CALLED TO SERVE

(to hear the audio in the videos, you will need to scroll to the bottom of this page and pause the music first)

Ross opened his call. 

What?!?!?!  He'll be speaking Cree while serving in Regina??

Let's see what's in envelope #2

Hahaha!  Well played Uncle Kevin!

Ross will be serving in the Paraguay Asuncion North Mission! 

Spanish speaking 

He reports to the Provo MTC on August 25th, 2010

We're very excited for him (i think he's pretty excited too)

Paraguay is in the middle of South America.  It's one of only two completely landlocked countries in the Western hemisphere (it is bordered by Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil).  In the summer time (our winter) the 30 degree heat will often feel more like 40 celcius because of the humidity etc.  Ross may be a good person to send there - he isn't a huge fan of air-conditioning.  Paraguay is also one of the poorest countries in the world.  I'm thinking there will be many many opportunities to give meaningful service.  The rats, giant anteaters, tarantulas, poisonous snakes and jaguars might make for an interesting adventure.

Some other trivia bits:  Paraguay has a two-sided flag, meaning, that the front and the back of the flag are different from each other.  Immunizations include: Hep A&B, Tyhoid, and Yellow fever.  Malaria pills will be given by the mission home while he's there. Ross's good friend for the past 18 3/4 years will be serving in the same mission, he reported this week, so only 6 weeks ahead of Ross.

For more info on Paraguay:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pa.html

or

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1841.htm

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraguay