Letters from Meredith...

2 de agosto 2010
Mi querida familia y amigas,

Hola! Como estan? No puedo creer que yo tengo casi seis meses, la tercera parte, de mi mision! No se donde se fue el tiempo sinceramente. How are you all?! I hope things are going well. This month marks six months in the mission for me! I have no idea where the time has gone, but I can testify that when we enjoy what we´re doing, the time flies!

Katy, thanks for the e-mail! It sounds like there are always adventures at the pre-school! I do remember going up to the cabin! That was almost two years ago! Crazy! That was such a fun night! I remember we played a card game with rabbits and I was so confused the whole time! Great times! Thanks for your encouragement and support!

Skyler, that´s awesome that you´re leaving with the missionaries! I´m sure you´re having great experiences! I´m learning that members make all the difference in the conversion process because we as missionaries can teach and baptize lots, but the members are the ones who really care for the converts. All of us as missionaries are determined to do more to help in the missionary work after our missions!

Stephanie, thanks for your letter! I´m so glad you had a great vacation and that your family are now members! How wonderful! That´s great that Dobson has sister missionaries! I´m partial, but I think sister missionaries are the best!

Tahl, here´s a note for you in Spanish! I´m excited you´re learning! We can talk together after the mission! Que tal? Como esta? Yo estoy disfrutando la mision demasiado. Mi companera es buenisima y es un privilegio a ser un represente de nuestro Salvador Jesucristo. Yo puedo ver que El tiene un plan por cada uno de sus hijos si estamos dispuestos a seguirle. Yo estoy tan agradecida por todas las cosas que yo estoy aprendiendo, especificamente paciencia conmigo y con los investigadores, amor de verdad, y mucho entendimiento. Yo espero que su trabajo es bueno! Se que usted esta ayudando a muchisimas personas! I´ll write a longer note next time! Where did you move to? I hope you enjoy Miss´s wedding! I´ll for sure be there in spirit! Send me some pictures!

Things are great in Paraguay! Funny story. . . we´ve been without gas for our stove for about two weeks now because there´s a shortage. Supposedly more is coming tomorrow morning, but in the meantime we´ve eaten lots of wheat crackers and chocolate chip cookie dough (melting the butter in front of our space heater!) Great adventures on the mission! Hermana and I have seen so many miracles this week! We decided to extend more baptism invitations in the lessons because we want to have five baptisms in the month of August! We started asking people during the first lesson if they want to be baptized, and we put dates with two more people! Hooray! I know that the Lord blesses us for working hard!

We´re going to have a baptism this week! Hooray! His name is Renato. It´s cool because he´s a big soccer star here in Paraguay. He´s been playing for most of his life, and if he gets selected, he could play in the mundial in four years! Wow! We were joking with him the other night that we want his autograph and picture because he´s famous! He just shook his head and said that for ten years Elders have tried to teach him the lessons, and finally he´s going to be baptized with the Hermanas. Haha! He´s awesome! He has changed so much! Osvaldo, our recent convert, came with us when we taught him and it was amazing! Osvaldo told him his whole story about how he stopped doing drugs and truly repented. Renato was super impressed! They both have soccer in common and became friends quickly. It strengthened Renato´s (and our) testimony that people truly can change. At the end of the lesson, they exchanged phone numbers and Hermana Sargent and I are so excited that they each have a friend now! Yesterday Osvaldo showed us that Renato bought him some longer soccer socks so he can start playing again. Chulina! To me, this is the essence of the gospel--helping, supporting, loving, and giving of what we have. I feel so privileged to have witnessed this change in Osvaldo and Renato. What true conversion! We´re having a Family Home Evening with Renato and his family tonight and we´re really excited about it!

We´ve had several experiences this last week that have really strengthened my testimony that the Lord knows us and knows our intentions. On Friday, after we had decided to extend more baptismal invitations, we were doing contacts. We met Juanita, and older woman who attends the Catholic church but has never been baptized. We taught her about the example of baptism that Jesus Christ gave us, and she told us she wants to be baptized in a river! She asked us if we could help her do this. We told her sure, that we would keep coming back to teach her. I asked Hermana Sargent if someone can really be baptized in a river and she said elders have done it before. How cool would that be?! We´re excited! A few hours later, we met Estella. She goes to a different church, and showed us these worksheets that she´s doing to prepare her for her baptism in this church. We asked her if she wanted to follow the example of Jesus Christ and she said yes and she wants us to keep visiting her! The Lord really, truly knows each of His children and has a time prepared for them to hear the gospel. Hermana said that when she started doing these worksheets, she didn´t know she was preparing to be baptized in a different church! We´re excited to keep visiting her. When we´re diligent, the Lord puts people in our path.

Funny story. . . Saturday we were doing contacts and clapped at a house (here you either ring from the gate, or if there´s not a bell, clap outside the houses. It´s fun!) The employee came to the door and we asked if she wanted to hear a message. She said she was sorry, but the front door was locked and she couldn´t come out to talk to us because she didn´t have the key. We invited her to church and walked to the next house. Not thirty seconds later, Hermana Sargent grabbed my arm and said, ¨Look! Isn´t that the lady we just contacted?¨ Sure enough, she was walking down the sidewalk. Hermana stomped her foot and said, ´´Í can´t believe she lied to us!¨´ We both started waving to her. The best part was that she turned around and saw us waving to her, recognized that we knew she had lied to us, and waved back! I was laughing so hard I was crying and Hermana was so mad! We´re pretty used to people doing this, but the fact that she waved to us was hilarious! Great times on the mission!

We continue to teach Antonio, our 86-year-old investigator. A week or so ago when we were there, he sang us this romantic song and played the guitar. Then he told us he wanted dolls made of us! Whoa! He´s a very nice guy, just lonely. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom, but he can´t understand why we don´t drink coffee. He keeps telling us that he always drinks a cup of coffee before bed to help him sleep. I´m not sure how caffeine helps him sleep, but anyway. He´s coming to church, but keeps telling us that he wants to wait until December to be baptized. We´re really working with him to help resolve any doubts so he can be baptized in the next couple of weeks!

Well, that´s about it for this week. Thanks for your prayers and support! I hope you´re all doing well and I send you my love! I know this church is true and I know the Lord knows and loves each of us. I´m understanding more and more the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power it has in our lives. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer!

Con mucho amor y mis mejores pensamientos,
Hermana Cozzens

P.S. The photo that´s attached is with twins of a woman we contacted! The twins were so identical that we asked if we could take a picture with them! They were running around and playing in the dirt and oh so cute!