June 12, 2010

Dear Family and Friends, June 12, 2010

I´m in a hotel in Encarnacion today while Mark is in interviews and priesthood meeting so I thought I would use the time to write about our week. Monday morning we were up and on the road early to drive to Coronel Oviedo for interviews with missionaries. Because of our mission tour with Elder Bowen, Mark was not able to interview while we were at the zone conferences so we are finishing up all the interviews by going out to a few remaining zones who are farther away from Asuncion. We arrived and began interviews with the 14 missionaries and finished by noon or so. We drove the 3 hours back and did some grocery shopping for the week. It was the missionaries’ preparation day so they enjoyed some ping pong and basketball while they waited for their interviews. I had a nice chat with the Hermanas Plessl and Steadman who are the only Hermanas outside of Asuncion.

Tuesday night we went to a little gathering to say good bye to the Wades and Frutos who are finishing their missions soon. The Wades have helped us so much as we have spent our year here. They have been great examples of how to serve as a mission president and wife. We will miss them so much. The Frutos couple have a great story also. He is Paraguayan and went to the states when he was 23 years old for an education. He met and married his wife there and they lived in California where they raised their family. They came to Paraguay to serve a temple mission for 18 months and then went home for a few months. They returned to serve a mission in the north mission for 18 more months. They went home for a couple months and then came back to serve for another year for a total of 4 years. He speaks Guarani so he was very helpful to President Wade over the years. It was a nice evening spent with all of the other senior and temple missionaries there.

Wednesday we spent at the office with interviews for Mark and an office staff meeting. We have two office elders in training now so it is fun to watch the new Elders Steren and Dance learn their new responsibilities and bring their personalities to the office. In the evening we had the wonderful opportunity to go support two brothers who were receiving the Mechizedek priesthood. One was the man Mark baptized a bit ago and he had asked that Mark ordain him. They have a beautiful family of six children and it was so fun to see their excitement and share this special time with them. The other was a good young man who also was excited for the things that are happening in his life. We hope to go to the temple with the Samaniego family in the next year.

Thursday we were up early again and on the road to San Ignacio 2 and ½ hours from Asuncion for more interviews. One thing I love about our early morning drives is the sunrises. They are gorgeous! The pinks and oranges and blues just amaze me every time I see them. I try to take photos but usually we are driving and we can´t stop quick enough to get the best view before it’s gone. Mark interview 6 elders in San Ignacio and then we stopped in Bogado for another couple interviews. We finished the day driving into Encarnacion.

Friday was spent interviewing 8 missionaries in the morning and 9 members of the district in the evening. Mark was so excited that 9 men were ready to receive the priesthood or advance in the priesthood. Some were preparing for missions and others were preparing to take their families to the temple. This is an exciting part of the mission when we see people prepared to be sealed to their families in the temple. Encarnation has many people who are members of the church but are not participating as they could. With more worthy priesthood holders there will be more support for those who are struggling and need help. Mark was especially excited about a man who lost his membership 10 years ago and the spirit helped him have a desire to change and come back. There is a bit of a problem here with people getting lost when that happens and Mark was excited to help this brother prepare to get back on the path so he can eventually be sealed to his wife.

Saturday Mark was back at the church for more interviews and then Priesthood meeting and meetings with the district presidency before the rest of the conference meetings. I will join him tonight for the adult session.

Tomorrow we will have the final session of conference and after meetings in the afternoon and evening we will drive back home Monday morning. Elder Bowen gave us strict instructions not to drive on the routes after dark so we are trying to be obedient. During these winter hours there is not a lot of daylight so it changes our plans at times.

We are grateful for the way we see missionaries growing and changing. We are grateful for the good things we see happening in the branches and wards. There is so much to do here but little by little we see progress. Our missionaries seem to be more focused on working harder and accomplishing more and more and we are grateful for that. Many missionaries take the challenges of the mission and meet them well. We love the things we are doing here and the things we are learning. Have a great week! Love, Mark and Sandy

PS: The Sunday session of conference was great! We had a great attendance at the final session. The district really is getting excited about the possibility of becoming a stake in the future so the members are really stepping up. During the final session, Mark had the two zone leaders join him on the stand and share a 5 minute lesson that included the First Vision and concluded with one sharing the words of Joseph Smith as he described the visit of the Father and the Son. We were all renewed in our faith and testimony. We love the people here. It was fun to see them coming from 10 different branches to the conference. They arrive in buses after traveling during the night. We’ll send some pictures to the blog after we get back to Asuncion.