Monday, December 11, 2017

NEULAND PART 4... No roof yet but a lot of people at church

Mon., 12/4/2017 (Neuland)

Here I am again in Neuland for my 4th change here! It's been a busy week as usual. We started out with changes. Sunday we received the call that Elder Castañeda was getting transferred. President had already told us that that was the 99 percent probability, since we had been together for 3 changes (4 months). Monday night we took a colectivo to Asuncion, where we waited for changes. Elder Castañeda went to Horqueta (an area close to Yby yau, my old area), and will be finishing another Elder's training. I received Elder Ruiz from Mexico as my new companion! He was born in Tijuana, but has lived most of his life in Durango, Mexico. We were supposed to go back to Neuland on a colectivo that night, but there was a problem with the schedule and the office Elders got us to the bus stop a little too late, so we stayed the night and took a colectivo to Filadelfia at 6am the next day. Wednesday night we were able to get back to our area. We spent the rest of the week showing Elder Ruiz around. Neuland is his 2nd area in the mission, and he has 4 months here in Paraguay. He's excited to get back to work, and it's going to be a good 6 weeks. Sunday we had church, with a solid 32 people that came. A lot of people bore their testimonies, and it went really well. Everyone's been asking when we will sing Christmas songs, so we sang a bunch during Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School (we're now up to 2 hours of church these days, which is another advance!). We worked hard these last few days and Elder Ruiz has been working so hard to get accustomed to life here in the desert! He even has a couple of blisters from us walking too hard! hahaha It's a little different here in the Chaco. He is excited and willing to learn English, which is also awesome. Last night we took a colectivo to Asuncion for Zone Conference, which we will have tomorrow. We got in around 4 am. This morning we had interviews with Pte Evans. My interview with him went well. Its always great having a 1 on 1 with President Evans, because he has a lot of great ideas and support. He is definitely called of God to help us. Other than that, that's my week! Thanks for the emails and prayers! Make sure to be reading scriptures, praying and go to church!

Cool facts about my new companion
1 He's from Durango, Mexico.
2 He's 26 years old and is a convert, the only member of the church in his immediate family.
3 He's been companions with Elder Baez and Elder Tesucun.
4 He knows how to cook Mexican food like tortillas.

Pictures:

1 With Elder Ruiz, my new companion! Well the other photos aren't working, but I'll try sending some more if I can find out how they work!

2 Out here in the middle of nowhere.

3 Terere (crushed up plants and water) is pretty popular here, even the babies drink it!

4. Digging a trench for service project.

5 Fun stuff really, digging trenches.

6 The banner for Neuland's Weihnachtsmarkt aka reading the story of Christ's life in German and singing a lot of Christmas songs.

7 Elder Ruiz wanted a photo in front of every possible sign that says Neuland.

8 The kids like cards.

9 They like them a lot, and run at us yelling tarjeta! We stop them for a second, and teach them basic things like showing a picture of Jesus Christ and teaching them his name, then give them their tarjetas.

10 Literally every sign in Neuland. hahaha

11 That sign is kind of cool too.

12 There's a map of Neuland too, its kind of small.

13 Neuland has 2 names- I like this one better but I guess nobody else does.

14 Elder Ruiz cooking chile relleno.

15 Elder Ruiz really likes granola, so we had some bowls after church on Sunday. Cool fact- here everyone fasts from lunch to lunch, not dinner to dinner. Its actually a little more practical.


16 With Elder Ruiz, Elder Brower and his new trainee, Elder Peña from the Dominican Republic (he reminds me a lot of Nic Clements) during changes.

17 So there's a place half a block from the mission office that's a food court, and there's a really good Mexican food place called Pinche Cabron (that is a phrase that in some other Latin American countries is/could be considered vulgar, but it's got good food so the Chaco district always eats there when we go to Asuncion. We went to the food court to grab a bite to eat, and an Asian guy walks up to the food truck, and tells the guy he was going to pay for everyone there- a bunch of starving missionaries. It turns out he is a member and works at the US embassy. He's an MVP, because we all ate free. What a nice guy.

It's Rain in the Chaco.
Well that's the week, have a great one all of y'all!

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