Christmas in Paraguay

Highlight of the Week: Talking with my family! (Skype is so easy. . . why did I not know this?)

We had an investigator come to church yesterday!!! So exciting. The hardest part of missionary work here is getting people to church. Nearly everybody's willing to talk about Christ till the cows come home (honestly, till their cows come in from the fields) but then you explain that attending church is important and they always have really good reasons why they can't go. But it's so important! We're working on that.

Bueno. Christmas in Paraguay:
Hot. Humid. Loud. Imagine the 4th of July with Christmas lights and palm trees and you've got a pretty good idea. And apparently there´s a huge dinner at midnight. I wouldn't know though. I was  sleeping :) And Christmas day we had divisions with the Hermanas Leaders, but we still managed to make chocolate chip pancakes in the morning to celebrate :)

Our mission-wide activity on Thursday was something else entirely, but I´ll wait till next week to do it justice.

And I forgot to bring my camera to send pictures AGAIN. Sorry. It´s gonna happen. Someday.

New Compañera

Highlight of the Week: NOT having to pack my bags (moving 100 lbs of suitcases around the cobbled streets of Paraguay is the stuff of nightmares. not joking)

Well, Cambios have come and gone and I`m still in Ypacarai (I`m going to be here for mango and guayaba season!). But I`ve got a new compañera, Hermana Weeks. She`s from St. George Utah and has 6 months in the field. She just finished training one of the Hermanas that was in the CCM with me :) And we`re getting along great, and it turns out I can plan out our daily schedules every day (since she knows nobody in our area. . . yet :)

Story of the Week: We were in the far reaches of our area, Patiño, contacting, when we discovered a great big wall. Hn. Weeks wanted to know what was on the other side. I didn`t know. But just then a man came out of one of the gates in the wall, and so we introduced ourselves and asked our question. We didn`t understand his reply. And so he offered to show us. And thus began our spontaneous tour of what turns out to be an old abandoned zoo, by a man with an Igor-ish vibe about him (You know, assistant to Dr. Frankenstein. . . right?), who gifted us with enough litchi (a strange Asian fruit, I think) to last a lifetime AND wanted to come to church. . . he didn`t end up coming unfortunately. But we`ll work on that :) I love Paraguay.

Well, I`m looking forward to Christmas! Fireworks and all. I`m sure I`ll have stories about it next week :)

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 :)