Hey there family!
Hey, so why didn't you let Aunt Audrey talk to me, it would have been fun to here from her too. But I´m glad you enjoyed talking to me. Only 5 months to go until the next time. But wow, it is really really hot right now, and we went out to check out a waterfall today as a district. So the two new guys in our district were excited to see a little bit of the country side, because we have to drive way out to the middle of nowhere to get there. This one was different from the last one, so I hope you like some of the pictures that I sent you.
Anyways, my new comp is pretty cool, he has a ton of enthusiasm and wants to work hard, so we're doing it the best we can. Edison and Sambrina are doing awesome, so in a couple weeks hopefully you'll be seeing their baptismal photos, if everything goes according to plan. My comp is still going through the major culture shock, and I totally am coming to appreciate just how great of a missionary and trainer Elder Nilsen was, because I just find myself thinking "Okay, what would Elder Nilsen be doing right now? How would he explain to me what's going on?" It’s a lot harder than it might seem to get a kid to understand what the people are saying to him and adjust to a new culture on top of getting him used to doing the missionary kinds of things. I find myself forgetting to do a lot of things just because of how much I'm trying so hard to make sure I'm covering all of the bases haha. But it hasn't even been a week yet, I'm sure things will settle down here pretty soon. As for favorite families here, there's always favorite families/people wherever you go.
But now its time to reprimand haha. What's with all this talk of me being married?! Its just all like out of the blue. But no, I didn't know Jeremy Arnold. I think he was the guy who gave his homecoming talk when I gave my farewell, but I don't know anything about him really. I did know Maddie though. Haha that’s weird to think they're getting married. Don't you worry, I'll be taking things nice and slow when I get home. For starters, I'll be in NY for forever when I get home and I KNOW there ain't nobody there. And there's some things I wanna do before I have to settle down, just take some time and enjoy single life for awhile, like start up a band or study abroad in Austria or Spain or something fun like that. Don't think that me going and living in a foreign country for 2 years has satisfied my appetite, if anything its just made me want to travel more. Haha.
Anyways, I hope all of your travel plans go good for this week, and that you guys really enjoy the game. You'll have to send pictures and tell me all about it. Love ya lots,
Elder Dennis
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Dec 22, 2008
¡Feliz navidad!
Alright peeps, are yas ready to talk to yours truly? Well... I kinda forgot to get the information... HA! Gotcha! Alright, so here’s whats ya needs to do: First, go out and buy a phone card, and make sure Paraguay is included on it. Then, at exactly 4:00 on Thursday, Christmas day, Eastern standard time, call the number xx-xxx-xxx-xxx. It’ll be six o’clock here in Paraguay. If the number doesn’t go through you might have to put a 0 in front of it, but you should be just fine. You’ll be calling a member’s house, the branch president’s, and we’ll be getting there a little early to be there in plenty of time. Its funny to think its been like, 7 months since I’ve talked to any of you people.
Okay, now I gotta say, I just love my funny little branch. Its so hard to not just bust out laughing at most of our functions, its deserving of a mormon reality tv series almost. You can check out the photos of the christmas party. Its was cool, we actually got a really great turnout, we were kind of surprised as missionaries. We spent all week inviting people, and it actually turned out decent. Also, I got your package of gifts, so no worries there. Although, I’m sorry to say that all your effort to put Elder Peterson’s names on the gifts was a wasted of time, cause now I have to scratch them off. But I’ll be giving a couple to him on his way out, cause I love that kid. Oh, but you’ll be happy to know that I only opened the seat cushion (which is splendid, by the way). Oh, and the magnets, those I couldn’t figure out, and they’re really fun to play with. And the AAA batteries. Which will be coming in handy because I bought a guitar tuner today that uses em. Before today I thought is was the most pointless gift ever, but then again, I haven’t opened anything else, so I wouldn’t know... but I’m pretty sure that unless the book is just like a cover up for something than you didn’t send anything that could use them. I’m really excited to find out what the book is by the way, and I’m stoked for all the cds. But I’m not gonna lie, the things I’m most geared up to open is the ties... haha.
So I guess that brings me to changes: I get to have my first kid this change! I’ll be training some kid, but we don’t find out who until we get there cause its this huge big surprise and everything, so it’ll be exciting. I do know he’s american though, because there’s no latins coming this change haha. So you’ll be able to find out all about him this Thursday when we’re chatting. But I’ve decided to share something with you that I’ve come to realize the last couple weeks... The things I took for granted the most before my mission was, by far, shade. DO you know how much cooler it is when you’re under shade?! It’s like stepping into a freezer! I am never going to take shade for granted when I get back to the states... the first thing I will ever think about when I’m looking at houses to buy later on is where the shade is in the yard because man, it can literally save your life to have just a itty bitty piece of shade to be get out of the oven.
Okay, one last thing. I want to ask you to pray for Ever. He’s an awesome guy that isn’t feeling well. He’s helped us find 2 of our best investigators that we have right now, and he really wants to go on a mission, but he has lupus, and he’s going through a tough spot right now. So just keep him in your prayers. Him and Sambrina and Edison, the two investigators. I sent a photo of Ever and Sambrina with the elders. Anyways, I love you all, can’t wait to talk to ya. Chao.
Elder Dennis
Alright peeps, are yas ready to talk to yours truly? Well... I kinda forgot to get the information... HA! Gotcha! Alright, so here’s whats ya needs to do: First, go out and buy a phone card, and make sure Paraguay is included on it. Then, at exactly 4:00 on Thursday, Christmas day, Eastern standard time, call the number xx-xxx-xxx-xxx. It’ll be six o’clock here in Paraguay. If the number doesn’t go through you might have to put a 0 in front of it, but you should be just fine. You’ll be calling a member’s house, the branch president’s, and we’ll be getting there a little early to be there in plenty of time. Its funny to think its been like, 7 months since I’ve talked to any of you people.
Okay, now I gotta say, I just love my funny little branch. Its so hard to not just bust out laughing at most of our functions, its deserving of a mormon reality tv series almost. You can check out the photos of the christmas party. Its was cool, we actually got a really great turnout, we were kind of surprised as missionaries. We spent all week inviting people, and it actually turned out decent. Also, I got your package of gifts, so no worries there. Although, I’m sorry to say that all your effort to put Elder Peterson’s names on the gifts was a wasted of time, cause now I have to scratch them off. But I’ll be giving a couple to him on his way out, cause I love that kid. Oh, but you’ll be happy to know that I only opened the seat cushion (which is splendid, by the way). Oh, and the magnets, those I couldn’t figure out, and they’re really fun to play with. And the AAA batteries. Which will be coming in handy because I bought a guitar tuner today that uses em. Before today I thought is was the most pointless gift ever, but then again, I haven’t opened anything else, so I wouldn’t know... but I’m pretty sure that unless the book is just like a cover up for something than you didn’t send anything that could use them. I’m really excited to find out what the book is by the way, and I’m stoked for all the cds. But I’m not gonna lie, the things I’m most geared up to open is the ties... haha.
So I guess that brings me to changes: I get to have my first kid this change! I’ll be training some kid, but we don’t find out who until we get there cause its this huge big surprise and everything, so it’ll be exciting. I do know he’s american though, because there’s no latins coming this change haha. So you’ll be able to find out all about him this Thursday when we’re chatting. But I’ve decided to share something with you that I’ve come to realize the last couple weeks... The things I took for granted the most before my mission was, by far, shade. DO you know how much cooler it is when you’re under shade?! It’s like stepping into a freezer! I am never going to take shade for granted when I get back to the states... the first thing I will ever think about when I’m looking at houses to buy later on is where the shade is in the yard because man, it can literally save your life to have just a itty bitty piece of shade to be get out of the oven.
Okay, one last thing. I want to ask you to pray for Ever. He’s an awesome guy that isn’t feeling well. He’s helped us find 2 of our best investigators that we have right now, and he really wants to go on a mission, but he has lupus, and he’s going through a tough spot right now. So just keep him in your prayers. Him and Sambrina and Edison, the two investigators. I sent a photo of Ever and Sambrina with the elders. Anyways, I love you all, can’t wait to talk to ya. Chao.
Elder Dennis
Monday, December 15, 2008
Dec 15, 2008
¿Qué tal?
Well, first things first… I forgot to collect the phone information hahaha... so yeah, you have to wait another week. But next time I’ll have it, I promise. And I haven’t gotten your other package yet, so don’t worry... Well, now you’ll probably be worrying about why I haven’t gotten it yet, so I’m sure I’ll be getting it this week, don’t worry. Also, I’m currently sending you some photos taken with my new camera, hope ya like em. I also added explanations to that email so you should know what’s going on. It sounded like Haley had fun with her little trip though, I’m glad she got lucky enough to have some great people go pick her up. Man, I really hope I don’t have any problems getting home in like a year... I really really really miss my music...
Anyways, I guess I’ll answer your questions about the branch. Just about everyone is converts of at the VERY most 15 years, cause thats when the church started out here. Most are within the 2-5 year mark. Only one family is a transplant, but its a pretty strong family. They’ve been members the longest, since the early 80s, and have lived in several different places. The members do various things, like construction and selling things and working at the bus terminal, things like that. There is poverty in the area, but its a little bit different, because its not as widespread, because here, most people have jobs. So while the houses are just as small, they’re usually a lot nicer, with chuchi, er, nice, things inside, but still well below the poverty level for the states. Its hard to describe, you just have to be here and see it. Its like they’re living in the same conditions, they just take better care of themselves and their stuff. As for Brazil, I’ve crossed the border and wow, is it a heck of a lot nicer over there... like paved streets and nice cars, its like a whole other world. That and they all speak portuguese which is supposed to be close to spanish but its like impossible to understand. We have some members over there because for whatever reason there’s no missionaries or church over there, but they don’t come very often. As for food, we mostly cook for ourselves... we eat a lot of pasta, its quite easy to make... We eat usually twice a week with members. The main problem is that most of them are working during the day so they’re not home during lunch time. Just in case you didn’t remember (I’m pretty sure I’ve explained this before) we eat the big meal of lunch here, and just lightly at night... which is how it should be. No packing in calories just to store them away during the night. And we’ve stopped looking for a house becasue we got tired of looking at very tiny places for a lot more than what we’re paying at our current house... which isn’t all that bad, not really. If I can live there, you know it can’t be that bad haha.
Anyways, I’m looking forward to talking to everyone next week, hopefully I’ll get you the information hahaha. Love yas,
Elder Dennis
PS Tell Haley I’m sorry but I didn’t have time to write her today.
Well, first things first… I forgot to collect the phone information hahaha... so yeah, you have to wait another week. But next time I’ll have it, I promise. And I haven’t gotten your other package yet, so don’t worry... Well, now you’ll probably be worrying about why I haven’t gotten it yet, so I’m sure I’ll be getting it this week, don’t worry. Also, I’m currently sending you some photos taken with my new camera, hope ya like em. I also added explanations to that email so you should know what’s going on. It sounded like Haley had fun with her little trip though, I’m glad she got lucky enough to have some great people go pick her up. Man, I really hope I don’t have any problems getting home in like a year... I really really really miss my music...
Anyways, I guess I’ll answer your questions about the branch. Just about everyone is converts of at the VERY most 15 years, cause thats when the church started out here. Most are within the 2-5 year mark. Only one family is a transplant, but its a pretty strong family. They’ve been members the longest, since the early 80s, and have lived in several different places. The members do various things, like construction and selling things and working at the bus terminal, things like that. There is poverty in the area, but its a little bit different, because its not as widespread, because here, most people have jobs. So while the houses are just as small, they’re usually a lot nicer, with chuchi, er, nice, things inside, but still well below the poverty level for the states. Its hard to describe, you just have to be here and see it. Its like they’re living in the same conditions, they just take better care of themselves and their stuff. As for Brazil, I’ve crossed the border and wow, is it a heck of a lot nicer over there... like paved streets and nice cars, its like a whole other world. That and they all speak portuguese which is supposed to be close to spanish but its like impossible to understand. We have some members over there because for whatever reason there’s no missionaries or church over there, but they don’t come very often. As for food, we mostly cook for ourselves... we eat a lot of pasta, its quite easy to make... We eat usually twice a week with members. The main problem is that most of them are working during the day so they’re not home during lunch time. Just in case you didn’t remember (I’m pretty sure I’ve explained this before) we eat the big meal of lunch here, and just lightly at night... which is how it should be. No packing in calories just to store them away during the night. And we’ve stopped looking for a house becasue we got tired of looking at very tiny places for a lot more than what we’re paying at our current house... which isn’t all that bad, not really. If I can live there, you know it can’t be that bad haha.
Anyways, I’m looking forward to talking to everyone next week, hopefully I’ll get you the information hahaha. Love yas,
Elder Dennis
PS Tell Haley I’m sorry but I didn’t have time to write her today.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Dec 10, 2008
Howdy,
So as you guessed it, I already picked up a camera. Its really sweet! I got the Sony dsc-W150, and I got it for super cheap, for 850 mil guaranies, or like, $170 dollars. It takes sweet photos and is everything you could ever need in a camera. And don't worry, I had already thought about saving my camera and seeing if we can´t repair it when I get home. Oh, and sorry its taken me so long to write to you guys this week. Yesterday we had to go into Asuncion for our little Christmas lunch in a fancy restaurant with the Pres and 2 other zones, so Monday was a working day for us. But yesterday we didn't get the chance to do internet, so here we are today. By the way, I just spent two nights in a row on a bus… we left Monday night at 10pm from Saltos, and got in to Asuncion at like 6am on Tuesday, then we played a game of soccer as a zone because we never see each other and then did interviews with the pres because we never see him either. Then we ate lunch and then hung out at the office til 9pm, when they took us back to the terminal, where we had to wait until midnight to catch a bus back to Saltos, arriving here in the morning at about 7am…. I hate being the area the farthest away you can get from the office…
As far as changes and calling home, we´re still doing changes on Christmas eve… I think… but its almost for sure that I´ll be staying here in Saltos. I´ll probably be training too, because 22 new missionaries will be showing up this change! That’s a TON! I´m pretty sure just about every person in the mission is going to receive a change this time around though, there hasn´t been too many for a change or two now, and with all these new kids coming, its going to be an interesting Christmas. We got the information on calling home a week or two ago, but I don´t have it with me yet, because we still need to verify some stuff. We´re planning on doing it at a members house again. We have a cell phone (wehhehehe power!) but the connection isn´t that reliable for something like this. So I´ll be getting you the information here this next week I think. Just let me know like, what time is better for you guys. Are you going to be going anywhere for Christmas, or staying at home? Because on Christmas eve day, if we get changed up and plans have to change about when or where we have to talk, we have permission to call home for like 3 minutes to confirm things, so if something happens i'm going to need to know where to call. Also, Paraguay is 2 hours ahead of you guys right now, so we´ll have to plan for that as well.
Well, I love you guys a lot, hope all is well, and talk to ya laters,
Elder Dennis
P.s. I don´t really care about Disney World, you should know I´m just joking about things like that. Now snowboarding in Switzerland or surfing in Australia… then I would be jealous. haha.
P.s.s. Dad, you´re going to love your Christmas present from Mom! hehe
So as you guessed it, I already picked up a camera. Its really sweet! I got the Sony dsc-W150, and I got it for super cheap, for 850 mil guaranies, or like, $170 dollars. It takes sweet photos and is everything you could ever need in a camera. And don't worry, I had already thought about saving my camera and seeing if we can´t repair it when I get home. Oh, and sorry its taken me so long to write to you guys this week. Yesterday we had to go into Asuncion for our little Christmas lunch in a fancy restaurant with the Pres and 2 other zones, so Monday was a working day for us. But yesterday we didn't get the chance to do internet, so here we are today. By the way, I just spent two nights in a row on a bus… we left Monday night at 10pm from Saltos, and got in to Asuncion at like 6am on Tuesday, then we played a game of soccer as a zone because we never see each other and then did interviews with the pres because we never see him either. Then we ate lunch and then hung out at the office til 9pm, when they took us back to the terminal, where we had to wait until midnight to catch a bus back to Saltos, arriving here in the morning at about 7am…. I hate being the area the farthest away you can get from the office…
As far as changes and calling home, we´re still doing changes on Christmas eve… I think… but its almost for sure that I´ll be staying here in Saltos. I´ll probably be training too, because 22 new missionaries will be showing up this change! That’s a TON! I´m pretty sure just about every person in the mission is going to receive a change this time around though, there hasn´t been too many for a change or two now, and with all these new kids coming, its going to be an interesting Christmas. We got the information on calling home a week or two ago, but I don´t have it with me yet, because we still need to verify some stuff. We´re planning on doing it at a members house again. We have a cell phone (wehhehehe power!) but the connection isn´t that reliable for something like this. So I´ll be getting you the information here this next week I think. Just let me know like, what time is better for you guys. Are you going to be going anywhere for Christmas, or staying at home? Because on Christmas eve day, if we get changed up and plans have to change about when or where we have to talk, we have permission to call home for like 3 minutes to confirm things, so if something happens i'm going to need to know where to call. Also, Paraguay is 2 hours ahead of you guys right now, so we´ll have to plan for that as well.
Well, I love you guys a lot, hope all is well, and talk to ya laters,
Elder Dennis
P.s. I don´t really care about Disney World, you should know I´m just joking about things like that. Now snowboarding in Switzerland or surfing in Australia… then I would be jealous. haha.
P.s.s. Dad, you´re going to love your Christmas present from Mom! hehe
Friday, December 5, 2008
Dec 1, 2008
Wow, its December already! Who da thunk? Anyways, I hope your vacation is going well, and you’re enjoying the parks. Right now its really really really fetching hot, and we sang Christmas songs in church yesterday... that felt very very wierd! But things are plugging along down here. We’re not having very much success right now though, so spirits are kind of low, but what can ya do?
But, I have run into a tiny problem... my camera is starting to freak on me. I think it might be the dirt getting into it or something... but whenever I try and focus it, the lens motors just start grinding like its trying to focus but it just makes it so that everything comes in blurry. It started a while ago, but wasn’t that bad, but its just gotten progressively worse as time has gone on, and now I can barely get a good picture out of it. So I’ve started looking at some cameras, and most are in the 200-250 range. Of course I’m sticking with Sony, and the main ones I’m looking at are the W150, W170 and T77, with prices or 220, 240, and 260, respectively. Thats the starting prices, but around here you can usually talk them down about 20 bucks (or 100 mil). So I just wanted to consult with you to see if these were good prices and if its okay that I get one before I do anything. I don’t know, these are like the main cameras out right now with some of the better specs but staying in what seems like a decent price range from what I can tell in my very shelter bubble of a missionary. :-)
Anyways, thats basically all thats really going on down here... its just really hot and I REALLY want to play in the snow. On a snowbaord.
Love,
Elder Dennis
(Wow, my letters suck when I don’t have any questions to answer...)
Tracie here - he didn't get an email from us because there was no free internet service @ Disney World - he obviously missed my incessant barrage of questions! :)
But, I have run into a tiny problem... my camera is starting to freak on me. I think it might be the dirt getting into it or something... but whenever I try and focus it, the lens motors just start grinding like its trying to focus but it just makes it so that everything comes in blurry. It started a while ago, but wasn’t that bad, but its just gotten progressively worse as time has gone on, and now I can barely get a good picture out of it. So I’ve started looking at some cameras, and most are in the 200-250 range. Of course I’m sticking with Sony, and the main ones I’m looking at are the W150, W170 and T77, with prices or 220, 240, and 260, respectively. Thats the starting prices, but around here you can usually talk them down about 20 bucks (or 100 mil). So I just wanted to consult with you to see if these were good prices and if its okay that I get one before I do anything. I don’t know, these are like the main cameras out right now with some of the better specs but staying in what seems like a decent price range from what I can tell in my very shelter bubble of a missionary. :-)
Anyways, thats basically all thats really going on down here... its just really hot and I REALLY want to play in the snow. On a snowbaord.
Love,
Elder Dennis
(Wow, my letters suck when I don’t have any questions to answer...)
Tracie here - he didn't get an email from us because there was no free internet service @ Disney World - he obviously missed my incessant barrage of questions! :)
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