Week 19 - Salado - Baptism this Week, Mishimi Guarani, Getting Married

Well, S. didn´t end up getting baptized, Elder Hamilton was in the font with her and then she started crying (she has a fear of the water) and left the font and didn´t come back after that. Her 8 year old sister did, no problem at all, she just went in there and did it. So we´ll see what happens this week with S. I tried to attach a picture of the baptism, the taller one is S, and the shorter one is M., the 8 year old, that I baptized. and the rest of their family. We found Hector, a guy who went to the church for about a year somewhere else, but never was baptized, and he´s super awesome.

There was stake conference yesterday, we heard from the prophet and Elder Anderson on the screen. It was really nice,  Elder Anderson spoke in Spanish, I didn´t know he spoke Spanish, he mentioned in his talk that he also speaks French.  The bishop rented a collectivo to take the ward 40 minutes to Luque for it, everyone really loved it. There were soo many people there. They said there was about 5000.

It´s started to get real hot, which is making me a little nervous, because it´s not even summer yet.
My share of the teaching is still slowly getting larger, I still wish it was growing faster. Whenever I really feel like I´m starting to understand, they start talking in Guarani to a member that we brought to the lesson, and I feel like I´m back to day 1 of the mission, except I never had any training in Guarani before I came. For some reason after I can´t understand in Spanish they ask me if I know guarani, and I say mishimi, which is Guarani for barely any at all, and they always think that´s real funny. I really do like Salado though, it´s super pretty, the people are nice, and for the most part they´re pretty honest. I wouldn´t rather be anywhere else besides here in Salado, Paraguay.


Elder Bowles
I´m not sure if I´ll remember how to say my name right after 2 years, because (here in Paraguay) if I say it the right way they just don´t have a clue at how to say it.

I guess the airline that broke my suitcase is bankrupt now, so they´re gonna try to have someone else fix  the suitcase, so that´s a real bummer.

Mom-my next transfer is in 3 weeks and a couple days. I´m pretty sure I´m stayin in Salado, so that´s gonna be great. We went to Luque, which is probably about like the Paraguayan version of downtown Chico, except Latino and cramped up, and I didn´t like it at all in the city, but it wasn´t even really a city. I don´t know what I´d do if I get sent somewhere in the centro of Asunción at some point.

Dad-PP still hasn´t gotten permiso from her mom, she says her mom  hasn´t come back from work for a couple weeks now. I don´t know if that´s really all that true, but we´ll see what happens. I got the Dear Elder you sent and wanted I know you wanted me to tell you when I got it.

Dad-no, he wasn´t the last speaker (after part of the chapel roof almost fell on Alfredo). After Alfredo was done, Hermano Conti, who used to be in the Paraguayan army, got up and told everyone they should be reverent.

The 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency let slip that Elder Bednar (one of the 12 Apostles) is coming in October to Paraguay to do some training for the stake leaders, so we´ll see if we get to hear from him.

We cleaned before the cleaning lady came, but she wanted to clean everything again. It was kinda annoying, because it was super clean before she came.

Singing in Spanish is interesting, because they haven´t had a piano for a while, so everyone´s off-key during the hymns.  I haven´t played in Sacrament yet.

The bishop just told us to put the (volleyball) court straight on the lawn behind the church.

Right now we have 5 investigadores that have more than 1 lesson that we´re focusing on, but  that really doesn´t mean that much at all until they go to church. A lot of people like hearing the palabra de dios (word of God) , but don´t want to make any commitments at all. 3rd Nephi is really awesome. Chapter 18 is great for teaching dia de reposo (Sabbath Day), because it has blessings, Christ, what to do and punishment all wrapped up into 1.

Julia- I have seen quite a few people on drugs here. I haven´t gotten a real good feel for it yet, but I can tell you that as far as drugs go that it´s not all that much better here.

Hailey- Thank you so much for the letter. I am glad you are doing fine. I don´t have a chance at understanding Guarani a this point, unless its the the hau´pe for whats up or the haku for its real hot out. I also know how to say firefly, its mwa-mwa. which really doesn´t help me that much, it's just fun to say. The people here barely ever get married, and when they do, it turns out bad because the guy isn´t that great and the woman can´t get a divorce. I really am glad that you found a good guy as Jeff  and are happily married forever.

. Elder Hamilton, Elder Bowles, S. and M. and their family