May 22, 2011

Dear Family and Friends, May 22, 2011

We have had a great week of zone conferences this week! Now that our conferences are held every three months it seems like there is such a long time between conferences. We had conferences Tuesday through Friday all held here in Asuncion. The schedule is full as we begin at 9 and end at 4. It was a good week as we saw all the missionaries from zones 1-6. We began conferences with a DVD of a devotional given by Elder Holland at the MTC in January. It was a very powerful message asking each of us the question , “Lovest thou me more than these ?” from the scripture in John 21:15. It really set the tone for conference as we each looked inside our hearts to see if we have committed ourselves to our missions and to the Lord’s work the way we need to. Elder Holland said very strongly that we cannot go back to our lives and the way we were before our missions and be true to the covenants we have made. We need to be better and improved because of our experiences here forever!

President then went on to speak of the things we are asked to do as missionaries to be focused on the work. The missionaries were reminded of why we have been given rules from the prophet about internet use, daily schedules, budgets missionaries are asked to live within, interaction with members, grooming and preparation day along with many more things. All of these things have a purpose and that is to help missionaries focus on the work and not to have distractions. The assistants had a session on planning better and then after lunch messages were given by me and some missionaries. The zone leaders had some time with their zones to focus on things they felt their zones needed along with some practices. The missionaries are encouraged to give their messages in English if they are a latin missionary who is learning English. Elders Pastul and Hernriquez both did an excellent job. Elder Bulkley has been here only three weeks and he did a great job with his Spanish also. President finished the conference encouraging improvement in working with the members and teaching how much more effective we can be as missionaries in helping more people come to the Savior by working with members.

Elder Wray joined the office staff as he is being trained by Elder Sellers for his responsibilities as administrador. He will be in charge of keeping the mission supplied with Book of Mormons, pamphlets, any other thing we use as a mission. He is responsible for the distribution of anything that needs to be moved around the mission, mail ,packages ,supplies etc. We have been asking parents to keep the shipping of too many packages to a minimum. Sometimes items need to be sent to the missionaries but anything that arrives in the mission has to be delivered to the missionary at the expense of the mission. The administrator has a big job when 190 plus missionaries are here in the mission. He also administers the English test for the latin missionaries who want to get their certificates. Elder Sellers has done a great job and we are sure Elder Wray is being taught well !

Wednesday afternoon one of our hermanas who finished her mission a few months ago returned for a visit with her parents and sister. It was good to see Hermana Sargent and meet her family. They brought a large amount of white shirts and ties for us to use here in the mission for missionaries who come still needing a few things .Some of our missionaries who leave from the districts often need much help to get their clothing ready to begin their missions. Their gift to the mission will help many missionaries.

Saturday we went to a Bicentennial program in one of the stakes in Asuncion. The young single adults of two stakes presented a wonderful program depicting through song and dance the history of Paraguay. We enjoyed it so much! Today we went to stake conference in Fernando de la Mora which is the stake we live in. It was a nice meeting and we heard some great messages.There also was a young adult choir of about 30 people that did a good job.

We love being with the missionaries. We were especially impressed this week at their real desires to learn and take in the messages given during the conference. They were very focused during our zone conferences. We feel so blessed to be with these wonderful missionaries and we are grateful for the way they have prepared themselves to be here and for the way they are continuing to grow while they are here. They have some great parents who have prepared them well and are continuing to support them while they are here. Our daughter Jenny received a kind note from some parents of some of our missionaries this week wishing her well with her new baby that will be born in July along with a gift for the baby. The goodness of people is a wonderful part of this experience as we see people reaching out to our family as we are here away from them. The love of the Lord is the most important part of missionary work and anything we do really. We see evidences of the Lord’s love for us and for our family and for each of our missionaries daily. What a blessing! It is our goal to improve daily to learn to reciprocate that love to others better. We hope you all have a wonderful week! Love, Mark and Sandy