“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost:” Matthew 28:19
12 de junio, 2012
Stomach, liver, other assorted guts. No, I am
not talking about the BYU cadaver lab. I am talking about the dispensa
(the neighborhood corner store) that is in front of our house. Walking in
to buy saldo (cell phone minutes, because they don’t have
phone plans here- it’s pay as you go), I get the surprise of seeing a
recently slaughtered cow lying on the counter. The lady who works and lives
there has her hands covered in blood. She looks up, smiles at us and asks how
she can help us. She laughs at the look on our faces- surprise, disgust,
interest? Who knows? I mean, this is Paraguay. I should be used to these
things by now. She laughs and asks what we would like to eat. I say, “not that”
and I look down to see the liver, the stomach (green inside), the other organs,
and four huge black hooves still attached to the legs. How do you eat that? I
ask. You take off the hooves and boil it of course! How could I be so silly? Of
course! No, there is no mat, no gloves, just that old cow sitting on the
counter where they set the other products they sell at the dispensa. And this is
where they sell the good meat, according to our neighbors. I am pretty sure
germs don’t exist here and that’s why it’s okay. The lady behind the counter
calls her granddaughter to get us our saldo. I hand her a 20 mil Guaraní. The
butcher lady takes it, reaches into her little plastic cup full of change and
hands me back an old 10 mil Guaraní, covered in cow’s blood. Well, that’s the
meat of the story. (Haha)
What has been happening in Piribebuy? We have been talking
up a storm and fighting back discouragement with our second week of no
investigators at church. Our district leader has given us an awesome promise-
that if we look through the binder of old investigators, we will find a golden
investigator who will be baptized this month. I am excited for this. We have
been working with 16 year old Liz Mabel who has a 2 month old baby and her
boyfriend, Luis. They have had a rocky life but
they are as sweet as can be and want to change. Luis works a lot to pay for the
milk and diapers for their son. Liz Mabel just barely
finished elementary school but every time I see her, she has a big smile on her
face. They didn’t come
to church because they went to her mom’s but we had a really cool Family Home
Evening last night with them. We went to the Flia. Valazqyuez house and
tied up President with thread on a chair and said that is what sin does to us.
We then took scissors and cut him free and that represented the Atonement. We
then watched a movie about Christ. I hope that it had an impact on them and
made them want to change for the better.
Our recent convert Beatriz is doing great. She received a
calling to pass out the Liahona (church magazine) to members. We also had ward
council for the second time and it was very effective. We chose 15 names of
members to work with. Our branch is struggling with ward unity and the leaders
are struggling with visits. We are holding an activity on Thursday to explain
and encourage the relief society sisters to do visiting teaching visits. I think
it will be successful at helping them realize how important it is.
The reason we couldn’t email yesterday is because the
internet was down at the two cybers in our area and we had waited till the last
minute to email. To avoid this in the future, I am asking that those who email
me will email me on Sunday nights or early Monday morning so that we can send
our emails out earlier. That would be great.
Happy Father’s day to all those dads out there! A special
hug goes out to my Dad, Jason and all my uncles!
PS They have milk men here in Paraguay still! They drive around on
little motorcycle carts with jugs of milk in the back and people wait in their
houses with jugs so that the milk man will fill them with milk!!
PS. Congrats to Jimmer on getting married! Only wish he had chosen to experience mission
life first!
Love,
Hermana Brittner
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