June 1, 2009

Bueno, les amo mucho. Y espero que puedan entenderlo. Anyways, it feels kind of weird to have to speak in English, because it’s been 4 months that I’ve lived almost 24/7 with a latino companion, who doesn’t speak almost a lick of English... mostly just the bad words they picked up from who knows where hahaha. So you have to correct them sometimes, but it’s all good. But this week went alright, we had the visit from Elder Aidukaitas, who is a really young guy in his 40’s from Brazil, so luckily I was already accustomed to the accent, or I think it might have been kind of tough to understand him at times. But he was like, I love you, you’re doing great, the best in the area, but Bam, you guys need to do better. So yeah, he dropped some major cane. To ‘Drop the cane’ is to like, reprimand or correct, I don’t really know how to explain it, but I remember that I didn’t know what it meant when I first showed up in Paraguay.

Anyways, we had 3 baptisms this week of Angelica, and her two children, Carlos and Yeni... (like Jenny)... so that was pretty cool. It’s amazing to see the way that each person shows it a little differently, but they’re all touched and changed by the restored gospel. You can really see a persons relationship with the Lord when they pray. Some people it’s just like a little kid, like what I remember our prayers to be at night as a family when we were younger, kind of husselled to get it over with, but when you get to listen to the prayer of someone who didn’t really know how to pray less than a month ago really converse with the Lord, it’s enlightening in a way I can’t describe. Angelica was never a person where it’s be like Wow, she’s golden. But this past weekend I got to listen to her prayer as we were leaving, and I was just like wow, she is solid. It’s amazing how people come out of nowhere like that as you teach them.

Well, this is the last week of the change, it’s crazy how fast time is flying... like I already have 16 months in the mission basically, and this month I turn 21! That’s fetching OLD! There is no way that I ever imagined I’d spend my 21st birthday in the South American country of Paraguay when I was growing up. My birthday will also mark a year and a half since I first went through the temple... almost time to get a new recommend, and it feels like just yesterday we went to Boston.

Alright, another food recommendation: You guys MUST look for a ‘Lomito Arbabe’ place the next time you’re in NYC. Look it up on the internet too, because if I can’t find a lomitos place in the states after the mission, I think I might just loose the meaning to life, it’s that good. The last time we were eating lomitos, it kind of hit me that I’m the 3rd oldest missionary in the zone (that’s just freaking, let me tell you) and I started thinking about my consumption of the delicious lomito arabe after the mission. So if you could get a head start looking for me and let me know of your results, it would be of great appreciation.

Love,

Elder Dennis