Pictures September 25, 2011

  Hail from hail storm at the mission home.

 View of Posadas , Argentina from the hotel in Encarnacion.

The bridge to Posadas, Argentina.

 Area around the Parana River in Encarnacion. They've been improving

the area the whole time we have been here.

 Birds in a cage next to the hotel.

 Encarnacion District members waiting loading buses after conference.

 The family of President Perez of Encarnacion with Sister DiGiovanni

and me after conference

Beautiful vegetable gardens on the way to Encarnation.

September 25, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,                                                               September 25,2011

     Monday and Tuesday of this week we spent time helping some sisters from two of our districts prepare for their missions. There is a real push to help the young people here prepare to serve missions. There have been quite a few who have already received calls and  one of these sisters needed help with some medical tests and the other already had her call and stayed with us the night before she flew out to Brazil to serve her mission there. It was really fun talking to her as she told me about her desire to be a missionary. She said she understands Portuguese so was excited to learn to speak it now for her mission.  She taught me a lot about the culture and history of Paraguay also as we visited together the night before she left. We were in Encarnacion this week also for District conference where her family lives. It was fun to visit with them also and see their excitement at having a missionary.

   District conference was great with perfect weather which meant many people came. There actually were not enough chairs for all the people during the Sunday session. That is a wonderful problem to have! We saw sixteen of our missionaries there which was an added bonus.  Saturday’s meetings were also fairly well attended. It is so nice to see progress!

   We stayed in a new hotel that is on the river in Encarnacion this trip. They have been working to make the water front a nice place for walking and it is really starting to look good.  Across the river is the city of Posadas in Argentina. It is a much more developed city!  I think they are trying to make Encarnacion more comparable to Posadas .Argentina is much farther along in many ways when compared to Paraguay. I kept hearing loud birds outside of the hotel during the evening but I couldn’t see them so the next morning we went looking for them and found them in a cage on the property as we left the hotel. They were two large red and blue parrots or macaws.

   One night this week we heard something hitting the roof of our house and we went out and found hail the size of large marbles or pecans all over. Lidu , our helper says that never happens here. The weather has been wonderful this week though in the mid 70’s which is perfect missionary weather!

  I got my copy of Daughters in My Kingdom the history of Relief Society this week and I was reading it and feeling so grateful for the experience we are having here as we see the worldwide circle of women that we belong to from a personal perspective. The sisters here won’t receive their Spanish version until November. The church is still growing and progressing here and there is much to do but with time we know we will see great things happen. With our missionary force working hard we can accomplish much. We will have Zone leaders’ council tomorrow and then specialized training meetings Tuesday and Wednesday so we will see 110 or so of our missionaries this week, including all of the new missionaries we have received in the last two changes. It will be a great week!

   We are so anxious for General Conference!                          Love, Mark and Sandy

    

Pictures September 18, 2011

 Emma,Isaac,Lisa and Elijah.

The sisters after auxiliary training in Paraguari .

September 18, 2011

September 18, 2011 

Dear Family and Friends,                                                                                
 

         Last Sunday I went to our ward so I could see the Primary program. I had been misinformed and the program was not going to be for another week. I spoke to the Stewart children who are Americans living in here while their dad works at the Embassy. They were both giving talks the next week and since I knew we would not be there I asked them to practice on me so I could hear their talks and hear the Spanish they are learning. After sacrament meeting we stayed in the chapel and they both gave me their talks. Emma and Isaac both did such a great job. Their accents were excellent and they were so cute speaking Spanish. If they keep learning at this speed for the next year a half they will be in Paraguay they will go home totally fluent.  I was really impressed!

   Tuesday we went to a district meeting in Ytororo. Elder Clement is the district leader and he did such a great job leading the meeting. They focused on the things taught in zone conference and had some good discussions on how to help their investigators.  Elders Clement, A.Baldwin, Rios, Soria, Arriola, Wiilson, VanMondfrans, and Bullock all seemed happy and participated in the discussions. It is always nice to see a district being led by good leaders! I enjoy going to district meetings just so we can be with the missionaries in smaller groups and it is always good to see the good things happening in the districts.

    Mark spent time with two zone leaders Elders Snow and Love during their planning session for the week on Thursday. Spending time in planning sessions helps President know if the messages being taught at zone conferences and training meetings is being put into the practice by the missionaries. It is especially important to know if the zone leaders are planning well so they can help the people in their zones when they go on divisions. Mark tries to get out to planning sessions as often as he can. He always enjoys time with the missionaries in smaller settings like those.

    This weekend we were in Paraguari for district conference. We were there Saturday for auxiliary, Priesthood and the adult meetings and again Sunday for the general session. The Saturday attendance is always difficult for many people here. There were about 13 of us in the auxiliary meeting and probably the same in Priesthood leadership.  The combined number made up the adult meeting.  Sunday many more were able to come (around 300) and we also enjoyed a nice meeting with new members and investigators before the regular session. Elders Gutierrez, Clyde, Kragenbrink, B.Madsen, Ramos, Schone, Avendano, Neves, Jackson and Bybee brought about thirty people for our  missionsry meeting. This district has many more families than some of the other districts. When families come into the church all together there is a built in support system that helps them adjust better to their new lives in the church. We met some wonderful people who are learning about the church and are fairly new members. We enjoyed the weekend there.

  Saturday the eleven year old daughter of the district president had practiced and played the piano for the adult meeting. She had worked hard and did well.  She can only practice at the church because they don’t have a piano at home. I spent a little time helping her with some things to work on as she practices after our meeting on Sunday.President Gill asked if I would play on Sunday so I did. It’s always an adventure when the special musical number of a men’s choir gets up to sing and then asks me to accompany them. The Lord helped me and we made it through! The mission had a few electric keyboards that weren’t being used so we took one to Ruth Gill to use so she could practice at home. I told her how our children practiced piano before school and she promised me she would do the same so she could continue progressing so she can accompany in meetings. She was so happy to get the keyboard.

  Well the church is true and we are happy to be here helping spread the good news!  

                                                                                       Love, Mark and Sandy

Picture September 4, 2011

 Elder and Sister Culimore- Humanitarian missionaries for the church.

  Elder Gleason is our new office elder whose responsibilities
include recording baptisms and confirmations, any and all reports
President needs, keeping track of all dates and names for most
everything in the mission!  A big job!

 Mark loves these street signs.

  Flowers in the mission home yard.

Happy President Callan enjoying the nice weather outside of mission home.

September 4, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,                                                                         September 4, 2011
 

           Last Sunday we attended two sacrament meetings. We attended one in Monte Lindo and the other in Fernando de la Mora.  It is always nice to see our missionaries in action so we like to attend as many different wards and branches as we can. The missionaries were speaking in one ward so that was an extra treat. Elder Zeballos and Dyches both gave great messages. Elder Dyches had only been in Paraguay 5 weeks when he spoke and he did an amazing job. It is such a blessing when new missionaries can get the language so quickly!

  We also met Elder and Sister Culimore who are a Humanitarian missionary couple from Salt Lake. They are here for a couple weeks and were in Argentina before coming here. They told us they base out of Salt Lake but travel 60percent of the time and they have been serving for 5 years. What a wonderful couple!

        Monday we were having our regular staff meeting planning for the week ahead when we heard a loud boom and then the power went out. We called our maintenance people who quickly came and told us a monkey had been climbing on the transformer in the grounds outside the office and had caused the problem. It probably was a pet of someone in the neighborhood but sadly the monkey did not survive the run in with the transformer.

   Tuesday we went to district meeting with a district in Asuncion. It was nice to see Elder Hauser and Calvert who are both new in the mission and see their progress with the language. We are so excited when we see that because right now the mission is very young! When we get our 15 new missionaries this Tuesday we will have received 58 missionaries over the last three changes. The majority have been North Americans so we really need them to learn the language quickly! I have a strong testimony that the Lord does help his missionaries with their language!

   Mark had meetings with stake presidents and his mission presidency this week also. He has a new counselor in the mission presidency. Brother Ocampo who right now lives in Ciudad del Este but will be moving to Asuncion in December. He travels for work so he is able to visit the districts at the same time which will be helpful. He is a former stake president and will be a great support and help to Mark.

   Saturday Mark spent time with temple recommend interviews for members of districts including two young men who have received their mission calls. We are excited to see more young people from Paraguay preparing for and serving missions!  In the afternoon he spent 4 hours in a coordinating council and was thrilled to tell me it was the first time he had been in a meeting with all 5 stake presidents and all 5 district presidents and their counselors. We see progress!

    We attended our home ward in Herrera today. We have a young couple from Utah who live in the ward. The husband, Brother Stewart, works for the U.S. Embassy. He was called to be a counselor to the bishop today. He has only been in the country 4 months and is just learning Spanish along with his wife and three children.  What an experience ahead for them! The 10 year old daughter was telling us how hard it would be that her dad couldn’t sit with them in church. We told them that our two youngest daughters never sat with their dad in church while they were growing up because of his callings and that the Lord has blessed our family and that things turned out okay for them!!  I don’t know if that helped her or not! Next week is the primary program and she told us she and her brother would both be speaking and will do it in Spanish. I hope we will be in our ward next week! Children are pretty amazing!

     Well we receive 15 missionaries Tuesday so we are excited about that! We love the work here and the energy we receive from those young missionaries! We hope you all have a great week..we plan to!

                                                                                                Love, Mark and Sandy

Pictures September 10, 2011

  Sisters Lefler,Cozzens, Hermana Callan and Hermana Andino at the temple.

 Elders Ramirez,Moore,Hermana Cozzens,Elders Torres and Steren with

Callans on the last night in the mission at the temple in Asuncion.

 Asuncion Temple

Elders Moore, Ramirez,Hermana Cozzens, Elder Torres and Steren with

Callans after testimony meeting in the mission home .

 Loading up the taxis and heading to the their new areas.

New missionaries Elders A. Baldwin and Cannon with Callans

New missionaries and trainers.

  New missionaries. Callans, Sister Andino, Elders

J.Baldwin, Kueser, Meadows,

Shelley, Keller, Stallings, Enriquez, Carroll, Hugie, Rodgers, Gonzales

and Olson.

Spring flowers are everywhere!

New Missionaries and trainers, Elders A. Baldwin,Clement,Cannon and

Mcshinsky.

September 10, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,                                                                               September 10, 2011

What a fun week we had! Monday we spent in final preparations for change week getting ready for the 15 new missionaries and getting ready to say good bye to five who were finishing their missions. The office elders work so hard to be ready ahead of time but there are always things that need to be done at the last minute so this week is always packed full from early morning to late at night!

Tuesday we received nine of our missionaries but due to some flight problems four more came at midnight and two the next day. We ended up making five trips to the airport counting the trip to say goodbye to those leaving on Thursday. It made orientation and training a bit strange but it all came together in the end. We have to live by the saying, “Blessed are the flexible for they will not be bent out of shape!” here in the mission. We are planners by nature and have had to learn that at times things beyond our control change our plans and schedules. We just shift gears and keep going and get things done just sometimes in a different way or order. Pretty much flexibility is an important thing for all missionaries to learn.

We try to have fun as we change plans and still accomplish our goals for the week. While waiting one of the times at the airport I had a nice chat with a man from one of the indigenous tribes who was telling me that he speaks Spanish , Guarani and another language of his tribe . I hadn’t heard of that language before. I’ll have to do some research on that one. People from his tribe are always at the airport selling jewelry and beads and bags. I tried to ask a question of a woman who didn’t understand my Spanish because she spoke German. When we didn’t understand each other we both just laughed! I’m here in Paraguay speaking Spanish to a woman who is also here and only speaks German! There are quite a few Germans who live here and it always surprises me, especially when they don’t speak Spanish.

Once we finally got everyone here and oriented they were united with their trainers. The process for getting everyone legal seems to change here every time they change the personnel in the immigrations office so that was a bit different this time also. The new missionaries have to sign some papers and recently they have needed to be fingerprinted also. The church hired an attorney who deals with all of that but it is still a step in the process before the missionaries can go out to their areas. Usually everyone is off to their areas by 10:30 am but this time the group who arrived late were still signing their legal papers until the afternoon and then headed off to their areas by late afternoon. The missionaries who arrived were good sports about the delays but they are always so excited to get out to their new areas with their trainers! It looks like another good group and we are excited to have them here to join with our other missionaries.

Friday we took our office elders for a quick lunch and had a meeting to discuss change week and analyze how we can improve things for next time. The office did a great job but there are always things we can all improve on. It’s fun to listen to their ideas and see things from their perspective. This week end I’m looking forward to our ward Primary program. The Stewart family in our ward, whose father works at the US Embassy, has been in Paraguay only about 4 months. They have two children in Primary. They were excited to tell me last week that they will both be giving talks in Spanish so I’m excited to go hear them.

Hope you all have a great week! Love, Mark and Sandy

Pictures August 27, 2011

President and Sister Arnold with us at the Jesuit ruins in Trinidad
near Encarnacion.

President Callan with President Mervyn and Sister Davonna Arnold at
the Jesuit ruins.

Hermana Hubbard,Knapp, Plummer, Troesch,

Ramos, Paipa,
Gonzales,Little, Quartino and Cozzens on back row. Local
Hermana, Hermanas Callan, Arnold and Lefler on front row.

Hemanas Lewis and Lavaka with Hemanas Callan and Arnold.

August 27, 2011

Dear Family and Friends, August 27, 2011

This has been a wonderful week for us here in the mission. We began the week Monday with the arrival of our Area President Mervyn Arnold. His wife was supposed to arrive also but because of visa problems she came a day later. We spent Monday beginning the mission tour with Elder Arnold discussing our mission and showing him around the mission home and mission office. He met with our office elders and assistants and shared with them many important things. Monday night he went out to a family home evening with Mark and the assistants. They had a wonderful experience with a couple who are progressing in the gospel. President Arnold was very impressed with Elder Durrant and Fernandez and they shared part of their experience throughout the week at our zone conferences.

Tuesday morning we started with our first zone conference in Asuncion. Presidents Arnold and Callan met with the zone and district leaders and trainers for an early meeting while I led a discussion with the companions of the trainers. The new missionaries are doing so well! It was fun to see all of them throughout the week. The 8 or so I met with that day are progressing with their language and are excited and working hard! The Presidents gave special training for the leaders in their meetings held each day before the regular zone conferences. The missionaries came to zone conferences this week ready to be taught. We had conferences Tuesday and Wednesday in Asuncion for zones 1 through 6.

Tuesday night we went to a dinner for the four stake presidencies here in Asuncion. President Arnold wanted to spend time with them and have a discussion with them and their wives. It was a nice evening.

Wednesday early morning meetings were held before zone conference again. Sister Arnold and I met with all the Hermanas in who serve around Asuncion while the mission leaders met with President Arnold and Callan. We also met with the Hermanas in Ciudad del Este on Friday. We had fun sharing a little bit about ourselves and favorite scriptures. I also had fun sharing my photos from the weddings and my trip home. We have some great hermanas who are working hard! As soon as conference was over we were on the road by 3:30pm for our 5 hour drive to Encarnacion. We arrived, had a bite to eat and fell into bed.

Thursday we were at the church ready to start zone conference there with the leader meeting at 8:00am. After conference we were on the road again by 3:30pm for our drive to Ciudad del Este. We stopped for a quick look at the Jesuit ruins outside of Encarnacion. We arrived in Ciudad del Este and had a nice dinner at the hotel where we introduced our waiter/friend Robert to President Arnold and his wife. We had fun showing our wedding photos to Robert. He met Laura and Sara when they came to stay with us last summer and he always asks about the family. We talk of the church and sent our missionaries to visit him. He is still in email contact with some of the missionaries who were teaching him who are at home now. He has a very busy schedule so hasn’t been meeting with the missionaries lately so we try to do what we can to keep sharing with him.

Friday we held our last conference there in Ciudad del Este and then had an investigator /new member fireside that night with President Arnold. President Arnold , his wife, Mark and I all spoke and enjoyed meeting the people who came. The missionaries are working hard to teach and help people and there was a good feeling there that night.

During the conferences during the week President Arnold and Callan taught about planning, How to help people make commitments,how to help people learn to pray, how to use our time well, how to use the Book of Mormon to invite people to be baptized, obedience,sacrifice and consecration. Sister Arnold taught about the importance of rules for our safety and protection. I taught about the importance of working to be more Christlike in our lives. We are so grateful for the things we learned throughout the week. The zone conference cycle is so wonderful to watch as the spirit directs different things specific to each group of missionaries even though the basic message to all is the same.

Today we drove back to Asuncion bringing the Arnolds with us. We had a nice time discussing the happenings of the week. Elder Arnold said he was impressed with our missionaries and that he feels like they are good and obedient, but now it is time to get them moving faster and accomplishing more. We know that is exactly what we need to do. We have felt such an outpouring of love from President Arnold and his wife. They are both good, kind, dedicated leaders who truly exemplify the characteristics of the Savior. They have sacrificed so much as they have served in so many ways for so many years. One of the great blessings of the mission is the interaction we have had with some wonderful leaders. They are great examples to us and we are learning so much from them. We enjoyed the week so much as we watched and learned many things that will help us here in the mission. Our missionaries were paying close attention so we know we will see some good results as we put into practice the things we learned and heard and practiced during our zone conferences.

We hope you all have a great week! Love, Mark and Sandy