Week 12

Another crazy week leads into another one this week. The mission flies by when it goes like this. This Wednesday I complete my first change or 6 weeks in the field. It seems like just yesterday I left, really.

Sorry that this one is a day late. I got called into Asuncion out of the blue so our p-day got moved to Tuesday or today I guess. Ha

Let’s see -- last Tuesday was a crazy day. After out district meeting, we went and talked to the 2 ladies in the electronics store I told you guys about and gave them their Book of Mormons, which was cool.  Then we decided we wanted food.  So, we did a quick grocery shopping trip.   Basically, we bought a fish -- a Pacu. (NOTE:  A Pacu is related to the Piranha.  It has human-like teeth that crush seeds and nuts.) 

 

A Pacu

We also bought some stuff for homemade chicken noodle soup and tacos.  Oh ya, and I bought a kilo of bacon and some cheese.   Best part of that besides eating it of course is that after our walk home my whole backpack smelled like a bacon cheeseburger.  Sooo good!  And yes, kinda gross.  But oh well. 

So then, that night after doing all our visits, we get back to the house and decide to cook that fish.  So of course that turned into an adventure.  We eventually got its head off and cleaned it out and then stuffed it with garlic, lime and butter. Then we put carbon, a kind of charcoal, down outside and melted plastic bags as a kind of starter, but that wasn’t working. Then Elder Anderson remembered a trick where you use the fan to blow air on it and ignite the coals better, so we did that and it worked. 

 

 Preparing the Pacu (fish)

 

 Elder Anderson preparing the coals to cook the fish

 

 

 

But it was crazy looking.  Then we put the fish down, put our hammocks up, and just hung outside all night til the fish was done and then ate it.  It was surprisingly way good for some random fish we grabbed out of the store. 

After our taste of food not made my Paraguayans, we decided to continue and did so by making nice breakfasts for ourselves.  I made the bacon and cheesy scrambled eggs, and my comp made French Toast and homemade syrup. So together we are by far the best cooks in this whole country. Haha.  It was way good though.

 

Scrambled cheesy eggs, french toast & syrup, bacon and juice

Then that night, we had a baptism. So we prepped the font and cleaned the chapel and got ready for that most of the day.  There was an 8-year-old member girl being baptized that night as well.  So we helped her grandma prep for it, since she wanted it to be a bigger deal.   And by bigger deal, I mean she made the largest, heaviest cake I’ve ever seen and then made us carry it 5 blocks to the church.  Ya, good thing I’ve been working out ;) Haha. 

Then some baptism drama.  Nothing bad, just the grandma was supposed to have the speakers picked and didn’t.  So they asked me like 2 minutes before to talk about baptism and the Holy Ghost.  And well, I didn’t do the missionary thing.  I said no. Haha.  But karma got me as after the baptism the branch president asked me to give a talk on Sunday...about baptism and the Holy Ghost.  Sooo, ya, I learned my lesson.  

The actual baptism went good and the cake was tasty.  The baptism was for a girl named Digna who was a complete snake when I first got here but changed her life 180 to this point. It’s been way cool to watch.   

Anthony, Digna's mom, Digna and Elder Anderson 

We also found out this week that dengue fever is up to 10% of the mission having it, including our mission nurse.   Asuncion is the main area, so that made going there a little nervous, leaving our sanctuary of Pedro Juan, but I had to go to sign papers and become legal in this country. 

So off we went.   The terminal is way out of our area, so we asked the district leaders to buy our tickets and we’d pay them back.  Well they didn’t, and then we tried to reserve them.  The bus company said ok.  So, we roll up on Sunday and guess what, no tickets for us.  So we seat hopped for an hour, until the bus was full.  Then I sat on the stairs and my comp sat on top of the cooler and tried to sleep/ride.  The only problem was every 10 minutes someone else would get on and bump us and I’d have to get up and move. Eventually it got so packed that the attendant guy pushed everyone closer together so they could fit more people. I shared a step with some guy and had a family lying at my feet.  It was crazy.  Eventually we gave up and stood the last 2 hours. 8 hours later we got to Asuncion dead tired.  

We go sign my papers, do dentist stuff with my comp including a visit, then a 20 block walk to a hospital for a panoramic x-ray, and then back to the previous dentist.  After that, we grabbed our mail and our reimbursals.  Then we went to a goodbye lunch for Elder Staker, one of my comp’s best friends in the mission.  A bunch of people came.  It was way cool, and the food was awesome.  

After that, we sat in the terminal for a couple hours then back onto the bus.  This time we had seats, but the bus never turned its lights off.  And it was hot, so we still didn’t sleep well. Suffice it to say, we are tired and crabby, but today became p-day, so there’s that. All we did is email and shop for chains.  We found some real silver ones that aren’t too pricy.   So we will see.   

 

This week is busy as we have a wedding, maybe a baptism, and the Mission President is coming this week.  So we gotta deep clean our house.  All in the life of a missionary.  It’s crazy, but good.

Love you guys.  Don’t forget to write me, either by email or by letter.  We can email friends, and they gave us 2 hours of internet.  So I’ve got time, or hard letters are awesome too.

Stay safe and have fun.

Luvs,

 

Elder Anthony Frost