In the office

 Hola familia!

i know it's been a couple weeks since i could get a good email off but it's just been really busy here in the office in asuncion. There is literally ALWAYS things to do, haha my list never ends. like right now i only have about 45 mins because i have to go contact a reference we got yesterday then go to a lesson we have set up. This past week has been probably one of the hardest but most rewarding weeks of my whole life. ill try to give you guys a quick run down on the life of Elder Nyberg haha. 

So something that happened this week overall was we had transfers for the whole missionaries, it's a super cool process to see president Mcmullin literally lock himself in his office for almost 3 days in prayer and fasting to know in what areas the missionaries are going to serve in next. Biggest perk of working here in Asuncion is getting to work alongside of Pres. That guy is someone who i really look up to and just seems to know the answers to everything! 

So this whole week we were making preparations for transfers and how it was going to work. The area 70 had us change the way of how we do our transfers so we had to think up of a system to ship around 200+ missionaries all across Paraguay. Also we were expecting the new missionaries coming in, and having to take the Missionaries that are going home too. And out of the 200+ missionaries moving around, the new ones and the old ones coming and going, i was in charge of every single thing that had to do with money. All the plane stuff, taxis, buses, luggage fees, medical stuff, visa documents for everyone. So this week was a pretty hard one for me, i don't want to go into all the details but my testimony did grow a lot this week especially about prayer.I probably prayed more this past week than any other. For 2 days in a row i didn't have time to sleep and on the third i got a little more than an hour in and i just remember having to wake up and starting my day off with a prayer, throwing on the first shirt and tie i could find and heading to the office. After this week i really have a gained a testimony of that saying ¨ If life gets too hard to stand, Kneel¨ By Gordon B. Hinckley. I know God listens to our prayers, i know he answers them too. He is always there to help us out in whatever we are going through, especially if life gets a little hard. 

But as for the Rewarding side, This week was Alex´s baptism! It turned out to be soo cool! We ended up asking him to see if he wanted to move his baptism date to Tuesday, and he didn't mind. So we planned everything out to the minute and surprised Alex and the New Missionaries all at the same time! haha. We got it so the baptism was right at the time when the new missionaries came here to the office after the airport and got to help out in singing a hymn at the baptism. Alex loved it and got to meet all the new missionaries that came into the mission, it is so cool to see all the newbies because they just have so much energy to get out and work haha i love it. It really couldn't have been better, I'm telling you all the hard work, sweat, lack of sleep and sore feet from walking all day every day just goes away once you watch someone enter the baptismal font. It really is the best feeling i have ever felt, i just love it. The mission is the best. 

Elder Nyberg

Special changes...Financiero Guy

hey fam,

Okay so first off, Happy New Year!! 

this week has been pretty crazy that's for sure, i had a really busy new years a lot different than what i was used to in the mish, lots of stuff going on haha but it was great. You're probably wondering why i get to write you guys on Saturdays now too. So i'm gonna just run by the stuff that happened in the week!

So on Wednesday the 30th i was on divisions with another Elder in my area in limpio, just like any other of the millions of normal divisions that i've done haha. It was going really great, i mean it was really hot as always but we found some new cool investigators and taught a couple of recent converts. It was going good, just like any other divisions. Then i got a call from President Mcmullin...... So he calls me and tells me i'm going to be having special changes. That i would be called to serve as the Financiero for the WHOLE mission. And that i would need to be ready in the morning so the Assistants could come pick me up and i could get straight to work. So my new area would be in downtown Asuncion and my new companion was going to be Elder Vela from my same group. Yeah it was pretty crazy, i was liking my area in huguito, limpio but i am looking forward for what the Lord has in store for me here in Asuncion too.  I left the area really good for the next elder that comes in to take my place, we had 2 set baptisms one for victor in one more week and the other is in 3 weeks for Richard. But I got to say goodbye to a couple cool members i got to know and had to pack my bags... yeah that took foreverrrrr haha. 

So the 31st, In the morning i had everything packed and ready for the Assistants to be there and we left at 8 so we could get to Asuncion at 10. I said goodbye to my comp Elder Castillo and left for Asuncion. Once i got here they showed me my office and i had a meeting with President Mcmullin. So up until this point i never really knew what the finance dude does in the mission other than pay for our taxis to get to other areas but once i left out of the meeting with the President.... man lets just say i have ALOT of responsibility here. I literately have to be in charge of all the money for the whole entire mission, down to knowing where every last penny(guarani) goes for EVERY single missionary. In this calling there is really no room for error, i get tons of stuff ready for the president to meet with the 70´s and man its crazy. It still amazes me of just how much the Lord trusts some 19 year old to do his work. But i know that when he calls us, he sure does qualify us too. Right now it seems like i have a lot on my plate(well i kinda do haha) but i know that with God's help I’m going to be just fine. But anyway we got to the mission office at 10 in the morning and once i walked in those doors till 9pm at night i guarantee you that i did not even have a full 2 minutes where i wasn’t busy. But once we got home the other elders had bought a bunch of meat and found some sweet BBQ sauce and we all cooked a massive BBQ for new years. It was so much fun, so right now i live in a super nice house in Asuncion with the other 4 missionaries from the office and man i love it. So yeah my pdays are going to be Saturdays from now on because we have to work on Mondays so the mission can keep running. Today we went to the zoo, i took a bunch of pictures but i forgot my camera cable so i'll just have to send them next week or something. But i'm super stoked to be here in a new area and i think this is going to be a really great challenge for me to take on, i'm looking forward to it a lot. 

Love you guys!

Elder Nyberg

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Haupeí familia kuerá!

Happy New Years!

Christmas was so cool to get to see you guys! looks like you all are doing great! Braden, Alli and ash are growing like crazy too, everyone is getting so big. (still not gonna pass me up braden, sorry bro;) There is really not a ton of new stuff going on because we talked like a couple days ago -haha but i think i'm just gonna share a little about mi noche buena aquí or my christmas eve here. 

So christmas eve, we woke up pretty early like at 5am to travel to Luque for a multi-zona zone conference. The zone conference was way rad, i got to see Elder Gutierrez again and lots of other friends that i haven't seen in forever. But in the zone conference we had a great time, it was all really centered in Christ and focusing on the true meaning of Christmas. There was a big rain storm that knocked out all the power to the chapel we were in but we kept going equal. They gave all the missionaries these little signs to fill out about Christ and we got to share our testimonies about them with all the missionaries. My sign said ¨Esta navidad regalaré a Cristo__________________¨ and i chose to put ¨mi voluntad para seguirle siempre¨ It took me a little bit to think about all the things that Christ would want for Christmas, at first i thought about material presents like maybe a new bike or a new guitar or something but i kept thinking what would Christ really want for Christmas when he has everything. I mean he created the world and i'm sure he could have any possession in the world that he wants. But the one thing that he can´t always have is our will. So i chose to give him exactly that, and as my little sign read ¨This Christmas i will give to Christ, My will to follow him forever.¨ He is my Teacher, my Savior and Redeemer, as i continue to give him my will by following in his footsteps he will make me into the person that i want to become. But this really has been a Christmas that i will always remember, there aren't too many times in your life when you get to be in the mission field serving during Christmas time so i´ll for sure be able to remember this one. I hope each and everyone one of you could enjoy this time of the year and had a great time remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

Love you all tons!

Elder Nyberg

Transfer: city of Limpio in Huguito. w/Elder Castillo

hola familia!

This week has been pretty crazy, and such a fun one. So you guys are probably wondering where i'm at right now and i got changed to the city of limpio in a little area named Huguito. I'm still going strong on having straight latins and i just got another. His name is Elder Castillo and he is from Ecuador. But latins are super fun haha so far i've had comps from Peru, Guatemala, Colombia, Argentina and now Ecuador. He is pretty cool tho, just like every other latin he is a massive fan of fútbol. But he's a really great guy and i think we're going to have a lot of success here in Huguito. 

My area here is a lot more spread out and the houses are a lot more humble than my last area in san lorenzo. Probably the funnest part about Huguito is right after it rains. When i was traveling here from san lorenzo with my new comp he asks me ¨hey do you have rain boots?¨ and i told him nahh i didn't need them and i could just get around without them because i made it through 6 months in concepcion without any boots just fine. and he just looked at me and goes ¨just wait till the rain comes elder just wait till the rain comes.¨ And the rain definitely came this week hahaha i left to get out and work in the morning after the rain storm came and i wasn't out 10 minutes until i had to pass through a road with water up past my knees haha. When they say the streets here change to rivers when it rains it is soo true, they look like legit rivers! so yeah... that same day i went during lunch and bought some massive rain boots while i was at it too. And on the way back in the collectivo from buying the boots i looked out the window and saw something that made me laugh, i saw a street full of water and 5 little kids inside a blow up boat paddling their way down the street. 

We got hit pretty hard with a couple storms this week and it's been super fun getting to explore around the area. The crazy part is that it keeps raining but somehow it's still soo hot during the day. I've been here for like 5 or 6 days now and out of that the electricity has gone out 4 of the days so far haha. Gotta love sketchy paraguay. 

But as for investigators go, we have been finding lots of new ones and i'm really stoked to see how they progress. But for now probably the most solid one we have is named victor. He came to church yesterday which was so sweet, he lives in a little wooden box hut and is such a humble dude. he wants to serve a mission so bad already haha i love it. he comes from a crazy background with abusive parents and tons of crazy stories but he is loving the gospel so far and it's changing his life, i can see it little by little. 

but i hope you guys have the best Christmas ever! and i'll be looking forward to talk with you guys on the 25th!  Love you guys!

Elder Nyberg

MASSIVE Holiday in Paraguay

hola familia!

this week has been a really good one! but a really hot one as well... we are for sure in summer down here. It's going to be pretty weird again to have a Christmas during the middle of summer haha. I hope you all can feel the Christmas spirit this year, this time of the year is really one of my favs. Paraguay is a little special in this time of year, it's A LOT different from the normal Christmas that i've always had haha. 

I don't know if you guys still remember last year in december when i was still in my training in Itaugua at this time of the year and i talked a little bit about the 8th of December.... So this week we passed the 8th and here in Paraguay its a MASSIVE holiday. its the day of the virgin of Cacupeé. So in Paraguay the majority of the people are super super super catholic and they worship the Virgin Mary down here. So every 8th of December all the catholics walk from wherever they are to the city Cacupeé to worship the virgin mary. And man it's super crazy, people leave like 2 weeks in advance to walk from Concepcion, and all those cities super far away just to come to Cacupeé. Our investigator Laura used to be Catholic and she had gone several times to do the walk to Cacupeé and i asked her a little about it and she told me that they recite prayers to the virgin mary so she can bless them with miracles and every 8th of december the people that received their miracle walk to Cacupeé to thank the virgin for blessing them. It was a pretty crazy day. And for sure in almost every single house they light off fireworks and have massive shrines of the Virgin to worship her. All of this probably sounds a little bit weird but man if you guys were here, i felt so weirded out and awkward that day walking by tons of houses with tons of people in groups chanting(reciting) prayers all together to a big statue of the virgin mary. The culture here definitely is not the same as the states that's for sure. oh and while we were eating lunch at the house there was one of these Virgin mary worship things going on and i took a couple pictures from our window so you guys can see haha. 

And as for new things going on..... I have transfers tomorrow! so we'll see what happens and where God wants me to serve here in Paraguay. i have 6 months here in San lorenzo and 4 1/2 months with the same comp so i feel like a change is coming but we'll see what happens! Anyway i hope you guys are doing great and getting ready for Christmas which is coming really soon! I gave another talk this sunday about the spirit of Christmas and the real meaning of it, that it's really a time to serve others and be grateful for the many blessings that our loving father in heaven has blessed us with and remembering the birth of the savior. So make this Christmas a good one and get out and serve someone who needs it. Love you guys tons!

Elder Nyberg

Catholic holiday. 

cheezzzzzz :) in front of the catholic church in my area...... for real its like as big as the temple haha

poor shoes..... they had a good life...... good thing i have more:p