March 12, 2011

March 12,2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This week we have been out doing apartment checks in all the apartments in the areas in and around Asuncion. We saw 41 apartments and 104 missionaries. Some of the apartments have four missionaries in them but we are in the process of getting them all down to two per apartment. We were pleased for the most part at what we found. Some needed a little work and we decided to move a few to better apartments. Mark checked the Area Books which are the records of everyone taught in the area. It’s important for the missionaries to be organized in their record keeping so they can keep up with the people they are teaching now and also for future reference. It is good to see the missionaries in their apartments, we learn a little more about them this way. When we learn to be more organized in our lives it helps us in every way, not just in the apartments but in the way we use our time and energy as missionaries. Most of the apartments are tile floors with wood doors and frames. They are basic but not too difficult to keep clean with soap, water and a squeegee. We gave everyone a new toilet bowl brush and some cleanser as we visited. We also did an inventory of each apartment to be given to the mission administrator so he can fix anything that needs repaired or replaced. The missionaries all are grateful for the new beds and microwaves the apartments got this year. We hope they all eat and sleep a little better now! Then they can work even better!!!

Tuesday Morning we also attended a district meeting in Ita Enramada. Elder Sanderson did a good job reviewing the weekly bulletin that had a summary of the teachings of Mark and President Arnold from the leaders’ council held last week. After the meeting Mark and I drove up Cerro Coro ,a hill that gives a nice view of the city. We met a man from Austria there and had a nice visit with him and shared a Book of Mormon with him.

Thursday was our grandson Williams third birthday . We were able to talk to him through skype and see his sweet face. What a blessing!

During the week we saw lots of fruit on the trees in the yards of the missionaries. Grapefruit, avocados and lemons are a great free food for many of the missionaries. Members are good to share with those who don’t have their own trees. We also saw parrots, a monkey in a tree, turtles and the ever present chickens and cows. We had fun at one apartment with the landlord’s turtles putting missionary name plackards on them and taking some photos for some future messages.

We saw a new church building that was recently rented in Guarambaray. Elders Patterson and Gonzalez were happy to show us the baptismal font outside being filled for a baptism that night.

It’s been along week with a lot of driving but it has been good to see so many missionaries.

Midway through the week we also went to the airport to say good bye to two faithful missionaries. Elder s Guenther and Facer finished their missions well. Both of these elders served in the office with us. Elder Guenther helped us get our storage room better organized for our teaching materials and was in charge of getting everything where it needed to go throughout the mission. Elder Facer was the financial clerk and did a wonderful job of making sure all the missionaries had their money each month and was sure apartments and everything else financial was done correctly. These two were also wonderful in their proselyting. They loved the people and it showed it the number of people they were able to teach and share the gospel with. That is why we are all here ,to share this wonderful gospel with more people. We hope you all have a wonderful week. Love , Mark and Sandy