Dear Friends and Family,
We have enjoyed this week so much! It was very full but wonderful as well! We
held zone conferences for seven of our eleven zones on Tuesday through
Friday. Tuesday through Thursday we held the conferences here in
Asuncion and the missionaries from zones 1-6 attended those. Friday we
drove 2 hours out to Coronel Oviedo for the conference there with the
missionaries who serve in Coronel Oviedo and Ca’auazu. We
were so happy to come together with all those missionaries for learning
, practicing and improving our skills and abilities as missionaries. We
focuses on specific areas that the missionaries need to be reminded of
like always being with our companions, rules for who can enter our
apartments, guidelines for district meetings and divisions, medical
needs and how to fill out the reports for baptisms among other things.
The missionaries are required to read three pages from the little white
missionary manual each day as a companionship so they are constantly
reminded of the things that will keep them safe as missionaries as they
follow the rules.
We
spent time talking about and practicing how to contact people on the
streets and quickly bring our conversations to the restoration. We
practiced using some of the pass along cards the church has produced to
help introduce different parts of our doctrine to those we speak to. We
taught about the importance of teaching all of the principles in each
lesson and unless directed by the spirit to teach the principles in the
order given in Preach My Gospel. There are always so many things to be
working on to keep the missionaries where they need to be with their
teaching skills so they can really help people understand the gospel. We
had a great time talking about gospel words and simple ways to define
them so the people can understand what we are talking about. Each
missionary was given the opportunity to define a word and then the group
would add additional ways to define and teach with other words. We
always work to find a way to teach the basic teaching skills and lesson
planning through spiritual eyes so everyone will benefit the most from
our teaching. We talked about the importance of each person we teach
being able to know the things we are teaching, to feel what we are teaching through the spirit and then to do
the things they need to in their lives to show the Lord they are ready
to change and make commitments and then later make covenants. We
felt the missionaries went away with many things to work on and
practice in their personal and companionship study to help them improve
as missionaries.
In each conference we had the zone leaders teach a 3-5 minute version of the first lesson which is the Restoration. Mark
and I played the part of the investigators and we were so impressed
with the teaching ability and spirit of our missionaries. As they taught
of the first vision in a simple but very spiritual way the spirit came
quickly into the room and testified to us all of the reality of the
message we are here to share! I love the experiences that we have here
in the mission as we work together to share the good news of the gospel. Jesus
is our Savior and we have his true church here on the earth with all
the ordinances we need to allow us to return with our families to live
with Heavenly Father some day!
Life
is good! We cherish time we have here with these wonderful
missionaries. We see the good they are doing. We see the challenges they
face. We see the hope they have as they try to overcome the challenges
in their lives. We see who they and we are becoming as we focus on the
work we are asked to do at this time in our lives. We know this is a
time in the lives of our missionaries that is helping to build a
foundation for their lives that will bless them forever. What a
wonderful part of the plan that young men are commanded and young women
invited to serve the Lord by teaching people and inviting them to come
to the Savior.
Our
oldest granddaughter had her fourteenth birthday yesterday! It appears
we are getting old!!! Callie is such a sweet young woman and great big
sister and example to her 5 younger brothers. We love her so much!! Have a wonderful week! Love, Mark and Sandy
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