Dear Family and Friends, April 4, 2010
This week we spent a lot of our time in the apartments of the missionaries checking and interviewing for Mark. Monday we spent the whole day visiting 7 apartments around Asuncion. That day all of them were okay except one that has some problems that the landlord doesn’t seem interested in helping with. The missionaries are looking around for a better option so hopefully they will find one soon. Tuesday we began the day in a district 2 meeting in zone 5. Again it is so nice when we get to visit the meetings where we see the teaching and training done by the elders. Elder Rivero did a great job and then the zone leaders Elders Coburn and Dobbins ran some practices about using the Book of Mormon to help people find the answers to their “questions of the soul” that were really helpful for everyone. Afterwards we took 6 elders of the district and went to each of their apartments for inspections and interviews. The apartments looked good that day. Wednesday and Thursday we went to zone 4 and saw all of their apartments and Mark did the interviews. We finished up zone 5 with the office elders so by the end of Thursday we had visited about 30 apartments and Mark had interviewed about 60 missionaries.
Overall we have been pleased with what we have seen. There definitely are different levels of cleanliness but they did pretty well in preparing for our visits. We still have a couple zones to finish here around Asuncion and then we’ll get started on the ones farther out. I came back with a list for the office elders of all the things that need repaired or replaced. We’re trying to get all the apartments improved a bit, one by one.
Friday we spent getting ready for zone conferences which are the next two weeks. Mark keeps moving around the house during his study and preparation time. He used to use his office and then he used a spare bedroom that has a better view of the yard and this week he was out in the quincho. The quincho has two sides that are totally windows and all you see is the green palm trees and plants and the pool so it’s very light . We got the internet connected out there so he can read his letters out there now from the missionaries too.
We enjoyed watching conference here at home on Saturday. What wonderful messages so many of which were focused on the family. We spoke by skype to Jenny and Brian and family and Laura and Sara who were there for conference. After we were finished speaking Mark and I were talking about how wonderful it was that some of our conference traditions continue even when we are not there. How grateful we are to know that the family is gathering to watch conference and eat good food together. Robert and Rachel and Jack arrived later to watch the second session with them. Our family is such a source of joy for us. I miss everyone and want to see everyone but then when I hear the good things they are doing without us I feel okay about missing a few things. We give up some time with our family now for the chance to be with them for eternity.
Sunday we attended the conference broadcast at the stake center. The high council room had an English broadcast for us which was nice. We were there with about 8 missionaries watching. In between sessions we attended a baptism .There were 8 people baptized. There was a young couple, a single man and a couple and three of their children. Mark had spoken with the parents a few weeks ago about the importance of working together as a family and when they decided to be baptized they wanted him to do it. So he baptized the parents and the missionaries who taught them baptized the children. They were such a cute family. All the men baptized bore their testimonies at the baptism and a 10 year old boy also did. It’s always so wonderful to hear the testimonies of brand new members. After the baptism we watched the last session. The father of the family and his sons who are about 9 and 10 attended all the sessions of conference. He will be a great member and leader for his family. It was great to see three men baptized . The church really needs good men here.
Well we hope you all have a good week. We are so grateful for the wonderful messages we received during conference. We know the messages will bless our lives as we study them and put them into practice in our lives. Love, Mark and Sandy
Thank you for posting these letters. Our son is serving in Asuncion and I feel a little more connected when I read your blog. Thank you for all you are doing serving the Lord and loving these elders. Our son thinks the world of his mission president and wife.
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