May 30, 2011

Dear Friends and Family, May 30 ,2011

This was our second week of zone conferences. We began the week in Asuncion and drove to Encarnacion after meeting with the office staff for our weekly meeting. We held zone conference on Tuesday with 28 missionaries from zones 7 and 11. Wednesday we drove to Ciudad del Este and had conference on Thursday with 32 missionaries from zones 9 and 10. Friday we were up early for a conference in Coronel Oviedo with the 20 missionaries from zone 8 who serve in Coronel Oviedo and Ca’auazu. At the end of the zone conference cycle we felt much gratitude for the way the missionaries had prepared themselves for the conferences. The spirit was able to teach well because they came ready to learn and listen. We heard sweet testimonies throughout the conferences from all the missionaries who will be leaving in June. It was so good to see the growth in all the missionaries. They all begin their missions at different levels spiritually but every missionary who applies himself will learn many things during their time here and be better prepared for life after the mission. After seven zone conferences it felt good to be finished for this cycle.

Saturday we were up and on the road to head back to Ciudad del Este for a stake conference. We had a nice experience with the stake there. We both helped in the training held on Saturday afternoon for the priesthood and women auxiliary leaders. They are fairly strong in number in Ciudad del Este and we had a great meeting before the general session on Sunday for all the new members and investigators. There were probably 40 people there plus the missionaries and it was great again to see many families in the group. During one point in the Sunday morning session Mark had all the missionaries serving in the stake stand and when all 32 stood it was an impressive sight of strength and power. You could hear people responding to the sight. It was great! The members here are gaining the vision of the importance of working with the missionaries and it is showing in the number of people the missionaries are able to teach. Elder Foster from our area presidency was presiding and we always love to see him. We had a nice dinner with him after the Saturday night session at our favorite hotel there. Sunday after our meetings we zipped back home again to Asuncion. We have been on the road a lot lately but that means we get to see missionaries more so that is good.

The weather has been perfect here lately. We have blue skies and the temperature is great. It seems to make everyone work harder and be a bit happier which is always wonderful! Well ,we hope you all have a great week! We love you and miss you! Love, Mark and Sandy