Have I Told You Lately..?

That I love you guys!?

This week we finished it out with CHRISTMAS and SKYPE and FEASTING. I swear, I am never ever ever going to eat meat ever again when I'm in the states. We had pork and asado and fish and chicken and mandioca and like a bazillion different chipa guazus *cheepah wah zoo" ... aka paraguayan cornbread. Its nothing like american cornbread but it's tasty. 

We passed Navidad well enough. I drew a christmas tree on a piece of paper and then I woke up early and opened my presents. I got a lot of cool things, thanks mom! and I  hear there is more coming. :) 

On Tuesday we had a big lunch with all the missionaries and the mission president. Still fighting the whole camera thing, sorry about no pictures. But we took a foto with santa and we sang all the christmas hymns, so that was much needed. :) 

As far as missionary work this week has been the pits. Not only are we losing investigators but our asistence in the church is falling by 10 members every week. We don't know how to make it stop!! And its been raining every day too. But what do we do when stuff gets tough? WE WORK HARDER! I chant to myself to help. Everyone can use this tactic. You say "Si tu puedes, si tu puedes, you're Dwayne the Rock Johnson." and somehow you get energy. :D 

aaaaaaaaaaaaaand what else?! Oh man I love the Book of Mormon. Today I was studying in Preach My Gospel there was a scripture activity where it listed all the scriptures where the prophets of the book of mormon say why they wrote their books. Its all to bring people to Christ, and in hopes that it will help their brethren, the lamanites. But Mormon says that he writes to fulfil the prayers of the people that have already died. And thats so cool because we are literally fulfilling promises for ancient prophets here in paraguay by bringing the gospel to their brethren, the lamanites. BEAST. LOVE IT. 

Love all of you people. Happy 2016! Festijar but dont drink alcohol in any of its forms! :) 

Con carino, 

Hermana Scott

Christmas Call Highlights

Many Mangos to All, and to All a Good Night

December 21, 2015

Dear everyone,

My inbox this week looked like this :

Wedding

wedding

Christmas

wedding

Star Wars

Star Wars

Star Wars

Baby

Someone please write me a rap about it. But it sounds like things are good where you're all at, so :) God is awesome.

For my part, this week we had cambios! I'm with Hermana Diaz, todavia en Itaugau, and she is from Peru. She's also freaking beautiful and I hate it. hahahahha really though she does great work, her lessons are on point, and we're basically going to baptize this whole friggin country ...

... if we can get there...

NOBODY JUDGE but this week I slipped,... in the shower.... and busted up my leg. HA! It's so embarrassing! My new companion who speaks no english hears this giant crash and she's all, HERMANA? I was like, whoa what happened.. and she's like HERMANAA!! And starts opening the door and I'm like Whoa honey wait!! I'm without clothes and injured! So guess who limped most of this week? Also me. In the rain. And no one answered because they are all on viaje por stupid navidad.

The Lord has sent me some good adventures *see above paragraph-- so that I can have very sincere prayers and think more about how much I really rely on Him. In Paraguay if you ask someone "Who is Jesus Christ?" they will answer "He is everything to me. He is the Son of God." And that has become so true to me here in my mission. Jesus Christ is everything to me. He is my Savior, my King, my Brother, and my best friend. He is the only one who knows what its like to be me, and He loves me perfectly. And He loves all of you perfectly too.

I hope you all have a very happy holiday, and that you can take a minute to look at the snow, and the tree, and really remember that this baby was born to save humankind. We will never repay the debt, but Jesus is smiling when we serve Him the best we can.

With all the love I've got,

Hna Scott

Happy Holidays!

December 14, 2015

Happy Holidays dear family and friends,

Wow! This year was an exciting one!! 

Norda has been working hard all this year! We are eagerly awaiting her promotion for work this Tuesday. We don't know what the Lord has in mind but wherever we go, we know it is His will. :) 

After a few difficult days of sickness, Scott has officially finished her studies and she now gets to move on and really search for work in the field she's been practicing-- Senior missionary. She is excited for all the new roads ahead of her as she's finally finished training and gets a few more hours to spend working each day instead of cooped up in class. 

Things are getting serious between our daughter Book of Mormon and Miguel. We are waiting for another two weeks of church attendance before we will give him our daughters hand in baptism. He is a good guy, and a good match for our little girl. We are excited to see him progress and join our family. 

We often say we are teaching Book of Mormon, but we know that Book of Mormon is really teaching us! We feel blessed to be spending so much time together, learning of Gods word and progressing in His work. We miss all of you since our big move to Paraguay, but we feel your love in every aspect of our lives. We continually enjoy the blessings of membership in this great church, and we are so grateful to have the stability and peace the Gospel brings. 

Hoping all of you have also had a successful year. Wishing you a white Christmas!!! With love, 

The Schnoorda Family

The Testaments were filmed in Paraguay

Dear everyone,

Here is a pic from another missionary in the area.

Flooding schmoloding. Yeah, so it rained a little. So what there was like 3 feet of water in the streets. So what it thundered and lightninged for 4 hours straight. So what trees fell, houses flooded, and the majority of itaugau has been without water and electricity all week? The problem is that I woke up with WATER hitting my FACE. hahhaahahha like literally the rain was hitting me in the face! thats so dang uncomfortable! XD 

Nah really its been fine. There was some floods and damage and stuff but overall paraguay without electricity is not that different from paraguay with electricity and the storms inspired at least 2 people to reconsider baptism, so I'm calling it a blessing. :) 

We had four investigators in church this week, one of them being this kid (kid meaning hes like 18) named Miguel. To imagine Miguel, I want everyone to picture Moses from the Prince of Egypt (after the whole egypt take the jewelry off dramatically part) , and then add a bunch of arm tattoos. That's him! :) And he's dang excited about keeping commandments. 

The other day we talked about the word of wisdom and we said this, "nuestros cuerpos son templos, y porque piensa que somos templos? Aqui dice que somos creados en la imagen de Dios." [something about our bodies are temples and we were created in the image of God]?and he sat back and he looked at us and he slowly starts smiling and he's like "puuureeeteee." purete means cool in guarani. It was the funniest thing ever. Even now Hna Noorda and I are laughing about it whenever we mention it. 

Speaking of hna noorda, cambios [transfers] are coming next week. :( I like hermana noorda. We have a good time. I'll be sad when she gets transferred, but we'll see what happens. 

Love all of you, have a great week. Joshua 1:9!!! 

Hna Scott

 

 

Bonus Question and Answer from mother's email:

 

 How involved are you in the branch there? Have you given talks or taught classes? No, the ward here basically runs on its own.

You mentioned problems with your stove - what's the deal with that? uhhh the oven needs someone to light it  and so we set papers on fire and stick them in there to turn it on? hahahha like it has gas but has no spark-- we use a lot of matches

Do you have hot water? To tell you simply... no.

How is your Guarni coming? (don't answer in Guarni because it's not on Google translate) uhh I know words here and there, key phrases, things like that but honestly I don't understand basically anything of guarani. It is a language made for the past, does that make sense? Like its very hard to communicate ideas through guarani. And the entire vocabulary of the Church-- Jesus Christ, Atonement, repentance... doesn't exist in guarani. Except tupao, which means church.

Are you anxious about the transfers coming up? YES. Hermana Noorda is probably going to leave and I will cry!!! Its hard to live for 3 months 24/7 with someone and then just think, oh well, they are going to leave next week. like what?! soooo we'll see what happens.

Of all the extra bonus things we bought for you, which has come in the most helpful? the flashlights. I use flashlights every day. Don't ask me why or how, I just almost always end up using flashlights.

Happy Thanksg...cumpleanos

Dear everyone,

Cool thing of the week: Noah's flood basically happened in Itaugau friday night. If Utah got rain like that once a year, ain't nobody ever gonna complain about no draught! hahahah the streets turned into rivers!!! so what did we do? We took our shoes off, put our scriptures in plastic bags, and we walked anyways. HA! It was so fun!!! I didn't have to shower the next day because it rained so much. XD Chiste but really I didn't have to wash my makeup off so #blessins. 

We're fighting a terrible disease here. It's called tell-the-missionaries-you-want-to-be-baptized-and-then-disappear-forever syndrome. It's happened with literally every investigator we had this week. I feel like my life is a giant game of hide and seek. Oh gee. So we'll see what happens with that. 

Mauro and Leticia both set days to be baptized!!... in july. Mauro has to get divorced before he can marry Leticia, and divorces cost a LOT. And he's unemployed. And then even after the divorce goes through, they have to wait three months before they can get married again. Soooooo God is a god of miracles and I'm really feeling like they'll be baptized in March. We'll see. 

Cool scripture: Mosiah 23: 20-24. I received a lot of guidance from this one this week. 

AND WHO'S EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS!!? I made a paper chain countdown!!! We also are writing the 12 days of paraguayan christmas. Here's a sneak peek.

On the first day of Christmas my companion gave to me 

A terere that I can't drink. 

....the second day of Christmas my companion gave to me

two mangy dogs 

and a terere that I can't drink

and the third?

three empanadas,

two mangy dogs and a terere that I can't drink!

It's a work in progress. 

Besos from Paraguay, 

Hna Scott


Bonus Mom email material. More Q & A:

How much door knocking do you do? we knock doors quite often... but its actually clapping doors hahah knocking isn't a thing here. A lot of people just invite us in off the streets and we teach mini lessons, but its hard to find people that are interested in the gospel and not the United States. 

What cultural thing do they do there that you wished we did in the US? uhhh a cultural thing?... hmmmm families just sit around and talk. Like they put their chairs in the front yard and everybody sits around and drinks terere and they just talk. For hours and hours. Mom, dad, kids, neighbors, cousins, everybody. It's cool. 
 

If All Men Had Been Like Unto Moroni

Nov 23, 2015

Okay so like, nobody emailed me about the France-bombing-world-war-3 problem??! Like I need to know these things people!! Just a side thought.

Hai!! How is everyone?

So I have two quick stories. One is about a guy named Hermano Flores. Hno Flores has cancer. Having cancer in paraguay is a struggle because you have to pay for your treatment and all the materials. IVs, sheets, medicines, machines. All of it. So they said that most people just get pain medications and suffer. It's sad. But Hno Flores is pretty welloff so he can pay for it. But he is a great guy. His house has the Spirit like the temple. It's SO strong. And he is so warm and friendly, and his wife and him just have great understanding of the atonement. And so even though they are both suffering through this lifetime trial, they are making the best of it. So what does a Paraguayan man with cancer do in his free time?! He opens a 24 hour on call pizza place in his house!!! And then he invites over the sister missionaries!!! Hahah the pizza was amaaazing I ate like five!! hahah #worthit. So even if he is in a lot of pain, people can knock on his door and he gets up and makes them a pizza. I love this family, they serve in spite of struggle!

The other is Mauro!! Him and his "wife" Leticia came with their two little boys to church this week!!! AH! He has literally completely changed since we met him. His countenance is light, he's friendly, laughs a lot, loves his kids more,  and when he has questions, he smiles and asks them, and then he says "I guess I have to look for the answer in the scriptures."and we're like yesssss you got it bub! I wish I could show you the difference in him. He says we are his heavenly messengers because he gave up on religion until we knocked on his door with a book of mormon.

The Church is true yall. I've seen it work miracles this week.
Love,
Hna Scott


Bonus Content from her Mom letter. Kaitlin is answering specific questions I sent her:

 How do you get your laundry done? We do it ourselves, when we get home from proselyting. There's an endowed lady that could do it for us, but it would require trekking across town with large bags of laundry twice a week. Its not worth it hahah

Is your branch full of wealthier or poorer people - how do they get along?   (Like if there is a ward party and there is a person living in a house with plumbing and another person living in a one room shack with a dirt floor - does they guy with the house always have to bring the cookies?) Uhhh no its all even. You give what you have. Everybody has something. Like just because they live in dirt shacks doesn't mean they don't have money for food. Does that make sense? I haven't seen any kind of discrimination among the wealthier and the poorer.

Do you get spending money? What do you spend it on? We don't get spending money. We get money for rent and groceries. But I admit I buy icecream in the streets on hot days and empanadas when I'm really hungry hahahah

Do you think you will be changing areas before Christmas? Yeah we have a cambio one week before Christmas. I'm pretty sure I'll be staying in Itaugau, because my companion has been here for almost half her mission, so I'll probably stay to keep the area going. But I'll have a new companion.

What is the education level of the members? You mentioned at one point you were teaching a family that was illiterate.  Is that common? Education is the most important thing in the entire world. Lots of people can read but they can't read scriptures. The words are too hard. And they're too embarrassed to say so so then we don't know they can't read and like two weeks later we're like OHHH you can't read scriptures! Makes sense!!! No, most people have an education. But it's obvious in the culture that the education isn't that awesome like it is in the states.

Come What May and Love It

Nov 16, 2015
 
Yooohoooo, big summer blowout! Half off missionary discussions, fruit, and a bottle of sweat of my own invention! 

Okay ew gross I'm so sorry I made that joke. This week was good but HARD. The weather just knocks you out. So blasted hot! I'm trying to remember Nauvoo and no fruiting, and that definitely helps. That being said, I am shocked and amazed when I stand up from a cita and there is literally a puddle of sweat. hahahahhaha Wow. Love it. YES. 

This week we had interviews with President and it didnt even feel like an interview and literally we just sat and talked for like fifteen minutes about how weird paraguay was. Then he kind of looked at me and he's like, mhmm, yeah, you're fine. Alright, can we end with a prayer? And I was like... don't you want to ask me about my area or something? Nope! He just gave me cake and sent me on my way. #icouldgetusedtoaviewlikethis

What other things happened? OH! Thanks everyone for praying for Mauro because HE WENT TO CHURCH. I REPEAT. HE WENT TO CHURCH. Oh my gosh I about died!!! We had TWO investigators at the church this week AND three menos activo families that we work with! YES! Mauro is learning a lot but we are still fighting all of his doubts. I know that God can work a miracle with this man!!! And as soon as he is converted, I have a feeling that his wife will follow suit. 

Also it was elections in Itaugua this week. So basically the city celebrated like it always does: fireworks, loud music, and getting drunk. Conveniently all of our citas fell through, and we ended up home two hours before nine for dinner and studies. We later heard that it was really dangerous on the streets and that bad stuff was happening, fights and things. The Lord works in weird ways. 

Study of the week: Faith. Did you know that  you have to know who Jesus is before you can have faith in Him? That sounds like a stupid question but I actually thought about it for a long time. You have to know that Jesus is all powerful and all loving before you will trust His commandments, and then you'll realize that Jesus is more powerful and loving than you thought. Also: we're learning how to change our prayers to be active praying. Instead of saying, Lord please bless that today won't be hot, we pray, Lord please bless that we will be buff enough to master the heat. I have found that I am a lot stronger through Christ.

Alright that's it. Love all of you more than Frozen,

Hna Scott



Bonus Content from her Mom letter. Kaitlin is answering some specific questions I sent her:

How often are you eating at members verses making your own food? We eat with members for lunch most days. Any other meal we eat at home. We usually eat cereal or ramen or sandwiches. We can't boil water because of our stove.... it cuts down on a lot of other easy meals.

What do you eat for breakfast? Cereal. What else?

How much do you walk in a day? mmmmm... good question? we have no idea! Liiiike depends. I would say upward of five miles? 

What is the economy like there?  Apartments? Grass huts? uhhh depends. In the city people have really nice houses, some people even have indoor bathrooms. Farther out, it's more like cinderblock walls and dirt floors. But everyone has a tv, cellphone, and a fridge. Go figure. 

Have you had any uncomfortable encounters with chickens? YES. Do you know how chickens mate? I do. #duringmylessononfaith

How is your language coming? Super bien, puedo hablar facilmente entre los dos, pero todavia tengo dificultad con la forma condicional, como "would happen" es muy dificil para mi. Y tambien a veces mi mente esta trabajando mas rapido de mi boca, o estoy muy emocionada sobre una tema, y mi espanol es horrible jajajaj. 

How big is your branch/ward?  Our asistencia is between 90 and 130 people every week. We have a pretty big, functioning branch for the area

What is the rate of active vs inactive? wow. Too many. like, we have inactive families we don't even know about. Once a family moves, they;re basically lost forever. Bishops forget to send records and we don't know where they go. Church is hard here. 

I wonder if people in the United States think when they make things that they will end up in Paraguay. Paraguay loves mainstream pop from the US, everything except Taylor Swift.:( There's a guy in our ward who wears this sweatshirt that says SUPERMOM in big letters. Hermana Noorda and I don't have the heart to tell him. 

A Cucaracha In My Suitcase

Hey guess what everyone?! I've officially survived a cambio [change - they change up the companionships of missionaries every 6 weeks] here in the mission! That's right, 6 weeks DOWN like a spoon full of sugar! So with changes and all, we got big news. President took out a set of missionaries and now there are only two companionships for all of Itaugua. You people with google look that crap up.... I am supposed to be finding/saving souls in like an entire 15 kilometres of area.......... agh. We are only two!!! So it's been stressful and we get late everywhere and... Through the Lord we can do all things!!!

In other news, I rode a bike for the first time today in YEARS. And I lived! The mission makes you grow in more ways than one. Darn you, zone activity and peer pressure. 

This week we found a purete *cool* couple. Mauro and Leticia. They are awesome and a lucha [fight] because-- Well Mauro especially. He's gone through about six different religions and he's decided that none of them are true. So we're like, okay, we can handle that. The problem is that he does his daily scripture study... and his daily internet search. We all know what's online about Joseph Smith. We're like Mauro, if you want the best bread do you go to the bar or the panaderia[bakery]? Like... Go to the source!! He just needs to take a step of faith and he'll be golden. Pray for them, would you??

Sergio is awesome, for all those that asked. He is rapidly finishing his Faith in God booklet. 

Pensamiento del dia [thought of the day]-- The Atonement is so amazing. Literally, everyone's tarea [homework] this week is to read about the Atonement in true to the faith. If anyone ever tells you that its Adam's fault that he transgressed and stuff you just tell them FALSE. The Plan is perfect. Yes, Adam fell, with the purpose of progression. And Jesus Christ has already made up for the Fall with His resurrection, AND MORE. Do your tarea. I don't have time to write it all. 

XD 

Hahahah enjoy your week y'all. Peacin' out from 107.9 degrees farenheit. 

Hna Scott

 

xXx

 

Bonus Content:

 

" The cool thing about paraguay: They don't have dia de gracias [Thanksgiving] to get in the way of their christmas celebrations! There are santas and bells in all the store windows. Also mangos and watermelon and blooming flowers. It's a weird mix."

A Very Bucket Baptism

Hi everyone!!!

As you all have so kindly remembered, this last Tuesday we had the baptism of Sergio!!! It was funny.... because it turned out to be way harder than it needed to be. We cleaned the font and we tried to get the water to fill the font... but the little knobbies to turn on the water wouldnt turn!! So we called the elders and they came eventually, and started the water... and then we ran out of water in the church! Like this kind of stuff only happens in Paraguay! So we ended up filling buckets of water outside on the lawn and then bringing them into the church to dump them.... it took awhile. hahahah but all said and done Sergio is baptized and was confirmed on Sunday. :) So glad to have been a part of this great work! And it's cool to think that his story is now part of my story and vice versa, make sense?

Also a funny story: We decided to go on a forest adventure and find a shortcut between two of our citas, and we went on this road, and then we ended up locked behind a barbed wire fence on all sides. Don't ask how that happened! hahah Hna Noorda jumped the fence and ripped her skirt, and being significantly less athletic than her I consigned myself to starvation and eventually death behind the fence. Conveniently a neighbor showed me a hole in the fence which I climbed through no problem. I felt like I was living in the movie Jurassic Park. So imagine that. XD Ahh my life. 

As far as Sebastian goes, we haven't heard from him ALL WEEK. He asked to be baptized and we can't get ahold of him-- It's AGONY. His sister said his phone doesn't work, and on top of that he is a joven with a job, and estudios, and a girlfriend. Therefore he is never home. Agh! Fasting that we can get in contact with him.

To read this week: Moroni's epistle to Pahoran. Alma 59?? Moroni makes me laugh. There's a whole chapter talking about how he's a man of God and so righteous and literally his go-to for solving problems is killing people. Oh, the lamanites are coming? Let's kill them. Oh, the king men are acting up? Let's kill them. Oh, we're not receiving provisions? Let's kill the government! HA! Oh man it's been funny. But honestly. In between the burns and ripping into Pahoran, there's a great message about DOING something to receive blessings. ASK and ye shall receive. KNOCK and it shall be opened. Like. JUST DO SOMETHING. ANYTHING. God blesses when we show our sacrifice, whether it be time, talent, or will.

Love all of you!!! Besos [kisses] from Paraguay. Hna Scott

Bonus Material from her Mom email:

"For computers we go to this little business that has like ten computers all in a row and we pay them money for our time online. So all the computers are set up, you just go to the site you want and then pay when you're finished. It's called a cyber but I didn't know that it was spelled cyber because everyone says see-burr."

Regarding halloween: "Me and Hna Noorda keep joking about buying a watermelon and carving it. We had like a day dream session of autumn and crunchy leaves and frost. In Paraguay they celebrated the futbol game of Olimpia and Zero-- aka the whole world was drunk and they blasted music on the streets until four am. The difference entre paises. :) Enjoy here while youre here, because theres no here there. :)"

 "Also!!! Hna Noorda celebrated her birthday this week and so I caved and bought a birthday glass*! It just didn't feel right without it." *At our house we have a special birthday glass that only comes out on someone's birthday.

 
 

Blood, Sweat, Tears, Parasites, Etc

Hi everybody!! 

This week was iiinsaaaaaaaaaaane. 

SERGIO IS GETTING BAPTIZED TOMORROW!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!! We are planning everything, and he passed his entrevista [interview] and he's so excited!!! We are making dessert and he chose me to give a talk on the Espiritu Santo [Holy Ghost] so pray for me on that one hahaha. 

"How it feels to have a baptism this week. Please don't judge me"

Oh and THREE PEOPLE came to church!!! We had two menos activos [less actives] that we worked with and they both came!! And then we met this guy Sebastian who basically invited himself to be baptized when we met him Saturday night. Okay I have to tell you this! So we knocked on this door because our other cita [appointment] fell through and we meet this guy, right, and we say the opening prayer and he's like, "So you guys said something about baptism, right? I want to start over in my life, I want to be closer to God. I say little prayers every day, but I feel like I need to do something more. What do you have to do to be baptized?" This is Saturday night, right? He comes to Church the NEXT DAY and he's like, yeah, I read the entire chapter you left me yesterday in my LDM. I feel something in my heart when I read it. And we're like, what!?!? THEN after church he said, "I never knew I wasn't supposed to work on Sunday, but I learned today. I'm going to rearrange my schedule so I don't have to work sunday." :O So he's committed to be baptized in four weeks. 

AKA God blessed us so much!!! I am really feeling the love and I'm SO excited to keep working this week!!! We are so excited for everything, I'll let you know how it goes!!!! 

Reading assignment: 1 Nephi 21. I love that the Lord has "graven [us] on the palms of [his] hands." We use our hands for everything!!! The Lord cannot forget us. He literally can't. He chose to keep these marks on His hands, despite His resurrected body, and why? So that he will know how to succor His people. 2 Nephi 2. 

Love all of you!!!! :D HAPPY 1st BAPTISM WEEK!!! Celebrate with me!!!

Hna Scott

Other Things that Happened this Week:

-we didn't have electricity for 24 hours. aka no air conditioning. that was a prueba.

-hna Noorda got a fever

-I made us stay home for a day with some kind of heat exhaustion sickness thingy?

- got hit on by a drunk guy on the bus!!! XD Oh jeez it was scary but also funny. He kept saying "My name is Zacarias, like in the Bible. You're a missionary. Jesus is in you, Jesus is in me, Jesus is in everything." Wow. #palabradesabiduria  [wise words]

-accidentally stood on an anthill, my entire right leg is covered in bites

-i lost 15 mil on the street. :( que pucha. [?]

- we had divisions!!! I went to limpio with Hna Jones and I learned so much!!! It was awesome to go and see how a pro faces the mission. I wrote like three pages in my journal of stuff I learned. The most important thing I think, is that she taught me that our personalities are gifts of God and when we teach we should teach with our personality because it makes things interesting and easier for people to relate to us. :) 

- we committed three people to baptism!!!!

-We got parasites!!! Whoo! we are real paraguayas now!!! It's this bug called pique and it climbs in your feet and lays eggs!!! :D Hna Noorda had one really bad and she also has a fear of needles so that was a reaaaaaaaaal problem (i feel so bad I was laughing at her but it was one of those laugh or cry moments and it was kinda funny!!!) But no worries we fished them out like slivers and we are now pique-free. Apparently they are really common.

And Where Are You From?

Hey everybody. My inbox was stuffed full this week and I basically can't express my love for all of you. Darn you wonderful people, may God bless you in every aspect of your lives.

This week was another shoulder to the wheel week. The funniest thing that kept happening is that people kept asking where we are from. My companion, being blonde and blue-eyed, everybody thinks she's German. So the conversation goes like this. Swear it's been the exact same about twenty times:

Us: Hi do you want to know about eternal families and or the restoration and or about Jesus?

Them: I have faith.

Us: Great, us too! How do  you show your faith?

Them: Wait, where are you guys from?

Us: We live in Itaugua.

Them: Where are you really from?

Hna Noorda:.... the United States.

Them: Oh you're American! And where's the other one from?

Me: From the United States also....

Them: Oh I thought you were a Paraguaya.

Us:.... So do you want to hear about the gospel?

EVERY. TIME. I am not a Paraguaya okay? Admittedly a lot of the people here have brilliantly green eyes because of European immigrants in their history but for reals I'm so white I just don't get it. hahahha anyways. #whyamItellingthisstory?

Sooo this week was good. The field is white and ready to harvest here in Itaugau. We've met so many people that are sincerely interested in our message, who really have faith but it's so hard to get them to progress. To actually do something to show their faith. So this week we're really thinking we are going to circle in on that very simple subject and make sure they really understand the basic principles we've already taught.

The capilla was empty again this week and I have never been so sad in my life. I know they feel the spirit. Why don't they come?! Agh.

Sergio was so cute. We went and visited him this week and he said, I only have thirteen more days until my baptism! Fourteen if you count today! And my heart basically broke. YAY. Everyone is asking if these kids we are teaching have parents. Yes they do. Yes, their parents support them in their baptisms. Yes, we teach their parents also-- occasionally. We are really trying to get family lessons and this week we had a lot of success with that! :)

Speaking of FAMILY we are teaching one! Esteban, his wife Maria, their kids Lela, Sebastian and Janet, who is three. Lela is fourteen and loves the book of mormon. Janet cries because she wants to go to church so badly. Sebastian is shy. hahhahah We adore this family. We know they have the right spirit, the right attitude about the gospel. They are so open to sharing with us. The only problem is they are as a pareja, uneducated. Which makes teaching eveeeeerything a lot harder-- we run into that a lot here. Its basically like permanently teaching primary. We need a lot of examples, demonstrations, fotos, repasos...what's that called?.... REVIEW oh yes. Those things. It makes studying fun!

Anyyhooow. Things are rolling. Power's out right now, showered in the dark this morning. But cest la vie! Loving it.

Muah! Love you all, have a sunshining week!

Hna Scott

Sweat or Rain, either way I'm soaked

I never want to hear you complain about weather in the States ever again!! hahahah this week has been super crazy! Like one day its a good 80, 90 degrees and the next day its 40 at the most and pouring! Con: I never know what to wear n the morning. I should start just tossing a coin for whether I should dress for heat or cold. Pro: I wear scarves and sweaters waaay more than I thought I would ever get to wear them! :D  :D :D

Sooo how was your week!? Mine was good! Aside from insane weather-- oh my gosh justin bieber is playing in this siver right now. Paraguay is so weird. Anyways-- soo yeah it was good! We tried to set some fechas [dates], trying to find people who are prepared for the word. I get so excited... like for example we're teaching this kid named Carlos and I shouldn't say kid because he's like twenty but anyhow, we set a cita [appointment] with him because his sister called us and was like, "hey, carlos read his libro de mormon and he's waiting to talk about it with you." and we're like WHAT HE READ HIS SCRIPTURES WITHOUT US and we freaked out and we set a cita and we're talking and he's like, "I don't know, I just FEEL something when I read this. I don't know how to explain it." And I'm like YES SPIRIT WOOO LETS DO THIS and so we have this great lesson but then he doesn't come to churchhhh. Dear all of you: JUST GO TO CHURCH OKAY? RAIN OR SHINE WE GO TO CHURCH. RAIN IS NOT AN EXCUSE TO NOT COME. 

But I have hope for him. I just am praying that the Spirit will work on these people, that they'll really think about our message and then act on it. Its like we throw out all these seeds of faith but you have to cultivate it, you know? I can't cultivate your own faith, you have to do that on your own. 

And it's been really crazy because I told you about Sergio, our 11 year old investigator who kicks all other investigators butts (he goes to church. Alone. Every Sunday) his COUSIN named David who is 12 decided that he wants to get baptized the same day as Sergio. So we're teaching them, we love them. Also this other 12 year old named Jose Luis is really interested in the church so we're working with him too. Juventud of Israel am I right? Like, it's all about these kids with real faith. I feel really blessed to be focusing all my time on these young men. They can do a lot, just these kids. Their faith is perfect. They drink the gospel like a coke, man! They just love it! "Become as a little child" indeed. "From the mouths of babes." 

So we just keep chugging along. I made this plan of salvation drawing/map for Sergio, and now we use it in basically every Plan De Salvacion lesson. Its so much easier to teach when you have a nice visual. 

Speaking of visuals! I have seen for the first time a hen gathering her chicks under her wings and it made me feel so good to think that Jesus does that for us because it really was so sweet. "Come here, baby chickens, let me keep you dry from Paraguay rain!' so cute. Yay for Jesus. He's the best. I've received so much strength from Him this week. 

Love all of you! Keep on writing me, I looove iiiit! Good luck with school, and like, Halloween is coming right? So enjoy the scary aisle of walmart for me! :) 

OH and me and Hna Noorda made Schnoordas* again! But now we can't turn our oven on! So we are just eating the batter until we can get another lighter so we can turn on the flames so we can heat the oven so it will cook things. BAHHAHAHA our life is so ghetto. Also I scrubbed all the tile in our bathroom with a toothbrush today. Just letting y'all know. 

KISSES! You're all wonderful! Have a kickin' week!

Hna Scott

Also we saw an emu. Is it a wild emu?? We have no idea. Emus are weird and gross-- I hope I never see another one. 

*Schnoordas:  See this excerpt from a personal email I got from Kaitlin last week for a definition.  "So story for you! Hna Noorda and I tried to make cookies for ourselves using the Scientifically Proven Best Cookie recipe right? But the ingredients are a tiiiiny bit different in paraguay, and we dont have measuring cups, and we don't have a beater.... soooo we did our best and they actually turned out really good! More bready than anything! But it was delicious and still tasted of home. I was thinking of you haha. We decided to call them Sc-noordas because they arent good enough to be called cookies hahahaha. So we enjoyed them all this week."

What's up peeps!

I wish I had something exciting to talk about, but I don't have anything. 

Ciao, 

Hna Scott

PSYCCCHHHH hahahah this week was bombin! Where to start! So like, I'm permanently exhausted! All the time! I wake up tired, I go to bed tired, always tired and its great! The worst part of the day is definitely exercise time. After that, I'm alright haha. I'm like, my life is exercise why do I have to set apart time to do so?! But whatever its fine. 

This week we worked real hard trying to get people to General Conference and ultimately were unsuccessful. But we learned a lot juntos [together] about profetas and apostles and why they are important to us. Its like, these little things, little truths that I've taken for granted my whole life and know I'm getting the opportunity to figure out why they are important, so it's been a cool smash of learning for me. 

LIKE get this. Biggest thought of the week. Repentance = joy. How can this be? Well I asked the same thing! Repentance makes us all sad because we're screw ups right? WRONG. IF we repent, we know there is a Savior that can heal us. Through the Savior's Atonement, we find hope. Hope that we can repent, that we can progress! What is the purpose of life? To progress and "men are that they might have joy" verdad?[true?] VERDAD. Soooo when you repent, you realize you have hope in greater things to come, and this hope brings you joy! Sick, right!

To answer general questions, this week we've been really proud of our investigator Sergio, who is going to get baptized the end of this month. He is 11 and he reads his scriptures like there is no tomorrow. So listo [clever]. WE also met this sweet old woman named Rutilia, and as we walked away from our first lesson with her, I looked at Hna Noorda and I was like, she already knows its true. And Hna Noorda is like, I know. And I'm like, what do we do ? Shes like, we get a fecha [date]! And so we go back for our second lesson and Rutilia wont except a fecha for her baptism and its driving me nuuutssss! Like you know its true JUST DO IT but she won't because her whole family is catholic and shes scared to leave her church even though she openly admitted she knows her church is wrong. Sigh.Praying for inspiration. 

What else! Oh it rained! And we got caught out in the boonies with no boots or jackets or nothing and it was so hilarious. We like got all soaking wet and we knock on the door of this guy and we're like hi, we're the missionaries and we have the gospel. WE hand him this soggy book of mormon and we have mascara running down our faces and mud up to our knees ha!!! He laughed openly at us and I can't judge because I would have done the same thing. 

OKAY I know this is too long already! I love all of you!!! Keep the faith, glad that we could unite as a church and hear the inspired talks this week. I was thinking about how wonderful it was that no matter where we are in the world, we are united in General Conference. #Godisawesome

Have a kickin' week!

Hna Scott

 

 

Paraguay Week 1: Permanent Camping

Well alooooooooooohaa!!!

SO. Paraguay. Wow. Where to begin. How bout with a riddle? Buenos Aires is to dogs as Paraguay is to..... guesses?

No? Chickens. There are freaking chickens everywhere here. Also, Paraguay has 3 smells, no more no less. The first is delicious, warm bread, and sugar. The second is smoke, (because everyone burns their trash in their front yard?) and the third is poop. Yep. So just depends on your luck which one you smell lol. Also, I have never lived anywhere so ghetto. We live in a 4 room apartment, and that's fine, I guess the worst part is the bathroom. Cant flush the toilet paper, cant turn the water on too much or pipes start exploding and spewing water, and the sink leaks all over the floor. Also we dont have a shower curtain so you have to make sure to use it before you shower otherwise water gets all over the toilet. Like, its an adventure haha.

Another thing that america really needs is dispensas. They're little stores where you can buy basically all the basics for living and they are literally on every street. Who needs a supermarket when you can buy all your food from the dispensa next store??? So thats a funny thing. Also.. hmm. Theres these cars that sell a food called chipa, and its basically bread and fat and cheese and anise seed (all bread has anise seed here its basically amazing) and all of them have the same recording of this mans voice that says CHIPAAAA DELICIOUSO BARATO CHIPAAA VENGA CHIPAA twenty four hours a day, they're all over the place. So theres the setting for my week haha picture that crap and now youve visited paraguay. Sorry this email is gonna be freaking long hahah

My mom is Hna Noorda, and she's a Nauvoo Pageant-er!!! Anyone know the Noordas??! So we basically listen to british pageant music all day every day. Shes really diligent, and a really hard worker, so I haven't really had time to feel sorry for myself this week haha. I don't know what more to say about her, we get on so alls well!!!

I feel really incapaz [unable] to teach here. What Spanish I knew is not nearly sufficient and all the Spanish is mixed with Guarani so I basically understand nothing and I'm back to square one! OH! Did I mention I'm in Itaugau!? I'm in Itaugua B and its a pretty big area but not like super campo or nothing, just like a little city and then some hiking to get around. I'm sure this makes no sense and Im sorry ahha.

THE MEMBERS ARE SO NICE. They feed us all the time, the food is AMAZING I love ALL of it and I'm not sick and I'm actually pretty happy. I know you guys have been sending prayers my way because literally my week has been awesome. I think I've adjusted as best I could in the situation and the first time I've cried was today and its because I love you guys. We're just trying to get people to come to church. All the people here are really warm, and open and everyone listens to our message and promise to come to church but on Sunday the chapel was empty. So that's our main problem... how do you tell people who have no money to pay for a collectivo to and from church you know? How do you tell people who have dirt floors and raise their own food that they cant work on Sundays? I have so much compassion for these people but I don't know how to relate you know? So it's a largo camino en frente de mi, para aprender como ensenar y tambien para entender la cultura aqui [long way from here to learn how to teach and understand the culture].

Everybody needs to stick their noses in Alma 17 and 18, and 19-- those scriptures have been my lifeline lately. I just find so much comfort in the travels of the sons of Mosiah. I can't remember exactly where, but theres a scripture that says that they Ammon was protected not because Ammon was a great mssionary or because he had great faith, but because Mosiah had been promised that his sons would be safe. And that's how I feel. I'm being protected and cared for not because I have a lot of faith, but because people at home have been promised that I would be okay and that I would be able to do this work.

Anyways sorry for the book of an email but that's really not even the half of it. I miss all of you so freaking much and I think of you all the time. I love you!

Hna Scott, explorer extraordinaire

Pictures from the CCM

I Live

Hey all y'all! Just letting you know that I lived, I'm in Paraguay (like what the heck!) and Pday is Monday... I really don't know what to say! Alls bien with me! Flight was good, everything's good, and I am so overwhelmed but its gonna be awesome! I don't know anything that's going on but so far everyone has been super nice.  Pray for me!!!!

I LOVE YOU SOO SOOOOOO MUCH! 

Hna Scott

CCM week 5: Leaving my Zombinis Behind*

Dear everyone,

Holy wow I'm like bawling my eyeballs out because I got so much email love this week!!! Holy cow you guys stop loving me I just can't handle it!!! Hahah no please keep loving me. XD

Soooo apparently I'm flying out this Tuesday to Paraguay. Don't know what time my flight is, don't know where I'm going, just know that my schedule says that I'm leaving so I'mma get on a plane and go someplace hahaha. Don't know when I'll get to email again. I walk by faith. Ha!!!! 

I wrote me a list of things to write y;all about because last weeks email was the pits haha. So the first thing is that I've been trying to balance a trio this week: Sister Breon who flew in last week, me and Sis Trujillo. It's been a trial. Hahah one comp is enough. I love them both incredibly a lot, but the balance in lessons between three girls that don't speak spanish has caused a lot of strife for me this week. NO ONE FREAK OUT it's just how life rolls in the ccm haha. 

Proselitismo last week was pretty sketch. We switched areas and everyone we talked to kept telling us "it's not safe for two girls *sister Breon can't proselyte yet* to be on the streets, get off the streets!"and we're like lol we're fine don't worry. But we did end up in a sticky situation with a group of drunk guys in front of a liquor store. We just testified of Christ and actually got some of their references... Oh the stories of proselitismo. 

The biggest desafio of this week has been the FREAKING TOILET I CAN'T EVEN AGH. After three days without a functioning toilet, I complained to the mission president. It got "fixed" and then continued to not flush for the next two days. We told the cleaning lady and she gave us a red bucket. Maybe if I spoke Spanish I would have known what to do with the red bucket... So anyways we just have been laughcrying about the situation all week. WE spent 30 straight minutes trying to unplug the toilet and I wish I could just send you a gif of us trying or something because really it was hilarious but anyways. #missionlyfe BTDUBS [by the way] it's fixed now. :) God's love. 

ALSO I don't know if I wrote this but I am totally completely and head over heels in love with my MTC teachers. All of them. I have a good cry once daily whenever I think about leaving them because honestly they have changed my life and are some of my dearest friends. Gosh I hate feelings. Make them go away. hahahha The love is too much for me.

Okay I think that's all for now. I'll touch base with all of you when I'm in Paraguay??? WHAT IS EVEN LIFE?!? 

Kisses to all of you, que tengan una buena semana!!! Y mucho cereal!!!! Yours, 

Hna Scott

Oh and do you all want a spiritual thought or something?? This week I've been thinking a lot about Alma and Amulek. What a companionship. What sick dudes. Also Shiblon! Man! I love Shiblon! Someone read that Conference talk for me because I can't right now! Shiblon is the man. I read that chapter like it was written to me and it basically changed my life. I highly recommend it. Study that crap. :) Church is true! 

*Editors Note:  Zombinis was an educational problem solving game Kaitlin used to play as a kid.  You created a group of little blue Zombinis and moved them through various puzzles.  Sometimes, to complete a puzzle, you had to sacrifice a zombini or two, to get the rest through. Kaitlin used to cry whenever she had to leave one of her Zombinis behind.

CCM Week 4

How's it going everybody!?

I really have no idea what to say this week, I was a fubeca [a Portuguese lds slang word for a missionary that doesn't follow the rules] and I didn't write down what I wanted to say. Uhhhh how's this!? This week was exactly the same as last week, except this week I played less basketball and did more sitting around in the sunshine. 

No for reals, we went proselyting again last Saturday, me and Sis Trujillo KILLED IT. Yeah, that's right! I'm talking 11 referencias and 22 contacts! Not to mention we got asked out TWICE. It was way funny actually, we started sharing the gospel with these two younger guys in our broken spanish and we're all like, "Dios nos ama." and stuff and then suddenly one of the guys says, "No keep talking, I understand." IN ENGLISH! And we're like, come on man, you speak English!? And he's like, yeah, a little. His english was perfect. So annoying hahah. But him and his friend were working to save the earth I guess? Some save the earth buy organic project. And he's like, "{here's an idea. We go out to lunch, we'll buy, we will practice our English and you can practice your Spanish! You can even talk about Jesus if you want." And we're like, oh sorry, we can't, but can we get your number and address so you can learn more about our message? And both of them were like, oh yeah of course of course! BWHAHAHAHA we're sending you ELDERS you lame-os! But you know, #gospelistrue, #yourewelcome. And then we got asked out another time but who cares. We gave out four books of mormon and we're really feeling like the recipients of outpourings of God's love because we could understand everyone we talked to. And we managed to share a lot of stuff. AND get this! When we got home, our feet didn't hurt! It's the little things that prove that God's love is real. 

So we are officially the oldest group in the CCM! Our old Americans left, and we got new ones today! Also there's now one other sister that;s going to my mission! Her name is Sis Martinez and she is from Paraguay, going back to Asuncion Norte for her mission! she's fluent in Guarani so guess who is having additional language study this week!? THIS GAL. Also Sis Martinez only stays two weeks so we'll be flying out together! WOO!!! 

Uhh man, I don't know what else to say. Gospels true. Life's good. Temple is great. Subjunctive makes sense sometimes. :) A lot of you have asked if I know what day Im flying out. Sorry! No, I don't know anything!!! :( I'm just kind of here  until they send me away soooo. :) 

Spanish is coming! I just need to apply myself to actually learning it. I get really lazy a lot of the time. I still haven't dreamed in Spanish so I guess I need to try harder lol. 

LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH! Have a good semana! Prayers and blessin's,

Hna Scott

CCM Week 3

How's it goin' yáll? Can't believe it's already been another week!

Last Saturday we went for the first time to proselitismo. I have no idea how to spell that in English haha!!! They shipped us out in this big bus to a nicer part of Buenos Aires and handed us some pamphlets and were like, teach the gospel!!! And so we went, me, Sis Trujillo, and Sis Pereira, our Brazilian companion who is now in Mexico, haha. We had quite the adventure. Maybe somehow I will get over my dislike of dogs because they are literally everywhere in Buenos Aires. When people wouldn't accept our message, we would extend our invitations to the dogs, who always seemed to be more interested haha. No really, it was good. We walked away with 4 people's references and 20 contacts, and we felt pretty good about it for our first time. The best part for me was talking with a family who were waiting for the bus. They actually seemed really interested, we talked about the plan of Salvation and they said they would like to hear more so we took their info. There's nothing better than families who are prepared! But honestly I had no idea what most people in the city were saying. They like, slur and mumble all their words and so I don't know how things will go this Saturday but you know, God is real so it will work out!!!! 

Uhhhh what else? Oh! We have this prank going on between all the Norteamericanos, where we shove Castidad Chastity folleto [church pamphlets about chastity] in people's stuff and under their doors and in their beds..  I don't know why but it's kind of funny. Sis Trujillo and I put everyones Castidad pamphlet on their desks, but then this other guy came in and stole all of them, and long story short the other elders were falsely accused for our cruddy prank and we had to come clean about it. I'm sure this makes no sense. Uhm, the CCM is a good time. We joke around hahah!!! And now nobody has a Castidad folleto. 

Both of my fake investigators are getting baptized! Woo! 

Oh and this sunday we watched the Joseph Smith movie, the prophet of the Restauration one, and I didn't know anything could make me cry more than 17 miracles but that was it! Haha I just love Joseph Smith so much, it's almost unhealthy how much I love Joseph Smith. Today I went and bought a little card painting of him to spoil myself haha. I just.. man. Nauvoo really is the basis for all my testimony, and I feel like I know the man personally. The last line of that movie is Shall we not go on in so great a cause? and I really wish it was a scripture cuz if it was I'd put it on my plaque. 

Oh! I'm out of time. Love you guys so much! Ponder this, in the armor of God, what is the only offensive tool you are given? Why? #teacherprep

Kisses to all of you! miss you so much, 

Hna Scott

CCM Week 2

Weekly emailing sucks so bad because I get like literally 5000 emails, but unlike Jesus I cannot provide for everyone hahhaha. I'll try to make this one as long and interesting as possible haha. 

I don't know what to say. Uhhm we have had the opportunity to go to the Buenos Aires temple twice since I've last emailed, and holy cow, that's a gorgamous place. Wow. Yeah. The Spirit is the same wherever you go. It's a beautiful thing. I was actually sitting in the Celestial room of the temple and I realized that I had felt the exact same feelings in Nauvoo, and I was overwhelmed by the love God has for me. :) 

So a bunch of people have asked about my companion. Her name is Sister Trujillo. She's bombing. She keeps it together pretty well, though she really struggles with her spanish, and so the two of us together gets to be kind of a difficult pair, yah feel me? But she's sweet as cake and we get along pretty well. We've also had a bonus companion, Hna Pereira, and she's from Brazil. She's waiting another week before she can fly out to Mexico for her mission. Fun fact: The Buenos Aires MTC is the only MTC that teaches courses for Brazilians to speak Spanish. :) Additional fun fact: There are currently less than 60 missionaries here. We get pretty tight haha. 

Yeah, what can I say? This week was the exact same as last week except this week I have taken to constant song and dance to keep myself entertained. We joke that this is like a pretty hard core Hogwarts. School all day every day to fight evil. SCHOOL ALL DAY EVERY DAY. On the bright side, the food here is just amazing. Like I will never stop singing the praises of MTC cake. Oh.. just thinking about it brings so much joy to my heart. Cake, mashed potatoes, rice, and meat that is so wonderful.... I have never liked meat until I was eating it twice a day every day. Thankfully they don't see fit to give us large slabs of meat for breakfast. Jared [my little brother] would love it here. It's like always his favorite foods. Meat, papas fritas, and fry sauce. ;) 

My teachers are really good. Yesterday was a really spiritual day. We were doing role play on the Plan of Salvation, and I was assigned to teach a guy from my district, Elder Whittacre. I tried, in my broken spanish, to teach him the truths I know. Here's the catch- Elder Whittacre was playing a man whose brother died recently. To explain to someone in so much pain that YES you will see your brother again. YES your brother still lives. YES someday, through Christ, ALL things will be made whole. ALL things. And of course I don't know the words for that! I don't! But I tried, and somehow we both ended up sobbing across the table from each other because the Spirit testifies. The spirit is the teacher. In 2 Nephi, do angels speak by the power of Spanish? No. They speak by the power of the Holy Ghost. And ultimately it doesn't matter what I speak. Later, Elder Whittacre mentioned to me that he could only understand about 10% of what I was saying, but he knew it was true. 

This is an amazing work. I'm really happy here, other than wanting to die whenever I think about being here for another four weeks. :D There's cake. *shrug* 

I miss you all so so much. Thank you for thinking of me, and writing me. PLEASE pouch mail me! It will save me from being bored! Please! Im begging you!!!!!! 

Here's to another week of desperately trying to be a missionary. Take care, 

Hna Scott

CCM Week 1

Temporary Editors Note: For the next 18  months Kaitlin's blog will be updated with her weekly emails from her mission in Paraguay Asuncion North as follows:

***

What to say!? firstly, Hallelujah for me speaking Spanish. If I didn't speak Spanish, we wouldn't have made it to the CCM hahah. Some dude picked us up and he didn}t speak any english, so here we are, a bunch of americans who have no idea whats going on and this guy only speaks rapid argentinan spanish, like hello that was not a good idea. So I translated and we got here, and it was raining, and we were tired, and they told us to unpack 6 outfits because the rest of our suitcases were going to storage... ouch haha. BUT since then, I have only had two major breakdowns and we}ve been here for seven days so that´s significant improvement since I was at home haha. 

If I´m being honest I can say I´ve seen the hand of God in my life every day this week. I have not been sick, I have not gotten in any fights, the language is a breeze for me, I have great roommates, I have a great companion, great district AND THEY FEED US CEREAL AND PASTRIES EVERY MORNING FOR BREAKFAST. I´M TALKING FRIGGING COCOA PUFFS AND FRUITLOOPS BABY! GOD EXISTS. Do not doubt the power of God. 

On the other hand, the CCM is in many ways like a prision. We spend all day in the same room with the same people, desperately trying to learn to be missionaries. We get allotted one hour per day to leave our studies and go play some nice, not competetive? Oh my English... not competitive co-ed games, we file in an orderly fashion to the cafeteria three times daily and everything has a big fence around it!!!! :D The Lord´s prision. Prision of angels. It´s a jolly good time, though admittedly I get stir crazy. Which has led me to play two on two basketball at least three times this week. I know what a rebound is now! Oh the things we learn!

In other news, I know way more Spanish than everyone else. I am having flashbacks to kindergarten when they were trying to teach me sounds of letters when I could already read. You know? Like nothing is on my level, so I´m trying to figure out how to study on my own the things I really need. Does that make sense? It's a weird set up. 

In our room we have three sisters that only speak spanish, three sisters that only speak Portuguese, and me and my companion, Hna Trujillo, who only speaks english. Whoever condemned globalization, fie on them. There is nothing cooler than singing Frozen with girls from Spain and Northern Brazil. They also know Barbie Princess and the Pauper and I Feel Good. And the hymns.... man. We sang praise to the man our first day here and I could hardly stand it. That song is home to me in so many ways, and now we're singing the same truths on a different continent. It's amazing. 

Missionary thoughts: I am so grateful that the Holy Ghost is our teacher. Like we don't really teach anything to ourselves, to our companions, or to our investigators. He does it all. The Holy Ghost touches everyone in a language they understand, even if they don´t recognize it. It's so great. I know I can just sit back and do my best because He is the teacher. He is the one who delievers the message. We just have to open our mouths. 

I love you all to the moon and back! I think of you everyday! I love it here, but my heart is definitely back in Herriman. Have a good week! Serve God! Love Jesus, He loves you!

Always, 

Hna Scott

It Tastes Good

I've had the awesome opportunity to be with my family in Nauvoo this past week. We are the yellow family cast. We rehearsed all day every day this week, and we have managed to put together both the British Pageant and the Nauvoo Pageant in just 6 days. That's five dance numbers and at least 12 songs, as well as blocking for both 120 minute shows. God is a god of miracles, yes?

The depth of my Nauvoo experience has been life-changing, and I know that anything I write will only be the tip of the iceberg as far as lessons I've learned here.

All week I've thought about one specific line of the Nauvoo Pageant. It struck my heart the first night we watched the show put on by the blue cast, and I've been pondering it ever since. The protagonist of the pageant is a Scotsman named Robert Laird, having come on the boat from his native land because of his fiery, devoted wife Becky. She heard the "preachin'" in Scotland, and "had a feeling" that it was a true message; she dragged her husband and their 3 year old, Jamie, on the journey to join the saints in Nauvoo. But Jamie died a tragic death on the ship, and Robert is overcome with grief.

In this scene, Robert is talking with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He recognizes that as he builds the temple in Nauvoo, he's "changing, almost against [his] own will." Through the power of the Spirit, he's healing. He's learning that families can be together forever, he's learning service, he's learning prayer and he's reading the Book of Mormon. And he says that even though he doesn't fully understand, he wants that for himself and his family forever.  In a thick brogue, he struggles to explain the feeling. For lack of a better explanation, Robert says, "It tastes good."

It tastes good.

What a simple way to explain the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even the scriptures repeat this idea: "Men are that they might have joy." "Perfect love casteth out all fear." "They were of one heart and one mind." "Consider the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God." And there are plenty more of these examples!

The entire of the Plan of Salvation and the whole of the missionary effort can be finished in this one sentence: It tastes good. It blows my mind!! Our entire experience as mortals is designed to taste good. To know that there is some grander plan for our souls, to know there is a life after this one, to know that there is a Savior provided and that He lives and that we also will live again! To know that you have someone to turn to who will understand you perfectly, to know that  you have an entire community of saints to help and protect you, to know that you will be guided, your mouth will be filled, your days will be numbered, your name will be known to the King of the Earth!

To know "that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy." (D&C 130:2)

Golly, what could be more comforting?! This gospel is like a giant milkshake or a fresh cherry pie or your mother's best cornbread. It tastes so good and you just can't get enough! God has promised us all of this and more! Oh, I wish I was more eloquent so that I could explain more completely the richness and beauty of God's plan for His children!

What a lesson to be learned in the simple, growing testimony of Robert Laird. I could just think about it forever and ever and not get bored. I want everyone to know this goodness, and I guess I've found my new motivation for my Paraguayan endeavor!

A White Dress

Sooo blog long time no talk. Life has been busy, and with the copy jobs never ending at OfficeMax and the rest of my time being sucked away through poor planning and sleep, I haven't had much time to write. And I don't know if I have much to say, really.

Last Wednesday I was given the gifts I've been yearning to receive for years. Sufficient preparation, a signed recommend and some sincere prayer brought me to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple that sunny morning. I had my sweet mother on my right side and my heart on my sleeve and everything else in my bag, haha! God bless the women who guided me and made me feel like a princess. I had no idea what I was doing, I had no idea what was going on, and still I felt peace. I attribute a lot of that peace to an answer to prayer, but I think the answer to my prayer came through those beautiful women.

Due to the sacredness of the nature of the temple, I will not disclose much of what happened while I was there. But a few things I will say, starting with this: I was grateful to have my mom and dad with me. I'm grateful for their patience and their willingness to support me. I was grateful to know that my dearest friends have also gone through the temple. I was grateful for an abundance of tiny little things that made the whole day go smoother, because I know those were little I-love-you's from God.  And I was really grateful that I'll have the opportunity to go back, because most of it went over my head! Ha!

I would like to share the best part of my temple experience on Wednesday. I was in a beautiful dressing room, and I put on a white dress. As I looked in the mirror, I saw myself differently than I ever have before. You know when you go to take a selfie, and the lighting is just right and you feel you've gotten your best angle, and you know that you're gonna be posting that baby right on Instagram, no filter needed? This was kind of like that feeling except times one billion. I felt beautiful, but beautiful with added depth. It was a feeling of acceptance, and understanding, and knowledge, and overwhelming love and I have no idea how to describe it. If a blooming rose could be a feeling, this was it. If a bird flying through the blue skies could be a feeling, this was it. It was enough to make me cry on a regular day, except I was too full of joy to cry. I felt completely accepted for who I am. I felt completely confident in my talents. I felt like I had a reason to be here. I felt so beautiful, and I felt whole.


That is what God's love feels like.

It basically blows my mind. I only got a tiny part of what it's like to be an eternal being and heck, if it feels like that I'm sold. For like, ever.

I want everyone in the whole world to have that feeling. So I guess I'll go on a mission.....

;)