How’s it going… (I’m getting tired of trying to think of ways to greet ya’ll in a letter…)
Wow Mom, I’m impressed, I totally can’t see you running 8 miles, but I do remember the old days when we were in Reynoldsburg and you were going to do that speed walking marathon thing, so yeah, I’m glad you’re having fun getting in shape and all that jazz. I really need to start working out again… Remember that one video I sent you guys were I had been working out, and I was actually looking pretty good? Yeah, it’s been since about my third change that I’ve really worked out. Now I’m just so tired and I have absolutely no energy to get up and do exercises… more than anything I just got bored with doing the same exercises everyday.
But yeah, um… when did you send July’s package? Was that a long time ago or just a couple weeks back… because I honestly don’t remember when the last package I got was. The time is just flying by right now, this change passed like it was nothing! Each month just passes faster and faster. I’m pretty sure that Paraguayan family in the Ensign was from one of the fancy wards near the center of town… it’s almost like America there. Did it say which ward they were from in the article? Paraguay is kind of fancy in the center of town, but the vast majority just live in poverty. Right now I’m in probably the fanciest area that I’ve had so far, most people have decent houses and an air conditioning unit and stuff, so it’s weird, I’m not used to it at all. Unfortunately, our house doesn’t have one, only my second of 5 houses to not have air conditioning… I’ve been pretty lucky so far. But it wasn’t all that bad, until these past couple days, it’s been giving us a flavor of the heat of summer, and personally I would absolutely love it if I were just living in it, but having to go out and walk around all day in the sun just stinks. But man, it’s been so beautiful, just perfect weather as far as I’m concerned, dry, 80s, light breeze, no clouds, just gorgeous.
Anyways, a little about the zone: it’s the zone Luque Sur, which lies inbetween the cities of Luque and San Lorenzo. Most of the areas are pretty well off… there’s some poor parts, but the majority is like a nicer little suburb of the Paraguayan middle class. There is a total of seven areas, or 14 Elders, in the zone. My area is the farthest south, the most towards San Lorenzo, and we share a house with Elder Shumway and Elder Larsen, who are in Laurelty (laurel-TU), and we share the church building as well, which is right next to our house, which is actually a killer setup, I love it there. I knew most of the people from previous zones, which is part of the reason I think the Lord sent me here, because they’re all my friends, and the last leaders here (Elder Ramirez, my ex-comp, and Contreras) both just stink as leaders and just told everyone they sucked because they weren’t doing good, and so everyone hated them. So I’m here to make them feel better and just be their friend. I don’t know if I mentioned Elder Whiteford yet, he’s in the zone, and his brother was in my district in the MTC, but went to Mendoza Argentina for his mission. So that’s cool, anyways, were planning on starting up a business together when we get back, it’s gonna be awesome, we’re gonna be millionaires. Elder Bullcreek, from the MTC is here, so is Elder Hermosilla, who was out near Saltos with me, and others that I don’t think I ever mentioned. So yeah that’s the zone. Its good times, the zone is SLOWLY improving, but yeah, it’s slow going.
But yeah, we still don’t know changes, and probably won’t know them until tomorrow, because Pte Wade was out of town all weekend, and just started working on them today.
Love ya,
Elder Dennis
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Aug 24, 2009
Hey there gang,
Well, the french toast turned out great, so thanks a ton for sending me the recipe. The syrup thing was also surprisingly good to not be actual maple syrup, but it was very watery, not at all thick like normal syrup. And the interviews that we had with Pres. Wade also went well, he talked to me a lot about how I’m here to turn the zone around, and how its practical experience in business because you never know, I might be like one of his friends and just be a guy companies hire to go in as CEO and turn failing but potential companies around. And I was all like what if I don’t want to do that and just want to take it easy.... haha not really, I just thought it. But yeah, I have a feeling I’ll be here for awhile, until this zone starts doing good, and it’s definitely progressing, its just kind of slow going.
All I can say about my comp is that I’m so glad that there’s only one more week left in this change, because I really hope I get a new one come next week. I like having patience and all, but I just really would rather pick my friends and not have super weirdos from completely different life styles being my shadow 24/7. But he’s a good kid, just not the kind of person I get along with all that well, mostly because, at this point in the mission, it isn’t just being with another person that bothers me, I can deal with that just fine now, but what gets to me now is if the person affects the work, and my companion just doesn’t know what he’s doing, so that's just what getting to me.
I’m glad you two were able to get away and only had to deal with 2 disasters in the house, and I’m super jealous you guys went bob sledding! I’d totally be down with that. I also want to jump out of a plane like bad! With a parachute would be nice, but that’s just optional. Free falling just has this appeal to me that I can’t explain... its the adrenaline addiction in my blood. But yeah, museums... come one, that’s like school fieldtrip stuff, and I got done with that a looooonnggg time ago. But I’m like so excited that the Avatar movie is coming along, I remember it being announced right as I was leaving, but no actors had been chosen or anything. But yeah, enough trunky stuff.
Haley is a stud for helping out in the mission work, I so wish I’d had that opportunity to help someone I knew get to know the gospel, I’m sure the missionaries are so excited there for the help that they’re getting from her, it really does make all the difference in the conversion of an investigator. I’ve seen that someone can get baptized without member support here, but their long term conversion is almost non existent if members don’t get in there and bridge the gap. I know that this work really is the most important that one can do in this life, and all the other stuff is just on the side, so don’t lose that view, and remember to always focus on the things that are important....
You have no idea how difficult that was to write in english, anything about the gospel just comes out in spanish now a days, and I totally was translating in my head and trying to remember how to talk english. You guys don’t see the bad side, only the finished copy of what I write, and wow, do I change a lot around after doing a quick read through before I send my letters. But I’m so glad you mentioned the request of items for a package, because I am in dire need of more razor blades... the 5 blade ones, and I only need like 3 or 4 cartridges to end the mission, one blade lasts me about 2 weeks on average... how long should those things last anyways? I’ve never really known. But other than that, I’m actually doing good, learning how to actually take care of myself long term style rather than just living on cereal lately. Like the other day I made tacos with steak, and today I bought some stuff to make some omelets for breakfast... so I’m branching out and enjoying these new cooking experiences that are actually surprisingly cheap to make. Actually if you want, you could include like, 1 or 2 more pairs of pants, definitely size 32 this time.... I’m getting fat... its the making food thing, not good for the scale. And I’m living with two amazing guys, Elder Shumway and Elder Larsen, but they’re both bigger guys and the eat a lot... and I’m usually included in the eating adventures. Anyways, I figure I’m way skinny, putting a little bit of meat on my bones isn’t exactly a bad thing, and I think I’m also a little bit taller than when I started the mission. So dad, watch out! Hahaha. But I bought two sweet jerseys today, the Paraguay one and a Guaraní one. Guarani is a team in the like, NHL of soccer teams down here, one of my favorites. My favorite team is Libertad, but their jerseys are hard to get a hold of. One of these days...
Anyways, yeah.
Elder Dennis
Well, the french toast turned out great, so thanks a ton for sending me the recipe. The syrup thing was also surprisingly good to not be actual maple syrup, but it was very watery, not at all thick like normal syrup. And the interviews that we had with Pres. Wade also went well, he talked to me a lot about how I’m here to turn the zone around, and how its practical experience in business because you never know, I might be like one of his friends and just be a guy companies hire to go in as CEO and turn failing but potential companies around. And I was all like what if I don’t want to do that and just want to take it easy.... haha not really, I just thought it. But yeah, I have a feeling I’ll be here for awhile, until this zone starts doing good, and it’s definitely progressing, its just kind of slow going.
All I can say about my comp is that I’m so glad that there’s only one more week left in this change, because I really hope I get a new one come next week. I like having patience and all, but I just really would rather pick my friends and not have super weirdos from completely different life styles being my shadow 24/7. But he’s a good kid, just not the kind of person I get along with all that well, mostly because, at this point in the mission, it isn’t just being with another person that bothers me, I can deal with that just fine now, but what gets to me now is if the person affects the work, and my companion just doesn’t know what he’s doing, so that's just what getting to me.
I’m glad you two were able to get away and only had to deal with 2 disasters in the house, and I’m super jealous you guys went bob sledding! I’d totally be down with that. I also want to jump out of a plane like bad! With a parachute would be nice, but that’s just optional. Free falling just has this appeal to me that I can’t explain... its the adrenaline addiction in my blood. But yeah, museums... come one, that’s like school fieldtrip stuff, and I got done with that a looooonnggg time ago. But I’m like so excited that the Avatar movie is coming along, I remember it being announced right as I was leaving, but no actors had been chosen or anything. But yeah, enough trunky stuff.
Haley is a stud for helping out in the mission work, I so wish I’d had that opportunity to help someone I knew get to know the gospel, I’m sure the missionaries are so excited there for the help that they’re getting from her, it really does make all the difference in the conversion of an investigator. I’ve seen that someone can get baptized without member support here, but their long term conversion is almost non existent if members don’t get in there and bridge the gap. I know that this work really is the most important that one can do in this life, and all the other stuff is just on the side, so don’t lose that view, and remember to always focus on the things that are important....
You have no idea how difficult that was to write in english, anything about the gospel just comes out in spanish now a days, and I totally was translating in my head and trying to remember how to talk english. You guys don’t see the bad side, only the finished copy of what I write, and wow, do I change a lot around after doing a quick read through before I send my letters. But I’m so glad you mentioned the request of items for a package, because I am in dire need of more razor blades... the 5 blade ones, and I only need like 3 or 4 cartridges to end the mission, one blade lasts me about 2 weeks on average... how long should those things last anyways? I’ve never really known. But other than that, I’m actually doing good, learning how to actually take care of myself long term style rather than just living on cereal lately. Like the other day I made tacos with steak, and today I bought some stuff to make some omelets for breakfast... so I’m branching out and enjoying these new cooking experiences that are actually surprisingly cheap to make. Actually if you want, you could include like, 1 or 2 more pairs of pants, definitely size 32 this time.... I’m getting fat... its the making food thing, not good for the scale. And I’m living with two amazing guys, Elder Shumway and Elder Larsen, but they’re both bigger guys and the eat a lot... and I’m usually included in the eating adventures. Anyways, I figure I’m way skinny, putting a little bit of meat on my bones isn’t exactly a bad thing, and I think I’m also a little bit taller than when I started the mission. So dad, watch out! Hahaha. But I bought two sweet jerseys today, the Paraguay one and a Guaraní one. Guarani is a team in the like, NHL of soccer teams down here, one of my favorites. My favorite team is Libertad, but their jerseys are hard to get a hold of. One of these days...
Anyways, yeah.
Elder Dennis
Monday, August 17, 2009
Aug 17, 2009
Hey there folks,
So another week down, and from today I have exactly 6 months left in the mission, because changes will be Wednesday, the 17th of February 2010. So yeah, that's exciting. Things are going... we had two baptisms this week, so that was awesome, but only one was a convert baptism, the other was an 8 year old child of a member, but they like the missionaries to do the baptisms down here, so we put it together for them. So yeah, Laura finally got baptized after a thousand and one problems and obstacles, she's only 9, her parents got baptized a little while back, but she's cool, and then we had Walter, a little itty bitty eight year old. But we continue to see poor church attendance here, though we got this awesome 15 year old to church, named Emanuel, and he's a stud. And the youth at church are just amazing, we were walking by his house a little later on in the day, just passing by, and two of the youth his age are there hanging out with him, and they'd just met him at church. But one of the kids was all like 'Elder, I love your tie, give it to me!' (the sweet blue paisley one from my birthday), and Emanuel was like, 'I have some ties,' and runs into his house and comes out with 5 and he's all like, 'I have these but I don't know how to tie them, you guys gotta teach me!' haha, so yeah, he loved church and is already making friends. So that's exciting, he's an awesome kid.
But tell Robyn to keep it up in inviting her friend, that's so awesome she's sharing with other people, she's doing better than I was at her age, I wouldn't say a word to anyone about the gospel. But it's good to know from James Fiala that life still exists after the mission, you don't actually die... just to the people still in the mission. And I can't believe I miss your 25th wedding anniversary, that's so weird. How long have you been a member? When did you get baptized? I know you two were still newly weds, but I don't know much more than that. But I wish I could go swimming, the past couple of days were beautifully hot, but today came a super downpour that was awesome, and now its kind of chilly outside. But I love tubing, and I'm glad Cole is becoming the normal Dennis athletic boy with all of his different sport camps... but I noticed one is missing! What happened to hockey! hahaha.
But yeah, thanks for the recipes, we have a family home evening planned for tonight, and they're looking forward to some good french toast, but yeah, I don't think they'll have maple extract here, so I hope that other stuff turns out alright. Other than that, things just keep plugging along... yeah, my comp and I aren't getting along all that well, but I'm just trying to work hard and effective and I just feel like he's holding me back and has no clue what's going on. I'm trying, but right now I just don't feel like I'm having any success. There's progression in the area, but no one makes it to church. But you're right, things don't snap back in a moment, it takes time and effort. We have interviews with Pte Wade this week though, so I'm getting excited for a boost from that, a boost I'm in desperate need of right now.
Love ya lots,
Elder Dennis
So another week down, and from today I have exactly 6 months left in the mission, because changes will be Wednesday, the 17th of February 2010. So yeah, that's exciting. Things are going... we had two baptisms this week, so that was awesome, but only one was a convert baptism, the other was an 8 year old child of a member, but they like the missionaries to do the baptisms down here, so we put it together for them. So yeah, Laura finally got baptized after a thousand and one problems and obstacles, she's only 9, her parents got baptized a little while back, but she's cool, and then we had Walter, a little itty bitty eight year old. But we continue to see poor church attendance here, though we got this awesome 15 year old to church, named Emanuel, and he's a stud. And the youth at church are just amazing, we were walking by his house a little later on in the day, just passing by, and two of the youth his age are there hanging out with him, and they'd just met him at church. But one of the kids was all like 'Elder, I love your tie, give it to me!' (the sweet blue paisley one from my birthday), and Emanuel was like, 'I have some ties,' and runs into his house and comes out with 5 and he's all like, 'I have these but I don't know how to tie them, you guys gotta teach me!' haha, so yeah, he loved church and is already making friends. So that's exciting, he's an awesome kid.
But tell Robyn to keep it up in inviting her friend, that's so awesome she's sharing with other people, she's doing better than I was at her age, I wouldn't say a word to anyone about the gospel. But it's good to know from James Fiala that life still exists after the mission, you don't actually die... just to the people still in the mission. And I can't believe I miss your 25th wedding anniversary, that's so weird. How long have you been a member? When did you get baptized? I know you two were still newly weds, but I don't know much more than that. But I wish I could go swimming, the past couple of days were beautifully hot, but today came a super downpour that was awesome, and now its kind of chilly outside. But I love tubing, and I'm glad Cole is becoming the normal Dennis athletic boy with all of his different sport camps... but I noticed one is missing! What happened to hockey! hahaha.
But yeah, thanks for the recipes, we have a family home evening planned for tonight, and they're looking forward to some good french toast, but yeah, I don't think they'll have maple extract here, so I hope that other stuff turns out alright. Other than that, things just keep plugging along... yeah, my comp and I aren't getting along all that well, but I'm just trying to work hard and effective and I just feel like he's holding me back and has no clue what's going on. I'm trying, but right now I just don't feel like I'm having any success. There's progression in the area, but no one makes it to church. But you're right, things don't snap back in a moment, it takes time and effort. We have interviews with Pte Wade this week though, so I'm getting excited for a boost from that, a boost I'm in desperate need of right now.
Love ya lots,
Elder Dennis
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Aug 10, 2009
Yup...
Well I’m glad the family is doing good at working on the financial burdens, and that Dad’s new practice is really doing well. Last week was a tough week for me. We were doing great, and I felt really good about our work, but first off the baptisms didn’t go down because one got sick and so it got pushed back, and the other person we can’t find and don’t know what happened. Then we had a decent, not great, amount of people getting ready for church with a baptismal date and everything, and some of them are super awesome, but Sunday morning came and it was drizzling off and on and we just couldn’t get these people to go to church. Three of them, we show up and they flat out say that they just don’t want to go. So yeah, that just sucked. And then the zone is just really in dire need of an overhaul or something, because we did super awful at our church attendance. I feel stressed and tired and trapped, and I have no idea what it is that I have to do differently to pick up the pieces and help these investigators and missionaries under my supervision to progress.
However, being on the mission, and all of the examples you showed me growing up has helped me become a pretty good budgeter. Well I don’t budget, I just don’t spend money I don’t have, and people here ask me how I'm never short money, well, almost never, and I can’t explain it to them. I just remember ever since I started to make money I saved half, and the other half I would save up for the things in life that I really needed, like guitars and computers and cars. But yeah, I really don’t want to ever end up in debt, no matter what it is that I need.
My area here is pretty nice, the people are pretty well off, it’s a suburb in between two of the bigger towns down here. The members are really awesome, some of the people I’ve been able to meet I just admire so much, like these youth that go out and knock doors and invite their friends to go to church, it’s totally the opposite of anything I did while I was at home.
Eddy I hear is still just a stud, he even quit his old job a while back because they made him work a Sunday every once in a while, a job he’d worked for like 5 years. So yeah, I find out about him every once in awhile, and I’ve talked to him once or twice since I left Saltos. But hey now, that Honda is MY Honda!, and it is definitely not named Howie, his name is Fred! I really hope that thing is in the very same condition I left it in when I took off…
Love ya lots,
Elder Dennis
PS. I need the recipe of how to make French toast, I know its like you dip the bread in the mix of egg, milk, cinnamon, and stuff, and then fry it, but an exactish recipe would be nice, I promised to make them next Monday for a family home evening. And maybe if you can find out how to make maple syrup ish stuff from scratch, that would be awesome. I know it can be done, cause I’ve seen it done in the mission, but I don’t how exactly. :)
Well I’m glad the family is doing good at working on the financial burdens, and that Dad’s new practice is really doing well. Last week was a tough week for me. We were doing great, and I felt really good about our work, but first off the baptisms didn’t go down because one got sick and so it got pushed back, and the other person we can’t find and don’t know what happened. Then we had a decent, not great, amount of people getting ready for church with a baptismal date and everything, and some of them are super awesome, but Sunday morning came and it was drizzling off and on and we just couldn’t get these people to go to church. Three of them, we show up and they flat out say that they just don’t want to go. So yeah, that just sucked. And then the zone is just really in dire need of an overhaul or something, because we did super awful at our church attendance. I feel stressed and tired and trapped, and I have no idea what it is that I have to do differently to pick up the pieces and help these investigators and missionaries under my supervision to progress.
However, being on the mission, and all of the examples you showed me growing up has helped me become a pretty good budgeter. Well I don’t budget, I just don’t spend money I don’t have, and people here ask me how I'm never short money, well, almost never, and I can’t explain it to them. I just remember ever since I started to make money I saved half, and the other half I would save up for the things in life that I really needed, like guitars and computers and cars. But yeah, I really don’t want to ever end up in debt, no matter what it is that I need.
My area here is pretty nice, the people are pretty well off, it’s a suburb in between two of the bigger towns down here. The members are really awesome, some of the people I’ve been able to meet I just admire so much, like these youth that go out and knock doors and invite their friends to go to church, it’s totally the opposite of anything I did while I was at home.
Eddy I hear is still just a stud, he even quit his old job a while back because they made him work a Sunday every once in a while, a job he’d worked for like 5 years. So yeah, I find out about him every once in awhile, and I’ve talked to him once or twice since I left Saltos. But hey now, that Honda is MY Honda!, and it is definitely not named Howie, his name is Fred! I really hope that thing is in the very same condition I left it in when I took off…
Love ya lots,
Elder Dennis
PS. I need the recipe of how to make French toast, I know its like you dip the bread in the mix of egg, milk, cinnamon, and stuff, and then fry it, but an exactish recipe would be nice, I promised to make them next Monday for a family home evening. And maybe if you can find out how to make maple syrup ish stuff from scratch, that would be awesome. I know it can be done, cause I’ve seen it done in the mission, but I don’t how exactly. :)
Monday, August 3, 2009
Aug 3, 2009
Hey there munchkins!
I miss those rousing family board game nights that we would have. I still have no clue what Rummikub is though, I think that came out after I left but you mentioned it once before. Anyways, I’m really out of the loop down here. Seeing the new Harry Potter and Transformers 2 movie advertisements is really not making this whole mission thing easy on me, but what can ya do? Hahaha. Plus all the members just love to rub it in your face that we can’t watch them and how good they are, and then the new members don’t know the rules and ask if you want to watch it with them and man, it’s so tough to stay on the straight and narrow. I got a letter from Elder Nilsen today, my trainer, and he’s getting married in three weeks, so right around when you two got married 25 years ago… and wow it’s weird to hear about all these missionaries that I knew here that are getting married already. It makes me want to just follow the crowd hahaha.
But as for school, isn’t there usually like an alumni scholarship that I would get for going to the same school that my dad did? I know OSU had that, and that it was a decent amount off. But if I have to go to a community college out there or in Arizona that’s cheap to get the GPA up, I’m down. Idaho is definitely not on the preferred list though, it’s just to far out there in the middle of nowhere for me to feel comfortable. And all my buddies will be in either Utah or Arizona. Anyways, there’s just so much to think about, I’m so lost when I try to think about where to go and what to do after the mission.
But yeah, I got a nice pair of shoes of a brand called Guantes, and I’m wearing them right now actually. And I’m doing alright, but my area and zone just need to be drop kicked into shape, I’m telling you. Things are not going good right now, but I have the first 2 baptisms that this area has seen in over a change lined up for this Thursday, so all of the members are really excited for that. The members here are truly amazing, and love working as missionaries, but they were really frustrated with the Elders who were here that just killed the area, and they are not fans of my companion, so it’s funny, they all pat me on the back and wink at me when they talk about the upcoming baptisms and seeing investigators in church. But yeah, I like my area, I just have to deal with my comp who just doesn’t know how to really work and also deal with all the problems that he causes while we’re teaching.
But I hope you’re all excited to go out and eat with me in 6 months, because Olive Garden is sitting on the top of the list for when I get back. And tell … James… that he’s invited. Love ya lots,
Elder Dennis
I miss those rousing family board game nights that we would have. I still have no clue what Rummikub is though, I think that came out after I left but you mentioned it once before. Anyways, I’m really out of the loop down here. Seeing the new Harry Potter and Transformers 2 movie advertisements is really not making this whole mission thing easy on me, but what can ya do? Hahaha. Plus all the members just love to rub it in your face that we can’t watch them and how good they are, and then the new members don’t know the rules and ask if you want to watch it with them and man, it’s so tough to stay on the straight and narrow. I got a letter from Elder Nilsen today, my trainer, and he’s getting married in three weeks, so right around when you two got married 25 years ago… and wow it’s weird to hear about all these missionaries that I knew here that are getting married already. It makes me want to just follow the crowd hahaha.
But as for school, isn’t there usually like an alumni scholarship that I would get for going to the same school that my dad did? I know OSU had that, and that it was a decent amount off. But if I have to go to a community college out there or in Arizona that’s cheap to get the GPA up, I’m down. Idaho is definitely not on the preferred list though, it’s just to far out there in the middle of nowhere for me to feel comfortable. And all my buddies will be in either Utah or Arizona. Anyways, there’s just so much to think about, I’m so lost when I try to think about where to go and what to do after the mission.
But yeah, I got a nice pair of shoes of a brand called Guantes, and I’m wearing them right now actually. And I’m doing alright, but my area and zone just need to be drop kicked into shape, I’m telling you. Things are not going good right now, but I have the first 2 baptisms that this area has seen in over a change lined up for this Thursday, so all of the members are really excited for that. The members here are truly amazing, and love working as missionaries, but they were really frustrated with the Elders who were here that just killed the area, and they are not fans of my companion, so it’s funny, they all pat me on the back and wink at me when they talk about the upcoming baptisms and seeing investigators in church. But yeah, I like my area, I just have to deal with my comp who just doesn’t know how to really work and also deal with all the problems that he causes while we’re teaching.
But I hope you’re all excited to go out and eat with me in 6 months, because Olive Garden is sitting on the top of the list for when I get back. And tell … James… that he’s invited. Love ya lots,
Elder Dennis
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