May 15, 2011

May 15, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

We are on our way back to Asuncion after a nice weekend of the district conference for Pilar. It´s about a 4 ½ hour drive to Pilar through an area of wetlands that we always enjoy driving through. There are a zillion different birds that are fun to look at. The district presidency was reorganized during the conference. It was a nice weekend and we left with a new presidency ready to lead the district there. They all have wives who are excited and willing to support their husbands. We saw eight of our missionaries there and we also had a meeting with them and their investigators and new converts before the main session of conference. The missionaries from Pilar, Ayolas and San Ignacio were there. We also now have an Area Seventy who lives in Asuncion so he presided . He will be a great addition to help with the training needed here for the priesthood leadership. Elder DiGiovani and his wife are from Argentina but he works for the church here in Asuncion.

Earlier in the week we had a nice day with a visit from General Primary and Young Women´s presidents. Sister Rosemary Wixom and Sister Elaine Dalton were both so fun to be with. We picked them up at the airport along with Elder Bradley Foster of our area presidency and his wife and then went to lunch. We then went to the temple so they could have a tour of the temple. We also met with a group of youth who were there to do baptisms. Afterwards we went to one chapel with Sister Wixom for a meeting with the primary leaders from around Asuncion and Sister Dalton went to another building to meet with the Young Women leaders. Sister Wixom asked me to play piano to help with her message of how important music is in primary.

Our sweet helper, Lidu is a Primary president and I pointed her out to Sister Wixom and told her what a wonderful faithful member she is. As part of her message she had Lidu come up and talk about her experience as a President of a primary. Her cute personality came through and she got a few laughs but taught a great message of the importance of priesthood leadership. Sister Wixom also met with a primary aged girl and her family. It was a family of four girls and mother who were all members, but the father is not yet a member. Sister Wixom asked me and president if we had anything to add to the conversation . I shared that my father was a not a member when I was young and shared how important it was for my mother to be a good example and that after some time he decided to have the missionary lessons and joined the church .We all felt that we were all there to share experiences and to help one another as we face and endure challenges in our lives.

After the meeting Sister Wixom greeted everyone and as one woman passed by me she commented that she liked seeing me holding hands with Mark as a married couple during the meeting. The example of strong marriages is so needed here and people are always watching us!!

Today is the Bicentennial for Paraguay. There have been celebrations and programs and parades all over the country. The national colors are red, white and blue so all the decorations look very familiar.

We hope everyone has had a good week! We have! We love and miss you all! Mark and Sandy