May 14, 2016

Hola familia!

First off, It was super cool to get to see all of you guys on Sunday. And Roachy i hope you had the BEST mother's day! I don't know how you are able to put up with all of us, especially all living under the same roof haha but somehow you make it possible;) But really thanks for everything you do mom! This week has gone by pretty fast... the time is really flying by. Had some pretty cool things go down this week and some more awesome people we found to start teaching. I guess i'll get right into it!

This week we had a couple more lessons with the familia Quinde and familia Parodi. (the 2 cool familias that were teaching right now). So since sunday, The familia parodi were the only ones that were able to come to church but they seemed to love it so much. As for the familia Quinde, we were positive they were going to come but when they didn't show up we knew that something was wrong, so that night we decided to pass by their house to just see how they were doing and man i'm so glad we did. We came that night and found the whole familia except fernando(the dad) just super sick. The mom had dengue and was stuck in bed for 5 days. They always say it feels like your bones are breaking when you have dengue so i can just imagine just how painful it is. Then their three little kids all with bad fevers in bed too. We had a lesson one on one with fernando and man it was one of those moments in the mission that i'm never going to forget. This guy is one of the coolest father's i have ever seen. his day starts at 4 in the morning to go do manual labor for the whole day until 9 at night then he gets home to his little house to take care of his family. I could tell he was giving it everything he had to try and support his familia, he told us he didn't even have money to pay for any medicine to help his wife or children and he doesn't think he is going to be able to pay for his rent for his little house this month and how he feels like he is becoming a failure as a father. We had one of the coolest lessons and he asked us if we could give his family a special prayer or something to help. We taught about the Restoration and Priesthood blessings. We ended up giving his wife and kids blessings and i don't even know how to put all of this into words, but for sure one of the coolest experiences that i've ever had on my mission. 

As for the familia Parodi, we went over to their house a couple times this week and they could not just stop talking about how much they loved the church on sunday haha. It was super funny too, just while we were sitting by their house, two different people came up and Alfredo and Silvina were like ¨HEY! these are the guys i have been telling you all about!¨ (pointing at us). Needless to say one of those people was their niece Shirley, she is now an investigator and is reading the book of mormon and praying for her answer. And the other is an older lady named Carmen that lives next door, She has accepted to be Baptized and is also coming to church this Sunday. The Familia Parodi is one of the coolest, that's for sure. Already helping us with more references than lots of members and their not even baptized yet! But everything is coming along good.

The mission simply the best.

Elder Nyberg

May 7, 2016

Hola familia!

This past week has been one full of miracles, It has been really one of the coolest i have had in my mission. So many rad things going on where do i even begin haha. 

So here we go, one night last week we were all just getting ready to leave the office here in Asuncion and go out to start proselyting when we heard the bell go off for the front door. Since the office here is part of the church, We looked out and saw a whole family just chilling there. Two parents and 3 little kids. We opened the door expecting it to be a landlord of one of the missionarys houses or work related but they were just there to ask if they could know more about the church! We invited them to church this past Sunday, and what did you know they showed up! Both the parents and their 3 kids all dressed up in their Sunday best. They are a really interesting family, the dad is from Spain and he said he knew the church a little bit there and had a couple work friends that were members. The mom is from Paraguay and each of their little kids are from different countries because they travel all over. One from Spain, other Ecuador and finally Columbia. They are golden and are for sure going to progress towards baptism. So i thought that this was enough of a miracle after that happening to us and seeing them all in the church this past Sunday.... but no. God definitely works in the weirdest ways because he had way more in store for little Elder Nyberg haha. So sunday we set a cita that we are going to go by their house on Tuesday to teach them. On Tuesday we end up finding their house and just about when im about to clap the house, i recognize the man that is sitting in front of the house. It was a guy named victor that i taught back when i was in huguito. To give you some background if you don't remember, i was only in Huguito for 3 weeks until President called me to work with him in Asuncion. In those 3 weeks we taught Victor and he was golden! He came to church twice and then i got taken out of the area. One week later my comp got taken out of that area and Victor hasn't had the chance to talk to any missionaries since. So what does God do? It turns out that the dad of this new familia(Fernando) and Victor are working together in construction and Fernando told him that we were coming over to teach them that night and once victor heard he asked if he could join them. So we ended up having one of thee coolest lessons i've ever had in my mission with a whole familia and Victor. They all accepted to be baptized and committed to come to church this Sunday. I'm still stunned how crazy it is to see how God can lead someone who is really searching for the gospel, not only to the missionaries but to the same missionary that started teaching him in a whole different city in Paraguay! 

As for another miracle that happened this week, I found out about this one today when i went to go visit Junior and his family from my old area in Cocuere. Junior is doing great, he is still super active and loving the gospel. About 2 weeks ago he just baptized one of his friends that only speaks guarani. Junior had to translate every single one of the missionary lessons so his friend could understand the missionaries. I was so pumped to see this dude, he is already a better missionary than me! hahaha. But the miracle that happened today was i found out that his mom and his 3 brothers are all getting baptized in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, the same mother that threw me out of her house when i first found junior just because she saw that i am Missionary of Jesus Christ. Making us teach the lessons on the side of the street in front of their house. The same lady who banned Junior from stepping foot in the church for more than a month because she didn't want anything to do with us. She has been through drugs, alcohol and crazy trials in her life. It hit me like a brick wall today when i walked in their makeshift hut and i hear the church hymns playing in their hut with her just singing right along. Man i can't even express how great it felt today. If there is one thing i know, it is that the church is true, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives. Im so grateful that God has given me the opportunity to get to know Junior and his family. And now they are one of the happiest families i have seen here in Paraguay. 

Well I'm running out of time but i hope you guys are all doing great and i’ll get to see you guys tomorrow for mother's day! Love you guys!

Elder Nyberg

Junior and his family