Slow week/ Luis needs papers from Paraguay

Ha! O my goodness those anniversary pics are so funny! I wish I could have been there. OK this computer is making me really mad cuz this is the 3rd time iv written this letter and it keeps exiting out. GRRRR!!!! Anyway this week was way slow and kind of a bummer of a week. First off one of our best investigators dropped us. Remember a few weeks ago when we went to pick up Luis and fam? Well when they didn't come this girl Natalia showed up in church and she was golden. We were cruising toward her baptismal date until we got a message this week saying she doesn't want to hear our lessons anymore. So that made the week start off a little slow. Then another one of our golden investigators wont come to church, so now we have to move his baptism back a couple weeks. So ya it was just kind of a slow week. However one blessing we still have is Luis. Ha! He got the law of consecration this week in church. Poor guy is learning all the intense stuff first. No but hes awesome and we are trying to get his papers from Paraguay so he can be legal, marry his girl friend and be able to be baptized. Its difficult and we are not having much success. So if you all could pray for those papers we would be really grateful. I'm glad everything at home is good. Sorry this is a short letter.
Love
Elder Schupple

Baptism/ Luis stands against opposition / Conference

Wow sounds like everything is great over there in Chicago. This past week was really great first off because Maria´s (the convert in Quilmes) son is getting baptized so that just made the beginning of the week great to know that family is growing closer to being a celestial family. Next we had a great week preaching about conference and we were blessed because of our efforts. Almost the entire family of Luis came except his wife. So that was a bummer. But the good thing was that she prayed the last time we were over there. Something that was interesting was that Luis and Leandro his brother in law received a little bit of opposition for coming to our church. The way they described it was incredible what there friends were saying and then how they defended the book of Mormon and how they felt more peace in our church than any other place. It was something amazing for me. I just wanted to give them a hug after hearing that. So that was way cool. Another thing that started this week off great was as a zone we went to the temple and it was so great. I got a lot out of it and ya. Also how great was this last conference! I think I got more out of this past session than I ever have in all my life. Elder Eyrings talk was absolutely amazing. I don't remember crying so much in one conference. I think I cried like every talk but man it was so great. I think the prophet and apostles were trying to tell us that something difficult is coming and we need to prepare spiritually. The 2 main things i got out of the sessions were stay strong in the church, have faith that everything will be ok, be obedient, live worthily to receive the blessings heavenly father has for you, and when your having troubles with stuff go serve someone. The other thing was that we need to go to the temple more. In Chicago there is a temple very close. I pray that everyone that can go is going. I pray we are being obedient and living so Heavenly Father can bless us. Count your blessings, the virtual tour of your house in your mind is way cool. When I did it this is was I pictured: it was clean, the spirit was there and everyone was happy but then there was a little contention.
I love you all
elder schupple

Big guns scare/ Luis and the WoW

Wow sounds like a crazy week. OK first of all I am at the train station in a different area waiting for the trains to get fixed. The computer I am using is very expensive so I wont be here for long but when I get back to my area I'll be sure to send pics from this past week. If you happen to get this email before the next one with pics could you send me 2 recipes of American food and one recipe of a cake, just chocolate will be fine. We are having a international food missionary experiment that our bishop wants to do. So ya something other than pizza, hamburgers and regular stuff would be good cuz they have all the regular stuff. So ya I couldn't think of what to make. Thanks....oh and fluffy pancakes if you could :)

So this past week was pretty crazy for me too. Had some good stuff and bad stuff. First of all I went on exchanges with the zone leaders this past week and when we got to our lunch appointment, the lady feeding us was really shaken up and looked really worried. So we asked her what was wrong and she started telling us the story of her morning. Turns out she got a call from her sister that morning telling her that the night before her x-husband beat her and raped her, and at that moment she was trapped in the house with her x-husband cuz he wouldn't let her go. She wouldn't call the police cuz she was too scared. So when her nephew and boyfriend found out about this they were both furious with good reason, and both grabbed ¨big guns¨ and went to kill the x-husband. The sister who received the call, called the nephew and boyfriend and told them she escaped and went to the coast which is like 3 hours away. So instead of going to the house where the lady was trapped they headed to the coast. Which was smart cuz the boyfriend has a baptismal date and if he killed this guy that could cause some serious problems with the law and with the baptism. So we offered our help but there was nothing we could really do. So we left. We called back that night and it turns out she escaped and was with the police and lawyers. So that was a pretty crazy lunch appointment. In better news, Luis is awesome. The first week he went to church the gospel doctrine topic in class was the word of wisdom. This past week a talk was given on the same thing (we haven't taught the word of wisdom yet) so i was kinda nervous. That night we talked to him and he said that the week before he quit smoking (BY HIMSELF!) He is so awesome! We just have to get his papers from Paraguay so we can marry him and his live in girl friend Samantha and then get him baptized.

So do you remember that sweet villa? Well someone got shot and killed the other day right across the street from a couple of our investigators. So the next day we had an appointment with those investigators and we were a little hesitant at first but we figured there were people who wanted to hear our message so we went anyway. There were a lot of cops and everything so it was ok.

love you all elder schupple

Luis story, first talk in church in Spanish

Wow sounds like a lot is going on over there in the states and soon to be China. Congrats Dad and Brian on the business. And ya mom I would love to see engagement pics of my friends. Congrats to Brad and Kristin for moving the wedding date up. This past week was good. I found out a little about the life of Luis. To start off, we were at their house teaching lesson 2 and asked Luis to read a little paragraph. He read it a little slow but i thought it was fine. After he finished reading, the girl hes living with (not married yet...ya.. problem) laughed and said "Hey Luis when are you going to learn how to read?" Right away Elder Aponte and I started saying how he did a fine job reading it and stuff like that but shoot I couldn't believe she would say something like that in front of us and her whole family. So after the lesson Luis walked us to the bus stop cuz it was kinda late and that area isn't very safe at that time of night. So I decided to pry a little in his life. So I started asking him how long he knew and had been living with Samantha. He said for about 3 years. So I asked him why they didn't get married. He told me its cuz she didn't trust him because he didn't know his parents and because she didn't know if he would be a loving father (they already have a kid). When I heard that I couldnt believe it cuz he is seriously one of the greatest guys I've ever met. After that he began telling me about his life. How by the time he was five years old he lived in the streets of a city in Paraguay looking in dumpsters for food and looking for work. When he became a teenager got into drugs but quit when he was sixteen. He then lied about his age to join the army and said that was one of the best times of his life cuz they fed them so much. After that he moved here when he was 19, and found a job in construction working from 6 to 6 everyday except Sunday. He met Samantha and now they have a kid. Another reason they can't get married is because his papers are still in Paraguay (he cant get baptized until they get married and its extremely difficult to get papers from Paraguay, so everyone pray for that please). So ya I could hardly believe this poor guys life> Its a miracle the drugs, when he was so young, didn't mess him up. But ya hes great and he's grateful for everything.
In other news I gave my first talk in Spanish this past Sunday. It was about getting members to help the missionaries. I thought i did a good job.
Sorry no pics this week. Next week for sure.
love you all
Elder Schupple