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

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems‏

So Tuesday morning we got a call from our Zone Leaders telling us that they found three houses for us. We went and checked them out and all three of them looked good enough to report to our President. So we did. Tomorrow the office workers are coming out to look at them and see if they will be good enough for the Zone Leaders to move into. We, on the other hand, would be moving into the ZL's current house above a pharmacy, which is conveniently located near the church and shopping on Mondays.

So after about 7 weeks of searching for a way to get out of the tomb we live in, we may have finally found a way to move out. With luck, we will probably be out of this house by the next time I write. 

I guess sarcasm and complaining really can solve all of my problems. 

Who knew? Just kidding, everyone. I absolutely owe it to all of the prayers that I, and I'm sure some of you have been saying for me. I oftentimes worry that my upbeat attitude about these kinds of things doesn't quite come across in a text format, especially when I'm talking about things that would normally seem unbearable. 

We also had a generally successful week that we believe will possibly culminate in a few baptisms in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for that. We invited tons of people to sacrament meeting, but only one came. Normally this would have been disappointing, but then two random people showed up that just happened to have all of the asistencias they needed to get baptized in a few weeks. Pedro also couldn't come to sacrament meeting or receive the priesthood yesterday because he was really sick. Yeah. 90 year old guy has "just a little cold". Well, at least I know where he's going when he dies.

Other than that, we've just been a little tight money-wise. We had to pay  for a bunch of trips to Asunción and stuff so money has been hard to come by, we're makin' progress though and I ordered some plaques in Guaraní. 

Guaraní es difícil ité, pero es divertido también 

Jahatupao Domingopé?

Love,

Elder Wilson

Guaraní-Español Spelling Bee Champion 2014-2016

P.S. Send my love to Nana Julie! Hope she's doing great!

Mi Casa

This week was filled with all kinds of "fun" adventures in the wake of my first baptism. (as far as updates on that, Pedro will receive the Aaronic Priesthood next Sunday)

Our Mission President Pedro Agazzani describes our house as this:

"By far the worst house in the Mission."

So after we returned from Asunción by standing on a bus for three hours that was playing the Sylvester Stallone artistic masterpiece "Cobra", we returned to our lovely house. I went on splits with the new guy, Elder Tripp from Colorado, and generally had a pretty successful and fun time teaching and things. Elder Tripp had heard stories about the house in Coronel Oviedo, and surprisingly about my MTC legacy. Which is, some other guys and I convinced one of my companions, Elder Rogers, that he peed the bed. He believed it, and he freaked out on the last day when I told him
he didn't do it. But anyway, when we got back to the house it didn't have any water or power.

We went to visit the power company the next morning only to find out that they don't know what's going on with it either. So for the rest of the week the air, lights, and (most importantly) the fridge, all shut off. All of our food was ruined. I'm sure if you guys have checked the weather here you know that it's pretty hot here. I'm sort of used to the heat from living in Arizona and Georgia, but still, I never had to walk for miles or sleep without AC in either of those places.

So we've been searching for a new house, aaand NO HAY NADA

Estamos perdiendo mucho tiempo buscando.

But we have to keep trying. We currently have lights and water and stuff but we've spent a lot of time looking for a house. President commanded, we followed. We went and visited a three story mansion this morning as well. There's no way we can get it, but still, we have to search everywhere. 

Other than searching for a house we've mostly just been finding new investigators and trying to get more baptisms! Our mission is one of the highest baptizing missions in the world.

I don't have a ton to write about this week because we basically just looked for a way out of the serious rat's nest we live in. Hopefully next week we find a new home.

Love,

Elder Wilson

Likes big homes and he cannot lie

We were bored at like 10:00 last night so we burned this clock in our house. (it was broken anyway). Terrible idea. We had to fumigate our house with fans for like an hour.

Also this picture is of my trainer, me, and my trainer's trainer.

I HAD A BAPTISM

I baptized Pedro Monteflix (our 90 year old investigator) this Saturday, and stood in the circle while he was confirmed yesterday. It was an amazing experience, and I'm going to go all the way back to the beginning.

So I contacted lil' ol' Pedro about five weeks ago while proselyting in a forest about 40 minutes from our house. We hadn't had much luck that day and decided to (of course) just go to one more house in the area. This happens often. We went onto a property which had about five or six spider-web infested shacks (all of which have satellite dishes because every shack in Paraguay has a satellite dish because TV is more important than A.C. and water), and saw a few people talking and contacted them. Not interested. So we went to another, it had some super old guys who basically only spoke Guaranì, so we skipped them, and then we contacted some more. Not interested. So we went back to the old guys. As it turns out, they knew a bit more español than we thought, and we started to teach them. At that exact moment, I knew I wanted to baptize Pedro. I saw him dressed in white in my mind and the rest is history. I felt the spirit so strong every time we taught him. His little brother Solfido, who is 85 years old, seemed to be less interested and less happy in general, so we started to focus on Pedro instead.

We initially also had some problems getting him to church, even though he had an extreme desire to attend, as I've already mentioned. Then we found out that he had already been to the church before, and liked it a lot. He told us after every sacrament meeting that it was "tranquilo" and that he felt great every time. He also said our church was different from every other church he had ever been to.

So now on to the baptism. We went and got him from his property in the woods, and he was all ready with his towel and everything, and took him to the church. We sang some hymns, and got into our baptismal clothes, and got in the font. All good so far. Okay so remember, he's 90. Born in 1924. He's basically made of Papier Machet and sawdust. So the sweet little guy gets into the font, all ready, and sort of struggled with the instructions. I said the ordenance, and aaaalmost got him to go under. He got a little scared and his eyes went all wide and he sort of fell forward. The second time, I explained it to him softly and in front of everyone, and it went smoothly. He was baptized. This guy, who I had contacted and been in every single lesson we ever had with, was finally baptized. He came out of the water, gave me a hug and two thumbs up and said "Tranquilo!"

So after his confirmation the next day we went and visited him and he told us how he wants better glasses to read the Book of Mormon and the Gospel Principles book more often. He also told us that he felt stronger and healthier than he has in a long time, on top of feeling "mas... alto!"

Gosh what a wonderful experience. I have my first convert to the church, and his parents were born in the 1800s. I've just been so happy and excited for him and for my mission and to tell all of you.

Other than that, not much has been going on. I'm in Asunciòn right now to sign immigration papers, and all of the guys from the MTC were there, and my español is probably 100x better than theirs, which makes me very happy. I also got a letter with some pictures from mom and I think someone stole the flash drive you put in it. I did, however, get letters and a rockin' picture of Maren from her first day of school so at least that made it. Also Brynn is quite an artist and drew a picture of me. How sweet.

Anyway, this church is true. It can't not be true. Anyone who says it isn't true is probably in cahoots with Satan. To look into the partially blind eyes of a 90 year old man and see him reborn as a person without sin is a miracle like no other I've ever seen. I know I like to keep my emails light, but just know that I'm loving my mission and working to make the Lord, and you guys, proud.

Love,

Elder Wilson

Proffessional Baptizer