Blacker, Chandler

Haupei! Hey yall!  I've had a great week!  I guess I'll get right into it.  I want to first list some successes I've had and things I've learned: -Following the Spirit is the best (I'll share a story in a bit) -17 Miracles is a great movie -I'm learning how to teach (First, I just had to learn how to speak, now that's mostly out of the way and I can focus on how to help and teach) -I learned new words I shouldn't really say in spanish -I learned new words I shouldn't really say in english -I successfully used the Spanish word for "gall blatter" in a conversation.  I felt proud of my vocabulary... until the next day where I realized I still don't know the word for "square" -It's really hard to teach your friends when they aren't home -I'm a good cook (I had to cook all my meals almost every day this week) -Guarani (the native tongue of paraguay) is the weirdest language I've ever seen, but not too hard to learn....

I had a crazy week!  Two of our friends got baptized!!!  It's another crazy baptism story.  Not sure if I'll get one without weird problems haha. So it all started Tuesday February 6th.  There's a sister in the ward that was inactive for years, but she has decided to come back, and bring her 8 and 11 year-old daughters back with her.  On this tuesday, we already had a baptismal date for both of them, on February 25, but we were at this sister's house and she asked us, "Hey, can we do the baptism this Sunday instead?"  We said yes, of course, but after leaving her house we were freaking out a little!  (For context, this ward has an oddly strict policy that the ward needs a 10 day notice before a baptism to help prepare everything, which is dumb because they make the missionaries prepare everything.  I don't get it, but I just know last time we broke the policy, we were chewed out harshly by the Elders Quorum President and the 1st Counselor in the b...

Hey everyone!  Another week already! Ok... actually I feel like a lot happened this week, so buckle up.  We'll see how long this email is. First of all, imagine this... a Mexican missionary goes to the States for his mission.  He goes to a Mexican restaurant in his first area, wanting a little comfort food to remind of home.  He sees on the menu "Quesadilla".  As he is preparing his freshly learned English to order his food, he remembers that, in English, we pronounce certain letters differently.  He studies the menu carefully, until he confidantly stands in front of the expecting American employee, and orders a "Qu-e-saw-dil-a", carefully saying it the most American way he knows how.  Imagine the reaction of the american employee!  This mexican missionary couldn't even pronounce a spanish word right!  Imagine the mexican missionary and how foolish he feels! I think y'all know where I'm going with this... that happens to me A LOT.  But i...

Hi everyone!  Hope you're doing well!   This week was the weirdest roller-coaster of good and bad at the same time (mostly good).  Everyday I wake up thinking "I hope today is better than yesterday" and everyday it's not any better.  But the thing is, I love it.  I truly love it.  It doesn't matter what it is, my morning studies, teaching our friends, eating, walking in the heat, I love doing it.  That's one of the most important things I've learned over the last two weeks.  I've found that the best missionaries are always happy.  So, I determined that if I wanted to enjoy my mission, I had to be one of the best missionaries.  I know I haven't been out long, but even in my short time, I felt something wasn't quite right.  I found that I was striving for the wrong thing.  The best missionaries aren't so happy because they work so hard, are so obedient, and are so devoted.  The best missionaries are happy because they l...