Hey hey hey family!!!
This letter is coming to you from a town called Yby Yau. It's a Guarani name.
I'm a 7 hour bus ride out from Asuncion.
I don't know what it is about me and the boonies of humid other countries, but it seems to be where God loves to send me.
It's hot, sticky, and sweaty. When it rains, it POURS! Literally.
The second day I was here I was getting cooked by the sun when suddenly BOOM rainstorm! Apparently that's common here. VERY common. Other common things are mangoes and papayas... So Mom, come on down! Hahahaha. PILES and PILES of rotting mangoes on every street corner. Even the chickens here won't eat them because they're sick of them.
I have running water so... that's nice. We just have to tie a cloth around the faucet top to catch the chunks of soot that come out. It's a huge blessing I came here in the summer because hopefully I'll be in a different area for winter. I don't want to take cold showers in the winter.
God also thought, because of China, I could handle mice because one got in my suitcase and munched on some candy Mom sent me with. I didn't love that. I still have loads of candy, although, my companion said she thought I could study better during Personal Study (I always have a hard time staying awake) if I went on a sugar fast. So.... No sugar for a month.
Also, hair up, no makeup. Every day. That's sad because I wanted to look cute, but Sister Willis says it attracts unwanted attention. We have to wash our clothes by hand and some of my delicate fabrics can't handle that. I don't even have time to worry about it. I look gross and I'm sorry because you all did all you could to help me look cute and now... I don't. I'm a sweaty goob.
Sorry if this isn't as organized or clever as my awesome China blog. I have A LOT less time to plan out puns.
Working working working. The people are way nice and always listen. They just don't always hear what we're saying. I'm trying to learn Guarani to see if that helps them understand. This is one of the farthest missions. It has the most Guaranis. Ill learn fast.
The Elders and one other guy are the only Priesthood in the ward. We usually have 17 people attend church. The Elders are also branch President, Bishop, everything. They've got a lot on their plate.
There are a lot of 'menos activos' (less actives) here so we're trying to focus on them so that the ward is strengthened enough to support new investigators. I am primary president. I have the kids for 2 hours before sacrament meeting. I'm scared because we all know what happened last time I worked with kids. Hahaha, but all went really well yesterday. China just prepared me. Oh! and we're in charge of ward night every Thursday. Ideas for that would be nice!
When you walk by people here (because EVERYONE just sits outside on their porch and drinks terrere in the shade ALL DAY) you say Adios instead of Hola... which is weird. Then for "goodbye" you say Ciao.
Instead of knocking on doors, you clap at the gate. Their porch seems to be more important than their house. DON'T go to the door. Clap at the gate. The people are very kind and have an extremely simple way of life (seriously, just terrere, all day).
My companion is really nice and asks how I'm doing every 5 minutes, but its nice and doesn't bug me. I think she thinks I'm nuts... and she's right. I keep cleaning and organizing everything and I think it's driving her She's helping to keep me obedient. I'm more worried about her going into shock because of who she's living with then me going into shock from a new country.
It's as though the boonies of China and some of Mexico had a baby here, so I can handle it. Regular mission stresses of course, but I thank God every day for a new try to have the best day! I'm working hard hard hard. Sometimes I wake up and I'm like- WHERE AM I! but after I refocus, I have a good day. I can feel Gods support A LOT. Especially because I'm not crying as much as I thought I would. I'm really glad for that.
OH! and here's the wrap up of the MTC robberies. So a gal in my room said she was missing some rings and I thought hmmm I'll check the satchel that Mom told me to wear at all times... and my money was missing! 300 Argentina pesos (50= bucks) The only time I took it off was to go to the temple! I didn't know there were going to be construction workers changing the windows in the room where we left our belongings. I thought maybe they took it, or maybe I lost it. A ton of people reported stuff missing and the President said that they were claiming things were missing because I had ! I was like NO!!!! But he was way rude and treating me like some dumb white girl accusing the brown men of stealing the first chance she got, which was SO not the case! They were saying in was OUR fault because we didn't lock our lockers! Sorry we were at the MTC didn't know renovations were happening in our ROOMS! Then he said that they lock the lockers in the temple and just making me feel terrible. I was the one who had been robbed! In the end, the guys who did it (they had stolen over 1500 US dollars, rings watches ,etc) got caught and the company returned the money. I was thinking 'HAHA! told you so!!!' but actually I just said "I'm glad everything turned out well in the end". The President said it didn't turn out well because those men lost their jobs. He said we could have removed the temptation by locking our cubbies.
.... HELLO! like that's my fault ?! Yeah, right. Those men chose to steal and couldn't choose the consequences! It's not like I clipped my money up on a clothes line blowing in the wind. This isn't a hot pie in the window and a hungry hobo nearby catches the sent like a cartoon. They rifled through, to the back of my closet, and found my cash. Whatever. I'm out of time. I hope that story got across because it made me mad. I was glad to leave the CCM.
Now I'm here!
Doing fine!
I'm writing in my journal more so that I don't forget anything. The Internet is slow, but I'm going to try to load pics on to my sky drive after I finish this letter.
I love everyone! I hope all is well. I miss you ALL THE TIME and I'm hoping that this gets easier. At any moment I could turn around and run and swim all the way home! So... that's why I keep moving forward. Day by day. I'm DOING THIS! It's a miracle. Everyone was like ...YOU CAN DO THIS! Maybe that was just a trick to get me out here because now I'm too stubborn to leave and I'm going to distract myself with work until it's time to come home and hug you all for 2103529 hours! Love you guys. This is a cool adventure and I thank God that so far I've been able to handle it.
XoXo
Lib
