Merry Christmas

Highlight of the Week: Getting my new Ajenda, and about a million letters from home ( Love new ajendas, and letters :)

Bueno. I know I promised more this week. And last week. And next week I won`t be writing because I`ll be talking with my family (Yay!!!) so I`m not making any promises about next week or the week after :)

Ok. The guavas are getting bigger. So excited.
And I tried a strange fruit called ýbapo´o. it`s slimy.
And I tried another strange fruit. Don`t have a name for that one.
And I tried a starfruit for the first time! I may or may not have found that one in the streets of Asuncion. . . I washed it really well, I promise!

Ok. Merry Christmas. Think of Christ! He is SO IMPORTANT!!!

Virgin de Caacupé

Highlight of the Week: Hosting the Hermanas de Caacupe

I found cocoa powder! AND chocolate chips! There are hidden blessings in giving up P-day to sign legal papers in Asuncion :) 

 

And all of Paraguay walked to Caacupe to pay tribute to the Virgin de Caacupe yesterday. Except us, of course - we had divisions with the hermanas de Caacupe for three days cause they couldn`t go out in their area due to the crowds. 

 

I`ll explain more next week sobre this grand Paraguayan festival. 

The convert

Highlight of the Week: Thunderstorms - so cool (when you´re inside :) 

Joaquin got confirmed! Aaaaand then we lost our new convert. He´s got health problems, so he can´t walk to church (so he told us), so we´ve been really on top of having rides to and from the chapel for him.  And this Sunday was no exception. . . except we´re really busy after church and such, and it was some time before we realized that the branch president (our planned ride for Hno. Joaquin) was still there, but Joaquin wasn´t. And none of the members knew who had taken him home (or IF he´d been taken home). So we started to worry (not panic. . . just worry :) and set out to find him. It´s a good 15 minute walk (missionary pace) to Joaquin´s house, and the whole way we were trying to figure out what could have possibly happened. I came to the conclusion that he was so close to perfection that all he needed was to be confirmed and then the Lord translated him :) Hna. Quito didn´t buy it. Turns out Joaquin can walk to the church (at least home from the church) and we didn´t lose our new convert after all :) He´s well and living, not yet translated, but baptized and confirmed :) 

Well, I don´t have time to write more, and I can´t respond to individual emails this week either. Sorry. But just wait for next week! :) 

Pata de Vaca

Highlight of the Week: Divisions with the Sister Leaders - I love our Sister Leaders 

Joaquin got baptized! And then couldn`t make it to church to be confirmed yesterday. :( So nothing´s official yet, but next week it will be!

And eating horse last week has NOTHING on this week`s 'lunch of the week' : Pata de Vaca, or Cow Foot. There is no need for any other explanation. The name says it all. I ate the foot of a cow. With beans and gravy, of course :) Not sure I`ll ever be able to look at cows  the same way again. 

And the scriptural discovery of the week is that there's a typo in Luke 7:39 (at least in my edition of the scriptures - lo siento all you digital scripture users, you don`t get to enjoy this discovery with the rest of us)

Aaaaand more next week. Out of time. 

Adios, Buenas Tardes

Highlight of the Week: Torrents upon torrents of rain. . . for 10 minutes :)

I´ve decided the theme song for contacting in Paraguay is that one Beetles song that goes, "You say goodbye, I say hello". Everyone here uses 'Adios' as much as anything else when passing people in the street, and as missionaries we use 'buenas tardes' (it's a little more open and inviting)

I think I ate horse. I`m not sure. That`s what they said it was at least. Not all that bad actually :)

And I just know I`m going to come home speaking a spanish that no one else will understand, with a fair amount of Guarani mixed in there :) I just discovered this week that 'sarambi' (disorder) is not spanish. Niether is 'háke' (careful).

And if all goes well we`re going to have a baptism this Saturday! Juaquin came to church with us for the third time yesterday! (yay!!!) More on that next week :) 

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