Email Feb. 20, 2012*

Dear Mom,

Well we had the baptism of Isaías this week! I am so happy! As you can see in the pictures, 2 Paraguayans got wet. That is what I am talking about. We were finally able to get our mission leader involved in the teaching towards the end and Isaías wanted him to baptize him. That is what I was hoping and working for and we got it to happen. They are pretty good friends. Isaías is a young kid, but he doesn't act like it. So anyway... The week didn't come without its fair share of difficulties though...

Wednesday morning we were going over the baptismal interview questions with Isaías so he knew what to expect and an unexpected doubt came... He told us that he wasn't sure if he could be baptized. At first I was sort of in shock, but after talking to him for a few minutes I knew that he was very serious. The Spirit was so strong. After a few minutes of talking, I felt prompted to ask him about when he got his answer about Joseph Smith. I asked him if he believed that God would answer another prayer just like that one. He said yes. We committed him to pray. We promised him that he would be ready to answer the questions in the interview the following day if he did his part. The next day the interview went great.

I love missionary work.

The part I don't love about missionary work. There is never any water in Paraguay when you need it.... Filling up a baptismal font requires water.... We had to drag a hose from the street to fill up the font, and the pressure was so low that I had to suck on the hose to make a siphon to get the water to climb the window... Hahahahaha I love La Paloma, Paraguay. After hours and hours, the font was filled.

Friday I got a little bold with our 85 year old investigator. She keeps telling us that she believes that what we say is true, but I love a part in Preach My Gospel that says, without prayer, no one can know that the message of the Restoration is true. Or something like that. Anyway. She told us about a dream she had a long time ago where Christ told said, if you want to know, pray "Padre Nuestro". Which is the Lord's Prayer. In Spanish there are 2 verbs to pray, orar and rezar. When people recite prayers, generally you say the verb rezar. Anyway. Divurcia, weird name I know.. wouldn't pray how we have been commanded to pray and she finally told us about her dream. So being a little bold and a little scared I might give her a heart attack, (KO always talks about being bold and I love it) I told her, Divurcia, You will never know that this is true unless you pray how we have taught you. As representatives of Jesus Christ, I know that he wants you to pray in this way and not in the other. So she prayed. It was cool. She said she couldn't afford a taxi this week and that she was leaving on Saturday for the weekend to go get some money from her son, so she didn't come to church, but I am hoping for next week. She is great. Hahaha. I still love, "I fell and broke my bum."

Anyway. I love you all. Things are going pretty well for me here in Paloma. Thank goodness for gmail and the automatic save. You are receiving this email later than normal because the power went out in the middle of this paragraph. This week we will be heading into Asunción for zone conference. First time seeing Asunción for a while. It will be kinda weird to be in the city again. We will be taking the all nighter bus on Wednesday night.

Dont know if you already sent my package for my birthday with my bag in it, but I always love me some oreo pudding. Taco seasoning and stuff to make ranch dressing would be cool. Dont know what else. Just snacks. I am good on my meds. I will be needing another multivitamin here in 3 months or so, so maybe throw that in.

Ok. Love you Mom! I love you family and friends as well... but not as much as my mom... Sorry. Deal with it. Have a good week!

Love, Elder Naegle

p.s. still no letter from you mom.

Email Feb. 13, 2012

Hello Mom,

How are you? Your son is doing great. He is a little tired. Just got back from Saltos where we played some soccer and ate some Burger King. I love Burger King. I liked it before... But it is really good. So anyway I am a bit sun burned because I forgot sunscreen and I am super tired, but that is ok. No I haven't gotten your letter with the mp3 in it. I got the Christmas letter from the stake presidency this last week. Post marked in the states the 17 of December. Not sure when you sent your letter. Haha so I got to read a nice Christmas letter a few weeks late. Also got to read a letter from my boy Mikey T in Taiwan!! Pretty cool to get that one. He is a good kid. I will be writing him back soon.

So I am sending some pictures this week. That would be me in a hammock.... Best purchase ever..... There isn't a place in La Paloma that sells them, but there finally was a guy going around on a motorcycle selling them so Gardner and I picked 2 up. FANTASTIC! I designed a system so that we can take them down and put them up in 5 seconds flat, so we can enjoy some good time at nights when we come home and the days when we don't have lunch appointments.

But... As great as that is.... Not the best news of the week.... So anyway. This week we really focused on Isaías so that we could help him gain that solid testimony. We were asking him about his testimony, and he told us that he believed the Book of Mormon to be true, but he had never asked about Joseph Smith in a prayer. So we committed him to pray that night to ask God specifically about Joseph Smith, the Church, and the Book of Mormon. When we went back the next day he told us that he still hadn't received an answer, but the way he was describing it kinda made it sound like he was looking for something very specific. We explained how the Spirit works, and how God will answer us in His way and His time. We committed him to ask again in prayer. When we went back... Well... His smile was priceless. So big he couldn't help but smile. I asked him if he had something to say, he said, yeah I have something to say, I prayed, and I got my answer. I don't have anymore doubts. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet.

Oh yeah!!! One of the happiest moments of my mission so far. it was a cool moment for me. Like Isaías, I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ.

So, the baptism of Isaías is lined up for this Friday. I am super happy for him. Also for La Paloma. It has a been a while for La Paloma.

Yesterday, as a cool little side note, I officially invited the oldest person to baptism I ever have. Born in 1926... And she accepted! Not all the old Paraguayas are stubborn!!! Haha she is super cool, but she can't see very well anymore. Her eyes are really starting to go. And she fell a few years ago. And broke her bum... Her words, not mine... Haha but she is a great lady. She may not be able to go to church in this life, but she has the desires to change. She said that she didn't feel right in her old church, and that is why she left years and years ago. So, we will see what happens.

Anyway. The other pictures are of my comp. Of the grapefruit that is coming along nicely in our yard, and some other fruit that I have no idea what it is... Maybe you could tell me? Yes it is edible, but it isn't ripe yet. So I sent you a picture of some honey that I got from the step dad of a member. He is a crazy Brazilian guy, that lives in Spain with the member's mom, but has a farm here and comes to sell his grapes from Spain here. Anyway, he asked me on Sunday if I wanted some honey. He never wears a shirt and is a bit goofy, so I wasn't quite sure what he meant.... haha but he literally meant honey. It is really good. Anyway. Love you all. Have a great week this week.

Love, Elder Naegle

Email Feb. 6, 2012

Hello Mother,

How are you? Your son is doing pretty good here in Paraguay. Well we got transfers.... And... Both of us stayed. As you will listen to in my voice recording, our entire zone stayed. Can you believe it? I cant. Haha that just means that next transfers are going to be crazy. But it is good. I think Elder Gardner was a little bummed he doesnt get to see Asunción for another change, but other than that he was pretty good about it. It would be hard to stay here in Paloma for 4 changes, although I feel there is a good chance that is what I will be doing.

So anyway. Life is pretty good here in Paloma. I am sending 2 voice recordings again this week. I hope the second one is small enough to send. When I go to attach them they get a little bigger than what they say, so we will see. Anyway. It is still really hot here, but I am dealing with it just fine. I am getting used to it, plus the beauty of La Paloma is that it cools down a bit at night, so sleeping with a fan isnt a big deal at all.

Alright. For the week. Monday for P day we went to this restaurant called Costillon here in Paloma. It is pretty famous here in Paraguay actually. It is like Tucanos or Rodizio grill, except they dont have grilled pineapple. They raise and slaughter all of their own animals. Let us just say that it is close to the best 45 mil guaranies I have spent here in Paraguay. That is like 10 bucks.

Tuesday I got a question about the Book of Mormon I have never gotten before. The kid said, I learned about the Aztecs in school, and they didnt believe or know about Christ. It was pretty cool. It is always fun to get doubts other than, I am catholic, or, I have already been baptized. Hahaa

Right now we are teaching a lady named Maria, who moved here to Paloma 30 years ago from Brazil. She is 72 years old! Yeah!!! She is awesome. She speaks only in Portuguese, but she understands Spanish. So sometimes we dont understand everything she says, but I am going to tell you about the testimony I am gaining about the language of the Spirit. In those lessons I dont understand everything she says, but I understand the feelings. She has really started to open up to us. I asked her if she had prayed about the Church, to which she responded. Yes. He told me to go to your church. Hahaha I love this woman. She is so awesome. She didnt come to church because she wasnt feeling well, but I hope she can make it next week. It will be a challenge to get her to church, but I hope she can make it in the coming weeks.

Sunday our branch president was gone to Asuncion, picking up his daughter who is getting home from the mission. The guy who was supposed to be there to conduct didnt show up, so naturally I was volunteered. That same guy, as it turns out, had the turn to teach in Priesthood and he teaches sunday school... Hahaha so I picked those up too. So after teaching two classes, we had a short fast and testimony mtg, and that was all she wrote. Not bad if I might say so myself. But the best part about it, Isaías came. He is still going strong. His baptism is scheduled for the 17 of February. I am super excited for him.

Well I havent had any funny stories lately, so I will finish with one today. Finally I had something happen to me in Paloma. Yesterday, my comp and I were standing in the road figuring out where we were going to go, when I drunk guy waddled past us. 10 feet past us, he turned around, starting coming back. As he passed my comp, he lifts up his shirt, when he gets to me he pulls out a knife! Now.... If I was a missionary who wasnt looking for a funny experience, I would have just walked away, but... Well.... Hahaha being who I am... Raised my voice a little bit at Mr. Drunk, and said. Tranquilo! Haha as he realized that I was a whole lot bigger than him he started walking away waving the knife in the air and yelling naughty things in Guaraní. Haha it was great. Hope you get a good chuckle out of that. Cause I sure did.

Anyway. Love you all. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Naegle