Week 49- Hot. Humid. Yep, that's Paraguay!

“I took the road less traveled and it has made all the difference.” Robert Frost

Jan. 23, 2012

Dearest family,

Checklist of things to grab before heading out the door

• umbrella for shade
• sunscreen
• bug spray with DEET to prevent dengue (again)
• washcloth (to wipe sweat off my face)
• the scriptures
• 1 liter water bottle, frozen (for the first 39 minutes)
• pamphlets to hand out

(Just a few items I use each day to survive in the hot Paraguayan sun.)

You may think you know hot, but you do not know hot until you have lived in Paraguay. I use to think I was hot when I walked from my air conditioned car into my air conditioned house. I had no clue what HOT was! There is a difference between living in America and living in a country that doesn’t know what air conditioning is, and walking around all day outside in the hot, humid Paraguayan sun, dripping in sweat. Please send me a slurpee in your next package!Today while dripping in sweat, I washed my own laundry by hand and it made me feel very Paraguayan. This is only because the laundry lady moved and we haven’t found somebody else yet. But really, for most people here it’s just a way of life.

Don’t worry I am enjoying myself even if I am melting away. I just thought I would give you of taste of Paraguay. I really love what I am doing. It is totally and completely worth it. As I am approaching my one year mark, I have had time to reflect on the choice that I made to serve a mission. I have thought a little about the sacrifice, but mostly, I have thought about the blessings. When I think about my mission and all that it means to me, I don’t have words to adequately describe the change it has made in my life and the change within me. It’s something that is so special and so important to me that I can’t really describe how much it means to me. Everyday I am learning new things about this Gospel and why it is just SO important because IT is the reason for this life. I can see how God has guided my life to this point and I have never been more positive that He will guide my future and bless me, as I follow Him.

We had a really awesome baptism yesterday of Josecito, a 9 yr old, who just got permission from his mom in Spain to be baptized. He is so sweet and sings extra loud in sacrament and is a really wonderful kid. The family prepared most of the baptismal service so we were just the buffers to make sure things went smoothly, like conducting, singing a musical number, bringing brownies and bearing my testimony. Unfortunately, we all got a little sick from some lomitos we ate on Friday (I will never eat them again!! They are like Paraguayan burritos.) It hit Hermana Reyes the hardest so she wasn’t able to attend church and stayed home with Hermana Tuaòne. I went on splits with Sara Jara, a ward member, to church, the baptism and a lunch appointment. Church was great because all the youth bore their testimonies about their experiences at EFY(Especially For Youth). They had a great time except that the food and/or water made half of the kids sick. Oh Paraguay. Sometimes it is a little underdeveloped here. Also, a young man got his mission call and shared his testimony so it was a very spiritual meeting. I am so glad that I didn’t miss church or Jose’s baptism! It’s amazing how children so young can have such an influence for good in their families and in the world.

We have been taking advantage of the fact that we are in a trio to do a lot of splits and it has been great. I love going out with the youth and teaching with them. Tomorrow I am going on splits to Ybera (right next to Kokuere) with Hermana Fonseca (from Honduras) and a local. This is a new program the mission has started to help us learn from one another. I am so excited.

I have been thinking a lot about what the scriptures say about being a 'chosen' one or someone with great faith who righteously follows Christ. Basically the conclusion that I’ve come to is that God does not choose the chosen, the chosen choose Him, over everything else.

Retention, retention, retention. This is a problem in Paraguay. I am not sure if it is the tranquilidad culture of Paraguay, or the fact that most Paraguayans were members of a different Church prior to joining this one and that Church required very little. Either way it is difficult for people to adjust to attending church every Sunday. Working with many less-active members, I have seen how easy it is to choose other things over God. Sometimes it is laziness, sometimes it is being offended and being angry, sometimes it is choosing the ways of the world. I have visited SO many less-actives that it is exhausting and sometimes discouraging. What I have learned from this is that I will NEVER go inactive! You will never find real happiness, choosing something or someone else over Christ. It is only through living the Gospel of Jesus Christ that you will be TRULY and ETERNALLY happy.

But “shall we not go on in so great a cause?” (Joseph Smith) The Church is true. I wouldn’t be walking around in 100+ degree weather if it wasn’t true. Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father have blessed my life more than words can describe. It is so important to remember to thank God everyday for the blessings that He has given you, for there are many. Thank you so much for your love and support.

Con amor,
Hermana Brittner

PS. Kristen Hoopes- got your dearelder letter and I can’t believe that almost everyone at the candy counter is married!!! Well I can, but it’s weird to realize it. At least you are waiting until I get back to get married =) That is very nice of you. Lol. Thanks for the news and I will write back soon!

PSS. Kelli B! Thanks for the awesome letter. It made my day! I’ll write back soon!

Week 48- "Space in our Stomachs", Free Agency, and a Little Rain!

Jan. 16, 2012

Another day, another dollar. Sometimes I say that to myself and then I remember that I don’t get paid!! Except in blessings. It has been another exciting week here in Asunción, Paraguay although this week was filled with a little too much drama and not enough tranquility but it’s alright. Don’t worry though, I am still having a great time, so great, I am considering being a missionary with a nametag forever (if that were possible).

We had some special changes/transfers this week and I am in....Loma Pyta still, haha. But I am now in a trio with Hermana Tuaòne and Hermana Reyes. Hermana Reyes was born in Ecuador and lived there until she turned 12, at which point her family moved to Spain. I think we will be good friends and my Spanish will improve even more.

Sunday lunch appointments after church are always nice. We switch off with two member families and it’s always relaxing and comfortable to be around them. This week we ate with the Falcon family as usual, and left with full stomachs to go to our next appointment (we have to work the siesta, which is a real bummer, if you ask me). So we showed up at another member’s house and he said, “You are here to eat, right? Just a minute!” and he went inside. Something must have gotten lost in the translation when he spoke with my companion because she did not know that that is what he meant! I started laughing really hard at the situation as we realized we had to gear up for lunch number two. In the prayer to bless the food, my companion prayed for “space in our stomachs” to eat the second dinner. The family must not have thought much of it because they didn’t say anything. Anyhow, we successfully ate two Sunday lunches, as to not offend anyone and God truly answered our prayers.

This week my testimony of the Word of Wisdom has grown so much. The Word of Wisdom, meaning taking proper care of our bodies, not smoking, drinking alcohol, tea or coffee, eating healthy and getting enough sleep, as revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith and other latter-day prophets. It seems that the investigators that we find in a certain week all have something in common- a theme that Heavenly Father feels we can learn from. This week, it was definitely the destructive power of abusing our bodies by in-taking harmful substances. It seems that most of our new investigators or their spouse, are addicted to cigarettes and alcohol. Satan is just so clever because he knows that if we do these things, we will become addicted and lose our agency and cease to progress. We are teaching one investigator who cannot leave her husband alone in her house because he will sell their furniture for beer and cigarettes. She couldn’t go to church because her husband was home. As a public health/nursing major at BYU, I just want to abolish all of the terrible things that people do to their bodies. Then I remember this little thing called agency that we all fought for and that we are all able to make our own choices. I am such an advocate of healthy living and the Gospel. Seeing so many destroyed homes and shattered lives as a result of alcohol and drug abuse just increases my desire to help others and to be a soldier in this war against Satan. We truly are at war and it’s a spiritual battle that we fight everyday. There is such a real connection between our spirits and our bodies. Our spirits undeniably affect our bodies and vice versa.

We have three hermanas coming next change/transfer, which means it’s very likely that I could be training. We will see! I also think that I will be leaving Loma but I have successfully guessed wrong for every set of changes/transfers thus far, so we will see!

I want to express my thanks to Bishop Hadlock for all of your hard work and diligence. You have taught me so much as well as the whole ward! I am glad that you were able to conduct my farewell. Just think, if you had hung in there a little bit longer(7+ years) you would have been able to conduct my homecoming =) But the Lord has a purpose for everything and I know the new Bishopric (Bishop Paget!) will be great.

Another thing- it rained this week which was a nice relief from the heat and also, very needed. The Paraguayans kept saying we were beginning to have a drought. But this week we are expecting to be HOT once again.

Until next week,
Con Amor,
Hermana Brittner

Week 47- "Snake-Moments," Small Miracles, and 1000 degrees!

9 de enero, 2012
Querida familia,

So one of the most entertaining things about living in Paraguay is seeing the way that people react to the tall blonde foreigner, or in other words, me. I have never had so many references and questions about my heritage because where I come from light skin, blue eyes and blonde hair isn’t out of the norm, but here, it absolutely is. Take this “snake- moment” for example. (I usually choose not to include these moments because they are too numerous to count but this one is funny). My Polynesian companion (who grew up in Utah and everyone thinks she is a Latina) and I get on a collective/bus. We are speaking English and two guys start talking in Spanish about us, assuming that we can’t understand. Their conversation goes something like this: “Wow, how tall do you think that girl is? Two meters, easily. How does that Latina understand English? Do you think they speak Spanish? I don’t think so, let’s see.” So they try talking to my companion and well, in that moment we just happened to not speak Spanish. :)

Another moment: Walking home one night, we are speaking English a little too loudly and laughing in the street. A guy who is standing in front of his house starts speaking German? Dutch? Then I realize he just asked me if I spoke Dutch. He didn’t try speaking English, Spanish or Guarani to me, but Dutch. I responded in Spanish, “I speak English,” to which he responded, “Sorry” in English with a Spanish accent. It was pretty hilarious. There’s quite a mix of cultures here and people have misconceptions about us- like guessing where we come from, etc.

Well, I have been in Loma so long that I have watched babies be born, little kittens grow into cats, many birthdays happen, callings change, seasons change from winter to fall to summer and people move away. I’ve been here for almost all four seasons. This week we have still been working with the list of members and we’ve made a lot of progress. Unfortunately the ward list here hasn’t been updated in 30 years since the ward began. The other problem is that many parts of Paraguay don’t have street names or house numbers so locating a house is a huge guessing game.

We experienced a small miracle this week. We received a reference and we called out to her just as we were walking past her house (we had no idea which house she lived in). The recently baptized member, who gave the reference to the elders, just happened to be spending the day there from out of town. We gave her a Book of Mormon and will keep you updated with her progress. I love “coincidences” that are really miracles!

The members have really been stepping up and giving us references and inviting us to teach their friends. We had a cool lesson with Rosa and her two daughters. She understands a little Spanish but mostly speaks Guarani so a ward member had to translate everything. She read the entire pamphlet, which shows a lot of interest. We went to pick her up for church on Sunday but her husband said she couldn’t go. Don’t get me started on that! But we are going to keep working with her. Her daughters are cute and one of them, Cecilia, reminds me of my little sister, Jodie (she has brown eyes and giggles a lot :)) The funny part of our first lesson together was that we started singing a hymn, as we always do and all of a sudden, their neighbor behind us, starts BLASTING rock n´ roll music and I almost started laughing! The song was from the movie, “Remember the Titans”. Oh my gosh. Paraguay. So random. They LOVE old rock n´roll here- music from the 50´s, 60´s, Elvis, the Beatles, and Disco. All the while we are sitting on plastic lawn chairs in the middle of their yard, with their clothes hanging to dry in the background and chickens walking around.

We are working with little Josecito, the grandson of the Suarez family (Uruguayans who I spent Christmas Eve with). They are an awesome family and we are so excited for him and excited to teach him. He looks like a mini-Paraguayan Jacob Black, haha.

Three Kings Day was on January 6^th. Instead of Santa Claus delivering the gifts the ‘three kings who visited Jesus’ show up on their camels and bring all the little kids bikes, skates, soccer balls... It’s pretty cool and I think I will be bringing that tradition home with me.

I spoke at the EFY (Especially for Youth) fireside and had 40 youth show up. EFY is coming for the first time EVER in two weeks and no one knows what to expect. So I explained the activities, bore my testimony about it, showed pictures, and played an EFY game. It was really fun and I enjoyed it a lot!

So it’s basically 1000 degrees here everyday. We work, live and walk in our sweat. At night it cools down to about 90 degrees. It’s SO hot! I think Paraguay has its own sun that is about 10 times hotter than anywhere else in the world. I walk around in sunglasses with my umbrella and I don’t even care when the elders call me Mary Poppins.

I love this work and I love the Lord- the restored Gospel rocks!! We are so blessed to have it on the earth today! God is so willing to help us if we allow Him to. He is always reaching out to us, waiting for us to come to him.

Until next week,
Hermana Brittner

PS. Laura Fernsten- LOVE the wedding announcement- you two are SO cute together and you look so happy and so pretty! Congrats!

Week 46- Happy New Year from Paraguay!

“...The noblest aim in life is to strive to live to make other lives better and happier. The most worthy calling in life is that in which man can serve best his fellowman.” –President David O. McKay

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! Happy New Year- 2012!

...It’s nearly midnight- we know because “bombas” are going off more frequently and getting increasingly louder outside. As we lay in our beds, we wait for a few more minutes before getting up and racing to the roof. Stepping into the warm night air, the noise becomes louder- boom, boom, whizzz, whee, whee, as the fireworks go off around us. I stare up at the black starless sky, which may be void of stars but it is not void of light- fireworks of every color blaze through the air. In every direction fireworks shoot up- orange, blue, pink, red, glittery, huge lights falling in the sky. It’s a colorful contrast to the otherwise black night sky. I turn in a full circle but can’t choose which direction has the most, the sky is filled with the colorful wonders everywhere I turn. The moon sits low in the sky; a golden burnt orange color, as if it wants to be noticed among all the mayhem. This is the New Year’s celebration in Asunción, Paraguay. We see a huge fireworks show coming from the “Centro,” the inner city as well as from Mariano, Luque, Zeballos Cue, and Moroni. Across the street, we see a huge party- Paraguayans celebrating in the New Year in their backyard with food and music- and when we hear cheering we know it is 12:00 and that 2012 has arrived. Thank you 2011- the year of my mission- you have been a beautiful year in my life and I hope that 2012 will be as well. For the next few minutes, I ponder the wonder of a new year, a fresh start, a new beginning, and a year full of hope, promise and a bright future. Dos mil once as begun.

The new year started out quite monumentally for me, with the Bishop asking me an hour before Sacrament Meeting if I could give a talk. Being the missionary that I am, I agreed and gave a talk about our duty as members of the Church to do missionary work. We are to be witnesses of Christ at all times (Mosiah 18:9) and always be willing to share the Gospel. The cool thing about this experience is that there is no way that I would have been able to say more than “hola” if I was asked to give a talk out of the blue in Spanish a year ago. Thank goodness for the gift of tongues! We are truly made equal to the challenges we face.

Well, New Year’s Eve is about the same as it is in the states except they explode fireworks at midnight. The difference is that they have super huge, quality fireworks that they can buy on the streets. I also think it’s just an excuse to drink, which is why us missionaries go home early and celebrate with our companions. It was pretty fun, chill, tranquillo. Also, Paraguayans don’t make New Year’s resolutions, which isn’t too surprising since they aren’t chasing the American dream; they are just “tranquillo.”

This week we worked a lot with the MLS list- the list of all the members in the area. It is HUGE and we are attempting to find every listed member on there and see if we can get some investigators from it. As it turns out, many members have moved or passed away so we are cleaning that list right up. We have been working with members a ton for that reason and it has been an interesting project. It’s too bad that most of the directions that we receive for people aren’t much better than “the house with the big mango tree in front.” We have been fasting and praying to find new investigators, especially complete families. I know that God is listening but unfortunately not all the investigators are.

This week I am speaking at a fireside about EFY (Especially for Youth) because they are having it for the first time EVER here in Paraguay in a couple weeks and all the kids are nervous about going. Don’t you worry; I am going to get them excited! I am EFY´s biggest fan!

Well, I just know this gospel is true. I have no doubt about it. We should be examples through word and deed of what we believe. It’s the only way that other people will come to know the truth.

Love you all,
Thanks a bunch for the many Christmas cards and packages!
Hermana Brittner

PS: One of the members has a pet owl... They named it Ricardo. I call it Hedwig and it is a baby and so cute! It eats rice, noodles and potatoes. I don’t think that is the normal diet for an owl, but hey, it’s Paraguay!

Week 45- Christmas in Paraguay!

“Joy to the world, the Lord has come, let earth receive her King!”- Joy to the World

Dec. 26, 2011

Well, it turns out that Santa Claus does NOT come to Paraguay. No, it’s not because all of the children are bad but because the Paraguayan tradition is to set off fireworks at midnight and I don’t think Santa Claus wants to risk getting in the line of fire. Christmas was AWESOME! In Paraguay, they have a huge family dinner on Christmas Eve, instead of Christmas day, usually at midnight, and then they just sleep in and do nothing on Christmas. Instead of Christmas trees they build huge nativity scenes in their front yard. We helped a family gather tree branches and leaves to build a little shelter for their glass figurines of the nativity scene. It was really cool. They have a holiday on Jan. 6th, called “Three Kings Day” and the three kings bring little kids gifts on that day. So Christmas is more centered on Christ, it seems here, or maybe that’s just because I’m a missionary so it’s easier for me to focus on Him.

I spent Christmas Eve (la nochebuena) at a member’s house, the Suarez family, which was complete with a delicious family dinner, family home evening, ice cream and a family visit from Santa Claus. We went home and went to sleep and woke up to LOUD fireworks and ran to the roof to watch them. In every direction you turned you could see huge, colorful fireworks. It was so cool!

On Christmas morning we woke up, opened our packages from our families, ate a huge breakfast and then ate lunch at a member’s house and then I called my family. It was so good to talk to all of you! I’m so happy you are doing well. We made a few visits, and had Sacrament meeting at 7 pm. I got to sing in the choir! Then we helped out with a baptism (how cool would it be to get baptized on Christmas?) It was a great day and it was interesting to see the difference in their holiday traditions compared to the states.

Oh, I almost forgot- I am staying in Loma! Fifth change/transfer and second change with Hermana Tua'one. I am super stoked to stay here through the holidays and help move the work along. We are trying to visit all the neighborhoods I haven’t been to yet, which are actually still a few. The work is changing here in the mission- instead of clapping houses, we are looking up the less active people from the ward list of 800 members and trying to reactivate them and baptize other referrals. We are also using references from members, instead of random street contacts. As a result, we have been learning the area better but we are struggling to find investigators. I am getting kind of tired of hearing the same excuses of why people don’t come to church but I am learning patience, right?

We found an investigator- this 6`8 giant who walked into the church and started playing basketball. His name is Victor and we taught him. Turns out he is the first Atheist I have ever taught in Paraguay. I have to admit, we didn’t really know how to go about teaching him because how do you get to any kind of doctrine when he doesn’t believe in the basic principle that there is a God and a Savior? It made me a lot more grateful that I am serving in Paraguay, where the majority of people have a strong faith and love for Jesus Christ and God. We left him with the challenge to pray to know if God exists and we will see how it goes.

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I am happy and content to be here in Paraguay and excited to see what the New Year brings! Happy 2012- Dos mil doce!!! I hope this letter finds each of you well.

Thanks for your prayers and love.

Hermana Brittner