It’s a Whole New World

Week 7 

FAMILIA y AMIGOS!

where to begin where to begin?

Well we finished off great in el CCM... our last day with proselitismo we got to go into to some ones house and teach them! It was incredible. It was this cute lady named Argentina and the spirit was so strong.  She agreed with everything we taught her and agreed to come to church with her little boy.  One of the best parts was the end of the lesson.  We prayed on our knees with her and she held my hand and completely bawled as we prayed.  What a blessing it was to see the spirit touch her heart. 

Now onto Paraguay! :) Man alive it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster these past few days. SO MUCH has happened. The first couple days here were grand! We had huge meals, even got to eat out at a restaurant. The mission presidents treated us to a treat at the end:  A bowl of fruit with gelato on top. Delicious. The presidents had a sweet surprise for us... we had a testimony meeting on top of the church mtg house next to the temple.  Our view was Captain Moroni... not bad for a first day in Paraguay eh.  (oh and i bore my testimony in Spanish) :) We slept at some of the hermana´s apartments the first night here and got our companions the next day! 

My companion´s name is Hermana Toctaquiza from Ecuador.  She is adorable! It has been fun getting to know her and she helps me with my Spanish although I think it´s beginning to get frustrating for her. I feel so bad!  But I am praying for our companionship and I fasted for our companionship. I know the Lord will provide :)  She has four siblings and is the second I believe to serve a mission.  Her sister served in Uruguay two years ago.

Paraguay is great!  It is really similar to Argentina but a little more relaxed. Argentina is gated up EVERYWHERE! Here (at least from what I have seem and in my area) there aren´t as many gates and there are more people in the streets. I just list a few fun facts:

-people are always slapping themselves (at first it made me jump haha i had no idea what was going on)... it´s the mosquitoes.

-there´s always music blasting from cars driving around to houses on the street.  They love their music (and play it for all to hear)

-The people are very sweet and say yes to almost everything we ask, although they have a hard time following through

-It is humid and my hair is even curlier!

-temperatures are in the 80s-90s most days

-It has only rained once (last night) and the thunder is psycho loud!

-I pretty much eat breakfast, LUNCH, and small snack when we return from proselyteing.

-food: lots of rice, white bread, pasta, and meat!  My favorite was last night at our family night with some members of the ward... after the message everyone had tea like drink with these pretzel like snacks.  Although, missionaries aren´t aloud to drink the tea, mata, or coca cola so they made us some chocolate milk... tradition is to crunch the pretzel things in your hand and put it in your mug and let them soak in your drink.  I was really good! (even though it sounds kinda gross)

-I´m pretty sure we have a mouse in our apartment. We bought poison though... I think we´ll be okay :)

-The dirt it´s everywhere!  On the people, the floors, everything!  and most of the time it is red.

-the ward is small but just wonderful.  Although it was all in Spanish the spirit was so strong. I got to bear my testimony and went right down to bawlin! 

-the language... yup just like everyone said you wonder what in the world they taught you in the mtc!  nah it´s not that bad and I am learning but I understand maybe 10% of what my companion or anyone says.  pray for me!

I got all the dear ELDERS YAY! and oh my life Catie porter got her call!  started bawling when I saw that! how exciting! 

I will write more next week! Love you all so much! xoxo

Con Cariña,

Hna Owen 

p.s. - I am adding below an excerpt from an Elder who is in Paraguay and is good friends with Hillary's dear friend and college room mate (Lindsay Heap) His letter goes to the Heap family so they shared it with me... He mentioned Hermana Owen so thought you'd enjoy thier interaction when they met...

Elder Wing:  “Oh by the way at the training meeting last Wednesday, all the newbies were there obviously. And I got to meet a friend of the Heaps, Sister Hillary Owen. She seems like a very funny girl. She stopped me in the hall and asked if she knew me, I recognized her name from a earlier letter from the Heaps. So I asked if she knew Lindsey. She then yelled out ARE YOU STEPHEN! It was pretty funny I haven’t heard my first name shouted that loud since I left for the mission.