Dear Family and Friends, November 19, 2011
Last
Sunday we attended stake conference in Nemby. We enjoyed the meeting
and especially the choir that was beautiful. Music here is difficult
because so few people play the piano. The choir that sang was probably
one of two times I have heard harmony sung by a choir. Usually everyone
sings the melody. It
helped me realized one of the many things I have taken for granted in my
experiences in the church. Music adds so much and hopefully with the
growth and progress here it can play a larger part in the worship here
for the saints in the future.
This week we held three zone conferences here in Asuncion. All the zones that surround Asuncion
came to the church by the office for their conferences. We drove out to
Coronel Oviedo 2 hours away for the fourth conference on Friday. Each
conference lasted from 8 am to 3 pm and we loved the week so much! We
were able to share many of the things we learned at our mission
president’s seminar and really had a great week! Our missionaries came
ready and prepared to be taught. We really love being with our
missionaries and feel our love for them growing daily. We have great
respect and admiration for the commitment they have all made to come and
serve the Lord. The North Americans are working hard to learn Spanish
and the latins are working hard to learn English. It’s fun to see the
progress made as we hear them speak during conferences. The latins give
their talks in English so they can practice their new language also.
They are all trying hard to learn how to be better teachers and servants
here in the mission by applying the gospel in
their own lives. The Lord is blessing each missionary as they are
obedient and working hard to progress.
During
the conferences we focused on our Purpose as missionaries , which is to
help others come unto Christ through Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ,
Repentance, Baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring
to the end. We focused on the importance of
understanding this message of the Doctrine of Christ for ourselves
personally so that we then can share it with others. We also taught
about working with members, teaching, finding new people, and how to
plan. We had some fun ways to illustrate the points through an activity
on the basketball court teaching the importance of having a vision of
where we want to go when we are planning. We also used a golf analogy
about how to use many more ways to find new people to teach. We used
music to show the need to always be including all 5 parts of our
missionary purpose in order to be most effective. We
also sang some Christmas hymns and “This is the Christ” to help us all
focus on the Savior as we go into the Christmas season. We also had a
fun activity to help all the missionaries know how to direct the music a
little better since they are often called upon to do that.
As
we think of the coming week we are so grateful to have another week of
conferences with the rest of or missionaries. We love them so much and
are grateful for the things we are learning from them. We
love to see their joy as they share the experiences they are having
here in the mission teaching and loving the people.We are grateful for
their families and they way they have taught them and are supporting
them as they serve their missions. We are so grateful for our family and
the blessing they are in our lives. We always miss them more during the
holiday season but we also have increased gratitude for the things they
are each doing in their lives and with their families. Each of our
children is so special to us and we know they were supposed to be our
children. We also know each of their spouses were
meant to be a part of our lives as well. We love them all as if they
were born to us! We have learned so much from each one of them as we
have watched them progress through their lives. We love and are grateful
for each one of our fourteen grandchildren. We are grateful for this
missionary experience and the opportunities that we have to learn and
grow and understand a bit more about the love Heavenly Father and the
Savior have for each one of us. We know each missionary is here in the
mission for a reason and we are thankful for that. We
are thankful that they will be a part of our lives forever also. We
love the missionary work and chance we have to share our joy of families
and the hope we have to be together forever with the people of
Paraguay. We are thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement.
We are thankful for the Book of Mormon and it’s testimony of the
Savior. We are thankful for our prophet and the apostles. We are
thankful for the true church here upon the earth, The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints. We
are thankful for the love of God we feel in our lives. We are thankful
for Paraguay and the good people here who are trying to learn and grow
in the gospel. We are thankful for all of our family and friends and wish you a Very Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Mark and Sandy
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