno (like Bruno Mars) - hahah. Man it definitely made me miss all my bros. But I know their doing the work of the lord just in all their different places. I can't wait for the moment when we all chill together again. But until then! I'm loving this work! I know going all day and only having 2 people listen can be hard but it is so worth it when you find these people that value our message. Im so grateful for the people God places here for us to teach.

Friday....Happy Halloween!! Even though no one celebrates it here it was fun to say Happy Halloween to all the North Americans in my district. This day was a really hard day we contacted all day long and we had a total of 2 people let us in again. This area is really difficult.  So far I've been screamed at, cussed at, completely ignored -ha. This can really be hard work. I'm glad I don't understand most of the words because the look on my comps face after this stuff happens just breaks my heart.  I don't know how we have been pictured as the bad ones in these situations. Like every time we are always so nice and loving but no matter how much we try they still get so angry. It is really starting to crush me to see how angry some of these people are. I can start to see why this area got closed down before. The branch president told us that the last baptism to come from our area was over 6 months ago. But also, the 2 people that let us in were some of the nicest people I have ever met. We met this one old lady that only spoke Guarini and could only understand a tiny Spanish and that was soo crazy! It straight up sounded like she was just making up random sounds and saying them -haha my comp understood a lot of it though! The other was this small family that had a special needs son who was 8.  During our visit I could just see how much the mom loves her son, she kept smiling at him and playing with him throughout our visit and it really made me happy to see. I just wish these people could understand and feel how much God loves them or know how much this Gospel can change their lives for the better. I am praying for these people constantly and just hope their hearts can be softened enough to hear our message.

I am loving life and you all should be too!

I hope you all have a great week!

I love and miss you all.

Elder Midsize (Nyberg)