First Day of Spring

Hey everybody!

It is the first day of Spring and man oh man, it is HOT.

This week has been a great week full of service. After our district meeting last Tuesday we received a call that one of our future investigators needed a priesthood blessing. We grabbed the Elders and ran over to where they were. The priesthood is very real and I am so grateful we have it today. Before the blessing our investigator, Isa, told us her situation and it broke all of our hearts. After a blessing of comfort there was almost a tangible change in the mood of everyone in the room. We all went from sad/ no hope to a feeling of peace and hope. So cool. Now she is wanting to know more about the gospel!!!

On Wednesday night we helped Isa and her son Mauricio move their things to a new place. I'm going to be coming home so buff - we carried a bed frame, chairs and other miscellaneous items over 1/4 of a mile. The next day we were sore, but we would do it again in a heartbeat.
On Thursday we had our weekly lunch with Hermana Gomez, the "mama de Paraguay". They set a bowl of something (I've stopped asking what it is) in front of me and said "do you know how to eat that?" Not wanting a further explanation both me and my companion said "yes". It was a sort of stew with rice and beans and some chunk of something in the middle that made the rice around it taste weird. Without acknowledging the island in my stew I ate all of the beans and rice and simply poked at the chunk of meat thing. After she took the plate away she explained that it was COW HOOF. Yup. I ate cow hoof, rice, bean stew.

Saturday morning we did service for a young family in our ward. We cleared out the growing weeds and grass around their trees and bushes and put dirt on their yard/land. It was hard labor in the hot sun and I don't think I've ever sweat so much in my life. Since that day it's just been hot and am I getting used to just living with sweat and a little sunburn.

Sunday night we "dropped cane" (calling to repentance with love) on one of our progressing menos activo couples. They aren't keeping the law of chastity and we've come to the topic in the missionary lessons. That was very nerve racking- we felt very awkward beforehand - but the spirit was there during the lesson and we were able to teach/call to repentance just fine.

Today is the first day of Spring and tomorrow is the end of my first change, so to celebrate we cleaned out our house! Spring cleaning woo! It was really nice to sweep out the piling dirt/dust on the floors and clean out what has been left of the dying ants from two weeks ago. Now we have a clean house to go back to!

Even though it is just barely spring, it is getting super hot. I pulled out my umbrella and will most likely be using at the sun gets stronger and stronger.

With love,

Hermana Carr

Somos Teletuvis!

Hola familia y amigos!

This week has been so crazy random and so crazy long.

Lately we have been having a hard time finding people who have time or are willing to receive us, so we've been walking a lot and doing everything and anything we can to serve and find new people.

We have an investigator named Liz who has been making a lot of changes in her life, including building/moving into a new house and working long hours at work. One night we came by to see if she had time to share, but we ended up helping her move her fridge and heavy cabinets into her new house instead. We are definitely working with our might, mind and STRENGTH hahaha.

We have been contacting a lot of people in their houses and finding all of the people in Juan de Salazar that don't want the restored gospel, so we decided to shake things up and inviting people to Noche de Barrio (ward night). This last Friday we made a sort of walk-through representation of Lehi's dream, and activity I remember participating in when I was in Primary. We had a string set up to lead people through a few rooms and past "temptations" and then a mini-Christmas tree we found in our house at the end for the tree of life. With the help of some of the youth in the ward, people passed by a game of soccer, juice (with salt in it) to tempt them and a "fiesta" right before the room with the tree of life and a small treat. It was fun for the ward members - our investigators thought it was weird - but the spiritual thought at the end was good for them. We had three potential investigators come, which is more than we've been able to meet in over a week of contacting! We are so excited to work with them!

Story time:

One day we contacted a lady and her nephew and she was FULL of questions - we felt like we were being tested - but we love people with questions because that usually means they're ready or might be ready to progress. While we were talking though she told us that in Guarani Hermana is Teletuvi (pronounced like telly-tubby). My compañera and I laughed so hard afterwards - somos Teletuvis! We are not 100% sure if that's the most common word in Guarani for Hermana, but it's still pretty funny.

On Saturday we came back to the house to use the restroom and my compañera saw Hermana Alceivia (our dueña and the Relief Society President) out in her yard with her husband killing two chickens and de-feathering them. We talked to them for a minute and were informed that those were the chickens we would be given to us for lunch the following day. Sure enough, we had a chicken, rice stew/sauce the next day. Only in Paraguay do you get food so fresh you saw it alive yesterday.

Today we went traveling a bit and went to a Ciclovia in San Lorenzo. We rented bikes for an hour and rode around the park's different areas. The bikes were super small and after a while my muscles got tired from trying to ride the bike, so I just ran next to my compañera for half the time. It was a very pretty park, great to stretch my legs and run and I may be going back there again in future changes.

Although it's been slow and going getting lessons and we've been walking and contacting a ton, I have a lot of hope for our area. The members are starting to really get into bringing friends/extended family to the gospel and our menos activos are slowly, but surely coming back to church.

The days are long, but the work is great!

Hermana Carr

P.S. Sorry about pics - the computers we're on aren't working with our cameras. Next week!

A Little About Paraguay

Hola family and friends!

Last week I was reminded that I have not been writing much about life down here in Paraguay. Me arrepiento -  this email is dedicated to sharing a little about Paraguay.

Paraguay is a third world country, but that does not mean that there are not nice things here. In the mission we call nice things "chuchi" (choo-chi). There are a lot of chuchi things/places in Asuncion and along the paved roads, but in our area there´s not a lot of chuchi. The major roads are paved, but most of them are made of rocks or just dirt.

The food here is very plain. They usually have pasta, rice or some kind of corn-based staple and then either chicken or beef with meals. There´s not many vegetables - green peppers, tomatoes and lettuce are the most commonly found - and it´s a lot of fried food and salt. So not the healthiest dining. They do have a lot of fruit though, and I hear there´s even more fruit available in the summer. They have a bagel-like food called chipa that I love (when made well) and my favorite dessert food so far is arroz con leche. Everyone is always drinking herbal-water called Terere (cold) or Mate (hot). My favorite is when members make us fresh fruit juice - it is SO good.

This week we tried making a treat called crema, but we found out we made it wrong. So now we have a pot of misionera crema. So far chocolate has been the only thing I´ve really been missing. We eat a normal breakfast with granola, fruit, eggs, whatever we have time to make. Our biggest meal of the day is lunch and it is usually served to us by members. Some days we make our own lunch and we load up on the veggies. We don´t really eat dinner - we usually just eat a snack in between lessons or just nibble on something after we come home if we are really hungry.

As missionaries we live in good housing. In this area we live in the side-house of the Relief Society president. We have a room for sleeping, a room for studies and storing food, a covered patio with kitchen and an open space where we do exercises and hang our clothes to dry and then a small bathroom as well. We have warm water in our shower, but the other faucets only have the options of on or off. To go to the mission offices or district meetings we take Collectivos - a hop on anywhere, pay, hop off anywhere bus system. But for traveling in our area we are like the pioneer children and we walk and walk and walk and walk.

Paraguayans are all about noise. We frequently hear "bombas" - fireworks without pretty colors - go off and there is music constantly blaring from someone´s yard. For a lot of Paraguayans even if they have nothing else they will have good speakers and music. Most people ride motorcycles, some people have cars, but it seems more practical to ride on motorcycles on the dirt roads.

Paraguay itself is like paradise. The trees are tropical and everything grows. Once we saw an orchid strapped to a wood pole growing onto the pole in someone´s yard. Right now the weather is perfect or a humid-chilly, but in the summer they say it gets super hot. With nice scenery and weather comes bugs though. We see a freaky-looking bug every now and then, but mostly it´s just flies, gnats, mosquitoes and small spiders. Even though I am still slightly afraid of them, I am grateful for the spiders that eat mosquitoes. There are a lot of ants as well and we´ll see giant ant hills in the middle of fields. Last week we came back from Ciber and saw that we had an ant infestation in our study/food room. We used Mata Todo to take care of them and haven´t had a problem with them since.

This week I got pique and that, according to my trainer, means I´m officially in the mission. There´s some bug that lays an egg in your skin (usually on your feet) and they call it pique. The idea of it sounds freakier than it is - I just had a little sting in one of my toes and there was a black dot, so we just got out the black dot like taking out a splinter and that was it. No big deal. My trainer said she went through 9 months in the mission without getting pique, so it´s really not that common.

Dogs, chickens, cows and cats are just kind of everywhere in our area. We have a neighbor that walks his cows every morning like people in the states walk their dogs. The people here are awesome. They have a lot of faith in Christ. Regardless of their religion, people will receive us and are usually very friendly. There are strong families in our ward, but also a lot of less actives and broken families that we work with. Something really cool here is the majority of people gain their testimonies through dreams. I´ve realized that the spirit guides us even when we´re sleeping and definitely works through dreams. The general mentality of Paraguay can usually be summarized in one frequently used word - tranquilo. If someone starts getting angry or worried/stressed someone always says "tranquilo" and I love it.

Missionary work is so cool. It is a privilege and it is very special because we get to live among these people and work with them on a very personal level as we are helping them come until Christ and strengthen their relationship with our Heavenly Father.

The work is hard, we don´t really get any breaks, but it is wonderful and fulfilling and I often feel like there is no place I´d rather be (except for maybe with family and friends).

With love,

Hermana Carr

Flowers and a Baptism Are All an Hermana Needs

Dear familia y amigos,

Time flies when you're looking back on the week since last P-day. The days are long, but the weeks seem to be going pretty fast.

This week has been a crazy one. We started out pretty slow - my companion was a little sick so we came in early and I got to study a lot in the evenings. By Wednesday we were back on our normal schedule though and que suerte because our investigator Jose (71 years old and only speaks Guarani) started feeling better and was baptized this last Saturday! We had to plan the baptism and clean out the baptismal font during our studies Saturday morning, so that took a lot of our time, but it all worked out and we are so happy for Jose!

Last Wednesday was my first storm in Paraguay and WOW. They're not kidding when they say the streets turn to rivers. It only rained for a couple hours, but the mud stayed for a few days.

Funny story of the week: We regularly visit a less active family with one son (I think) about six years old. While we were talking and teaching with his mom he brought us a few cute little orange flowers. The flowers smelled really good and I was curious what kind of flowers they were, so I asked my companion. After smelling her flowers and thinking for a second she turned to the mom and asked, "Hermana, is this your perfume?" Sure enough the little boy, ma ena, had run inside and sprayed perfume on the small flowers he gave us. We all had a good laugh about that one.

I had a very humbling moment during Jose's baptism this week. We planned for Jose to share his testimony in Guarani after a few talks. When Jose got up to talk he seemed so nervous and he just started to pray out loud. At first I thought it was kind of awkward/funny because we must not have explained well enough and the idea of sharing testimony must have been lost in translation, but as he prayed I still felt his testimony. I couldn't understand what he's saying and I didn't know what prompted him to pray, but I felt his love for God and his willingness to follow the Savior. It was humbling and a great reminder to me that the spirit speaks in many ways and most of the time with few words. Even though I can't speak Spanish very well quite yet, I know I can still work as a missionary and help people come unto Christ as long as I have the Spirit with me.

Estoy aqui porque yo amo a toda la gente de Paraguay!

Hermana Carr

Que verguenza!

¡Hola familia y amigos!

I learned a new phrase this week: "que vergüenza" (how embarassing)

We've been working with a less active family, Familia Benditez, and have been going over the missionary lessons and having Noche de Hogars (family nights) with them. This last Thursday we were playing "gato y ratòn" and my compañera was caught. When you're caught the consequence is you have to run out to the street and yell "¡mi chancho sea muerto!". Their home is set far back from the street, so they have a lot of yard/dirt driveway before the street. My compañera started running to the street, but then turned back for me to follow, so I hurried and got up and started running to the street with her.

Unfortunately it was night and the Benditez house isn't well lit, so as I started running I ran straight into a pile of wood planks and flat out ate it. Legs in the air, sweater, pen and notebook went flying and everyone just got awkwardly silent. QUE VERGÜENZA. hahaha

We kept going to the street, my compañera yelled the phrase and then we went back to the family who seemed certain I had almost died. Their little boy was more shaken up than I was after seeing a few scrapes I got - pobrecito. Even though I have a few scrapes and bruises, the family came to church on Sunday!!! So the embarrassment was definitely worth it.

We had a baptism planned for this weekend, but sadly Josè (our 71 year old investigator) got sick and didn't want to be submerged in water quite yet. We have him rescheduled for the 5th of September though, so it's all good!

We also found a calidad investigator named Nilsa this week. We contacted her at her house and she asked us a bunch of the "questions of the soul" that can be answered by the Book of Mormon, so we're really excited to work with her and see how she'll progress.

It's definitely been a crazy week, but I love being a missionary. I've been reading in the "missionary" chapters of Alma and absolutely love the stories of Alma the younger and the Sons of Mosiah. One of my favorite parts is when Alma and King Lamoni come across King Lamoni's father (the KING king of the land) and Lamoni's father is only open to listening to Alma after Alma demonstrates "the great love" he has for King Lamoni and the Lamanites (Alma 20:26). I pray for greater love for the people I serve everu day and I en serio love these people!

¡Estoy aquì porque yo amo a toda la gente de Paraguay!

Hermana Carr

The view from my front yard

Karen (our baptism last week), her family and a bunch of the kids in the neighborhood

Hna. Getz and I with Karen post baptism

¡Soy una hija!

Hi everyone!

It has been a crazy week with so much change, but it has also been a great week.

I left the CCM on Tuesday and stayed overnight in Asuncion that first day. On Wednesday we had a little training and then I was assigned my compañera, we dropped my stuff off at the house and then we got to work that evening!

My compañera is Hna. Getz, and she is awesome. In the mission they call our trainers "mamas" and the nueva misioneras are "hijas".. entonces ¡soy una hija! haha

I have been "born" (this is my first area) into the area Juan de Salazar and I love these people!!! Paraguay is awesome. Super different, but awesome. There is a ton of fried foods - each meal with members is very filling. I feel like the theme of Paraguay is "Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without". They do not have much, but they use what they have and I love that!

The work is pretty tiring-we walk a TON- but it is so satisfying. I am out the second my head hits the pillow every night and I feel tired a lot but somehow I have enough energy to keep up with mi compañera.

This week we had the baptism of Karen Dominguez. I just walked into this baptism, so I have not worked much with Karen or her family, but we have hopes that her mom, dad and brothers will follow her example and know the truth of the gospel for themselves!

We have a TON of future investigators, one upcoming baptism, three progressing investigators and then we work a lot with the less active members and recent converts. There is a lot of work to be done here, the field is truly "white and ready to harvest" (D&C 4). The people here are also super friendly, so that makes it easy to contact with my broken Spanish hehe There are many differences between here, the States and even just Argentina, but the Spirit in member's homes and during sacrament meeting is the same.

Yesterday was a national holiday- "El dia de los niños". I do not know exactly when, but once upon a time there was a war in Paraguay and all of the men were injured or killed, so the young men (about ages 14-16) took up arms and fought for their country. August 16 is the day they celebrate these young men's sacrifice/valor and it is like their Christmas - in the sense that all of the kids get presents and there is a lot of fiestas. This event reminds me of the Stripling Warriors in the Book of Mormon and how they too took up arms when their fathers were not able to. I love the verse in Alma 56:47 "they had been taught by their mothers that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them". Even though they never had fought, they were laying down their lives and they probably had a lot of fear, they knew they were on the Lord's side and that they would be alright. I gain a lot of strength from their examples of faith.

I hope all is well with everyone, my pdays are now Mondays!

¡Estoy aquì porque yo amo a toda la gente de Paraguay!

Hermana Carr

Wrapping up the MTC

Hey guys!

It has been a surreal "last week" here at the CCM. We are all very excited to be out of the CCM - it has been a long 5 1/2 weeks - but I'm also becoming very aware that I've only had 5 1/2 weeks worth of learning/hearing Spanish, so I'm a little nervous as to how well my limited language ability will hold up out in the field. 

Even though we've been cooped up here, we´ve had some fun times in the CCM. We have had two teachers through the time here - Hermano Cristeche teaches us in the mornings and Hermana Camacho in the afternoon/evening. Both of them are going to be moving on from the CCM soon - Hermano Cristeche is going to go to school full time and study and Hermana Camacho is getting married a week from Friday! They are so kind and patient and have made learning Spanish fun. Since this last week has been all review we've played a lot of games, practiced teaching and even learned the Hoki-poki in Spanish.

We moved to a new area for proselitismo and we didn't have the greatest success. We got a taste of how rejection in the field will probably be like - no one would really talk to us and we didn't do a great job talking to those we did have conversations with. We are making a new game plan for our last proselitismo though! We'll make it a good one.

It's been a little difficult staying on task these past few days - we have been taught all of the basic grammar principles and have a solid set of memorized vocabulary, but are struggling to correctly practice and apply what we've learned. The field should definitely help us with that! For now we are enduring to the end of the CCM!

Mis compañeras and I were talking with a recent sister RM at the hostel and she told us "the CCM prepares you for the mission and the mission prepares you for life" (roughly translated to English). Last Sunday we had a lesson on persevering to the end. Our teacher shared the story of John Ahkwari - an Olympic marathon runner who fell and was injured in his race but finished anyway - and shared Ahkwari's inspiring words: "My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start a race, they sent me 5,000 miles to finish one". This has been the longest I've ever been away from home, and by far the longest I've been without seeing my family - but I have come out here to serve and learn and to see my mission through. I'm just at the start and I am excited for what is ahead! 

Next time I email I'll be in Paraguay!!! I'm so excited to meet the people I've been called to serve for the next 17 months! 

I love you all!

¡Estoy aquí porque yo amo a toda la gente de Paraguay!

Hermana Carr