Hola!
The past 8 days have been… crazy to say the least. On Tuesday the 19th I said goodbye to Elder Harper and Elder Peck and met up with the other Elders who will be heading to Paraguay, Elder Gorringe and Elder Jordan. I actually knew Elder Gorringe from High School so it’s pretty funny that we were both in the same mission and reassignment for our missions. From Tuesday to Friday morning we stayed in an empty apartment in Dublin Ohio. Dublin is awesome because everyone there is really rich. It’s a huge difference moving from Mansfield to Dublin, but not as insane as moving from Dublin to Paraguay. We did lots of paperwork those days in Dublin as well as got a COVID test. They stuck a swab up your nose really far and it really sucked but luckily it came back negative Thursday night for us so we were set.
Early Friday morning the assistants picked us all up and took us to the airport. There were some complications at the airport because the worker lady said our tests weren’t going to work. We talked with her for a bit and showed her the fine print where it said that it would work and she finally let us check our bags and we waited to head to Atlanta. Once we got to Atlanta we met up with all the other missionaries heading to Paraguay. We then flew to Colombia and from there flew to Asuncion. The flight from Colombia to Asuncion was really rough, it was hot, cramped, and very foreign. But luckily after that we finally got off in Asuncion! We did some visa stuff until we finally stepped outside to palm trees and humidity. It was weird seeing so much green. We then all headed to the temple patron housing next to the Asuncion temple and crashed for a few hours. For the next couple days we got to know everyone else that was called to serve in Paraguay and we sort of got a mission orientation. On Monday we met our companions in the morning. My new companion is Elder Harmer. It’s funny, his name is Elder Harmer, very similar to Elder Harper, and they both are from Washington. What are the odds of that? After we met we got our bedding and filtered water bottle and got on a bus to take us all the way to our area.
Our area is called ´´Encarnacion´´. If I had to describe it, it would be like the Saint George of Paraguay. Lots of Paraguayos go there for vacation because of the beaches and it’s a decently sized city. It is in the very South of Paraguay and it borders Argentina. When we leave our house we can see Argentina across the water so it’s pretty cool. To get there we had to take a bus for 6 hours. It was pretty interesting driving through all of Paraguay and seeing all the jungle, the fields, and little villages and towns all over the place. When we got to our area we took a taxi to our apartment and dropped my stuff off. Then we went and walked to some members’ houses. I taught my first lesson in Spanish and it went very well! I am surprised with how much Spanish I understand, but then it gets kind of weird when I try to speak it. It’s also weird trying to hear people when they constantly switch from Spanish to Guarani, the native language. Almost everyone greets each other in a sort of Guarani phrase and then continues in Spanish. So right now I’m working on learning all the little phrases and being able to listen to people speak in Spanish. I already know a couple of words in Guarani, like saying ´´chuchi´´ is essentially a synonym for ´rich´ or ´boujee´, and saying ´jagua´, (Don’t know if it is spelled like that) means dog. It is all really interesting and I’m excited to get into it!
It’s a bit of a culture shock getting here but I’m really excited to really get to work! It will be A LOT more walking then there was in Ohio, and a lot less Facebook work. The most difficult part at the moment is the language and the culture. The most important thing we can do as disciples of Jesus Christ is love one another. The Savior taught,
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
I know that the people of Paraguay may not understand me yet, and I may not totally understand them. But, it’s not just in our words that we can be disciples of Jesus Christ, it’s also in our actions and in our examples. When it’s difficult to understand one another, and when it seems like differences are just too much, remember the simple counsel of the Savior to love one another. Doing so will truly bless our lives.
¡Tienen una semana buena!
Elder Watson
