03 SEPTEMBER 2012

Mon 9/3/2012 1:53 PM

Paraguay

Alright, Paraguay is so awesome! I love it! It is very hot, but I don’t mind, you kind of just get used to sweating all the time. So since I last wrote, we went and took pictures outside the temple and went to dinner, which was awesome! Wednesday I got my companion! It was like the draft. But my trainer is sweet. He has been out for 10 months and he is from Downey, Idaho.  He is way cool - pretty shy at first but yesterday I gave him some of my snickers and he has just opened up.  It’s awesome. He is a really nice and a considerate guy.  We live in a house by ourselves. It’s a pretty nice house too.  We have a kitchen, a work-out room, a study room, our bedroom, and bathroom.  Well, I don’t know how nice it is to you all. I like it though. I will send pictures next week, (I forgot to take some).

My area is this place called Isla Bogado. My area is so cool. It’s not really a city area and I love it! There are dirt roads or cobblestone everywhere for roads and I have a lot of jungle area too! It’s pretty tight. The homes are very small and the people are sooo kind and humble.  I love it! We talk to a lot of people and right now we have two investigators that we have great hopes for. Gee, just last night, I had the best lesson ever with this guy named Christian. He is so cool! He is very excited too. He just needs to get married to his “spouse.” They are both so awesome and coming to church. It’s great! I love teaching the people here.

So as for food, I haven’t had much of a problem with the food. My first meal (every day we have lunch with a member), I had cow stomach. It wasn’t bad; the texture was just weird. But the other meals have been great. We have pasta and chicken and just like beef and meat, and the desserts aren’t bad either.  Lets see.... there is no carpet anywhere and I can’t walk without shoes anywhere. Oh, and guess what, I don’t have to iron my clothes. We don’t have an ironing board because it’s so humid that the wrinkles just come right out! :) It’s very nice.  There are a lot of animals everywhere! Mostly chickens! I feel like I’m at home in the Rowley’s backyard because there are just animals everywhere. The other night I saw a huge frog! It was sweet.  Everyone in my area drives motorcycles - probably because it’s cheaper. Right now I’m in the city called Luque, which is a nice city with a lot of markets on the street. But the kids all drive the motorcycles around too. The best part of Paraguay though, is that if I have to go pee, I just go behind a tree or a bush. It’s awesome. 

So Sunday was pretty cool. I learned that Latinos cannot sing. It was awesome! I walked in and was met with a huge hug at church! Elder Escobar!, my buddy in my room my first few weeks in the MTC! It was so awesome to see him! I’ve missed him.  We also had a baptism of this little 9 year old boy in the ward, so that was cool. The members here wait until their kids are 9 so that the missionaries can baptize them – kind of odd.  Sundays are a party in Paraguay. Everyone is all drunk and everywhere we go there is loud music playing - even American songs!  Last night it was awkward, we were teaching and a song came on at the neighbor’s house. All the lyrics really said were, “Pecho, pecho, pecho, pecho.” Along with some interesting sounds. You can look up the meaning of that word if you want. OK, I will tell you, it means… um... chest. Ha ha. In Paraguay, it always smells like smoke, because everyone is always burning their trash in the street. My area is so awesome! Everything is way cheap here too! Well, mostly! 

We don’t have to pay for our packages mom, unless they are over a 90 dollar value.  The mission home just gets the letters and packages and sends them too us. But I do have to pay for packages and letters to send them. 

So I sent pictures from today! We went to the Luque Stadium! We kind of just walked in. But it was way cool and I sent a picture of just us there. My companion’s name is Elder Wheatley. I also sent a picture of the city here. I will have to take pictures of my area for you all. The members want me to show them pictures of my family! So I need more pictures. They want to see what I did at home and what not.

Well I can’t think of anything else to tell you! I didn’t have a cultural shock at all. I love this place and I know I’m supposed to be here! I love it!

Elder Rigby