Nuevos

So this week was the week of changes, and I have a new companion.

His name is Elder Henrie, and he is 6'6" and is from Idaho.

Elder Arrington was a great first companion and trainer and I was super lucky to have him as an example as a missionary. We had a lot of fun and success and I can't wait to see what the future holds for the rest of my mission. Elder Henrie seems to be along the same lines which is great, and so far we get along really well. I'm happy to have him here. 

I'm also still in Coronel Oviedo in our nasty house, which Elder Henrie (who goes home in 6 months) says is the worst he has ever seen as well. What luck. But really I think it is going to be a great change for the next 6 weeks. Our investigators are progressing pretty well, and two of them (one of which is of course is an 81 year old man, go figure) came to church yesterday, and can potentially get baptized this saturday. We'll see where that goes. 

We're still working with Pedro, who is still sick (he says its just a temporary thing, but he's 90 years old, so I'm not exactly sure how much longer it'll be until he passes on.) I'm sending a picture of his "house". Our other converts are remaining active which is super nice to see. It was kinda sad when Elder Arrington said goodbye to them because he said they were his favorite converts. Pedro was all sad like "will you come back to visit?" and he was like "no... I can't" it was pretty darn sad. 

I'm doing great though. I can't believe I'm at 4 months already, and I also can't belive that Rush only has 4 months left... Ridiculous. But I'm in it to win it, so I'm going to be working hard for the next 5/6 or so of my mission to send you guys the best darn emails this side of South America. I'll try. Not a promise though ;)

Love,

Elder Wilson

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

This week we have transfers (or as we say, "cambios" or "changes", if you wanted to know the significance of my David Bowie themed E-mail Subject).

 I don't know if I'll stay or go, but most likely I will be here and Elder Arrington will move to a different area. 

I'm also no longer a trainee! According to everyone else, today is my first day as a full-fledged missionary. I still feel like I'm in training, but what can I really do about that, right? My trainer says he still feels new, and he gets home this July.

My first two changes in Paraguay have been super fun and rewarding. It has been insane to see a new culture, meet new people, and to baptize people into the Church of Jesus Christ. I feel extremely blessed to have had that opportunity, and I sure as heck can't wait to do it more often. My area is huge and crazy and filled with all kinds of weirdness, but really that's exactly what I wanted out of my mission. Fun/Educational/Spiritual. I couldn't ask for anything more. 

For instance, this week, while on divisions with Elder Tripp (whose area is small and mosty city), it rained hard and flooded our entire area. I didn't get any pictures, because obviously I don't want to ruin my camera, which turned out to be a really great decision. Why? Because I stepped (fell) into what looked like a patch of shallow grass which turned out to be a 5 ft. deep canal. Everything got wet. The 10 peso tie I bought in Argentina is basically wrecked, but it was hideous and was the color of the chocolate river from the original Willy Wonka, so I'm not really super heartbroken. Next, I went on divisions with Elder Sanchez, who leaves his mission right after Christmas, and with Elder Carias, who leaves to go home in like 3 days. It's very strange to see so many missionaries leaving. I still have a while until then, so it helps to just focus on the work and how many hilarious stories I'm going to have when I get home.

If anyone reads my emails and thinks I'm discouraged, please imagine me as I actually am while I write. Smiling and laughing. Because honestly, I'm just trying to make these as entertaining and informative as possible. I love this place, but it isn't exactly Candyland. Some lady was open air breastfeeding on the stand in sacrament meeting. Don't see that everyday in the states, do you? It's a really funny and cool place, and you wouldn't believe how nice the people are.

As always, I'm having fun and spiritual experiences every single day, and I'm very excited to report back to everybody every week. Paraguay is super cool. Attatched is a random picture I took and a picture of Wilson, my convert's kitten. The second one is probably more for Maren than the rest of you, but enjoy it anyway!

Love,

Elder Wilson

The artist formerly known as Ziggy Stardust

It's like America (but south)‏

So not a ton happened this week as far as any real work updates go, and I was sick for a day, so I decided I was going to take some time to write a little bit about the things I see on a daily basis in Paraguay. I think I'll focus on just a few things.

After emailing last week I saw 6 people on 1 motorcycle, and one of them was breastfeeding what looked to be a toddler.

Now that's Paraguay.

So this country is a little bit of a train-wreck. Don't get me wrong. I love this place. The people are nice and willing to listen, the countryside is beautiful, and they sell Trix in it's original shapes. What more could I even ask for? But to be honest, Paraguay has a large list of seemingly unsolvable issues. This is not a complaint letter, but there really is a lot of stuff to laugh about and make fun of that makes each day a killer mission story in and of itself.

I guess I'll start with the smell.

There are 3 main smells of this country.

-Animal carcass

-Cow patty

-Burning plastic

Wait, 4 smells if you include:

-Alcohol on people's breath

So the beautiful countryside I described is marred sometimes by rotting animals, cow dung, and a ton of trash. Which is interesting.

Next is the food.

So this is something that will probably disappoint my Dad a bit. It sure disappointed me. Somebody (sure as heck not me) needs to tell the people of Paraguay that Mayonnaise is not a pasta sauce, and that vegetable oil is not a salad dressing. The food of Paraguay is, for the most part, really really... bland.

All of the food they eat is designed to make you full, and to be as lacking in spice or flavor of any kind. It's not so much that the food is gross as that the food is just sort of... boring, with the occasional creepy chicken testicle or goat's hoof or whatever.

Chipa- Bread shaped in a donut. Hard as a rock.

Sopa Paraguaya- Not a soup. A bitter, yellow, bread-like thing. Not terrible. 3/5

Empanadas- Come in different types, AWESOME. Best thing here except for...

Lomito Arabe- Like a burrito, or actually more like a wrap thing with meat, lettuce, and a white sauce (like a greek sauce of some kind, like on Gyros)

Mandioca- Like a terribly bland baked potato. You eat it with everything. Very filling.

Also you can buy Mexican style tortillas and jalapeños (expensive but worth it) at stores, which is nice. They come in that plastic zip bag like the generic kind in the US. My comp says he used to like spicy food but now he doesn't after not having it in a long time. This will not happen to Ol' Elder Wilson.

In other news, next week is changes. I'll get a new companion (most likely) next Wednesday. I probably won't know about it next Monday unless Elder Arrington goes to work in the office, which isn't likely either.

Well...

I'm having tons of fun and working really hard. We're doing pretty well and coooould have another baptism this week. The house is... well it's terrible and we didn't have power again but I think you guys get it at this point. It's bad.

Love,

Elder Wilson

Unnecessarily captions himself at the end of emails

Joe's Apartment

2 BAPTISMS

Carlos (17) and Veronica (12) 

I have two more converts! 

So the story with these two is pretty cool. Before I got here, Elder Arrington baptized a 15 year old kid named Oscar. He's super cool and goes out teaching with us all the time. I went over to their house the day I got to Paraguay. We have been working with his siblings for the entirety of that time, and  they finally got baptized. The best part is: Oscar and Carlos say they want to serve missions. HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE? Really cool.

They got baptized Saturday, and confirmed on Sunday. I baptized Carlos, and my comp baptized Veronica.  

They named their newborn kitten Wilson. 

It's such a blessing to see the gospel bless peoples lives like I'm seeing every day. I still get kicked back a little bit every time I think "wow, am I actually on my mission?" The white shirt and tie are there, the tag is there, but it's crazy to think that I've actually made it to this point. I mean, I am the most humble guy around, as I'm sure I let you all know... Just kidding, but really if anyone isn't planning to serve a mission, and can, they're most likely making a big mistake. Everyone here plans on going. All of the men, and all of the girls. They make some crazy sacrifices for it.

Anyway, the baptisms were really really cool.

Now I get to complain about my house.

That's right, boys and girls, we're still living in our Chateau of glory.

The super nice house we were going to move into got rented by someone else while the office workers were on their way to our house. Right after I told you guys we found a new one. What a disappointment. This week has brought a new "Men in Black" themed challenge to the house. Cockroaches. Many, many, many cockroaches. Attached is a photo of our dustpan at the beginning of the infestation. I didn't take any more because we just started sweeping them out of the house and killing them all and it was really gross. Obviously we're still praying to find a new crib.

This last week was really fun, and I can't wait to tell you guys what happens in this coming week!

Love,

Elder Wilson

Proud Owner of La Casa de las Cucarachas