Nov. 22, 2010

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Bobby and Kimmy!!! FELICIDADES! Also I want to thank Becky Goodwin for writing me again, it was really good to hear from you and your letter made my day! Ok ¿sabe qué? This week I am going to complete ONE YEAR IN PARAGUAY!!!!!! That my friend, is crazy!!!! Oh I just love it here and ha I just keep walking around this area thinking, holy cow I´m in Paraguay! I remember that used to happen to me all the time when I first got here, I was like what in the world, how did I get here? haha but I love it! It´s so great. Ha I have a funny story for grandma and grandpa- the other day we were in a lesson with this less active family and I was showing them pictures of the fam and they saw grandpa an grandma and they were like we know them!! And they were so excited, and they were like who are they? And I was like haha those are mis abuelos, and they just went off about how they knew them because they had been in Paraguay before and had come to their house, and I was like ha I don´t think so, and they were like well if it wasn´t them it was someone who looks exactly like them! This cute lil lady who was so nice and her husband with white hair haha, I was like yeah well that sure does sound like them (by the way...I hope yall feel better, I´ll be praying for yall!) Also it is SO funny because all the people here call us elders because they are so used to having the elders here, so we told them, no we are not elders because those are the muchachos (boys), so then they started calling us las elderas (making that word feminine) ha it´s so funny, and we´re like no no we are hermanas! But there are still so many people who just call us elders, it makes me laugh and then they try to give us hand shakes-that´s weird! We´re like no, we KISS!!! Ha we give besos-oh man it´s going to be weird coming back home and having hand shakes be normal and not kissing people all the time haha. Oh and you know what else?! My shoes BROKE!!! I was not a happy camper, it´s those ones you sent me mom that are supposed to be really nice- and they are because everyone else here has the same exact ones and they still use them, but my strap things came off, like somehow the fish line came undone or something, I don´t even know, but I can´t even wear them anymore. So today we were in Asuncion and so I bought some new shoes that hopefully last me until the end, ha they better because they were expensive!!! Ok and so sad story, we only had 35 people in church yesterday (it rained so everyone used that as their excuse) ha and we only had 3 people in Relief Society-5 including us. Yeah we got a lot of work to do here! Oh and today we had an hna activity! It was fun! And we left last night and stayed in President´s house because we live far away and would´ve had to leave pretty early to get there in time, so that was fun! We got there and we made sandwiches and ate with Pres and Hna Madariaga and Hna Kimball also came, so it was fun. And then this morning we got up way early to make a huge breakfast (it was our activity for thanksgiving haha) and then all the hnas came and we ate and then watched a movie about the nativity. It was great! And mom, ¿sabe qué? we have this lil restaraunt in our area that just happens to sell pies (the only pies I have ever seen in Paraguay) and they just happen to sell pecan pie!!!!! I´m stoked, so we are going to buy a huge pie and some vanilla icecream for ourselves to eat for Thanksgiving! Alright I think that is all the news here! It´s going. We´re working, working, working. It´s so fun to just spread this restored gospel with everyone, even when they don´t understand the significance of everything. My testimony just grows and grows and my love for my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ just keeps expanding. It´s true! That´s so great. I love all the simple truths of the gospel. We have a true and living prophet here on the earth today, Thomas S Monson. The Book of Mormon-wow what a guia! It´s a guide! It has all that we ever need to know to have la felicidad (happiness) in our lives. It was written for us! Wow this work is good. Spread it people! I love yall! And Alisa, I love you and you are in my prayers constantly. I hope everyone has a good week! Love yall!