Shopping for hamacas (hammocks)

Highlight of the Week: Teaching Lia Amarilla. . . is it ok to have a favorite investigator? :)



Hermana Weeks, yo, y Lia Amarilla

Bueno. We`re interneting early today because we decided to go to Caacupe early to shop for hamacas (hammocks) :) We`ll see. I might get one I might not. Most likely I`ll have a new area this week (ug. cambios. We find out tomorrow), so I`m not really keen on having more weight in my suitcases. . . (had a bad dream about suitcases the other day. Not kidding) but I`m determined to come home with one or two. And I don`t want to be in my last area and not have a hammock store available to me :) I really really really don`t want to leave Ypacarai. I love it here. But I suppose I should get to know more than one area. . . and Hermana Weeks tells me that other wards here are more normal. . . like United States normal. I still don`t believe her. It`s hard to after 4 months in the branch we have here :) But we had two baptisms this Saturday! Estefania and her brother Alix. They´re great. Totally prepared, as Hna. Weeks would say :) And we`re going to continue teaching their parents too, so we`ve got high hopes for them as a family. 

 

two conversos, Estefania and Alex

Bautismo!!​!

 

I`ve decided I WILL watch Hitchhiker`s Guide to the Galaxy en  Español when I get back.
Don`t think I`ll understand half of it, but it`s going to happen. You`re all invited :) 

 

Oh! And I realized something marvelous yesterday -  Because cinnamon, azucar, pan, AND butter all exist here in Paraguay. . . so does toast with cinnamon-sugar.
Best half-way-through-studying snack ever. 

Awkward Paraguayan Moments:  when your nose accidentally bumps the nose of the cute little old lady who`s giving you besitos (yea, kissing peoples cheeks seems so normal now
. . . it`s going to be hard not to when I get back. . . )



Hermana Emelia y daughter Emilce (miembros)

 

Lago Ypacarai (Lake Ypacarai)

Weedwhacking in front of their place.  Cobblestone road with sand.

Basilica de Caacupe

 

Pumpkin pie and mangos

Highlight of the Week: making pumpkin pie in Paraguay. piece of cake :) 

This week we. . . ate at an Alemanian restaurant (best p-day yet :), made chocolate cake and brownies (for the members, of course), AND pumpkin pie. . . was that this week? I think so. Yep. It was a pretty darn good pie too. Real ginger´s got a bit more kick to it than the powdered stuff. . . and we don´t have a grater, but I´m getting pretty good at using a serrated knife to get almost the same effect. And there´s this Brazilian squash in the supermercados right now that´s really

just a big, colorful pumpkin.

 

And mango season has begun!!! (don´t remember if I already  said that or not) I´ve learned a lot about mangos this week. The little ones are hairy. And hairy smoothies are not my favorite. But the big Brazilian mangos are pretty much the best thing on earth. Next to guayabas/guavas, of course :) We were in a part of our area that´s a bit far out there, and the first investigator we taught gifted us with something like 15 lbs of little mangos. And then when we passed by a member's house they saw our mangos and asked us if we wanted to try the Brazilian ones too. . . sure, 10 more pounds of mango, no problem :)

 

I learned to use a machete on Saturday, and I have the blisters to prove it! And my outlook on yard work will never be the same again. One of the first things I´m gonna do when I get back is get myself a machete. How Americans take care of their yards without one is beyond me. 

 

  And did I talk about reading Jesus the Christ last week? Can´t remember. But there's no better way to start out the day than to read Jesus the Christ ( in Inglés :) while eating your cereal and yogurt. 



A Harder Week

Aha! I`m going to send lots of photos! I think. . . if it doesn`t take forever. yea. . . I think it`s going to take a really long time. Well, this photo is me weedwhacking our "front yard", which is really just a bit of grass growing in the built up sand that used to be inbetween the cobblestones of our street. I was pretty excited. Nope. never mind. this is actually a photo of me talking to the elders while in the streets of . . . Cerro Guy I think. (pronounced serro gwee. . . or gwuh. depending) Ok. Sorry. It isn`t working. Next week. At a different Cyber.
 

Anyway. This week was a little harder. We walked a lot. And none of our investigators were ever home. (nooooo!!!) But all of the less active members we`ve been working with came to church, which was great because so did Presidente Agazzani (the mission president :).
 

And I discovered that potatoes don`t go black here! WHY!?! I have no idea. So strange. Maybe they have less starch. that makes them healthier, right? :)
 

 And it was almost a little cold one day this week. almost. Heavenly Fathers knows me well :) I was excitedly telling all our investigators all day long that this is what it`s like in Seattle in the summer. . . Now all the people of Ypacarai think that Seattle`s cold (comparatively) and rainy all the time, like they should :) 
 

Well, out of time. Really. The photos are going to work next week. I'm determined!

Pesebres (nativitie​s)

Pesebres (nativitie​s)

 

It´s what every Paraguayan builds for Christmas. So cool. And it´s taking forever to load this. So I´m only sending one this week. But it´s one photo! finally! yay! 

 

 

 

 

Highlight of the Week: Lia and Amilia came to church!!! 

The work is picking up here in Ypacarai. Not that we can take the credit. It´s been quite a week of miracles, what with our investigators actually beginning to read the Book of Mormon, and coming to church (now if only the members would come too. . . :) and all. I´m beginning to see why it´s going to be hard to leave. 

Hermana Weeks is teaching me how to conjugate (yeah, I know. I should know by now. I don´t even want to think about how feo my español must have been before. . . :) It´s a lot of work. But I think I´m improving. Maybe :) 

As for the mission Christmas activity last week (was it only last week? seems like it´s been WAY longer than that.) imagine field day in Elementary school. But with missionaries. And lots of heat and humidity (you know, the kind that makes you think "nah, I don´t need to go outside today, it´s just going to make me miserably sweaty and stinky") And Pizza Hut. Of course :) 

Yesterday we discovered that when your investigator´s dog vomits on your skirt (my companion´s, not mine. . . shouldn´t have laughed, but I didn´t want our investigators to feel bad. . . and Hermana Weeks is a boss, she took it well :) 20 minutes before church starts, they still come to church!

Oh yes! And the water pressure is great at 4 in the morning. Not that that helps us at all. We still take our showers at 7 when it´s nothing but a trickle. But it´s nice to know. And New Years Day. Apparently nobody else got up at 6:30 on New Years Day. Not sure why not. . . :)   

Favorite scripture of the week: Alma 37:6-7

 

 

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!!!