Dear Family and Friends, February 27, 2011
This week we headed out to the zones outside of Asuncion for zone conferences for the rest of the mission. We left on Monday and drove to Encarnacion. I always enjoy the time during the drives where we can talk and plan and listen to cd’s of conference talks. The weather has been nice lately, a little cooler but still summer. Monday we received a fun Dear Elder letter from a friend I grew up with in Texas and then later we spent time getting reacquainted when Mark and I were in Omaha where our husbands attended dental school . Kami and Ken Wallace’s daughter was a roommate at BYU with Hermana Plummer, one of our missionaries.The church makes the world so small it seems. Any way it was fun to hear from them as they shared their love for Hermana Plummer.
Tuesday we had our zone conference in Encarnacion and enjoyed seeing the missionaries there. We focused on the same things as the other conferences last week. It is interesting always to see how the spirit directs a few changes here and there according to the group of missionaries attending the conferences. At lunch we were visiting with Elder Moreno a wonderful zone leader from El Salvador. He was telling us how excited he to go home in March when his mission ends to be sealed to his family. They joined the church and were able to be sealed while he was here in the mission. When they asked him if they should wait for him he said,” No. I can be sealed to you when I get home. ” He didn’t want them to delay their sealing waiting for him.
Wednesday we drove to Ciudad del Este. On the way there we checked an email on Mark’s phone and the office elders had sent the mission history of 2010 for him to review. I read it to him as he drove and we thoroughly enjoyed the hour or so as we read the history. Elders Roberts and Smith had written it in scriptural language. They were very creative and it made the reading very enjoyable. It almost sounded better that it was when we lived it! We are grateful for good young missionaries who take their responsibilities seriously and put in some extra effort as they accomplish the tasks that they do here in the office that support the missionary effort.
Thursday we held our last zone conference of this cycle. It is one of the larger groups because of the growth of missionaries in Ciudad del Este. Again it was nice to be with the missionaries there and see their desire to learn and improve. Friday we headed back to Asuncion and went straight to the office. We stopped for my favorite chipa at Maria Ana’s on the way. Chipa looks like a bagel but is more yellow. It is made from mandioca (cassava) flour, cheese, oil and caraway seed. Just so you know mandioca(cassava) is what tapioca is made from. They bake it in brick ovens and when it is fresh it is wonderful and chewy. This particular area has many chipa stands along the route and we always noticed Maria Ana’s always had a line of cars and trucks. The women come right to the car window with their big basket with the chipa wrapped in a cloth. We figured it must be good so we stopped one time about 9 months into the mission. Now it is a regular stop for us. For 10 mil guarani we get 5 chipa. That’s about 2 US dollars. They last with a little microwave heating for a few days so we enjoy them for a few days. There are various varieties of chipa and this is the best we’ve had. Some are dry and hard and certain times of the year they shape them into animal shapes instead of the circle. It is a real staple because mandioca is grown here and plentiful. Often at church firesides they serve it as the refreshments or people eat it whenever. It is very filling though so it stays with you a long time.
Friday was Jenny our oldest daughter’s birthday. She was born 34 years ago and has been a wonderful part of our family ever since. She is doing such a great job with her 5 soon to be 6 children along with keeping her siblings connected and taken care of while we are here. We love Jenny so much!!!
Saturday we were in the temple with the Area President Mervyn Arnold and his wife along with the stake and district presidents and wives. We also had a meeting and lunch as a group . Tonight we are having a fireside where President Arnold will speak to all the new converts and investigators and the missionaries who bring them. I’ll report on that next week. Tomorrow we also have a council with the zone and district leaders in Asuncion with President Arnold. I’ll write more on that next week. We hope you all have a wonderful week. The church is true and the best way to help the missionaries is to share your friends and families names with them or invite them into your homes to be taught by the missionaries. We love the work and as the Stake and District presidents were taught by President Arnold this week the members are a key ingredient in the success of the missionary effort. Have a great week! We plan to! Love, Mark and Sandy
Dear Family and Friends, February 19, 2011
Monday this week began with the preparations for zone conferences which began Tuesday. The office elders and assistants have many things to do to get the building reading for the day and arrange for the feeding of everyone and make sure everything else needed is ready to go. We also welcomed a new office elder to begin training last week. Elder Fowers is being trained by Elder Smith as the office elder in charge of keeping records and reports. He is learning well and has very big shoes to fill! Elder Smith has been wonderful as he keeps up with all of President’s requests.
We try to use the power of the missionaries to move supplies and deliver packages so we can keep costs in check also. Elder Sellers the office administrator works hard to be organized so everything goes where it needs to go. All of the zones that are closer in to Asuncion come into the church in Herrera which is next to the mission office for their conferences. As they leave he has everything ready for them to take back to their areas. Zones 1-6 had their conferences Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
It is always good to see all of the missionaries at zone conferences. It is a wonderful time to come together to learn and share and grow as missionaries. We focused on three of the fundamental lessons from Preach My Gospel, revelation through the Book of Mormon, revelation through prayer and how to begin a lesson. We had some good discussions and lots of practices. Each practice session began with examples of how to do the practices and then evaluations as to how we can improve or what was done well. Some of the time Mark and I participated in the example practice and other times the assistants of other missionaries did the example practice. We then split the missionaries into small groups of 3 or 4 to practice what they had learned. We really learn a lot as we practice. We can receive revelation for our investigators and also revelation as to ways we can improve our teaching methods.
We also had invited some stake presidents to speak and share how we as missionaries can work better with members in missionary work. They taught well and shared some great insights for us all.
I taught about the help that is available to us as missionaries when we work hard. I talked about a motto our stake had years ago that was “We Do Hard Things”. Missions are hard but we learn and grow as we apply ourselves to the work. There are so many scriptures that teach us of the way the Lord helps those who are trying to do his will.
Mark taught about the atonement, encouraging each one of us to strengthen our understanding and use of it so we can teach it better. He taught using the analogy of refining gold. He spoke of the things we go through in life that refine us. He had some great slides that showed the process as the impurities were burned out of the rocks showing the final result of the shining gold. As he talked about the point when all of the impurities were gone and the gold remained as shiny as a mirror it really brought to my mind a scripture. I thought of the scripture that asks if we can see the image of the Savior in our countenance. As we go through experiences as missionaries and in life in general we need to keep in mind the end result. We want to be better people because of the experiences we are having. How wonderful that we know the Savior understands and has felt everything we are feeling. Because of that we can, through the gift of repentance change and improve and become refined as people. What a great message we have to share with people!
As we were with our missionaries this week our love for them continues to increase. We saw new missionaries trying so hard to understand the language. We saw new leaders working hard to learn their new responsibilities. We saw missionaries taking notes and sharing wonderful comments. We saw missionaries sharing favorite scriptures to use to teach certain principles to investigators. We felt a growing maturity among the missionaries as they take their callings as missionaries into their hearts and try to improve and reach more people. We are grateful for the richness of our lives because of the experiences we are having here. We know these missionaries will hold a special place in our hearts forever! We are grateful our family is supporting us so well as we are here serving! We hope you all have a great week!
Love, Mark and Sandy
Dear Family and Friends, February 12, 2011
Last week when we drove out to Ciudad del Este the check engine light came on in the car. We made it home on Sunday with only a few problems with the accelerator seeming to not respond when being pressed. Monday we had the car checked at the dealership and were told that Mark had worn out the accelerator sensor. When we had the car picked up after being serviced the old accelerator was in the car in the box of the new one. We had a good laugh that the young missionaries wear out their shoes quickly and Mark wears out his accelerator on the car. I’ve never heard of that happening before, especially in a two year old car.
Tuesday we spent the day receiving 18 new missionaries at the airport in two different groups. The group of twelve elders from the Argentina MTC arrived at 10:30 am. The six (4 sisters and 2 elders)from Provo arrived about 4:45pm. The day was spent feeding, orienting, taking photos, interviewing and getting to know the new missionaries a bit. In the evening after dinner we had a testimony meeting. The elders stayed at the mission office and the sisters came to our home. Everyone arrived with all of their luggage and smiling faces! They are a good group who were ready to work. The latins had time to go out contacting because they came earlier and they were so happy to see how friendly the people are and how easy it is to talk to the people here.
Wednesday morning bright and early all the new missionaries and the ones leaving went to sign their legal papers so they are legal to be in or out of the country. Afterwards we met with the trainers and then all the new missionaries joined the meeting and were introduced to their companions. It’s always fun to watch the companionships come together. Two of the new sisters were put into threesomes this time. We have received 8 new sisters in the last 6 weeks and will receive 3 more in the next change in 6 weeks. In order for the newer sisters to be with the most experienced sisters the threesomes were the best options. All the sisters need to learn quickly and the new sisters seem to be doing well with their language so that is good! Everyone was off to their areas by 10:00am.Then Mark finished interviewing some of the 16 missionaries who were leaving this week. At one point there were five elders in my tiny office as we chatted about their missions and life after the mission. We took the leaving missionaries out to lunch and then to the temple for a session. After the session we were able to attend the sealing of a family taught by one of the leaving elders, Elder Ale and Elder Steren, who still has some time left in the mission. It was so sweet as they brought in the 7 and 2 year old boys to see the family so happy and the elders too! That is the hope of every missionary – to see the families they teach make it to the temple. What a perfect way to spend the last day of their missions! Thursday we went to the airport 3 times to say goodbye to missionaries. We sent home some great missionaries in this group! We will miss them but their goodness remains in the mission as Elder Woodruff was an assistant and taught many missionaries great things and Elder Roberts was in the office and kept track of records for the mission faithfully and was a solid force for good.
Friday we went to visit an elder whose grandfather passed away so we could share the news in person. He was close enough that we could do that and he received the news with faith that things will be okay for the family back home. I’m impressed by the mature way these missionaries deal with hard things. I know the Lord helps them! As missionaries spend every day teaching people about the great plan of happiness when things like this happen they are better prepared personally and know where to receive the help they need to deal with their loss. We enjoyed learning a bit about the elder’s grandfather as he shared with us some of his memories of him.
Thursday our oldest granddaughter had her birthday. Callie turned thirteen so we now have a teenager as a granddaughter. I can’t believe she is that old! She is a wonderful young lady and a great big sister to her four younger brothers. We know she is a big help to her parents and will continue to help when brother number five is born in July! We will have 11 grandsons and 3 granddaughters in July. Lot’s of future missionaries!
With all the new missionaries it will be fun to have zone conferences the next two weeks. We love our missionaries and are grateful for the way they are working so hard to share the gospel with the people here. We hope you all have a great week! Love, Mark and Sandy
Dear Family and Friends, February 6, 2011
This week on Tuesday we held the monthly zone leaders council meeting here at the mission home quincho. The zone leaders are working hard to help their zones achieve the goals they set in December for the year 2011. It is a time of accountability for each companionship to hear how they are doing and share ideas and all work together to improve. It was so nice to hear testimonies being shared of things they are doing that are working. One elder said he has really realized the amazing difference it makes in the work when we truly are exactly obedient. Others talked about planning and using their time better and hard work and how it has helped them achieve more. That is the purpose of the councils- to come together and learn from each other and go back to the areas stronger and better and ready to help their zones do the same.
Wednesday the zone leaders were joined by the district leaders, trainers and all the sisters in the mission for more training. The sisters were added to the group because we received 4 sisters last change and will receive 4 more new sisters on Tuesday. The majority of our sisters are fairly young in the mission and they needed a little extra training to help them get their skill up quickly. There was teaching done on doctrine and principles but the majority of the time was spent in practices. They focused on sharing the Book of Mormon and how to get a lesson started quickly and efficiently. The practices really do help the missionaries prepare to be better teachers. One thing that is always encouraged is to have an investigator in mind so the practices often become very spiritual for all those involved. The teaching skills are practiced but revelation for how to help the investigators can also be received that way.
Thursday Mark interviewed a potential missionary from a district here. The Area Presidency is asking that the number of missionaries leaving from all the countries in our area increase so that is also a focus for President. We also took Elder Steren and Smith out to lunch. They have both been serving in the office. Elder Steren , as financial secretary, and Elder Smith as the secretary in charge of recording dates, records for baptism and anything else relating to a zillion reports that are constantly being requested. They have both done an amazing job in doing all the office work during the day and then out to teach and baptize at night. The will both go out to the field and bless whatever zone or district they go to.
Mark has been out teaching with the elders this week a couple times also. It really helps him see how the teaching is going and how individual missionaries are doing. All of that is useful information when planning the next zone conference.
The stake in Ciudad del Este has been working hard to help in the missionary work and wanted to have a large baptism for the stake. We drove out Saturday to attend a service for 11 people and there were more being held at other locations that weekend there. The whole chapel was full of missionaries, members, investigators and those being baptized. It was a great night. They had empanadas and chipa and a huge cake to help celebrate the happy event. Saturday was also Jacob our grandson’s 11th birthday. We spoke to him that evening on the phone to wish him a happy birthday. He is growing up so fast and we know he will be ready in a few short years to be a great missionary!
Sunday we drove home by way of Yaguaron. The branch president there had eight people ready for interviews for the temple. Four of the members were prepared to receive their endowments and the others were renewing their recommends in preparation for a district temple trip on Saturday. Since Mark presides over the districts he interviews all members who are preparing to receive their endowment in the 5 districts here. While he interviewed I had fun chatting with two sisters who have served as local missionaries (members who serve for a short period of time when we have uneven numbers of missionaries) in our mission in the past. One is the Primary president and the other is a counselor in the Young Women. They are both 21 and are preparing to serve full time missions. We talked about how their organizations are doing and I also learned a lot about the education system here. They will both be good missionaries when they get their calls. One part of the process that really slows some people down here is just the basic knowledge of how to get the medical and dental requirements taken care of. Many of the leaders have not been through the process themselves or with other missionaries so they need a little advice and pushing to keep the process moving forward. The district was preparing to have a leadership training after we left which is always good to hear that they are working on training their leaders. In Yaguaron we also met a young couple who had been sealed in the temple a while back and had a beautiful month old baby. The members were happy to tell us that she is the first baby born in the covenant in that branch. There is progress being made and the people are growing in the gospel there.
It was a busy week and it would be nice to take a break- ha! Ha! We have 18 new missionaries coming Tuesday and 16 going home Thursday. Another busy week ahead! Oh well it all works out and some how we get most of what we are supposed to be doing done. The Lord is helping us daily. We know this missionary work is His work. We are grateful to be here doing what we can. The missionaries we have here are great and we love them! Have a great week ! Love, Mark and Sandy
