Feliz Navidad de Paraguay - Week 8

 12/26/2022

Merry Christmas de Paraguay! 


I hope everyones doing well and having the best christmas freaking ever! I hope your christmas is merry and bright! I know mine is! Mostly bright because its about 36° celsius here (roughly 96 degrees). So we’re “chilling”. 

This week was pretty fun! The missionary Christmas has been full of homesickness and surprises and blessings. 

On Friday I got to attend my first zone conference. We were able to do it at the mission office and it was super fun! I got to meet up with Elder Carselon and Hermana McGladrie from the CCM and that was nice to see some familiar faces. After a great devotional and training session we went on to have a Christmas meal. Oh man it was good. I don't know if thats because Ive been deprived of American food or something, but it was FUEGO. After lunch we had a gift exchange and I walked away with a um, coupon for burger king and a used chapstick… so um, merry christmas? 

I'm definitely not bitter but the rest of the day there was a bunch of karaoke, relaxation, and socializing in celebration of christmas. It was a fantastic day in the end! The celebration of Christmas here is so different from the US. In good and bad ways. Bad as its new and im not used to it and change is scary. Good in ways that it opens your eyes to the different ways people celebrate. I will say that I have decided I do not like celebrating christmas with deep fried steak…

A cool thing here in Paraguay is that they do most of their Christmas celebrations on Christmas eve. So yesterday for christmas eve we joined our zone leaders in their area and went and had an adventurous meal with a member family. We ate the following animals:

  1. Crocodile; tastes like chicken and fish had a baby. I think its probably what dinosaur tastes like

  2. Capybara; Look up what a capybara is. Elder Mahoney called it a giant hamster. Well the giant hamster tasted like fish more than the crocodile.

  3. Armadillo; I think i have leprosy

  4. Cow; Yes the classic cow, the interesting part about this meal was… COW TONGUE! Yea it was gross and I only had one bite. The steak was much better than cow tongue.


Dinner was followed by blowing things up with cracked up South American fireworks. The firecrackers are huge and just tiny bombs. As missionaries we’re not allowed to touch or use fireworks but we definitely can watch. So we watched as the boys of the neighborhood found things to destroy. They found an old toilet on the side of the road and proceeded to obliterate it. It was sick! But… They left the destroyed toilet on the road and it popped our car's tire on the way back to our apartment. We ended up getting back to the house at around 1. Total vibe and an adventure. 8/10 recommend blowing up a toilet. However, do not do so near responsible adults.

Today has been great. Church was just an hour today and we got up and introduced ourselves to the ward. The ward isn't big, probably about 30-40 people, but those who go are strong in the gospel and their desire to do good. After Capilla we went to the local orphanage to give the kids christmas presents, WITH THE WHOLE WARD! It was amazing to see their faith and kindness. One of the members dressed up as Papa Noel (Santa Claus) and gave out their gifts. There were a lot of happy kids in the end. It was so uplifting to see that service for these kids.

Amambay, Paraguay is one of the nicer areas of Paraguay. Even so, a lot of the members don't have much. To see them give so much for others with what little they have is such a good example to me. Coming to such a different country has really shown me how blessed I am. I mean, most people here have only one car and/or walk everywhere. At home, we have 3 cars! 

This week has been way better. Me and my companion are adjusting to the area, its culture, and getting to know the people. Its still really hard. I don't know the language and we are having little to no success. Nonetheless! Everyday we go out to the world, talk and share the love we feel for the people of Amambay, Paraguay. The language will come and the grind never stops!

I hope you all have a wonderful day and a very merry Christmas! Paz y Tranquilo para todos!

The first missionary you know who might get leprosy from something he ate,

               –Elder James Tanner


Emotional Fortitude O'Meter

Mas Tranquilo - 6/10 Gators

🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊

1. Met a nice roadside knockoff Mickey!

2. The gran arbol from the roof of our apartment

3. Soy cool

4. Some food from the Badlands of Paragauy

5. Soccer balls for kiddos for christmas

6. Made "brownies"








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