I'm Walking Here

 1/23/23 

Hola todos!

   This week was busy and not too far from the abnormal. But there are 3 very notable things from this week.
   First thing, Our AC has been condensing water like crazy. Until this week it hasn't been a problem. So, we have the temp set to about 19c° and anything under 20° just pulls all the water from the air. Thats not really the problem, the problem is that the water has nowhere to drip but my desk. I have an 8 liter bucket to catch all the water from the AC. The craziest part is that we have to empty the bucket TWICE every day. Maybe that can give some perspective as to how humid it is right now 🥵. Our AC pulls 16 liters of water from the air everyday.
    It was fine the first few days but its starting to get a little annoying waking up to a mildly wet desk and barely not wet books. 
   
    Second thing, my mission almost ended early on Wednesday. We had intercambios with our zone leaders, It was me and Elder Mahoney for the day! We were on our way to another appointment and we took the bus. The thing about the buses is a lot of them have curtains on the windows so its really hard to see out the window. We decided to get off at the stoplight on a super busy road. 
    We stopped and I plowed out the door. In a rush to get past traffic, a motorcycle had come up onto the sidewalk and in his rush he hadn't seen the bus door open. Because I hadn't seen him through the curtained windows, i only saw him right as I was taking my step off the bus. In the most dramatic way possible, my fate was sealed by gravity.
    I stepped onto the sidewalk, he saw me and tried to swerve. I dont remember what i thought in that moment, probably,
   "oh crap, im about to get hit. RIP me, I guess." Something heroic like that.
 As quickly as it happened it was over.  I didnt feel anything. The only thing that showed I physically had been hit was my tie slapped over my shoulder. But my shirt and my chest were totally untouched, just as if nothing had happened. No marks, no ruffles, nothing.
    When I fully processed that I wasn't hurt and that the only thing that had been hit was my tie, i looked over to see the rider and several other bystanders had turned and were staring in shock and disbelief. I didn't see what happened to me but in all honesty I believe that the handlebar of the motorcycle went right through me. I was totally fine without even a mark to show for it and everyone around us could see that.
    Instinct took affect after that and i put my tie back in place (all gentle'menly like),  waved to the rider and said, "estoy bien!" Then with a little bit of shock and awe, me and elder Mahoney walked to our next appointment. Another lucky moment in the mission!
     The weight of what happened didn't really sink in till that night. Thinking about it, i realized that motorcycle that would have broken bones, shredded skin and probably ended my mission or at least put me in the hospital for a minute. And maybe the rider didn't actually hit me and hit just my tie (that alone is still totally crazy), either way not getting clapped by that motor was a miracle. I know that through the watchful gaze and protective hand of God I am not in the hospital right now. The Lord watches over his servants and im grateful for his loving care. 
   
  The third thing! 4 gringo missionaries beat a 4 man team of latinos in soccer during intercambios. Let me tell you, with me on the team, that was a miracle. It was brutal, but we pulled off a very solid win. Im pretty sure i was also like our AC generating and losing 8 liters of water in an hour. Another miracle! 
     Also during that intercambio I was with Elder smith (one of my best buds) and he has just about 2 months more then me in the mission. He can understand as much as me in spanish, which was not the best for going out alone with two gringos. Yet, when we went about our day, we were able to understand everything perfectly. That was really cool. We were able to share the message without our own limited knowledge slowing us down. Otro milagro por paraguay.

    This week was busy but full of miracles. Im grateful for the opportunity i had to experience them. I think that the miracles i've had this week are things that everybody can have in their lives. I think we all have miracles everyday. They might not always be huge and grand, saving you from the verge of something one might call "a big oof", but they're there. God loves us and wants to show us that he loves us, he does that in the small things and the big things, miracles and tender mercies. The fact that God loves us enough to give us miracles, well, to me, thats a miracle.
    Anyway, the days move forward and the grind goes on! May the force be with you and may I keep avoiding "big oofs"! Love and success for all!
     The missionary who can probably get beat by your dad at soccer,
     -Elder James Tanner

Emotional Fortitude O'Meter
One krabby patty for the road please - 8/10 Crabz
🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀🦀

1. It's hot
2. Night time is menace time 
3. We cleaned the primary this week, that was neat
4. More beautiful sunsets
5. RIP the christian factions







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Die You Stupid Ants--Week 16

Image
2/20/23 Have any of you noticed that a lot of my subjects have nothing to do with my email? ¡Hola todos! As predicted last week a lot happened this week! It was super busy and it definitely was an experience. Tuesday in particular was pretty eventful! A dog peed on my shoe and my bag and 30 minutes later the Bishop's 3 year old son almost choked to death on a piece of meat! It was crazy! The first part of the day was a little more chaotic but it ended really well. Two of the young men accompanied us for the latter part of the day. There was one lesson in particular that was really good. A few weeks ago we got a text from a guy who asked if he could talk with us. We visited him and he let us know that his daughter had been married in the temple and he wanted to know why he couldn't enter for the marriage. We planned a lesson and went over with the young men for our first lesson. We got there and talked for a while and answered his questions then started to exp...
Read more

It All Changes--Week 42

Image
August 19, 2023 Hola todos!    The world took a bit of a shift this week. We all thought I'd be in the same area this next transfer, but here we are! Ive been transferred! Sort of....      I'm still in the office working as a secretary but Presidente closed our area. We're whitewashing an area called Trinidad B and sharing a house with the AP's. It's been a crazy shift! After I finish this email we're moving ourselves into our new house.     I was sad to hear we were closing Mburucuya (Bur-roo-koo-yah) but deep down I'm grateful. It was sad to say goodbye to some of the awesome members but the work was really, really slow in our area. It only took a few days and a couple hours a day to do everything in the area twice.     Trinidad B is our new area and we hear there's a lot of things to do! That excites me. The AP's say it's possible to have 4+ lessons a day easily. That's something I haven't had to this point in my mission. Ive had to f...
Read more

Come at me, Bro--Week 22

Image
April 3, 2023   Hola Todos! I hope everyone had a wonderful conference weekend. It truly was a banger and a fantastic way to wrap up the week and recharge our spirit to do the work! We did have some more interesting things happen this week. We spent some more time in Centro which was an interesting change to say the least... One night after a crazy long lesson we met an absolute nut job while waiting for a bus. We were in downtown Centro near the 'Chaca'. The Chacarita is one of the most dangerous and crazy neighborhoods in Paraguay. But it's not just the area, it's the surrounding area too! Sitting waiting for a bus (in the dark), we were approached by a random dude of 60'ish who declared himself to be a 10 year veteran of the US military (he didn't speak a lick of english). He wanted us to help him get to the US so he could learn how to make weapons which he could then use to invade and attack Brazil. Could we please help him! We told him we w...
Read more