Week 91

We had quite an interesting Monday last week as we went to the Paraguayan myth museum.  It was something. Ha ha. 

 

We started off by going to Elder McClelland and Elder Turley’s old area as they wanted to visit somebody.  So we split and Elder Aquino and I went to shopping in San Lorenzo and just hung out til everybody else got there.  Then we hit McDonalds and then it was off to the myth museum.  It was more of a house.  But it did have statues of all the Paraguayan myths mixed with some old catholic stuff and some old Paraguayan stuff.  But it was interesting. I also bought their book to learn a little bit more about the myths. I now understand why Paraguayans are the way they are.  Their origin story has evil beating good and kidnapping a woman.  Strange stuff, ha ha. 

 

Then we had an FHE where we watched a movie and I prematurely said goodbyes and took photos.  The next day we got changes and found out that I would in fact be staying and Elder McClelland would be going to Itagua, with Elder Singer coming to be with me. 

 

Before that though, we had a district meeting which turned out to be quite funny since McClelland tried to make us all feel bad and act mad. Which he doesn’t do well.  I argued with him during his act and basically destroyed his whole plan.  It was hilarious.  Then McClelland said some goodbyes.

 

Wednesday we had changes.  It was weird being there for the changes since 2 of the people from my group went home, Elder Menchaca with his knee, and Elder Sanchez for stress.  So we took a goodbye photo with them and a couple others from our group. 

 

NOTE:  Another result of the changes, Anthony was made a District Leader.

 

Then we had a visit with Rodrigo which was awesome since he wants to know how to be a good home teacher.  That is unusual, since most don’t even do their visits.  

 

Then we did service for a lady moving bricks all day.  It was hot and boring, but it helped and we are gonna go back to finish next week.  We then had our dinner hour slash missionary meeting at a Lomito restaurant.  Best idea ever.  

 

Then we did a fundraiser to get the rest of the money for the Fernandez family. (Note:  The Fernandez is raising money so that they can get money to get married)  We sold and ate hamburgers again.  Now that the money has been raised and they have the paper work, they should be able to be baptized in November.  So that’s exciting. 

 

Sadly we’ve lost Brian as a possible convert.  He went to his mother-in-law to ask if his girlfriend could move back home with her so he could get baptized.  She freaked out and now he can’t.  Super sad.  I’m hoping to get through to them, but we will see.

 

Well that’s it for this week.  Love you guys and take care.

 

Elder Frost

Week 90

So I forgot some information last week as well. Elder Aquino is back!

 

Elder Aquino was one of the coolest dudes I knew in the MTC and was really excited that he was coming to my mission and wasn’t going to Uruguay with everybody else.  I went to PJC, and he went to Salado and all was good.  Then I came into Asuncion 6 months later when I changed from Elder Anderson to Elder Menchaca and found out he had gone home.  It sucked.  Anyway, last week Elder Turley’s wild change got crazier as he ended up with his 4th comp of the last 6 weeks.  In comparison, I have had 6 in my whole mission.  His local comp had to go home, and he said he was getting a new comp named Elder Aquino.  I was excited, and then at the baptism on Saturday we saw him, and yup it’s the Elder Aquino I knew.  It’s been awesome having him back.  The kid is hilarious. 

 

On Monday we went and played soccer.  No big deal -- we play soccer every week, right?  Nope, we played on a full-sized field and 11 on 11.  It was brutal.  I can’t run to save my life.  My coast to coast runs are only dreams at this point.  The moment I get the ball and start a counter attack my body is looking for the pass so I can stop running.  It’s brutal.  I just threw in the towel on many plays and passed the ball away.  And tracking on back on defense was horrible.  I ran full speed and everything felt off.  First I was slow and second it just felt wrong.  That’s one of the first things I’m doing when I get back, get my speed back.  A slow, fat Frost is no good for anybody.  I can’t catch quick, ha ha.  Anyway, after that we went to BK (Burger King), ate, did cyber and then off to a FHE. 

 

Some lady selling stuff wouldn’t leave us alone.  So McClelland bought two cheap looking shell bracelets. We did a lesson with the Acosta family about the kingdom of God and used the parables of the pearl seller and the guy that found treasure.  Then I shared a story about searching for seashells as a kid and that led into the bracelets, which we gave to the daughters.  Dang, I’m good, ha ha.  But it was a good lesson and they enjoyed it.

 

On Tuesday we had to go through our area books because they are a disaster.  So that sucked.  But we did get to do a practice, and it was awesome.  I got to be bad cop again and I landed Elder Turley and Aquino, so I got to mess with them.  I was a guy who didn’t believe in God because his daughter was murdered.  They answered that well.  So for a curveball, I told them I killed her killers and had their bodies in the back.  It was hilarious.  They taught well though, and it was a good practice, even if not practical, ha ha.

 

I also bought an LA Kings hat.  You win a Stanley cup or two and all of a sudden they are everywhere, even Paraguay.  Crazy.  I miss hockey.  And skating.  And ice.  And cold, ha ha.  Dang Paraguay heat. 

 

It was soooo hot this week.  You can’t sit without sweating through your shirt.  I can’t wait for the cold, dry Montana weather. I’m serious. 

 

We also ate Pizza Hut this week, which was good.  And we had a funny moment when we got in trouble for drinking our contraband 2 liters.  But their pitchers are way overpriced, ha ha. 

 

Also, there was a dog that wandered in during church and just stayed, and nobody cared.  Only in Paraguay, ha ha.

 

This week are changes, and we have no idea what is going to happen.  But everyone predicts it’s going to be a strange set of changes.  We will see. 

 

Love you guys, and hope you have a good week.  See you soon.

 

Elder Frost

Week 89

We had a good week. 

It was quite the week in the ward as 6 baptisms happened.  Unfortunately none of them were mine, but it’s still great to see that kind of success in the mission and especially for this ward.  It’s a great ward.  It’s going to be tough to leave either at changes next week or at the end of my mission.

On Monday we went to Shangrila again.  And while it may not be the actual place, it does taste great every so often.  It’s just nice to have something different than the typical Paraguayan food. 

So we went on Monday, and I ate my fill of Mongolian BBQ -- sweet and sour chicken and pork along with some spring
rolls.  I left full and probably significantly heavier than when I went in. 

Then we had a crazy night, as while we were in the cyber, we got a call from a number we didn’t know, very upset and animated with us that he still hadn’t been paid for the paperwork for the Fernandez wedding and stuff.  We wrongly thought it was the Hermano Fernandez.  So we dropped our plans and went to the Fernandez house.  We got there and they seemed surprised, so instead we taught a lesson before calling back and finding out it was the lawyer who is working on the case.  Well, I’ve never dealt with him so I had no idea what was going on.  But we figured out that he has all the paperwork and just wants his money.  So we set up a meeting with Elder Laurente to make the exchange.  We met him on Tuesday, and he gave the money to the lawyer on Tuesday night.  The paperwork is now done and as soon as he gets the other half his money, next Monday we are hoping, we can finally do their wedding. That has been a work in process since I got to the area.  So that is really exciting. 

We are doing another charity BBQ this Friday to raise the rest of the money.  Also Tuesday was Elder Luke’s birthday, so he met us up in Luque as well.  We ate empanadas, and Elder McClelland gave him a present of a pen tie and belt. Mission birthdays suck. Ha ha. 

Then we had a zone meeting on Wednesday.  It was terrible. I honestly fell asleep at one point.  In my defense, I was up all night with stomach problems.  Apparently there was a funny moment when I refused to give one of the assistants a hug.  I don’t see why I have to hug somebody I don’t like.  Anyway, everybody around me thought it was hilarious. 

Then we lucked out of the kiosk by having service for the Hermana Adriana.  It was good to be able to do something for her.  She is so awesome. We also ate with them, which was fun since it had been awhile.  We mostly cut down trees and removed trunks. I got blisters again.  Man, my hands are girly.  I’m also starting to wish I’d invested at work gloves at the
start of my mission. 

Then we had a full day of baptism interviews for all those baptisms.  We even played some soccer there were so many
interviews to wait for.

Then Saturday was a day of baptisms. They all went well. It was cool to be there. 

Then a normal Sunday, and we are here.  Changes are next week. It seems weird.

I hope you guys have a great week and be safe and have fun.

Love you guys,

Elder Frost

Week 88

After not much happening last week, other than the medical stuff for Elder McClelland, this week definitely had some more things happen.

It started off like any week with a Monday.  Mondays are always the best because, well, it’s pday, and I can do what I want -- Ha ha.  This last Monday we set up a soccer game.  It was good to have a good game again.  Although I didn’t play great, it was still a blast to play, and we played for a long time so that was definitely a plus.  After soccer we ate, had fun, and laughed as Elder Turley’s local comp flew through his money.  It’s amazing to watch the new guys who don’t understand how the mission money works. 

Then we had an FHE with the Arguello family and the Lugo family.  But they set it up early, and we got held up by traffic in Luque.  So by the time we got there, the Lugos had left.  But that didn’t stop us from having fun and a good night with the Arguellos.  We played 2 games.  One Elder Franco came up with where you picked a word out of a hat and then had to sing a song with that word in it.  Obviously we were at a disadvantage due to the language and lack of knowledge of Latin music, but we did it in English. It was really hard to remember the melody.  Lyrics were fine, but singing was tough.

Then another game Natalia set up, where 2 people went head to head and she said a category and each person had to say something that came in the category but couldn’t repeat.  For example fruit.  One says apple, the next says banana, and so on until somebody either can’t think of one or repeats one.  I really liked that game.  But it got hard to remember and translate things from English to Spanish, and I ended up losing when it turns out a fig isn’t a vegetable.  Oops, Ha ha.

Then on Tuesday we had district meeting.  It went well as Elder McClelland stole the lesson from Sunday which used the 3 little pig story as an example.  It was cool.  Again, I had to speak a lot and people look up to me …ish.  We realized I have over twice the amount of time as everyone else in my district.

Then Elder McClelland had to send numbers to the zone leaders so we went to the cyber.  While there, a crazy storm rolled in and we tried waiting it out.  But it just kept coming.  So we headed out and got soaked.  But 5 minutes later it stopped.  Just our luck.  We got on a bus and, just our luck, the bus stops.  Elder McClelland heard someone say a screw broke so we got off. And it starts raining again.  So we crossed the street to find shelter and sure enough our bus fixes itself and goes.  Then it started to hail.  It sucked.  But then we finally got on a bus and made it home.

We also had to do the kiosk thing this week.  That is only mentionable because some inspectors showed up and told us we couldn’t set up there. 

Then on Thursday I was attacked by little red ants.  They were all over my towel and clothes and cabinet.  I, not knowing this, grabbed my towel and was showered in them.  It sucked.  They bite, and it hurts.  So I showered again and used my other towel to dry off.  We went to lunch and then we sprayed the whole house with bug killer.  Hopefully they don’t come back.

On Friday, we found out that one of our favorite families, the Lopez family, might move.  So that would be a downer. 

Then of course conference was this weekend.  As always, it was good.  Nothing really stuck out to me, but I’ll read the talks and get more out of them for sure.  We ate and got sick and ate some more as we always do during conference. But it was good. 

I saw Elder Menchaca, which was cool since he goes home soon.

Well, that’s about it.  I hope you guys have a good week.

Love you guys.

Elder Frost

And 12 weeks til I’m home