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 :) 

PARAGUAY!!​!

 

 

 

Well, it`s a little strange to be writing in English, I must admit. And this is only one week in. . . so I`m going to apologize in advance for what my English is going to be a few months from now :) Ok. I have a very limited amount of time, and quite a bit to write about, so this is going to be a first-second-final draft all in one. 

Traveling to Paraguay: 

32 hours of traveling is A LOT. There were 27 of us missionaries heading to Paraguay, and we were quite the sight! We flew from Mexico to Bogota, Columbia, then to Buenos Aires, Argentina, then finally to Asuncion, Paraguay. The flight attendants from Mexico to Columbia looked like a whole slew of Camen SanDiegos  (if anybody remembers that show). That`s pretty much all I`ve got for the whole 32 hours. Oh! I was blessed not to sleep through any of the offered meals (that I know of :) That right there is a genuine tender mercy of the Lord. Airplane food may not be grand, but it sure is fantastic when it`s the only option available :) 

Traveling in Paraguay:

We spent the first day in Asuncion at the Mission home getting all oriented and everything. They only had room for about half the missionaries at the mission home, so the rest of us got to stay in a little hotel a few blocks away. And they fed us the biggest and best meals we`d had in 6 weeks.

We finally met our companions Wednesday morning, and it was probably the most suspenseful event of my entire life. Not kidding. It felt a little bit like the Hunger games. We were all sitting in a chapel, and the trainers were spread out in the pews and we newbies were all huddled in the front corner, completely bewildered and terrified. And one by one President Agazzani called up a trainer and then a new missionary. Tender Mercy of the Lord number 2: I didn`t pee my pant (thought I might :)

My companion is Hermana Quito. She`s from Peru, she`s been out 12 months, and she doesn`t speak any English, which makes every daily task that used to be normal really quite interesting :) AND she likes Korean Dramas. Who`d a guessed. Don`t ask me how we managed to figure that out between my broken Spanish and her lack of English, but we did.

The Lord could not have sent me to a more perfect place. I love Paraguay already. I love the dirt roads and the crazy colectivos (buses unlike any you`ve ever been on in the States) and the people and Guarani and the plants. . . I`ll have more details next week. And I`m going to get better at whipping out these emails. Promise.

I'm In Paraguay!! Sept 24th

Hey, I´m just checking in really quick, we survived our 32 hours of traveling, and we may not look like much, but we´re so excited to be here. I already love Paraguay. It´s green and there are dirt roads, and our mission president is wonderful and funny and doesn´t speak any English at all. We meet our companions tomorrow, and our pday is on Monday. But we only get an hour of email time here, instead of however much we want like at the CCM, so I´m gonna have to write more letters and less emails. Well, I´m doing great, can´t wait to shower and sleep in a bed, and I´ll send you more info in a week!
Love you guys!

~Hermana Houldridge