First email from the field so get ready...
so the day we left mexico city was looong. 10 hours of flying, collectively. it was hard haha but we stopped halfway through in panama city. i couldnt tell you if it was beautiful or not becasue it was about midnight we landed. but we got carls jr in the airport food court which i was too stoked for. last american meal. it was a bittersweet moment. we arrived in asuncion at around 530 in the morning. paraguay is 4 hours ahead of Mesa. they took us to the mission home and i met our mission president. oh what a guy. he's really awesome, and his wife is so nice. we stayed there for about a day, listening to orientations and such. the next day we met our trainers and were sent to our areas.
my companion's name is Elder Villacreses, from Ecuador. he's so pureté. thats a paraguayan word for awesome. he's a Latino but in High School he was taught english by american teachers so he speaks better than a lot of gringo elders here. i kind of get the best of both worlds with him. its really difficult though. he insists i learn by practicing so he never speaks much english except in the house. our area is called Moroni. weŕe in Moroni A. Moroni B has the temple in it so we're really close to it. all the elders at the mission told me that Moroni is really chuchi. that means fancy in guarani. i dont have anything to compare it to but if this place is rich than paraguay must be a really poor country. Moroni B is much more wealthy than our area. they all have doorbells in their houses. we have to stand outside the gate and clap. thats how they know someone is outside. it's really strange here. the houses go from pretty nice, to completely disgusting and nasty. next door to a mansion could be a tiny one room shack with scrap metal for a roof. and there's a tiny neighborhood called San Pedro. everyone calls it the chaquerrita. Elder Villacreses says its the poorest place he's been to since being here. there's piles of trash everywhere and all the houses are dirt floors withough doors and barbed wire everywhere. its really sad. but most the people are happy. and humble and willing to listen.
i wouldnt call it a 3rd world country. although all the walls look like they'll fall down and all the furniture is molding, they all have cable TV and smart phones haha dont ask me how i dont understand.
our house is a tiny box on a 2nd store apartment bldg. no windows, and the only lights that work are in the bedrooms. ha so we cook and shower in the dark. its not too bad. at least we have air conditioning in the bedrooms.
the food here is much better than i thought it would be! the best thing i've had so far is called a lomita. like a carne asade burrito but the tortilla is thinner and crisper and theres no beans or cheese. i've had spaghetti so far, chicken casserole, hamburgers, and even some american style fruit pie. 'cept they eat something here called mandioca. its like really grainy mashed potatoes. its disgusting haha so hard to eat.
our ward is interesting. because Moroni is really chuchi but we also have the chaquerrita, there are many different kinds of people. we have some white europeans that speak english, we have some africans that speak portugese, and we good old fashioned paraguayans. our area is the only one with elderly couple missionaries, because we have the temple. Elder y Hermana Hansen. they're awesome, and they're always making american food to give to the elders. we had popcorn and peach jello from them last night. so good.
because our ward is so nice, its really hard to get the poorer class of people to come to church because they feel ashamed when they see people wearing nice clothes and having i phones and stuff like that. its so hard to get those people to come to church. ugh already.
most of our investigators come from the chaqueritta. every one else are snobs becasue theyre rich. we teach a little girl named lara. shes 9. she agreed to baptism but she cant be baptised until she come to church, and her family is suuuper lazy. thats the grand example of the people here. very nice and kind but you cant get them to do anything. its frustrating.
the language is coming along well. i still dont understand, but i can pick out words and phrases. they talk sooo fast. and apparently they mix spanish and guarani together the farther out of the city you go. everyone i talk to says i sound like a latino in my pronunciation. elder villacreses says i'll speak like one once i am more fluent.
thats all i have for you now. thanks for all your letters, love you all.
-Elder Glasgow
