Transmitiendo desde tierras Guranis!!

Hola Amigos y Mi Familia!

So how is everyone doing? I’m going to start off by saying that I do miss home very much! Just not enough for me to leave this incredible place! At first it was very hard to adjust to my settings here! I never had to live with 9 other people who speak another language, in another country, for a month.  So all the adjustments I had to make and get use to the culture were done with everyone watching me. Privacy was very scares. So for the past month I served, played, ate, washed my clothes, and did everything with these 9 people and we became like a little family.  We had so much fun and I love these people so much. 

I am surprised at how much I have learned in the last month. I understand the Spanish so much more and I can now have conversations on my own. The only problem is that a lot of people speak Guaranies. 

Someone asked if I had grown spiritually. And I answered honestly not yet. The reason being is because I’ve been dwelling so much on the language difference that I miss the beauty in all the things I’ve been doing.

There is a family that lives in the barrio above me, and I go there every Thursday and Saturday. I love this family because first there are 3 of the little kids and they are like the three musketeers. They do everything together and they are always with each other! They asked if I wanted to join them. Now I  am the fourth musketeer. Norma the owner of the house is not a Baha’i but her mother is and they are so nice and sweet and have been through so much in their life. We have devotions  there on Thursday and by the end of the last devotion we had on Thursdays, I was crying. Norma lost two of her sons and 2 or 3 years apart and Norma’s mother  said maybe 10 prayers in a row and I was just so moved and appreciative. Then on Saturdays we have children’s class there and I was so moved again because Norma’s mother has never done activities in her 30 years of being a Bahia and she was nervous and she was doing it straight out of the book and it was spiritually uplifting to see God’s plan in action.

So now I have officially started my year of service here in Encarncion, Paraguay! There so many stuff going on and a lot of stuff that will be going on. I am so excited for it! There is pre-youth group we are starting right outside of Encarncion which I am also very animated about! (Pun Intended). We met today and they are fascinated I can speak English. They wanted me to call them by their English version of their name. The funny thing is that most of their name are the same in English just without an accent. But it was nearly impossible for them to say it. We started out wit 4 Junior Youth, by the time we finished talking to the parents 5 more jr. youth signed up. The cool things is that they all WANT to do this! Junior youth are becoming my favorite. Study circles are cool, Devotionals are interesting, Fireside are intriguing, but Junior Youth Groups are were the party is at! I am convinced.

Last Sunday I finished tutoring book 7 with 2 Baha’is in the community. It was difficult to tutor a book in another language but it was funny because the participants were very understanding and patient. Simone helped me out a lot too! It is really hard for me to get to know personally because of the language difference here.  But I still have made some great friends and met some amazing people. I’ve noticed that a lot of people are fascinated  by me because:

I’m from the United States

I’m dark 

Since I’m dark I am Brazilian

I don’t speak Spanish and I’m Puerto Rican

I know English

I have been extremely tired lately. I have been at it non-stop Since I got here. I am so exhausted. The schedule has been like this for the last month. Wake up at about 7:00 in the morning. Breakfast at 8:00. Leave at 9:00 to do some activity either children’s class, study circles, devotional, home visits. Then lunch at 12:30.  Free-time until 2:30. Then we go out to do the same. We get back at about 6 and at 7:00 we study The advent of Divine justice for two hours. Then dinner and then bed. 

Now to the fun stuff! I am truly having a blast here! So right now here in Encarncion is Carnival. Which is like Mardi Gras. Encarncion Carnival in famous in Paraguay! But here every weekend for the next three weekends its like a huge water fight in the city. Nobody is safe for the watering. You could randomly be walking down the street and kids will attack you with water balloons or water bottles! Saturday got ambushed twice, once by a random group of kids and the second by simone. The second one cause an all out street war because I wasn’t going to be the only one getting wet any more! The entire street was a war zone! I think this is a tradition that needs to continue in the states.

So I finally have my own room now! Its actually very nice and pretty big for one room. I have nothing in it at the moment but a mattress a chair and my luggage but it great because its mine!