Tuesday, October 15, 2013

I dont know how to be hilarious in spanish yet but after i learn the important stuff, then ill learn how to be funny.

From: Rachel Hunt Sent: Mon 10/14/13 1:41 PM Hola familia... My first week in paraguay has been very challenging and very rewarding. Many tears. i said goodbye to all my mtc brothers and sisters. i said goodbye to my 2nd favorite elder, elder worsham from utah. That was rough. But The hardest part of this whole week was saying goodbye to hermana buss. Oh how it broke my heart. We were assigned our trainers at the Mission home and had to say our last goodbyes.. we hugged and cried alot. I wasnt even embarrassed either. It was really hard. We grew very close in the mtc so lets just say I cant WAIT to see her again. She got assigned to open a new area!!! in the chaco. or the boonies. Where hardly anyone speaks spanish! They all speak guarani.. and guarani is not like spanish at all haha so i make sure to keep her in my prayers night and day. One elder from the mtc is in my district, elder simpson... well i call him elder simps. he is a nerd. he reminds me of tyler willis. haha I love him. he is funny and he is always making sure to check on me. I think his companion, (the district leader) elder herrea could tell i needed some checking up on so he assigned that job to elder simps because he cant speak english and elder simps can. I LOVE my mission president, his wife and his kids! Prez and I hit it of really well in our interview. He cried, i cried. haha i was lucky enough to have my interview in front of the temple in asuncion. We ate dinner at a restauraunt our first night and i sat with his kids... They think im hilarious. I love when people think im hilarious. haha I dont know how to be hilarious in spanish yet but after i learn the important stuff, then ill learn how to be funny. Anyways.. my trainer, hermana villanueva from perĂ¹!!!!!! She has 3 months left in the mission, she speaks very very very little english and lets just say president mcmulllin Hooked. Me. Up. haha This chick is ridiculous! She is SUCH a good missionary! Together, we tear it up. My first day proselyting was insane. we taught lesson after lesson after lesson. She is the best trainer in the mission for sure. We practice EXACT obedience and recieve many blessings for it as well. She is very kind and very patient with me and my spanish.. Speaking of which... how am i coming along with the spanish? lets just say any extra SECOND i have to study, i use it. haha I do all i can on my own and then rely on the Lord and holy ghost for the rest. Which is a pretty effective technique. haha My first day, we were contancting... it was my turn and my first contact in paraguay and i started talking to this guy and when he responded i had NO IDEA what he said... oh man i was freaking out.. haha i was like ummm this does not sound like the spanish they taught me in the mtc... Im screwed. turns out it was guarani. haha my companion didnt understand either so it was all good. my next contact was much better. So, paraguay... my area is an area called itagua... yeah i dont know how to pronounce it either. esta bien. When president assigned us our area he said, We call this area the baptismal area.. that got me super exited. haha Then When i first got to my area my thoughts were, what did i get myself into... haha i was scared out of my pants. I was having separation anxiety from hermana buss pretty bad. haha i know pathetic. She just took good care of me. anyways.. when it was time for bed and i climbed up on the top bunk, i layed down and the first thing i see is this giant spider on the cieling.... you can only imagine my reaction. hahaha i cried and prayed alot that night and I ended up sleeping really well. The next days were just wonderful.. my second night, walking through the back roads, we saw lighting bugs.. AH! I love lighting bugs. They are the only bugs i will ever ever ever like. They are beautiful. AH! After my first day in my area i have just grown to love it more and more every day. The people are so receptive, so kind, so loving. i have a few experiences i want to share. My third day we were teaching this old lady and her daughter. This old lady was super sassy. Reminded me of grandma and the daughter was very smart. i could just see in her eyes that she was ready for this gospel. Anyways, in the middle of the lesson this lady was getting a little worked up talking about how she didnt have anything and people in the world are so selfish (which is true) but the she pointed to me and my bag full of books for teaching and said, people like you have all these things but dont give anything to the less fortunate. You only care about yourself.. and all this stuff and it set of a trigger in my heart. As i sat and listened to this lady tell me all these things, and struggled to find the words to tell her how i felt, i finally said, hermana, my life is very different than yours. The united states is very different than here. I have many things, i have been very blessed. But my things dont matter to me. You can have my things. you can have it all, because that isnt whats important to me, and its not what is important in this life. What matters most to me, is this gospel. Its god and jesus christ. Its doing ALL that i can to return to live with god again with my eternal family and to be with them Forever. This lady was silent for a long while. and then i extended my very first invitation to her and her daughter to follow the example of our savior and redeemer jesus christ and be baptized. My next experience happened yesterday when we were teaching this lady.. Oh this lady was so kind! Her name is Maximo.. Maximo is spanish means The best! anyways this lady had alot of kids running around when we got there and 4 of them... really little listened to our entire lesson. The were fasinated. they listened very carefully and looked at the pictures we had with amazment. I teared up and i bore these chilren my testimony. My favorite part of paraguay so far is the people... especially the little kids. These little kids have nothing. when i hand them a picture of jesus christ i can see in their eyes that they know who he is. their little faces light up. They touch my heart more and more every day. My last experience is church yesterday. One tesimony given buy a pretty wealthy member of the church. He got up and bore his testimony in guarani. haha he sounded like a freaking monkey! guarani is so weird. Ive learned about 5 words and plan to learn more... i would share them with you but im not sure how to spell them. my bad. Also, in church yesterday, there is no one that can play the piano... so between me and elder simps we do the best we can. Its hilarious. haha For some reason the bishop picked all the songs in the spanish hymn book that are not in the english hymn book. It was interesting. I have never felt so close to god, and my savior jesus chirst in my entire life. My heart is so full. I am so thankful im here, in paraguay. I am loving it! haha i love my trainer, my president. I am so blessed!!!!! AH!!!!! im OVERLY blessed.. if that is even a word. If it wasnt, it is now. haha My testimony has grown so much this past week as i have forgotten myself and lost myself in the work of the lord. I am learning so much about the gospel, so mucha bout myself, about life, about everything. Im so thankful my friendship with God, and my savior. Never in my life have i thought of god or jesus christ as one of my friends.. but being here has helped me to realize that he is They are my best friends. Its my prayer that everyone can be best friends with god and jesus christ. because they will always have your back.. they will always listen and make you feel better. one qupte i want to share from conference, which by the way was AAAAMMMMAAAAAZZZZZING!!!!!! was by elder holland.. duh. "If the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong" i love that. so much. if you havent listened to the conference talks. please do. i know that all the words spoken in general conference are true. i wish i could watch them again SO SO bad. So bad. anyways..... i love you all.... and i will talk to you next week! ps, my new address is this, okay nevermind i forgot my planner. sooo next week! ill give you my address next week. mmmmk. sorry! my bad! i forgot! okay bye!

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