Laundry

Highlight of the Week: Intercambios with the Sister Leaders! (there`s life outside of Monte Lindo?! :)

I`ve decided to learn how to do my own laundry (ok, ok, I know how, I just don`t like spending my p-day time doing it. . . ) we`ll see how that goes :) And we had 4 investigators come to church this week!!! We`re working aful to get them all baptized before the end of the month. We`ll see what happens :) 

Sorry it`s short this week!  

Paraguay Asuncion Temple

 

 

 

(Rachel's May 5th letter)
 

Highlight of the Week: Going to the Temple. Totally worth the crazy bus ride and lack lunch time. 

 

Ah! The temple is so amazing! The Paraguay Asuncion temple is really small (I think it`s the same design as the Columbus Ohio temple) but absolutely beautiful, and exactly what I needed to re-focus my eternal perspective. 

 

Noteworthy items of the week include:

 

2 chicas (12 and 13 years old) from Caaguazu moved into our ward this week. They`re on the brink of being baptized, and I`m pretty sure the elders in Caaguazu are a little distressed. But we`re going to take good care of them, promise :) They definitely test my language skills though. . . they talk faster in Español than I can think in English (let alone Spanish :) 

 

Overheard the Backstreet Boys yesterday. Good stuff :) Also Stereo Hearts. . . I told my companion I know every single word. She thinks I was rebellious before the mission :) 

 

ok, humor the geekiness, just for a little bit :)

 

"Which chapter in Alma explains the purpose of life, the universe, and everything?" 42!!! :) 

Visitor's center

(Rachel's April 28th letter)
Highlight of the Week: Centro de Visitantes en la Capilla! (we made the church into a mini Visitor`s Center)
 



all of the missionari​es that helped out with the visitors center in the chapel

Before I got my call, when I first began thinking of going on a mission, I had this fear that I`d get called to be a Visitor´s Cener missionary. But I`m pretty convinced now that I would love it. It`s challenging, hard work, and I`ll admit I`d need a lot more practice if I were to do it full time. In a visitors center you only get a limited amount of time to help your visitors feel the spirit and learn something. And they come in groups, so it takes a lot of skill and tact to meet the needs of every individual. . . but it`s so great! We got to teach nearly all the lessons in about 10 minutes, and the members were bringing in the people! yes! Pretty much a fantastic activity.
 

Nosotros y el Cristus!

 

This week I discovered:

 how to make Pomelo slushies this week. (grapefruit. . . mas o menos)

a deep passion for shining my shoes. . . (who knew it could be so fun?)  

 that jump-roping (how do you spell that?) is great when your companion can`t run and you`re sick of ab-workouts. 

And we get to go to the Temple tomorrow! There are no words (not in English, Español, nor Guarani) that can express how happy we are to go :)

 

A lot of the women of Monte Lindo. . . this photo`s a few months old. . .

my companion Hna. Zuñiga in the middle of Calle Ultima :)

Eating chipa for Easter. . . it`s a little tough on the teeth, but hey, tradition :)

Easter - Semana Santa

Highlight of the Week: Boda y Baptismo! 

Ok, it wasn`t our baptism, but the elders in our ward had a wedding and baptism this Saturday, and it was great - we even managed to drain the font the day after too, so we won`t have to deep clean it before the next baptism. . . :) 

Easter (day) in Paraguay is. . . well, kind of normal. What they celebrate here is Semana Santa. Holy Week. I think it begins Monday, Lunes Santo. And lasts till Sunday (Pascua). Nobody has school, everyone`s on vacation in el Campo visiting family, and Viernes Santo is the holiest of the holy days, and NOBODY is in the streets. The colectivos don`t run, nothing is open. . . everything`s quiet.  And everyone eats chipa and sopa paraguayo. Homemade chipa`s a little tough, but it`s good. . . I much prefer the sopa paraguayo (kind of like cornbread, not at all like soup). 

We saw the biggest caterpillar EVER this week. It was as big around as my thumb. Kind of scary, but really cool. And it was outside, so todo tranquilo :)

We have cambios tomorrow, but I don`t think we`ll be changing. You never know, but I`m guessing we`re staying put. 

Favorite escritura ahora: Alma 7:10-13

cold toes

Highlight of the week: cold toes :)

I think we might be able to safely say that we're beginning winter here in Paraguay. Or maybe this is just what fall is like here. . . but it's been cold enough to wear a sweatshirt at night and want hot cereal for breakfast and I am so happy :) I feel like Christmas is around the corner. . . :)

I have made it a goal to baptize our neighbors: Antonio and Graciela: They collect and sell chatarra (scrap metal and . . . junk) and they are probably the most interesting people I have ever talked to. Antonio studied for a year with monks. He learned English from a short; redheaded Irish man. He's read the book of Mormon cover to cover. He mines for gems every now and then somewhere far away in the outskirts of Paraguay. And I really believe he actually did all of this. Graciela doesn't talk much. And their three year old son is just full of smiles and only speaks Guaraní. Yep, we're gonna baptize them; just you wait and see :)

Love you guys!

General Conference

Highlight of the Week: General Conference. Hands down. 

Nooooo!!!! I have to wait 6 MONTHS for the next Conferencia General?! It`s a good thing we`ll be getting the Liahona in a month or so :) Conference is so great. A little more stressful when the two hour break in between is spent speedwalking all over tarnation in who-knows-how-many-degrees Celsius trying to convince investigators and the less active that it really will be worth it to watch. But still amazing. 

I`m learning that pure Guarani is really complicated to learn from a dictionary. And that the word ´thunder´ is just full of hard to pronounce sounds for the general latino public, and that all of Paraguay is planted with Pomelos, but I don`t know why because they are so bitter! Grapefruit juice makes me sneeze. Like dark chocolate. 

We contacted a Paraguayan Messianic Jew the other week. We`re still working on the follow up. 

 

Alma 12 is fantastic! Currently my favorite chapter. You should all read it.

This is our district last cambio

this is the view from our house

This is me and Jon playing Ajedres :)

amanecer

this is the "culebra"

Making progress in Guarani

Highlight of the Week: Making progress in Guarani (Che, Nefi, chereñoi. . . :)

GENERAL CONFERENCE IS THIS WEEKEND!!!!! I`m so excited. I think General Conference is kind of like the Mundial (world cup) for missionaries. And it`s only 5 days away! 

Last week we had a service project in the Hospital Militar working with the Operation Smile organization - it was way cool, and we got to travel there in street clothes, which was just weird. First time I`ve worn pants in a colectivo :) 

We found a snake in our apartment this week. Scared us half to death - we were just about to finish studying when this big fat grey thing when cruising past my feet . . . I don`t have a problem with snakes. . . but snakes that don`t have eyes and look like gigantic worms and can make their way to the third floor are definitely not my favorite :) Maybe I`ll remember to send a picture of it next week :)
link to picture of snake
 

I`m determined to come home tri-lingual. And it`s actually really fun to ask the kids about Guarani, cause they all have to take the class in school, and they get excited about teaching a foreigner about it :) It`s a good ice breaker.