Jan. 25, 2016

Well family..... Im off to ciudad. AHHHHHHHHH WHAT?!??!?! hahhaha lets start from the beginning! 

so earlier this week... what even happened... beginning with a lot of running around a lot of work. some of the miracles that happened this week were with our family of investigators. Sandra, emiliano, rosa and selena! WOW. im dying they are soo cool. sooo after coming to church on sunday we went by for our cita and lets just say that every lesson that we have had with her has been spectacular. wow. im talking powerhouse of spìrit. we were able to set a bautismal date with her for the 20 of february. she is super excited... sooo prepared. 

Thursday we had our interviews with president... he talked all about the area about what we can do in order to involve the members more and how to help our investigators... soooo lets just say after this interview i thought im staying SI O SI.... FOR SURE. Hermana Santos and I were seriously super excited to get to work.... which later we went for sandra and holy cow i am talking about every worry and every obstacle that we had with her was answered every prayer.... 

1. we didnt know if she was married or not and how they were going to feel with the law of chastity.... 

But in the middle of the charla she just soo happened to ask our views on marriage and that her and her novio werent married and that they were wanting to make this commitment to each other.. I WAS DYING!!!! HOLY COW.....

2. its really hard to find her husband and so we have a hard time teaching him... 

president gave us the idea to have her teach him... when we asked her to do that... GUESS WHAT?!?!?! she was already doing it!!!!

HOLY COW THIS LADY IS AWESOME! 

3. we were a little bit worried that it was just her that wanted to get baptized... (igual but it would be awesome if she took this step WITH her family) 

In the charla she just kept telling us that htis was important to her family! that her husband was excited and really liked the church!!! 

AHHHHHHH ANSWERS TOO PRAYERS A FULLLLLL. I know that heavenly father answers our prayers!!! This is his work!!! I know that he is preaparing people!!! people like sandra.... 

but just as i was high off my interview i was excited to work hard and was 100% sure that i was going to stay! then... monday came and IM LEAVING ENCARN.... 

CIUDAD DEL ESTE BARRIO 1 with hermana newell.... ANOTHER GREENGA!!!!! 

1.... we are opening a new area.... WHITE WASH..

2... we are hermana leaders!!! which is fun that we are going to build that area from ground 0.  hashtag double whamie

im a little nervous not knowing how we are going to find our way around and granted it is the centro.... but its going to be fun! there havent been sisters there for a really long time. next time i talk to you guys ill be speaking guarani portuguese and possibly spanish... hahahha no kidding but im super excited another adventure coming my way!

Its crazy to think that heavenly father has a plan for each one of us! its almost like in the mission you can see it more and more! but i know that heavenly father is inspiring every single one of us and shaping our lives. Im soo grateful for the mission i am so greatful for the things that i have learned and for the chance to be here. I love this gospel and this time in my life that i have to teach the people here in paraguay!!

i love you all pray for me this week.... im going to need it :/ hahahha 

xoxoxo keep the faith 

hermana pitts

Jan. 18, 2016

 I feel like every missionary letter that i have read has said week of miracles.. but heavenly father is just blessing every single one of us no matter where we are at!... especially here in encarn this week... WOW. where to even begin... i feel like weeks are just blurrs now.. like i dont even know what happened... but everything is really good here in encarn.

to start it off monday wow... so we find out that this menos activa that is here for vacations that lives like 20 hours away by bus in the middle of no where who has been here for the past 3 months... her granddaughter who is 9 wants to be baptized..... well as missionaries that is probably the best news you could hear... soo we ran around trying to figure out how we can help her get baptized before she leaves next week.... it gets better.

luckily (said with lots of sarcasm) she lives 45 MINUTES AWAY!!!!! like 5 km walking TO her house... hahahha so we were running around this week trying to visit our investigators contacts and help nicole!  but because she is here for vactations and she has 9 years she has to have the permission of her parents in order to be baptized... and so long story short all week long we were waiting for word whether she was going to recieve permission or not...

her parents said no. Im soo sad. they want to be there for the baptism so they think that it is better to wait until the winter. and lets just say there is nothing worse to hear as a missionary that all your efforts were turned down and that someone doesnt want to take the steps to baptism in that moment! but i know that its in the plan of heavenly father he knows our hearts and what is best for us!

anyways... sooo throughout the week we were really focusing in nicole but we found a full of new investigators sooo crazy more than i have ever found in a week! I was soo happy.... wow. its the best feeling when someone says that they want to learn more!!!! im excited because a few i feel are going to progress...... but ok i dont even know what i am saying just jumpìng all over the place. we just had a really crazy busy week! we have this hermana in our zone that got hit by a moto.... she is in the pension for the next couple weeks.. so as hermana leaders we made a schedule that there will be hermanas in their area for the next few weeks so that their area doesnt fall! sooo we have been crazy traveling back and forth in their area then back in ours. but ok ok ok......

YESTERDAY!!! MIRACLES GALORE!!!!!! wow soooo we were expecting this niña to be in the church but she was sick... so we were thinking ahhhh what are we going to do we arent going to reach our goal... when we thought lets invite this family of investigators that we found..... THEY CAME!!!! ahhhhh we had a family in churhc!!! a real family... a mom a dad and 2 daughters 8 and 10!!!! I WAS DYING!!!! SERIOUSLY DYING!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sooo awesome! they absolutely loved churhc and everything and said that they wanted to come back next week that they were going to come back early from their abuelas to come to church!!! ahhhhhh im soo hapoy and afterwards we talked to them and the mom told us that she and her daughters have never been baptized and that they want to be baptized becuase the bible says so... sooo tomorrow we have a cita with them... and we are going to invite them to be baptized!!!! ahhh i know that heavenly father has prepared them!! that with every trial that we face there is a bright sun around the corner!!!

 ahhhh i really want to help sandra emiliano and their 2 daughters to take this step in their live and see the happiness that comes from living the gospel! i love this gospel... wow do i love this gospel. it seriously is the way to be happy. I know that it is true. HEAVNELY FATHER IS SOOOOOOOOOO MERCIFUL!!!! he is soooo good! he loves us soo much and knows the things that we need! i love you all and hope your week and your sunday were as good as mine! i love you so much keep praying for me for these people to open their hearts to accept this gospel!

KEEP THE FAITH!!!

xoxoxox hermana pitts 

Jan. 11, 2016

another week... how crazy is this... i swear it was just christmas and now we are almost halfway through january! double digits. 

but this week we went to posadas for consejo!!! lets just say it was super bitter sweet.... i had to say goodbye to hermana wilson who is heading home this transfer! it seems like just yesterday we were together in ituzaingo! finishing up my training and now we are 6 months outside of that and life hasnt changed much! hahah i still feel new. but im getting old. 

but while in posadas we had our consejo about what we can do to change the mentality of the mission and change the faith of our missionaries it was seriously a consejo counseling back and forth about what we can do in order to help our zones to progress more and achieve the goals that we set! this is one thing that i am grateful that i am learning right now in my life! how to set goals and achieve them! its definitely something that is hard... to know what things are possible and logical but also how to push yourself and when you have a big goal to make what little steps you have to take in order to achieve that goal. as a mission we are focusing a lot on faith!!! and my zone this month has decided that we are going to focus on exercising that faith by following the spirit! relying more on the strength of the lord than on our own! 

i love this!!!! i think that it is something that we all can work on... including the lord in everything that we do!!!! we have to learn how to rely on him even when times are easy! its really easy to do it when we have a basket full of challenges and trials but when its smooth sailing we have to learn how to include him more in our lives.. that is how we are going to get to know him! 

but as for our goals.. we are still working out how we can have more animo and more faith. how we can recieve the revelation that we need. but anyways we are working with a few awesome people right now! 

victoria, fatima and sandra. 

victoria is AWESOME!!! she is practically fluent in english she is 20 years old and was a reference from her dad!!! she believes in god but she doesnt see the importance of a church! but this week... it was super cool.. this week we went to visit her while on divisions with hermana la pierre!!! awww this was seriously the coolest thing of my life.. because hermana la pierre has great spanish but its been really hard for her. she is amazing but she has a hard time anyways... with vicky she got to bear her testimony in english!!! it was seriously sooo amazing!!! just about how she joined the church and how much this gospel means to her! but anyways... PRAY FOR VICTORIA!!! we really need help to get her to come to church. she is really interested in the story about jospeh smith she has promised us to a least come to chruch!!! soooo fingers crossed this week!!!

Fatima... wow. THIS GIRL IS PREPARED! fatima was a reference from another missionary that found her on the bus... taught her lesson 1 and imediately she asked for a book of mormon which this hermana didnt have... so she got her number for us to give her one.. when we came to her house she and her friend were there and they were super awesome!!! she kept tellig us that she has calor frias or goosebumps!!! I just kept saying that is the spirit!!!! but the problem with fatima is that she is hard to get a hold of!!! but super cool. i love sharing the restoration with people and them realizing the spirit that comes from it!! THE SPIRIT IS SOOOO STRONG!!! it builds my testimony that truly jospeh smith saw heavenly father and christ that spring day in the sacred grove!! 

and then sandra.. we dont really know her super well but it was a miracle how we found her!!! sooo im excited to see where it goes. she has these 2 adorable little girls that are always screaming hermanas!!! i love them!!!! they run up to us and give us these huge hugs around our waists and always want us to visit there mom who is never home... anyways. thrusday we practically went to every single person that we could think of... and NO ONE WAS HOME. we were tired and probably had walked like 10 miles hahah no just kidding but a lot... and we were exhausted... the end of the night.. we decided to contact this set of alquilers... when we found sandra!!! the mom of these little girls!! and she just kept telling us how much she wanted her daughters to grow up different than how she did... in a house with god. a house built on the teachings from a church! It was super cool. 

These were some of our experiences with the spirit this week. I am ready to exereice more faith and see what miracles heavenly father has in store for us!!! I know that he is in our lives and i am soo grateful to be able to represent him here in encarnacion! i know that even though its hard that everything has a purpose and that it is part of his plan! I love sharing the gospel and even though im tired and sometimes my faith dwindles i know that he is shaping me and this area to be what he wants it to be.. what he needs it to be! 

i love you guys have the best week... 

keep the faith. 

xoxoxoxo hermana pitts 

Jan. 4, 2016


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alison Pitts <alison.pitts@myldsmail.net>
Date: Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 1:44 PM
Subject: hace 2 dias..
To: Melisa Pitts <melisa.pitts@comcast.net>

hahaha hola otra vez familia.... not much has happened in these past few days! hahahah we had this weird thing where our pday was friday because of the holiday and then again on monday! sooo its been a really short few days.... 

REALLY HOT! holy hannah... lets just say that its about 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity.. ok.. so for some of you like sare. thats nothing. hahahah but for al pal thats really hot! im missing my ski days right now! hahah big greg better save a few for me when i get back december 2016! but i love this whole new year! 

with the new year we can always well bueno... really we have the chance to start over whenever we want with the atonement... but too the new year is awesome because it is an excuse to start a new!!! but its a fresh start a clean slate!!! i love that! we can look forward and shake the dust off of our feet! But i am so grateful for our savior that allows us to change! wow seriously what a blessing! we are soo lucky to have a heavenly father that loves us so much that he gave us his son! he gave us a savior, someone that suffered so that we could start over again whenever we want to! its incredible! Im so grateful for this mission... although its hard... there are days when i wake up and think AGAIN????.... really??? but there is never a day that i regret! i love this opportunity to represent my savior and to help other people experience this new start! that people can change!!!

Change is soo good... even though we talk about it being hard. Ill tell you the secret! when things are hard... THEY ARE GOOD!!!!! it means that we are progressing! if we stayed in the same spot doing the same thing how boring would life be... and how would we ever progress to become like our father in heaven?!?!? it would be impossible! that is why change is soo great, its that we have the opportunity to become more like our heavenly father! we cant do it any other way!!! that is why i am here in the mission. i am learning and changing and growing and even though i am still leaps and bounds from where heavenly father and our savior are... I know that i am one step closer than i was 6 months ago... wait... i have almost 8 months now hahahahahha ok one step closer than i was 8 months ago! but really honestly i am so greatful for every single one of your examples... 

Remember that we have the chance to change! I love you guys and hope you have a great week..

keep the faith

hasta luego,

xoxoxo hermana pitts 

ps.... PLEASE SEND PICS!!!! I LOVE THEM!! AND IM DOING A PROJECT!!!!! SOO SEND THEM SO I CAN PRINT THEM OFF!!!

Jan. 1, 2016

WHAT A WEEK..... sooooo good to talk to all of you last week... i swear skype is super weird. I FELT LIKE IT WASNT REAL... hahahah but i am so glad that you are all doing good and i hope you had a great navidad and new years! but lets see.... where do i even begin... I pretty much have to put 2 letters into one hahahah but anyways!

Last week was christmas and yes we were in a house of a member which was awesome and then because everyone here is a little bit tipsy our pdays were the holidays which is why i am writing you guys today! but yeah... so CHRISTMAS WAS BOMB!!!! ahhhhh seriously we had a devotional with president a cena with the rama and the whole enchilada. IT was super good.. one that i will always remember. but the monday after christmas we were kinda expecting some type of emergency transfer because 2 weeks ago when we were supposed to have transfers practically no one left! and so there were lots of rumors that president was going to do some changes after the holidays... 

Monday we recieved the call.... HOLY COW. I was dying I NOW HAVE A NEW BRAZILERA COMPANION!!!!!!! Soooo back story.. There is this hermana, hermana santos that i met a few months ago and i was dying first of all she was beautiful... 2 we started talking and we just had like a million things in common... and we just looked at each other and said one day WE HAVE TO BE COMPANIONS...Monday the leaders called us and told us the cambios.... HERMANA SANTOS WITH HERMANA PITTS IN RAMA 1. I almost cried. Lets just say I am REALLLLLLL excited to work right now! 

But so it was emergency transfers soo we were up all night packing and cleaning monday to leave tuesday!!! tuesday hermana santos came, but hermana woolf had to stay one more day becuase of her travel comps that had to cross and were having problems! but anyways... we finally got her sent off to ciudad del este and i was beyond giddy to start working with hermana santos.

But these past couple of days have been a whirl wind... a lot of contacting... a lot of cancelled appointments because this is the festival time... EVERYONE IS TRAVELLING. but igual... im excited for these next couple of weeks... me and hermana santos will be hermana leaders for this transfer, which is awesome! 

But lets seee.... really i am doing great now. im super excited! a few awesome things about hermana santos...

1. she is teaching me portuguese. estou aprendendo portuges muito 

(bom dia..... jajajaj cada manana when we wake up!)

2. she loves to do her hair!!!!! MIRACLES HAPPEN WHEN YOU BELIEVE!!!!!

3. she loves to shop..

4. she is hermana pitts as a brazilian.

But i want you all to know how grateful i am to have spent those few months with hermana woolf.. although it was hard I LEARNED A FULLLLLLL. seriously i learned how important prayer is... and how sometimes we have to sacrafice the things that we want for the plan of heavenly father. I love this mission with all my heart and even though sometimes i just think the things i am doing arent making a difference.. heavenly father knows. He knows what we are going though and with every hard moment there is a sweet one just around the corner. I love you guys soo much seriously i dont know where i would be without you guys. i know that this church is true this gospel is everything... and we must do everythin in our power to get back to our eternal home togther. that is why i am here... i came on the mission to learn more about this divine plan and how important it is in our lives... i learn it everyday! hahahhaha i love you 

keep the faith and have the best week.

xoxoxo hermana pitts 

Dec. 14, 2015

1.... que los cumpla feliz a mama mel!!!!!!! woohoooooooooo getting older and wiser and all the more beautiful hahahahah but..... 

Well im spending christmas in encarn!!! im soooo happy! but this week has been strangely fast... its always that way when changes are coming... BUT PRESIDENT SUPRISED US! soooooooo crazy... ok im sorry im every where!

but lets take it day by day.. hahaha

bueno. Lunes and Martes we were in posadas for consejo. WOW. I love consejo... we had elder salas from the seventy talk to us through skype... about ideas of how to help the mission progress. IT WAS AMAZING... HE TALKED ABOUT ANIMO AND FE! How connected they are! when we have faith we have this vigor for life and for living the gospel or for us missionaries sharing the gospel! but how when we exercise our faith we develop this excitement for everything!  It did get me a little stressed hahahahh but one day one week at a time. my animo and fe wont come all at once!

but wednesday thrusday and friday were awesome work days.. i forgot my old planner sooo i couldnt tell you what we did hahahah its true when people say that the days are long but the weeks are a blur. i seriously dont know exactly what we did other than contacting BECAUSE WE FOUND 7 NUEVOS!!!! and 7 BOMB NUEVOS!!!! im freakin pumped!!!! ahhhhhhhhh ANIMO ES REAL. pero.... saturday we CAROLED as a ZONE!!!!! it was really cool! hahaha we went down to the coastanera and spread a little christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear hahhahahah!!!! but we made posters and sang and i wish that i had taken pictures but i had forgotten my camera... but we had tinsel around our necks and santa claus hats... SOOOOOO lets just say we were a sight to see. hahahah a bunch of greengos.... singing noche de luz a billion times.

SUNDAY...... WAS seriously the biggest rainstorm that i have ever seen. Sunday morning was rough because with soo much rain there was hardly any buses and no way for people to come to church.... it was soo humbling to see people sacrafice sometimes walking without an umbrella all the way to the chruch.. it makes me so grateful that in my small town in utah we never have this obstacle. But anyways it was soooo sad because by 3 it was clear skys and sunny... but god has a plan. anyways! we got to watch the christmas devotional later that afternoon. I LOVED IT.... Making me a little bit homesick looking at all the christmas decorations. but Igual. ahhahaha

but the reason that i didnt write yesterday is because the power was out in the whole city almost the entire day sooo no cybers were open. hgahhahah the life in paraguay! but anyways WE HAD A WEE BIT OF A SURPRISE!!!! yesterday was cambios!!!!!!! but...... president decided that he wasnt going to change people until after the navidad... sooo he only did enough changes to fill in the spots of misisonaries leaving and coming... so in the entire mission there were only about 5 missionaries that changed companions... THE RUMOR IS... that he is going to do a big "emergency change" after the navidad. SOOOOO... WE ARE STAYING!!!! WE will be staying here for the navidad! which will be good.. but im nervous to find out what is going to happen in just soo little time... 2 more weeks... and then we will have another short 4 week transfer! hahhah but its crazy... but it was weird... this is weird... but it will be good! me and hermana woolf are already planning our navidad!!! hahahahhahah IM SOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!

this time of year is seriously the best... we have the chance to reflect so much in our savior. I was reading the conference talk by elder lawrence today.. in spanish it is called que me falta pero i have no idea what it is called in english! but its super good... i was reading that along with alma 56 about the armies of helaman. I really like them... talking about. This talk was about how we all have a something that we lack... that impedes us from progressing and sometimes we have to humble ourselves and ask heavenly father and through the spirit he will tell us! I was connecting that to the story in alma 56... these young men were soo faithful and sooo strong haciendo milagros because they were completely open and willing to change for the lord... they didnt let anything stop them... they were humble and willing to do what the lord asked because they knew that that was the only way to be freed and to be" delievered" The end of the year... christmas... its such a time of reflection! This year this week i am going to find that thing that i can sacrifice for my savior... as i remember his birth and all he did for me! my invitation is for all of you to do the same!!!! pray ask heavenly father and find that thing that we can sacrifice to be a little bit more like our savior and i pray that all of you will be willing to change it! That is the purpose of this life!!! TO CHANGE!!!!!!! to become more like our heavenly father!!!

i love you all have the best week ever!!!

xoxoxox keep the faith and a happy merry christmas

feliz navidad y feliz cumpleanos a mama mel y aunt merilee this friday!!!

xoxoxoxo hermana pitts 

Dec. 7, 2015

HAHAHAHAH I cannot believe that it is december... seriously there are chirstmas lights and arboles de la navidad por todos lados... but there is one thing missing.. SNOW. hhahahha we are here just sweating. hahahah but I love it. WHAT IS UP?? CHE ZU(mom in guarani)...CHE RU.( dad in guarani) ..Mis hermanitas...  family friends... aquatinances... hahahah This week has been seriously AMAZING! 

Its weeks like this where i absolutely love being a missionary! hahahah surprisingly it was another heavy contacting week but i think what made the difference is that we decided to sing christmas carols this week for EVERYONE! We did have some really interesting experiences with some drunks...but igual. hahahahha thats a story for when i return! hahahh but we found 2 amazing nuevos that i am just dying to meet with again. BOTH ARE 19!!!!! I AM 19!!! its perfect! hahahha but seriously... i have never felt a spirit like that before. 

Numero 1.. MARIA! We found her tocando puertas when we had an extra half hour before una charla. anyways... We testified and left. It was seriously such a powerful experience. hahah but she is living alone in encarn and hasnt seen her parents for 8 months... i just thought are we living a double life??? ahhahah she kept telling us howmuch she missed her mom... and i just kept thinking...wow.... WE ARE THE SAME PERSON! hahahha we are going back tomorrow! 

numero 2- Tamila. Wow.... lets just say that unlike maria we are living complete opposite lives... hahahha she is19 and living with her novio and their son...that is only 2 months old and is seriously the prettiest baby i have ever seen!!!! ahhhhhhhhh but She has never been to a church and never prayed in her life. its amazing... and for here in encarn that is likefinding a needle in a haystack....SOOO RARE!!! someone whose realtionship with our heavenly father is just starting togrow! We are going to return on wednesday! 

Anyways... today and tomorrow we are in posadas for the consejo de los lideres!!! so right now we are in posadas writing! hahahah i miss paraguay. 

but 

One thing that i have been thinking about this week...is how are experiences really shape who we are! Its crazy... like they shape our personalities our outlooks... our opinions. Its crazy! but looking at these 2 new investigators that are the same age and are sooo completely different.They have experiences that have made them the way they are! It is the same for me. MY EXPERIENCES HERE ARE CHANGING ME FOREVER!!!! It soooo crazy tothink backto where i was a year ago...I was getting my mission call!!! and now i am in paraguay! hahahhhh but i have changed... my relationship with my savior is stronger..I understand the importance of listening to the spirit.. and how powerful the book of mormon is. Like seriously we can never stop reading that book. IT IS THE KEY!!!! but i still have a long way to go...a long way until i am like my saviorand i am the type of person that i want to be.BUT ITS OUR EXPERIENCES!!!! This week hermana woolf and i were talking about things that have happened in our lives..learning about who she was completely changed my view ofher! I know that she has been through things that i willnever understand. BUT SHE IS AMAZING!!!! She has so many talents and abilities and experiences that make her the person that she is! I know that heavenly father shapes us through our experiences into the type of people that we need to be! I challenge all of you to look at your experiences your trials that you are experiences andjust think...how can I learn fromthis?? 

I love you all! have the best week ever. 

keep the faith always.

pray like you never have before

xoxoxoxo hermana pitts