No, it's still hot... but we`re waiting for the cold...

Dear Family,

That's great that your out playing ball, we played football (soccer) with the members this week... I got annialated... 

This week we met a in-active family, and we showed up at exactly the right time.  Niko (he´s about 11 and really really good at football!) (he´s been all over the place in South America and Europe to play)  Well, he was playing and he collapsed, and came down with epilepsy.  He´s been in bed for the past 20 days.  We showed up and talked with the family.  We then went in and gave him a blessing, and started fasting for him.  We came back two days later and found out that he had got well enough to have permission to start playing again.  His parents were overjoyed to be able to drink tereré and watch him again.  It's amazing to watch how the Lord works in our lives.

Elder McShinsky

P.s About the photos, please print them off and send them to me, its easier that way (And you can also send me a bunch of other photos as well...)

P.s.s. Sorry about the short letter this week, we`re really busy and don`t have a lot af time this week :(

Tired tired tired... Fun

Dear Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Ya, I`m in the city of Asuncion.  The area is Republicano.  It's a really interesting area.  It basically has 3 parts.  The really chuchy part (with really, really nice houses), the normal chuchy part (that's where we live), and the Bajo (Bajo means down, below or underish, and thats exactly what this area is.  It's literally 2 to 3 stories below the rest of our area, and it's really poor.)  But we`re here and we`re getting to work. Oh and there`s a also really big hill right next to our area with a big statue of Jesus on it :)

Sounds like you had a good nationals, i almost forgot that it was this week, because i`m having too much fun getting lost... But sounds like you all had a good time and danced well.

Keep up the good work.

Elder McShinsky

P.S. There is a Elder in Paraguay that would really like to start cooking things. So if you could send him a cook book that would be really cool...!

We`re having a lot of fun getting lost here in Paraguay!

Dear Family,

A lot has happened since my last letter.  I don`t know exactly where to start... so I`ll start at the beginning.  First I`ll start in Caàguazu (because yes I did get transferred - How did you know...).  We met a really great family of 9 people.  We talked to the dad and he wants to get baptized with all his family and be a strong member of the church.  He`s a little gordito and has the same glasses as Dad (Exactly the same).  For a second he reminded me of Dad.  Then we met another interesting fellow who lived in Miami, and "professed" to speak English, but when he spoke all I heard was a bunch of: blah blah blah Swear word Blah blah MAN blah blah spectacular blah blah blah.  So we talked with him in Spanish instead... (I think he had the most practice with the swear words, because they were the clearest...)

Tuesday we went to the temple in Asuncion.  Is incredible to go to the temple!  The temple in Asuncion is like a fortress against sin.  It stands out from everything in Asuncion! (Mostly because its clean...)  We went in in the morning.  President Callen has ben working with the temple presidency to make a schedule for the missionaries for when they enter the temple.  The schedule is great cuz we had an opportunity to do everything in the temple, including bautizmos, (I baptized Elder Beramendi about 20 times...) and there were a few of us who worked in the font a little longer and so we didn`t have a chance to do the sealings.  After everything we went in with president Callen and Hermana Callen And the Temple Presidency And did sealings (All them and 5 of us). It was amazing. I really like the temple here.

Then when we were boarding the bus to come home the police officer at the door of the bus saw a bunch of missionaries and decided to ask us all for our papers...  I was fine because I keep my papers in my bible so that I`ll always have them with me, because I always have my scriptures with me.  But Elder Beramendi had left his at our house in Caaguazu...  So we had a slight problem.  We decided to work with what we had...  His temple recommend... I don`t know how exactly but somehow, and with a blessing of God, he passed elder Beramendi right through without a problem. We were grateful for that!

We were all cool after that until Monday when the assistants called, then Hermana Callan told Elder Beramendi that he was going to be training, and that he should probably clean the house.  Well to say the least that was a surprise.  With that I packed everything up and left for Republicano Asuncion.

I met my new companion at the terminal, Elder Clark.  He’s from Kansas and really big.  He makes me look really small...  After talking for a little bit, and with the secretaries we found out that we would be whitewashing Republicano. (White washing is when they pull out both of the previous elders and put in 2 completely new ones.) That was another surprise to say the least.

So we got in a taxi gave the driver a paper the said how to get to our house, because we had no idea whatsoever how to get there are where in the world it is.  (We`re still not exactly sure how to get home all the time...) We showed up and met Hermana Manchuca at the door. She lives underneath us and invited us over for lunch in about the first 20 words she spoke. (For an elder this is a very good start to any relationship...)  Then after that we went out with her and her son.  They spent the whole day with us and showed us around the area a little bit.  They are Fantastic! (We ate with them again today.

We also went out and worked with a member who had returned from his mission in Argentina the day before.  He still hadn’t been released, so he still could use his plack and everything!  That was great, there are some really great members here.  Here we also have a really nice chapel.

So basically, we’re having a lot of fun getting lost here in Paraguay.

Elder James McShinsky

I went to the worlds third largest Black Market, and bought Peanut Butter.

Dear Family,

This week we had Zone Conference in Ciudad Del Este (a real nice place), and tomorrow morning we`re going to go to the temple in Asuncion.  Basically I`m going the entire length of my mission in less then a week.  That's a long time on a bus... :( but we`re all really excited to go to the temple and feel the spirit there!

Oh and our Presidente de Rama announced Sunday that here in Paraguay for a time they are going to be selling garments for 1 mil guaranis (That's about 20 cents).  We`re all really excited about that as well!  So we`ll all pile into a bus at about 2 or 3 in the morning to travel to Asuncion.

Oh and Elder Beramendi is still alive... After all the funky medicine from the members we finally had a chance to talk with Hermana Callen.  At first I don´t think she believed us when we told her about Elder Beramedi`s foot, but she did believe us after we showed it to her :) ... She promptly recommended different medications, and gave us the permission to buy them.  They are working like magic on his foot.  Blessings follow when you follow the counsel of the mission presidents wife....

That's great that you had the missionary's over.  A word of advice for people who have the members over:  ¡FEED THEM!  Sounds like you did that just fine, Oh and don´t feel bad for expecting to much from the missionary's.  They are called of God to teach the nations of the earth about His plan and what we need to do to return to His presence.  They should be able to create an enjoyable experience in your house and to help you draw closer to our Heavenly Father. (and yes part of that experience is them having manners...) But when they visit, expect to draw nearer to God, cuz that's their job.

P.S. Did they taste test the award winning honey?  If so, there is a very polite (and hungry) missionary in Paraguay who would like to sample some award winning honey as well... :)

I cant think of a whole lot else to write about this week, but we have had people in our church the entirety of this week, fixing and painting everything.  They will finish next week and we will have a very nice looking church.

What happened is that for some reason the administrator of Paraguay or some other person didn't want to deal with our little church and sent in false reports for years saying that our little church was in perfect condition.  So when we wrote a letter to our president about how there are a ton of things in our church that need to be fixed, he almost didn´t believe us because a report had been sent in just 2 months before saying that our chapel is in perfect condition.

Well he looked into the situation and now they are fixing our church really nice so that the people here will have a nice place to worship and meet together.  We are really excited about it as well, because with basically a new chapel we`re hoping more and more people will want to come to church.  Come and feel the spirit there.

Elder McShinsky