March 27, 2010

Dear Family and Friends, March 27, 2010

Monday Mark had interviews and a meeting with his 4 assistants to get the new week started. He is really enjoying having the 4 assistants right now. They are all wonderful teachers and are really helping the younger missionaries that we have in the mission get up to speed more quickly. We keep hearing comments from the missionaries about the good things they are learning from their divisions with them. Tuesday we went to a district meeting with district 1 in Zone 5 here in Asuncion. We were very happy with the great teaching and spirit we felt in the meeting. One of the things I love about the mission is seeing these young men grow into such strong men of the priesthood and thinking of the great husbands, fathers and leaders they will be some day . After the meeting we went and did apartment checks for their district. While Mark interviewed, we talked about how to clean their apartments and how to cook some basic food ideas. The missionaries seem to be happy to get the food idea printout I give them. One thing I have noticed also since we received the filter bottles for the missionaries I hardly ever get phone calls about diarrhea. That is so nice! We are slowly moving our way through the mission and I love seeing where all the missionaries live.

Wednesday Mark had interviews and then we ran to the store to buy food for the leadership meeting with the Zone Leaders. We also ran to the airport to say good bye to a young man from one of the districts here who will be serving a mission in Argentina.

We decided to hold the Zone Leaders meeting here at the home this time so that meant Lidu, our helper, and I prepared the food for 25 people. We held it out in the quincho which was nice so we could have the meeting part out there and come into the house for the lunch. It worked out well and we especially liked that it was a closer feeling here than in the cultural hall at the church. Anyway Lidu and I spent Thursday cooking and preparing so things were ready to go for Friday. The assistants came and moved chairs and set things up Thursday afternoon.

Friday was a wonderful day as 23 elders came to council together to be taught and to share. I am always impressed with the great young men we have as leaders. They were taught well by Mark and the assistants and they teach each other well and share experiences so everyone grows and learns. I gave a little message also. We met from 8:45 to 12:30 and then came into the house for lunch. The missionaries love to eat ! We had baked chicken, pasta salad, fried onion and corn, jello gigglers, rolls and German chocolate cake.

After lunch the elders sang “El Cristo Es”( This is the Christ) as a thank you to Lidu for all she does for the missionaries. She is such a sweet woman and she was in tears as they sang to her. We went back to the quincho for the rest of the meeting until 3:30pm. After the meeting we went right to the office where we had an office staff meeting.

This morning, Saturday , we had a nice preparation day exercising a little longer that normal and swimming for a while. It was wonderful!! We also took Elder Wilkes to lunch because he is leaving his service as secretary in the office. He’s a great young man and has worked hard to keep things running well in the office and keeping Mark on top of things. He assures us he has trained Elder Bowns, his replacement well!

On thing that we find interesting here is that in grocery stores and other stores the music we here is often 1970’s music in English. It is just so funny to me. While we were at the grocery store the other day on the American aisle they had Easter candy . A bag of reeses peanut butter cups miniatures was 41,000 guaranias or 8 dollars American. We did not buy them.

We are so anxious to hear General Conference . We hope you all enjoy Easter and conference also. What a great chance to invite people to come hear the prophet and apostles speak to us. The missionaries are so excited to be able to invite their investigators to the church to listen. We love you all and are grateful for the blessings we have. Mark and Sandy