Email June 10, 2012 Transferred!!*

Hello my dearest Mom,

So.... I have been transferred... I have left the small La Paloma after 6 months. I am now in Paso de Oro. Looking on a map you won't find it I don't think, but it is right outside of a big city called San Lorenzo, near a place called Kennedy. My area is huge! Haha a big change. My comp is Johnson.  Very very different from me, but he is a good kid. 

So I have a ton to tell you this week. Changes happened. It was so hard to say goodbye to people in Paloma, but especially Isaias. He is such a good friend to me.I gave him my Indians hat and we hat a very spiritual goodbye. It was awesome. Then I came in for changes. I got to my new house.... Absolute disaster... Hahahaha let us say that I will be spending my p day cleaning today and I have spent every free moment cleaning up to this point. 

Then we had a wedding/baptism this weekend. It was a crazy time getting it put together and it seemed like it was left to the last minute, but we figured it out. The husband has to wait to be baptized but his wife Yolanda was baptized on Saturday.

Sunday I was able to have a good long walk and talk with our branch president because our area is pretty far away from the church. Probably one of the coolest paraguayans I have ever met. He is so excited about the gospel. He is a super fun guy and I am excited to work with him.

It has been a crazy week. We have Paulo's baptism this week and we were able to put 2 more people with a baptismal date for the following week last night. This will be pretty crazy this next few weeks, but I am super excited. The Lord is definitely blessing me here in Paso de Oro. I love the mission. Such a good experience. I hope everyone at home is doing well.

Love,

Elder Naegle

Email June 4, 2012

Hello Mom,

Sounds like a good week there in Utah. Good old Utah. And Idaho. Can't forget Idaho. Anyway... Before I forget, I just came from the awesome restaurant Costillon. It was delicious. To give you an idea of how good it is here, while we were there, the mayor from Saltos and like 20 of his minions came walking in. He walked around and said hi to everyone, even us. It was pretty funny. He spoke english as well. I noticed that while he was talking to us his body guard snapped a photo on his phone. Good publicity! Those American missionaries! That is what I am talking about. Them government people, they just know how to work don't they? anyway.

For my package, if you could please include the following. a few ties, but not any of my good ones (I have a problem of giving ties away...), a few ziploc bags(big and small), a big thing of taco seasoning, and a brownie mix would also be great. I am going to be saving that for the 4th of July. Thank you Mom.

Well today I just want to tell you about my cool experiences with the awesome convert, Isaías. This week we took him out to visit our investigator Eogenio. I apologized on the way because it is a pretty far walk, but his response was. "No problem, we are serving God, it doesnt matter how far it is". Oh yeah! Feels so good to hear something like that. Then at the end of the lesson Isaías just took it away with his testimony. There is nothing like hearing a testimony half in Guaraní and half in Spanish. So awesome. The Spirit flooded the room. Then this Sunday during testimony meeting he got up to share his testimony for the first time in church. He started by thanking Elder Gardner and me for helping him, and then finished by saying that he has no doubt that Joseph Smith was a prophet, The Book of Mormon is true, and that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. It was awesome. 

We are starting now to really focus on his mom, who is member hace mucho, and we are hoping to be able to baptize his younger brothers this month, one of which came to church yesterday. It should be a pretty good month. Well I better go. I think the power is going to go. I just heard the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my entire life. Love you Mom.

Love, Elder Naegle

Email May 22, 2012

Hello Mom,

Sorry the email is a day late, but when the internet is down in all of the district of Canindeyu.... What can you do? hahahaa. So anyway. To answer your question, yes missions are hard work and a sunday nap would be great... But I love sundays. I don't mind giving talks anymore. So yeah. Transfers are next week by the way.

Alright. So I am a little short on time, but I will fill you in on my week. So we had some cool lessons this week. Our investigator Eogenio is struggling a little bit to find a job and move out so he can live the law of chastity. Pretty tough I know. So we went back to the Book of Mormon. We helped him understand again that his testimony depends on the wonderful book. We read with him in Nephi, when Nephi goes back to get the plates. It was an awesome lesson. The Spirit was super strong, and his mind was enlightened to the truth and knowledge that he can find in the Book of Mormon. So sweet.

Saturday. We teach a lesson to Isaias and talk about his conversion and the conversion of Alma. We share the scripture about how Alma knows these things by the Spirit. It was a great lesson. Then we were walking to our lunch appointment. I was feeling good about having a good lesson with my Isaias, and I decide to go into a despensa to buy something really fast. While inside I hear a crash in the intersection right outside. so I walk outside, and the first thing I see is a motorcycle on its side. Then I see Isaias and his little brother laying on the ground. Never has my heart turned like that in my chest. Never. I took off running to where he was. Fortunately when I got there he was getting up. He and his brother were ok, just banged up a bit. I know God was protecting them. His little brother flew about 15 feet and landed on empadrado and wasn't hurt at all. Nonetheless, it scared me really bad.

I know this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. I know that He leads this work. Have a great week.

Love, Elder Naegle

p.s. This is a picture of the lady I taught in Trinidad. She got baptized right after I left. I finally got it. So awesome! She is so cool! That is Elder Shirk's convert who is baptizing her.

Email May 21, 2012

 Hello Mom,

Sounds like things are going well. I am glad you had a good time up at the cabin. I sure miss it, but well it will be there when I get back. Enjoy your work this week, always loved thinning fruit trees in the orchard.... hahaha but I actually miss doing that kind of work. I just get to settle here in Paraguay picking mandarin oranges the size of Shaq's fist. Well maybe not quite that big, but they are delicious. I will be sad when they run out.

It was a good week for me. Tuesday was mother's day here in Paraguay. The women of the branch decided to invite us to their get together in the church.... Super awkward, but well they weren't going to eat all those hot dogs! So I left will a full belly and i was able to set up the projector for them.

Thursday we did  a division with Puente. Richins came here to Paloma and I went there. The kid he is training is named Smith. Good kid. Already has a date with his girl... May 20 somethin of 2014... Hahaha good luck. Anyway. We taught their investigators in Katuete the law of chastity and it was super cool. They were a super cool family, and I was able to fit in really quick. They accepted the teachings and are progressing quite nicely from what I hear. We also did some more house shopping while we were over there in Katuete because President wants to open it up in 2 weeks. Richins had already found one, so I just had to go over contract stuff with the people. The guy was just like Daniel Craig, but from Defiance. Plus he was German, born in Brazil, raised in Paraguay. Let us just say he spoke 5 languages perfectly. Pretty cool. So I got it all figured out, got all the stuff emailed to Hermana Madariaga, but then she called later and said the house wasn't quite big enough because they have to have sacrament mtg there.... Hahaha so Richins gets to keep looking.

Saturday was a good day. We had an awesome lesson with a guy named Eogenio. He had been to church a bunch of times prior, but he has a law of chastity problem because his wife lives in Brazil and he is living with another women. So we taught the law of chastity, it was a powerful lesson. He is committed to finding a solution and he knows that baptism is the right thing to do. He was in church the following day with his señora. He is a great guy.

I also played the piano in church yesterday. I actually played pretty good. I was pretty proud of myself. My branch president realized that both Shumway and I can play so we are going to take turns and switch off every week. It was super fun. Also, quick fun fact. Shumway is good friends with Kurt Warner's daughter. As in he has been to their house  a bunch of times and Kurt knows him by name.... Really cool. He says that Kurt's daughter is actually writing one of his friend's that is on the mission. 

Well anyway. I hope you found my email interesting this week. If you didn't, well I am sorry... but just so you know, nothing more worthwhile than the Lord's work. I love it. I really love Paraguay I have realized. It is just a great place. Anyway, I am going to wrap this up now. Love you all.

Love, Elder Naegle

Email May 14, 2012

Dear Mom,

Sounds like things are still good at home. It was great to talk to you! Happy Mother's day! Love you Mom! That is cool about Clint and Brent, 2 of my favorite people in the ward. Tell them to learn spanish and come to La Paloma so I can have some Priesthood holders in my branch....... hahahaha not sure their wives would go for that.

Well here I am in Salto del Guiará. Played some soccer today and had our little half zone meeting. Pretty fun. Except I almost threw up after burger king. You will see that one on my card mom.... Things are still good here. I gave a talk yesterday in church. It felt really good to just get up and express myself freely without problems. I didn't have to write anything down, I was just able to share some experiences and hopefully give the branch some excitement to work.

I had a cool experience with my testimony this week. I have been reading that cool original Book of Mormon that you sent me Mom, and I got down on my knees to get another confirmation that it is true. Later that day, a preacher from some church started asking me questions about our doctrine. I didnt know he was a preacher, but I figured he was after about 2 seconds. He was looking for differences, and well he found it. The fact that women can get up in church and speak and they dont have to wear veils. So dumb. Anyway. He went off for about 5 minutes about how I was teaching false doctrine, and then I caught him off guard with my testimony. Never have I born a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon so strong. I know. I know. He was without words. It was a great experience. I got my answer. Then, as we were leaving, I watched his dog leap a six foot brick wall only skimming the top...... I about pooped my pants..... But he just wanted to play! Hahahaha good thing God protects his missionaries.

The Book of Mormon is true. "Leave no doubt!" -Remember the Titans. I really want to watch that.....

Love you all. Have a good week. 

Love, Elder Naegle 

Email May 7, 2012

Hi Mom.

I am attaching a voice recording from last week. I hope it is the right one. I can't remember the number. Anyway. Sounds like things are good in Palm Springs. Sounds like fun. It made me laugh that seeing the missionaries made you miss me. I don't mean that in a bad way, but think about how many things make me trunky.... I think we are in the same boat mom.... Hahahahaha. As far as the missionaries not having investigators in church, well I understand perfectly... But not this Sunday! I will explain later.

The big news for the week. I went to Asunción for zone conference and the temple! So great. I was able to see some familiar faces and hear some wonderful things from the one and only President Madariaga. I will let you know that I got him and his wife to laugh really good. We were presenting the new missionaries for the last two changes, so I was up there with the other trainers. It is supposed to be sort of goofy, and I made a good joke. I can't do it justice in an email, so I won't try, but know that old Maddog was laughing pretty good. Plus, I did it in Spanish, not bad if I say so myself. Next stop, portuguese and guaraní...

Basically the zone conference was about sanctifying ourselves, remembering our purpose and internalizing it, contacting a fool, and baptizing more!  A lot, but it was really good. Basically, the area presidency wants this mission baptizing 400 a month like it used to a few years ago. And, we're not.... But we will get better. Starting here in Paloma!!!!!!!!! The dove baby! I will figure it out. Don't you worry about me.

Let me tell you about my experience in the temple. It was great. I felt so amazing in the celestial room. I didn't want to leave. Also weird to think that Kelon was there not long ago.... 

But not, I am real tired. Thursday night all night on a bus, and friday night all night on a bus. But oh well. Far worth the trip. Also found out that the assistants and zone leaders will be doing far more divisions, and well..... Elder Colligan is my zone leader, he was in this area before me, told me friday it was his favorite area, and Elder Black is an assistant. He was also in this area. I could be seeing some divisions here soon...

Anyway. Saturday night we were with the family that came to church last week after we chopped wood at their house. I was with one of the kids, Luis, who hasn't been to church since I have been here. I told him, hey you should come to church tomorrow and bring a friend. He said that he doesn't know anyone, just then one of his cousins pulled up. I told his cousin, hey, Luis is coming to church tomorrow and he wants to bring you. Next day, both in church. Pretty sweet.

Also. I was in church. Blessing the sacrament, and my convert was passing. One of the happier moments of the mission. It was so awesome to see Isaías progressing.

I love  the mission. Not going to lie, being in La Paloma has been really hard, but it has been very rewarding and I love this area. I love the gospel. I love my Savior.  

Love, Elder Naegle

Email April 30, 2012

Hello Mom,

I will talk about the Mothers day call first, cause I just read the email from President. We can call on Sunday, or we can do Skype on Saturday or Monday. I would prefer to skype personally, cheaper for everyone I think. I would like to do it Saturday if possible, maybe in the morning like 10 30 or so. If that is alright with you just let me know next week. 

Sounds like you had a pretty good week this week. I am glad that you got my letter. Sorry it was a little late, I spaced a little bit. Grandpa is turning 80? He still looks too young to be 80. Oh before I forget, please tell Robert Nicholas that getting his letters in pouch is great. Tell him thank you so much for his letters. That is cool you got a letter from President Madariaga. I remember Elder Shirk saying his family got one, but I forgot about it. Well anyway. Hope all is well at home and Dad makes it home safe from Canada.

For my week. Well it was a pretty crazy one. We got changes, Elder Richins is training. Which means we are training together. What are the odds? I will have one more change in the training program though, then i should be out of Paloma but we will see.  We started putting down rat traps in the ceiling. Those rats are pretty crafty, and they can get the hot dogs without getting caught... So we will be finding some poison  probably. Elder Shumway was almost bit by a dog this week. It was pretty crazy. And yeah.  That is basically my week.

This week I gained a testimony of service. We had told a less active family that we were going to chop wood for, but it was raining and when it is raining the people usually tell you no for service. But we decided to go anyway, but we just went in a shirt and tie in case they said no. She said yes, so we chopped some wood in the mud. It was probably the most fun i have had in my mission. I love chopping wood. I miss swinging an axe so much. Anyway. Her 12 year old son was out with us, and he was the one that the mom wants us to work with cause he never comes to church. We had a blast. Next day. He was in church with his mom. It was a  cool experience for me. I really love serving the people of Paraguay. 

I know that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that all people can be perfected in Him. I love sharing this with the people of La Paloma, Paraguay. Have a good week.

Love, Elder Naegle