In October, Aly was transferred to Minga Guazu to finish training Hermana Clavijo, a Sister from Uruguay. Minga Guazu is a HUGE area out in the campo (country) that used to be covered by 4 companionships.
This meant a lot of walking around, rain or shine, in a lot of red dirt. (Oh, and of course there were cows.)
The apartment in Minga Guazu also had a lot of bugs. Aly described it as some sort of broken-down cabin.
All was going well until Hermana Clavijo tripped and hurt her foot pretty badly. They went to the doctor and found out she would be okay, but needed to stay off her feet for a few weeks. This is not very conducive to missionary work, since you're supposed to be out talking to people about the gospel. Aly and her comp spent about a week trying to do what they could from the apartment, which was a huge mental challenge for Aly (and I'm sure her companion as well!) So, the mission president authorized a bunch of splits with other sister missionaries so Aly could get out to do the work and get to know the area while her companion rested her foot. Here are some pictures from the splits:
As the US is heading into Fall, Paraguay, along with the rest of South America, is heating up and heading into spring. Aly found that out with some nice sunburns.
Also, there were some random pictures of Aly at some sort of outdoor mall. (I'm assuming this is also an exchange day. It could also be the day they were getting their new companions, in which case these pics are way out of order - no surprise there!)
Here is a picture of Aly and her comp on a colectivo (bus) headed to either a doctor's appointment, for Aly to get her COVID vaccination, a district meeting, or zone conference. Since they are so far out in the country it often would take them most of the day to travel to any sort of civilization.
They were also able to do a bit of sightseeing with some other hermanas on a pday.
About this time in the mission, Aly started receiving packages for her birthday and Christmas as well, which was very exciting.
As challenging as this time was for Aly, she did start making progress, learned a lot about herself, and started finding investigators to progress the work. I have often heard that a mission is like a mini life within itself, full of challenges, rewards, surprises, and growth. You never know what is coming next, but you just have to roll with it and keep keepin' on. So grateful for Aly's hard work, grit, and resilience during hard times.
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