Week 62

So had a pretty crazy week.  Any week with conference is crazy, but this week was crazy from the start.

So my group from the MTC has been dropping like flies.  Well, on Monday I heard that Elder Fernandez, one of my buddies from the MTC, was going home.  So we had to go to Asuncion for his goodbye party at Pizza Hut. Well, that turned into a slight problem since the cleaning lady was supposed to come over.  I successfully got my way out of that.  Basically, I just left. Ha ha. But I did give my keys to my zone leader who was nice enough to do the cleaning check with her. I guess she was very unhappy that we left though.

We finally roll up into Pizza Hut, and it’s insane. I guess Elder Fernandez invited everybody he knew in the mission.  And since it was the beginning of the month, people just wanted to eat pizza.  And the out-of-towners were in to sign into the country, so there were literally more people there than there were at changes the week before. There were so many that when Elder Wolfgramm’s group arrived, they weren’t allowed in, as there were no seats. It was literally insane to see that many missionaries in one place.

After pizza, we went across the street to get a McFlurry and talk with Wolfgramm’s group and do a goodbye picture with Fernandez.  Then it was back to Luque for cyber and such.  And then pday was over.

The next day we went to district meeting, and it happened to be April Fool’s Day.  Luckily for me I grew up with my uncles and that helped me avoid a toothpaste-filled Oreo. So thanks to Rick, Ken, Jeremy, and my dad for helping make me skeptical and careful on April Fool’s, ha ha.

Then I learned that in my area we are going to walk a ton.  It is crazy!  I’m definitely going to lose all that weight I’ve gained in Anahi.

Also, a cool story is that we are teaching this investigator girl, and she has a dog.  No big deal there.  But her dog fetches rocks. It’s crazy.  He won’t fetch sticks or bones, only rocks and he fetches like his life depends on it.  I threw one poorly, and it went into some weeds.  He spent like 15 minutes searching for it before coming back with a different one.    But, hey -- “A” for effort.

Then on Thursday, I went to Nueva Asuncion.  My area is basically broken up into 2 parts.  The part closer to my house and then a part way up the road and off into the jungle called Nueva Asuncion.  It’s a swamp.  I went with my zone leader as he showed me the area, and he told me how it is full of mosquitos and snakes.  When it rains, it all pools up and becomes chest high.  It’s crazy!  It hasn’t rained in like a week, and there were still pools of water on the ground. Nueva Asuncion is just a bunch of huts really. There is like one active member out there and a bunch of less actives. 

So we visited a bunch, and I met a bunch of people. One of them is a ten-year-old girl who needs to be baptized and wants to be baptized.  What she doesn’t want to do is talk. We literally talked to her through her Barbie.  It was insane, but hey… if it works.

Then we missed the last bus out of town, so we started to walk in the dark - with 5 convicts running around jumping people.  Well, at least that’s what they say is happening. 

Anyway, our trip was fine except I almost stepped on a black snake. I’ve seen more snakes in this area than in the rest of my mission combined.  So that’s a downer. 

The Zone Leader also showed me where a tribe of natives lives, and I’m going to go there this week and experience that. 

Then at night, we saw Danny.  He is our landlord’s son and a member.  In fact, he is probably the only member in all of Paraguay to be a reference from Salt Lake.  He found the church through the website and then accepted the missionaries to come teach him.  He got baptized - so cool!  He is less active now, but he is super legit and I’m sure we can get him back. 

Then one of our other less actives had quite a week as well.  He was cutting a log with an axe when it slipped, and he cut his toe.  So he was bleeding like crazy.  He also has 0 money for food or medical attention, so he had one bandage he was going to use.  So we came and brought him some of ours.  Hopefully we don’t need them in the near future. 

We also got to see our grandparents this week.  I call them that because they are this 80-year-old couple that seriously feels like visiting your grandparents.  They are so nice!  They always give us juice and something to eat.  The only problem is, they are really Catholic and don’t walk well so getting them to church will be hard.  But I like visiting them. 

 We also hitchhiked for the first time.  Well, my first time in the mission anyway.  We were just walking home in the dark and a truck offered to pick us up.  So we did.  It was so nice to not have to walk.

Now, back to the Elder Fernandez story.  He ended up not going home since he is having the surgery here and then going to the office for his rehab.  It was so crazy seeing him at conference. 

Then conference was this weekend.  I learned the importance of watching Saturday conference as I liked it a lot more than Sunday this year. I liked 3 talks in particular. The first was by Elder Holland.  The dude is just a stud!  I really liked the theme of defending what you believe in. I also liked the talks by President Uchtdorf and Elder Eyring during priesthood session.  I felt like all 3 really connected with me.

I did get sick from eating basically junk food for 2 days though, and I’m definitely ready to be back out in the field after 10 hours of sitting in a chair.  But I thought conference was great.

That’s about it for this week. Oh, and several people have reminded me I forgot to say where exactly I am, so it’s called Yuqury or Yukury -- something like that.  It’s outside of Luque. Ha ha.  (NOTE:  Anthony is in the Yukury area of Paraguay.  It is near the Ypacarai National Park and Lake Ypacarai).

 

I hope you guys all had a great week and have one this week.  Take care.

 

Elder Frost