Email June 10, 2013

Hello Mom,

Well sounds like a good and crazy week at home. Things are more exciting when you are preparing for a missionary to come home I think. But I don't know. Tell the bishop no promises about talking about priesthood... Haha but I might work it in there somehow. We'll see.

This week was a good one. I am back in my first area and believe it or not there are quite a few people that remember me. That isn't what it is about, but it is nice. It is great to see how much people have come, and also sad to see when people aren't active anymore. We have our work cut out for us. We have a teenager named Junior progressing pretty well for baptism in the coming weeks. His buddies are members, so that makes it much easier for him to have interest. 

I gave a talk on Sunday. That was fun to stand at the same pulpit and not be worried about being understood. I remember being pretty nervous for those talks back in the day. But now it just flows naturally, so I just have to think about a few ideas before I start.

I think the coolest experience of the week was doing the interviews for the missionaries on the other side of Trinidad. I interviewed the daughter of the family, and my comp the mother. After the interview and while we were waiting for my comp I started to talk to the dad. What an awesome man. We hit it off really well. Talking about motorcycles is always a good way to go. Up until the baptism he hadn't gone to church. The missionaries are doing a great job and he and his son were in church on sunday. It is really great to see a family progressing so well. The gospel has blessed the sister. The missionaries found her when she almost couldn't walk anymore because of bleeding in the brain. Now she does her daily tasks without any problem. She has a new hope. It is incredible.

Quick note. Destroyed my big toenail yesterday playing soccer after leaders council. Time to remove both of them... Make the appointment Mom. I almost passed out in the office while the assistant was putting a hot needle through my nail. It was hilarious. Not sure what happened to me, but everyone was getting a good kick out of it.

Well. Hope you have a good week. Jesus is the Christ.

Love you! Love, Elder Naegle

Email June 3, 2013

Hey Mom!

Another week down in Paraguay. Another week down in Utah. Seems like things are pretty crazy at home. Good luck with that. Things are good here in Paraguay. We didn't have much of an area this week, so it was lots of contacts and trying to help others in the zone find cool investigators. We did many divisions and it seemed to work out alright, the zone is really starting to kick it in gear. Of course we helped out the assistants a lot because we live in their house... but it was all kosher. 

So I had some of the most spiritual lessons of my mission this week. It was pretty awesome.  I feel like I am working the hardest I have in my mission, which is good for me because sometimes it is hard to work when you don't really have an area. But this week is changes, and then we will have our own area!

This week I did a division with Gardner again. It is cool to see how far we have come in this year and a half. We had a lesson with the grandmother of a recent convert. Up until that point she had been taught many times, without much success. As we got in there, we followed the Spirit, and next thing we know she is accepting the invitation to be baptized and to go to church. Was it us? No. It was most definitely the Spirit. I have come to realize what it means to teach a person and not a lesson. I have come to realize what it means to follow the Spirit. And when we do, well miracles happen. Lives are changed. 

Also we helped an old woman cross a stream this week. It was awesome. It meant the world to her. Is it too much to help someone out? Nope. Just do it! Have a great week.

Love, Elder Naegle

Email May 27, 2013

Hello Mom!

So it sounds about one of the most exciting weeks happened at home! That is crazy! Congrats to everyone!! Pat, congrats, that is probably some of the best news I have ever heard in my mission. I missed Kelon on Wednesday night by 5 minutes........... NO!!!! I could have cried.. Benny and Jackee, congrats! That is wonderful! And yes, one of Jeff Moss's mission buddies is in my ward, David Sorilla, and I also met another from his mission named Nathan Barrejos.

Alright. Crazy week for me. So as you already knew, the sister missionaries kicked us out this week. My comp and I were given the really rich part of Moroni. I did about 80 individual contacts. Almost all of them were intercom contacts... We found a couple of people though. 

We had to show the sisters a few of our investigators. Hermanas Torres and Speirs. Hermana Torres started her mission in this zone when I got here, she left, trained, and now is back training here. She asked when she first saw me, You are still here? Haha it was pretty funny. 

So on Friday we had zone conference. It was the most spiritual zone conference I have been a part of. The asistontos asked us 2 to do a practice with President Madariaga, luckily we had a few days to prepare. And we nailed it. We taught repentance. The Spirit was super strong. I also gave my last testimony. I have really gained a strong testimony in my mission, for which I am grateful. 

Well. This is all I have to say basically. Once again, God answers prayers. He answered my prayers last night in the most simple way, but it meant a lot to me. I love you all. Hope you have a good week.

Love, Elder Naegle

Email May 20, 2013

Hello Mom!

Well, first news first. Let us begin the move! They are kicking us out of Moroni and putting sisters in..... There are 4 sisters that are coming early for some reason, so tomorrow we gotta be out of the house so they can move in. That means I had to clean today... But we are fairly tidy so it wasn't too bad. For 2 weeks I will live with the asistontos until the normal changes, at which point the zone leaders will move somewhere else. We should be sharing the area in 3 for 2 weeks instead of just 2. As for the last 2 weeks that I have after the change, I have no idea what President will do with me now! Haha I told him today in my email that he can do whatever he needs to do with me. So we will see.

Well, I had so many things to tell you and then we got this phone call and my mind went blank. Just kidding! As much as I love writing home... I don't have much to say anymore.. haha sorry Mom! But there is good news this week. Roque is coming back  around! Booo yeah!!! It was awesome. We went back and had a really spiritual lesson, but she wasn't going to change her mind. An idea popped into my head, and well, it worked. The Spirit is an amazing thing. 

I gave a talk yesterday. All 4 missionaries were assigned to talk about missionary work... Talk about a boring sacrament mtg. I went last, and I mixed things up a bit. I talked about prayer. Prayer has come to mean so much more to me in the mission. One of the many things that I needed to learn in my time here. God answers prayers, if you don't know it, get down on them knees and pray! 

Life is great. Jesus is the Christ. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Naegle

Email May 13, 2013

Hello Mom,

Well you already know because of the phone call, but Zuni and Tamara were baptized! They also made their way through the rain to be confirmed yesterday! So that was the highlight of the week... Other than the phone call of course! It was really good to see the family! Niglet I am glad that making some money is more important to you than seeing your brother.... haha just kidding brother, spend that money well!

So this week I started another 40 day fast. Should help me to have the Spirit more. We did a zone presentation this week about having more light and we made a plan for the zone to do it. We are starting with the 40 day fast, and then in the coming weeks working to get the mission standards. Everyone seems to be excited about it, and I am loving it too! 

So this week we were walking by a big soccer field and their was a concert going on of a pretty famous band here in Paraguay. There were at least 2000 people. We decided we were going to contact everyone and invite them all to church. After some contemplating and being scared... We decided to do it! We made our way up to the security... and..... That was as far as we got... hahaha but we tried! Would have been a great story, now it is just a great failure... But it would have been cool. The Church is true! I want to share the gospel with everyone! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Naegle

Email May 6, 2013

Hello there Mom!

Sounds like everything is going well at home. Tell Matt and Jacqueline congrats on their baby! That is exciting. Lots of things are changing here in my life... Like less hair on the head and... Yeah... That is about it. Just kidding! Lots of things are changing here in Moroni! Life is awesome!

Suni and children should be getting baptized this weekend. She just needs to hold in strong with quitting smoking, but it has been over a week now so I feel like she will be able to do it. Her fear was the interview because a member told her they make you confess everything you have ever done.... So... We cleared that one up! She has strong desires to change her life, it is awesome.

Roque... Well... Monday night when we called her she said she didn't want to get baptized. So naturally we dropped everything and went. The world was coming down on her. So we had several lessons with her this week, all of which were Spirit packed. She was holding her ground pretty strong though. So we went in Saturday with all the faith in the world and... she told us that she knows the Church is true and that she needs to get baptized, but she can't do it now... It was one of the hardest moments of my mission. The Spirit was undeniable. It was so hard to see someone reject the answer from God. We are still praying for her, but for now at least she will stay with her decision. Hanks and I felt the spiritual confirmation that we did all we could do which was a nice comfort. One day.

Well we watched some Elder Bednar videos about light and the light of Christ today in leader council. I realized the importance of helping our light grow within us because light chases away darkness. As our light grows, we will be able to help others get rid of the darkness in their lives. Let us all strive to brighten that light.

I love you all. The Church is true. If you don't know, read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Also, "Ask the missionaries! They can help!" But seriously we can. Have a great week! Can't wait to talk to you on Saturday!

Love, Elder Naegle

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