4 dates set

Alright, sorry I only had a little while earlier in the day to send a quick message, but now I will write the actual email. Well this week has been good. My companion and I are getting a long really well, and don't really have any problems. It's so nice having a companion that actually wants to work and serve the Lord. We have been seeing a lot of success and progress in the branch here with the change that we have already had together, and I know the lord is blessing us for our work here. We have 4 with baptismal dates right now. One is Yessica, the daughter of a less active member that is now attending church. She will be baptized this coming Saturday. We have Roberto and Brigida that have one for the 21, the saturday after that. We have been teaching them for a while, and they are doing really well. They are still a little unsure about the baptism, but they are progressing, and I know that they will feel ready by the 21. We also have another one named Lorena, she is the neice of Liliana, and she has a date for the 4th of June. We have seen a lot of progress in the branch for the most part. We pretty much had to start from nothing when we got here, but for the first time this week we didn't have to give the talks in the sacrament meeting. The members that gave the talks apparently didn't know that we don't ask questions in sacrament talks, so they did exactly that. They asked questions, and the worst part, is that the congregation answered! We still have a lot of work to do. We have three people that actually have callings now, so that is pretty good compared to the 0 when we got here. Liliana and José are doing really well still. They have kept going to church every week without fail. Liliana already has a calling, and we gave José a shirt and tie so now he has been able to pass the sacrament a couple of times. It is really awesome seeing how much they have progressed. I don't know if you remember, but they had been at the point of seperating before the day of their marriage, and now they are both very happily married. It is something that has built my testimony to see what the Gospel does to help families become more happy. I know that the Lord has blessed them for being faithful in the church. As long as they stay faithful for the next year, I will be able to enter in the temple with them for their marriage! I'm so excited to be able to have a convert that will get sealed in the temple. The 200 year aniversary of Paraguay is on the 15th of this month. There are going to be lots of parades and celebrations, but I am outside of asunción, so I doubt we'll see that much here. Here in Paraguay, they have the custom of kissing people on both cheeks to greet each other. When we went to one house the other day, a girl tried to do it to me, which surprisingly was the first time that has happened to me. We shook hands first and then she tried to, so I just stiffened my arm and she backed off before she did it. Fortunately we can't do that as missionaries, but it made for an awkward situation. The singing of the hymns is... not so good. I am literally the only person that knows how to sing (on tune or on beat) in the entire branch. My companion is a little tone deaf, so I pretty much have to sing as loud as I can to keep it a little bit on tune, and at the right beat. I think we definitely beat your guys's ward choir. ;) Well it was so nice to hear and talk with you all again, the 40 minutes just flew by. I can't believe that's already the second time we have talked. The time is passing by way to fast on the mission. I don't feel like I should already be getting to one year in the misison. I still have way too much to learn and mature. Well I'll talk to you next week. Tell Jeni, Taylor and Ali sorry I haven't written them very well. We only have an hour to write the family and the president, so I don't really have enough time to do it. Well I'll talk to you next week. Love you guys tons!!!! Thanks for your love and support. -Elder Ryan Griffin