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