Mon., 12/5/2016

Well its been a busy week! Everything is so difficult because its in Español, but thats fine, because Im learning faster. Monday about 20 minutes after I emailed, we got a call from the assistants to the president(APs), and they told us that the next day we needed to go help in their area. as a result, we got up early on Tuesday and rode a few busses to their area, Mariano. Its a little closer to Asuncion, and is a chuchi(guarani for rich) area. For the day, I went with Elder Bickley, and Elder bridge went with Elder Crofts. Elder Bickley is the one I sent a picture of last week where he took a selfie. We worked all day, then slept overnight. Wednesday Elder Bridge and I walked to a bridge thats at least a half mile long that extends over  the Rio Paraguay, and took pictures on top. After that, we headed home. We went out and taught that day and thursday as normal. Thursday, Elder Bridge and Elder Passos had to do exchanges as they are zone leaders. So I worked with Elder Robalino that day. Hes as new as me, just knows spanish already. We worked for a while, but it was suuuper hot, and he got sick, mos liekly dehydrated. we stayed at home for a few hours in their casa(which is about a block from ours), and I studied for a while. Thy have a relatively new air conditioner, so it was great for while I studied. When he was better we went out to contact some more. Friday we were back to normal companions, and it was the hottest day Ive ever had. We were drinking probably 2 or 3 liters of water an hour, and had to stop in shade whenever we could. We were in a neighborhood with no shade for a while, and it was brutal. the good thing is its so hot here you cant feel sunburns if you have them hahaha. I have made sure to drink enough water, because its the only way to survive down here. Asking random people for water is a good conversation starter, and so we just ask random poeple if we can have a bit of water. Theyre all so friendly here that anyone will give us water. weve even had people give us water while were passing them. Saturday was also hot, but we stayed out most of the day. There was a baptism at our chapel, because the elders from Limpio had a baptism and their water didnt work. One of the Elders was Elder Armstrong from my MTC group, so it was nice to see him. He was in the hospital this week for a few days, but hes recovered and doing well. Sunday we had church, and the air conditioning worked! It was so much better than last week, and everyone(well most people) was able to stay awake. It was fast sunday, and here everyone fasts from lunch saturday to lunch sunday. We went out and contacted most of the rest of the day, then went to the ward counsel meeting. Today for Pday we are in Luque, and got to get some pizzas for lunch.Â


The food this week has been a little more iffy than last week. We have meals with members most lunches, and they have rice with every meal. Not just rice though. Its rice with either a smothering of cheese, mayo, or both. I'm going to go ahead and say I really don't like it. But it's bearable. The fruit salad here is awesome. its basically a bunch of cut up fruit like in america, but they put fruit juice on it. The fruit juice here is also awesome, its got a lot more flavor. Im pretty sure juice in the states is just watered down because its so much better here. Random people sell Ice cream and have signs of ice cream in their yards. there is nothing like some good dulce de leche ice cream(dulce de leche is like caramel).


One of the people we are teaching, G, (were not supposed to include names in our emails), isa getting baptised this saturday! Its my first baptism so Im excited. Theres also another one that is probably happening in another week or 2. Its amazing all the people we talk to, and how everyone has their own different story. Its hard to teach people with my limited spanish, but theyre willing to listen because theyre all nice and know how much it means that were from the US and came this far to talk to them. It does help that Elder Bridge has nearly perfect español. Its fun stuff down here, even if it is really hard. Thats all for the week besides pictures, Ciao!

Los amo,

Elder Olson
matthew.olson@myldsmail.net
Paraguay Asuncion North Mission