Week 51 -Kennedy - Everyone let them in, Citrus Season, Dark and Rain, Missionary Supplies

This week was super awesome. On Saturday, every single person we talked to let us in to teach, and we talked to a lot of people. But even better, we found a ton of people to teach this week. and Isaac got permision to have sundays off to go to church, and he´s super excited. And I am too.

It´s been citrus fruit season, so there´s grapefruits, mandarins, oranges, and lemons all over the place, It´s super great.  The lemons look almost exactly like the mandarins, so I got a surprise one time when I was expecting to eat a mandarin and got a lemon.

 

It´s getting dark at about 6 in the afternoon here, and everyone here is scared of the dark and the rain. So that makes it a little tricky to talk to them. But yesterday the power went out and I think several people let us in because they didn´t have anything else to do (no tv or radio) so who knows.

Elder Bednar gave a great talk about prayer that they printed out for us when he came here, but I don´t remember what it was called, he basically said that if we don´t act on what we ask for, it isn´t nearly as likely to happen. It was a CES talk, if I remember right, if you want to look for it. I think the U.S needs the best missionaries, since you have 2 steps to convert them.  You have to make them believe in God first. Here I have  only met 4 atheists in my first whole year of the mission.

 

Regarding new missionary supplies, one thing that they really should bring is a good backpack. I got one when I came but it was a onestrap, and one of my comps gave me their old one, so I´m set. Now the mission gives out backpacks with douple strap, but I don´t think my comp´s backpack will last. Mosquito nets aren´t worth it here, They sell things you can plug in to the wall to keep mosquitos away in the house. They also sell mosquito nets here as well, and I´m sure they´re cheaper here. I don´t need another water filter. There are trucks that come by with 20 gallon water jugs, and they only cost 11 mil (3 bucks).  I did use the electrical converter every day before but now I just shave with a metal razor most the time, since my electric one is getting dull. I have used my big jacket several times, we´ll see how much more I´ll use it this winter It hasn´t gotten real cold yet this year.

 

Kami - We usually do about 1 or 2 service projects a week. Usually we just cut the grass out of peoples yards when it grows really tall. In collectivos when people are with groceries, people fall down quite a bit.  There are no sisters in my zone. I liked star testing.

 

Julia- People have super easy names here. There are a lot of different kinds of tarantulas, I think that was just a certain type because there are misisonaries who pick them up and it doesn´t do anything

 

 

Week 50 - Kennedy - Hiding Investigator, Dengue Fever, Blue Voting Fingers, Veins and Fat, No Bikes

This week was great. We found a lot of new people that want to go to church. One thing that I had said before was that it was harder to know the names of everyone in the ward, and now we´re teaching someone that had been going to church for months, just because we hadn´t ever stopped to get to know him. So that´s awesome, we don´t even have to worry about helping him get to church.

we also found.

There´s been lots of people in my area recently that have gotten dengue, and it doesn´t look fun at all. they get fevers, throw up, headaches, boneaches, and lasts about a week. Both my companion and I use repellent, but somehow he always has about 20ish bites, and I usually have just 1or 2. Hopefully nothing happens.

 

This week there was the national voting day on Sunday, and here in Paraguay you either vote or you pay a fine. Kinda weird, but everyone came back with blue index fingers from where they took their fingerprints, and a lot of people still have blue fingers today. We´ll se how long that lasts.

 

I have never refused something that was offered.  I have only not been able to really finish a meal once so far in the mission, and it was something called puchero.  Which is the nastiest meat of the cow, with a bunch of veins and fat, and bones with cooking oil.

 

When I find a tarantula in the house, I catch it in a big water jug we have, and then after a day I throw it in the backyard, but the big tarantula escaped somehow and is in our house again.

We have an additional hour of computer time if we want it - 2 hours total But that seems like a long time to me, when my only free day is 8 hours long. I´ll probably just see if my companion knows, and not tell him anything because it could be a real drag having to be in the cyber for two hours if my companion wants to use the whole time.

 

The office elders called and told me I have a package in the office, I just have to go get it. I´ll probably have someone from our district get it this week

 

I do not have a bike, and I really do want one. There are only three or four areas in the whole mission that have bikes. and there are only two cars (the president´s and one for the office elders and assistants)  in the whole mission.

 

Happy Birthday to Kami!!!!!! 

 

Elder Ivan Bowles

Week 49 - Kennedy - Pig Foot, Breaded Intestine, Apostacy, 8 Languages, Repurposing

This week was pretty good. It rained for a whole day and we didn´t get a whole lot of anything that day.We found some people that are pretty interested. Iss*c, D*m*ng*´s son is getting pretty interested in the church now too, we´ve been working with him. He´s super great, he´s 15 and the only problem is that he´s the only one supporting his family, and he works Sundays.

We ate something called feshao. It´s basically rice, black beans, and pig foot. It was fun to try, but I don´t think I´ll try it again if I can help it. We also ate milanesa de mondongo, which is breaded cow intestine. It was surprisingly good. I had heard of quite a few missionaries that had gotten diahrea from mondongo, but I didn´t have any problem with that, just with the pig foot.

 

I didn´t realize how many latin missionaries had come into the mission until we were playing soccer this last week on Monday and only 3 of the 10 missionaries were Americans.

The most important thing about the restoration is the apostacy. If they understand everything about the apostacy, and the loss of the priesthood, they don´t have any problem with the rest. At least here in Paraguay.

 

My favorite lesson to teach people is the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that´s really all they need. We find most of our investigators through contacting, but about two thirds of the baptisms have come from members (active and inactive).

 

I know most of the ward members names. It makes it hard because most of the members don´t live in our area. In my last area I knew all the member´s names who were both active and most of the inactives as well because there was only me and Elder Hamilton for most of the time, and only 70ish members that went every week.

 

I think I have heard 8 languages here in Paraguay. I don´t think you can guess what they are.

 

There 7 active families in my area, and we eat at one of their houses every day. I definitely only feel the spirit with certain investigators, since sometimes we run into drunks, or people who just want to argue.

 

If my investigadors go to the temple while I am here, I do get to go with them.

 

The temple was completely in Spanish. It was super funny for me seeing the temple workers trying to be reverent, since Paraguayans are not super reverent people, and all the Paraguayans I´ve met except for one are converts. There was one that was trying to whisper, but he had no idea how to whisper, it was super funny. And the Americans they had called as temple workers had terrible accents. It was super weird hearing old people speak English because for the last year or so, I´ve only heard 18-23 year old people speak English.

 

What´s the deal with N Korea? The Paraguayans have told me about it, but they always exagerate everything.

 

We have a pull up bar on our front porch, I took it apart to finish a broom we had in our house. I normally do jump rope for ten minutes, situps and pushups for ten minutes, and then streches for 10 minutes when I get lazy.

 

I´m still getting along with my companion the thing with Latins is that they are very touchy (physically, which Ivan is not), so that´s kinda annoying.

 

Elder Bowles

 

 

Week 48 - Kennedy - Busy Week, Went to Temple, Tarantula, Scorpion, Birthday Cake

Tarantula found in their house

Recent baptism

 I think this is the Collectivo Accident - but not quite seeing it in this picture

Scorpion found in their neighbor's wood pile

The rainstorm came about an hour after I sent the email last week, and it was cloudy and has rained almost everyday since. The ground has been super slippery too because there{s a lot of clay here, and just the top gets muddy.

This week was super busy. We had zone meeting on Tuesday, interviews with president on Wednesday, temple trip on Thursday, Y*m*l*s baptism on Saturday, and General Conference Saturday and Sunday. It was an enjoyable week, but I felt like I didn't have any time at all to work.

The temple was awesome, always is, and I really enjoyed conference. I watched it in Spanish on Saturday, and then we took the trip to San Lorenzo to watch it in English. I understood everything in Spanish, but it's always just better in English because you can hear their real voices.

The baptism was great. I think I'll go to all the baptisms I can when I get back from the mission.

Elder Bowles

I also attached some photos of the wildlife this week. Today it's tarantulas and king scorpions. The tarantula was in the house, I found them when I was cleaning.  The scorpions we found when we were moving our neighbor's wood for him. He said that one bite can kill you. And then he started playing with it with a pair of barbecue tongs, It's super weird here, Paraguayans are deathly scared of rain and darkness, but a scorpion that could kill you if you even touch is just a toy to them.

Mom-The conferencia is pretty dang exciting. 

The (birthday) cake was super good. No it's way different, because I think they cooked it a frying pan, and there was about 4 layers that were all really thin, super good. Instead of frosting she made merengue and put it on the cake. I haven't gotten the birthday package yet, but I'm sure that it is waiting in the office for me.

Dad - One hour extra of study for my new companion. Priesthood started at 8 here. I haven't spoken yet in Sacrament Meeting. I like teaching about the Book of Mormon because we can tell them it's their ancestors. Everyone says that missionary service blesses their family back home, but how have you been blessed  over there in Chico?

Julia- When you get shy about sharing the gospel or giving references just think about it- is it better that I give someone a chance to hear the gospel and they reject it, or that they never hear it at all. really there are so few members in the world that if you don't share the gospel with them, it's possible no one else will. But I'm sure that since they are so nice that they won't have any  problem talking about churchy things and if they do accept the gospel it will be wonderful. The misisonaries in the ward sound like they're pretty awesome.

Kami- None of my companions did that. I started the chain. I'm just that awesome.

Week 47 - Kennedy - Stressful Baptism, Bus Crash, Easter in S.A., Chipa, Birthday Secret

This week was pretty awesome. D*m*ng* got baptized, I worked it so that Elder Aguilar could baptize her, so that was awesome, even though she is way bigger than him. It was a little stressful, because a lot of unplanned things happened that made the day really unorganized. About halfway through the day I realized I was stressed and then I think the same thing that happens everytime I get stressed and just decided not to be, and then it was a great day. Her daughter Y*m*l* is getting baptized this week as well, and they´re both super excited. And I am too.

I was in a collectivo today when it smashed a car. Super exciting. I will hopefully send a picture I took next week.

 

Here in South America, they do things different for Easter. They set all three days from the death of Christ until his resurrection, and celebrate everyone with their families. I always knew that Catholics celebrated the day of Christ's death in addition to the Sunday, but I didn´t know that they celebrated in between as well.

 

Here everyone made chipa (dense bread) and sopa and killed pigs, and tons of stuff,.  I don´t think I ever want to see chipa again because I already wasn´t a huge fan of chipa, and everyone offered me chipa, and I had to eat it to not be rude. Now I´m free from chipa for hopefully another year, and that gives me just one more reason to be happy here in Paraguay.

 

And everyone who left to go to the woods with their families is back, so that's cool as well. The most important part is remembering that Christ did come here and suffered and died for our sins, so that we could enjoy this life here, and be able to return to Him after we die. I hope that everyone could at least set aside a little moment in their week to thank Him for what he did for us.

Elder Ivan Bowles

Mom- I was able to keep my birthday (which was today - April 1st) a secret from most the members, but there was one that asked right when I got here when it was and remembered, so they´re gonna make me a cake. I didn´t want everyone to know because it would have made it difficult not to lose a bunch of time, but one cake is nice.

 

I got the letter from grandpa´s birthday party (our extended family each wrote a line or two), it was fun.

 

I haven´t noticed a difference in my Spanish, but it is taking me longer to read your emails now.

 

No one got hurt in the collectivo crash, figured you´d like to know.

 

Julia- Since when was Kashmir going on mission? Tell her that I´m super excited for her.

 

My favorite chapter in PMG is chapter 10 - teaching skills. Reading depends on investigators, and what I feel I suck at. I haven´t gotten the letters from the ward yet. How did they send them? My birthday was almost a secret.

 

Dad-I only have a difficult time talking with my companion when we´re talking about obscure things, or when I get excited and accidentally talk to him in English. Or when I´m trying to explain something about English to him in Spanish and have to keep track of which language I should talk to explain both languages to him.

 

Repentance-lesson three in predicad mi evangelio, dice todo del proceso de arrepentimiento. anyone who focuses only on that and the things that will help them better with that process (commandments)will be just fine with God. We´ll probably watch all sessions of conference. It´s in our chapel too, so that´s awesome. Our investigators usually get to church late and then stay for the rest of church until the end. I´m looking forward to when I´m old and can be super rude.

 

Kami- Recibí demasiado chipa. Ni quiero ver chipa más. También estoy un poco celoso del predicad mi evangelio que es chiquitito. Mi compañero tiene uno. You know Spanish