Storm & investigators

hola familia!

this week has been a fun one, the weather is still super hot and humid but it's been fun. Me and my comp are going to travel to Luqué today so this might be a little one but I wanted to share a couple cool things that happened this week. 

So this week we had a night where a big storm passed by with tons of wind and destroyed a lot of the houses down here. Mostly everything when it comes to building and houses and stuff here are super sketchy with the things they use to build them so the storm really took its toll. We were left without light and water for a bit too but now we're all good. It really is pretty cool down here in south america, every day is another adventure for sure. i love it. 

So this week has been full of more finding new people and really trying to share the gospel with EVERYONE. Of course along with that we had our fair share of rejections and people yelling at us to leave. i don't know why but it's usually always the super catholic old grandmas that reject us the hardest. But with all the hard rejections we had one it really made everything worth it when we found a super sweet investigador! The moms name is Loura and her little daughters name is Micka who is 9. It was super cool actually how we found them, we were passing by one day on their street and we contacted the house next door to them just like any other normal contact and a lady came out that turned out to be a jehovah's witness and she rejected us pretty hard, told us never to come back but little Micka was playing with the lady's kids in her yard and just after the lady rejected us and went back inside we were about to leave when Micka was like ¨Wait! are you guys the mormons?¨ we told her we were haha and she said that she seen people like us in her grandma's church before. She also told us we could visit her someday and that they lived next door, so I gave her a little picture of Jesus and we left to go try her house next door, but no one was home. So a couple days later we passed by and we met Micka and her mom Loura and they turned out to be super prepared! After the first lesson we came back and Loura not only read the whole entire pamphlet but she prayed about it too! (okay in paraguay that usually never ever ever happens haha) once she told me about her prayer and how she felt that God had given her an answer, it was like perfect! just goes to show there are always people that God prepares for us to find and really puts them in our path. But it's always up to us to open our mouths to find them, can you imagine what would have happened if we never opened our mouths to talk to the Jehovah's witness lady that rejected us super hard? We would have never have met little Micka and her and her mom would probably still be waiting today to find the happiness that we find in the restored gospel. So the challenge of the last email still stands, get out this week and share the gospel with someone thats not a member, it might be scary or alkward but just go for it. Try it. I promise you that God prepares people and puts them in our paths to find, but its all up to us to open our mouths. 

Elder Nyberg

Studys when the storm came and knocked out the electricity

Share the gospel

hola fammmm!

This week has been fun, i'm pretty sure i'm going to be starting off my next few emails from here on out with the same words.... Its getting HOT down here haha. The summer is definitely coming in and man.... it's been crazy. I keep having flashbacks to my training a year ago when it was in the middle of summer and our house didn't have AC or anything. This week I just keep wondering how i survived that haha but the good part is that i survived so atleast i know i'm not gonna die or anything this summer;) 

This week we have been really focused in contacting and just trying to talk to literally everyone in between lessons. It's been really fun tho, its really cool to see the results of just opening your mouth to share the gospel with someone. There is always that little awkward feeling or maybe a little unsure or scared even to just open your mouth and start a conversation with someone about the gospel but if we don't do it, we will never know if that was the exact person that was just waiting and prepared to hear the gospel. We found a couple of super cool people this week but the majority of the people we talked with rejected us. Lots of times the people can be pretty mean in rejecting us, definitely got a few doors slammed in my face this week haha but it makes it that much more worth it when you find someone that wants to listen to our message. And in the end of the day it's not the rejections that we remember but the people that we could help and the people that really change their lives around thanks to the gospel. 

This friday i got to do 3 Baptism interviews, back to back to back. I'm pretty sure that these experiences are one of my absolute favorites in the mission. I wish i could have the time to just stay here all day writing about every one of these 3 people and each of their stories from before the gospel and seeing them now. It really never gets old, everyone needs the gospel in their lives, and sometimes they don't even know they need it until they find it but the change that comes from following our savior Jesus Christ is so rad to see. Seeing the change that comes from the gospel really is just more motivation to get out and share it with more and more people. And to think i get to do that day after day out here in the mission is really the best. I can't imagine being anywhere else in the world right now but here in sketchy Paraguay sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the wonderful people that live here. And i want to challenge you all to get out and try it, try sharing the gospel with someone who isn't a member this week. It might feel a little awkward or you might feel a little scared but you never know if God has prepared their heart to hear it if you don't just give it a try. So go for it.

Elder Nyberg

Thanksgiving week

hola familia!

This week has been a pretty fun one, the heat is really coming back that's for sure. Summer is just starting full out while all you guys are probably getting cold weather and seeing snow haha. That really is so weird to just think of how snow is going to feel after 2 years of the heat down here, probably unreal. This week was a pretty long one, I kinda got a reminder that missionary work isn't always easy too. But I think i'm gonna share a couple experiences that happened in my week!

Okay so this week we have been talking with EVERYBODY! The mission right now is really focusing in every moment that we have to share the gospel with everyone that we can in all types of situations. We have a goal in the mission of at least, like minimum talking to 10 different people every single day about the gospel. Riding in collectivos, clapping houses, people in the streets and just pretty much everywhere! This week i kinda got a little reminder about the mission not being the easiest, it's not always fun getting rejected time after time. And this week it seemed to be rejection after rejection after rejection. Getting yelled at and cussed at is never fun but you just gotta love these people anyway. And we can never give up because it could be that last house or that last person passing by us on the street at night walking back to the house after a hard day's work that God has prepared for us to find and are ready to accept the Gospel. I was reading a part of a talk last night and there was a part that i really liked, it says ¨We are willing to pay the price of repeated rejection for the hope of a single conversion. Whatever the world throws at us, we throw back a smile, because we know we have the Gospel of Jesus Christ.¨ I just really liked that quote, i saw it during the week for sure especially in my comp one time. We clapped a house and a lady came out and started yelling at us about how much she hates our church because we apparently ¨worship José Smith as our God¨ and when she finally got done yelling right in the face of my companion and telling us to leave, he looked her right in the eyes with a massive smile and told her that he hopes she has a great day. 

So since I only have hermanas in my district I haven't been able to do divisions for a long time, but now since my zone leader is training i guess president mcmullin thought it would be a good idea for me to do divisions with the new missionary in his training every week. So this week was the first time and it was way fun! The new missionary is from Utah and it was fun to get to work with someone who lives back in the states. I get to help him a bit with his spanish and believe it or not he helped me tons with my english! haha. While we were on the division we decided to contact a house just like any other and it was super weird because a girl came out and turns out she has been studying english for the past 5 years and speaks really good! So we got talking and I changed to english, we introduced ourselves and i started explaining a little bit about what we do as missionaries and i was going good all in english but once i got into trying to share a little bit about the restoration in english i was totally scrambling to remember words! i actually had to look at the new missionary to help me out in english in the contact! hahaha it was great cuz he came in and contacted super great in english but it was such a bummer cuz when it came back to me i just had to go back to spanish cuz i legit couldn't do it in english... but the lady was super nice and switched back to spanish when she would talk to me haha. But it turned out to be a super cool contact and were going back this next week for a lesson cita. 

Anyways hope you guys have a great thanksgiving and be sure to count all the blessing we have in this world. We have so many blessing that sometime we can take for granted, so this week I want you guys to really think of all the things that you are truly grateful for. but I love you guys tons! and hope you have the best week!

Elder Nyberg

Summer is here...

Hola familia kuerá!

Okay sorry in advance this is gonna be a short one if I can get this to send- jaja. there are only 2 computers here in the only little ciber by us that we can use and the internet is not working, it's probably because these computers are legit dinosaurs, soooo old but anyways this week has been a fun one! Here the summer is starting.... this week I’ve been having flashbacks to my training a year ago at this time dying of heat and whitewashing- jajaja man that was the adventure. But it has been pretty hot this week for sure, remembering of those times in my first area when we would leave the house and within minutes were soaked in sweat and already looking for someplace to drink some water.

So this week we found two cool new investigators named noelia and edgar. Noelia is a mom of 6 and lives in a super humble house. she just barely found some work so she is super happy that she can provide for her kids now. We've only had 1 lesson with her so far but she is a super nice lady and we'll see how things go with her. Edgar is a guy who called us over on the street. he was chillin with a bunch of guys on the street, with half of them smoking and full of tattoos jaja so when he first called us over I thought in my head ¨well this is gonna be a fun one¨. But we got talking with them and they now they love us-jaja we shared about the restoration with them but edgar was the only one who really wanted to learn. but equal, at least we left a good rep of missionaries with them.  he has like 19 years and is a super rad guy. He goes to the catholic church like every sunday but wants to know more about the church and said that his dad received the missionaries like 5 years ago. At first glance he seems a little sketchy but man he has tons of desire to choose the right and to learn about Christ. im hoping for the best, but we´ll see how its goes as we continue to teach them this week. 

This week we also had zone conference, it was legit as always. My mission pres is the best. Such a rad guy. 

But hope everything is good back in the states! love you guys! 

Elder Nyberg

3rd change and still in San Lorenzo with Elder Cisternas

hola familia!

Sooo... it looks like i get to stay in San lorenzo for at least another change! And I'll be staying with my same comp, Elder Cisternas jaja its kinda funny cuz I've almost never heard of companions staying together for more than 2 changes but looks like weve got a 3rd! Im super happy I got to stay because for real I'm loving it so much here in San Lorenzo. And I know that God needs me to be here at this time. 

This week not a ton of new stuff happened but we did have one cool expierence I wanted to share. But man I can't believe it's actually Monday again already, no joke I feel like yesterday I was in this same ciber writing all you guys jaja.  

Okay so this week (because we still have 2 areas to work in, the area is HUGE) we got lost in my own area jajaja. But as my comp says ¨we didn't get lost, we were just getting to know the area a little better¨.  So we were walking around a whole new part of the area that we have never explored before. We contacted a bit and had a lesson with a guy named Alfredo who is a ¨natural juju medicine doctor¨ jaja it was a cool lesson and I can see him progressing. But when we were just walking around out there we passed by a house with a guy sitting outside on a chair in front of his house. When we were walking by, I was contacting a lady who was walking with us in the street when this dude sitting in front of his house legit started freaking out, and started yelling ELDERS ELDERS sooo loud! I'm pretty sure it scared the poor lady I was contacting away cuz she didn't want to know more about the church jaja. So this guy tells us to come over to him and then he runs inside his house while were walking over.... so we just like stood outside for a couple minutes, i clapped the house to see if he would come out then we see him coming out with his mom like still freaking out and soooo exited. The guy is like 40 years old but just running and jumping and yelling as if he was a little kid jaja it was a pretty funny moment to see. Turns out his mom was just visiting that day from Argentina and they both are members but the guy(Armando) has been inactive for more than 20 years. His mom came to visit for a day and she is the Relief society Pres in her branch in Argentina. And for Armando, he grew up in the church, was like the perfect member until he turned 19 and started to take one bad decision after another. But he was always withthe missionaries  when he was growing up and litteraly LOVES the missionaries. I guess we were the first missionaries he has seen since he moved from argentina when he was a teenager. But man this guy has been through it all...... it was soooooo sad to just listen and hear his story. Drugs, drinking, losing both marriges to drug addictions, has kidsbut doesn't  know where they are in the world and so much more. but man I just wanted to give this dude a hug and tell him it's gonna be okay cuz of all the things he has gone through...  He is such a cool guy though, he loves joking around and is so funny. hes just the kind of person that you can't help but smile when you see him. But he came to church yesterday for the first time in 20 years! He still has a couple problems that we gotta work with but little by little this guy is going to come back to the church for sure. Its definitly his time to be back. 

But hope you guys are doing good! Love you guys tons! 

Elder Nyberg

Collectivos & Elder Gutierrez

Haupeí familia! (guarani this time;)

this week has been a pretty crazy one! lots of work and some cool expierences too. Hope you guys all had a great time on Halloween! and made sure to eat some extra candy for me! i have changes tomorrow so we´ll see what happens!!

Okay I gotta share a bit about my day today, cuz its been insane jaja... soooo they told us all of the district leaders and the zone leaders of the whole mission had to go to the office today because a seventy was going to be there to talk to us. So I woke up at 3am this morning with just enough time to hop in the shower and put my suit on then were out of the house and waiting on the Routa(highway) for a collectivo to pass by to take us into the centro of san lorenzo. So we wait, and we wait and we wait. It seemed super wierd that there wasn't any collectivos passing so we just had to walk a couple miles to the center of the city to wait there. Once we got there, we soon found out why there were no collectivos... there was a TON of people all going on strike against the collectivos for thier prices. It was insane!! Sooooo many people with banners, drums, shouting and screaming. So we had a little problem.. jaja we had to find a way to get me and like 5 other missionarys to this meeting which was all the way in Asuncion, on top of dealing with all these crazy people in the streets. So we found this old dude that had a pretty sketchy old Mercedes and paid him to take us to first track down the other missionaries and then head off to Asuncion. Weaving inside and out of crazy traffic and people. It was for sure a crazy process. But we got there and like right on time! It was an adventure that im not going to forget. But we then had about a 5 hour meeting with the seventy about the mission and they gave us a whole new system to study and get better as missionarys. I loved it. I learned so much. You guys have no clue how much i love my mission pres, like for real the sickest dude ever. I've learned so much from him today and from the seventy. I really wish I could express just the littlest amount of what I learned today but I don't know how I can put it into words.. the things you learn in the mission you can't learn anywhere else thats for sure.

Okay other expierence. You guys remember my little peruvian Elder Gutierrez? yeah so today I learned he just had a heart attack..... It was a crazy story but thanks to his comp now, God and fast acting he is okay. but man you guys have no idea how much this little peruvian means to me. You know that saying where you don't really know how much you love somthing until its gone? Today I couldn't find myself focusing on anything but my little peruvian comp. He taught me more in 3 months than I could have learned in a life time. I know God puts us with our companions for a reason, every single one. But i called him after the meeting was over today and got to talk to him for a little. You guys just have no clue how great this guy is. i just love him so much. I ask him how he is doing and the first thing he tells me is ¨nahh its not that important, i want to know how YOU are doing¨ He then goes on to ask about everything that I'm doing to make sure I'm okay and everything is good. He is the perfect example of a selfless, beyond humble person. After that I could finally get him to talk about how he was, and he says he is hurting but says he can still work. I ask him if he has to go home to peru and he just laughs at me and goes in spanish ¨man I still got a year left out here serving the Lord, there's no way I'm going home shorter than what the Lord wants of me¨ So yeah, he's staying in the mission, after a heart attack. i just can't put into words how much this little alkward peruvian has changed my life -haha. I really don't know what more to write. Other than Guti is my fav. 

Okay last expierence for the week. like 3 days ago the sister of Lisandro came home from chile. His sister was the only member of the church in their family until Lisandro got baptised. Yesterday she got up in testimony meeting and gave the coolest testimony. She told us that she has been praying to her father in heaven for years that her family could come to know of the truth of the gospel. And she said when she was sitting down and saw Lisandro bless the sacrament as a worthy priesthood holder now it brought tears to her eyes. After she came up and thanked us as missionarys for the work that we have done to change her brother's life. In the mission there is really nothing better than seeing the fruits that come from our hard work. Its feels so great, its more than just being happy its like pure joy, kinda hard to explain. but its just the best feeling ever to get to be part of helping these people come unto Christ. 

Anyways I hope you guys are all doing good. I love you guys TONS! I know without doubt that this church is true. I love this gospel so much and the change that it brings when we LIVE it.  I know Jesus is our savior and that he lives right now. I know that he is leading and guiding this church through Thomas S. Monson today. I dont have a single doubt in my mind of these things. 

Elder Nyberg

Elder Gutierrez

Elder Nyberg & Lisandro

Primary Program in San Lorenzo.

Hola familia!

This week has been pretty good, we've had a couple investagators fall but we've had a couple little miracles happen too in finding more people to teach. All in all it was a solid week. It's crazy you guys are getting close to Halloween! kinda lame they dont have halloween here but make sure to eat some extra candy this year for me;) 

Yesterday on Sunday we had the primary program here in my little branch in San Lorenzo. It was so fun to see haha. All the little kids from the branch get up to say their little part, and then there is always that one or two that get too nervous to be up there and just run back down to their mom and dad -hahaha I love it. But something that really made me think was when the branch pres got up to speak after the program was over, he talked about how every one of the little kids were going to be the leaders in this future generation. Talking about how the world is going to just get worse and worse, and that these little kids are going to be the future in boldly choosing the right, time after time, not giving importance to what consequences may come. Just looking at all of them and how inoccent they were, thinking about how much potentail each one has. Just thinking of every little one as a little Captain Moroni, Bold in following Christ in every decision we make. Then he talked about the responsibility that every parent and every leader in the church has to teach these little kids to become the people that God wants them to become. I really thought about that for a bit. I thought about every teacher that ive ever had since i was in the primary, up until young mens, then to leave to serve a mission. Thinking about every parent, leader, teacher or good example im my life who up until now has helped make me who i am today. I really wanted to thank every one of you, you know who you are, who has taught me since I was young to follow Christ and make right choices. Have taught me this gospel and shown me the happiness that we can find in living it. If i didnt have these people since i was young in my life, there would be no way I could be the instrument in Gods hands that I am today to help others to come to know these things too. 

A cool little expierence that happened yesterday too. I contacted a lady like more than 2 months ago and gave her a Book of Mormon, it wasn´t a super cool contact or anything she just kinda took it like whatever haha. Since then I never heard anything more from her until yesterday. I got a random phone call and it was that same lady, she told me she had been reading the book i gave her a ton and she is now in the San Lorenzo area and wants to meet with us. It never gets old seeing how God continues to soften peoples hearts and guides these people to the truth. I love it. Super pumped to see what happens this week when we can meet up to teach her. 

But hope you guys have an awesome week this week! love you guys so much!!

Elder Nyberg

Divisions with Elder Florez & Lisandro

Hola familia!

this week has been a super fun one that's for sure, this week we have been focusing a lot more on contacting in every opportunity that we have. The mission right now has been teaching lots about desire to share the gospel and talking with everyone! But letsss see what happened this week haha hope I can remember all of it!

This week I had a super cool experience on Friday on a division with Elder Florez. I've known elder florez since I was out in Concepcion and it was really cool to get to work together for a day. First off it was just one of those days that goes by super super fast, we worked so hard it was the best. We found a familia called the familia mesa that all accpeted to be babtized, and they're super rad and I can't wait to see how they progress. On the division we went by Lisandros house and we had a super funny lesson with him haha. we were teaching lesson 3 about the gospel of Jesus Christ and like midway through we ask him about his life before his babtism and then we talked about how he feels right now and all the changes that has happened. Then we asked him if he wants others to have the same change he has had and feel the same happiness that he is feeling right now and he goes, "of course!"so we just look at him and were like... Get changed man were going to find some people right now and your coming with!! hahaha you should have seen his face, he was like for real?! I get to go out with you guys?!?! he was soooo pumped to get out and get to be with the missionarys for the day. We had a couple sweet lessons and contacts with him and he was lovin it. His testimony was soo SOLID, and he helped us put a baptism date with an investagador we have for the 28th of November. Lisandro is such a stud, he'd gonna be the best missionary. 

okay I don't have lots of time left but another cool moment was this sunday when Lisandro and Junior were able to bless and pass the sacrament for the first time! in the branch here the missionaries usually have to do it a lot of the times because there aren't that many active priesthood holders but now we have a couple of studs to fill in for us. oh and i had to give another talk in sacrament this sunday haha its kinda normal now that they just tell us an hour before the sacrament meeting and we have to have a talk all ready to go. but it was good, i talked on how the gospel helps us to get through our problems and trials in life.

Anyway hope life is good back home! love you guys sooo much! 

Elder Nyberg

divisions with Elder Florez & Lisandro 

Travel to Itaugua to visit Betoo

hey familia!

just want you guys to know that I'm still alive.... haha 

I kinda gave up almost all of my ciber time to write today so I could go travel to Itaugua and visit Betoo(the dude I baptized) and his familia. I had the best time today, it was unreal. But legit you guys have no idea how much I have grown to love this family, they are one in a million. His mom calls me su hijo(her son) haha I love it. I'll drop a pic of us below. I hope you guys are doing great! 

I love and miss you guys tons!

Elder Nyberg

Junior's baptism & General conference,

Hola familia!

okay this week has been another crazy one in paraguay thats for sure, today I have like zero time to type cuz I have a lot of work I still have to get done by tomorrow soooooo im gonna send a bunch of pictures and hope that makes up for it:) hahaha 

But two quick cool things that happened this week was the Baptism of Junior and i got to see Elder Evans!

Hope you all liked conference too! cuz i got to see all of it this time! but it was in english and was super weird to listen to all the people give talks in all english for a day haha. 

But Love you guys TONS! hope your all doing great!!!

Elder Nyberg

Junior's baptism

Watching conference in English

cousin elder Jordon Evens (serving in asuncion)

Changes and Lisandros baptism

Hola familia!

This week was soo rad... first off we had changes! annnnndddddddddd looks like im staying! In cocuere, San Lorenzo and with my same comp Elder Cisternas from Argentina. I was sooo happy to get to stay because I was able to be here for Lisandros baptism! man that dude was so prepared for baptism it was crazy. I'll be sure to send all the pictures below for sure.

So at changes we traveled to anahi to get changes and my friend Elder Jensen our Zone leader was messin with me soo bad haha cuz they already knew all the changes. He was telling me all about how the chaco is and was like soo sorry bro you can't see your baptisms this change haha it was good when they finally told us the changes and he is the new assistent haha. But during the district meeting on tuesday to know changes i had a pretty cool moment in the mish just thinking about how far ive come and all the things ive learned so far. In that meeting the zone leaders asked me to teach a 15 min class to the whole zone of like 30 missionarys and it turned out to be a super dope class on the importance of the BOM and the Holy ghost in conversion. I was just thinking if you were to tell me i had to teach a class for 15 min in front of 30 people and in another language at the beginning of my mish i probably would have told you nooo way haha. but now it was super tranquilo, i actually really enjoy it now, getting to teach and finding ways to make it fun. 

Okay today is a holiday in paraguay ( I have no idea what holiday) haha but this is the only ciber we found that was open and they just told us their going to close in a bit so im gonna hurry and sent off as many picures as i can!

Love you all!

Elder Nyberg

Lisandros baptism

Stake Conference

Hola familia!

 

This week was pretty crazy just cuz time has been passing by so fast! It's kinda cool having 2 areas to work in and being over a whole rama because there is always stuff to do and we are constantly busy. But I'm really loving it here tons, the members are the best. Oh and changes are tomorrow so I'm a little sketched out, cuz the summer months are coming up and this change there are lots of places in the chaco that are opening up and most of them don't have running water or electricity -haha so we´ll see where the Lord wants me to be. 

 

letss seee.... a couple cool things that happened this week..

okay so we finally got to sit down and have our first real lesson with Marta Beatriz. She is a lady with like 40 years. She is a little different teaching because she loves the Virgin Mary so you gotta be careful about what we say about her or their moms in general cuz she takes it super serious. But for real she has lots of potential, she has been to church various times and already has a friend that's a member. I can already tell that she is changing poco a poco and going to be a fun one to teach. Hoping that things turn out for the best. 

 

Okay yesterday was by far one of the coolest days in my whole mission so far. Yesterday we had Stake conference for the stake of Capiata which I'm in. The stakes here are a lot more spread out here in paraguay and the coolest part is that Itaugua is part of the stake Capiata. welllll what does that mean? It means I got to see all of my miembros in Itaugua!!!! ahhh it was soo cool, I was loving every bit of it. I got to see jesus(beetoo), the dude I baptized there and his mom and brother and ahh it was so cool to see them growing stronger and stronger in the gospel. I got to see so many familias and everyone of them that I saw their first words were ¨Holy crap you can speak spanish really good now?!?!¨ hahaha it was so funny tosee their faces when I would first start to speak, cuz they still remembered me as I was in my training barley being able to speak a word of spanish. So that was super cool to see all of them and the other cool part of the conference was that both Junior and Lisandro came! But Lisandro in particular had a sweet expierence there. In the conference President Mcmullin(mission pres) and his wife both talked about mission work and preparing to serve a full time mission. And in the middle of one of their talks Lisandro leans over to me and asks out of nowhere ¨How long does it take to prepare to serve a mission because I think I could have everything ready to go by this next September¨ Man...... like bro your not even babtised yet and he's already dropping everything to get ready and serve a mish! I mean how rad is that?! Yesterday was just one of the best days though. haha sometimes I just wanna leave and go visit all my miembros in Concepcion too ha I for sure have to visit them some day too. 

 

But I'm glad to hear everything is going good at home and I hope the best for this week too! you guys are always in my prayers, love ya tons!

 

Elder Nyberg

Left to right Junior (Inv.), Carlonio (Member), Me

view from my house

 Welcome to my crib...

selfie after some lady cut my hair

Hump Day

Hola familia!

So this week was such a rad one here in Cocuere. We have some super sick investagators coming up and man some massive help from heaven too. I could legit stay here and write for hours of all the cool stuff that happened this week but I think I'm just gonna stick to writing about one investagador that found us. 

So I don't know if you guys remember in my last email I mentioned the name lisandro, he's a 20 year old dude that went to church last sunday. His older sister is a member but travels all over the world so is barley home. At church last Sunday  when I saw him, I thought he was a member already -haha he just looked like he fit right in. Not until when I was sitting next to my other investagator Junior, Mickayala (the branch pres`s wife) came up to us and told us to go sit by him to help him with the hymns and stuff and I was like why? he's already a member isn't he? but nope! haha so we went and after we scheduled a cita to go visit him. So this week I went over there for the first time with Elder carpio my Zone leader in divisions.  Annnnddd Danngg. So we got in there and got started talking about his life and why he ended up going to church that last sunday. He told us to hold on a sec. and went in his room to go get something. He came walking out with a triple BOM/PGP/D&C in his hands and he goes ¨i saw this book sitting in my sisters room, and decided to read a little bit, since then I've just been reading more and more. I don't know what it is but when I read this book or even have it in my hands, I feel something...something different.¨ Then he goes on to say that he always felt like something was missing in his life and that he found that something in this book. haha in this moment me and Elder carpio just looked at eachother like ¨Whattt just happened?!?!¨ Turns out that he has been reading for a whole week every night and is already in 2nd nefi 8!!! After he told us he was reading every night he said he was also praying to God after every time he read to know if he should keep going and to see if it is true and then he looks at us and says ¨Wait thats okay right? that I'm praying like this? like its not bad or anything?¨ Yeahh..... mine and Elder Carpios jaws were just dropped at this point like Holy golden investagator! But my favorite part was after we got done talking about the Book of Mormon he told us not to tell his sister that he stole her book hahahah and then he asked us how much a book like that cost so he could buy one. (and trust me this dude was prepared to drop some serious cash on this book) Man you should have seen his face when i told him it was free and when i gave him his own copy that was in my backpack his face just lit up so much. So when everything was said and done we put a babtism fecha for the 26th of september and he accepted. the only bad thing to this whole sick expierence is that changes are like a week before his babtism and it could be that i leave the area but im hoping i get to stay. But more than anything just came out with a stronger testimony that there are people SOO prepared for us to teach. They are out there. We just have to keep searching and working hard and God puts these people in our path to find. I know this church is true without a doubt in my mind, and that this is his work. Man the mish is soo rad i just love it. 

Oh and somebody hit their HUMP DAYY this week... yeah this kid. Can you guys believe ive been out a whole year? cuz i cant haha:P

Luffffff you guys tons! hope everything is goin good at home! keep livin it up and dont forget to keep smiling!:)

Elder Nyberg

Searching for junior...

Hola familia!

This week was seriously one of the best. We've had soooooo many little miracles its been crazy. Sooo many random people that just seem to be coming out of no where into our path. Lets see how much I remember about the week;P 

Okay cool stuff, a couple days ago we had a teenager named Junior contact US in the street saying if we should pass by his house cuz he wanted to listen to us (yeah when does that ever happen?). So the next day we went looking for his house with the really bad paraguayan directions he gave us. We were searching for about an hour asking around and nothing. So we sat down a sec, super bummed that we were going to loose this sick referencia. We decided to just leave it and go to our next lesson, my comp got up to walk back to the main road where we came from but I told him I wanted to take this other sketchy road just cuz I wanted to explore a bit -haha I really have no clue why. But what do you know we walk 3 min. down this field/road and we see Junior in a house in the distance waving at us -haha. cool huh? We had a good lesson and the kid is looking sweet!

Another one, we got a referencia from a member to go to visit a guy named Ricardo Paniagua. But when we got talking it was crazy! this guy knows his stuff when it comes to the bible and has traveled all over the world and just knows a ton! He knows so much about so many different religions telling us that he has been looking for the truth all his life. He already had a Book of Mormon  from who knows who but we pulled it out and answered a little bit from a question that he had of why the good people in this life have to suffer so much. he then kept going off on all the differences of all the different religions and how everyone is preaching ¨the truth¨ but its all different. The coolest part of the lesson was when I asked him if he had ever asked God which church was true, and if he had ever prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true. And the look he gave me was like ¨whoaa, I've never tried that before¨ haha you would have thought that someone that traveled the world and knows so much about other religions would have thought to ask God about it but nope! So he told me ¨give me a couple weeks so I can read the book and ask and then we´ll know¨ So I left him Moroni 10 4-5 and we´ll see how it goes!

Okay I'm running out of time but these are just a few more of the people who came out of nowhere that look super great. Marta beatriz and lisandro. they both have cool storys of how we found them, or how they found us is better said haha but i dont have more time!:/ its all good tho

Love you guys and hope everything is going great!

Elder Nyberg

80 year old Hermanna

Hola familia!

This week was a tranquilo one, well I mean it was a pretty crazy one with lots of work but its always tranquilo here in paraguay. the weather here is getting pretty hot again, it hit 108 today and the summer is slowly coming in.(even though its always summer here haha). But lets see if I can remember some stuff that went on this week.....

Tuesday-  ah man, Tuesday was a super long day that's for sure. in the morning we traveled to Capiata to have our zone confernce that started at noon. It was pretty cool, kinda like a refresher on a lot of stuff but I liked it. We had interviews too with President Mcmullin and it was super sick. Pres is one of the raddest dudes you could meet, that guy works soooo hard everyday out here and he seems to know just about every answer to life you could ever think of. I respect him a lot si o si and look up to him. But the confrence was from noon to 6 at night (sitting in those hard chairs that everyone loves;) jaja. Then we caught a collectivo home and got here just in time for a meeting about mission work with the sumo sacerdote assigned to our rama. Then after that meeting we had consejo de rama from 8 to 9 with the pres of the branch and all the leaders. so yeah! that was all my day! 

Saturday- well I think it was saturday.. oh well- haha. I had a couple funny things happen but overall it was a pretty chill day. Okay so shout out to the hermana Jara for being the sickest 80 year old member in the whole world. Last week she asked us to bring her a complete package of folletos of the resoration of the gospel so she could go around her neighborhood and share the gospel with EVRRRRYONE. So we got phone call from here in the morning and tells us to come over cuz she has a familia for us to teach haha. If your a missionary thats like the same as getting a massive present on Christmas or something. So we went over and I thought this famila was going to come over to the Hermanna Jara´s house but nope! she goes ¨you guys ready?¨ and our 80 year old stud of a member walked like 7 blocks with us to share the gospel.  When we got there it turned out everyone in the familia was working exept their grandma and so the grandma came out to talk with us. The Hermanna Jara might be a little old but she sure has LOTS of energy when it comes to the gospel and in the ¨lesson¨ with the other grandma she just kept going and going and me and my comp. barley had time to say anything! -haha. it was super funny though the hermana Jara and the other grandma were just going off and off in Guarani and me and my comp were just chillin trying to follow the best we could but we weren't understanding tons. the other grandma was super catholic and was going off about worshiping her statue of mary and not wanting anything to do with us( just like anyother normal catholic here).  the Hermana Jara wasn't having any of it and came in to dropped her fatttt cane... she was like ¨ I'm really so sorry for you and feel super sad because when we are standing before the judgement seat of God and you go to ¨h-e double hockey sticks;)¨ for rejecting his gospel your going to really wish you would have listened.¨ haha mannn it was so crazy, I love the hermana jara even though we had to have a little talk with her after about how members should be in the missionary lessons -haha it was great. Were going to be going back there when the normal family is home this week and we´ll see how it goes haha.

Anyway life is super great here, I'm lovin every second. I hope you guys are all doing good! 

Love ya tons!

Elder Nyberg

Little Miracles

Hola familia!

This week has been a super good one, we had lots of little miracles sent down from heaven to help us out this week for sure. Me and my comp Elder Cisternas are working really great. The wierd part is we don't have a ton of things in common but we get along super well. The work here in Kokuere is coming along great! Everyday more here is really the best. 

So a couple cool things that happened this week,,,, ahhh yeah so like a month ago I contacted a lady named Veronica that lives in a super humble house in a pretty ghetto part of the city. She spoke little spanish and LOTS of guarani. We taught her a little bit of the restoracion of the gospel and it was a special lesson trying our best to teach in guarani. She was really nice but didn't show a lot of interest or anything like that. Since then we've tried several times to follow up and no one has been home and the cell phone number she gave us wouldn't work. So this Saturday getting ready for Sunday I decided to give her a call just to invite her to church on Sunday. I called 4 times in the morning and the phone wouldn't ring or anything just like it had been before. I don't know why -haha but that night I was thinking about her and tryed one more time to call just for the heak of it. I was super suprised when I heard the ringing and a voice on the other end. I said we were the missionaries and we were looking to talk to Veronica. The first thing she yelled in the phone with her mixed guarani and spanish was ¨When are you guys coming to look for me to take me to church?!?!¨ haha. I said we could pass by the next morning and we would all go to church together. When we got there to our suprise we found veronica all ready with her best pair of pants and T-shirt on without any holes in them and her Libro de Mormon in her hand. We went. And she loved it. 

Another was Lionia and her familia. Lionia and her kids went to church this Sunday and they are loving it so much. Lionia is so prepared for babtism its crazy! it's her husband that is accepting things a little more slowly. But things are going to work out with them for sure.

I visited a inactive family this week that got babtised like 4 years ago. they are called the familia Garay. first off they haven't been recieving the missionarys for about 6 months now. We got in and It was a crazy first lesson with them for sure. Once I walked in the mom of the family kept looking at me all funny and it was super alkward not gonna lie -haha. then we got talking and she said I was for sure the same as the Elder that babtised them named Elder Davis. She was so conviced that I was him -haha it was crazy, anyway one thing led to another and they were remembering all the good times of her babtism and this Elder Davis that I've never met and you could just tell how close they were to this Elder. Anyways once we left the house, they committed to coming back to the church and even invited us over to eat dinner with them after church the next Sunday.

Fun expierence on Sunday too. haha 5 min. before sacrament meeting starts the branch pres. comes up to me and says ¨hey elder nyberg, I need you to give a talk and fill up the last 15 minutes of the meeting, okay?¨ haha I thought he was just messin with me but nope! I gave a 15 min talk and it was sweet. that promise in D&C that says if we always treasure up the words of the scriptures it will be givin us the words we need to speak in the exact moment we need them is totally true. 

Last cool expierence. I was asked to give 2 blessings of health on sunday too by two different hermanas. The power of the priesthood real. And just another reminder to all you priesthood holders out there. We never know when God needs us to use the priesthood to bless others, so ALWAYS be worthy of it. 

Anways love you all and hope things are going good!

Elder Nyberg

Staying in cocuere W/ Elder Cisternas

Hola familia!

Today were all going to Asuncion as a zone to go bowling! So I have like 30min. haha but its all good. I don't know if you remember when I was in my training we went bowling in asuncion and it was super sick so I talked to my zone leaders and helped them plan it out and looks like we all get to go again! It should be super sweet. haha your probably thinking it's wierd that were all this stoked just to go bowling but from what I know this is the only legit bowling alley in all of Paraguay haha so its a pretty big deal;) 

But for changes!.................. My comp Elder carrillo ended up getting shipped out to luque and I'm staying here in cocuere.  But..... there is a little twist. in the other area Elder rada got shipped out too so I'm going to be with his comp Elder Cisternas and we're going to be in charge of both of the areas! Both the areas are huge and I still don't  know how it's all going to work but it will all work out in the end because it always does! haha, Mann two elders in charge of a whole rama, this should be fun! My district got a little mixed up too, I'm still district leader but now there only hermana missionarys in my district. Its going to be pretty wierd switching from pure elders to pure hermanas, but I'm sure it will be good. I was afraid to get changes because it means that I would have to pack all my bags.... I was stoked to hear I was staying so I didn't have to pack but we ended up changing to the other elders house which meant packing:/ ha but this change looks like it's going to be a good one, Elder cisternas is my first argintine comp but my 4th latin in a row, he is a pretty chill dude and I think things are going to be super rad here this change. 

Sorry i dont have a ton of time but i wanted to share a couple of the people we are working with right now. we just found a sick familia of 4 the moms name is lionia and they look super promising. the husband goes to church EVERY sunday at another church, but thats super super wierd to see here in paraguay that someone is that devoted to church, so we´ll see how that goes. In this rama there are tons of menos activos so ive been working with some different familias trying to get them back in church. some are familia Lopez, Familia Martinez, Familia Gonzalez and the familia Coronel. Things are going good here, lots of work to do and im for sure gonna be really busy this change which is awesome. anyway love you guys tons! and hope this week is a good one!

Elder Nyberg

The Priesthood at work...

Hola familia!

 This week was super rad, working a ton and having fun! This week I did a division with Elder Walters and we had a pretty cool day and a cool expierence I'm gonna share. I can't believe that school is almost starting back home! so crazy. But I have changes tomorrow! so we´ll see if I get shipped out to the chaco again or if I stay! Changes are always fun and I always have those butterflys in my stomach the day before.... but I will finally find out tomorrow so we´ll see! 

Okay so the division with Elder Walters. He is a super rad missionary such a hard worker, he's from idaho tho and just loveeeees it when I bug about their potatos haha;) But we had a legit division, by the end of the day we found two complete new familias to teach! But in the middle of the day we got a random phone call from some menos activo to run over there and give a blessing to her mom that was really sick, she just turned 83 years old. We got there and the whole family was there, but only a couple were miembros. So we taught a bit about the priesthood and authority, and just how a blessing works and stuff like that. We gave the blessing and the spirit was really cool, it was like really nice and peaceful vibe. In the blessing just going by the spirit we blessed her just to be ready to go see her father in heaven again and that she could have a peaceful heart when she leaves this world. The family was all crying and thanked us a ton for coming. Early the next day when i was back in my area, i got a call from Elder Walters saying that she had passed away that night and that the funeral was today. It was kinda sad but it was cool to know that was her time to go back to see her father in heaven. In these kinds of times im really greatful to know that familys can be together forever, because there are sooo many people in this world that dont have that knowledge. 

Sorry i dont have  that much more time but love you guys! y siempre recuerdan que las familias son eternas. les amo mucho!

Elder Nyberg

Fallin in the groove in San Lorenzo

Hola familia!

Hope you guys all had a great week, cuz I sure had a good one. Not a ton of new stuff going on this week, I've just been really busy and fallin in the groove of mission work! 

This Tuesday I had my second successful district meeting as a district leader. It was legit. This time it was alot easier to give the class and fill up the 1 1/2 hours. I'm sure with more time things willl become even easier. We ended up doing a super cool practice I planned out. We had a table with two missionaries on each end with their scriptures, and a squirt gun in the middle.  It was knda like a old western showndown type of deal, the first perosn to find the scripture got to shoot the other one -haha it was rad and everyone loved it. My district is super sick too, were killin it out here. Annnddd... for the rest of the day we ended up doing service! and by that I mean we dug a well that ended up almost being as tall as me! My body got like destroyed -haha I was so dead after but it was way worth it. We did it for a member named Sauddy who lives in a really humble part of the town.

Yesterday was a really great Sunday. Idon't  know why it was so great, I mean the classes were good, the talks were good, it was just an all around awesome Sunday. Today the priesthood class really stuck out to me. It was all based off of a talk givin in the last conf. by Gerold Caussè. It was about things in our lives that are often really close to us, that we can sometimes take them for granted and forget their true worth. He talked about living in Paris for 22 years with his family and they never once went and visited the Effiel tower because they just took it for granted, when there are people that travel across the whole world just to see it. This talk just seemed to fit my life really well. Growing up in the gospel, having a temple of God in walking distance from my house, having the chapel a block away, always having the scriptures around, awesome parents and nothing but good examples all around me. In my life so far I've had it all, I've really been so blessed. I still to this day remember when I came to know that the church was true and the eye-opening feeling I got like ¨Wow, like all this stuff is actually REAL.¨ And to this day I still remember how bad I really felt once I knew it was true just looking back on how many missed opportunities I had lost. Such as taking seminary class serious, actually reading my scriptures, going to an actual temple of God whenever I had a chance, not paying attention to general conference etc. 

Just looking back on life, I guess I've learned a lot more now to appreciate the gifts God has blessed me with.

Anyway I hope you guys are all doing great, Love you all tons!

Saludos a todos!

Elder Nyberg

Birthday Week!

Hola familia!

Okay for real I seriously can't believe it's been another full week since I sat down at a computer to write to you guys again. I've had so much stuff going on lately, its been crazy but time is flying by so fast! This week was a good one though! Can't believe I'm offically 19 years old!

The birthday was a really good one! I had lots of my friends in the mish call and sing me happy birthday -haha, you guys si o si need to hear the birthday song in guarani its like the funniest sounding thing I've ever heard. But overall not much else changed, we had a good day of working. Had some pretty cool lessons and visited a lot of people. In the afternoon we went with the other elders across from my area to go eat Lomitos for dinner in that sick resturante that has the monkey and tucans! I gotta hold Tucan Sam again it was great. It was a little different not to have my family with me to celebrate but the best thing about the church and the members here is they love me and treat me like their family. I got mi mama monzón and hermana Berna that are legit my mission moms as they call them -haha I love it. That's one of the things I love most about the church and the latter day saints, Anywhere you go, walk into one of our churches and they treat you like family. I know the members here care about us and worry about us all the time. In the end the thing that matters most es La Familia.

Sorry I don't have more time, I have to catch a collectivo and head out to Asuncion to the office today, but even though it was short, hope you guys know how much i love all of you! 

Have a great week!

Elder Nyberg

The Pope is in Paraguay..

Hola familia!

This week has past by soo fast! it really seems like it was just yesterday I was sitting down to write you guys. I guess time really does fly by when your having fun;) I dont have lots of time cuz I have a ton more stuff I have to get done today but I'll give you guys a couple of cool things that went on this week in the life of Elder Nyberg -haha.

This Wednesday and Thursday I ended up doing 2 back to back divisions in two different areas really far apart with Elder Harris and Elder Alavarez. The first day I was with my zone leader Elder Alavarez and man we worked so hard it was legit. Committed 3 new people to babtism and in the process of reactivating a menos activo family. More than anything I'm learning so much more here in San lorenzo. The next morning we woke up super early and traveled to the other area to switch and I got to be with Elder Harris. He has like 4 more weeks untill he goes home and finishes his mission, so I took advantage of the day and asked and learned anything and everything I could from him. Again we worked so hard and walked really far -haha. When I finally got home to my house the day after I had two big nasty blood blisters from walking so far and my eyelids kept wanting to fall down on me and sleep haha. But all in all I don't think I can put to words how much I learned in these two little days, it was the best!

On Thursday I got to do another baptism interview for an investagator of Elder harris. Man it's one of the coolest things to be District leader and get to interview these people before baptism. The change that comes from the gospel is unlike anything else. This guy I interviewed was named Ismael Rameriz and one of the most solid guys I've ever seen. Man this guy has completely pulled a 180 degree turn in his life, quit smoking, quit drugs, quit drinking and now he is like a completely new person! He really wants to go on a mission and is so stoked to get out and share the gospel with others. 

Cool story.... so Saturday we didn't have a lunch cita with anyone, so we decided to get up and go to the mcdonalds that's in my area with the other elders in my rama.  We had just gotten our food and were getting to sit down. A couple minutes into eating, the people in the mcdonalds just started randomly getting up and running out of the place at a full sprint! It scared me pretty bad at first cuz my first thought was there is probably someone robbing the store with a gun or something. It was so wierd, I was looking around all expecting to find some guy with a gun or something like that but I couldn't see anything?! We ended up just getting up and walking out anyway cuz we didnt know what was going on -haha. That's right when we see a massive mob of people coming down the street in front of mcdonalds, and who was right in the middle of the road coming down? Yep, the Catholic Pope. hahaha. I mean I almost went up and contacted him to teach him about the restored gospel ya kno? but there was a bit too many people there to get to talk to him;) But for real it was insane! there were people crying, people screaming, all just to see el Papa. I wish I would have had my camera but I didn't have it on me... it was cool tho, now me and the pope are homies cuz he waved to me.

But hope you guys are doing good! Love you tons! 

Elder Nyberg