¿Mba’e chapa?
SO, you have a lot of questions, so I guess I’ll just get to it, in order of appearance.
Well, here, I’m not really sure, but you have about a 50/50 chance of staying with your kid. So I’m really not sure whats going to happen, however there are like 17 Elders leaving this change, all of whom are zone or district leaders, so there is going to be a ton of people going up. And there are 3 of us who have the same amount of time in the mission out in this district, all of whom are qualified in my opinion to go up to district leader, so we know E. Reid is staying because E. Tinco is leaving, and so its possible that E. Hermosilla or I or the both of us could leave to go up someplace else. I don’t know, I guess what I’m trying to say is that we’ll probably see a lot of changes and a huge re-organization of the mission this change, so anythings game.
But it was a great week with getting Eddy baptized, but unfortunately he couldn’t get off work on Sunday, so we still have to confirm him and ordain him to the priesthood, but that’ll just have to wait til this Sunday. It was awesome though, Elder Spencer sang and I played the guitar to a song that’s called ‘His Love.’ I’m not sure who its by. But out here the heat continues, but it is a little bit cooler out here than it is in Asuncion, mostly because there’s less humidity I think. But yeah, we’re enjoying the work out here in Saltos, though this past weekend, my greenie was what we call tore up inside, he had the runs SO BAD. I felt so bad for the kid. We spent all of Saturday in the house, but I managed to pull people together to do a division and run out at night and visit a couple people to get plans set up to get them to church the next day. We’re not sure what it was that caused it, but that poor kid went like almost 30 times in 24 hours. I felt so bad, cause my system can take whatever for the most part, but it just destroyed him. Oh, and I’m happy to inform you that the color of our walls is still the same… I guess they like that color here or something. However, in the move my camera battery charger was lost, so I’m unable to send you photos cause my camera is dead now… I’m looking really hard for a charger, because I’ve seen them around town before, but I’m having some troubles. But I’ve torn apart our new apartment, and my charger is nowhere to be found, so I need to get a new one. But I haven’t made it over to the mall yet, and I’m pretty sure I should be able to find one over there. If not, I might have to beg you to send one down to me. It’s the type G sony charger for a head’s up.
But yeah, Asuncion is pretty big I guess… but its not that big I don’t think, its just that when you like want to cover every square inch of the city with a pair of missionaries and all they can do is walk, the areas have to be kind of smaller. So you never get areas, or hardly ever, that cover the whole city of say, Saratoga. That would be carved up into 2 or 3 areas, just because of the distance involved. And the sister missionaries, of which are many gringos, serve in the main city areas, where its safer and closer to the office. But man, sister missionaries are just amazing, they tear it up from what I hear. But I’ve never been in a zone with sisters, so I’ve never had close contact. But yeah, things go on down here in paradise. Oh yeah, I got all your photos from the bowl game, looked amazing out there! Anyways, hope you have a good week, tell Cole to keep zipping along on those ski runs so he’s all ready for me when I get back.
Love,
Elder Dennis
Monday, January 26, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Jan 20, 2009
NOTE: Sorry, the internet in town went out last night right before I got this sent off to you guys, so I got it saved, and hopefully you got the pictures alright, I sent those off about a minute before the internet stopped working. Love ya lots, E. Dennis.
Hola,
Well now that you’ve sufficiently made me trunky by describing in detail your adventurous cold weather sports and my little brother, I don’t even know what to say. Oh, and yeah, like 2 weeks ago I got a letter from Shane describing it all to me, so I was so stoked! I’m gonna be getting him some saweet stuff for sure before I take off. He’s one heck of a friend, that’s for sure, I miss that kid. The heat continues, though we’ve been getting a ton of rain this past week. So that’s just making it a humid heat, which is even worse. But this week was pretty sweet, because we had District Conference, or what you would know as Stake Conference. Out where we are though there are only 3 little branches, so its not big enough to be a stake, so it’s a district. Districts of the church are directly under the direction of the mission president, so President Wade and his family all came out for it, so that was pretty fun. They stayed in Saltos because its this nice touristy town with lots of shopping, so we got to show Sister Wade and her two sons that still live at home all the good places to shop and show them where their hotel is and all that fun stuff. Also, in Asuncion, Sister Wade goes and inspects all the houses to make sure they’re up to stuff for her little sons here in the mission. So good news, we moved this morning… hahaha. Bad news, no pics of the new place yet. We had actually found it earlier this week, so timing just worked out perfectly. Its small, but a TON nicer than that other place.
Alright, now I’m just gonna hit into your questions, and that should take quite awhile. First off, you should be getting pictures if this, but on Friday, Sambrina and Ever got married, which was really exciting and they were all dressed up nice, and it was just a ton of fun. We don’t really have any new strong investigators, but we did find this inactive member, who supposedly was the first member baptized here in Saltos, and we’re working to get her reactivated and to baptize her two children, so I guess that counts. We also have a couple other people, but we’ll see how much they progress. They’re good people, but they don’t always get it. We have one kid with some real promise though, his name is Sergio, and he’s like 20ish and seems truly interested. We’re visiting him a lot with Eddy, who knew him a little bit before. Oh yeah, Eddy is a stud! He’s gone and visited people with us just about everyday of last week… and on Thursday he went out with us for the whole day! He’s so excited for his baptism too, this Thursday, and in a year from now he’s already planning to go on a mission.
Elder Spencer is doing pretty good, he’s slowly but surely getting adapted to the new environment. It’s a hard change, that I know, but he’s having a lot of problem with the foods… he was a quite picky eater before the mission like me, and unlike me, the foods of Paraguay don’t rub so well with him. But his Spanish is coming along, and he’s a great kid, always animated and ready to do whatever. Elder Peterson went to a place called Ypacarai (U-pack-a-rye-E), and I talked to him just the other night on the phone, he seems to be doing really good over there. It’s the promised land in the mission… the people just line up to get baptized over there. Elder Reid is still with Elder Tinco, who will be going home in February. He’s our district leader and from Peru. He’s very trunky. And Elder Reid is ready to go up, I say he trains next change as well. So its me and Elder Spencer in Salto del Guaira, Elder Tinco and Elder Reid in the next area over, La Paloma, and Elder Hermosilla, senior comp from Chile who will be going home next Feb with us, and Elder Gibson, who is in his 2nd change, and 2nd area. We belong to the Zone Lejos… which means ‘Far’… it includes our three areas, and then two other cities, Pedro Juan Caballero, where our zone leaders are, and Concepcion. They’re all really far apart, but make up the areas outside of Asuncion… so we’re Zona Lejos. There’s about 20 of us in the zone. There’s like, 10 zones in the mission or something like that, 9 of which are in Asuncion and the surrounding communities. So yeah, that’s the low down… any more questions on how the mission works?
Love yas,
Elder Dennis
Hola,
Well now that you’ve sufficiently made me trunky by describing in detail your adventurous cold weather sports and my little brother, I don’t even know what to say. Oh, and yeah, like 2 weeks ago I got a letter from Shane describing it all to me, so I was so stoked! I’m gonna be getting him some saweet stuff for sure before I take off. He’s one heck of a friend, that’s for sure, I miss that kid. The heat continues, though we’ve been getting a ton of rain this past week. So that’s just making it a humid heat, which is even worse. But this week was pretty sweet, because we had District Conference, or what you would know as Stake Conference. Out where we are though there are only 3 little branches, so its not big enough to be a stake, so it’s a district. Districts of the church are directly under the direction of the mission president, so President Wade and his family all came out for it, so that was pretty fun. They stayed in Saltos because its this nice touristy town with lots of shopping, so we got to show Sister Wade and her two sons that still live at home all the good places to shop and show them where their hotel is and all that fun stuff. Also, in Asuncion, Sister Wade goes and inspects all the houses to make sure they’re up to stuff for her little sons here in the mission. So good news, we moved this morning… hahaha. Bad news, no pics of the new place yet. We had actually found it earlier this week, so timing just worked out perfectly. Its small, but a TON nicer than that other place.
Alright, now I’m just gonna hit into your questions, and that should take quite awhile. First off, you should be getting pictures if this, but on Friday, Sambrina and Ever got married, which was really exciting and they were all dressed up nice, and it was just a ton of fun. We don’t really have any new strong investigators, but we did find this inactive member, who supposedly was the first member baptized here in Saltos, and we’re working to get her reactivated and to baptize her two children, so I guess that counts. We also have a couple other people, but we’ll see how much they progress. They’re good people, but they don’t always get it. We have one kid with some real promise though, his name is Sergio, and he’s like 20ish and seems truly interested. We’re visiting him a lot with Eddy, who knew him a little bit before. Oh yeah, Eddy is a stud! He’s gone and visited people with us just about everyday of last week… and on Thursday he went out with us for the whole day! He’s so excited for his baptism too, this Thursday, and in a year from now he’s already planning to go on a mission.
Elder Spencer is doing pretty good, he’s slowly but surely getting adapted to the new environment. It’s a hard change, that I know, but he’s having a lot of problem with the foods… he was a quite picky eater before the mission like me, and unlike me, the foods of Paraguay don’t rub so well with him. But his Spanish is coming along, and he’s a great kid, always animated and ready to do whatever. Elder Peterson went to a place called Ypacarai (U-pack-a-rye-E), and I talked to him just the other night on the phone, he seems to be doing really good over there. It’s the promised land in the mission… the people just line up to get baptized over there. Elder Reid is still with Elder Tinco, who will be going home in February. He’s our district leader and from Peru. He’s very trunky. And Elder Reid is ready to go up, I say he trains next change as well. So its me and Elder Spencer in Salto del Guaira, Elder Tinco and Elder Reid in the next area over, La Paloma, and Elder Hermosilla, senior comp from Chile who will be going home next Feb with us, and Elder Gibson, who is in his 2nd change, and 2nd area. We belong to the Zone Lejos… which means ‘Far’… it includes our three areas, and then two other cities, Pedro Juan Caballero, where our zone leaders are, and Concepcion. They’re all really far apart, but make up the areas outside of Asuncion… so we’re Zona Lejos. There’s about 20 of us in the zone. There’s like, 10 zones in the mission or something like that, 9 of which are in Asuncion and the surrounding communities. So yeah, that’s the low down… any more questions on how the mission works?
Love yas,
Elder Dennis
Jan 19, 2009
No letter today :(
Looks like he didn't have time to shoot off a letter this week - he did send an email with 4 photo attachments, though - check out his web album for pics of Ever & Sambrina's wedding day and Sambrina's baptism. What a great week!
Looks like he didn't have time to shoot off a letter this week - he did send an email with 4 photo attachments, though - check out his web album for pics of Ever & Sambrina's wedding day and Sambrina's baptism. What a great week!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Jan 12, 2009
Tracie here - this one may need some explanation: I have made contact with Elder Spencer's mom through the missionary moms email group that I belong too - so she and I have been exchanging emails, and I told her about Joshua's blog and Picasa web album - now you'll know what he's talking about ....
Hola,
So another week, another month on my mission. Only one more month, and I’ll be halfway through! That's so exciting. But man, its just a freaking oven down here, and it just keeps getting hotter and hotter! But things are going pretty good down here, so yeah. Anyways, we’re super excited, because this week we’re going to have the baptism and marriage of Ever and Sambrina, and yeah, that's how we met Sambrina, cause she’s the girlfriend of much time of Ever. And Ever was inactive and yeah. So we’re getting all of that fixed and planned right now, and then next week we’re stoked to baptize Eddy, and that should be some saweet fotos because he wants to do it in the river.
But things are going pretty good. I’m not gonna lie though, its kind of creepy to know that families are talking to one another. I found out from my comp at first that all of his sisters were looking at my pictures and reading my blog... so that was weird. But of course I knew it had to have been you to contact first haha. But whatevs, I’ll just wipe the sweat off my forehead and keep moving on. Cause that's like all we do all day long. Did I mention it was hot down here yet? Man, I am like brown, not even kidding. I might still look white compared to the other people, but you are most definitely going to see a negro getting off of the plane in a year and not even realize its me. Oh, I also shaved my head today.. .sorry, no pictures yet. But my hair definitely shows that its thinning so I’m starting to think that it was a bad idea. And I’m praying that those pants fit, because mine are getting either too tight or really beat up. But we got Eddy all dressed up and he went out with us for the day after church... I don’t think he’s ready to be baptized yet... NOT! Dude, this kid is a stud for sure, definitely going on a mission. Its like all he talks about when he’s with us. The funniest thing in the world though was yesterday when we taught him the law of chastity. Anyways, so we explain what it is and he’s all like,
‘What?! You mean I can’t...! That's crazy!.... okay okay, I can do that, its alright. Nothing at all?! Okay okay, whatever, I’m down with that. My girlfriend might want to, but no, nope, I’ll just be like no way girl. .... .... But I don’t want to get married young!!! Sigh okay, okay, I’m good.’
Hahaha, it was the funniest conversation ever, just to listen to him kind of talking to himself. But he’s so cool that when he found out it was like, alright, now that I know, not going to be a problem.
But yeah, that's about it, nothing else really new around here. We’re just working hard the best way we know how. Love ya lots.
Elder Dennis
PS Send some of that cold my way...
Hola,
So another week, another month on my mission. Only one more month, and I’ll be halfway through! That's so exciting. But man, its just a freaking oven down here, and it just keeps getting hotter and hotter! But things are going pretty good down here, so yeah. Anyways, we’re super excited, because this week we’re going to have the baptism and marriage of Ever and Sambrina, and yeah, that's how we met Sambrina, cause she’s the girlfriend of much time of Ever. And Ever was inactive and yeah. So we’re getting all of that fixed and planned right now, and then next week we’re stoked to baptize Eddy, and that should be some saweet fotos because he wants to do it in the river.
But things are going pretty good. I’m not gonna lie though, its kind of creepy to know that families are talking to one another. I found out from my comp at first that all of his sisters were looking at my pictures and reading my blog... so that was weird. But of course I knew it had to have been you to contact first haha. But whatevs, I’ll just wipe the sweat off my forehead and keep moving on. Cause that's like all we do all day long. Did I mention it was hot down here yet? Man, I am like brown, not even kidding. I might still look white compared to the other people, but you are most definitely going to see a negro getting off of the plane in a year and not even realize its me. Oh, I also shaved my head today.. .sorry, no pictures yet. But my hair definitely shows that its thinning so I’m starting to think that it was a bad idea. And I’m praying that those pants fit, because mine are getting either too tight or really beat up. But we got Eddy all dressed up and he went out with us for the day after church... I don’t think he’s ready to be baptized yet... NOT! Dude, this kid is a stud for sure, definitely going on a mission. Its like all he talks about when he’s with us. The funniest thing in the world though was yesterday when we taught him the law of chastity. Anyways, so we explain what it is and he’s all like,
‘What?! You mean I can’t...! That's crazy!.... okay okay, I can do that, its alright. Nothing at all?! Okay okay, whatever, I’m down with that. My girlfriend might want to, but no, nope, I’ll just be like no way girl. .... .... But I don’t want to get married young!!! Sigh okay, okay, I’m good.’
Hahaha, it was the funniest conversation ever, just to listen to him kind of talking to himself. But he’s so cool that when he found out it was like, alright, now that I know, not going to be a problem.
But yeah, that's about it, nothing else really new around here. We’re just working hard the best way we know how. Love ya lots.
Elder Dennis
PS Send some of that cold my way...
Monday, January 5, 2009
Jan 5, 2009
Hey there,
I’m so stoked to hear that the Utes crushed Bama, I totally wish I could’ve been there. I absolutely loved the photo of Dad though going crazy like I know he would’ve been. But that totally made me remember that you might try and squeeze in like an OSU or Ute shirt or hat or tshirt or something to help me represent down here. You can probably find something in my room haha. But as far as the pants go… I’m not really sure, I’m really nervous, because I might need a bigger waist. I’m pretty sure the jeans I brought down here are 30x30, and they fit fine still. But they might be 31x30s, I can’t really run back to the house to look at them right now. But as far as packages go, I didn’t get anything this week from Grma, but we’re going into Asuncion tomorrow night for Zone Conference on Wednesday, so there might be something waiting for me when I get there. We had a sweet New Years though, we got together as the 6 missionaries out here in la Paloma and we grilled up some steaks and sausages and built a fire and played with firecrackers until midnight, at which time we all promptly fell asleep. It was way past our normal bedtime.
Anyways, things are going pretty good out here, Edison finally got off work on Sundays, so he came to church for the first time yesterday, which was awesome. I sent a picture of him walking home from church and then of him helping us clean up our apartment haha. It was awesome, we were walking home though together and he was like, where are you eating today, and we usually just eat in the house, so he was like come on over to my house, and so we went and ate with his dad and brothers (no mom) and had some amazing barbeque! It was sweet. He’s a great guy, and he speaks decent English, so its fun to help him learn more. He’s like this little punk rocker though and talks about all these different bands that I like, and I also gave him a copy of the RM soundtrack cause he loves it and thinks its awesome that its church songs haha. He’s already ‘preparing’ to go on a mission too, so its so awesome. He just turned 19, so he has plenty of time.
Sambrina is also doing really good, next week we’re going to marry her and Ever and get her baptized, but Ever went to Brazil to get some medical treatments, and it was going to happen this week, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be home in time, so we pushed it back just a little bit. As far as my favorite families out here, its definitely those two and then this member family that has been baptized for just about a year, David and Rosa. You’ve seen pictures of their daughter, Angie, she’s so darn cute. But I mean, I love all of the families, but they’re the funnest to visit and hang out with for me, because they’re all younger, like 23. Actually, those four are all 23 now that I think about it. So that’s a cool coincidence haha.
Okay, you have no idea how hard it is to be in this area… its like one of the only places in Paraguay where you can get like any new fancy electronic you can think of, so any store we go into they just have Wiis and Playstation 3s everywhere, and its driving me crazy to not be able to play! Plus you can get old systems for dirt down here, and I might end up bringing some home just to have, because they’re getting harder and harder to find in the states, like super Nintendo and stuff. But yeah, such is life.
Loves yas,
Elder Dennis
I’m so stoked to hear that the Utes crushed Bama, I totally wish I could’ve been there. I absolutely loved the photo of Dad though going crazy like I know he would’ve been. But that totally made me remember that you might try and squeeze in like an OSU or Ute shirt or hat or tshirt or something to help me represent down here. You can probably find something in my room haha. But as far as the pants go… I’m not really sure, I’m really nervous, because I might need a bigger waist. I’m pretty sure the jeans I brought down here are 30x30, and they fit fine still. But they might be 31x30s, I can’t really run back to the house to look at them right now. But as far as packages go, I didn’t get anything this week from Grma, but we’re going into Asuncion tomorrow night for Zone Conference on Wednesday, so there might be something waiting for me when I get there. We had a sweet New Years though, we got together as the 6 missionaries out here in la Paloma and we grilled up some steaks and sausages and built a fire and played with firecrackers until midnight, at which time we all promptly fell asleep. It was way past our normal bedtime.
Anyways, things are going pretty good out here, Edison finally got off work on Sundays, so he came to church for the first time yesterday, which was awesome. I sent a picture of him walking home from church and then of him helping us clean up our apartment haha. It was awesome, we were walking home though together and he was like, where are you eating today, and we usually just eat in the house, so he was like come on over to my house, and so we went and ate with his dad and brothers (no mom) and had some amazing barbeque! It was sweet. He’s a great guy, and he speaks decent English, so its fun to help him learn more. He’s like this little punk rocker though and talks about all these different bands that I like, and I also gave him a copy of the RM soundtrack cause he loves it and thinks its awesome that its church songs haha. He’s already ‘preparing’ to go on a mission too, so its so awesome. He just turned 19, so he has plenty of time.
Sambrina is also doing really good, next week we’re going to marry her and Ever and get her baptized, but Ever went to Brazil to get some medical treatments, and it was going to happen this week, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be home in time, so we pushed it back just a little bit. As far as my favorite families out here, its definitely those two and then this member family that has been baptized for just about a year, David and Rosa. You’ve seen pictures of their daughter, Angie, she’s so darn cute. But I mean, I love all of the families, but they’re the funnest to visit and hang out with for me, because they’re all younger, like 23. Actually, those four are all 23 now that I think about it. So that’s a cool coincidence haha.
Okay, you have no idea how hard it is to be in this area… its like one of the only places in Paraguay where you can get like any new fancy electronic you can think of, so any store we go into they just have Wiis and Playstation 3s everywhere, and its driving me crazy to not be able to play! Plus you can get old systems for dirt down here, and I might end up bringing some home just to have, because they’re getting harder and harder to find in the states, like super Nintendo and stuff. But yeah, such is life.
Loves yas,
Elder Dennis
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Dec 29, 2008
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
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
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! :)
Monday, November 24, 2008
Nov 24, 2008
Wait a second… you guys are going to Disney World, withOUT me?! First a cruise and now this… you pigs disgust me. Haha just kidding. About the cruise anyway. But whatevs, I’ll keep walking the dusty dirt roads everyday in extreme heat. That's a lot funner than Disney World anyways. Well another week... still no dollar. Which is rising by the way. Just in case you wanted to know.
Well, this week kind of stunk as far as the numbers went... everything is very carefully marked and organized and the numbers very well kept around here. We have to talk to our district leader 4 times a week now, so that the mission can keep tabs on all of us little twenty somethings, and make sure we’re actually working. But we lost a lot of time by going in to Asuncion for 2 whole days, so yeah, whatever. But while we were in Asuncion, we totally went out to eat at this really really nice, expensive restaurant, and we were all like this is soooo expensive... until we realized how much we were paying in dollars. Because here, the food is about the same ratio as it is in the states. Like, 1 dollar will buy the same amount of food as like 1 mil guarani here. So while it was a 50 mil dinner, it was only like, 10 bucks. So yeah, take that Paraguay!
Well, we had another baptism fall, so our animo is a little low, but were just wiping the slate new and starting again basically from scratch with our investigator pool. Its a little difficult, but no one was progressing, and they were just wasting our time that could have been spent with someone else. But yeah, we don’t have thanksgiving around these parts, so the Christmas decorations totally went up like two weeks ago around here... that was a little weird, not gonna lie. Oh yeah, I got the Christmas gift package by the way... I like the cute little note to the APs... who don’t see the package anyways. That was a little embarrassing... :-p But I still love ya.
Well that's about it for now... I can’t think of anything else to ramble on about. Love ya,
Elder Dennis
Well, this week kind of stunk as far as the numbers went... everything is very carefully marked and organized and the numbers very well kept around here. We have to talk to our district leader 4 times a week now, so that the mission can keep tabs on all of us little twenty somethings, and make sure we’re actually working. But we lost a lot of time by going in to Asuncion for 2 whole days, so yeah, whatever. But while we were in Asuncion, we totally went out to eat at this really really nice, expensive restaurant, and we were all like this is soooo expensive... until we realized how much we were paying in dollars. Because here, the food is about the same ratio as it is in the states. Like, 1 dollar will buy the same amount of food as like 1 mil guarani here. So while it was a 50 mil dinner, it was only like, 10 bucks. So yeah, take that Paraguay!
Well, we had another baptism fall, so our animo is a little low, but were just wiping the slate new and starting again basically from scratch with our investigator pool. Its a little difficult, but no one was progressing, and they were just wasting our time that could have been spent with someone else. But yeah, we don’t have thanksgiving around these parts, so the Christmas decorations totally went up like two weeks ago around here... that was a little weird, not gonna lie. Oh yeah, I got the Christmas gift package by the way... I like the cute little note to the APs... who don’t see the package anyways. That was a little embarrassing... :-p But I still love ya.
Well that's about it for now... I can’t think of anything else to ramble on about. Love ya,
Elder Dennis
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Nov 18, 2008
Hola, so right now I’m in Asuncion because my comp had to sign in to the country today, and then tomorrow we have our zone conference. Anyways, the bus in sucked, because we took the bus that left from Saltos at 10pm last night and got in to Asuncion at 5.30 this morning, where we took a taxi to the office where we crashed until my comp had to go to sign in at like 9. Then I just hung out at the office until about 12, when we took off and ate at Shangra-la, which is really good Chinese buffet. And now we’re just taking care of the internet use for the week. So yeah, it was like impossible to sleep on the bus but whatevs, I’m not about to fall asleep while writing this, I swear.
Well it sounds like yall are having a good time at home with all of the activities. I hope things keep going well for you all, and that you’re having a good time shopping today for Robyn’s birthday. And tell Cole he better keep that Spanish up!
Well let’s see if I can’t explain a little bit more about Saltos. It’s a tiny little branch that gets about 20 people to the Sacrament meetings on Sundays… the classes only pull in like 5-10 on a good day. But we’re working our best to try and activate the numerous inactive members that live here, and strengthen the ward with some strong new members. However, this past week we were lined up to have a baptism of this really awesome lady named Rosi. Anyways, we go over the baptismal interview questions with here on Thursday and we tell her we’ll be coming back tomorrow with our district leader to do the interview, but overnight she got cold feet and ‘’got out of Dodge’’ for the weekend… so yeah, we finally find her on Sunday night, and she had went to Brazil for the weekend, but we ask her if she still wanted to be baptized and she’s like I don’t know so we didn’t have a lot of time at the moment cause we were running late and we had to get home to rendir, so we told her we were coming back tomorrow to talk about it and she like skipped town on us again… so yeah, we’re a little down about that right now, but whatevs. We got a sweet lady lined up for next week, but what we really need is just a solid family to find.
Anyways, the town is very popular because its on the frontera of Brazil. So all the Brazilians come over because they get the stuff cheaper over here, especially electronics… (I don’t know what it is back home, but a 4GB Kingston memory chip is only 12 US dollars… its unreal!) Anyways, because of that there’s a ton of shops and that means a ton of jobs, so that brings a ton of people from both sides of the border, and its just growing like crazy. Well, I hope that that answers some questions that you’ve had. Its an awesome area, it just needs a kick start in the heart to get this place thumping… Its sooo close!
Well, I’m out. Loves ya,
Elder Dennis
Well it sounds like yall are having a good time at home with all of the activities. I hope things keep going well for you all, and that you’re having a good time shopping today for Robyn’s birthday. And tell Cole he better keep that Spanish up!
Well let’s see if I can’t explain a little bit more about Saltos. It’s a tiny little branch that gets about 20 people to the Sacrament meetings on Sundays… the classes only pull in like 5-10 on a good day. But we’re working our best to try and activate the numerous inactive members that live here, and strengthen the ward with some strong new members. However, this past week we were lined up to have a baptism of this really awesome lady named Rosi. Anyways, we go over the baptismal interview questions with here on Thursday and we tell her we’ll be coming back tomorrow with our district leader to do the interview, but overnight she got cold feet and ‘’got out of Dodge’’ for the weekend… so yeah, we finally find her on Sunday night, and she had went to Brazil for the weekend, but we ask her if she still wanted to be baptized and she’s like I don’t know so we didn’t have a lot of time at the moment cause we were running late and we had to get home to rendir, so we told her we were coming back tomorrow to talk about it and she like skipped town on us again… so yeah, we’re a little down about that right now, but whatevs. We got a sweet lady lined up for next week, but what we really need is just a solid family to find.
Anyways, the town is very popular because its on the frontera of Brazil. So all the Brazilians come over because they get the stuff cheaper over here, especially electronics… (I don’t know what it is back home, but a 4GB Kingston memory chip is only 12 US dollars… its unreal!) Anyways, because of that there’s a ton of shops and that means a ton of jobs, so that brings a ton of people from both sides of the border, and its just growing like crazy. Well, I hope that that answers some questions that you’ve had. Its an awesome area, it just needs a kick start in the heart to get this place thumping… Its sooo close!
Well, I’m out. Loves ya,
Elder Dennis
Monday, November 10, 2008
Nov 10, 2008
Well we actually found out our changes on time this week. And it turns out that all of us out here lejos will be staying together. Surprise surprise. But that's okay with me, I like my comp a lot, he’s a good kid. Today we went as a district to check out this water fall and lake thing just a little ways off the main road in Puente Kyjha, the last area on the road out here. So we just took a ton of photos and actually had a pretty good time. I was a little bored after like 5 minutes, but whatevs, I keep the people happy. So you should be getting a decent amount of those sometime in the next 50 hours.
So I heard about the elections... Barak Obama, eh? I’m glad I still have a little while to go here in Paraguay, I’ll just say that.
Oh, and I totally just got your other package this week... so I currently have more candy in my possession than the entire United States eats in a year... but hey, Elder Peterson and I aren’t complaining. But to make up for that Dad, don’t worry, I brush after every meal and before I go to bed. But... I’m sorry to inform you that I do not, I repeat, do not have floss in my possession. But oh man am I scared of coming home with bad teeth, the way peoples’ teeth look here! But I totally forgot to mention the saweet Counting Crows shirt I got in the package last week! That thing is awesome. But after receiving the pictures in this new package, I feel quite left out without an OSU shirt out here. By the way, Cole is getting HUGE! Tell him to stop growning because I still want to play with my little guy when I get home!
So I was going to mention the lack of college football reports, but Dad came through for me this week, so I won’t... But his mention of demonstrating a certain photo on his PHONE doesn’t make me jealous... okay, TOO jealous... if that's what he was going for. So hah! At least I don’t have to drive a car to work with my tunes playing and relax all day while my assistants do all the work in chilly fall air and eat delicious american food like ya’ll. Viva la Paraguay, baby!
But yeah, last Monday night, we hit up a store and picked up some Raid, and we killed all those suckers! It actually sucked that night, because we just doused our house in it and cleaned it up quite a bit, but then we left for the night and came back in and there were this little gnat things that look like ants but have wings, anyways, there were these little harmless things just flying around all drunk like because they were dying from the spray, but we had no clue where all of them were coming from so we were just killing them as they fell to the floor. Anyways, I finally spot that they’re congregating around this hole in the wall and so I jump up and I’m like ‘There they are!’ and I jump up on Peterson’s bed cause its right above it and I pick up the spray can on the way and I just unleash on this hole and then like thousands of them start falling out and dying and we’re screaming like little girls and spraying everything in sight. Anyways, we had to run out to the store because we ran out of this huge bottle of stuff so we got another one, and we also bought this towel things and we hose that down with this spray and shove it up into the hole. But by that time everything was dead, so we just cleaned them up and long story short, we haven’t really had any problems since, we just spray that stuff every morning before we leave the house. We did make ourselves sick the next day though, because our house wasn’t very well ventilated but we’re doing good now so don’t worry.
It has also come to my attention that certain children who shall remain nameless are taking away from the very precious ‘Write Josh’ time available to the parents. So in order to make up for it, each child is hereby commanded to write Josh an email for next week, and at least once every month proceeding hereafter. Also, mom, you better not be embarrassing me by posting way too many photos of yours truly on the bulletin board at church... because that is wayyy not humble girl. You are only allowed to put up as many as the other mothers have put up. Capish? Totally don’t know how to spell that...
Anyways, things are going good, I’m exhausted and want to sleep but the Lord doesn’t feel like letting me so I just keep on going. Loves ya,
Elder Dennis
So I heard about the elections... Barak Obama, eh? I’m glad I still have a little while to go here in Paraguay, I’ll just say that.
Oh, and I totally just got your other package this week... so I currently have more candy in my possession than the entire United States eats in a year... but hey, Elder Peterson and I aren’t complaining. But to make up for that Dad, don’t worry, I brush after every meal and before I go to bed. But... I’m sorry to inform you that I do not, I repeat, do not have floss in my possession. But oh man am I scared of coming home with bad teeth, the way peoples’ teeth look here! But I totally forgot to mention the saweet Counting Crows shirt I got in the package last week! That thing is awesome. But after receiving the pictures in this new package, I feel quite left out without an OSU shirt out here. By the way, Cole is getting HUGE! Tell him to stop growning because I still want to play with my little guy when I get home!
So I was going to mention the lack of college football reports, but Dad came through for me this week, so I won’t... But his mention of demonstrating a certain photo on his PHONE doesn’t make me jealous... okay, TOO jealous... if that's what he was going for. So hah! At least I don’t have to drive a car to work with my tunes playing and relax all day while my assistants do all the work in chilly fall air and eat delicious american food like ya’ll. Viva la Paraguay, baby!
But yeah, last Monday night, we hit up a store and picked up some Raid, and we killed all those suckers! It actually sucked that night, because we just doused our house in it and cleaned it up quite a bit, but then we left for the night and came back in and there were this little gnat things that look like ants but have wings, anyways, there were these little harmless things just flying around all drunk like because they were dying from the spray, but we had no clue where all of them were coming from so we were just killing them as they fell to the floor. Anyways, I finally spot that they’re congregating around this hole in the wall and so I jump up and I’m like ‘There they are!’ and I jump up on Peterson’s bed cause its right above it and I pick up the spray can on the way and I just unleash on this hole and then like thousands of them start falling out and dying and we’re screaming like little girls and spraying everything in sight. Anyways, we had to run out to the store because we ran out of this huge bottle of stuff so we got another one, and we also bought this towel things and we hose that down with this spray and shove it up into the hole. But by that time everything was dead, so we just cleaned them up and long story short, we haven’t really had any problems since, we just spray that stuff every morning before we leave the house. We did make ourselves sick the next day though, because our house wasn’t very well ventilated but we’re doing good now so don’t worry.
It has also come to my attention that certain children who shall remain nameless are taking away from the very precious ‘Write Josh’ time available to the parents. So in order to make up for it, each child is hereby commanded to write Josh an email for next week, and at least once every month proceeding hereafter. Also, mom, you better not be embarrassing me by posting way too many photos of yours truly on the bulletin board at church... because that is wayyy not humble girl. You are only allowed to put up as many as the other mothers have put up. Capish? Totally don’t know how to spell that...
Anyways, things are going good, I’m exhausted and want to sleep but the Lord doesn’t feel like letting me so I just keep on going. Loves ya,
Elder Dennis
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Bug
The bug that is literally from h.e.double hockey sticks that I had to kill last night while we were both screaming and whining like little school girls. We bought Raid today...
Nov 3, 2008
Tracie here - I have no idea why it took over 48 hours for this email to come through - he sent it @ 1:48 EST on Monday and I got it today @ 2:44 -
Hola,
Well, don’t you worry mom, the Pres was here a week before I came out, and he knows exactly what we’re living in. But don’t you worry, we’re already in full out exploring mode for finding a new house. The only problem is that this is a very touristy town, much like Saratoga, and prices are ridiculous... so we’re having some problems. Most places are at like 1.5 million, and we only have up to 600 thousand guaranies monthly to spend on a place... and all the reasonable places are already full. And its not that bad, really. The Salado house was one of the best you’ll find out in the mission... (may I remind you, we’re not in the states anymore Toto). But things are going pretty good, we’re still tearing things up. I hate rain. So the rainy season is starting I think, or something, because we’ve gotten dumped on just about every day this week.
Oh, and a little bit of good news now. The new cartero... or umm... mail guy... in the office is a lot better at his job, and he actually shipped my package out to me, so I got that on Friday (we pick up the folder the office sends out here to our little sector of the mission at the bus terminal usually around Friday). So I gotta say, cookie dough pop tarts are absolutely amazing!
So... I don’t really have anything else to really say. I don’t have any sweet hero stories like last week. I’m just settling in, and doing what I do best... putting a really confused look on my face as people try to speak to me in languages that I don’t know and then somehow convincing them that they need to go to church... I love it!
Loves ya,
Elder Dennis
Hola,
Well, don’t you worry mom, the Pres was here a week before I came out, and he knows exactly what we’re living in. But don’t you worry, we’re already in full out exploring mode for finding a new house. The only problem is that this is a very touristy town, much like Saratoga, and prices are ridiculous... so we’re having some problems. Most places are at like 1.5 million, and we only have up to 600 thousand guaranies monthly to spend on a place... and all the reasonable places are already full. And its not that bad, really. The Salado house was one of the best you’ll find out in the mission... (may I remind you, we’re not in the states anymore Toto). But things are going pretty good, we’re still tearing things up. I hate rain. So the rainy season is starting I think, or something, because we’ve gotten dumped on just about every day this week.
Oh, and a little bit of good news now. The new cartero... or umm... mail guy... in the office is a lot better at his job, and he actually shipped my package out to me, so I got that on Friday (we pick up the folder the office sends out here to our little sector of the mission at the bus terminal usually around Friday). So I gotta say, cookie dough pop tarts are absolutely amazing!
So... I don’t really have anything else to really say. I don’t have any sweet hero stories like last week. I’m just settling in, and doing what I do best... putting a really confused look on my face as people try to speak to me in languages that I don’t know and then somehow convincing them that they need to go to church... I love it!
Loves ya,
Elder Dennis
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