Week 81 - Lots of Listeners, Tons of Bugs, Investigator Disappears, No Air Conditioning

This week went by soo fast! We had tons of people who wanted to listen to us, it was great.

Elder D**z is from Arizona, and he talks a ton, and without shame as well, he has the same amount of time in the mission as Elder L*dd*ll. His grandparents are from Mexico, but he didn´t know Spanish before the mission.  It´s super funny, because everyone just assumes he knows Spanish perfectly because of his last name. The last time I smiled was when my comp told someone he was waiting for his man. (estoy esperando mi hombre) it was super funny because the lady understood just that. Elder D**z became a member 3 years ago, so it´s been fun being his companion.

I don´t know if I mentioned it before but Elder Cristopherson came and told us all how we could be better, and it was great.  I also got to see some of my friends from the other mission.

 I learned some Guarani cuss words because some guy took his time to explain them to me, so that wasn´t appreciated. I also learned a really fun word (hy) which means negro in guarani, but you have to say the y as a u using your nose and throat at the same time.

It is suuuper hot here right now. We cut somone's plants

.Here there are tons of bugs, every day when I wake up I have to run the shower for a little bit before I get in so that all the bugs go down the drain, so that´s fun. I started taking cold showers because it feels super nice after being sweaty and hot all day.

I tried to explain to somebody here about squirrels and acorns, but it didn´t work, because they don´t really have a name for them here.

The 20 member family did have the same dad.

I have tried cow meat, cow intestine and cow foot, but cow tongue was new for me.

I can get to Kennedy(an old area) in about 15 minutes on a bus. The only reason I´m not in the same zone is because the zone was split because of all the new missionaries. 

*d*lf* (an investigator) basically disappeared, we´ll see what happens.

Our apartment is good, we have 2 half broken fans, and a broken air conditioner, so we´ll see if that changes. My apartment is 2.5 blocks from the chapel. we just walk now, the area is small. At church somebody gave a talk and shared Juan 4:53 and 54, it was really simple, but somehow I learned a lot.

 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and ^ahimself believed, and his whole house.

 54 This is again the ^asecond miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judæa into Galilee.

We gave one of our investigators *lv** a blessing, and then we told him that we were only sharing what we were because it would help him and it was just great, he´s super awesome, but his health problems keep him back.

-Elder Bowles

Week 80 - Man borrows Scriptures, Lunchbox on head, Feels the Spirit, Exploding deodorant

This week was great! The area I´m in right now is really small,but the good news is that we can´t get very far without finding someone who wants to listen to us. We have tons of help from everyone it´s awesome. This week we found tons of cool people, we gave a Book of Mormon to an investigator, *nt*n** and he´s not super interested.  When we came back, his neighbor, *d*lf* was there reading it and was mad at  *nt*n**  because he wouldn´t loan it to him to read it, so we gave him another one.  He's already read a whole bunch of it, so that was awesome.

During church on Sunday a kid started running around with a lunchbox on his head, it was super funny.  They also did the primary program, and it was great and super fun as well.

Sundays do feel way different, because everyone plays louder music and there are more drunk people in the streets, I feel the Spirit the strongest when people decide to make commitments without us even having to invite them.

 

I almost forgot about Thanksgiving. 

 

We burned our trash this morning,and a deodorant bottle got left in there by accident and it exploded,so that was pretty exciting.

 

The reason the people have so many kids here sometimes is because some of the men have or have had about 3 families.

-Elder Bowles

Week 79 - Tajuasape - No Cake, Cow's Tongue, 20 kids, Sugarcane farmers, D&C 4

Well, I got taken out of Villarrica, and now I´m towards Asuncion again in the Tajuasape ward, which is really close to Kennedy (an area he served in for 7 months).  I´m pretty popular lately, I´ve seen people I already know about every other day, so that´s been kinda fun.

 

It´s kinda weird being in a place with so many members. I really enjoyed church this week because there was more than twice as many people ate church than there were in Villarrica. It´s also really nice not having to worry about people only speaking Guaraní.

 

My new companion is Elder Diaz, I want you all to guess where he´s from.  Elder Diaz has the same amount of time as Elder Liddell (his former companion who he just tranined) in the mission, just a couple of months, so that´s fun. Yes, companions are always together.

 

They had been working with a man called C*rl*s, and when we asked him if we could bring a cake to the baptism, he said that he didn´t want one because the baptism is all that mattered, and he didn´t even really want to sing or do songs, because he just wanted to be baptized, that was pretty funny.

This week I tried a new food, and it was super good, cow tongue, they asked if we wanted it.  It wasn´t sure if I did, but I said yes just so I could try it, and it was real tasty.

If you both would like to come to pick me up.  I would have no problem showing you around, there are hotels to stay in in, you would just have to do your research to find the good ones (or maybe ask the mission office). Usually the office likes to know a little ahead of time so that they can schedule the flights good. If you want to get sick you can.   I am fine either way, if you would like to come thats fine with me, and if not, that´s ok too.  All my areas in Asunción are within 2 hours of each other (in bus) and Villarrica is 3-4 hours away from Asunción.

They have district conference about the same as stake conference.

In Villarrica everyone grew sugarcane for a living.

Families have anywhere from 1 kid to 21 kids (20 is the most I´ve heard of).

My favorite Paraguayan desert is what they call crema (cream) its the cream of the milk with burnt sugar in it, and it´s really good. I drink water or juice or soda.

People need to go to church 3 times before they can be baptized. Being able to help people get baptized does make being on a mission very worthwhile.

Luckily the summer is slow coming this year here too, it´s sprinkling today, so that´s nice, since it was pretty hot yesterday.

 

The house I´m in has a super long lawn, so we´re gonna be whacking that down with machetes today, so that´s gonna be kinda fun.

 

The old people here in Paraaguay aren´t nearly as healthy as the old people in the states, most of them are crazy here.

 

I had D & C 4 (see below) memorized before the mission, now I can´t keep it straight in Spanish and English.

 

1 Now behold, a ^amarvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.

2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the ^aservice of God, see that ye ^bserve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand ^cblameless before God at the last day.

3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are ^acalled to the work;

4 For behold the ^afield is white already to ^bharvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in ^cstore that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul;

5 And ^afaith, ^bhope, ^ccharity and ^dlove, with an ^eeye single to the ^fglory of God, ^gqualify him for the work.

6 Remember faith, ^avirtue, knowledge, ^btemperance, ^cpatience, ^dbrotherly ^ekindness, ^fgodliness, charity, ^ghumility, ^hdiligence.

7 ^aAsk, and ye shall receive; ^bknock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.

 

I like the mission, becaue it is just great, and helps me have more charity.  

 

Before this change, I have only had one Latin companion from Peru, so I really can´t tell you much without assuming all of them are like Elder Ag**l*r.

 

When I´m sick I usually try to work anyways because nobody likes staying in the house.

 

I haven´t seen any weird animals recently, just birds, dogs, dead dogs, cats, cows, horses.

 

Iwish that I could sleep from 8 to 8 that would be awesome.

 

-Elder Bowles