First Week!

Today at 9:17 AM

Well I don't really know where to start... my last week in the CCM was amazing. Elder Holland was able to give a fireside for the missionaries in Buenos Aires! there was over 900 missionaries there! it was amazing. We heard from his wife, and she is adorable!!! She has sooo much love, and such a sweet testimony! then we heard from HOLLAND!!! AMAZING!!! He just has a way to hit you with the Spirit!! It was such an amazing experience and is what I needed to hear. Well I don't remember if I told you that I had been praying that we would be able to hear from Elder Holland in the CCM and be able to meet him. I prayed everyday! And guess what... HE CAME!!! He ate lunch at the CCM with the other mission presidents and luckily he had time to talk to us for a bit! I really felt like he was just speaking to me. I have never felt the Spirit so Strong. I also couldn't help but cry the whole time. Then after we got to shake his hand and meet him! I was SO EXCITED!!! When it was finally my turn he grabbed my shoulder, shook my hand, and looked me in the eyes and told me that he loved me. I felt as though God was speaking through him and telling me that He loved me. I totally told Elder Holland that I loved him too! As soon as I went into the hall all the Hermanas came and hugged me! I was bawling! God really answers prayers, and meeting an Apostle was the happiest day of my life. I cant even describe my feelings. I wish I could call you all and tell you more details. It was amazing.

Well I am now in Paraguay. It is so different. Not sure how I feel about it right now.. It is like 100 degrees and it isn't even the hottest months yet. Everyone drives super crazy, and every time I am in a car I fear for my life. When we finally arrived my Mission President and wife picked us up. We drove to the Mission Office and ate lunch. Then we had a ton of meetings. We also got to visit the temple grounds and learn about the history of the church in Paraguay. Then we had a testimony meeting, and I bore my testimony in Spanish! Then we got to take some pictures at the temple before we attended a baptism! That was so cool! 4 people were baptized. All the new missionaries sang a special musical number for them. It was so cool! then we got to eat a hamburger sort of thing, which was REALLY good! After we all went to the hermanas house that we were staying at. It is crazy different. Super small, the walls are falling apart, the bathroom is nasty, there are bugs everywhere, and it is just dirty. But I lived! In the morning we went back to the office and had more meetings, surprise! Then the time finally came when we received our new companions! There was 4 North Americans and 3 Latinas. I was hoping for an American. They put the picture of the trainer on the screen, then the Greenie! I got an Latina that does not speak English. Her name is Hermana Santos. She is from Guatemala. She is super nice, it is really hard to communicate though. 

My house is about an hour away from Asuncion. Our area is in the middle of no where. We share our house with 2 other sisters. Luckily one of them is from California. Our house is supposedly one of the nicer houses. We don't have clean water, it is red half the time (from the dirt). Oh and that is if we have water, when it is really hot our water doesn't work. We don't have much, but it is way more than what the people we teach. I will try and send pictures sometime. The people here are very nice, but very poor. Our area is super poor. Most people don't have real houses. It is more like sticks and tarps or blankets or whatever they can find. There are no roads here. I walk on rocks everyday, it is like walking in a river bed. Some people have houses with actual walls, but they are very poor. The members feed us lunch, and everyday since I have been here I have had the same meal everyday, noodles and chicken. The members like to feed us plates full of food as big as my head! The first day I ate everything on my plate, and I felt like I was going to throw up! My companion was laughing at me because I ate everything! The members now know to feed me a lot less. They are all super nice though! We get to walk everywhere and it usually takes us an hour to get to houses from our house. My feet look and feel really good... It is also really hard to understand everyone because they don't speak correct Spanish, and they mix it with Guarani! So that is really fun... haha! I understand my companion though, which is good! I have learned so much Spanish, because that is all I do all day. It gets overwhelming at times though, and a little lonely. I pray for strength all day long. I though the CCM was hard... boy was I wrong. Everything is so different here. So poor. Hopefully next week we will have my first baptism though. We have lots of new investigators. The members are great. I am just living one day at a time. Thank you for all of your support and prayers. I love you all so much! Have a great week! 

Love, Hermana Sanders