Elder Zachary Snow

Elder Zachary Snow

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Day 7 in Paraguay - August 15, 2012

On Wednesday, our last full day in Paraguay, Dave and Zach let me sleep in while they went golfing.  There was free golfing for guests, so there was no way they were going to pass that up!  They bought golf balls, rented clubs and wore their tennis shoes.  I guess it wasn’t quite the same as golfing at home but they had a good time.

While Dave and Zach were golfing, I braved breakfast on my own.  The hotel had a great breakfast buffet, however the scrambled eggs that had been served the morning before were less cooked than I like them.  I attempted to order eggs that were more done by asking “¿Puede preparar mucho?” hoping they would understand.  A few minutes later I realized instead of meaning “Can you prepare them a lot?” it probably meant “Can you prepare a lot?”  Sure enough they brought me a bunch of undercooked scrambled eggs.  I finally got them to cook the eggs longer and they tasted fine.

Once the golfers returned we went to Cerro Lambaré, a hill in the city near Zach’s first area.  Ever since he had sent a picture when he first arrived in Asunción, I wanted to go there.  Although the day was overcast, the view was still beautiful.
View from Cerro Lambaré
Monument on Cerro Lambaré

Monument to Indian chief from 1550's on Cerro Lambaré

Dave & Carrie hanging out with the chief

Next was lunch at Paulista’s, a Brazilian restaurant where you are served all the grilled meat you can eat.  Waiters keep bringing big skewers of all types of meat to the table and cutting off slices for us.  We ate until we couldn’t eat another bite.  This is the restaurant that the mission president and his wife take the departing missionaries to before they return home so this was Zach’s second visit in a week.
Dave & Zach enjoyed all the meat they could eat!

One of the waiters bringing yet another skewer of meat.
Elder Snow & Dave in front of the Paulista Grill.
After lunch was a quick stop at the mission office to pick up one of Zach’s suitcase that we left there while we traveled around.  While there, Zach picked up a special gift that he had ordered for us and had been delivered.  One of the members there makes leather scripture covers and other items and so Zach had him make a leather wall decoration of the Salt Lake temple for us which says “Families Can Be Together Forever” and our wedding date.
Leather and ink artwork made by local member
That evening we went to the stake center in Costa Bonita, Zach’s fourth area (and the third of the areas in Asunción).  On Wednesday nights the members have a noche de barrio (ward night) where they can visit or have an activity.  That night some of them were outside playing soccer until it started to rain.  Once again the members were very friendly.

As we left the church building, it really started to rain and there was loud thunder and intense lightning.  As soon as we got into the car, we saw a lightning strike less than a block away from us and all of the power went out.  We drove back to the hotel to a spectacular lightning and thunder show...maybe it was a little frightening as well.  We were relieved to find the power on at the hotel because we knew we had some serious packing ahead to prepare to leave the next morning.

Here are some ramdom pictures of some typical sights in Paraguay:

Many Paraguayans carry an insulated water container, guampa and bombilla
so that they can drink tereré all day!


View of street in Asunción

Close-up of the empedrado. 
This is how how many of the roads in Paraguay are paved.


Trash baskets like these are in front of homes in Paraguay.

A colectivo - common transportaion.
 It has been wonderful to be in Paraguay...to experience the sights, sounds and smells of where Zach has been serving these past two years.  I have enjoyed visiting the areas he has lived in and some of the sights he saw.  I have enjoyed the food we have eaten.  It has been humbling at times to see how the people here live.  It has been sometimes frustrating but always a good challenge to see how much Spanish I can understand.  It has been interesting to learn new customs and look for similarities and differences.  But, the best part of Paraguay for me has been the people themselves.  The people of Paraguay have been without exception very welcoming and always willing to help us.  They have been generous.  They have great love for their family and friends.  They are proud of their towns and their country.  In our short visit, I have developed a love for the people in Paraguay.  Paraguay is called the "Heart of America" and the people are truly the "heart" of Paraguay!

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