Eat Your Heart Out

I'd like to apologize for last week's lack of post. I loaded the email with way too many photos, so it didn't send and I couldn't do anything about it.... Sorry. But this week will be exciting! For example:

My CCM District! The short guy right in the middle was our night time teacher, and he was our favorite. Hermano Riveros. And missionaries? Tons! Let me introduce you all:

(Left to Right) Elder Sanchez (Argentino), Elder Huillca (Peruano), Hermana Pilliza (seated, Española), Elder Inca (Peruano) Elder Harris (Americano-Uruguayo!), Hermano Riveros, Elder Matìas (Argentino), Elder Bretòn (Americano-Mexicano), Hermana Landeo (seated, Peruana), Elder Gerber (Brasileiro), Elder Garcia (above, Argentino and my companion), Elder Mejìa (below, Peruano).

That's us, I had some really good times with all of them. Elder Bretòn is now serving in an area of Asunciòn called Luque I believe. I actually saw him last week, which was really abnormal because Luque is pretty far away from our area, but whatever.

This is just a photo of me and my companion at the Buenos Aires temple. Below is a  drama shot of myself and some Elder-friends at the temple, and then another of myself. I love me, don't all of you?

Yeah, the BA temple is great, and I wish I could show you all more pictures, but I have another like twenty minutes of actual emailing I can do right now, so I have to keep going!

¡Mi Compa! This is Elder Yauney! Sitting on his bed, with his backpack, and a smile. He's half Peruvian on his mother's side, but she never taught him Spanish (or Guaranì for that matter, some people just don't prepare their kids well. Sheesh), so he had to learn both here. Well, he's crazily intelligent, he's been out in the field for a year now, and he's a really solid missionary. We tend to get caught up in conversation though, so that kind of wrecks things like nightly planning when we're cooking delicious things like snickerdoodles or Locrillo con leche or homemade popcorn (note: I might get really, really fat. We made the best chocolate chip cookie dough the other day, but it was almost just straight margarine surrounded by homemade brown sugar and flour. I ate a 1/4 kilogram of margarine; we calculated).

These things! So, there's a Guaranì art form called Ñandutì (nyan-doo-TEE), which literally means "spider-web" but it's a really intricate weaving thing. And we went Recuerdo shopping for it last P-day! I didn't buy those ones, but I was sorely tempted to. I bought some tiny ones as gifts, and two ties made from another Guaranì weaving style whose name escapes me at the moment.... But yeah it was cool. Anyways, that day, we went out to a big lunch and stuffed our faces with Empanada, or Milanesa Rellena, and sweet breads, and the two Elder's who are leaving next week did something awesome:

They bought Ponchos! They were so, so unbelievably awesome. So awesome, in fact that.......

The guy wearing the red poncho, yeah, that's the mission president (President McMullin). Not even the president could resist the cozy draw of an intricately woven poncho. It costed 185 Mil Guaranì (Guaranì is also the currency here, and it's measured by the thousands), which translates to roughly 42$. Most things here are ridiculously cheap when you transfer it over to dollars, but that was fairly normally priced. Weirdly enough. My ties were like 5$ and were hand-woven. See? That's what I call bargaining. You just have to go 5,700 miles away to get it.

Anyways, wanna see what we did today?

Yeah, that's cow heart roasting on the grill there. It's not a Paraguayan dish though, Hermana Villca from Perù made it for us and we had a nice little lunch up on the roof top. I have to say, cow heart is absolutely delicious when it's done right. We made our own contributions of really delicious tomato-onion-locote pepper-garlic rice that turned out really well and some bread (which always has Anise seed here). It was super delicious. And that's about all I've done today. Now on to the supermarket, clean the house, and then out to work some more!

Okay, so I know I haven't talked much about the missionary work this week, but there's a lot of business and back work to take care of, and I might need to do something like this again next week. Sorry, but that's just kind of the nature of things. I'm also sorry for the lack of personal emails this week, but there will be plenty next time. 

Anyways, I need to run some vocab by you all! We use spanglish like crazy, so it'll be easier for me to just give you guys some words right off the bat right now:

Asistencia: it means attendance in Castellano (spanish). It's the number of people who attend church one week).

Ja Mongru: It's a Guaranì word, so it's pronounced juh mon-ga-ROO, and it's kind of in place of a congratulatory high five, but the action paired with it is way different. We only use it when someone really does well at something.

Justo: It's Castellano for just, and can mean just like justice, or just as in "just at that moment," like, "I was walking down the street and checked the time on the phone and justo received a call right there."

There are a few more that I think I'll have to add, and I might teach you guys the random words and phrases of Guaranì I know, but I'm out of time! Stay tuned for next week's episode!

Heart Attack!

Okay everyone! I know it's been a while, but boy do I have a lot to talk about! The CCM in Argentina was pretty crazy, and my companion was really interesting there, but the second I stepped off the plane onto Paraguayan earth, it was like the entirety of the idea of truth and right filled my being and poured out into an overwhelming sense that I was where I should be. The first day I spent partially with the Mission President and went around the Asunción Temple, which is actually in our Mission. Then I went out with an Elder who was not my companion, because my companion was afar off and we wouldn't meet until early the next day. So, next day comes and my companion turns out to be Elder Yauney, a 1/2 Peruvian Elder from Sandy who is pretty much awesome. I'll include a picture (and many, many other pictures) next week. But yeah, he's cool, and he took me to the whole apartment we have and we went around the area quite a bit. He's a good teacher, but he's also Zone Leader, which isn't normal [except in some Missions: love, Baxter :)]. In every Zone of the Mission, there are two Zone Leaders, who are almost always companions, but in this strange case, they were separated so I could be trained by someone awesome. So we have a lot of added pressure and weirdness. But, let me define a Zone:

Two Elders= One Companionship

Two (or generally a lot more than two) Companionships = One District

Two (or more) Districts = One Zone

And each companionship works in an area with their own pool of investigators and workload. Our Zone has like 22 or so Missionaries with a good mix of Elders and Hermanas, but I don't know how many Districts there are at all... I'm kind of a weird thing that this Mission has never seen before by being the companion of a Zone Leader.

Anyways, Paraguay!
This place is absolutely crazy! Our area, which is in a part of Asunciòn called Viñas Cuè, is poor, like most of Paraguay and Asunciòn. The people live in these run down shacks mostly, which are made from corrugated sheets of metal or wood or whatever's lying around, but there are a lot of other types of buildings mixed in, and there's not a whole lot of severe socioeconomic distinction just based on geography. Case in point, a man we contacted named Juan lived in a two story house with a gate, several vehicles, and seemed to have a lot. He lived across the street from a family of like six who lived in a house the size of a child's room (no not even a master bedroom size).

 Guaranì is a crazy Native American language that is really common among the common people of Paraguay, but no one is just this fluent Guaranì speaker, so if I were to get good enough to read the Book of Mormon in Guaranì, I'd know more than just about everyone here (except for some older folks). Guaranì is more just the language of colloquialisms and severe emotional expression (when someone says leave in Guaranì, you leave. That still hasn't happened to me though).

 Food is mostly pasta, but the weekends are all about the Asada, when they just take an entire half torso of a cow and just grill it up whole without any real seasoning, which doesn't seem to have caught on here either. Other traditional foods: Sopa Paraguaya (cornbread with onions and cheeses baked into it), Chipa (bread maybe? It's just weird), Empanadas, Milanesas, and a lot of fried things. They even make the Empanadas by frying them here, which is kinda weird because I thought they were always baked, but people just do things differently in Paraguay. Another case in point, Adìos here is a greeting. You say it to pass people on the street, but you NEVER say it when you say goodbye.

Other things about Paraguay: Everyone I've met has received little to no education, so that kind of perpetuates poverty with poor money management and lack of educated work, but it also means that the work of the gospel moves pretty slowly here. You have to work really hard to get things done, but in the end it can be really fruitful because it means that people are more willing to trust the feeling of the Spirit. That doesn't actually make it easier to then try and get people to commit to things like going to church or quitting smoking or marrying their partner with whom they live, but that's always kind of done one step at a time. We have really big problems with the church attendance though, so we're trying to figure out a way to really get to people here, and we are met with varied success. The weather here seemed not to be in our favor this week. We're in the middle of the Winter to Summer transition here, so some days get blazingly hot, but others (like today) are sooooo cold and just really wet. It is really humid here, and rather like a jungle (the roads here are mostly not roads: just their orange sandy/claylike stuff), and since yesterday was like today, no one we committed showed up to church. That kind of devastated me, but you really just have faith and know that if you are obedient, if you really care for the people, then things will work out the way God wills and people allow. I definitely have been putting in my effort.

So, in my area, we are part of the Zeballos Cuè Branch, which is weird because most of the other missionaries are part of wards. But the branch had a meeting of like fifty three yesterday, and I'm told that there are generally more, so this is just kind of a preview. But remember the whole lack of schooling thing I talked about? It makes all the classes really, really, really odd, because, if you think about it, if you just had to teach a class, you might know what to do just because you've had teachers in school your whole life, but when you don't have much of that, then what would you do? Well, I got to find out yesterday, and it was mostly just quirky and gave me opportunities to share a lot. The area is interesting too. I feel like our investigators might be going stagnant, but I'll tell you more about them in a second.

 So, it's mostly really poor, which means you have like no front doors, and all the properties have some sort of barrier around them (from barbed wire fences to brick walls with shattered glass covering the tops of them), so you just have to clap outside of an entrance or say hi to whomever might be sitting outside the house and then talk to them. The people here are oddly believing and receptive to missionaries, and they kind of have this weird belief that we're all sent from God, no matter what church we belong too, but at the same time, we occupy a void in their society where you can feel free to lie to us and treat us disrespectfully. That gets frustrating, but even then, it's not too bad. No one has ever chased me away or threatened me and I always really feel safe. The whole receptiveness is awesome though, and we actually find new possible investigators just about every day. It's really cool to be part of the work progressing.

I almost forgot! The main meal of the day is lunch (El Almuerzo), so that's when we have our appointments with members and people, never at dinner. That's just another little quirk that I thought I'd let everyone know about.
Investigators:

Luz Còlmann:

A sweet little 15 year old girl who actually makes me think Kassi a ton! The reason Elder Yauney and his companion started teaching her before I got here is because she's dating the son of the Branch President. But yeah, I think she must be of German descent because she's whiter than everyone and has blond hair... It's kind of unnatural here. Anyways, I've taught her one lesson, and it was actually almost the last thing she needs to learn before baptism, and she's been awesome and kept all commitments and really just believes, but her parents need to give her permission to baptize, and they're just kind of being difficult about it. But, we're planning for this Saturday, and we're teaching her on Thursday all of the remaining things about the Gospel needed to know to be baptized, so please hope and pray that her parents give her permission!!

Leticia Gonzalez:

She's like 19 I think. Everyone here looks way older than they are, so I really thought she was in her late 20s, especially since she has three kids running around. Her boyfriend/roommate/father of her children is named Alfredo and he's actually a Menos Activo (Less Active) member of the church. She's progressed with lessons, but just cannot seem to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know that it's true, so we really don't want to baptize her just as soon as possible. She needs to really know the truth of the church, but it's really frustrating when the family won't keep commitments! I say the family because Alfredo is in on this too. That's because, in order for her to be baptized, they need to be married, which is actually going to happen (they informed us), but it'll be a little while, so this is more of a long-term investigator. I really hope she's held up on other commitments, because the gospel could be such a help to her, and if she only knew all that I've had the blessing to learn, she would be so helped and could be so strong.

Those are our only two really solid investigators who have plans of getting baptized. There are about two or three other possibles, and this next week we'll find out about getting even more (a lot, lot more). But the work is amazing, and I've been teaching and testifying so much every day. God is with us, and I can bear witness of that. Every day of Personal Study is amazing, and I'm so happy to be out here.

But this is week one! Next week, I'll have more time to tell you about random quirks and things about actually living here. I love you all! Thank you for your emails and support! I'm going to respond as much as I can!

God be with you,
Elder Harris

1st Post

¡Bienvenidos from not so sunny Buenos Aires!

It's Winter, it's not remotely sunny. I have some pictures, but little time and knowledge of why the USB won't work, so it'll just have to be next time! And, when I say next time, I mean from Paraguay, because I'm only here until Tuesday. The thought really scared me all the way up until Sunday, when all of the sudden, church was way more awesome than everything and I really started to understand what people were saying in Spanish.

My District:
Latinos!!!!! Some from Argentina, most from Peru, one from Brazil (to whom I relate very well because he spoke literally no Spanish before coming. The languages are just THAT similar), and one from Spain. They're super funny and love the Gospel, but can't sing to save their lives, and, yes, even in a large group of raucous Latin-Americans, I am still the loudest and most obnoxious thing in the building. I state that with pride.

My Lessons:
Pretty flipping awesome!!! All in Spanish of course (no one in my District speaks any English). But yeah it's awesome... We also have to teach, pray for, study for and live for two fake investigators (Marcelo and Alejandro). It's all about the Investigator. ALL OF IT!!! But, I'm enjoying things here.

Myself:
Dreadfully ill as it would happen. I've lost my voice since Monday night, but still have to teach, so I'm just hurting myself more and more... Kinda dumb, I know. Even so, I'm loving it, and I'm getting better at soccer, although I will never have the magic feet of the Brazilian in my District. As far as how I'm treated, that same Brazilian (Elder Gerber), screams my name every time I walk into a room. He's nice and seems to have taken a liking to me. The others receive my quirky ways well, and the teachers like my in-class input, even if it does take me a long time to spit out an answer in Spanish that is riddled with grammar errors.

The place:
Located twenty paces away from Temple Grounds, it's pretty. But it's also Winter, so not as much. The BA temple is cool looking though. It has like three different buildings instead of one, and lots of spires. This CCM [MTC] serves EEUU [USA] (people from the states) and all Latin Americans going to regions in South America (Spanish Speaking). Things are a little weird though... There are some birds that are crazy spherically shaped, which makes them look really fat and unable to fly, but it's not true!!! They're just shaped funny. There are also some tree that just... Don't make sense.

Flying on the plane sucked, but touring around two airports with 23 Missionaries was awesome!!! I'll send some pictures when I can! I love all! Send you from Paraguay next week! Be happy!

Love,
Elder Harris.