Oh my life I don´t know where time has
gone! It seems like I was just hugging you all goodbye. I am just
loving it here in Paraguay and learning to adjust to the life of a missionary.
This week was awesome. I got 80 contacts (same as my comp) and my district
leader was really impressed! yay! By the way my district leader is Elder
Hatch who is from LA, California (he is in Mary Ellen´s home ward!)(she is one of Hills new best friends from BYU and serving in Korea) what the
small world right!? Any way we have reached a ton of goals, I witnessed
my first baptism and my companion and I had the greatest experience.
We
weren’t talking at first... she would kinda ignore me, she always seemed
frustrated, and I didn´t know what to do. So everyday I would pray. On
Tuesday we had a fast for an investigator and that night she literally broke
down apologizing and opening up to me. It was the sweetest thing.
She has just been super overwhelmed, as was I, cuz she has only been on her
mission for 3 months! So we´re both newbies in a sense. We now
laugh together, and learn from one another, and our friendship is growing.
She is adorable!
We live in an apartment (just us two)
in Loma Pyta, about 15 minutes or so (by bus) from the Asuncion temple.
We ride the bus if we need to travel somewhere like the temple or mission
home or other areas in our district. It is so fun! The buses are
crazy!! They are bumpy and jam packed with people. It is a great
place to contact haha. It costs 2 mil which is equivalent to 50 cents.
Loma is close to Mburucuya (where I did an exchange the other day with
Hna Wood from West Valley, Utah). Mburucuya is a nicer neighborhood.
Here in Loma there is one busy street that separates two LARGE
neighborhoods. We hardly walk/cover 1/8th of a neighborhood in a
day. There are so many houses (little and hidden) The people have
close to nothing. The members here are mainly inactive but are always happy and
loving. We clap (don´t knock). Everyone says Adios here. It is a
phrase you say if you are just passing by. Otherwise you say hola, como
esta like usual. :)
My district is super fun. We love playing jokes on
each other. There are,I think, 4 elder companions and hna Tocataquiza and I :)
Get this: in January there were only 14 sistsers... there are now over 40!!
Crazy right! Some of our investigators: Abel (15) who has the greatest
testimony, but his mom won´t allow him to be baptized (we were so sad cuz he
was set to be baptized this coming saturday). He is the one we fasted
for. We have a lot of old woman and teenagers as our investigators and as
our contacts I feel like. They are all wonderful but it is hard to get them to
follow through with commitments. We pray fervently and have faith in the
Lord.
We eat at different members houses
everyday. It switches back and forth every week. Yesterday we had two
meals in a row!! Ya talk about food baby! We had Chorizo de viena (kinda
like a brotworst) and ensalada de tomatas y papas (potato salad). The
weather has cooled up a bit the past few days. On Friday I had an exchange and
it went right down to pouring! All day long! It makes it hard to
hear (at least in the houses in Loma cuz their roofs are tin/wood/old) and hard to teach but it´s more fun! We walked and worked hard in the rain. I was
soaked except for under my rain coat yay! but freezing!! We took
hot showers and made some hot cocoa when we got home. Mom my bed is fabulous.
Climing into bed is so rewarding after a long day of tracting and walking miles
and miles. Oh and when it rains, some of the streets completely turn into
rivers!
Catholics, Catholics, Catholics if you aren´t a member you can
bet your bottom dollar they are Catholic. The houses here in Loma are
small compared to places like Mburucuya (more city). They have tile floors, a
sink, some just a bed (usually a queen they share) and a fridge. Clothes
hang to dry on lines. No one is afraid of germs here and a little dirt... this
is going to be good for me haha. Everyone wears flip flops... I though the dirt
has bugs that turn ur feet black!? haha
I think they are immune. Oh and you know how in Jungle Book the
ladies carries baskets on their heads! People do that here selling bread!
It´s so cool!
This week has been a fabulous one.
I wish I could tell you everything!!! I wanted to share a quote
from this incredible talk I am reading (the 4th Missionary by Lawrence E.
Corbridge). ¨There are two ways of evolving: deliberately and
accidentally. You can decide who you want to become and deliberately work
toward that end, or you can just go with the flow and become whatever life
makes of you. In that event, you will become whatever the fickle circumstances
and forces of life and society will make of you; whatever is currently
considered to be popular or in; whatever is easiest. But, whatever you become
accidentally it will not be nearly the full measure of our potential. You will
become just someone, somewhere in the middle.¨ Who do you want to become?
I have recognized that I must completely forget myself, wants, desires,
etc. and go to work with full purpose of heart. Do what the Lord
asks no ifs ands or buts. Give him my all, my everything, my whole
heart. I love you all!!!
Con Cariña,
Hermana Owen
Last photo with her companions at the el CCM in Buenos Aires. And Elder Aguaro. (Steve' mission Pres from 27 years ago).
The streets of Paraguay. It is true. Red, muddy, wet, green. Happy Hillary.
