March 21, 2010

Dear Family and Friends, March 21, 2010

This has been a week of lots of interviews for Mark and lots of reading/studying/alone time for me. Last Sunday we went to a ward in La Florista. It happened that the Hermanas were speaking so that was a nice surprise for us. Mark also gave a message and it’s always nice to meet new people and get to know the wards and branches a bit. As soon as we got home Mark and his counselors took off for a 2 ½ hour drive to San Ignacio for a priesthood meeting. He was excited to tell me there were 50 men in attendance. They met in a little house/church building and they were packed in . He said it was great to see so many there. They had traveled in from little branches around so it is always good for the members to feel uplifted by strength in numbers. One of the branches only has 7 -10 people who attend sacrament meeting. There are definitely many areas where the church is in it’s infancy here.

It was a long quiet day for me but I am trying to focus on reading and marking the Book of Mormon in Spanish so I had lots of uninterrupted study time.

Monday we began our apartment checks and interviews for Mark with the missionaries. We visited 6 apartments and he interviewed 14 missionaries.Only 90 or so apartments to go! It took us all day and then Mark headed to the office for meetings with the assistants. Visiting the apartments is interesting and we learn a lot about the missionaries by what we see there. Most were pretty clean- a few needed a bit of work. One was not so great. The apartments are usually mainly tile floors and solid tile bathrooms , really not too difficult to clean. I left each apartment with a printed cleaning list for keeping the apartments clean. I also pointed out areas of concern. I had also put together some easy food ideas to help give them some other food options. Mark spent time interviewing each missionary. The rest of the week we planned to do the same everyday getting 5 zones done……until the phone calls started coming which changed the whole week.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Mark spent in various interviews and meetings with missionaries trying to deal with situations. One thing I have learned here in the mission is that you have to be flexible because everyday can change in an instant when you are dealing with 190 young people. I made great progress with my Book of Mormon reading while Mark was tied up at the office. I also have been trying to spend a lot more time rereading and studying Preach My Gospel. That really is an amazing study guide for everyone. I especially have enjoyed studying the “questions of the soul “ in chapter 5 as I have been focusing on the Book of Mormon.

Friday we made a sad trip to the airport saying goodbye to two missionaries and then did our grocery shopping. We spent time preparing for the coordinating council that we attended the next day on Saturday. The coordinating council was an expanded version including the stake and district auxiliary leaders along with the presidencies. Elder Avila an area seventy taught everyone for two hours and then the women went to another room and Sister Avila trained and I spoke also. Most of the people attending the meeting traveled 4-5 hours each way for the meeting. Mark was happy with the attendance from the stake and districts. It could have been better but he was pleased. We got home and I threw some potatoes to bake in the oven and just and they were done the oven made a popping sound and spit out some black smoke from behind it. I turned it off and it’s a good thing I wasn’t planning a big dinner today for myself since Mark is gone again from 8 am to 11 pm. He and his counselors drove 4 hours to hold a priesthood meeting in Encarnacion.

Well another week flew by. Our testimonies are growing and we are learning many things about ourselves, the missionaries, the gospel and the beauty of the great plan of happiness. We are especially grateful for the help and guidance and understanding we feel from our Savior. Without our faith in him we could not do the things we are trying to do here. We are grateful for the sealing powers that bind us to our families and want the people here to hear the wonderful message of the restored gospel. We are grateful for the opportunity we have to try to help the missionaries here not only teach the message but incorporate it into their lives as well. We love you all! Mark and Sandy