wow....where to start? well ill just begin with wednesday :) we left the house at 0600 to take the 2 hour bus ride to Santani where we had our district meeting and activity:) the activity was a BBQ! and it was pretty eventful haha :) first off when we went to the members house to get the actual BBQ, well, they were using it already, so they just gave us a metal grate and said to light the coals underneath it on the ground and support the grate with bricks in the yard of the church :P then we had to buy the coals, and lets just say that i am never buying homemade coals again :P they stinkin things wouldnt light!!! so ther we are in the backyard of the church trying to start a bunch of coals, and even with all my boy scout fire making skills they wouldnt catch....so we bought some gas and just lighted em up that way haha XD overall the food was a good success, and the lesson by elder souza was funny and instructive, so it was a good district activity :) but when it was time to go home we got to the terminal at 2:30, with the bus ticket saying 3:45....well, something i learned the hard way is that during easter week or "Semana Santa" everybody and their dog is traveling...so we waited for 3 hours for the bus to arrive, and when it finally did it was stuffed to the rafters with people :P those who know me well will realize that i like my elbow room. even in cities i start to feel a bit claustraphobic. getting into that bus was one of the hardest things i have had to do in a long time :P after i got in i literally couldnt even move my arms. i was stuck in standing posisition for over an hour easily before people started to unload :P and the worst part? well, i can understand spanish now, and the people were talking about practially every unholy thing under the sun :P it was awkard, espeically when older people started flirting :P but i finally got out of that part and was able to slowly make my way towards teh back of the bus, and about 45 mins before we got home i was actually able to sit down :) but i think the weirdest part of it all is that elder souza and i got seperated, he went on the second level of the bus and i stayed on ground level! so i was over 2 hours away from my comp, and it felt really weird :Pthursday was super hard...we walked around and the city looked like something out of a horror movie. Empty empty empty...every left the city. and the few people that were left didnt want to talk to us, so we ended up just going home early. even the family that accepts us no matter what was too busy for us :P so that was hard.
friday was even worse(the day that Christ was crucified)...not even the dogs were out walking. but Elder souza and i spent a lot of time just talking, and i liked it a lot :) even though we werent able to work hardly at al this week, we became a lot closer :) we really just kind of took advantage of this time together, because with changes tomorrow, it looks like i will be leaving Curuguaty :/ i will miss that guy so much if i leave, he has been so fun and i have really enjoyed the past 3 months we have been together :)
saturday we didnt get to watch conference :( i never realized how much i like conference until i wasnt able to watch it :P its funny how that works, you dont fully appreciate something until you dont have it. i guess that is nother thing i learned this week :) we did go to a brazilian bakery for lunch though, that was super good :) elder souza was super excited to drink fanta uva again (grape flavor) haha we enjoyed our day together again :)
easter itself was again uneventful...we had a total of 3 people in church, and as a fast and testimony meeting, well, it was super fast haha ;) church started and finished in less than 1 1/2 hours! but it was good, and it was refreshing to be able to partake of the sacrament again :) that night elder souza and i watched "The passion of the Christ" which was super well done and really increased my love and respect for my Lord and Saviors sacrifice for me and you! for a rather quite easter sunday, i felt very much spritiually fed, for all the reading i did as well as the movie :)
so with transfers tomorrow, and the high possibility that i leave Curuguaty, i just want to say that i loved working here. it has been a true eye opener for many things. first of which being that no matter how big the church is in a certain area, if it is focused on gospel principles, it is still Christs restored church :) the second would be my new appreciation for leadership!! we dont have the most effective of leadership out here....and i have had to take the load on my own shoulders, and i really understand the burdern that bishops, branch presidents, elders qourum presidents, and all the other leaders of the church feel! i am blessed to have had the church in my life, and i am so excited to continue sharing this great messege with others in Paraguay :)
with lots of love,
Elder DuFort
friday was even worse(the day that Christ was crucified)...not even the dogs were out walking. but Elder souza and i spent a lot of time just talking, and i liked it a lot :) even though we werent able to work hardly at al this week, we became a lot closer :) we really just kind of took advantage of this time together, because with changes tomorrow, it looks like i will be leaving Curuguaty :/ i will miss that guy so much if i leave, he has been so fun and i have really enjoyed the past 3 months we have been together :)
saturday we didnt get to watch conference :( i never realized how much i like conference until i wasnt able to watch it :P its funny how that works, you dont fully appreciate something until you dont have it. i guess that is nother thing i learned this week :) we did go to a brazilian bakery for lunch though, that was super good :) elder souza was super excited to drink fanta uva again (grape flavor) haha we enjoyed our day together again :)
easter itself was again uneventful...we had a total of 3 people in church, and as a fast and testimony meeting, well, it was super fast haha ;) church started and finished in less than 1 1/2 hours! but it was good, and it was refreshing to be able to partake of the sacrament again :) that night elder souza and i watched "The passion of the Christ" which was super well done and really increased my love and respect for my Lord and Saviors sacrifice for me and you! for a rather quite easter sunday, i felt very much spritiually fed, for all the reading i did as well as the movie :)
so with transfers tomorrow, and the high possibility that i leave Curuguaty, i just want to say that i loved working here. it has been a true eye opener for many things. first of which being that no matter how big the church is in a certain area, if it is focused on gospel principles, it is still Christs restored church :) the second would be my new appreciation for leadership!! we dont have the most effective of leadership out here....and i have had to take the load on my own shoulders, and i really understand the burdern that bishops, branch presidents, elders qourum presidents, and all the other leaders of the church feel! i am blessed to have had the church in my life, and i am so excited to continue sharing this great messege with others in Paraguay :)
with lots of love,
Elder DuFort