Hermana Brittner's Adventures in Paraguay: May 2012

30 de abril, 2012

Well here’s the news...Yes, I am training!!! And I am whitewashing!! For those of you who don’t know missionary lingo, that means I am going to an area where neither I nor my companion know anything about. And my, oh, my, is my area beautiful!! Let me tell you a little bit about it. Well, I thought for sure I would be staying in Villa Hayes to train but that is not the case. I am whitewashing an area called Piribebuy, which is Guaraní; it is near Caacupe and Ypacurai. We took the scenic drive from Asuncion to Luque to Aregua, which is an artsy town where they make all kinds of statues and then drove and saw the lake of Ypacurai. It was sprinkling/raining the whole time and everything was wet and green and all I could think of was, “lindo Paraguay.” I wish I could take each of you on a drive through the Paraguayan country. It’s so beautiful here. We took a detour and went on a tour of the Catholic Church of Caacupe, where they have a Virgin de Caacupe shrine. It was very interesting and educational. Tradition has it, that the Virgin of Caacupe has been blessing the lives of Paraguayans for years now. Every year on December 12, hundreds of people take colectivos/busses or walk to the church to make a pledge to the virgin in return for certain blessings. As you can guess, there is a very heavy Catholic influence here. My area is beautiful, very clean, well-kept and wealthy, so unlike the Paraguay I know!! The people in our little branch are very “chuchi” and it’s like a different world to me. There are huge green trees everywhere and a stream and we spend the early mornings exploring our area while running.

My daughter (mission lingo for the hermana I am training) is Hermana Greer from Maryland. She spent two changes in the Colorado Denver South mission before coming to Paraguay so she already has a little bit of experience. It’s interesting to hear what the work is like in the states. Her Spanish is really good for being brand new, as she had spent a month in Bolivia with her sister-in-law. She is a real trooper- she got sick her second day here but soon recovered. Her luggage didn’t arrive til Saturday and she got here on Tuesday. Plus the home we were supposed to move into was a disgusting disaster, thanks to the Elders who lived there last. We were appalled at the condition it was left in. Shame on those Elders, if their mothers only knew...

The good news is that the Elders left us quite a few investigators. We had 4 investigators at church on Sunday! A lady named Beatriz, a young couple, Ruben and Lela, and Lujan, 13, who will be getting baptized in 2 weeks. I am so excited to be working in this area! The members have been great and very helpful and the mission leader is always willing to accompany us on visits. On Saturday, there were two baptisms of children and Sunday we had 3 confirmations- one was a convert of the elders. The Spirit was so strong and when the Branch President asked me to bear my testimony, I did, and expressed the love that I have for the people of Paraguay. They are like my family.

Hermana Greer said one of the differences between Paraguay and the U.S is that when you ask members for references/people that you can go visit, the people in the U.S say, “Well, I don’t know, no one is going to let you in,” and here they say, “just go clap some houses, everybody will let you in!”

This Wednesday we have zone conference and we are going to the temple. The only downside is that we have to leave at 5 AM! But it will be worth it.

Funny moment: a dog was walking around in the chapel during Sacrament Meeting. It kept walking around until it found a sunny spot under the window to sleep in. Nobody said anything!

Oh and also, Hermana Greer doesn’t have a good sense of direction- which makes two of us! But I am really developing this skill, because if I didn’t, we would be toast.

Sara Crase, Happy Birthday!! Thanks for the dearelder and update on your life! Glad to know things are going well!

I love you all! Thanks for the great packages, love and support!

Hermana Brittner

April 23, 2012

Alright so another week has flown by, soon to be another change/transfer in fact. We will be anxiously awaiting the call from our district leader tonight to find out which new area and new companion we will be assigned to. There is nothing quite like changes...waiting to see what the next 6 weeks of your life will bring, having absolutely no say in the matter. But the good part- it’s in the Lord’s hands and you don’t have to make any decisions. You just have to go with it. It’s most likely that only one of us will be staying in this area. My friend Faith is arriving at the mission and I may have the opportunity to train her. If I don’t train this change, I will not be training on the mission because you have to have 2 complete changes left in your mission. Where has the time gone?!

This week we had a division/splits and I went to Mariano with Hermana Pingel, who is from Cordalene, ID. She is fairly new and it was really fun. It was very hot there- definitely hotter than Villa Hayes! Mariano is right next to Loma Pyta and I am now convinced that Loma was definitely hotter than Villa Hayes in the summer! (And that’s HOT!) The miracle of the trip occurred when Hermana Pingel lost the phone- it fell out of her bag so we had to retrace our steps to find it. I was praying, as was she, and we found it...right in the street in front of a house we had contacted. The miracle was that it was still there and someone hadn’t picked it up!

This week, we had a huge thunder and lightning rain storm and I woke up several times in the night to booming thunder that shook the whole house! That made for a lot of mud and without my rain boots, it would have been impossible to survive in shoes!

We have decided to wait on Leonardo’s baptism, since he has a little trouble understanding as a result of his guarani language barrier and so we are planning the baptism for this Saturday instead. We are excited because his friend Cleto, a recent convert, is going to baptize him.

Some sad news, unfortunately, we had to drop/stop teaching our golden investigator Maria and her kids, or should I say that she dropped us. We went over to their house to celebrate Jose’s 11th birthday with them and were saddened by the situation. Satan came at her hard, as he does to all our investigators, but it appears that since she was so golden, he had to get out the ‘big guns.’ Her mom stopped talking to her and babysitting her kids because she was going to join a religion and her boyfriend who helped make the payments on her land, refused to support her decision and was harassing her about the church. God never told us life would be easy, right? There is a point in every investigator’s progress when they have to decide if they are really willing to give up everything to follow Christ...to make the changes necessary and sometimes face rejection of family and friends. It’s at this point that they decide yes and move forward, or choose not to get baptized. It’s so sad when the answer is no like the last line of the hymn We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet that says, “While they who reject this glad message, shall never such happiness know.”

Lucia, on the other hand, is what we would call an “eternigator.” Her daughters are all members and she has been visiting with missionaries for years. It seems however, that this is her time and she is s excited for her baptism at the end of May. As we taught her this week she prayed that both Hermana Van Dusen and I would be present at her baptism. We have a special bond with her.

Other exciting news is that we were able to plant baby trees in the center of the street in front of the church. Also, a member named Nieves, who has been going out with us on visits a lot, is leaving for the MTC Argentina this week! We are so excited for her but sad to be losing someone who is always willing to go teaching with us!

Almost forgot, we walked across the bridge over the Rio Paraguay in Remanso. It was cool, and we took lots of great pictures which I will send next week. The only problem is that as we got closer to the middle, with the river farrrr below us on one side, and big semis rushing past us on the other side, I realized that I am a little afraid of heights! So did Hermana Van Dusen and another elder in our group. It didn’t help that the bridge kept rocking up and down as we were walking. It was quite a frightening and thrilling experience that I am glad is over. I love roller coasters but have problems with rocking bridges, go figure!

The branch president’s family just got satellite TV and we walked in when they were playing a show about the gangs of Oakland. I was like, “I live near there” and they almost flipped. “Is it dangerous there? What color shirt are you?” I laughed at their questions, but it was pretty discouraging to think that out of all the great things in the Bay Area, the Paraguayans and people all over the world only see the negative parts of it. But I guess it makes for an interesting watch? No sè.

Well, wish me luck with changes/transfers! We will see what happens.

Sara Crase- Happy 23rd birthday!! We are old now!!

Katrina- I got your dearelder! Thank you so much! I am expecting to get your package on Wed!! I am so excited!

Love you all!!
Hermana Brittner