Hermana Ross in Paraguay: Week 51

Dear Family,

Well, I´d always heard about people that write down a "tender mercy" from the Lord every day to help them recognize their blessings and the hand of the Lord in their life. Welp, I´d never done that on account of I always found my blessings to be somewhat obvious to me, and also maybe I just lacked the humility to try it? ANYWAY, this was one of those weeks that just literally WASN´T going to work out if I didn´t do EVERYTHING I could to keep myself sane. So, I finally did the "tender mercy" thing. And it helped me out a lot, actually #testify. So imma tell you about my week by the blessings I received that kept me going.

Lunes: So my email time was actually really good last Monday and I got lots of good emails and felt connected to my family and friends. Another blessing is that I was seriously thinking I was not going to make it through our lessons that night, but we ended up being able to teach both Juan and Bernardina, our two progressing investigators. They were really receptive and really great and totes saved my night.

Martes: Ha, this day´s mercies were harder to find... But they were there. After a hecka long day in lit-rally unbearable heat, we stopped by a member´s house to ask for more water. And she insisted that we sit down for a few minutes and she turned on her little fan and gave us water and a piece of this sweet-bread thing, and it was like the best moment of my whole life. And then, another miracle happened. Which was that my sick water bottle (courtesy of the Dogma) has been my best friend from the day I received it. But tragically as I was leaving Horqueta, I somehow lost the cap. It was still working well, but it started to get super, super dirty, and tons of bacteria/fungus stuff started to grow. And I was low key depressed, because I was realizing I couldn´t continue to drink water from it because it was gonna make me rill sick. But what was I gonna do without my best friend, my water bottle? So I was searching, pondering, and praying, and the thought came to my mind to see if the cap from a different make of a Paraguayan water bottle would work. And I was like, "naw, dawg. This water bottle is swanky and nothing here will work." But I decided to buy one anyway and see what happened. and the FIRST ONE I bought fit perfectly!! So my water bottle and also literally my life have been preserved <3

Miercoles: We had a pretty good service project in the morning. And then the Hermana fed us a cheese sandwich and it was actually pretty good. Then that night we had a Noche de Hogar with a less active family in the ward. And their house is hecka out in the campo, and it was dark, aka TONS of mosquitoes. And even though we are using bug spray and stuff, we still have been getting EATEN ALIVE. Like, no joke, the humidity breeds them like nuts. But anyway, despite the fact that I thought I would die, the tender mercy is that I did not, nor have I fallen prey to dengue (side note: like a million and a half missionaries here have been hospitalized for dengue in the past few weeks. Like, everyone and their companion is getting taken down by mosquitoes.) But, like I said, I have been spared.

Jueves: We were able to have a lesson with a recent convert named Arturo who is like 12 years old and hasn´t agreed to talk to the missionaries in months. He was presh and I have hope we´ll be able to work with him. Other cool story is that one of our plans ended up falling though, and my comp was like, "well, there´s a less active family that lives over there that we haven´t visited in a super long time." So we went over to their house so I could meet them, and the Hermana ended up telling us that it was her birthday, and that she had prayed to feel God´s hand in her life. And she viewed us coming by her house for the first time in weeks on her birthday as that sign from God. Super cool, verdad?

Viernes: We had English class and the Elders made banana bread and it was felicious. Also I called Elder Cranney (the senior couple in Horqueta) because it was his birthday. We talked for a few minutes and he is really great and I love the Cranneys.

Sabado: During language study I decided to bust out my workbook from the MTC and see if there was anything I wanted to practice in it. And I was looking through it and all the notes I had made and just had the thought, "wow, I remember when I literally couldn´t understand any of this. and now this is 2 #basic." Seriously, super miracle. We also had some good lessons, including one with Juan, who is going to be baptized on Feb 27th. We were a little apprehensive to teach him about the Word of Wisdom because beer is cheaper than water here... But, he received it super well and is seriously prepared. It was sick. We also got to interact with a bunch of jovenes that day and they wanted me to teach them how to say basic stuff in English. So I´m saying the basics while they repeat them, and one of the girls, no joke, sounded American. Her accent was the best I´ve ever heard. So I was like, "seriously, you gotta learn English. Cause your accent is boss." And I think we´re going to go back and teach her some more phrases next week.

Domingo: I think it was one of the hottest days I´ve ever passed through ever. Like, the tender mercy from yesterday is that I didn´t die. And the other tender mercy is that we had a meeting with the ward, so we got to be inside for an hour or so. That probably also literally saved my life #heatstroke

Welp, those are the best things that happened this week! Claps! But in conclusion, I gota say that vitamin D is the biggest myth that ever existed. That ish is supposed to give you energy? PSYCHE! This week was seriously so hot, I cannot even describe it with words. It´s one of those things that has to be experienced. The closest thing I could compare it to though would be a steam room. Like, you know how saunas are super stifling and stuff? Well, like that, but with steam. Like when you drain boiling water, but that sensation all over. I am literally, literally always soaking wet. It´s legitimately ratchet #pray4Holly

Ok, love you so much!! F`reals.

Hearts and stars,

Hermana Ross