David's First Area & Companion - Ca´aguazu / Elder Beramendi

Hey,

I am trying to get used to using a Spanish Keyboard... it´s not working out so well. Ha. But anyways, I love it here in Paraguay. I am learning a lot. I got to my area around fourish yesterday, Wednesday. Elder Beramundi is my trainer, and he is from Northern Argentina. He only speaks Spanish, but he is learning English. It makes me have to use Spanish, which is REALLY good. I need to. I am still trying to get used to the Paraguayan´s Spanish down here. It is very different than the Spanish back home. I´m not used to listening to Spanish all day long. My area is Ca´aguazu, which is mostly made up of Guarani speakers who know Spanish and is a 3 hour bus ride from Asunción. We taught 5 or 6 lessons yesterday, 3 were with progressing investigators, who Elder Beramundi committed to baptismal dates and the rest were members, but Elder Beramundi taught for most of the time and handed it to me to testify or to teach a small part of the lesson. Very understandable since I am the local Gringo, and probably the tallest for miles. It´s hard to believe. We had a lunch appointment with one of the members today, the food was good. Paraguayans hardly ever talk while eating and the women don´t normally eat with the men, unless it is Saturday or Sunday; at least that´s what I picked up so far. I´ll have to make more sense of it later.

Today we only have one lesson to teach since it´s an off p day and really odd schedule, but I am excited to go. We are going to see if she is ready to set up a baptismal date. I can´t wait to start understanding more so I can help out my companion and get to know the people better. There´s definitely a language block, but I am working really hard on understanding and practicing. Sunday should be fun too, since their meetings will be in Guarani. I´m excited for that. Oh. I handed out my Guarani Book of Mormon on the flight to Asunción. It was so cool to give it to him. I´m excited. I love the people down here. They are so nice and awesome. I can´t wait to be able to get to know the people better.

So, like I said, I love it here. It´s so cool. Hot, really, and humid, but so cool. There are so many trees and jungle areas. It´s actually kinda fun to walk on the cobblestone streets and red dirt roads. It´s definitely the other side of the world, I can guarantee that. I can only send emails to family, so if I get any letters, it might take a while to get them back.

Traffic here is pretty crazy. Think LA traffic with no rules, except for stop lights. It´s a pretty wild ride. There are a lot of motorcycles here... lots. Out here in the country, it´s the main way people get around. To school, work, everything. Asunción reminded me of parts of Downtown LA, except brighter and a lot more green. Trees are everywhere. Pretty much anything you stick in the ground will grow. And the orange juice here is AMAZING. I´d have to do a side by side test to see if Cali OJ or Paraguay OJ is better. All of the other fruits are amazing that I´ve tried so far. Can´t wait to try more.

Well, I don´t know what else to say but that I love you guys. My exclamation point isn´t working, so it might seem like I am a little unanimated. I love you guys and I want the best for y´all. I hope everything is going great. Take care of yourselves.

Con mucho amor,

Elder David Watson