Email April 29, 2013

Hello there Mom!!!

Greetings from Moroni! It sounds like everything is going well at home. I am also doing very well. I got my new companion Elder Hanks, from Sandy, UT, on Wednesday. We hit the ground running and worked hard. He is an excellent teacher and understands and speaks quite a bit of Guaraní, so that is nice. 

Anyway. This week we had some of the coolest lessons in my mission. On Friday we decided that we were going to commit Roque to stop smoking completely. We related it to what we had left them in the BOM to read, which was Alma 32. It went incredibly. The Spirit was there so strong. When we asked her to quit completely, she accepted without doubt and well, I don't think the smiles could have been bigger on our faces. We gave her a huge bag of candies to put in her mouth when she has the desires to smoke. As of right now (as far as I know) she is doing great and hasn't smoked. She told us on saturday that when she went out looking for another job (she has been looking for a while), she found it. She said it was if she had been led there.... Oh yeah! She recognized it was God blessing her for her efforts. She is so awesome! 

We had stake conference on Sunday. Roque wasn't able to go, but Suni and her kids were there. We are seeing lots of blessings here in Moroni. We had a very similar lesson with Suni last night and she committed to stop smoking. We are starting to work with a few members that I never had before, and I think we will see great success from it. 

We heard from President Da Silva in stake conference. He was or is a 70 from Paraguay, and right now is serving as a counselor to Pres Madariaga. He talked about the questions of the soul, and how important the Book of Mormon can answer them. It was really awesome. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown so much on the mission. I want everyone to read it, ponder, and pray and ask if it is true. Because it is true! It is such a powerful tool to be used in our lives. So USE IT!!! Haha. Have a great week everyone! Especially you Mom! You are the best! Love you so much.

Love, P

My Zone

Elder Callero who just went home

Elder Hanks

Email April 22, 2013

Hello there Mom,

Everything was in the package as far as I know. I still love socks. I had even saved some for that last little bit. But now I have more. So thanks!

This week was good. We had a good 7 investigators in church. It was great. Roque and her kids were there, Denis and Kevin. Also a woman named Suni with her 2 kids, Tadeo and Tamara. And also the sister of Roque, Emilse. So things are looking pretty good there. Roque's man friend is taking more interest in the church, which was a prayer answered. Roque is down from 40 cigarrettes a day to 1 a day. She is awesome!

This week we saw a miracle. I was on a division with Elder Barco from Ecuador, and I felt the impression to try and call Suni again even though her cell phone wasn't working. She had shown up to church last sunday on her own, and the number she gave me didn't work and when we went to where she lives they told us she had moved 2 months prior. So we didn't know what to do. Anyway, we were close to the house, I stopped to call, ofcourse it didn't work. So we started walking again. As we passed the street, we saw her son coming out of the house. So we ran over, and we found Suni at home. Her relatives lie when people pass by looking for her.... And she didn't realize her phone wasn't working cause she hadn't been able to put saldo on it. So basically.... It was a miracle that we found her again. We taught an awesome lesson, and she came to church again and is pumped for baptism. If I hadn't stopped to call we never would have seen her son...

So. Yeah. I have come to realize the power of prayer. That is what we talked about in priesthood on sunday. Especially about praying in behalf of others. I have seen many prayers answered in my mission, and I know that because of your prayers at home I have been able to come this far. I love the gospel. The mission is awesome.

Got changes... Elder Hanks is my new comp. He is legit. We are going to tear it up my last change. 

Love, Elder Naegle

Email April 15, 2013

Hello there Mom!

So this week was good. It started with an interview with Pres Madariaga. The interview was really different because he was sick with a nasty cold. So after I said the prayer, he told me that I was going to talk for 10 minutes about whatever I wanted... When I realized he wasn't joking I started talking. I spoke in Spanish, he responded in English, which seems kind of backwards but it worked! We talked about many things, and all in all it was a very uplifting experience.

Roque and family are progressing very nicely. Turns out that Roque is trying to get back together with the dad of the 2nd child, Kevin, and it was pretty funny when we met him because we had contacted him about a week earlier. He is a nice guy, but doesn't want to be a part of the church. Luckily he lets everyone go and is supportive. Roque went to church with her 4 kids and they all loved it! Dennis left the meeting and told her that he wants to be a  missionary! Only 4 more years there buddy and you got it!

I did a division in my old area Trinidad this week. We did a service in the house of Julio and Rocio. Remodeling is quite different, and it can be done in about a day! Molina, a Colombian from Medellin didn't tell me we were going to do service so that is why I am wearing a white shirt and eccos... Haha. He asked me, "You are going to do service like that?". I told him that when your shirt has as much time as mine does you just don't really care anymore... 

So that is that. Hope you enjoyed it. I read something really interesting in PMG this week. I have read it before, but it stuck out to me. It is a quote by Pres Packer I think, and it says that we are just trying to connect with the Spirit of Christ as teachers of the gospel. As we do that, the gospel won't be new to people, rather it will have a familiar "ring" to them. This again stressed to me the importance of having the Spirit, and also the importance of members. It seems that they have an ability to connect with people in a much more natural way. So... All you members at home... Love you!!!

Jesus is the Christ.

Love, Elder Naegle

p.s. That is the south mission behind me. Look how much trash is in it.... Love you KO!!!! I realized that every single area of mine except for 1 has bordered the south mission. Kinda cool.

Email April 8, 2013

Hello Mom!

Sounds like you had a great time in England and New York! I am happy to hear it. Meanwhile, Elder Naegle was here in Paraguay living it up! No place I would rather be! Not even Bear Lake! Well... Better to not think about it... haha just kidding.

This week was awesome. I turned 21! My birthday landed on conference... oh please... YES!!! Talk about the best birthday a missionary could ask for! I also did a division with Elder Staker. One last one for good old times sake. I think his homecoming is at 9 the first sunday he is home, but not sure. I also gotta check about Hill's. Just some options for you. Not sure if you are going to go to either of them. But they both helped me through my mission in different ways.

Anyway. Back to the week. Friday we ran into a lady and her kids contacting. Her name is Roque. She has 4 kids, the oldest is 14, the youngest is 6 I think. She was super focused during the lesson, and very honest. When the lesson was over, she said, "I have been looking for something in the last little bit, and I think I just found it." It was like music to my ears. I could tell that she felt the Spirit. She promised to go to conference on Sunday, and she did. Her kids didn't get themselves ready, so she had to leave them, but when she got home she sat down with all of them and they talked about how they were going make sure they got to church next sunday. So awesome. Her kids are reading to her because she can't read. And she decided to stop smoking, and we had never said anything about it. In other words, we are pumped! Things have been falling left and right around us, and Heavenly Father led us to a prepared family.

Conference was incredible. I went in with many questions. I left with many answers. Saturday we were in Trinidad, just like old times! (I have spent 3 gc's with Elder Staker, pretty crazy). and Sunday we were in Moroni. I loved President Monson's talk about obedience, as well as many others. One in particular was Elder Bruce D. Porter's, when he talked about being happy and not worrying about the future. I have tried to better my attitude here in the mission and have a better outlook, and well his talk helped me out.

Hope you have a great week. No I still didn't get my package, but Staker was nice enough to give me a Hart and Huntington shirt and the sisters in my zone gave me a guampa for tereré for my birthday. So don't worry, I am taken care of!

I know that Jesus Christ lives. This is His Church. The Book of Mormon is true. So let us be happy!

Love, Elder Naegle

p.s. I think that they weren't thinking about Naegle's when they made the buses here.... I took that picture today of my leg. Enjoy!

Dan emailed me. Joust did too, for my birthday. Benny hasn't emailed in a while. Now we can email whoever we want I guess? I didn't hear anything, but another missionary told me.

Email April 1, 2013

Hey Mom!

Sounds like England is an adventure! I laughed about the bad food. Hope you like Paraguay!!!! Hahahaha you are going to love it, don't worry.

So for this week. I think I had one of the best days of my mission. We took our temple trip, and well it was Paso de Oro's day to go as a ward as well. So I was able to see 3 converts walk into the temple to do baptisms. Mariano, and Hugo and Natividad. It was super awesome. Also several members were in the session. The temple is so beautiful now. They have put a huge mural thing of the Iguazu falls up. It is incredible. I was so happy.

Then I did a division with Elder Zagieboyle (Zaggybwaylow is how you say it) from Boston. That says it all... Haha just kidding, he is really awesome. But he does like my 3 least favorite teams in sports I think. The Red Sox, the Red Sox, and the Red Sox. Oh and the Celtics and Patriots. But that is ok. He is a great missionary. 

Then on Friday we got a call from the assistants, and they said that we needed to do a special division with the missionaries from Filadelfia. So I went with Phippen!!! It was awesome. We contacted the nice part of my area. We found lots of atheists and jews that weren't super interested, but it was super fun.

Then this Saturday I was able to do an interview in Zeballos. It was 2 months or so ago when I did it the first time, and she wasn't quite ready. She asked if I could do the interview again, and well, she was definitely ready. It was a very special spirit that was felt that I love feeling as a missionary. That moment when people are accepting the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives. Holy Week is super big here in Paraguay, but that experience for me captured the true meaning.

I love my Savior. I know He lives. Have a great week.

Love, Elder Naegle

Mom, you thought I forgot.... HAAAAPPPPPPPPYYYYYY BBBBIIIIIIRRRRRTTTTTTHHHHDDDAAAAYYYYYY. I love you sooooooo much. Happy Birthday. Hope it was the best one yet. Probably not, because your favorite son is in another country... but maybe. Love you Mom.