So today is the 6th month mark since I left the states. Since there isn't a whole lot going on right now, I guess I will talk about my life here. This place really feels like home now. Maybe not as much as St. Louis did, but I DID live there for 26 years... Anyway, things are pretty smooth for me in general.Right now, I am really starting to get into the rhythm of things. My Spanish is coming along nicely. I would say I am now an "intermediate speaker". I can understand maybe 45-50% of what is written/spoken(provided they don't speak too fast), but i still need to learn alot more grammar. Romance language grammar can definitely be tricky, and these conjugations do take some getting used to... But it is going pretty well for me. Aside from some amusing mistakes. I will give you two examples. The other day, i was at the Heladaria/Panadaria(Bakery/Ice Cream shop), and i wanted to ask for a cucharucha(ice cream cone), but instead I asked for a cucaracha(cockroach). Needless to say, I got a weird look from that. And the other was when i was writing on a friends wall, wishing them a happy anniversary, and many happy years together. Only instead of using the right word, años(years), I forgot the little squiggly line on top, and used the word anos(anuses) So I wished them many happy anuses together :P. Anyway, aside from things like that, I am doing pretty good. Right now I am volunteering at Kitty´s school a bit, and still hoping for a teaching job in the near future. I am also fixing up the house, cleaning and painting, so hopefully we can sell it sometime within the next year. We want to move to something smaller, simpler, and cheaper. I don't like living in such a big house. More of a target for robbery, more expensive to maintain, more taxes, more work to clean. I just want something small and functional. Also, I want a dog, and her parents won't let us have one in the house. That's another thing. As much as I like her parents, the goal is supposed to be us living on our own, and that's what I want to do. I want to be able to say "we own this house". Anyway, bye for now!

Teaching

Kitty and Eduarda

:-)

So alot has happened in the last month or so. The first is this: I do not know how many are aware of this, but I had some severe health problems about 3 weeks ago. I was hospitalized for about three days. For some reason, I was bleeding from my colon, and everytime I used the bathroom, I lost more blood. Finally my blood pressure got down to 80 over 50 and I got so weak I needed help to peel a banana. My arms and legs were getting cold, and they were starting to get numb. I did some research, and If there was no change, I would've died in about 6-8 hours. This is the closest I have ever come to dying, and It really scared me. To this day, I don't know why I survived. But something happened, and my blood pressure started returning to normal a few hours afterward. I would like to say my life flashed before my eyes, but honestly, I was barely conscious. But anyway, I survived it, and Here I am. It took weeks to regain my strength after that. I went to the hospital the next day. I was there for 2 days i think. The doctors did a colonoscopy, and that is how they found the problem. But they couldnt figure out WHY it happened, and we still don't know. Last Thursday, we had the memorial in English. It was really nice, and given by our CE, Eike Lantzsch. He is a brother from Germany, and one of the nicest, most caring people I've ever met. I'm starting to spend more time with him, going out with him in service on mondays, going for walks with him. He needs a friend because most of his friends moved back to Gemany, and I need one too, because I am trying to spend more time with spiritually mature brothers. After the Memorial, we went out with some friends to Tgi Fridays.(yes, they have them here too). It was alot of fun. And then yesterday, we had a huge going-away party for one of the sisters in our congregation. Its an American sister named Danielle. She has to go back to America for a while, but hopefully, she will be able to come back soon. It was TONS of fun. Lots of great food, REALLY nice people, and even entertainment. A Paraguayan sister showed us a dance,(video at the bottom) We had a HILARIOUS skit, and even played some games. At the end, we sang some kingdom songs in 3 different lamguages, English, Spanish, and German.(video also below) I think this was the first time I really understood how wonderful this worldwide brotherhood was. we had brothers and sisters from Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya, Britain, Australia, The U.S., Belgium, Paraguay, and Italy, and we were all together, and it felt like a family gathering. Lots of smiles and laughs, and hugs.