Hermana Owen ~ Paraguay Asuncion North: Welcome to Mburucuya

Week 48 The Fabulous 4

That´s right... we had changes this last week. Hna Tomco and I were 100% sure we weren´t goin anywhere, until I called the Hna Gutierrez from Mburucuya (inbetween Loma Pyta-first area- and Campo Grande-second area) and asked about changes. She started to laught and said, ¨Tu no sabes sobre tu cambio?!¨ My heart just stopped. What?! Hna Gutierrez obviously knew something I didn´t... she said I should call my district leader and find out so we did. Because we the Sister Training Leaders people assume we already know everything so no one tells us anything. President will assume the assistents will say something, the assisstents assume our district leaders, and the district leaders know we talk to Pte. a lot so they assume we know everything. haha. WELL... We called our district leader on Tuesday around noon and found out some of THE most heart breaking news... we were splitting up! I went right down to tears. It´s the first time, for us both, that a change has really been hard. We grew so close over the time together and I learned SOOO much from her. I think we could both feel it coming though. Oh it was so sad.

However... I wasn´t tragically sad because... I moved just next door!!! I am now in (get ready for this one Hermana Wood!) MMMMBURUCUYA!!! Serious! Just so you all know, it´s right next to Campo Grande. Imagine Grandma and Grandpa Rhead´s neighborhood being Campo Grande and Mt. View Mburucuya. (across a main busy street)

Mburucuya is actually a fruit. It is pronounced asi: Mboo-roo-coo-yah. It is a guarani word well Guarani for passion fruit I believe. Everyone makes juice out of it here. Loving the area so far and my new companion is Hermana... GUTIERREZ!! haha no wonder she was laughing. I just adore her. She has THE greatest laugh and is one of the most humble and loving people ever met. She is from La Serena, Chile. Her dad is Argentine AND... Dad her dad served is the Buenos Aires Sur mission with Pte. Aguero. El nombre de su papa es: Eduardo Gurtierrez (you can find him on facebook asi) AS WELL as two of her uncles (Santos Gutierrez and Alberto Jofre) ALL WITH Pte. Carlos Agüero!!! No lie. You probably know one of them?? We were so excited. I am really excited for this change. Hna Gutierrez is now a new Sister Training Leader and Hermana Tomco is in Campo Grande with Hermana Torres (from Puerto Rico/California). They too are sister training leaders. Yup! 4 Sister Training Leaders!! I am so excited. It is going to help the sisters a ton now. We split them up so we can cover almost the whole mission in one change. We have almost 60 hermanas. So exciting! And they´re absolutely wonderful.

We completed 3x7 this week!!! Hermana Gutierrez is a flippin hard worker! :) I LOVE it! We got 6 lessons on Saturday and gotten 4 or more on the other days! That´s a lot for me at least, coming from Campo Grande, where it is literally a miracle if you can get 4 or 5 in one day. Mburucuya is small and not many assist so we have a lot to do with less actives but I am so excited. We have a goal together for our area of 3 baptisms. A goal of 85 baptisms for the month of April as a mission. We are working hard. We found a darling couple. The husband is a less active and his wife is a nonmember. Her name is Hilda and she has a date for the 26 of April. Yippee! We are hoping to take her to the General Womens Conference this Saturday and hopefully a lot of Young Women. Yeserday we gave talks in Sacrament. I copied a talk I had done beforeish because I wanted to give everyone my view of Paraguay. I started out by saying the following, ¨Crazy bright sun, sunburns (at least me because I am so white), ice cold water and homemade fruit juices, terere, hierbas (herbs), mangos falling in the street, peeling oranges and gratefruits and sucking out the juice... the way they eat them here is so strange, i am excited to show you guys... fruit of every type, delicious chipa, mmmm mbeyu, Guarani ite (means ¨a lot¨ in guarani), crowded collectivos, rocky streets, sore feet, giant trees, singing birds, beautiful sunsets, sweating a ton, but popsicles in the winter, hot chocolate from the members, homemade guayava jam, vori vori (a soup with corn balls, vegetables, and meat), sopa paraguaya, and tons of love from all los Paraguayos.¨ By the end I´m in tears and have come to recognize how much I truly love Paraguay.

We are excited for General Conference... I really hope I will get to watch it in English! Like I said this is going to be THE BEST change I ever did have, well, you can say that again and this is why...

1: General Conference

2: TEMPLE!!! TOMORROW!!!

3: 3 Bautismos en Mburucuya

4: 85 Bautismos como mision!

5: 4 Sister Training Leaders

6: We complete one year (that one is sad and crazy)

7: New Area!

I think there were more but I am forgetting. But anyway excited for a wonderful week especially for the temple tomorrow. ¨Oh the Spirit of God like a fire is burning,¨ that is how I feel right now. So filled, so ready, so excited. LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! Enjoy conference. Soak it up. Nothing is like watching it the moment it takes place. Elder Holland dijo,

" If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you.” —Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

And a big congratulations to two of my best friends MICHELLE SWEENEY and BRIANNE STANDAGE. I will miss dearly being at both of your weddings but know that I love you two SOOO much and am sooooo happy for you both!

Con much Cariño,

Hermana Owen