August 29, 2009

August 29, 2009

Dear Loved Ones,

Thank you for all the wonderful emails updating us on your comings and goings. It sounds like the summer season is moving into its final days back home with school starting for many of the young ones. We were excited to hear of Kyle’s first day of school and are so proud of his courage leave home each day to start his formal education. I can actually remember my first day of kindergarten over 50 years ago. We didn’t do much more than draw pictures, eat crackers, drink little boxes of milk, and take naps on a little piece of rug we were asked to bring. Our lives seem to move steadily along, filled with experiences made richer because of the gospel and our wonderful friends and family.

The week has gone by quickly as usual. We had a wonderful Sunday last week. We have been trying to visit a different branch or ward each week in an effort to meet more and more priesthood leaders and their families. Last Sunday we followed a map put together by the office missionaries and found a chapel in another section of Asuncion. As we drove up we were impressed to find a beautiful little chapel sitting on a nice corner lot on a busy street of this neighborhood. Sandy and I are beginning to feeling quite comfortable in getting around our part of the city now. With a map and a bit of tutoring from the office missionaries, we are able to find about any location. We feel very safe around the city. The people are nonthreatening and really quite cheerful. Anyway, we drove into the little enclosed area of the chapel that contains the basketball court and parked by the back entrance. There to meet us was the stake president, President Daniano, who greeted us warmly and gave me a big abrazo (hug). He is a bit older than me and from Uruguay originally. He has been serving for about 8 years. We visited for a few minutes and then he invited Sandy and me to sit with him on the stand. He invited us to share a few thoughts before his concluding message. The ward was really great. The chapel was quite full with many young families. Many seemed well established with work. There was a great spirit of unity and maturity. There really is something to be said about the strength of stakes in the Church. The sacrament was provided by a full complement of Aaronic Priesthood holders. The bishopric member conducting the meeting was polished and prepared. The first talk was very well prepared and delivered. It was wonderful to see. We have sister missionaries serving in the ward. I am grateful they are serving in a positive, mature area. Sandy shared a few thoughts and a sweet testimony and then I spoke. I share a few thoughts about the development of the Church in South America since my days as a full-time missionary in the 70’s. I share my experience in the temple the other day watching the youth of Paraguay participating in baptisms for the dead and how I was overwhelmed with emotion as I watched them and thought of the long wait for the Saints in South America to have access to a temple. I mentioned how as a young missionary in 1975 I had attended a conference in Buenos Aires during which President Kimball announced that the Church would build a temple in South America and how wonderful the outpouring of the Spirit was in the moment the announcement was made. I bore my testimony and concluded. President Damiano then stood and expressed the feeling that is it not by chance that things happen the way they do in the Church. He then turned to me and announced that he had been in that same meeting 34 years ago when the temple announcement was made. With great emotion he too shared his feelings about the growth of the Church in his desire to see further growth. He concluded and sat down and as I thanked him for his wonderful message, there was an immediate bond between us. I love that about the Church. A little over an hour before I had never met this brother and then during the course of visiting and listening to his message, I feel as if I have known him for many years. He escorted us outside to our car and we were off to continue our Sabbath worship. Sunday evening we backed our bags for a week on the road. Early Monday morning we were off for interviews and zone conferences, first heading east towards Ciudad del Este. We stopped first in Coronel Olviedo to interview the zone members there and to check on a few missionary apartments. The apartments left much to be desired and Sister Callan did a great job of lovingly, yet firmly, letting the missionaries know what she expected of them as far as cleanliness was concerned. Then we were off to Ca’aguasu for more interviews. We finished the day staying at the Ventanas Hotel in Ciudad del Este. We enjoy staying there. It is quiet, clean, and safe. I think Sandy and I will most likely stay there when we are in Ciudad del Este. One night, after a long day of conference and interviews, Sandy and I went down to the restaurant to have a quiet dinner. I’ve written about the dinner we had there a few weeks ago. The restaurant was not quite open so we went outside and sat by the pool and chatted a bit and looked at the moon and stars. We weather is beginning to get a bit warmer. Spring is definitely in the air. We had a very attentive waiter during our first meal there and I was looking for him this time as well. And sure enough, he walked over to us a poolside and informed us that the restaurant was now open and invited us to come inside with him. He mentioned that he remembered us from before and even took us to “our table”. We had a delicious meal and joked a bit with the waiter about this and that. He said he would look for us every 6 weeks when we come to the city for conferences. I think he likes us and we surely like him. After our conference in Ciudad del Este, we visited a few apartments, conducted more interviews and then headed out of the city towards Encarnacion. The sugar cane, soy, and wheat fields are so pretty right now. More and more of the flowering trees are coming out in bloom, now. All along the road are seen little roadside stands selling local fruits, honey, breads, and other handmade items. One little town is known for handmade hammocks and they are on display outside the little shops as you drive through the city. The next town specializes in wooden furniture, the next soccer balls, the next little ceramic figures of all types and sizes, and the next local fabrics. It is very colorful and fun. We arrived in Encarnacion and checked into the motel after a quick bite of food at an outdoor restaurant. We visited a missionary apartment. This one was the cleanest and most organized of all. The senior companion was an Argentine sergeant in the army and can’t stand a bed that isn’t made just so. The Argentine missionaries especially like to visit with me because of my Argentine roots developed during my first mission. They all speak very fast with a distinct accent. Some of our Latin missionaries from countries other than Argentina can’t understand the Argentine elders. Most of the Latin American missionaries are learning English and like to try to impress us with their English. Most are doing well. One likes to us the words “him” and “he” when referring to his girlfriend rather than “her” and “she”. It is really quite funny. We then had our fourth and final zone conference of this series and did the concluding interviews. I find the interviews to be the most taxing for me emotionally and spiritually. I want so much to give good counsel and direction as the missionaries share their challenges and successes. They also have many questions about the doctrines of the Church and their application to missionary work. Many are confronted by investigators with challenging questions and like to bounce them off me for my input. The hardest part of the interviewing process is keeping it within a reasonable length of time. We have around 170 missionaries now and soon we will have 190 and I interview them at least every 6 weeks. We also have them spread out around a mission about the size of the northern half of California. Of course the hardest part of the interviews is trying to help the missionaries through periods of self-doubt, homesickness, feelings of unworthiness, and even depression. Some are dealing with challenges at home. I must admit that I have wanted to call a few parents to chastise them for causing great worry in their missionary children because they can’t get their acts together at home. I am grateful that the Spirit has helped me remember scriptures, statements by the Brethren, and experiences in my own life that have helped as we counsel together. Priesthood blessings have become a much needed part of seeking the Lord’s help. Most of all, I am grateful for the gift of Christ-like love that has filled my heart for the missionaries. These are young, inexperienced, ordinary young people who have been called upon to do extraordinary things and they truly accomplish amazing things here. We ask them to go into remote areas and to the members living off the beaten path, these young missionaries are the Church. Some are serving as branch presidents and do it well. Preach My Gospel has helped them become powerful teachers and testifiers of truth. Yes, at times I want to ring their necks when they do something ill-advised and then I just stand in awe as they teach with such faith and power. What the Church accomplishes through these young missionaries is truly a modern day miracle.

Sister Callan has also been distributing a strong bug spray to be used on bedding and clothing as we move into the warmer, bug biting season. We mixed and labeled about 170 bottles of the stuff. I gave the vaccines to those missionaries needed them also. One missionary called the other day and wanted to let Sister Callan know that a worm crawled out of his nose! Sister Callan actually took that news quite calmly. The area doctor thought it was just an inhaled egg that hatched rather than a full-blown infestation. Another missionary passed a kidney stone recently. Sister Callan helped him find his way to a hospital to get some tests and medications to help pass the stone. He wrote in his letter to me that he feels like he has now given birth. I responded that a fitting name for his little one would be “Rocky”.

Well, we interviewed Friday morning and headed home completing the final leg of the trip by Friday evening. In all we covered around 800 miles in 5 days. As we were leaving Encarnacion, a few missionaries and a member expressed excitement that I would be speaking in District Priesthood meeting this Sunday. I was not planning on coming right back (250 miles one way) on Sunday after leaving on Friday to head back to Asuncion. When I mentioned this they seemed disappointed and mentioned that it had been announced in all the meetings of the branches (11 total) the previous Sunday. I’m not sure where that news came from. One wonderful brother said he was hoping that I could visit with him about helping his wife have a desire to be active in the Church and to be sealed to him. Well, you can imagine how I felt driving home yesterday. I had to come back to Asuncion because of a scheduled Saturday council meeting with Elder Avila, an Area Seventy, from Buenos Aires. This morning (Saturday) I got up, called one of my counselors in the mission presidency who was planning to attend the meeting in my absence, and told him I had decided to drive back on Sunday morning for the meeting. It is hard to say no to people that have such faith in my calling as the mission president. The best part of the 500 mile round trip will be the time Sandy and I will have alone visiting about things. It really is a blessing to be with her. She is making sandwiches right now to eat on the trip so we don’t have to make any purchases on Sunday. As we move about doing the things we do there are still those moments when our eyes meet and without saying anything we silently communicate our love for each other and for the gospel and the amazing reality that we are LIVING IN PARAGUAY! We can say we are embracing it all…the traffic, the constant phone calls, the sleepless nights, the new language and culture, the sights and sounds and smells, the food, the beautiful people and especially the precious little children. The constants are you, our friends and family, the gospel, the Spirit, and our Savior’s love and support. We sign off for another week as we send our love and deepest appreciation. Mark and Sandy

August 22, 2009 Pictures!

August 22, 2009

Dear Loved Ones,

We have enjoyed another busy week here in the mission. We really have come to believe that this is the best mission in the world. The missionaries, not without their challenges, are filled with desire and great potential. The people here are ready for the message. What remains is for all of us to do our part and the Lord will bless us with many more new members, committed to living up to the standards of worthiness. We are blessed with a temple here and that fact alone has brought a wonderful maturing to so many of our people here. When the saints here have received all of the available ordinances of the gospel it is a powerful thing. You can see it in their eyes, hear it in their voices, and feeling it in their spirits. Is there any wonder why the Lord so early on in this dispensation called upon His people to build temples? President Udall of the temple, he himself a former mission president, has made the temple available to the missionaries. We permit the missionaries to go twice during their missions and once when they leave. We also allow missionaries who are serving close to the temple to attend sealing sessions with those they have taught and baptized. When our missionaries attend the temple they go during the least productive proselyting hours. President Udall greets them and speaks to them for 30 minutes about the positive effect the temple can have on recent converts. He discusses the post-baptism lesson we teach to recent converts about temple and family history work and reminds the missionaries of the availability of the baptistery for new members. It really is a great message. The missionaries then participate in all of the ordinances of the temple, minus baptisms. They are in and out in four hours. Our missionaries are going by zone right now on Tuesday mornings and we should complete this cycle in a few weeks. I have been reading a book on the history of the Church in Paraguay and it is really interesting because it has many ties to the history of the Church in Argentina. Many of the wonderful saints we have met here are mentioned in the book. It is very interesting and inspiring how when the work commences in an area of the world, a number of prepared families are found very quickly and they form the foundation of faithful saints for generations to come. My two counselors are part of this group of Paraguayan member pioneers. The temple sits on the site of the original church-built chapel in Asuncion. That building was built in the early 60’s and was named the Moroni Chapel. Robert Wells, Emeritus General Authority, was a prominent banking executive here in Asuncion in the 60’s and participated in the building of the chapel through his donated labor along with church labor missionaries. Because of his prominence in the business community, his membership in the church attracted great interest in the new chapel and the Church. I believe his daughter, Sharlene Wells, who later became Miss America, was born here and learned to play the harp here. That original Moroni chapel was dedicated by Thomas Fyans of the Seventy when it was completed. He was also a mission president here years ago. I note with interest that he also dedicated our stake center in Farmington! I remember meeting Gene R. Cook many years ago when I was a missionary in Argentina and he worked for the Church. He appeared one day at our mission office in Rosario on an assignment from Church Headquarters. We spent the day with him and learned much from him, especially his love for and use of the Book of Mormon in sharing the gospel. He was called as a General Authority a few years later. He later became the president of the mission that included Paraguay and now I am here. It is a small and very special world we enjoy here in the Church. The original Moroni Chapel was torn down to build the temple. Elder Clayton of the Seventy mentioned to us that when the chapel was torn down a local Christian church placed a banner on their nearby church announcing that the “Mormons” were leaving Asuncion. They quickly took the banner down when the temple construction began! The Church also purchased a beautiful old mansion next to the temple site and, after building a beautiful new chapel, connected the remodeled mansion to the church. The entire block is now part of the temple/chapel complex. There was an old taxi stand on one side of the block where taxis would line up waiting for fares. As a goodwill gesture, the Church also built a new station for the taxis to use as an office area for the company. All seem to be happy. Across the street from the Temple Block is what is called PBO (Presiding Bishopric Office) where Church Distribution is located. They also have the administrative offices for the Church employees in this area. There are many young very talented members of the Church who work for the Church in this area. Many are returned missionaries. A mission can change everything for our young people and I have especially seen that here in Paraguay. Many of the bishops and stake presidents here were missionaries 10 years or less ago.

We bid farewell to a few more missionaries this week. They were wonderful missionaries and we will miss them very much. We also assisted in getting a missionary home for some medical treatment. We pray things will go well for him and that he can return within a number of months. The missionary with adult onset chicken pox was well enough to send back out into his area and that was a relief. He reminded me of the description of Job of the Old Testament, walking around with these large, boil-like pox all over him. I’m glad he’s back proselyting. The weather this week has been cool again. Today is very clear and sunny with a bit of a pleasant breeze. We spent the last two days involved with zone conference with 5 of our 11 zones. We can complete the conference cycle by conducting 4 conferences, combining adjacent zones. Two of the conferences were held in the chapel next to the mission office on Thursday and Friday and the others we will be next week in Cuidad del Este and Encarnacion. These were our first zone conferences since arriving so we focused on the theme of “unity of purpose”. We had a great Spirit during the conferences. Missionaries come very ready to learn. They are a unique group in that they are daily studying the gospel and focused on the first principles and ordinances. Their questions are wonderful and sometimes challenging. It is so enjoyable being with them. We are really striving to be on the same page with the Bretheren and Preach My Gospel is the way to do it. The manual contains doctrine and principles that will lead the reader to personal conversion and in carrying out our missionary duties. This must be a Preach My Gospel mission! Sister Callan gave a wonderful presentation on the spiritual side of proper hygiene and health practices. She shared a number of wonderful scriptures with the missionaries along with some Powerpoint slides and did it all in Spanish. I focused on being exactly obedient and combining that with faith (works) to be worthy of the Lord’s blessings as missionaries. We also emphasized planning well each day and a number of specific concerns observed by us since arriving. The Spirit was very strong throughout the day. The missionaries love being together and that is great to see. During lunch, Sister Callan recognized those who had had birthdays since the last conference and then distributed brownies to everyone. After the conference, I was in my office giving vaccinations to those missionaries needing them. Sister Callan has asked me to do that because she hasn’t figured out how to give an injection and faint at the same time. She’ll get better. The missionaries were afraid that I was going to give them their injections in the mouth, given my former life as a dentist, and with a few I led them to believe that I was going to do just that. But I calmed them down with the truth and things went well. We also distributed bottles of bug spray to all of the missionaries to use on their clothes and bedding in that we are moving into bug season. Next week we head off for a week of travel, interviewing, and zone conferences for the rest of the mission. The Assistants will now be with us in our car since we lost the truck they were using. I also have a teleconference with the Area Presidency and the other 13 mission presidents in the Area on Thursday at 7am our time. I am looking forward to that. I just have to figure out how to connect with them when we’re on the road. I think we call Church Headquarters in Salt Lake and they connect us all. I am also reviewing how local missionaries are called to serve “mini missions” here in our mission. There has been a bit of a disconnect with the local leadership and the mission. Recently, a number of local missionaries were “recruited” by the full-time missionaries and sent out to areas to serve as companions to full-time missionaries without the knowledge of their local leadership. That cannot happen and so we are working on following the guidelines in the handbook. It’s just a matter of teaching the missionaries to understand and respect lines of authority. Sister Callan and I were commenting the other day on how fun it will be to do our little part in establishing the Church here in the mission. We are standing on the shoulders of many wonderful leaders and we are humbled by all that has occurred over the decades here. It is exhausting but very gratifying work. Today is P-Day and we have invited the office missionaries to come over for lunch and a ping pong tournament at the mission home. They are fun to have around. They are constantly asking is there is anything they can do for us! Well, things are great here and we are happy and healthy and have no problems sleeping when the day in through. We think of you often and feel so blessed to have such support. Our lives have been so enriched by all of you. We feel your prayers and faith. We enjoy our periodic emails from you and the occasional phone calls. We are grateful for the support we feel in caring for our children, especially our two youngest daughters. We could not ask for a better group of family and friends. We send our love and our testimonies that Heavenly Father lives and that Jesus is the Christ. We feel their presence each day. Especially we have become keenly aware of their love for this people. This humble, happy people have quickly found a place in our hearts. They will occupy this spot in our hearts forever and ever. Until next week, we send our love, President and Hermana Callan

Pictures August 15, 2009!

Our office elders

Our 20 new missionaries

Temple grounds at night

Temple at night

Departing 6 missionaries after the temple

Sandy and I with our assistants

Our 6 departing missionaries

Elder Beardall- New missionary

Elder Ha-o leaving for Hawaii-one of our favorites

The zone leaders after training meeting

August 15, 2009

August 15, 2009
Greetings from Paraguay. We enjoyed our busy week with many new experiences. We continue to do many things for the “first time” and hopefully that list is getting shorter. The people are wonderful and kind and helpful and we are feeling very comfortable living here. The weather is starting to change a bit in that it is starting to feel warmer. We have been told that there are about three weeks of cool weather here and the remainder of the year is hot or really hot. I am glad I brought a few short sleeved shirts with me to wear under my suit jackets. If anyone comes down in the next few years to visit us I may have them bring a couple of short sleeved white shirts. I should be fine though with what I have. We started off the week welcoming in on Tuesday 20 new missionaries, five from the MTC in Buenos Aires and 15 from the MTC in Provo. We also welcomed another Provo MTC missionary, Elder Beardall, to the mission on Thursday after he had spent 4 months in the MTC healing from knee surgery after an injury playing soccer there. He was really ready to get down here. I’ll say more about him in a moment. Anyway, we also said goodbye to 6 wonderful missionaries finishing their missions. “Change Week”, as it is called, is a week of great excitement here in the mission. It is a week when we see missionaries come and missionaries go. They cross paths in the office and it is interesting to see the changes that have occurred during the course of a mission. This new group of missionaries was so excited to be here in the field. They arrive on the 10:20 am flight from Buenos Aires and you can imagine what it is like to have 20 missionaries and their luggage all coming off the plane. Most of them have not traveled before and so it is a bit scary for them to have to go through the immigrations section and then the customs section. We have been able to arrange with the airport security officials to allow Sister Callan and I to go past the security gate and position ourselves where we can direct the missionaries through these two check points. It is fun to see them come off the plane and see their faces change from questioning, nervous looks to smiles when they see Sister Callan and me waiting standing there. We are able to give them big hugs and welcome them to the mission and then help them with their luggage. This time we hired a truck to carry their luggage from the airport to the office and after giving them a chance to freshen up, we took them to have a meal at a nice restaurant nearby. It is the Chinese restaurant and the missionaries are really quite surprised that we have Chinese food here. Several from the states told us that they had stuffed themselves full of Panda Express food at the Atlanta airport thinking it would be the last Chinese food for two years. After lunch I interviewed them all and finalized my impressions about companions and areas for their first assignment. This new group is wonderful and so excited about the work. They have many questions. They were then oriented doing things in our mission. Sister Callan visits with them about health issues and the office elder present training on financial issues, mail issues, mission rules issues, etc. After the training we have Pizza Hut Pizza delivered and they then come to the mission home for desert and a testimony meeting. They get a good night’s sleep and then they meet their companions and head out to their areas. I met with the trainers before they meet their companions and share my thoughts and expectations concerning their very important assignment. In between all of this I have been conducting final interviews with the 6 missionaries leaving. After the new missionaries left for their areas on Wednesday, we took the departing missionaries to dinner and then to the temple. Two of the missionaries leaving had parents with them and so it was nice to get to know them. At the conclusion of the session the Temple President, President Udall, takes us into a sealing room and we are participate in sealings as he teaching the departing missionaries about their responsibility to now get married. The parents who came serve with their missionaries as proxies. It is really beautiful to see. Two of the missionaries leaving have been serving in the office with us and both are from Hawaii. It was especially tender saying goodbye to them. By next week we will have seen three new missionaries come into the office. One as an assistant (Elder Barate), one as my secretary (Elder Wilkes), and one who oversees the records (ElderVance). They are wonderful. We can see that one of the great blessings for us will be getting to know these office missionaries so well while they serve here. It also makes it especially hard to say goodbye. We then had a testimony meeting at our home with desert. They all cried like babies as they expressed their love for their missions and the people. We cried as well as we shared our testimonies. One of the great things that the missionaries learn here is that with the Lord’s help you can overcome all challenges. It is good for these missionaries to have to sacrifice the comforts of home for a something more important. What a great blessing it is for them to now go home knowing that they are tackle a tough assignment and make it. In the midst of all of these emotional days of saying “hello” and “goodbye”, we also , heartbreakingly, saw another missionaries return home early to clear up some things from before the mission. If we could only get our young men and women to take care of things before they come, it would save so much of heartbreak for themselves and their families. I find that for the missionaries leaving early it is a relief in a way because they don’t have to secretly carry this burden any longer but it destroys parents and sibling and that begins to dawn on them when they pick up the phone and call their parents to explain their early release. I hear the cries of anguish coming from the phone as I sit next to the missionary as they inform their parents. It also is hard calling a stake president and having to let them know of what will happen with their missionary. In my heart I know that for certain issues they must return home but it is still very sad.
On Friday we held our first Leadership conference with the Zone leaders of the mission and a fine group of leaders they are! Our focus was “Unity of Purpose” and we spend the conference focusing on the Doctrine of the Savior as recorded in 2 Nephi 31. We felt a good Spirit there. Sister Callan spoke about the importance of taking care of ourselves spiritually and physically, including the importance of cleaning and organizing where we live. She did a great joy using a Powerpoint and speaking all in Spanish. It was great to teach with her. During a break our assistants informed me that one of their investigators had come to the church to find them. He is a good young man whose wife is a less-active member. They have been having problems in the marriage. He is bright and capable and needs the gospel. They took me to meet with him in the hall. As I shook his hand I felt to tell him that his only hope was to be baptized and then asked him if he would be. My assistants, standing behind him, had looks of surprise come over their faces as they listened to my invitation. He answered that he would be baptized! I embraced him and went back into the meeting to continue training. The Lord finds ways to help us live what we teach. We begin another round of interviews for the whole mission next week as well as Zone conferences. We will be in town next week but then heading out of town again the following week. We also received word that Elder Bowen, the Area President, will be coming to a district conference in a couple of months and has asked me to accompany him. Elder Avila, an Area Seventy, is also coming to a district conference in a few weeks as well and I will go with him and help teach and train. And in September Elder Aidukaitis, as I mentioned previously, will come. It looks like he will also go with us over to Iguasu Falls as part of that mission tour. We will try to see the falls from the Argentina and Brazil sides. It will be nice to have a day to relax in the midst of the mission tour and “pick the brain” of a General Authorty.
Today is our P-Day (supposedly!). I got up and we were ready to exercise but the phone rang and a branch president from a branch a couple of hours from here let me know that he was with a group from his branch on a bus headed towards Asuncion to go to the temple and he had a couple on board who were going to receive their endowment and to be sealed and needed interviews with me. I interview all of the first-time endowment seeking members in the mission districts. He said they would be at the temple by 9am. I got dressed and headed over to the temple and waited for them. I was met by the temple president and he mentioned that while I waited he would let me watch our missionaries working in the baptistery. It is the P-Day of the office missionaries and a number of them wanted to go with a number of the members to the temple and provide priesthood support for the youth being baptized. It was a powerful experience for me. As I drove up to the temple, there were little children begging across the street and that is always a challenging site because many of them are the ages of our young grandchildren. I had this image of these poor children in my mind as I entered the temple. To then immediately see perhaps 20 little children waiting to be sealed to their parents and then a baptistery filled with youth filled me with the thoughts of the power of the “rescue” that the gospel provides to Heavenly Father’s children. I sat in the baptistery and studied the artwork on the walls. One painting depicts the Savior being baptized. On the opposite wall is a painting of the event in 3rd Nephi of the Savior blessing children and the angels of heaven coming down to administer to them. It is especially striking to see the beautiful contrast of the dark hair and complexions of the saints here with the white clothing of the temple. It was a wonderful time for me. Anyway, the busload of Saints arrived at 10:30am. I find that “arriving at 9am” means arriving sometime within a few hours of 9am. The temple president let me use an office and I interviewed these members (the original number of one couple had grown to 7 receiving their endowment for the first time). They got off the bus, walked over to the bishop’s storehouse to purchase garments, and then walked across the street to the temple. They arrived with their bundles of garments and were welcomed into an environment that many had never experienced unless they had come to do baptisms. They are nervous and excited and are met by loving, overworked temple workers who show them what to do. I conducted the interviews and as I left a large group from Argentina was arriving and I met a few who had been baptized while I was serving there by missionaries I knew on my mission. They were from a stake in Formosa where during my time only a small branch had existed. One young man asked to have his picture taken with me. After the picture taking he stated that he hoped one day soon to be called to serve in our mission. I’m made to feel so loved and respected here by Saints I have never met. It is humbling and motivating. I want to be the best person I can be for these humble, faithful people.
I got home from the temple and gave hepatitis shots to a sister getting ready for her mission. We do it all here! I also cut Sandy’s hair last night! We are trying to save the mission money so we are doing things bargain basement! She also cuts my hair. It has been a great week and we look forward to many more ahead. Technology is wonderful! We enjoyed very much listening to Robert’s KBYU radio piece online about the catholic cathedral in Salt Lake City. Great voice and wonderful talent, Robert! The cathedral is not far from my old office. Wow! Being a dentist seems so long ago and in another life! I guess it does seem like another life ago, judging by the new experiences we have had since being called. We love it here. We love everything that comes with it. We love you all and are so happy with how you love the Lord and His gospel. We are always in His debt. I feel that each and every day. Have a great week. Love, President and sister Callan

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Temple

Gordon and Emolyn Wilson, MTC President

View from their Hotel

Casa Rosada, the equivalent of the white house in Argentina.

Mom and the other mission president's wives.

In front of Luna Park where Dad attended a conference as a young elder.

August 8, 2009

We had another busy week here in the mission. It seems like these weeks fly by. It continues to be hard keeping track of time but we are adjusting. We started off the week welcoming a new missionary into the office to replace Elder Olson as my secretary. Elder Olson will be hard to replace. He has such a wonderfully kind and pure spirit. I would love him to date one of our daughters but that discussion would be for another time. He will be a BYU study in about a year. We brought Elder Wilkes into the office to begin training for the assignment and he will be great. He is a very humble, hard working Elder who was surprised by the new assignment. We are excited to get to know him better. Elder Ho from Hawaii and Elder Vreeken, also from Hawaii will also be leaving this week for home. They have been serving in the office as well. Elder Ho’s replacement, Elder Vance has been here training for a number of weeks and is doing just fine. Elder Vreeken has been serving as one of my assistants and I will be assigning a missionary from Uruguay to replace him. This new assistant will has a very powerful, focused spirit and is highly respected by the other missionaries. He is older (27) and had to receive special permission to serve a mission at that age and he has made the most of it. He has baptized in every area he has served in and has developed into a wonderful teaching. He doesn’t know about his new assignment yet. I will call him tomorrow with the assignment. Sandy and I went over last night to the home of one of this elder’s recent convert families. They have a little boy of 10 years who had a high fever when younger which induced a seizure. It left the boy quite hyperactive and the bishop wanted me to interview the boy to see if he needed baptism or if he was not accountable because of the neurological damage caused by the seizure. We were met at the home by the mother of the boy. She greeted us warmly and thanked us for coming over to interview her son. We visited in the living room for a few minutes with the whole family. As we visited the 5 year old daughter brought little gifts to each one of us that she had found around the house. She brought Sandy a little paper flower and to me she gave a little pamphlet with different types of motorcycles that could be ordered. It was really sweet. The children here are just adorable. There little smiling faces just warm our hearts. It is hard to describe it but we can see them, as it were, through the Savior’s eyes and feel how He must have felt when he called the children to Him to bless them. We are especially grateful to know that the children of our members will have the gospel in their lives as they grow and develop. We regularly see the children of the streets, very poor and oft times alone, begging for money or selling something. The streets are so busy with cars and trucks and yet when traffic stops for a moment, these little ones weave their way through the cars tapping on windows seeking a response from the car’s occupants. We feel to give them all we have. We are left with such an empty, sad feeling for these little innocent children as we drive away. The challenge of poverty is very real here. It makes you long for the speedy return of the Lord to put an end to this. In the meantime we do what we can in spreading the hope of the gospel. As I had mentioned, we went to this home to interview the young boy for baptism. Sometimes I need to interview baptismal candidates because of special circumstances. This little boy represented one of these special circumstances. After a few minutes of visiting, the family, Sister Callan, and the missionaries left Jose and me alone for the interview. The mother brought some pictures of gospel subjects (First Vision, the Savior’s baptism, etc) that she thought could help me during the interview. As we began to visit, this hyperactive little boy sat down in a chair across from me quietly responded to my questions. I asked about the Prophet Joseph and after telling me that they shared the same name, he told me of the First Vision and that Joseph had seen the Father and the Son and that someday little Jose hoped to see them as well and live with them forever. I showed him the picture the Savior’s baptism and asked Jose what this picture meant to him. He said it represented the baptism of the Savior and then asked if he could be baptized like Jesus. He said he wanted to be clean like Jesus. Did tears come? You bet they did! My thought was only how much I hope that one day I can be as pure as little Jose was at that moment. I asked a few more questions and was satisfied. I told Jose that he would be baptized and be blessed with the Holy Ghost and asked him if he had any other questions. He only had one. “Will I get to eat cake after my baptism?” Wow! Jose and I then rejoined the family and I told his mother that I felt that the baptism of Jose would go forward. His mother was happy and excited. Her recently baptized husband, Jose’s father, would have the privilege of provided the ordinance for his son. Isn’t the gospel great! We left happy and edified.

We arose early Tuesday morning (3:00am) to get out to the airport for a flight to Buenos Aires for our new president’s seminar with the Area Presidency. We had a nice flight. We use a Brazilian Airlines company can TAM. Their planes are very modern and the service is very attentive. We were served a nice breakfast of eggs and sausage. We arrived on time in Buenos Aires, passed through immigrations and customs easily, and were picked up by a driver who took us to the temple in Buenos Aires. We left our bags in an office of the temple and prepared to attend the 9am session. As I got dressed before the session, I noticed a temple worker whose face seemed familiar. As I got closer I could read his nametag: Ronaldo Walter. This was the same Elder Walker who had served with me years ago in the Rosario Argentina Mission. I walked up to him and reintroduced myself to him and we embraced and shared a few minutes of sweet reminiscing about shared companions, cities we served in, and life since the mission. He was pleased to see that I had returned to South America as a mission president. The “Walker” name is a familiar name to members of the Church in Buenos Aires. They are Argentine members of English decent. The English were involved in the building of railroads many years ago in Argentina and many stayed in the country. The Walker family was one of them. I felt so blessed that we had been brought together again for a few minutes and thought about how Alma and the Sons of Mosiah must have felt upon seeing one another again. We were still strong in the faith and doing what we could to establish the Church wherever called to serve. Sandy and I completed the session and spent a few minutes in the Celestial Room. It is nice to have some quiet time and the temple sure provides that. After the session, we got word through Brother Walker that President Wilson (2^nd cousin) and his wife were waiting to see us at the MTC located across the street from the temple. We got our luggage and headed across the street. We were met at the door by two fine looking brethren who worked with the Wilsons at the MTC. They took our luggage and escorted us to where Gordon and Emolyn were. It was so nice to see them and to exchange hugs and greetings. They took us to the cafeteria area where we had a delicious lunch prepared by a wonderful staff in the kitchen area. We visited for a few minutes as the other new presidents and their wives arrived one by one from the airport. While Gordon taught a class, Emolyn took us on a tour of the MTC. We met many of the fine young Elders and Sisters in training there. We especially enjoyed meeting 5 missionaries in training who will be coming to our mission next week. The Wilsons sure work hard. The Spirit in the MTC is powerful. The facility is housed in one building. Many of the windows offer a beautiful view of the temple and grounds. After Gordon’s class we walked around the grounds of the temple and learned that it would be closed for several years for a major renovation beginning in November. We then visited in Gordon’s office and as Emolyn and Sandy visited, they learned that Emolyn’s family also had roots in Baker Oregon like Sandy’s. In fact, after visiting with Sandy’s mother upon our return to Asuncion, we learned that Sandy’s Grandfather Glen and Emolyn’s grandfather had hunted and fished together years ago in the canyons around Baker. Sandy and Emolyn were so happy to make that connection. After pictures and goodbyes, wour group of 4 new presidents and wives were picked up and off we went to downtown Buenos Aires to check into the Hilton Hotel where the training seminar would be held. That night we were met by the Area Presidency of the South America South Area and treated to a lovely dinner and conversation. These great leaders and their wives are truly impressive people. All of the presidency are members of the 1^st Quorum of the Seventy. President Shane Bowen (Idaho Falls) is the president of the Area with Elder Claudio Zivic (Argentina), 1st Counselor, and Marcos A. Aidukaitis(Brazil) as 2^nd Counselor. Wednesday was filled with great training by these Brethren and their wives. Our questions were answered as they helped us recognize the importance of the missionary effort and the responsibility we have to nurture and train the missionaries. We finished the afternoon session excited about getting back to our missions to implement the insights and impressions received. We had a few hours before having to head back to the airport so we all went for a walk around a beautiful waterfront area in a new section of Downtown Buenos Aires. It was sunny and just the right temperature. Many new buildings are being built in this area that has undergone a modernization project over that last few years. Many old waterfront buildings have been renovated and turned into shops and restaurants and condos. It was really quite impressive. I will send some pictures to Sara for the blog. During our walk we passed by a building that brought back great memories for me personally. It is the downtown auditorium called “Luna Park” which is like the Marriot Center on BYU campus. This was the site many years ago of a 4 country conference for the Church which I attended with Elder Carpenter and two investigator families. It was during that conference that President Kimball who was presiding, announced that the Church would build a temple in Brazil, the first in South America. It was a powerful experience that I will never forget. As I shared that experience with the other mission presidents and their wives, the wife of President Detlefson, from Argentina, reported that she had also been at that conference as a 14 year girl singing the choir! Small world! We returned to the hotel to await our rides to the airport and said our goodbyes until our November training meetings. Elder Bednar is coming to that meeting which will probably be in Uruguay because the temple in Argentina will be closed. We flew out of Buenos Aires late that night and arrived back in Asuncion at about 11pm. The Assistants met us and took us home. The next day we were back at the office conducting the business of the mission with interviews, making plans for upcoming training meetings, and working on transfers. We receive 20 new missionaries this week and send 6 back home. Today is official P-Day but I had a couple of interviews this morning of a young man for the temple and a branch president. The young man begins his mission this week at the MTC in Buenos Aires and I will set him apart on Wednesday. His name is Elder Zorrilla from a small branch, Ayolas, in the southern part of Paraguay. He came with his father to the mission office early this morning after an all night bus ride. He will go to the temple to receive his endowment this afternoon. I told him to tell President Wilson that he knows me. Today was the first time I have met the young man and he seemed quite excited and a little nervous about everything. We spent some time together visiting about the mission and the temple and then I conducted the interview. He will be going to Uruguay to serve his mission. I then met with a branch president who had a few questions about a welfare matter. Sandy and I then did our weekly grocery shopping and came back home to do a few personal things like writing this weekly letter. I spoke this week with the temple president, President Udall from Meza Arizona, about scheduling missionary temple visits and he was so kind and helpful. He likes the missionaries to come for 4 hours and he arranges for them to experience the ordinances of the temple and he speaks to them about missionary work and the temple. He is a former mission president in Buenos Aires and has been serving here for a year or so as the temple president. He and his wife are really sweet people. Well this week will be a busy one. Tomorrow we will be trying to meet another stake president and begin to establish a good relationship. Working with the members of the Church in missionary effort is really the key to lasting success so I really feeling a need to get to know all of the wonderful leaders and their wives here in the mission and offer our support. As I mentioned, we are gearing up to receive the new missionaries as we enter a phase of growing the size of the mission over the next few months. The work is progressing along but there is much to do to improve. We sense that there is a need to return to the fundamentals of missionary work as described in Preach My Gospel and that is what we are going to do here in the mission. We are in the process of updating a very outdated manual that the new missionaries have been receiving when they arrive here that predates Preach My Gospel and therefore doesn’t even refer to Preach My Gospel. To standardize the missionary materials we are eliminating much of what is contained in this mission manual and only retaining health and other materials relating specifically to this mission(currency, legal documents, culture, etc). All that the missionaries really need they have in the Missionary Handbook, the scriptures, the missionary gospel library, and Preach My Gospel.

Well, I’ll finish off this weekly letter and, as always, we send our love to the best group of family and friends on earth. We feel so blessed to be here. We feel your support and thank you for all you do. Until next week……President and Sister Callan

Pictures!

This is a picture of the garbage man.
It seems so primitive but yet, he's texting on his cell phone in this picture! Mom and Dad say it's interesting how technology is everywhere.
People who live in just dirt floored huts still have cell phones!

If you look closely in this picture you can see red mounds. Those are actually ant hills. They can get up to 4 or 5 feet tall and as hard as cement!

Three of the office elder's had birthdays.

August 2, 2009

Long letter this week!

August 2, 2009

The week has flown by with many exciting and challenging experiences. Last Sunday we arose early (all of the meetings here begin at 8:30am) and drove down to Ita for another branch conference. I am getting to know the names and faces of the District leadership in the Paraguari district and that is nice. We arrived and were greeted by many wonderful Saints. In fact, the chapel for sacrament meeting was full including about 15 investigators. The missionaries are working hard there and should have a number of baptisms soon. One of the elders is from Fruit Heights and went to Davis High School. His name is elder Pitcher. The other is Elder Barney from Mesa Arizona. The Gospel Essentials class was taught by a young man who has received a call to serve in California as a full-time missionary. He did a great job of answering questions and teaching about faith. The week before I had been asked by the wife of a counselor in the district presidency to visit with their inactive daughter who left the church a number of months ago because of something a branch leader had said. After the meetings the mother had managed to get her to come to the church and I visited with her for a few minutes about the circumstances surrounding her leaving the church and then bore strong testimony as to the importance of looking beyond the weaknesses of the members and seeing how we all need to improve. I think I helped her to recognize that she was just hurting herself and her family because of her decision. It must have helped because as I escorted her out of the office she saw her mother waiting and they embraced and both started to cry. The daughter asked for her mother’s forgiveness for her actions. I think she will return. Sunday evening we had our regular staff meeting and dinner at the mission home. We planned the week and discussed mission operations and schedule. We are also dealing with the news that because of budget cutbacks, we will be reduced from 4 mission vehicles to 2. The office missionaries are struggling with this but I hope in the long run it will help streamline mission operations. We will just have to plan better our use of the vehicles. We will take one of the trucks to the PBO (Presiding Bishopric’s Office) tomorrow and I think the other vehicle will be taken in a few weeks. Sandy and I will be in Buenos Aires this week for 2 days and it will give us a chance to discuss this change with the Area Presidency. Our only concern is when large numbers of missionaries fly in and out of Asuncion as part of our 6 week cycle. We will have to rent transportation vehicles to transport the missionaries and their luggage to and from the airport. We also bring missionaries into Asuncion periodically to renew visas and those groups can be quite large so we will have to use public transportation as well. We’ll have to see it this will actually save the Church money in the long run but we are trying to teach the office missionaries to accept the direction of the Brethren and to not complain. It will also mean that Sandy and I will be traveling with our assistants in the car with us so we will lose a bit of our private time but it will work out. I have spoken with the Asuncion North Mission president and we were wondering if the PBO could maintain a truck or two that could be used occasionally by our missions at times when it is very busy. The north president has a family and his wife needs transportation as she takes the children around and he also has to occasionally visit an isolated branch that requires 10 hours of travel one way over almost road-less terrain and that requires two vehicles for safety. We talked about coordinating our schedules to make use of the 4 cars we have between us. Anyway, it is just an added item to worry about during our first few weeks here.

Monday morning left Asuncion early and drove 3 hours south to San Ignacio to interview the district of elders there. They meet in a small rented house for church services. I also met the branch president and his wife who asked to impromptu interviews during which they discussed their own marital problems. The president has been a member for a short time and his wife has been a member for 9 years. He feels she bosses him around and tries to run the branch through him. They haven’t received much support from the district leadership in that they are a bit isolated. I promised them that I would call them from time to time by phone and visit them when I was in town. Membership in the Church here means going to work right away in callings that require much faith and determination. Later that day we drove into Encarnacion to begin interviewing the missionaries there and the members requiring temple recommends. We were met by many members waiting for us and an equal number of missionaries. It was a bit overwhelming trying to stay on schedule with the missionaries and also tend to the needs of the members. Right in the middle of the busiest time my phone rang and it was a mission president in Argentina informing me that one of his sister missionaries had confessed to pre-mission transgressions with an elder currently serving in our mission. They were from the same stake in a South American country and it was serious. Because we were out on the road and needed to respond immediately to the matter, I had the Assistants call the missionary and his companion and have them travel to where we were so I could interview him. I then completed my interviews with the missionaries and members scheduled for that night and went back to the hotel for a bit of a sleepless night. The next morning we continued interviews and then I met with the missionary to discuss his life before the mission. After a period of time he finally opened up and shared a belated confession. I had him wait while I interacted with the missionary department, conducted further missionary interviews, visited with the Area Presidency in Buenos Aires, called the home stake president, visited several times with the other Mission President, and met with a number of drop in district leaders who had heard I was in town and wanted to bend my ear about a variety of matters. I had the missionary visit on the phone with his stake president and tell him what had happened and then sent the missionary back with his companion to their city to wait. Late that night word came to me from the Missionary Department that the elder would be returned home. I called the missionary and informed him and asked him to pack and that we would drive back to take him to Asuncion for a next day flight home. I called my mission secretary and had him make flight arrangements. Because we had planned on driving on to the next city in our tour we hadn’t made reservations for a 2^nd night in Encarnacion so we had to find another place to stay. We found a hotel down by the river and checked in for a 5 hour stay. There was literally no one at the place. It was a bit creepy so we locked ourselves in the room and made sure the sheets didn’t have any bugs on them and tried to sleep. We got up a 3am to drive back to the office, picking up the missionary and his companion along the way. We got into Asuncion at about 8am, took a shower at the mission home and ran to the airport to see the missionary off. We then got in the car and drove to the city that was next on our travel schedule. We had planned a rest day in the middle of the tour and we are glad we did because we used it to deal with this missionary matter. On our way to Ciudad del Este we stopped in Ca’aguasu to interview missionaries to save time coming home. We got into Cuidad del Este that night and checked into a nice place called Las Ventanas and had a wonderful night’s rest. We interviewed all day in Cuidad del Este and then stayed the night again at Las Ventanas. Sandy and I went down to the restaurant in the hotel and had probably one of the most pleasant dinners we have ever had. We were about the only ones there and were waited by a very attentive waiter. We had delicious soup and several varieties of fresh bread. Sandy had chicken crepes and I had sirloin “medallions” which were really two large steaks as delicious as I have ever had. We had flan with dulce de leche and strawberries for desert. The best part is that it was quiet and I was with my sweetheart and we could discuss the busy week. The next day found us interviewing again in Cuidad del Este, Herrandarias, Coronel Olviedo, and finally back to Ca’aguasu for interviews and an open house at the chapel. We had planned to go to Brazil for stamp our passports for future visits but didn’t have time. The open house at the chapel was amazing. We were met by the district president and given a tour of all of the teaching areas where visitors to the chapel were introduced to the various organizations of the church. President Duarte is a wonderful man who reminds us or our dear friend and brother, Gary Smith. He was so kind and attentive. He had everything well organized as we visited the chapel. Each teaching station was manned by wonderful members filled with the Spirit and excited to share. The full-time missionaries were at the baptismal font where they discussed this sacred ordinance. We must admit that when we were visiting the primary room and saw the little pictures that the children had drawn for the open house and heard the presentation by the sweet sisters about the church’s love for the children we couldn’t hold back the tears as we thought about our sweet children and grandchildren. Sandy and I visited with a number of the visitors before we left for the long drive home. In all, over 300 people not of our faith came to the open house! It was a great event and the missionaries are now following up with those who came. We will try to stage similar events across the mission in the months ahead. We got home late after our 1200 mile week and fell into bed. Today is Sunday and we decided to attend a ward in one of the stakes of our mission. We have sisters serving as missionaries there and it was nice to see them. There were several investigator families there and we enjoyed attending classes with them and discussing the gospel. By the way, we met a young man earlier in the week who had just opened up a restaurant in San Ignacio. He had lived in New York for a number of years and had brought home a few recipes that were on the menu. Anyway, I invited him to learn more about the church and he said he would like to meet the missionaries. Hope it goes well. The meetings went well today. Sandy and I bore our testimonies as part of the sacrament meeting. We continue to be impressed with the faith of our members. The first to share his testimony was a young man who was born with no feet and deformed hands and arms. We struggled up to the pulpit and quietly shared a strong testimony of the gospel. He left the stand and had to sit down to go down the stairs to return to his seat. The bishop of the ward was an impressive man whose testimony was powerful. We also learned of the sudden passing of a stake president in Asuncion after participating in a sporting event with the youth. His funeral was yesterday.

We learned yesterday that Elder Aidukaitis of the Area Presidency will tour our mission in September for a week. That will be wonderful. This week we are off to Buenos Aires for two days then home for leadership training with the zone leaders and preparations for receiving 20 new missionaries soon. Anyway, we love you all and feel your love and support. Take care and write when you can. We love the work and feel blessed to be here. Love, Mark and Sandy