Pictures August 28, 2010

New missionaries at the airport on arrival day.

New missionaries on arrival day at the temple

New missionaries at mission home after testimony meeting. Elders Madsen,Tyler,Barboza,Villalba,Guizada,Larsen,Von Mondfrans,Richards,Obray,Brown,Hunt,Butcher,Yaringano,Beckett,Nelson,Griffin,McGee and Davis.

New missionaries with their trainers.

Left to Right: Elders Draves, Bill, Fifer,Dobbins,Carrasco,Velluto,Lytle,Sosa,Najac,Santacruz and Hoyle at the temple the night before going home.

Leaving missionaries enjoying peanut butter cake!

Leaving missionaries after testimony meeting.

August 28, 2010

Dear Family and Friends, August 28, 2010

What a wonderful couple of weeks we have had! I’ve really thought a lot this week about the amazing blessings that can come through missionary service. In the last couple weeks we have watched eighteen wonderful mature young men finish their missions and return home. We have also welcomed eighteen new young men who are just beginning their service here in Paraguay. It’s interesting each change to watch the contrast in the two groups of missionaries. The returning group is confident, full of wonderful experiences that have helped them grow in their testimonies and understanding of the gospel. They are excited and ready for the next steps in their lives. This group was especially focused and certain of the role the Savior plays in each of their lives and it was evident in the testimonies they shared with us the night before they flew home. They recognized that they are who they are now, because of the challenging and difficult things they have done over the last two years here in the mission. They know that they are prepared for whatever comes next in their lives. There was a quiet peace and joy in their faces (along with some tears) as we said good bye to each of them.

The arriving missionaries come with excitement along with a little nervousness and fear of what they are about to experience here in the mission, in a new and foreign country. We also see in most of them a determination to take this new situation the Lord has given them and do the best they can here. They have made covenants and accepted this calling and are ready to fulfill it. It’s nice to imagine how they will all be in two years when they have gone through the experience of the next two years. The mission is such a wonderful way for these young people to prepare for their marriages and lives in the future. It is so evident as we compare the arriving and leaving groups of missionaries during change week, that there is so much needed growth that can happen in their lives during this time.

I also have been thinking about the role that families play in the lives of the missionaries during their missions. Even though we are all separated by many miles from our families, the things we do and say can have far reaching effects as we support our missionaries. Our families are also effected by the things we as missionaries do and say. I know for me a scripture I read often that gives me comfort is D&C 31 that speaks of the blessings that come to missionaries and their families. I also know that the promises given to missionaries are real because I have seen them in my life. As we leave our homes, families, girlfriends, and all things in our lives at home behind and focus on the work, we will be blessed and so will they. I have seen some missionaries come who try to be too tightly connected to girl friends, events at home etc. and really struggle. When they finally decide to be more focused on the work here, they become happy and wonderful missionaries instead of miserable, struggling missionaries. The happiest missionaries are those who are 100% obedient to all the mission rules. Families can also help by helping their missionaries to keep all the rules. The Brethren have told us that missionaries can only email their immediate families, (parents, siblings, grandparents) and that is all. All letters to girlfriends and other friends and relatives are to be sent and received by regular mail. When we help our missionaries be exactly obedient with this they can feel confident and then they are able to feel the spirit and receive the help they need to be successful missionaries. We love these missionaries and want all of them to have wonderful and successful experiences as they share this glorious gospel with the people of Paraguay! We have seen some true miracles as young men who recommit to being obedient have had total changes in their hearts and then have gone on to be excellent missionaries. What a privilege to see these experiences in the lives of these young missionaries.

Tuesday the airport was exciting as we welcomed Elders Barboza, Beckett, Brown, Butcher,Davis,Griffin,Guizada,Hunt,Larsen,Madsen,McGee, Nelson,Obray,Richards,Tyler,Van Mondfrans,Villalba, and Yaringano . It is always a miracle when those big groups all get here with every piece of luggage. We immediately went to the temple and then to lunch. Afterwards we went to the office for orientation and interviews with President. After dinner we came to the mission home for dessert and then testimony meeting. The new elders bore sweet testimonies in their new language of Spanish. It’s a long couple days for the new missionaries with a lot to take in but they do pretty well, considering all they go through to get here. After a night’s rest at a local hotel they headed downtown to sign their legal papers and then they came back to the office to meet their trainers. By 10am or so they were all off to their new areas to begin working!

As soon as the new elders were off, President started interviews with the leaving missionaries. We went to lunch with the leaving missionaries and then to the temple for a session and then to the mission home for dessert and testimony meeting. Our leaving missionaries, Elders Bill, Carrasco, Dobbins, Draves, Fifer,Hoyle,Lytle ,Najac ,Santacruz ,and Sosa all left Thursday. It was an interesting day with three separate trips to the airport. What great missionaries! We will miss them! We love the energy that we receive from the missionaries as we interact with them. We truly feel a great love for them and are grateful for the experiences we are having as we help with the work of helping the people here learn about our Savior and this wonderful gospel and church!

We hope you all have a great week! Love, Mark and Sandy

Pictures August 22, 2010

Lunch with the leaving missionaries at Paulistas

Elder Wills, Coburn, Clark, Pitcher, Olson, Barnes, and Mortensen at the temple

Mark and Sandy with daughters Laura and Sara at the temple

Elders Pitcher and Woodruff, former and current assistants to the president

What a great group of missionaries!

Happy Laura and Sara with their tickets and sad Mom and Dad!

August 22, 2010

Dear Family and Friends, August 22, 2010

We returned from Ciudad del Este completing the trip around the mission Sunday afternoon. Now all the daughters were able to see the whole mission. It was beautiful weather for the last few days of the girls visit so that was nice. Monday night we were invited to the Canete’s home for Pizza and family home evening. President Canete is Mark’s counselor and his sons wanted to have one more get together with us before the girls left for Utah. We had a nice home evening half in English and half in Spanish.

Tuesday morning early we took Jenny to the airport. We were sad to see her go but we knew her husband and 5 little children were very anxious for her return. We are so grateful it worked out that she could come and visit the mission and Paraguay. She and Brian are helping so much with the family as we are here. We appreciate all they do for us! Mark also began that day interviewing the 7 Elders who would be leaving that week. It’s always a bittersweet time for us. We have grown to love these missionaries and our interaction with them and will miss that as they finish their missions and return home. Elder Olson was the secretary when we arrived and he helped us so much as we began our mission. Elder Pitcher was an assistant to Mark and we also are especially grateful for his goodness and hard work he did in the mission. We are so impressed with the quality of these good young men. We are also happy and excited for the good things that await all of them in their lives. We hope to hear from them as they move through the next phase of their lives.

Wednesday Mark finished the interviews and then we all went to lunch at Paulistas. Elders Barnes, Clark, Coburn, Mortensen, Olson, Pitcher and Wills are good elders who have served well. We then went to the temple for an endowment session. Laura and Sara were able to do baptisms there while we did our session. Afterwards we came back to the mission home for dessert and testimonies. The elders each shared wonderful testimonies of the Savior and the growth that they have had during their missions. Laura and Sara shared their testimonies with us also so during their visit here they have pretty much seen and done everything we do during the mission. We are so grateful that they also were able to arrange their schedules so they could spend the five weeks here with us. They enjoyed watching their dad interact with the missionaries and now they really understanding what we do here. At our home over dessert a couple of elders asked if Mark would share our experience of being called as mission president and wife. Mark shared the experience and the girls said they loved watching all the elders sitting on the edge of their seats totally taking in every word he said. It was a nice evening as we shared our last evening with our missionaries and daughters .

Thursday morning we all headed to the airport to see the missionaries and our daughters off. We had a little excitement when there appeared to be no tickets for our daughters from Asuncion to Sao Paulo but things were resolved and they left with the group. We are so grateful for good young men and women who come on missions to serve the Lord and his children. We truly do feel like our lives are so blessed to be a part of this work here in Paraguay. We will continue to be blessed as we follow the lives of these good missionaries throughout their lives.

Friday and Saturday Mark spent in interviews and preparing for priesthood training in Coronel Oviedo on Sunday. Saturday night we attended a baptism in Fernando de la Mora for a family of 4 and a woman who had wanted to be baptized for 7 years but finally was able to work things out so that she could. Two women from the ward gave beautiful talks that were wonderful!

The house is back to quiet with the girls gone. Our helper Lidu says we are very quiet and she hardly knows we are here. I think she enjoyed having the girls here because they made a bit more noise than we do. She brought some flip flops and taught them how to decorate them in different ways with beads and macramé and fabric as a going away gift. They were thrilled! She is such a sweet person. We all love her! We receive 18 new elders this week and lose 11 more who will be returning home. Life in the mission is all about change and flexibility! The life her is great though and we love it! Have a great week! Love, Mark and Sandy

Pictures August 15, 2010

Sisters, ready for zone conference!

Zone conference in Asuncion with zones 4, 5, and 6A.

Jesuit ruins.

Trinidad Ruins

Laura.

Sara.

Jenny.

Elders Parke, Phelps, Ramirez, Vasquez, and Centurion practicing for their special musical number.

Zone conference in Encarnacion with zones 6B and 9.

Salto de Monday with Jenny.

We're a close family.

Zone conference in Ciudad del Este with zones 7 and 8.

At dinner with our waiter friend Blas.

Iguazu falls... marshmallow peeps anyone?

We wish our other sisters were here too!!

Bird zoo

Papa with a parrot amigo.

August 15, 2010

Dear Family and Friends, August 15, 2010
Monday began with zone conference for zones 4,5,and 6A here in Asuncion. We had another musical number by some Elders that was amazing. I love to see the talents and gifts of the missionaries as they participate in conferences. Laura and Sara also sang and Jenny accompanied them. They sang for each conference and it was nice for them to be able to participate with us in that way. They sang in Spanish and sounded beautiful. Jenny traded with Laura and sang during one conference while Laura played piano. Monday night we had an asado ( barbeque) here at the home with the Mission Presidency and their families. It was fun for us to introduce them to our girls. The children of the Canete family speak English so it was fun for them all to visit together. We are still getting used to the customary time for dinners here. Our guests left at 11:30 pm after the barbeque.
Tuesday we were on the road in the morning for our drive to Encarnacion for conferences. We spent some time at two sets of ruins that were along the way. One was in Trinidad and the other was called Jesus. They are both the unfinished town,church/communities built in the 1600’s by the guarani Indians for the Jesuits. The story is that the guaranis decided along the way to quit building for them and they were never finished or used. They were quite impressive and would have been pretty massive if completed. The weather was beautiful that day and we enjoyed exploring. We got to Encarnacion in time for Mark to meet some people for interviews that evening.
Wednesday we had our conferences in Encarnacion for zones 6B and 9. It has been fun for me to have Jenny, Laura and Sara here with us during this conference cycle. I know when they leave it is going to be hard for me but how wonderful that they could come here and share some of these experiences with us. They have commented on watching the process of zone conferences as each one is a bit different but the focus is still the same. Each group does receive what they need and they can tell that even when they don’t understand the language.
Thursday we headed for Ciudad del Este by way of Obligado. Obligado is a town with a strong German influence. There is a nice german bakery there that we stopped at for a little treat along the way. We arrived in Ciudad del Este and had a dinner appointment with the Stake President and his wife. President Kara and his wife are wonderful people and leaders . We enjoyed a nice evening with them.
Friday was our final zone conference of the cycle. We enjoyed introducing the girls to all the missionaries during the conferences. Some missionaries were comfortable speaking with them but it was interesting to watch some almost ignore them so they wouldn’t have to speak to them!
Saturday we were on the road to cross the bridge into Brazil so we could visit Iguazu Falls and the Bird Zoo again so Jenny could see them. The day was wonderful and we enjoyed showing her the falls and seeing all the wonderful tropical birds again. Crossing the bridge between Paraguay and Brazil is quite interesting. It’s not a long bridge but there are many trucks and buses certain times of the day and week that can make the process quite slow. All of our crossing days were problem free though. We stay in a hotel outside of Ciudad del Este in Hernandarias when we are in Ciudad. It is a safer place and we feel quite comfortable there. We have a waiter at the restaurant there we have become friends with. He is always waiting for us when we come. We visited with him about the bridge and he explained the whole economic process that rules the busy-ness of the bridge. Brazil supplies Paraguay with fruits, vegetables, and other thing we don’t have and Paraguay imports many things like electronics and blankets so the bridge is vital for the trading of things. The girls have had fun trying to learn and use a few Spanish phrases and Blas, our waiter had fun helping them use their Spanish.
Sunday we had a nice family testimony meeting and Laura and Sara received father’s blessing from Mark. It was nice for us all to have the opportunity to be together for some special experiences. Jenny has heard reports that her children are doing well with all the kind people helping while she is gone. We are grateful Brian has been so supportive so Jenny could come. She has probably taken more naps in the time she’s been here than in all the last 13 years or so. We are going to say goodbye to our daughters this week and also 7 elders will leave this week and another 12 next week. We are losing some wonderful missionaries who have served well. More about that next week. We hope you all have a good week. Love, Mark and Sandy

Pictures August 8, 2010

Iguazu Falls!

The Bird Park

Dad holding a parrot.

Saying goodbye to Elder Lorsch

Zones 1,2,3 Conference

Hermanas from Zones 1, 2, and 3.

Jenny came to town! We stopped by the temple to show her around.

Panteon De Los Heroes

Doing a little shopping in centro. Mom is really learning how to talk down the prices. She's a natural.

Lunch at Paulista's, a Brazilian churrascaria in Paraguay. It is similar to Utah's Tucano's.

August 8, 2010

Dear Family and Friends, August 8 ,2010
I forgot to mention last week that when we went to church in Hernandarias the Laura and Sara got to experience what it is like to have all the children be interested in you because of your looks. One little boy stared at them the whole meeting and then would say something to his friend and laugh. A tiny little girl pointed at their eyes and said ojos azul (blue eyes). People here are mainly brown eyed so we do stand out a bit. We have had fun introducing the girls around. This week we went to our own ward so Jenny could meet people there and see our home ward.
Monday and Tuesday we spent in Brazil visiting Iguazu Falls with Laura and Sara. The weather was cool but sunny so we had a great time. The water was clear and beautiful and we were able to see well because the water flow was not too overwhelming. We could see lots of details where the water had worn away interesting formations and pools. It really is an amazing place. We spent the day there and then went to the hotel in Foz and had dinner. We turned on the computer when we returned to our room and heard the wonderful news that Robert and Rachel’s baby Rose had joined the family that day. She was 7 lbs.12 oz. and 18 1/2 inches with a full head of dark hair. Rose Amelia joins her brother Jack. Robert and Rachel said Jack is a sweet big brother so far. Again it is hard to be here missing the births of our grandchildren but kind people are stepping in to help them. Rachel’s parents went to Provo for a few days and Kristie, my sister in law, is going to spend a couple days helping them as well. What a kind thing she is doing. Tuesday we went to the Bird Park, which is near Iguazu Falls. It was truly an amazing place. We spent a few hours looking at beautiful parrots, tucans, and other native birds. The thing we noticed, unlike other zoos we have been to, all the birds looked so healthy and vibrant. They had plenty of room in their cages to fly. Now we recognize some of the sounds of the birds we are hearing because we saw them there. It was wonderful. We went back to the hotel and Mark read his letters for the week, and the rest of us rested. We found the Windows of Heaven (the old church video) on a channel on the TV in the hotel in Brazil, all in Portuguese of course! We all have added a few Portuguese words to our vocabulary.
Wednesday we got up early and drove the four hours back to Asuncion, where Mark had interviews at the office and we worked on Zone Conference preparations.
Thursday we said goodbye to Elder Lorsch, who is heading back to Arizona for school, and then said hello to our oldest daughter Jenny who flew in from Utah to visit for two weeks! We came home, had dinner and Jenny crashed after her 24 hour trip here.
Friday we had Zone Conference for zones 1,2 and 3. It was fabulous! We enjoyed a beautiful musical number by a group of Elders and Hermanas. We are focusing on the 8 lessons given to us recently by the Brethren to increase our teaching abilities. This cycle of zone conferences we are discussing two of the lessons which are “Teach People not Lessons” and “The Role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion”. We are excited about the way the missionaries are ready to receive the information and be more focused. After the conference ended around 4 we drove up to the temple grounds with our daughters. We enjoyed a little quiet time there. We drove around a bit more showing Jenny a few of the sights around and then came back to the house for the evening.
Saturday we got up and went downtown to Centro for a little sightseeing and shopping. We went to the Panteon de Heroes that we had gone to with Hermana Grau earlier where the war heroes are honored. We went to a few artisan shops to buy some Paraguayan items as souvenirs. We saw an Ecuadorian musical group on the plaza along with a Hare Krishna group as well! After that, we went to Paulista’s for a Brazilian Churrascarria. Then we went to the mall which is like any mall anywhere in the USA and got our watch batteries changed. We also went into a grocery store to show Jenny how they work here and what’s available. It has been so fun to have our daughters here with us and share a bit about our mission with them. It’s been a good week, we are grateful the weather has been better! We are especially grateful for our new grandbaby Rose this week! We now have 10 grandsons and 3 granddaughters. We enjoyed a nice chat with Robert on his birthday this week. He is happy in his role as husband and father and has been loving the addition of Rose.
We love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! Mark and Sandy

Pictures August 1, 2010

In between interviews this zone was having a zone activity. They would bob for apples and inside the apple was the practice their companionship would do. It was fun to watch.

The resort town San Bernadino.

The beautiful sunrise on the way to Encarnation.

Elder Urmston, Elder Fernandez, President Callan, Elder Bills, and Elder Olson. First Elders in the recently opened Santa Rita area.

Sunset on the way to Cuidad del Este

Missionaries come in all sizes.

Itaipu Dam

Salto de Monday falls near Presidente Franco.

If you look in the distance you can see a small village. What a view they have!

This is the village that looks on to Salto de Monday falls. It's incredible that people can live in such poor conditions yet have such an amazing view.

A family doing their laundry in the stream. Makes you thankful for what we have.