Birthday and Virgin Day...

So this week was cool we'll just get right into it.

On Monday after P day ended we went going to Oviedo and slept that night but then woke up Tuesday in order to do divisions out there and an area attack where we just have a ton of missionaries in the same area in order to get a whole bunch of new people to teach. It was super fun but I couldn't really get out and teach because there was some people returning from Asunción that I had to go get from the bus Terminal and then take some people to the bus terminal. But all in all it was still a super good time. Got to spend a lot of time with some missionaries that were don't get to see that often. We went to bed and woke up Wednesday.

Wednesday was my birthday but more importantly it was the day of the Virgin of Caacupé. Which is just a day dedicated to the Virgin Maria. But they believe that one day the Virgin Maria appeared in this town called Caacupé so for that reason they have this special day. And lemme tell ya they straight up have a pilgrimage out to this town. There are thousands of people who go to this town and to this massive chappel thingy in order to worship Maria. There are people that ride busses there, but also a lot of people who walk some people walk more than 100 kilometers just to get there. So for all these people that are telling me they can't get to church because they don't have a car or motorcycle, hmmmm I guess we just need to do a priority check haha.

But I kid you not my city of Caaguazú was a legit ghost town there was nobody to talk to the streets were absolutely empty. We walked through the market which is usually bumper to bumper traffic and I didn't see 1 car the entire time. So we went and visited a couple members because they were still here. During lunch with a member they got a phone call from their neighbor. She knew that the missionaries came over for lunch every once and a while and was wondering if we could go to her house in order to pray with her because she was feeling sick, but apparently we have to hurry because she wants us to do it before her sister gets home. So we left and went to this house but literally right as we got there so did her sister.... the lady is probably In her 50s and her sister as well. We asked her what we could do and she said she wanted us to pray with her. Right as she said that her sister started hitting her and pushing her around saying that she was crazy and only needed to pray to the Virgin because she's the one that heals everyone. We all know who the real crazy one was.... it was a weird experience and by hitting I don't mean like abusing but like definitely pushing her around a lot. After that we said a prayer and got out of there before this 50 year old started swinging on us. For my birthday dinner we ate some massive hamburgers that were honestly not that good but who cares. It was still fun.

After that the next couple of days were normal just working. But our friend Mica got back from a vacation and told us that we had to go to dinner with her and we couldn't say no in order to celebrate my birthday. We ended up going as a district with her and it was super fun we got some massive pizzas. And Mica had ordered a cake it was super cool. She is also more and more interested and is very close to accepting a baptismal date. Which I'm super excited about.

Also kinda another long story but there Is this one area in my Zone called Paso Yobai, and it is notorious for being really hard to get to. Just because of the way busses work and everything and if it rains there are no busses that go in or out and the timing on the busses is literally just whenever the driver feels like leaving so we have no idea. Because of that I guess it's been a long time since the zone leaders here went to Paso Yobai, so naturally we really wanted to get out there. So we took a bus to another town where we heard that we could catch a bus to Paso Yobai. When we arrived in said town we were told that the bus literally left 20 minutes before we got there. When will I learn not to trust anyone when it comes to the bus schedules. And that is the only bus that goes to Pasp Yobai for that day. So we ordered ourselves a taxi and were on our way.

During the trip the taxi started to overheat. So instead of pulling over and figuring it out, the taxi driver just thought to continue but what he would do is drive and then turn off the car on all of the downhill slopes in order to let the engine cool and then turn it back on when we had to go uphill. It worked for a little but after redlining the temperature gage for way too long he decided to pull over. It was awesome we were straight up the middle of nowhere an hour drive from any decent city and just chillin on the road side. I helped my man open up his radiator and he just dumped a crap load of water in there and then we kept on going. Worked like a charm.

After that we got here to Paso Yobai which is low key the coolest place ever. Super super tiny town where the majority of the people speak Guarani (the native language). But straight up in the middle of nowhere just straight country side. I would love it to be able to serve here, pick up some more guarani, teach a couple of wild cows the gospel, and hangout with some of the coolest members I've met so far.

We did divisions with the Elders out here, Elder Wilkins and Elder Bareiro. An American and a Paraguayan cool guys. We also went to church with them here in the coolest little church building, which is like a 40 minute walk from their house. Needless to say I loved it out here and really hope one day I get the chance to serve in Paso Yobai.

It was a great week with a bunch of great experiences.

I love you all,

Elder Schofield