Gardening with Machetes

Highlight of the Week: Service! We`re good at cleaning . . .Well, Hna. Quito is.

1. People in Paraguay garden with machetes. And plants grow so casually here and the gardeners are the same - very casual. We helped the branch president´s wife with some yard work the other day, and it was quite the experience - "let`s hack this back here, and throw that plant over there... there`s a pile of rocks in the back, let`s maybe put some around these plants (after hacked to size with the machete of course)" And they weed with machetes too! BYU grounds needs to look into this . . .

2. Piñas are my new favorite fruit. and here they are tiny and cute and the perfect size for one person :)

3. I now know the difference between Grace and Mercy . . . they`re really different. So if you don`t, look it up in the Bible Dictionary! It`s fascinating, I promise :) And 2 Nephi 9 is my current favorite chapter. There is SO MUCH in it! 

4. It`s hot. Stiflingly hot. And the only thing the members have to say about this is that December and January are hotter. . . (Nooooo!!) It`s a good thing I know what grace is. And faith. I`m going to need it.

6 weeks in Paraguay

Highlight of the Week: Mini reunion with my CCM companion - going all the way to Asuncion is a bit of a journey, but worth it!

Well, I`m about to finish 6 weeks in Paraguay! Woohoo! That means I have a brand new Ajenda (I`ve already got it decked out for Navidad, thanks to the 2010 December Liahona) and only 6 more weeks of training. Today I bought a Guarani/Español dictionary, we`ll see if it actually helps at all. I`m picking up on the Español, it`s coming. Guarani`s a little more difficult :)

I made an important discovery this week. Guava trees are in bloom. And they´re everywhere. And according to the members they`ll be in season in January (in time for my birthday! yay!)

We went to the lake last week for p-day and discovered a third variety of Mimosa pudica that we hadn`t known about before. Perhaps after my mission I`ll become the world`s leading expert on Mimosa pudica :)

This week was a little crazy. All of Wednesday was travely to and from Asuncion for an Examen. I wasn`t too keen on the idea of a test, especially one in Español, but I had fun with it (perhaps a little too much fun, but that`ll just even things out with my companion, cause I think she took it a little too seriously :) And I got to talk with the other newbies and compare stories and experiences. So Ypacarai seems to be in the middle of the spectrum when it comes to city and campo.

Funny story - Hna. Quito found a grey hair the other day. It`s probably my fault, but apparently it`s bad luck to pull them out, so it`s there to stay!

Aaaand in case it ever comes up, walrus in Español is morsa.

And morir and morar are two very different words. ´to die´ and ´to dwell´. I feel that maybe our conversations about where people live won`t be quite so confusing anymore :)

People in Paraguay are blunt. Or open, or something. They`ve got no reservations about commenting on weight, that`s for sure :) They ask me what I eat, and if I eat a lot, and have to tell them "I eat what you give me!" (which happens to be two huge platefulls of who knows what at lunch and nothing for dinner [which is ok, because usually I`m still working off lunch]) The Gospel is true. Meal time not so much.

I love Paraguay, and Ypacarai, and the Gospel, and people, and life in general :)

Hna. Houldridge

Divisions

Highlight of the Week: Divisions.

This week was crazy -  we had divisions on Thursday (that is such a strange word, Thursday. . . jueves :) and the couple missionaries in our district visited us on Friday. Divisions is when you swap companions with another companionship for a day, and it was up to me to find all our appointments because Hna. West isn`t familiar with our area, and believe it or not we didn`t get lost - even when we had to cut though a field because our usual path had become a small river :)

The weather here is crazy too. Wednesday was so hot and humid I could barely think straight, and then Thursday it poured all day long and was *almost* chilly. I`ll take the rain over the heat any day :)

My legs look like a war zone. If I forget repellent one day I`ve got a whole new set of bites.

The work is coming along - gotta love the Gospel! I memorized the first vision in Español this week! (about time)

Pictures in Paraguay

Here are some pictures of Hermana Houldridge sent to us by Elder and Sister Kelly.  The pictures had geo tag information that Rachel's dad looked up. 

 

Here is the link to where Rachel was when the pictures were taken.  (Click on "Here")

 

 

Mimosa Pudica

Highlight of the Week: Church again. We had an investigator come for all three hours (yay!)

I`ve figured out the shower in our house. So I feel like I`ve officially moved in now :)

Our dish soap is bubblegum scented. . . don`t ask me why

Chipa is fantastic. I`ll explain what it is later.

One of the members in our Rama (branch) showed me a few edible plants - I love Paraguay :)

Mimosa pudica grows like a weed here! It never ceases to amaze Hna. Quito

 

 

(Mimosa pudica, is a creeping annual or perennial herb often grown for its curiosity value: the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched or shaken.  Rachel brought a small one home last year.  They are fun to touch and watch them close up.)

 

 

I`ve managed to stumble across two bad words in all my fumbling in Español. . . can`t remember what they were, but I`m not going to forget how great the look was on Hna. Quito´s face :)

And one of these days I won`t be pressed for time, but today I am. Gotta love the Work :)

Third week in Paraguay

Highlight of the Week: Church. To see the people you teach come to church is better than Christmas :) 

It rained this week. I discovered that my raincoat is not a `be in the rain for 6 hours` kind of rain coat. But that`s ok, cause I`ve been humbled and will now bring an umbrella too :) 

With the rain came thunder. LOUD thunder. We were studying at the casa and all of a sudden there`s this deafening boom and everything got showered in brick dust from the wall. . . quite exciting. And apparently the week before I came they had a terrible hail storm that devastated the terracotta roofs, and even shot holes through the fiberglass stuff too. . . quite impressive. 

I was reading about Jonah in the Liahona and I`ve decided that my 32 hours of travel was a blessing compared to traveling by whale :) 

And I`ve found my favorite spot in all of Ypacarai - it`s this ancient grove of mango trees (Current Awesome Tree: Mango trees :)

Ypacarai: Y means water. pa means . . . stop I think. and carai is the name of a guy. So I think the story goes something like this: There was this town next to a lake, and a man, Carai, was really thirsty. So he began to drink the lake up. The villagers were afraid he`d drain the whole lake so . . . they told him to stop? I think. I don`t remember. Something like that :) At least that`s what I got out of what Hna. Quito told me. 

Well, perhaps next week I`ll figure out pictures :) 

I`m in Ypacarai

Highlight of the Week: General Conference! (in English, no less :)

Everyone who didn`t watch it, watch it now!

Ok, lo siento for the brevity. 

Everybody burns mango leaves here. They don`t compost aparently. 

I feel like I`ve kissed the cheeks of every woman in Paraguay :) 

I`m in Ypacarai - it`s Guarani. I`ll tell ya the story behind it next week. 

I`ve been using the "ok" hand gesture a lot because "esta bien" gets old, and my vocabulary is limited. . . but my Hna. Quito told me yesterday that it`s equivelant to the middle finger in Peru where she`s from. . . oops :) now I`m reduced to just a thumbs up :)

Aaaand I promise I`ll be more thorough next week - cause I`ve got all sorts of stories and plants to talk about :)