Christmas or 4th of July...

This week was definitely one I'll never forget

To start off this week we went out to a place called Campo 9. A city like an hour bus ride from where I live. We went out there in order to do divisions with the missionaries that live there. And we were going to do divisions on Tuesday so we went out on Monday to have p day with them too. 

Campo 9 is a super interesting place. The only reason that this place is there is because it is a massive farming community. And I mean massive. And because of this there is a whole bunch of Menonites that live there as well. So there is a whole bunch of blue eyed German people walking around, there are quite a bit of Mennonite colonies here in Paraguay thanks to WW2 when a bunch of people fled Germany. But these people started one of the biggest lactose factories in all of Paraguay. They sell and produce everything from dulce de Leche, to milk, to ice cream, to cheese. And lemme tell ya their soft serve ice cream is to die for. We went to the factory to check it out and it reminded me of Gonznars cheese factory in Logan Utah. 

We also went fishing on pday just for a little bit. And these paraguayans were teaching us how to fish here. These dude straight up make their own power bait. And ya wanna know how they do it? Take some flour and then get it wet and then.... that's it. Straight up wet flour wrapped around a hook and that pulls out these fish like crazy. 

After that we did a bunch of service for this lady that lives out there in Campo 9. She wanted to paint her house. A lot of people paint there houses out here at this time of the year kinda as a tradition. Pretty cool. So this lady's house was blue like a sky blue. But she wanted to be painted red and white. So that's what we did we started painting a whole bunch of walls. But as I was painting I realized "you know what else is red white and blue?" so as a joke I painted a quick American flag on the wall with full intention of painting over it when I was done. But I asked the lady what she thought of it and she loved it! She said there is no way she's letting me paint over that because it's too fantastic. I couldn't agree with her more. So now above her little shrine to the Catholic saints there is a sweet American flag. 

Also this lady has a daughter that was there helping us paint and she was super cool. Out of nowhere she starts talking to us in English and says that she's studied English for years but NEVER has the chance to practice so she told us to only talk in English so that she can practice. Her English was insane, 100% fluent. I asked how she learned and she said studying for 7 years helped but she learned the most watching Grey's Anatomy. She's going to medical school down here but when I asked her if she wanted to stay and work Paraguay she gave me a hard and fast no. Her dream is to leave and not specifically to go to the USA but just to leave Paraguay. It's kinda sad how many people want to leave this country. 

While practicing English with her we taught her that there are 2 ways to say mountain the correct way and the wrong way. The correct way if course is to not pronounce the T. She was not a fan that most English words are not pronounced how they are written. But don't worry she is now saying mountain like a true American. 

We came home from Campo 9 and got to work in our own area again. We went on divisions with some elders that are in our district. And I finally got to go our with Elder Ray. He's from my same MTC district so it's sweet to be hanging out with him. While on divisions we went and taught this lady that owns an ice-cream shop and taught her about the plan of salvation. It was one of the coolest lessons I've had I a while. The spirit was so strong and she was asking so many good questions. She definitely loved it when we told her that families can be together forever. She's a single mom with 2 kids and her kids are her everything. It's my favorite part of teaching the plan of salvation because I get to talk about something that I love so much. It truly wouldn't be the plan of happiness if I couldn't be with my family forever. And when we told her that she said she has never thought about that before and it's one of the best things she's ever heard. 

This week was also Christmas. And Christmas down here is very interesting. Let's just say that I was confused the whole time because I thought it was the 4th of July. And let me explain. Christmas in the US is silent, snow falling, maybe there's some Christmas music going on or the sound of a fire or something, it's cold and there's hot chocolate. Here in Paraguay it's a straight war zone. It starts Christmas Eve and it's hot as can be, there is no hot chocolate because that would be ridiculous with this heat haha. But instead of quiet snowfall, there are very loud fireworks. And at midnight Christmas eve they go crazy because it's Christmas at that point. There is literally non stop fireworks for like 3 hours you can just hear them going off all over. They are not the huge big bright ones. They're more of just really loud firecrackers and also big ones every once in a while. But also everyone has a super big dinner and it's straight BBQ and it's delicious. So between the fireworks, sweating like crazy and BBQ I was convinced it was the 4th of July. 

Early on Christmas eve I did something that I will never forget. A member in our branch, invited us to go with him to deliver food packages. Him and his family every year make like 40 packages of Christmas dinner, with chicken, rice, soda, snacks all of it. And take it to people who don't have much. Also take toys to kids that won't ever get them. We were driving around all over the city and wherever we felt like needed it we would stop and give them a package of food and some toys for the kids. It was one of the best things I've ever done at Christmas. The joy on these people's faces was unbelievable and indescribable. Especially the little kids when they get a cool toy. Everyone that we talked to had something crazy recently happen in their lives and were in desperate need. These people live in what looks like and is the size of backyard sheds. But backyard sheds in the states are probably built better. It broke my heart to see them, and being able to help them just a little bit and to see a smile on their faces completely changed my life. 

I love you all and I hope you have a great Christmas.

Elder Schofield 










Super good buffet at a fancy place


The drunkest guy ever.



The lactose factory 

Driving back to our apartment he let us play any music we wanted. 



Those aren't sheds, they're houses.  It's hard to see in the video, but one has giant plastic bag as a roof.


He also told me he could beat me in an arm wrestle. 

I told him we were talking a picture and he told me to wait, he needed to look good and was fixing his hair the entire time. 



























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