Hey family!!(:

Hello!!!!!!!! How is everyone doing?

Well, there are a number of things on the list to talk about for this week. So, we shall start with the sad news; first... my glasses broke. :( Not the glass or anything, just the earpiece that goes over my right ear. It just kind of fell out of it´s place. So I have been using a combination of my backup glasses and no glasses for the last few days. After finishing up my letter here I am going to go and see if the eye place here can get them fixed. So, it should all work out fine.

Now, to begin with the usual, about what exciting thing we have done for Pday this week. Well... soccer!! We played for a couple of hours in a rented field. It was pretty fun. Our zone didn´t actually win today, but, you win some you lose some. I came out a little bruised and hurting in the toe department. My right big toe is in a little bit of pain. Then after soccer a bunch of us from both zones went and ate hamburgers and sandwiches and empanadas and other such things. Then we went and ate ice cream. I feel very full. Then we went and were walking around the Paraguayan market here in Formosa for a while. And now we are back here on the computers, to write home. :) So that is Pday for this week.

Onto other news... We finally made it to Colonia Laishi!! We were able to go out there Friday morning with President Camejo and go visit the branch and see how many people were willing to get baptized. We had a great little chat with the Branch President, and discovered that there are a fair number of people who want to get baptized, or who at least go to the church on Sundays. We couldn´t stay out there that long, but are working with the Branch President out there to set a Sunday where he can gather all of the people to the church so that we can go teach them in a big group. The colony is kind of a strange set up. The chapel, is the nicest building in the colony; by far. Most of the members are all part of the same family; with a few exceptions. The Branch President has been Branch President for 22 years. They are some of the poorest people that I have ever seen. But, the ones I talked to have some of the strongest testimonies that I have ever heard. They know the Book of Mormon. And most of them faithfully attend the meetings every Sunday. Most Sundays they only have Sacrament meeting, but when someone from the stake goes out they have a Sunday School meeting. But, the goal is to change that and to make them a little bit more self-sufficient... We´ll see how it goes; if everything goes well, and it´s what the Lord wants, we should be able to have lots of baptisms out there. :) Which would make me really happy. Something funny that the Branch President told us is that when the missionaries first made it out there, the missionaries were afraid of the Aborigines, and they, were afraid of the missionaries. ;) Go figure.

Otherwise in the week, it was a pretty normal week. We did have some struggles in that a lot of our appointments didn´t work out, or just weren´t there. It meant that we spent a lot of time in the street clapping houses. Wednesday was kind of a rough day, we spent almost all of the afternoon and evening trying to get people to listen to us. Without much success. A couple of people that were really actually kind of annoyed or angry that we came and visited them. One lady actually was yelling at us ´false prophets, false prophets´. But, the good news is that we kept working all the same and later in the week we were able to find some good people that should be able to progress and get baptized. Sometimes just little trials of faith happen.

There was a baptism in the ward last week. An older lady named Lucy. The baptism was planned hand in hand with an activity for Mother´s Day, so there was a very large amount of refreshments. :) I rather enjoyed that part of it all. It was funny when she went in to get baptized, she was so excited to do it, that she kind of threw herself into the water; didn´t even want to wait for my companion to finish the prayer. I got a good laugh out of it. ;)

A funny little story, yesterday in church, nobody from the Bishopric was there. They were all out of town for Mother's Day. So, just some guy who has the Melchizedek Priesthood conducted and the Elder´s Quorum president was presiding at the meeting. My companion and I were in charge of the Sacrament; a good intentioned investigator of ours took it upon himself to prepare the water for the Sacrament. Things were kind of crazy. Even the intermediate hymn, was a women's only hymn... But, it was a good Sunday anyway. I got to teach Gospel principles on a topic that I am honestly not all that familiar with... Eternal Marriage. I did a pretty good job though, if I do say so myself.

The last interesting lesson we had this week was with a less active member. He doesn´t like receiving the missionaries in his house, and always takes them to this observatory tower that can look over like all of Formosa and into Paraguay. It was kind of cool, not your usual lesson. But, we did convince him to just try going to church again. And this Sunday he went, and said that he felt really good. So, I guess, mission accomplished. :) At least for now...

To answer Mom's last couple of questions. I think I will be with Elder Christofferson until the end of this transfer. Then I´m pretty sure that he will leave; he´s already been here for 7 months. And we get along really well. We actually have a lot in common, for better or worse. I think that´s all for the week... and, I gotta run!!

I love you all!!!
Matthew