January 15,2012
Dear Family and Friends,
This
week was change week when we receive new missionaries and say goodbye
to those finishing up their missions. We received the missionaries in
two groups again at the airport. Those coming from the MTC in Argentina
arrived at 10:30 am and those coming from the Provo MTC arrived at 4:30
pm. We spent the day with welcoming, orienting,
feeding and interviewing all the new missionaries. After being
fingerprinted and signing their legal document they were able to get
some rest. Wednesday was spent in meetings with the trainers who were
reminded of their important responsibilities of helping the new
missionaries learn their duties as missionaries. The new missionaries
then joined in the meeting and were introduced to their trainers
followed by more instruction. The process of
assigning companions together is such an important part of the mission.
Mark spends many hours in thought and prayer and study to receive the
revelation he needs to make the assignments of companionships. It is
always nice to see the new companionships come together and watch them
begin to learn and grow together. We know
Heavenly Father has a plan for each of his children and we see his
wisdom here so clearly. Many wonderful things happen in the growth of
these young people as they seek to learn the things they need to learn
from each companionship . It is not always easy and some need to humble
themselves and be a little more teachable but the lessons are there for
the learning always. Many missionaries have shared gratitude for the
things they have learned from their companions.
After the morning meeting and a quick lunch the new missionaries were off in taxis to their new areas to get to work! As
soon as they were off ,final interviews were held for the four
missionaries who were finishing their missions. Elders Arriola, Nielsen,
Bills and Burley served well and were ready to head home to see their
families. Most missionaries do have mixed
emotions in the last days of their missions. They have many decisions to
make as they head home and move forward with their lives. We have
enjoyed keeping in contact with many of our missionaries through email
and facebook. The missionary department asks us to have a facebook group
page for our returned missionaries and so far we have connected with
the majority of them that way. It is fun to hear of educational
pursuits,engagements,weddings and babies and other wonderful events as
our missionaries go home and continue to progress through life. We
spend time and effort here in the mission reminding missionaries that
facebook and all email except for parents ,siblings ,grandparents and mission president are not allowed during the mission according to the Missionary Manual but as soon as they go home we love to communicate with them that way!
Our
usual trip to the temple didn’t happen with those missionaries leaving
the mission this change because the temple was closed for cleaning. We
went to dinner and had a nice testimony meeting and enjoyed hearing
strong testimonies of those four good Elders. Thursday and Friday we
took them to the airport and said our goodbyes.
We
attended a nice baptism held in the Ita Enramada ward with Elders Clark
and Lund. Carolina was baptized and Jose her husband will be baptized
in the next week. They are a sweet young family with a little baby.
Elder Lund is fairly new in the mission but gave a nice talk and bore a
great testimony.
Mark
was off to Paraguari for the day for interviews and District priesthood
meeting this Sunday.I attended our home ward in Herrera and was happy
to see some new members who are continuing faithful. We had a great
Gospel Principles class taught by the office
elders that included lots of testimonies and comments from the new
members. There were also three investigators in the meeting also. The
office elders had a very busy week with change week but they still got
out and taught and found many people this week. We have so many good
missionaries who are trying to work hard and reach many people with our
wonderful message!
We
are grateful for the things we are learning here. We do love this work
and are grateful for all the good missionaries that we have the blessing
to serve with! Have a wonderful week!
Love, Mark and Sandy
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