September 26, 2009

September 26, 2009

We hope this letter finds you all well and happy and enjoying the fall season. We are enjoying the spring here, anticipating the heat and humidity that awaits us this summer. It has been cool again this week, with a bit of rain. The rain storms here are usually very abrupt in their onset and extremely heavy. The storms stop as quickly as they come. The rain comes down in sheets and will soak you to the bone if you happen to find yourself outside when they hit. It has been a busy week which has become the norm for us. After the busy week of travel with Elder Aidukaitis, we have spent most of the week here in Asuncion. Last Sunday I got up very early and after picking up my counselors and the mission auditor, drove about 3 hours east to attend sacrament meetings in two branches and then speak at a district priesthood meeting that afternoon. The first branch had been meeting for about a month in a newly renovated home that sits on a piece of land that would serve well for a future chapel. The pattern for providing meeting locations here is to first rent a space and then allow the branch to grow until a certain level of attendance is reached. As the branch grows, oft times, another larger building is rented on a piece of land that would be big enough, one day, to build a chapel on. If the branch continues to grow, the Church will buy the land and the existing building. Down the road the building is either remodeled or removed and the land is used for a new chapel. The first branch we visited last Sunday was meeting in a chapel that used to be an old building and was recently remodeled. It was nice and the members were very proud of the building and anxious to show me around. Obviously, I had nothing to do with the remodeling of the building but they treated me as if I was totally responsible for their comfortable surroundings. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to taking my place on the stand and having the branch president turn to me and express gratitude for my attending their branch and then inviting me to take the last 30 minutes of the meeting. The branch president pointed out two elderly men sitting next to each other on the front row. I would say they were in their 70’s. They were dressed very humbly, one wearing an old red windbreaker as a jacket and the other a worn white shirt, probably left by a missionary. They sat very still and seemed a bit nervous, their heads bowed slightly. The president told me it was a big day for them. They were baptized a few weeks ago and today would be the first time they would pass the sacrament. After the first prayer, one came to the stand and offered the tray to me and I partook. I smiled at him and said a quiet “gracias” and I think I saw a bit of a smile on his face. I made it a point during my remarks to thank them for helping us renew our covenants that day. After the meeting I spent a few minutes with them and wished them well in their new life as members of the church. After that meeting, my 2^nd counselor and I drove over to another chapel in the town to attend their sacrament meeting. We had left my 1^st counselor and the mission auditor at another building to do some interviews and to do an audit. The next meeting was held at a chapel that had been robbed a few months ago. The thieves had gotten into the building and had spent hours there removing everything they could. They removed light fixtures, speakers, a TV and DVD player, microphones, wall sockets, air conditioners, some benches and even the alarm system. They really left them with very little. We had our meeting and I promised them I would try to speed up the replacement process. We finished the meeting and headed an hour down the road toward the town where the district priesthood meeting would be held. We had all packed a lunch for the day so halfway to the next town we pulled over next to a field and stood around the back of the car and shared our picnic. It was a pretty setting. The area looked like the rolling farmland of the Midwest, except for the occasional palm tree. Cows were wandering around us and through the trees. For a moment I stood there thinking about what changes this calling has brought to the Callans. Here we were, two from Paraguay, one from Uruguay, and one from the United States, standing in a circle, eating sandwiches, cheese and fruit, chatting about our families and discussing the needs of the Saints in that area. The meeting with the priesthood brethren went well. My counselors trained the brethren in their home teaching duties and I spoke of the need to preside worthily in our homes. After the meeting we spoke briefly with the missionaries who had passed by to split up with some of the priesthood leaders to proselyte for the evening. Others got back into hired vans for their hour long trip back to their towns. We got into the car and drove back to Asuncion. The traffic was especially crazy that night. I don’t like to drive at night here because of all the motorcycles and cars that drive without their lights on. We got back home and I dropped into bed. Sandy had been picked up by the missionaries and taken to the meetings of our ward. We don’t get there very often because of travel, etc.

This was the “change week” in that we received new missionaries from the MTC and see others head home after completing their missions. All 19 of the new missionaries were from the Provo MTC. All were from the United States except one who is French-Canadian, Elder Nolet. Two sisters came with this group as well. We were almost to the airport Tuesday morning when the phone rang and my secretary informed me that the group had missed their flight in Buenos Aires and wouldn’t be coming until late that night. We turned around and went back to the office to await word. We quickly changed some of Wednesday’s schedule to Tuesday and I was able to conduct a number of “exit interviews” with our departing group of 6. We now have about 25 more missionaries than when we arrived and in six weeks we increase by another 14 overall. The Area will see an increase of 600 missionaries during the last 6 months of the year. There are 14 missions in the Area and Paraguay will increase a bit more than the average. In the midst of the interviews with the outgoing missionaries, word came that the new group was coming at 3pm so we headed out to the airport. Sandy and I had memorized their names and pictures and greeted them as they came through immigrations. We have received another great group. They are so excited to be here and ready to go to work. We took a quick picture at the airport, threw their luggage into a hired transport truck and took them straight to the temple for an official welcome to the mission and a brief message from me and Sandy. I spoke of the need to “rescue” the good people of Paraguay from an encroaching world and to ultimately bring them to the temple. We took pictures to send home to the family and headed back to the mission office for an orientation, interviews, a meal and introductions to their new companions. They were then off to the bus terminal to head out to their areas. The next day we took the departing missionaries to lunch and then to the temple for a session and then to the mission home for dessert and a testimony meeting. Thursday was spent getting them to the airport at different times for their flights home, one to the United States and the other 4 to South American countries. It was a busy week. Things were just starting to calm down for the weekend when I got a series of calls from various district and branch and stake leaders who wanted to bend my ear about a variety of matters that they wanted my input on. Some of the matters involved disciplinary matters, some financial issues, and a few involved missionaries serving in the various units. Yesterday we also got word of a missionary serving some 6 hours from here who began to have lower abdominal pain and eventually ended up in an emergency room. A surgeon was suggesting immediate surgery to correct a circulatory problem that threatened to cause necrosis. We quickly got a hold of the Area doctor who consulted with a Salt Lake urologist who recommended the surgery. The zone leaders gave him a blessing and we gave our consent and off he went into the operating room. We could only pray for a blessing. The surgeon felt that there was a very real possibility of tissue necrosis which would mean removing the necrotic area, thus complicating the surgery. Two hours later we received word that the surgeon opened into the affected area and after relieving the occluded vessels, restored the blood flow and the tissue returned to a normal color. We were so grateful for the miracle. I spoke with the missionary’s family this morning back in the States and they accepted the good news gratefully.
We are monitoring his progress and may be bringing him back to Asuncion to recuperate.

Yesterday I set apart a young sister to serve a mission in Rosario Argentina. She is the first missionary I have set apart from Paraguay who would be serving in my old mission. I thought of President Kimball’s prophecy many years ago that someday the nations of South America would be sending their own youth to serve on this continent at missionaries. When he made that declaration my mission had but two Latin American missionaries serving. Now many of the missions have more than half serving from these countries. This young sister is from a town called Pilar. The town is about 6 hours from here and sits on the backs of the Parana River. Her mother is less active and her father is not a member but they drove her up to the mission office to be set apart. We had a nice visit before the setting apart and discussed the mission experience and the blessing promised to the families of missionaries (D&C 31). When we went to the temple with the outgoing missionaries I saw a temple worker there who had told me that he had been the missionary many years ago who had opened Pilar to missionary work. I told him that I had just set apart a missionary from Pilar to serve a mission and he hugged me and started to cry. Sandy and I were the witnesses for the session and he was serving in our session. When we knelt at the altar each time he would look down at me and smile and a few times he winked! He’s a great man. Brother Falcon. Today is technically our P-Day but I had a baptismal interview this morning. Sandy and I have been back and forth all day with missionaries and doctors on the phone and I have been working on a Zone Leaders’ Council meeting next week. We have introduced a number of changes in the mission and we need to train our leaders to implement better these changes. The baptisms are increasing this month and the missionaries are getting more and more excited each day with the success. We still have a long way to go but we are headed in the right direction. We feel the Lord in content with the work here but not satisfied.

Tomorrow we are off to more meetings. Have a great week. We love you all. Mark and Sandy

Picture!

Fernando and His Wife at His Baptism

September 19, 2009

September 19, 2009

We enjoyed a very busy week here in the mission. Sunday was spent attending another ward in one of our stakes where two sister missionaries and two zone leaders are serving. All of the meetings were well done. The young bishop is a former full-time missionary who served in Uruguay about 5 years ago. Many of our young Latin American missionaries will be serving very quickly in significant callings back home following their missions. This young bishop had a great spirit about him and was very polished and confident. I have really come to appreciate the many strong local leaders here, especially in the stakes. The districts over which I preside have many good leaders but much leadership development is needed before stake formations can occur. I would especially like to see Encarnacion become a stake. We are told it is the largest and oldest district in South America. The challenge is having an adequate number of active Melchizedek Priesthood holders in the units. I haven’t had the time yet to really analyze with my mission counselors and secretary each unit in the district and where we need to focus our efforts to prepare them to become a stake. Our Area President, Elder Bowen, will be coming to a district conference there in December and has invited me to attend. I’m sure he will want to review our plans for the district and our future vision of how we can help this district qualify to become a stake. I know with the efforts of all, this could happen during our time here in Paraguay. That certainly will be our primary focus as a mission presidency for the foreseeable future. During our Sunday meetings last week in Ñemby (pronounced N-yem-boo), I was visiting with a number of brethren between meetings and met a man who had served a mission in Uruguay and he asked me if I knew one of his former missionary companions who lived in Bountiful. His name was Kai Hintze and I told him he had lived in our Farmington ward for a while years ago. He was overjoyed that I knew him. After our church meetings we worked on a number of other things including preparations for the mission tour of Elder Aidukaitis of the Area Presidency. We spent Monday also in the office working on mission matters as well. The weather has been nice and spring-like. On Tuesday we picked up Elder Aidukaitis at the airport and brought him here to the mission home for lunch and some time to visit. We then went to the mission offices where he spent time with the office staff and prepared for the first of three multi-zone conferences. He really is a wonderful person and a powerful servant of the Lord. Our week with him will be remembered as one of the highlights of our training meetings here. We will also spend a few days each year in Buenos Aires meeting with one of the Twelve and that will be wonderful as well. But this week was incredible as we felt his love for us and his love for the missionaries and this sacred work. Elder Aidukaitis completed 3 years as a mission president in Brazil 1 ½ years ago so he was really aware with our assignment and needs. He was called to be a General Authority 3 months before the end of his service as mission president. He is from Brazil and speaks Spanish, English, and Portuguese. He was able to get to the heart of all of our questions and addressed many of our concerns. His personality makes him a great interactive teacher. He loves to teach and the missionaries really connected with him. Our conferences were held in Asuncion, Encarnacion, and Ciudad del Este. After each conference session we interviewed together a number of missionaries from each conference. He took the lead in all of the interviews and without knowing anything about the missionaries could discern each one of their individual circumstances and needs. His interviews lasted about 5 minutes each and he accomplished more in 5 minutes than most accomplish in 30. It was amazing to see. One missionary who has been having a hard time submitting to the rules of the mission come in for his interview. He sat down and Elder Aidukaitis asked him simply if he loved his companion. The young man hesitated in his answer. Young could see a bit of anger on the young man’s face. In his weekly letters to me, unknown to Elder Aidukaitis, he has complained about every companion he has had in during his time here never recognizing his own problem with disobedience. Elder Aidukaitis immediately stood, shook his hand, expressed his love for the missionary and quickly escorted him to the door, expressing sorrow that the young man had not learn to be loving and obedient. You should have seen the look on the young man’s face. He looked absolutely bewildered! The interview lasted about 2 minutes! We finished the interviews and went back to the hotel for the evening. The next evening I received a phone call from this missionary and in tears, begged me not to send him home! We hadn’t even spoken about sending him home! He told me hadn’t slept all night worrying that Elder Aidukaitis would have him sent home. It gave me a chance to really have a heart to heart with this young man and to commit him to things he would not have committed to if not for that interview. I learned much about conducting missionary interviews during this mission tour. During the 3-4 drives between cities we visited about the mission and he answered many of our questions and shared great insight into the vision we needed to have in order to take this mission to a new level of success. He was so supportive and kind and in spite of our many weaknesses, praised us for what has been accomplished during our few months here. It was sad to see him go at the end of the week. His visit will bless our mission for years to come. I was grateful to see that he will return in a month or so for a stake conference and has invited me to participate with him during two of the sessions. It will be great to see him. We sometimes forget the great work that our General Authorities accomplish around the world. Elder Aidukaitis is just 50 years of age and has a sweet wife and five children, three of which live at home in Buenos Aires. The youngest is just 6 years of age and is trying to learn Spanish along with the other children. Elder Aidukaitis travels three weeks each month, leaving his wife home with the young family. His calling will last at least for the next 20 years!

Today is our P-Day but we spent most of the day working on mission matters. We had a meeting with our office missionaries and assistants to discuss this week’s schedule. We receive 19 new missionaries this week and see 6 leave. “Change week”, as we call it, is always a busy week with many missionaries moving around the mission to new assignments. We are trying to streamline the process so that we can reduce teaching time lost by our missionaries. With a few changes to the schedule and by eliminating a few unnecessary meetings, we have added hundreds of hours each month of proselyting time. We are asking our missionaries to work harder than ever to find and baptized the prepared. It will take some time to tune them up but they will respond and when they do, amazing things will happen here.

Right now I am listening with Sandy to the BYU-Florida State football game on the internet. We are eating Pizza Hut Pizza and chicken wing that were delivered by a delivery man riding a motorcycle and drinking grape Gatorade. Are we really in Paraguay? Tomorrow I get up at 4:30am and drive with my counselors in the mission presidency to visit a branch 3 hours away and then on to a district priesthood meeting tomorrow night. We’ll drive home after the evening meeting and arrive home around midnight. Day of rest? It depends on your definition of “rest”. I am looking forward to meeting the leadership in those two cities and sharing a vision of the missionary and activation work needed there. Our monthly baptisms are slowing moving up and we are confident that trend will continue. We are really excited to be here and grateful for the missionaries and their hard work. We are becoming increasingly aware that especially in missionary work, when true faith is shown and stick obedience observed, the Lord pours out amazing blessings. We continue to see some missionaries struggling to put off the world and give their all to the work. For them their missions will always be lacking. We have other missionaries who are here with one purpose in mind and that is to give their all to bring souls into the Kingdom. I received a report of a companionship in Hernandarias who used a member’s bus to bring 43 investigators to church last week and plan to baptize 25 people next week. Their biggest concern is having enough white clothing for the candidates. They are planning on having clothes dryers ready in the neighborhood to dry clothing quickly in order to keep the process going! Miracles are happening in the lives of many of our missionaries.

Well, it’s halftime at Edwards Stadium and it looks like a miracle will be needed for BYU to win. Oh well….such is life. I better get some sleep. We love you all and pray for you each day. We are grateful for the connection the internet provides to our loved ones. It is hard to believe that we are so far away when we visit with own children using the video/audio capabilities the internet provides. Last week we chatted with Adam, our sweet grandson. We have seen the blue eyes of little Colin, our new grandson. We enjoyed visiting with Laura, Sara, Robert, Rachel, Wendy, and Jenny. We are grateful for your faith and example. We have our ups and downs in life but that is fine if we keep the gospel plan in mind. When Elder Aidukaitis was interviewing, a number of missionaries wanted to let him know how hard it was for them. He smiled and said the following, “You know what Elder? I am going to pray that it gets even harder for you! How can you ever expect to sit down at the same table in the Celestial Kingdom with Joseph Smith, Gordon B. Hinckley, Nephi, Brigham Young and the Savior if you don’t have hard times in your life? I am grateful the Lord is BLESSING you with challenges! I’ll pray he heaps even more on you!” Wow! That puts it into perspective. Thanks again for everything! Until next week….Mark and Sandy

September 12, 2009

September 12, 2009

It is early spring here in Paraguay and the weather is in a state of flux. One day it is hot and humid and we think it’s time to get ready for the really hot months and then the next day it is 30 degrees cooler with rain and winds and that throws us off. Today is a pleasant cool morning for our P-Day but the sun is out and the sky is clear and things are good. The country is basking in the glory of a wonderful soccer victory over archrival Argentina this week that qualified Paraguay for the World Cup tournament next year in South Africa. The game was played here in Asuncion in the large downtown stadium. In the days running up to the game, most of the corners had makeshift stands selling team jerseys and flags and hats from the national team. I have noticed that there are very strong feelings, sometimes negative, between the countries in this area. Most of the animosity stems from wars between these countries dating back 150 years. For years Argentina has dominated Paraguay in soccer but this year was different. Paraguay has a very good team and they won the other night 1-0 and the city went nuts. It was especially sweet for the people here because it did clinch their position in the cup tournament. All night we were hearing fireworks and music and car horns. It has brought back memories of my days in Argentina where I first was exposed to the passion felt for this worldwide sport. When we can watch the local news I will see scores from teams I remember from Argentina. The day after the match, the city was happy. I wonder if the missionaries were able to get into more homes? Last Saturday evening we attended the baptism of a sister being baptized by the office missionaries. It was a nice service and fun to see the office missionaries out teaching and baptizing. After the service we came home and I turned on the computer and listened to the last quarter of the BYU-Oklahoma game. It was pretty exciting. I found myself pacing the floor a bit during the last Oklahoma drive. At the same time there was a local soccer match that was going on and it just so happened that just as the BYU game ended, the soccer match ended and the neighborhood set off firecrackers in celebration. It made me feel like everyone was celebrating BYU’s victory. I might be able to listen to a little bit of the Tulane game today. We have another baptism with the office elders today. It is the young man who I met a few weeks ago and challenged to study hard and to join the Church. He said he would at the time and today he has asked me to baptize him. Sandy and I met with Fernando and his less-active wife last night in my office to discuss the ups and downs of marriage. They have been separated for a few months and we encouraged them to get back together and to work through their problems. We promised them that the Lord would bless them and now that Fernando will be a member of the Church, they can begin to prepare for the temple. It is so nice to have a temple here that the members can see. It is a strong symbol for the members of the Church that Paraguay has “arrived”, so to speak. We had a nice visit with this couple and felt the Spirit and they did as well. It won’t be long and they will be back under the same roof. I’m confident that in a year’s time we will be with them in the temple.

Of course the most exciting news of all this week was not the BYU game. We were so grateful to hear that our daughter Wendy and Kevin were blessed with the birth of little Colin, a healthy son. With the miracle of technology we have been able to see him live via Skype on our computer and hear his little cry and to see his blue eyes. We do live in a world of communication wonders. It isn’t the same certainly as holding him but we feel connected nonetheless and that softens a bit the emotions caused by being so far away. Life is good and the Lord continues to smile upon our family. Can we ever repay Him for all He has done for us? King Benjamin taught that we are ever in His debt but through service to our fellow beings, we are in His service. Service to others is such a blessing to all of us. I have found that it is the key to a happy life. It keeps us grounded and focused. It serves as a protection against pride and worldliness. Service strengthens one against the allure of sin. I am grateful to the Lord for opportunities to learn through service. It is a blessing to see our missionaries coming to understand what service is. We see so many missionaries that are filled with the love of God for these people. They would do anything to help their investigators embrace the gospel. As Joseph taught, a man filled with the Love of God is not content with blessing his family alone but ranges the whole earth, anxious to bless the whole human race.

We receive 19 new missionaries in a week and a half. I spent a full day here at my office in the mission home, secluded away, seeking direction on where they would serve and who would be trainers for each. I have felt a very rapid connection develop between me and the missionaries. I am grateful the Lord has helped me get to know them so well so quickly. It makes all the difference as I look at my missionary picture board in the office. All 20 new missionaries who arrived 5 weeks ago are doing well. Each companionship is doing great, getting along well and learning together. Of mission is getting younger and younger. Many of our missionaries in the near future will have to step up and become leaders in the mission sooner than is the norm because of these changes. But the Lord is preparing them and they will be ready. With the influx we will reopen a couple of areas closed because of lack of missionaries. The remainder will remain in Asuncion where we will strengthen the stakes here by increasing the numbers of missionaries in the wards. We have been told that by the end of the year we will be up to 190 missionaries, up 40 from when we arrived. This will allow us to increase the complement in Asuncion by about 22 missionaries. I have also directed the mission to make an adjustment to the daily schedule to bring us a bit more in line with the schedule outlined in Preach My Gospel and will allow the missionaries to proselyte for an additional 90 minutes per day. It will be like adding 33 missionaries to our force with the increase of hours. Getting around here takes so much time out of the schedule as the missionaries takes buses or walk everywhere. Bikes are not approved here and I am glad for that because of the safety issues. I am also looking at how and when we conduct weekly district meetings to streamline the process. I am meeting a bit of resistance, especially from the “veteran” missionaries, but for the most part there has been a positive, faithful response. My weekly letters are showing a marked increase in excitement about the work and we are beginning to see increases in our proselyting statistics. I am sure additional adjustments will be needed but I think we are moving forward in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Speaking of letters, I received a letter from one of our sister missionaries describing a sweet experience she had as she and her companion taught a new investigator.

Sister Thompson relates the following experience: “Last night we taught the first lesson to a sister who was so full of faith. At the end of the lesson, she asked, ‘Do you believe in personal revelation?’ ‘Yes’, we said. ‘Do you believe in dreams?’ We explained a little bit about Lehi and told her that ‘Yes, we believe that revelation can come through dreams.’

She then shared with us a dream she had. She said, ‘I dreamed I was in a beautiful, beautiful house -- not like this house -- a beautiful, beautiful house, with many lights. One wall reflected to the opposite wall and the opposite wall reflected back and back and forth forever.’ She asked, ‘What do you think?’ Sister Thompson concludes, “She´ll remember that dream when she goes to the temple one day. She called us angels and recognized us as servants of God.” Sister Thompson was humbled by the experience and strengthened to know the Lord is preparing His people.

We heard another faithful sister report that before she and her family met the missionaries, she was at home one day and felt a strong impression that she would meet someone very important that day at her home and that she should clean her home and prepare for the visitors. She and her family spent time cleaning and organizing and when they finished they sat down and waited. They then heard the clapping (how a visitor to a home announces his arrival) of our missionaries outside her home. They received them as their awaited visitors and eventually joined the Church. Yes, there are many things that if changed would improve the functioning of the Church here. But the depth of faith manifested by our faithful members is remarkable and humbling.

Sandy and I are preparing to receive a visit from our first Visiting Authority, Elder Marcos Aidukaitus of the Seventy. He is from Brazil and serves in our Area Presidency. His visit will be one day shorter than previously planned so we cut out a day in Brazil visiting the waterfalls there. We’ll get there sometime soon. We will meet him at the airport on Tuesday morning and after lunch at home, we will have a conference for the missionaries in Asuncion. The next day we will head off to Encarnacion for a day of conference and then on to Cuidad del Este for another day. Friday we will head back to Asuncion to get Elder Aidukaitis on his plane back to Buenos Aires. Sandy is working hard to prepare the mission home for the visit. She is working with the wonderful sister who helps so much with domestic things to prepare meals and to get things just so. The office missionaries have been getting the office cleaned up and up to snuff. Over the years many things have accumulated around the office that we are trying to remove to help make the place seem more professional and organized. Sandy is having a great influence on our surroundings and in creating a sense of order here. It is making a difference.

I have been interviewing missionaries all week and it is nice to be visiting now with missionaries with whom I have already met and challenged. The interviews are exhausting but important and helpful in addressing matters of concern. I had “breakthrough” interviews with a couple of missionaries who have been struggling for many months with obedience issues and general matters of dedication to the work they were called to do. Perhaps now, they can begin to rise to the level of their privilege as missionaries. I know they will be happier. One spoke of missing the times when he could do what he wanted. He had spent years sitting in his room playing video games with friends and watching movies and he missed it. I think growing up on a farm would be a blessing to all of us. Another desperately misses his girlfriend and doesn’t know if he can make it. Several want to kill their companions but promised me they wouldn’t. At times I think the description I heard once about being a mission president is true. It was described as like being on a three year camping trip with the scouts! But I love them and my heart is filling with great admiration for what they do.

Sandy and I are getting better about our exercise program here in the mission and we feel better. The missionaries had gotten away from doing their exercises each morning and so we adjusted the schedule to allow for 30 minutes of exercise each day, beginning at 6am. As we move into the warmer months, it will be important to have healthy and fit missionaries. The pool at the mission home is starting to look quite inviting. Yes, Mission Presidents and their wives can swim but the young, full-time missionaries cannot. The pool service is working on getting the pool ready for swimming season. Perhaps we can swim after exercising or just before we go to bed to cool off. I also took my car in to be serviced for the first time since arriving. The office elders helped us find the place. I think I’ll be able to find it again. Well, I think I’ll read a little in Preach My Gospel and plan for the baptism tonight. We send our love and gratitude for your wonderful support. Have a great week. The work is true! Our Savior is at the helm. Mark and Sandy

Pictures! Flora and Fauna

Road getting ready to be hand paved by rocks.

Blossoms of the season

Typical country house

Wheat field with tree

Typical hauling cart

Orchids in the backyard.

Sept 5, 2009

September 5, 2009

Dear Loved Ones,

The week has been very busy, filled with many new and exciting experiences. The weather is beginning to warm up here, some days in the 80’s. It won’t be long before the heat is here in full force. I think I will have a number of my long sleeve shirts cut off to make them short. I have been wearing suits most of the time and my office is quite cool when we use the air conditioner. In fact, it is hard to adjust the temperature in my office verses the rest of the office building so for the others to be comfortable, my office has to feel like a meat locker. When I interview the missionaries who have come off the hot streets, they all smile as they come into the cold office. We feel very blessed to be here under such nice circumstances. Our home is comfortable. The office is very nice. Our car drives well and is safe. We have wonderful member help in caring for the home and offices. We feel very pampered. It is also so nice to communicate with our family and friends so easily. We spoke with Mom and Dad the other night. Happy 85^th birthday, Dad. We send our love to you and our gratitude for all have done for us and are doing for us. Where would we be without Dale Callan? Our lives have all been enriched by the strength and love of this incredible man. Thanks for everything Dad.

Today is our P-Day and I just finished coloring Sister Callan’s hair. Yes, in addition to being a mission president, I have also opened a salon. When in the salon, I go by the name of Pierre. I really don’t think I should go back to dentistry when I’m released. Anyway, back to Sandy. There is a bit of grey showing now and so I put on the latex gloves and mixed up the chemicals that Sandy brought with her and applied them as directed. The result is exquisite! I get to do this every 4 months. As I have written before, I cut Sandy’s hair a few weeks ago as well. Yes, Pierre is open for business! I just don’t want word of this to get out or I’m have them lined up outside and I won’t have time for anything else.

Last Sunday we got up early and drove down to Encarnacion for a District Priesthood meeting. Before the meeting I met with the District President, Hector Perez, and discussed the units in the district. I am really interested in preparing local priesthood brethren to serve as the branch presidents in 3 of the units of the district where we currently have full-time elders serving in that capacity. We had a nice discussion and he committed to visiting the branches and interviewing the brethren that the missionaries have suggested as possibly being ready to serve. I could spend every bit of time on just the member matters in the districts. Even with the great help of my counselors and mission secretary, we can never get it all done. Pretty much all of the weekends for the rest of the year are filled with district meetings of one type or another. The challenge of this area, as in many of the area of the world, is developing strong local leaders. Within the stakes of the mission the leadership is relatively strong. In fact, many of the leaders here in Asuncion are as solid as I’ve seen anywhere. I contrast that with some branch presidents out in the isolated campo (rural areas) districts. Many have been members for just a year or so. Can you imagine having a branch list of 200 members with an attendance of 50 and being called as the new president with the charge of ministering to them all? But I admire the faith of these good men and their families. We do all we can to support them. Fortunately, they all have cell phones here so it is relatively easy to interact with them. I enjoy meeting them and giving them a hug and offering any counsel I can. They are kind and very submissive to counsel. Anyway, I was the concluding speaker at the priesthood meeting after hearing from the district presidency and my counselors. I really have great counselors. I love how they teach, very interactive with the congregation. I spoke about what it would take for the district to become a stake. Primarily I emphasized the need to reactivate the priesthood brethren and their family. I spoke of the importance of home teaching. We have discovered that great success can be found with our less-active members here in reactivating them by simply visiting them and inviting them back. All of our missionaries have been asked to visit less-active families the branch presidents/bishops feel are ready for activation. One companionship visited less-active members all week recently to increase branch attendance and on Sunday 50 of the visited members came in addition to those usually there. These newly activated members have now become a source of new investigators for the missionaries.

I have been interviewing missionaries this week. I conducted about 70 interviews over the course of three days. The missionaries are doing well with a few exceptions. Some have been struggling with their faith. Others are struggling to be more obedient. For some it is hard leaving the world behind and completely submitting themselves to the challenges of missionary work. But as we are seeing the level of faith and obedience increase here, the overall success of the mission is beginning to improve. I am convinced that over the next few months we will see baptism double here. The first zone conferences centered on our purpose as missionaries and how we cannot be distracted from that purpose. We also spoke very clearly about obedience as a key to receiving the blessings of success here. Since our conferences, I have received many letters expressing feelings of renewed commitment to giving everything they have to baptized more converted people. I am seeing a marked increase since conferences in the number of investigators committed to a specific baptismal date. September should be a great month for baptisms. They missionaries need to have the faith and expectation that they can baptize every week here in Paraguay. I believe we can get there. I have found that about 5% of our missionaries create about 100% of our headaches here. But we love them and challenge them and call them to repentance. Several have responded to the urging. A few have not and may never know the joys of losing oneself in service to others. Perhaps it will “click” in the future after their missions. I’m not discouraged by it, just disappointed by blessing left unclaimed by some. I have really been encouraging the office missionaries to spend more time preaching the gospel in the area around the office after 4:30pm and they have responded. We have 14 people in the office district with baptismal dates and tonight we will attend the baptism of one of their investigators. They seem happier and more focused on their daily work in the office. They are more anxious to get out there and teach their investigators at the end of the office day. It is fun to see. I am getting the assistants more focused on what they should be doing, namely, getting out and training the zone leaders and other missionaries. I have challenged them develop a schedule for my review indicating their travel and training plans for the next 6 weeks. I am also considering calling 4 assistants rather than 2. One companionship would stay around the office and assist me with mission matters, care for their investigators, train Asuncion Zone Leaders, etc., and the other two would be “traveling assistants” working out in the rural area with the missionaries. It would also allow more of the missionaries to have the experience of serving as assistants. I’m thinking about and may give it a try.

This week Sandy and I went on Tuesday morning to the temple with two of our mission zones. We had about 40 missionaries there and it was really a great morning. It was raining really hard that morning and the streets were running literally like rivers. It wasn’t a bad day to have those missionaries in the temple in that missionary work seems to grind to a halt here when it rains. When we arrived at the temple, President Udall took me into his office and set me apart as a veil worker. After our endowment session, I assisted our missionaries in going through the veil in Spanish. It was great! We felt a great connection with our missionaries as we sat in the celestial room together and prayed and pondered the “Big Picture”. President Udall met with the missionaries before the sessions and explained how missionary work prepares people to get on the path to the temple. It was very powerful. In addition to an endowment session, the missionaries were able to work in the initiatory area and the baptistery. They also did ordinations. The final ordinances they participated in were sealings. Most of the missionaries had never witnessed a sealing of couples or children to parents and it really opened their eyes to the blessings promised. Sandy and I acted as parents and the missionaries acted as the sons and one by one they took turns at the altar with us. One of the elders who arrived a few weeks ago was especially touched as we were when he knelt with us. He had joined the Church a few years ago in the United States and was disowned by his parents. He was asked to leave his home and never come back. He told me in a letter that he gave up everything, literally, to serve a mission and he pledged to me that he would not waste a single minute of his time here. He has been true to that pledged. When he knelt with us at the altar to serve as a proxy son, President Udall, who was officiating, became very emotional, as we did. The Elder had tears streaming down his face as he placed his hand on ours and listened to the promises of an eternal family. He had never heard these promises before as pronounced in the temple and I can only imagine what he felt as he thought about his current family and his future family. Also in the sealing room with us was Javier Vitale and his wife. He was taught and baptized by President Gordon Wilson, Mom’s cousin when he served here in the 60’s. They were doing family names that were dated back to the 1600’s in Spain. When our time was done, President Udall had our missionaries stand with Sandy and I as we looked into the mirrors into the symbolic eternities to see those who had gone before and those who would come after. This week’s letters from the missionaries have been filled with thoughts of this special, once a year, temple experience. Before going back to the office, I took Sandy for a little lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant here in the city. This morning I got up early to meet a bus coming to the temple from an outlying area of the mission coming with members to do ordinances. Two members needed interviews with me to renew their recommends. I was especially touched by one elderly sister who came. She had been interviewed by her branch president before the trip began that morning at 3:00am. They then boarded the bus for Asuncion. She was probably in her 80’s and showed the signs of a long, physically hard life out in the country. When she can into the office for the interview, I asked to see her recommend. She opened her large bag that carried her lunch and temple clothing and other personal items and removed a folded piece of white tissue paper. She carefully unfolded the paper until it revealed her temple recommend placed there for protection. She handed it to me as if it was the most valued possession she had, for so it was. She told me she didn’t want it to get dirty in her bag. Coming to the temple meant everything to her. She should have been interviewing me. I felt like I was interviewing an angle from heaven.

In a few weeks we will receive 20 new missionaries and see 6 go home. This net increase of 14 will require opening some new areas and reinforcing several others. New apartments must be found and furnished. This trend of increasing our number of missionaries will continue through the remainder of the year. Most of these new missionaries are coming from the United States. It is interesting how within a few weeks, almost a fourth of our missionaries are brand new. It is hard to see some of our seasoned missionaries leave but we are strengthened by the strength and faith of our new missionaries. We can’t wait to receive them. These new missionaries will be ours for their entire two years of service.

The flowering trees are beautiful. Orchids are in bloom in the backyard and the sky is a beautiful blue. There is something charming about life here. It is hard and there is much of poverty but there is also a simplicity to it all that we have really come to embrace. They use the term “tranquilo” to describe life here and it fits. We love it and we love you. God bless you all. Love, Mark and Sandy