February 7, 2010

February 7,2010

Dear Family and Friends,

We wanted to tell about a nice experience that Mark had a couple weeks ago. He received an email from a man he had taught along with his wife when he was a missionary 36 years ago in Argentina. They had seen our photo and name in the Liahona magazine in December and the announcement that Mark was serving here in Paraguay. He was thrilled to tell Mark that his family has grown to 13 people who are active in the church. He was quite a joker and on Mark’s birthday on his mission the family Lopez invited the missionaries over for birthday cake. Hermano Lopez handed Mark the knife to cut the cake and when he tried to cut it ,it was very hard- in fact it was a block of wood frosted to look like a cake. They all laughed and then pulled out a real cake. When Hermano Lopez sent the email he also included a photo of the birthday meal. Mark has had fun sharing the experience with the missionaries here and he added the photo to the weekly bulletin he sends to all the missionaries. They all enjoyed seeing their president as he looked when he was a young missionary.

Sunday morning January 30^th we were up and on the road at 5 am to attend the Ca’auazu branch. The photo probably doesn’t catch the beauty but the sunrise was gorgeous that morning. We do have wonderful sunrises and sunsets. At sacrament meeting a new branch president was sustained to replace Presidente Franco who passed away suddenly from cancer. We were greeted by President Franco’s sweet faithful widow as we arrived at the church building. Presidente Franco was only 46 years old and left 4 children the youngest being only 10 years old. It was a tender time but they were strong in their expressions of gratitude for their temple covenants that bind their family. The new president said the branch has been reaching out to help the family as they adjust their lives now with their husband and father gone.

We were invited to lunch at the home of one of the district presidency member’s . Presidente Martinez is a baker and has his family business behind his home. They were happy to give us a tour of the business and tell us all about it. I felt like I was in the Nauvoo bakery. Things were very basic but neat and tidy. We took photos of the ovens and the wood structure that holds the rolls as they are bagged. The stacks of metal items were the pans for baking. The wooden slats looked so antique to me. Again many buildings here are tile floors and lots of wood door frames and nice wood doors and basic but solid furniture. We had a nice roast beef and potato dinner with the family. They said the bakery ovens are always hot so they just put the meat and potatoes in before they go to church and it’s ready when they get home. The ovens are wood burning ovens. We had a nice visit with President and Sister Martinez and their children including one married daughter and her family. They sent us on our way with a bag of their rolls. A common ingredient in the bread here is caraway seeds. Often it just white bread or rolls with caraway seeds.

Monday we were in the office all day. One thing that is always going on no matter what else is on the schedule is the one on one interviews Mark has with missionaries. There is always someone who needs a little extra help or counsel beyond the normal interview every six weeks. Mark went in his office at 9 am and didn’t come out until 4:30 pm. He spent the day trying to help a few missionaries work through some problems. Mark wants so badly to help these missionaries to be successful , here in the mission but also in learning and growing personally. I can see the great weight he carries as he tries to help these missionaries. We really do love these young men and women and we want the best for them.

Tuesday , Wednesday and Thursday we were at home working on Consejo de Lideres for the zone leaders and also the next zone conference which is coming so quickly!We also made a quick trip to a grocery store that had a new shipment of American items. We picked up a few treats and foods not usually available. I made chocolate chip cookies with Nestles Chocolate Chips .Usually we have to chop up chocolate bars. Chocolate chips really do make the cookies better!

Friday we spent the day in the Consejo de Lideres (Leadership Council). We have 18 wonderful zone leaders who are working hard to serve their zones. When missionaries call me with health concerns they often tell me they have spoken with their zone leaders which tell us that they are connecting with their zones and trying to help them. We had a stake president come and talk about his perspective of how the missionaries can better work with the members. President and the assistants led some discussions and we ended with a wonderful testimony meeting where everyone participated.

Friday night we went to a ward missionary activity in Amambay. Mark spoke about the celestial kingdom. There were about 65 people there 13 of whom were investigators. There was a good mix of members and investigators and missionaries.

Saturday we had a nice morning exercising and swimming. We had a good week with exercising 5 days just like all good missionaries should be doing. Some weeks are better with our schedules than others for getting time for exercising in but we sure feel better when we make the time to do it. We also did our weekly grocery shopping after Mark spent some time with a missionary trying to help him want to stay here in the mission. Sadly after only 10 days here he is going home at his own insistence. It is so hard to see him make that choice. Everyone has tried to help him stay and he just doesn’t want to. Some parts of this mission are so hard when we see decisions being made that will affect the rest of the missionaries lives. Hopefully he will figure things out with the help of his family at home.

Today we went to church in Ytororo’. It was a nice sized ward with a wonderful spirit and wonderful testimonies shared by the members. Mark went to a training meeting this afternoon to help bishops know how to prepare young men for missions. He was happy with the number of leaders there. As we are trying to help the missionaries work better with the members it has been great for Mark to have these opportunities to work with the local leaders here. We hope this has been a good week for you all. We are grateful for this opportunity we have here to help with the missionary effort in this beautiful country. Love, Mark and Sandy