Week 46 - Kennedy - Machete Mowing, Plucking Chickens, Getting Let In, Forgotten Time Change

This week was great. Elder A works hard, and is the first companion I´ve had in a while that really shows how excited he is. I am really enjoying the mission right now.

We´ve been doing more service than usual, and I really like it, it helps others and it helps us focus on really caring about the people we´re working with. This week we cut someone´s lawn (with machetes), and plucked chickens. I really enjoyed learning how to pluck chickens, but cutting someone´s whole lawn with a machete is hard work, especially when the machete is super dull.

I don´t know why, but recently (the past 3 days or so) we haven´t been able to talk to as many people as we had been planning because almost everyone we talk to has been letting us in. It´s a problem that I really don´t mind at all.

Elder Bowles

 

I attached a picture of Elder A in the cyber, and another one of a spider I found in the shower one day.   My companion didn´t want to take a shower after that because it would 'see him naked.'

Julia- I don´t really have any super crazy stories from the week. They do emphasize the temple here, and its even easier to go to the temple here than my other area.  You take 1 or two bus rides and can get there in about an hour and a half, and only have to pay 4 mil Guaraní. I still have only seen the temple as I rode by in a collectivo once We should get to go in April. real soon

 

Mom-If someone has pride, it makes it hard to help them to recognize the truth. But here, barely anyone speaks any one language well, and everyone just cares about surviving and providing for their family. And those few who are well off have laziness issues, not pride issues. Last week I didn´t have much time because I had to show Aguilar how to find his email.

 

Dad- That´s pretty awesome that they burned down the Skousens (old) house, I think it would be pretty fun to burn down some houses for part of your job. The ward is great. 100ish people.

 

Kami- we go to bed at 10:30. We return to the house between 9 and 9 thirty during the winter. We recently had a time change, but we didn´t know because we don´t watch tv or listen to the radio or anything and we arrived a church an hour early. Our ward doesn´t do anything to welcome the new elders, because after one week we have eaten at the houses of almost all the active members in our half of the area anyways.
 

Week 45 - Kennedy - Peruvian Companion, Making Decisions, Terere, All Chapels have fonts

This week was awesome. My new comp is Elder Aguilar, and he´s from Cuzco Perú. He´s one of the nicest people I´ve ever met, and he´s willing to learn English, so that´s just fine by me. More than 20 new missionaries came in and 11 were from Peru. Having Elder Aguilar as a comp is way different from my other companion. It´s super nice having someone who speaks Spanish as their first language with you all the time. And Peruvians are all really nice, I´m kinda jealous of Justin, because he get´s to be around Peruvians all day everyday.

I make all the decisions in what we do, but that´s not really anything new since my other companion didn´t really make any decisions anyways. Elder Aguilar just really wants to work, and that´s really all that matters to me. My companion got to the house, and we didn´t have electricity, it was a great welcome to Paraguay. We got it fixed the next day, and I appreciate it everytime I turn on a light now.

Kami- I got you´re letter, it was super nice. Argentinos all have weird accents. Everyone here makes fun of them, all their y´s ll´s and s´s all sound like sh´s. Sometimes it just sounds like they have a really wierd lisp that they´re doing on purpose. I´m kinda secretly glad that I didnt´get a Argentinian comp... Here in Paraguay the y's sometimes turn in to j sounds. If what she shared (an Argentine speaker in Kami's Spanish class) had weird metal straw and what looked like grass clippings in the cup, then it´s called terere, and missionaries aren´t allowed to drink it, because if you drink it too much on an empty stomach you get sick.

 

Mom-I will let you know next week when I will call. I really just enjoy being a trainer, because ever since my trainer left (Elder Hamilton), I´ve basically felt like senior comp since my comps either didn´t want to work or didn´t really want to make decistions. so I´m just glad I actually get to be called senior companion now. My shoes will last. That´s not a problem.

 

Julia-We usually help people build things yeah, you don´t get to wear shorts, that´s too bad.

 

Dad- Our house is about 15 minute walk from the chapel. He just broke the switch, but it is fixed now. All the chapels here have fonts. The temperature is perfect right now, hot with a nice cool breeze always. Thats super good for Thomas, tell him I want him to serve a mission.

Week 44 - Kennedy - Stake Conference, Poofy Tacos, No Power Again, Going to be a Trainer

This week was great. We had stake conference here in the stake center of San Lorenzo, it was great. President Madariaga spoke, as well as his wife. It was way different hearing a mission president speak in stake conference now that I´m a missionary.

Dominga and Yamila both came to stake conference as well, they said they really enjoyed it. It took about 30 min in collectivo, so since they made it there, we know for sure that they´re interested. Right now they are scheduled for the 23rd for their baptism. And they are super excited.

Something that may sound kinda weird is that here, one food that is really good at this Lebanese restaurant. It´s called a Lomito Arabe. It´s like that one poofy taco they have at Taco Bell (Chalupa), but it´s shaped like a burrito, and it´s way better. And they have them all over the place here.

 Today we woke up without power again. This last week, we´ve been out of power more than we´ve actually had it, since my comp broke the main power switch for the whole house. Luckily the dispensa right next to our house sells ice for super cheap. I really do appreciate electricity.

Elder Bowles

Mom - I will definitely try the cheese sauce on noodles when I get a chance. Performing a baptism is awesome. you just feel like you are exactly where God wants you to be. The most humble/spiritual moment there can be. Ministering of angels for me means that God sends divine help to you. (check out the new testament when Jesus sends angels to Juan in jail, just spiritually not literally).  

I just eavesdropped on the zone leader getting changes in the cyber behind us, and I am getting a new comp, but I don´t know who yet. I guess I´ll find out Wednesday. I haven´t gotten a package of Christmas cards from the ward members yet.

Julia-that´s really cool that you are going to be room mates with Andrea. We never knock on the doors (we clap or just say ´permiso´and walk into their yard) and the majority of them already know who we are.

Dad-I´m not sure why it´s called Kennedy, but there are a lot of neighborhoods here in Asuncion that are named American names because Americans helped out with the pobreza poorness here and they just named that part of Paraguay for that person. 

I´m training some new guy this Wednesday. Chances are he´ll only speak Spanish, so that´ll help. I hope.

Kami-  Your email didn't get through this week. You should just send me the new and old ones, so I can catch up on everything that happened.

Week 43 - Kennedy - Move outs, Show ups at Church, Soft Socks, Sorting Garbage for service

Awesome week, some good things happened, and some not so great things happened. Mauricio moved to Capiata, so we won´t be seeing him much more, we´re gonna let the missionaries over there know, they´re about to have a great time with him, he was super funny, and super prepared.

Yesterday in church, two people just showed up, Dominga and Yamila, it was super awesome, because people basically never just show up at church without having been at least invited by us. I had never even seen them before, and they live super close to our house, so that makes it even easier. And, the daughter has a boyfriend that´s Mormon and knows a lot of people from Salado, (where I was before), so that was kinda fun.

It was fast and testimony meeting yesterday, and all of the testimonies were really good, everyone just shared what they knew to be true, and why it was important to them.

I got the package with the socks and the candy. I have really enjoyed wearing them all for the first time, before they get dried on a clothesline. They are super comfortable, thank you so much. I also really enjoyed the candy. Paraguayan candy just isn´t the same as american candy.

We had Zone Conference this week, I really enjoyed it, I always enjoy when the mission president´s wife gives her testimony in English. It just really shows how important something is to her when she struggles through the language barrier to tell it to us.

Also, for service this week, we helped someone sort through a mountain of trash to find bottles, plastic bags, and scrap metal. It was super fun. And then we burned it. Paraguay is just awesome!

Elder Bowles

I realized you hadn´t seen a picture of my companion yet, so here one is. I also sent a nice picture that how green paraguay really is (this picture was in poor taste for posting, if you want it, send me a message and I will forward it).

 

Mom-I decided that the guia para las escrituras (Spanish version of the topical guide) is way better than the topical guide in English, because it has the bible dictionary and the guide smashed into one, so you only have to look stuff up once, and it explains things better. Studying the scriptures is one of my favorite (and one of the only) things to do. I enjoyed the cheese sauce, but I still have some because they really don´t have tortilla chips or anything in all that many places, you have to search. I was thinking it would also be nice to have some more money for recuerdos (souveirs)  I´m not sure how it´s spelled) so if you could transfer some money to checking  that would be awesome. I always want candy. Also whatever else.

 

Dad- No, Mauricio got work and moved to Capiata, just a town over, so the missionaries there are gonna love him as a reference. We get to go to the temple in April, I hope. Once a year. Here they have something called Semana Santa (holy week), where it just sounds most of Paraguay parties while the catholics that actually do things do something else, like not eat something for 40 days.

 

Most people agree to what we say, just right there after we say it, but refuse to do anything about it later. I really do hope they just don´t uderstand. Most of the time our focus is on how Jesus formed just 1 church when he came, and how important that is, because here most people just go to whatever church is closest to their house, not even caring what kind of church it is.

 

Julia-Here fast and testimony meeting is great. In Salado, it was kinda weird sometimes. But here, one thing that they do often is the couples get up and both stand behind the pulpit and share their testimonies together, it´s kinda interesting. Right now paciencia is my topic, because I absolutely love my life when I´m out working.  I think you're gonna get called to serve your mission in Utah now that you're moving to Idaho.  My english is so bad I had to think about if it was know or now, and write or right.

 

Kami- Have fun with whatever you´re doing. If you don´t write me soon you might fall behind Hailey, because she recently promised to write me every week for forever, which is pretty awesome, you should do that too.