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.

It was cold yesterday!

Ok. Really quick.

 

We had a busy week. Really got to know the colectivos. And it rained a lot. And it was cold yesterday! I actually need to use my covers now (yes!) and sometimes I even wake up with cold feet.

 

The time changed yesterday, and I`m suffering a little with it. I was super tired last night, and this morning I was wide awake way before I needed to be. . . yay for habits :)

 

I will explain more about flagging down colectivos in the rain next week.

 

Everybody here is gearing up for Semana Santa. I`ve heard we`re gonna eat a lot of chipa.

Totally missed St. Patrick`s day. Oops. Oh well. Everything here`s green anyway :) 

I`ll write more next week! 

I`m training (AAaaaahhhh!!. . . )

 

 

Highlight of the Week: Cambios! Well, ok, they were bittersweet. . . 

We had cambios this week. I`m still in Monte Lindo, and probably will be for 3 more months because I`m training (AAaaaahhhh!!. . . ) Hna Peña is ending her mission in a far away area, and all the members of Monte Lindo are really sad about it. But I think she`s gonna love it. 

My new companion is Hna. Zuñiga, and she`s from Peru, and she`s been in Paraguay 5 days. She`s great. And we`re learning a lot. The both of us :) And she thinks my Español is great :) Still need to ask her to repeat things every other sentence, but equal no mas :) I think I`m suffering a little because the Peruvian vocabulary is a little different than the Paraguayan vocabulary. She tells me sometimes a Paraguayan accent pokes through my North American one :) That makes me happy :) 

I have a new goal to learn Guarani. And I think it might actually happen if I really put my mind to it. Here`s a taste of it: Our District Leader`s area is Kaaguy Rory. It`s pronounced Kahwuhruhruh. Well, with a Spanish accent for the r`s, so more like Kahwuhduhduh. Facil :) I have a Book of Mormon in Guarani, and it`s gonna be my best friend these next few months :) 

 

 

 

 

Things I've learned in Paraguay

Highlight of the Week: Teaching Julio about Jesus

during Sacrament Meeting . . . on the front stand. . . during my comp`s talk :) 

We had `discursos` this Sunday.  I always worry that mine`s going to be really short, and then I end up taking up all the time. Oops. And Julio and his sister Clarisa came to church with us! They`re just 9 and 7. We`re working on getting their dad to church too. Next week :) They liked primary, but  it was hard for them to sit still through Sacrament Meeting. Good thing Preach My Gospel has lots of pictures :) And our family that plays piano was absent, so I got to blunder my way through a few hymns too (que vergüenza) 

Cambios this Wednesday! We`ll see what happens. . . 

Things I`ve learned in Paraguay:

1. How to use spray deodorant

2. How to eat cookies out of a tube

3. How to kill mosquitoes

4. That half my retainer is glow in the dark. . . :) 

Filling the Font, Leaf-cutting Ants, and the end of the Cockroach

Highlight of the Week: Baptizing Mario! well, ok. Watching Hno. Ferre baptize Mario :)

 

Baptisms are great. Baptising someone who really really wants to be baptized and really understands the eternal significance of it is 10 times better :)

Mario is fantastic. Making his baptism happen Saturday night was totally worth filling up the baptismal font with buckets of water from the neighbors' house (the elder´s investigators) across the street :) (we didn´t have water in the chapel. . . gotta do what ya gotta do) And for this reason we have our exercise time every morning :)

Also, I´m perfecting my homemade brownies recipe. It´s coming along nicely. As well as my pie dough skills. But more on that next week.

I've been meaning to remember to write this for a while now, but one of the things I love most about Paraguay are the leaf-cutting ants. They are so cool. And I don´t think I´ll ever get tired of watching little lines of green and yellow crossing the sidewalks :)

 

Oh! I mentioned a cockroach last week, right? And how I was going to let it die a natural death. . . well, it didn´t quite end that way, poor thing. I had to sweep the floor. . . including the floor underneath said cockroach. So after an intense chase around the bathroom floor with a broom and dustpan I managed to scoop the little guy into the toilet (my choice method of disposing of large bugs that crunch when stepped on). Still not sure if that actually kills them or if they just go to live with the gutter roaches, but we haven't seen him since, and that´s good enough for me :)

Well, pictures of the baptism will come next week.
PS It isn´t really really hot any more! I'm actually sleeping with a blanket! (yay!)

 

PPS I love fresh laundry. One of the simple joys in life :) One I appreciate very very much. I have made it a goal to learn how to make my laundry smell fantastic after my mission. It´s going to happen.

Highlight of the Week: Peanut butter. Manteca de Mani :) 

Apples and peanut butter is the best combination in the world. Why it took me 5 months in Paraguay to figure that out, I don`t know. But it`s fantastic :) 

We woke up to find a cockroach in the bathroom. Yuck. Not a fan of cockroaches. I thought about taking care of it. . . but decided it was more humane to let the poor little guy die of natural causes. . . I don`t want to touch him :) 

 

This is inside our apartment, with the Hermanas Lideres (hnas Cortes y Whitmer)

 

And this week we walked half of our limits - Our area is a big square, with 4 different main roads marking the boundaries. This is still a little new to me since most of our limits in Ypacarai were the jungle and lacked a certain amount of definition. . . :) But it was fun to get a bigger picture of where we`re at. 

 

 



me and Hna. Peña in one of our limits (calle Ultimo. . . creo)

We`re going to be busy this week preparing for a baptism this Saturday - Mario`s getting baptized! I`ll send pictures next week. And we actually have a font here - the only bummer is that it`s right before Fast Sunday, so we won`t be able to eat cake. . . but esta bien, almas son mas importante :) 

Mango season has died down a bit. Guayabas are still going strong. Certain types of citrus are on the brink of maturing (I think), and I can´t wait! Yesterday a certain type of small tree/bush/shrub with small white flowers all bloomed, so all the streets smell really good right now :) 

Oh! I made an avocado pie. . . 'tarta de aguacate' and it was gross. It was really bitter for some reason. I think it was the avacado`s fault. But the members ate it anyway - they didn`t believe me that it was gross. 

 

This is the view from our back porch/balc​ony

Another view from our front balcony on an almost rainy morning :)

 

 

 

 

Frio-Humido and Lomitos

Highlight of the Week: First taste of frio-humido. For nearly a whole day.

(we almost wanted long sleeves!)

This Domingo was marvelous! We had 4 investigators come to church, and we talked with an inactive member who told us she felt she needed to "get up and run straight to church". We agreed with her :) And one of our investigators, Mario, has decided to quit smoking (yay!) and so our mission for the next two weeks will be to help him follow through with that so he can be baptized. 

We had intercambios this week with the Hermanas Lideres - I stayed in my area with Hna. Cortez, and Hna. Peña spent the day in their area. We were only a little lost all day long.  

Not too bad for 2 weeks :) 

I made a banana cream pie for our Noche De Barrio (ward activity night) Miercoles - it was pretty great. More like sopa than pie, but that`s ok :) 

There are lots of cats in Monte Lindo. And not very many chickens.

I miss the chickens in Ypacarai. . . but not so much the vast amount of dogs. . .

there are definitely pros and cons to every area :) 

Oh! We got to clean the temple on Monday -  way cool. I miss going regularly. 

And happy Valentines Day! We celebrated by seeing off all the youth as they left for the big Valentines dance. . . and eating Lomitos :)