Home sweet... Paraguay??

Yep, believe it or not, paraguay is starting to feel like home. Besides not having u guys. But i am enjoying the heck out of my mission.

The weather here has been crazy. It was finally getting hot, and i was finally getting a sweet farmers tan, but all of a sudden the cold returned, with rain. Burr..... But all is well, the work will go on.

Work has been good. We have been finding alot of news, but also we have been loosing alot of investigator. We have been staying busy though, so that is all good. We always have back up plans and more. We have some great investigators right now. With some batisms planned out. These investigators are golden, so I know they will be baptized.

The 2 ladies from last week that i told u about have been a little hard to contact lately. The younger one (the one that rents) decided that she is fine with her church, and doesnt want anything to do with us. But the older one, still likes it. We havent talked to her for a while, because when it is cold, the people here dont want to talk. So that is a bummer. By the way, 95 percent of the lessons that we have here, we do outside. So if it is raining or cold, it is impossible to do it. But its all right.

We have zone conference in 2 days, so that will be interesting. We have President Arnold of the 70, and also the Presidnet of this area coming. Everyone is preparing for alot more rules to be put into place, along with a major cane drop. I dont know why, but the missionaries always say that he is like this. So i dont know what to expect, more rules for sure. For example (we have to keep track of our line in the water, or in other words, we need to keep track of EVERY MINUTE that we are talking about the gospel. But that doesnt include when we are visiting with in actives, or members. Something silly I think, but if it comes from the Lord, I am down with it. I just think it would be better to spend these precious minutes getting to know the investigators, earning their trust, and showing our love and desire to help them. But i guess they want us to be keeping track of minutes instead. Ok it really isnt that bad, but u get the point with my little frustration).

Anyways, great day planned today. Ok I lied, it is a normal pday. Go make some purchase after this, and then play soccer with some members and onvestigators. But i am pretty excited.

Well it sounds like Haileys wedding went pretty good. I am always jealous when i miss a big event like this. First grandpas funeral, and now her wedding. What next?? Haha. Is steph get married any time soon. Jk. But really, it would be nice if u could wait a little bit until i get home in 17 months, to have any more big events. JK. Man, i still have a long time left. But time, is really flying by pretty fast. Asi me gusta. Today, is actually me 5 month anniversary here in Paraguay. So i am going to celebrate and......... o man, there is nothing to do to celebrate. I guess i will belebrate by giving myself a pat on the back.

I hope all is well in the good old town of Rigby Idaho, and all the other places u live. It looks like the weather has been hot, like 34 degrees there. Well in celcius. Tjhat is something like in the 90´s in farenheit i think. Wow, warm..

Well love you guys, and i wish u all the best of luck with the begining of school, and hunting season( in the which I am super JEALOUS). o well

Con amor de paraguay

Elder Chase Coy Stewart

p.s. PHOTOS

1 I thought i would try out harry potters broom for a fly.

2 Us and a member kid that we are working with( he is inactive, and we are getting him active again, so that he will serve a mission)

3 me and my com and our sweet shades, YA BOOYYYY

Fotos again

well these pictures are of the burgers and fries that we make and eat every time we eat lunch in our house(like 3 times a week)

some tree with fruits the size of cantaloupes( i dont know what the fruit are, they are just huge)

and then me and my companion on a homemade swing at the house of a inactive family

Hello family and friends, it has been another great week in the area of Barcequillo.

I will start off explaining the SUBJECT TITLE of this weeks email. So lately, I have been trying to teach my comp English. He has 2 career choices in mind, and for both, he has to be fluent in English, so i am trying to teach him. So when we walk from house to house, appointment to appointment, i teach him the basics. This last wednesday, we were clapping some houses ( here you clap not knock) but anyways, we were clapping some houses before we went to our lunch appointment. When we were walking from an appointment to our lunch cita, my comp asked me, so what is the difference in the pronunciation of playa(which means beach) and perra(which is a girl dog, or the bad word). Well to make along story short, we spent over 30 minutes trying to get the word right. I would tell him to say beeee and then he would say it correctly, and then I would say cchhh, and he would say it correctly. But when he put them together, it was always the bad word. Haha. It was so funny, i know this sounds horrible but it was hilarious as we walked through the street with him trying to get this word right. Haha. Well the moral of this story is that if you try to teach a latin the difference between beach and b$%&h, it will end up horrible, but at the same time absolutely funny.

Also, another funny story. Me and my companion teach an English class every thursday and saturday. (Well I teach an english class haha). And the hermanas (sister missionaries) that share the chapel with us teach a piano class every saturday. So we were at the chapel this saturday, and here in paraguay there is always 2 buildings for each chapel. The one with the sacrament room, and the one with the classrooms. Me and my comp were in the sacrament room playing the piano, waiting for students to arrive. The sisters went and opened the other building to go get some stuff. This other building has a security alarm, and when they opened the building, they went to put in the code, to disactivate the alarm. But, the hermanas forgot the code, and me and my comp dont have the code either. So when we were playing piano, all of a sudden the alarm went off (more annoying than ur school alarm) we ran to go and try to help the sisters. Hahahaha. So the alarm went off for like 20 minutes until we were finally able to get ahold of our branch president to give us the code. The sisters faces were pretty read hahahha. But they went on to do their stuff while me and my comp went and dealt with the cop that came in his bullet proof vest. Funny funny

We did find some quality investigators this week. I was telling my comp how i hate to do contacts in the street. And then he literally pushed me in front of this couple. I contacted them and they told us to come to their house the next day. We went to their house (apartment, there are like 3 or 4 right together), but they werent there. But we talked to the owner and she started talking to us about religion, and she told us her view on the ressurection, and we thought hey that is what we teach, and then she said, i beleive that God has 12 apostles on the earth right now, I just dont know who they are. And we thought hey we have 12 apostles and a prphet on the earth today. Well anyways we returned and taught her and the lady(from the couple we contacted). They are both really prepared, and have had things in their lives happen that have prepared them for this message. There is alot more to this story, but the lady at the computer place is kicking us out right now.

So i will try to feel in the details next week.

Love ya guys and hope all is well

Con Amor de Barcequillo

Elder Chase Coy Stewart

I really am running out of subjects fast, so i decided to just write this random thing :)

Dear family, friends, amigos, parientes, vecinos, familia. y todos tipos.

How are you guys. I am doing absolutely fantastic. Life is great right now, and I am enjoying my mission more than ever. I am just always tired. I think it is because my brain is used to english, but now i have to use spanish 24/7, so i wear out pretty fast. Or I am just a whimp, ya, prbably the second one. Haha

But the area of Barcequillo is awesome. I was scared at first because I thought it was going to be like Tres Bocas, which consisted of houses, dogs, chickens, 2 tiendas(little places to shop), and more houses. But barcequillo is so much cooler. There is everything. The members here are amazing, but very few. Yesterday for church (which starts at 9) it was a beautiful day. There was no exscuse for people not to come. But when we finally started sacrament meeting at 9:25, there was 10 peple there. Including us 2 missionaries, the Branch presidente, his 2 counselors, 2 investigators, and a brother and sister, and a faithful old lady. By the time the actual sacrament came around, which me and my comp both bless and pass, because we have a total of 1 active young man in our branch, there was 22 people there. And when church finished we had like 30 or 35 or so. But I guess our branch is really struggling right now, alot of people are inactivating themselves right now, so that is pretty hard.

But we have some good investigators right now. Also, we have had to drop alot of good ones because they have stopped progressing, but we are hunting for news and we have found quite a few good ones.

Right now we are teaching a family of 5 girls. Their parents are off in Argentina working, so it is only the girls. They are from 11 years old to 23, or something like that. But they all have their different doubts about the church and stuff, and so we teach them all at different times. The oldest girl, doesnt want anything to do with us, so she is always off doing "worldly things". Then the 2 next oldest are good, but they just dont do anything. We give them stuff to readm but they never do it. But the youngest 2 girls, ages 20 and 11, are purete. They have like 6 or 7 attendances in the church. They are progressing, but wont get baptized. Well if the 20 year old (Rebecca) gets baptized, then the 11 year old (Micah) will get baptized. But Rebecca says she wants to be 100 percent certain, and their are still some doubts about herself and other things that she has. We had 2 or 3 really powerful lessons with her about baptism, but she never will committ. Finally me and my comp wanted to drop her, I didnt want to but my comp said we need to. So we went to her house sat down, and she said " we are making cake to eat today". And we were like ok sweet. But then we went on with the lesson, we really used the spirit to show her the importance of baptism, and then we expressed with her that we would like to give her some "time" to reflect and think about her doubts and problems, and that hopefully the missionaries in the future would pass by, and she would be prepared then. I then told her the same thing, i said " we would like to give u a little time to resolve these doubts and problems, because we have tried but maybe it is better if we just give it a little time so that you can reflect and read and pray." We then left her with a very powerful prayer, and left. We were walking to our next appointment, when my comp told me that I shouldnt of said "a little time" because we were going to drop her for good. I apolagized, and then we received a text from her saying that right when we left, the cake finishedm so we returned to eat cake. Once again we left, and I told my comp it was a shame that we had to drop her, and he said, well, she is coming to church every week, so we arent going to drop her. WHAT........... I had just finished lovingly dropping the cane on this sister, and telling her that we werent going to come back, but then my comp said that was all for nothing. Hahahahha it was funny but a little frustrating. But ya, she and her sisters are still our investigators, and we are trying to help them.

Me and my comp get along great. I am really picking up my spanish fast too. My comp is from columbia like i already said, but all his family are members too. His mom and dad are active in the church, so he has alot of support, but his 2 sisters are inactive. He has a brother that is serving in Peru right now.

It is funny though, because my comp always has to know what I am doing. He is a little OCD about it. He is always asking, what are u studying, what are you eating, what are u writing in ur journal, what does this say, what is this, how does this work, blah blah blah. HAHAHAHHA. It is actually kind of funny. Each companionship here has a phone that we share, and when it is my days to carry it, he always has to know what I am doing with it. I pull out the phone to look at the time, and he is looking over my back, yesterday, i dont remember what we were doing, but i tried an experiment. I think we were talking with a member or investigator. I had the phone this day, so i pulled the phone out of my pocket, and he immediately looked, i put it away and he continued talking, i repeated this process atleast 10 times, and everytime he looked. Hahah. I dont think he ever caught on. But o well, haha.

Well family everything here is going great. I am loving everything. It is sad to see so many missionaries complaining about this mission, and everyone wants to go home. This just doesnt seem to be like a normal mission, usually missionaries love their missions so much, that they dont want to leave, but it is sad to see that this mission has a whole different atmosphere. This mission is truly an exhaltation mission, not a normal mission. My president is preparing us for the Celestial life, not just helping us become better. He sees the potential in everyone of us, so i am thankful for that. Everyone complains that there are too many rules, and yes it is true, the rules here are pretty rediculous, but it all depends on what u do with them. It is really ur choice of how ur mission goes. The missionaries here are letting the mission and the rules run their lives, but as for me, I know what is wrong, I know what is right, and I am using my own agency to enjoy my time as a human, but still being the best missionary i can.

I love u guys and talk to u in a week.

Con amor de Paraguay

Elder Chase Coy Stewart

P.s. I thought today was ur anniversary parents, but i seemed to have missed it. SORRY: HAPPY LATE ANNIVERSAY love ya guys

p.s.s and tell Austin congratulations, i am so excited for him, i have waited all week to hear this aweome news, the people in Denver are waiting for him

More Pictures!!

here is some other sweet photos, of me by some sweet sign. And also a member family and I. P.S. shurah means "my friend" in guarani

WATERFALL!!!

Pictures of Santos de monday, Monday is a guarani word pronounced mun-die-oo. Y santos means falls or waterfalls. So it is Monday falls, something like that

How Pay Shurah

Here are the pictures of the results of the changes, and our district. 2 went home, 2 went to different areas, and 2 are trainers

Wazz up my friends. That is what howpay shurah means.

Well I find myself once again across the country again in Asuncion. Yes, as much as I diidnt think it would happen, I got changed after only one change in Presidente Franco. So i now have had 3 comps, 3 areas, and i have only completed 3 changes. Weird i know. I am getting thrown around like a rag doll. But its ok. At first i was pretty dang bitter about leaving such a sweet area, and going to a new area that is litrerally 2 blocks from where i spent 90% of my time in tres bocas. But i am slowly starting to get used to it. I am actually loving every second of this area, even though it is all city.

My new comps name is Elder Martinez, he is from Columbia. I struggled at first with the thought of having a Latin Comp, but this is going to be so sweet to be able to learn the language better. Right now is literally the first time I have talked in English in the last week. Well unless if you count the lady that came up to me in front of the store earlier today telling me she is an english teacher, and wants my help to teach english. But ya. Elder >Martinez is super super awesome. I guess he was a champion tennis player in columbia before he came here. He has like a year and 4 months on the mission. We actually are really good buds already, and we are always having fun and enjoying ourselves as we work our talebones off. It is nice to have a happy medium of my first 2 comps. My 1st one really taught me how to work hard, the 2nd one taught me how to enjoy my mission, and now with Elder Martinez, we are doing both. I am enjoying every second of my mission, and I am working my talebone off

I am really glad to have this new area. It has been sweet. I really dont know what else to say. We have got some great investigators, and I really see alot of success coming with Elder Martinez.
I love you guys so much and cant wait to hear about Austin´s mission call.


Con amor de BarcequilloElder Chase Coy Stewart

Roh Hay Hu Paraguay

1 Me and Hugo and members

2 Stuff I burned, this tie was dead

3,4,5 Me burning my tie

6 pic behind the house

7 me and Hugo San

I honestly dont know how to spell Ro Hay Hu, but it means I love You in Guarani. So everyone says ro hay hu paraguay. Which means, I love you paraguay. And man we were sure saying that alot this last week. Especially for the big Final Copa America game that Paraguay had yesterday against Uraguay. O we played so so well. But I guess our star player, our goalie got red carded or something so he didnt even get to play in the last game, so we ended up losing 0-3. Man, our last win against venezuela, the streets were crazy with drunk people everywhere and cars with the Paraguay flag attatched to it. Screaming and singing, it was crazy, but at the same time awesome. Fireworks going off al night. They are definently crazy about
their futbol. But then on saturday night they were the same way, they were all getting excited for their big game on sunday. All wearing their red and white paraguay jerseys with their paraguayan flags. But then sunday rolls around. we actually had 50 people at church, even though like 10 of them were from the stake talking about EFY. And yes they do have EFY here, in 2010 it was in argentina, in 2011 it was in Uraguay, and in Enero de 2012 va a estar in Paraguay. So this is actually a huge event. But anyways, we then tried to set up appointments for after church, but everyone rejected us because of the game. Hahah. But anyways then we went home through the parades of red and white and ate some sunday dinner. I actually ate fried papas with eggs with bread and jam, yummy. Then we started hearing fireworks again for the pre show. Then we got a call from our zone leaders saying that in their area there are people out in the streets with guns and shooting them randomly into the air. So they told us that we could just stay in our houses and study and go out and work. We stayed in and studied. But it was weird because during the whole game, we never heard any fireworks, saw any random parades in the street, or here any yelliung and cheeringin rhe streets. So we knew something was up. Then we finally left the house, and the whole country was silent. it was very very weird. There was no parades, no fireworks, not even dogs barking. When we got to our first cita, they told us about the score and they were really down in the dumps. But ya. And then our next four citas all fell through, because the people were there, they just didnt want to open the doors for us because they were so depressed. It wasnt that good of a day o well

The rest of the week was pretty good. But, we are just so nervous for changes, we have absolutely no idea of what is going to happen. We should either know tonight or tomorrow. Vamos a ver. So I will let u guys know next week.

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We are just going into centro right now to buy some stuff and celebrate our last pday together.

I love u guys and will talk to u next week

Con amor de Paraguay

Elder Chase Coy Stewart