Zachary Justus Johnson

I remember that first day arriving in Asuncion. It was so hot and I was in my suit. I remember being in a van looking out the window and seeing the bustling city around me. Even at 6 in the morning it was so warm and humid. The whole country of Paraguay seemed a little post-apocalyptic to me. The dated and falling apart buildings all overgrown with vines and branches. Tons of trees. The power lines that seemed so tangled and messed up. Everything seemed slowly decaying. And it seemed that even though I was brand new and just starting, things were also ending. And in a way they were. I remember President Hansen taking us to the temple hostel where he told us that he only had 6 months left. He also said that even though he would leave before most of us reached a year on our mission, we would always be like his kids. Looking around at the mission office, with a ton of elders, I felt like I was home. I had parents and brothers and sisters and a place to stay. It was a good feeling. If on...

  Recently, we were walking through a field in a kind of back section of a neighborhood. There were not a lot of houses but we were looking for a member, someone that we were told lived back there. There were a few kids playing a game in the street called bat'e. To be honest I am not even sure how the game works. I believe it involves a bat (or whatever scrap piece of wood you can find) and two markers that could be bottles, bricks, or like a shoe or something. There are teams of two and your teammate pitches to you. The goal is to knock down the marker with your hit. If you don't and if you and your teammate both cross to the other marker at the same time, I think that's a point. While you are doing that however, the other team can pick up the ball and tag whoever is running across the line to prevent the point. I've never played but that's just what I've picked up from seeing it played. Anyway, we cross a bridge--made out of an old door--and just as we look up...