This week began with our picking up the Wades, the mission president and wife from the north mission, and attending a ceremony where the church presented Paraguay with 750 wheel chairs. The ceremony was held on the grounds of the Residencia Presidencial Mburuvicha Roga here in Asuncion. Elder Claudio Civic of the Area Presidency attended and spoke along with a couple of people representing those who would receive the chairs. La Primera Dama de la Nacion (The First Lady of Paraguay) Dona Mercedes Lugo de Maidana spoke and was so grateful to the Church for their gift. 750 more wheel chairs will be arriving in the future. The first lady is not the wife of the president because he was a priest in the Catholic Church and he is not married. When there is no wife, a first lady is designated so the first lady is his sister. She was a very kind person. After the messages and some music by the national orchestra quartet everyone mingled and the first lady stayed and visited with everyone. Everyone took photos and she was very gracious. The temple president and some senior temple missionaries were also there along with representatives of hospitals and groups who would receive the chairs. It was a nice event. The church does so much good in the world. Elder Zivic explained how members of the church fast each month and give the offerings to help those in need.
As soon as we were done there we headed to the office to gather our things at the office and we headed to Encarnacion for zone conferences. We arrived in time for Mark’s 6:30pm interviews with members of the district there. Tuesday we were at the church at 7:30am to set up for the conference. Across the street from the church there is a fruit market that sells fruit salad, flan, rice pudding so we grabbed our breakfast there before the conference. The fruit salad here is very common. It is made with apples, bananas, pineapple, plums and pears or whatever else but it is cut in very small pieces and has a bit of juice on it. It’s quite good. Conference went from 9am-3pm and then we headed for Ciudad del Este with the assistants. Elders Lytle and Woodruff were great company. They have fun talking and we used the time to discuss the conference and how it went. Elder Woodruff seemed very quiet which is not normal for him and then all of a sudden he asked Mark to pull over. Unfortunately he gets car sick. The road is just a two lane road and there is a lot of speeding up and slowing down which doesn’t help. Anyway after a couple detours we made it to our destination.
The next morning we were at the church ready to go again and repeat the conference schedule of the day before. As soon as the zone conference was over we grabbed two elders and took them to their apartment for apartment checks and interviews. We saw 3 apartments and interviewed 8 Elders in Hernandarias and then went back to the church where Mark met with the President Karra, the Stake President. There was a Relief Society meeting being held so I watched as the sisters were learning how to make beaded flip flops. There was a little boy who was 20 months old that was running around and he looked so familiar to me. All of a sudden I realized he looked like a dark version of Christian our grandson. He had a round face and curly hair and his face and expressions were just like Christian’s. I took some photos which I’m not sure caught the resemblance I saw but it was fun to see a little boy about Christians age and imagine what Christian is like now. His mother and grandmother thought it was funny when I told them he looked just like my grandson except Christian is blond and blue eyed instead of brown haired and brown eyed.
Thursday we were on the road at 6:00am on our way to Ca auzu for apartment checks and interviews with 8 elders in 4 apartments. We then went to Coronel Oviedo and checked 2 apartments and interviewed 4 missionaries. We have two hermanas (sisters) in Oviedo. They are the only hermanas not in or close to Asuncion. Hermanas Edwards and Plessl say they love it there. Their apartment was probably the best we’ve seen yet. They are doing a great job. We went to the church where Mark released a missionary from the district who returned from serving his mission in Chile and then we headed on in to Asuncion getting there just before dark. We try not to drive after dark on the rutas (main highways). It’s quite dangerous. In fact the first lady said 1/3 of all the wheel chairs used in Paraguay were used by people injured in accidents along the rutas or roads out in the country. Motorcycles drive without headlights and weave around cars and there are also lots of large trucks and buses and everyone is in a hurry.
Thursday and Friday our phones began ringing nonstop. It is strange how we can go a few days and things are a bit calm in that regard and then they just go crazy. I was on the phone three times with the area doctor. I had to check one more thing Friday night and at the end of the conversation he said “Hermana you sure have long days”. The next day I realized that when the time changed here last week we were no longer the same time as Argentina but it was an hour later there. I had to send him an email the next day and apologize for calling at 11:00pm when it wasn’t an emergency situation!
Saturday we spent preparing for the week to come and catching up with things around here since we were gone all week. We felt really good about our zone conferences and all the apartments we have checked so far. We feel good about our efforts but frustrated at times that we are not accomplishing more thing s more quickly. I guess we need to be like President Uchtdorf said and be patiently persistent. The patient part is especially important when we are dealing with other peoples’ agency.
Today we attend the Obrero branch. It was a wonderful branch with a strong spirit. The missionaries spoke and also another brother. They gave great messages about how we all need to reach out and support one another and also reach out to our non member friends and neighbors. Mark and I also shared messages. We are learning and growing daily and enjoying the things we are doing here. I was listening to a recording Laura, Sara and I made of a song we sang one time in Relief Society called Joy in the Journey. It was based on a talk President Monson gave a bit ago. There really is a lot of joy in our lives here as we try to do what we are supposed to as we serve the people and missionaries here. We do want many more people here and around the world to be able to know the true source of our joy. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that source. We love you all. Mark and Sandy
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