Letters from Meredith...

5 de julio 2010
Querida familia y amigas,

Hola! Happy 4th of July! I hope you all celebrated well and ate tons of hot dogs and hamburgers! Barbecues here in Paraguay are quite different, but nonetheless extremely delicious. Paraguay was playing in the mundial (the worldwide soccer competition in Africa) on Saturday, so the members we ate lunch with grilled meat and sausage and it was riquisimo! Mmm! Aubrey and Skyler, I have an interesting piece of news for your dad. Yesterday I met one of his mission companions! His name is Brother Privette and he and his family are from Atlanta, Georgia. His first wife who died of cancer was the sister of the bishop in the ward where I´m serving, and Brother Privette brought his new wife and family here to meet all their cousins and other family members. He recognized my name! What a small world in the church! He had fond memories of his mission in Spain.

Things are going really well! Osvaldo and Javier are champs. They received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday! Woohoo! During the Sacrament, Osvaldo had the task of standing in front of the door during the prayer. He was so proud! I´m so proud of them! They have overcome so much to get to this point! They´re very excited to bless and prepare the Sacrament. There are a lot of activities for the youth coming up, and both Osvaldo and Javier are excited to go. Gloria, their mother, is going to be baptized on July 24th! Hooray! She´s come to church three times, and tonight we´re going to officially begin teaching her. She´s seen some difficult times, but I admire her strength and her love for her children. Yesterday her phone went off in the middle of Sunday School and she bolted up and out of there so fast! She didn´t realize that the tile in the church makes it echo and talks really loud anyway, so I´m sure all of Asuncion could hear her conversation. My companion jerked her head at me to go out and tell her to be quiet! Osvaldo left his class and told his mom that she needed to go way away from the church so nobody could hear. It was actually really funny! They´re a unique family, but are wonderful.

Church yesterday was wonderful! It was testimony meeting, and the Spirit was very strong. Many members testified of how they have seen the hand of the Lord in their lives this past month. I think if we are constantly asking ourselves that question, we will be very humble people. We had four investigators in church yesterday! Our best yet! Gloria, Roberto, Antonio, and Renato are our progressing investigators. Roberto is the man who has cancer. The other day we went and visited him and he had a gun sitting on the table. My companion picked it up and Roberto quickly told her to put it back down because it was loaded! Whoa! He took it all apart and very proudly told us some military stories. He is so good! When we picked him up yesterday for church, he saluted us, shook our hands, and proceeded to complain the whole way to the church because he hates wearing ties. Oh the trials in our lives! But he was a good sport about it. He seemed to enjoy church.

Saturday Hermana and I had a good companionship inventory. I´m pretty sure she´s going to go to another area next week when changes roll around. I don´t want her to go because we have a good rhythm established, but I´m completely willing to do the will of the Lord. She told me that I´m ready to have a local companion to ¨go solo¨ without her. Her confidence really inspired me. Sometimes it´s overwhelming because there´s so much to learn and keep in mind all the time, but my prayers have become more fervent and if there´s one thing I´m sure of, it´s that Heavenly Father answers our prayers and helps us with the things we need. I know He gives us hard experiences in our lives to help us learn and grow. It´s amazing for me to look back on these three months and see how much I´ve learned and grown. Sometimes I can´t believe it, and I definitely can´t imagine my life without the mission. I think back on my life before the mission, and it was great, but there are so many things that can only be experienced on a mission. I´m so grateful for this privilege!

Last week we didn´t find a ton of new investigators, but we did meet Andresa, a wonderful woman in her sixties. She has one living child out of seven pregnancies. What a trial! She also told us that her daughter lost her first child fourteen years ago. She was so cheerful, though, as she told us that through it all, the Lord blessed their family and she knows that Heavenly Father knows and loves her family. What an inspiration! We shared the Plan of Salvation with her, and the Spirit was very strong. I hope we can continue teaching her! On this note, I greatly admire the faith of the people here. They can see that their trials and difficulties are ultimately for their good. I have a testimony of this as well. I know the Lord won´t test us above that which we can handle, and our trials will stretch us and help us learn and grow. We are better for them!

Well, that´s all for this week. Changes are next week, so I won´t have another chance to write until Thursday. I hope you´re all doing well and enjoying the summer! I would love to hear from you all and hear how things are going! Taunia, did you find a new job? Are you and Kirk doing well? I think of you all often and am so grateful for your good examples to me. This Church is true. Heavenly Father knows and loves us.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Cozzens