Adventures in Paraguay!: May 2012

Sunday, May 27, 2012

May 27, 2012 Pictures

Youth and leaders after fireside in Fernando de la Mora South
Stake. They all came on the bus (colectivo).

Elders Hemmenway,Nash,Hager and Buckner doing practices at district meeting.

Elder Hager teaching during district meeting.

Hermanas Lefler, Paipa, Elders Nash, Hemmenway, Buckner, Hager, Leishman and Clanton after district meeting.

On the road between Tobati and Caacupe.

Ovens used for making bricks in Tobati. The town was full of these.

The Cathedral in Caacupe.

Virgin Mary statue that legends say was carved by an Indian who was
saved by Mary. Faithful Catholics make pilgrimages to Caacupe to give
thanks for and ask Mary for blessings.

Baptismal area .

Mary carving close up.

Stained glass window showing the indian and the carvings of
Mary- he made two of them. One is Tobati and the other is in Caacupe.

Close up of chipa .

With the Gonzalez family.

Ciudad del Este Stake Presidency with President Callan. Presidents
Gonzalez,Kara,Insaurralde .

With the Kara family- He is the stake President in Ciudad del Este.

Last Sunday we were invited to speak to a youth fireside held by the Fernando de la Mora South Stake. It was a good group of young people and leaders who attended. We enjoy meeting with the youth here and see the hope of the future in the youth. More and more are preparing for missions. We love to hear their reports of mission calls that they have received. That stake hold those firesides monthly.

Tuesday we attended a district meeting in San Isidro. Elder Hager did a great job planning the meeting and teaching and leading the meeting. We love to see good things happening around the mission in the district meetings that are held each Tuesday. Thursday we headed to Ciudad del Este for a stake conference. We took a detour to a town called Tobati and visited a center for local artisan work. The landscape was a bit different than many of the places we drive through here. We then stopped in Caacupe which is up the road half an hour. These two towns are the center of religious worship for the Catholics here. The story told is that a native Indian was being chased by a rival tribe who was upset that he had become a Christian. He said that the virgin Mary protected him and kept him from being killed. He carved two images of her as his thanks to her. One of the images is in Tobati and the other is in Caacupe. Each December 8 people make a pilgrimage to Caacupe to give their thanks to Mary and ask for additional blessings. We have enjoyed learning about the traditions and history here and seeing a few of the places of interest that are in our mission.

We went on to Ciudad del Este where Mark went out teaching with Elders Wray and Knudsen and Gleason and Hardy. Friday the Ciudad del Este stake held their priesthood leadership meeting. Saturday the adult meeting was held and then Sunday the general session was held. The stake is trying to improve attendance so they switched their meeting schedule and it seemed to help as they had the best attendance they had ever had. Mark taught some on Friday and we both spoke on Sunday. Saturday night we were invited to a dinner with the presidency at the home of President Kara. President Kara is from India and his wife Luz is Paraguayan. We had a wonderful Indian meal with lots of curry and cilantro and rice and chicken. We had fun spending time with the families of the presidency. The conference sessions were all just great with great messages and great attendance. It was a nice weekend. Sunday after conference we drove back to Asuncion.

While we were in Ciudad del Este we were able to meet many new converts and investigators of our missionaries there. There are 36 elders serving in the Ciudad del Este stake and they had many people with them in the meeting. We met some wonderful families who are meeting with the missionaries and preparing for baptism. We also had to say some good bye to people we will not see again while we are here. There are some really wonderful people that we have met here and we will miss them.

Well, we hope you have a great week. Love, Mark and Sandy

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Pictures May 20, 2012

With the Damiano family from the Asuncion Stake.

New administrador Elder Hill with Elder Calvert who he will replace.

. Elder Hair on his last day as secretary,leaving Elder Nielsen in charge!

Elders Hill,Hair, Calvert, Clark, Nielsen, Cannon, Clement, Love and
Durrant with President after meeting before welcoming new missionaries.

Elders Villanueva,Ramirez,Rodriguez, Cristaldo,Velasquez,Hermanas Cintas, and Rojas at the airport. They are from Nicaragua,Uruguay,Argentina,Paraguay,Guatemala,and Costa Rica.

Elder Da Silva arrived from Brazil a bit after the first group.

.Then the North Americans arrived in the afternoon. Elders Hardy
,Ashton, Moffet,Nielsen, Hansen,Tippets,Buckner, Sisters Valencia and Ence.

All of the new missionaries outside of the office.

All the new missionaries and their trainers.(sorry the photo is bad)

Elder Villanueva with his trainer Elder Oberg after Elder
Villanueva received his endowment in th Asuncion Temple.

The group of missionaries who have finished their missions after a
seesion in the temple. Sisters Lavaka, Plummer, Gonzales, Elders Ayola, Padilla, Gutierez, Rios,

Avendano, Martinez, Falapapalangi, Boydston and Merril.

The returning group of missionaries at the mission home after
testimony meeting.

With Hermana Plummer's parents who came to pick her up.

Victor and Rosana at Rosana's baptism.

With Victor and Rosana.

Elders Clark,Calvert and Hill who taught Rosana.

Herrera Ward out to support Rosana.

With a sweet family in Ita Enramada after sacrament meeting.

Elders Durrant and Love have finished their assignment as
assistants to the president. They served well and will go out and
continue spreading their goodness in other assignments!

The four assitants :Elders Clement,Dexter,King and Henriquez.
Elders Dexter and King are new and already are doing great things! We
always have two assitants in Asuncion and two outside so we can get
more teaching and training done at the same time. We want the mission
in the best shape ever for President Agazzani !

With Elder Hair who served wonderfully as president's seretary. He
did and excellent job!

May 20, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Last Sunday we attended a nice stake conference for the Asuncion Stake. It is probably the largest stake and has the best attendance of those in the mission. There was even a choir and also a children’s choir that sang a mother’s day song. It was a nice meeting and we loved seeing two zones of missionaries who serve in that stake.

Monday Mark interviewed ten missionaries who finished their missions. Tuesday we welcomed 17 new missionaries who arrived on three separate flights. We had a real international group this time. 17 missionaries came from Costa Rica, Paraguay(2), Uruguay, Argentina,Brazil,Guatemala,Nicaragua,Utah (6),Massachusetts,California and Texas. It was a great group and we expect great things from them. We still have 5 visa waiters also. We now have 207 missionaries in the mission. It was the normal fun energy filled day with all the activities of welcoming new missionaries and getting them oriented and ready to go out with their companions. The next day after a training meeting with their companions they were in the taxis and off to their areas. We then focused on those finishing their missions with a lunch and temple session and testimony meeting at the mission home. We love our missionaries and are grateful for the good things they do here during their missions. It is always wonderful to see the growth that happens during their time here.

Sister Plummer’s parents came to travel home with her so we met with them on Thursday morning . It is always sweet to see the reunions of parents and their children. We went to the airport two times to say good bye to the rest of the group also on Thursday.

Friday Mark met with a couple future missionaries from district here and also met with a member and his wife was preparing for baptism. Victor joined the church almost two years ago and has patiently waited for his wife to be ready. She decided it was time for her to join him so Saturday we attended a sweet baptism for Rosanna .Victor baptized her and they spoke of their goal to be sealed in one year in the temple. That is what this work is all about- families making covenants of baptism and then continuing to prepare to enter the temple. We are so happy for Victor . He has been so valiant. He received his endowment in April and is serving as the elders’quorum president in his ward. Victor and Rosanna were so happy and it was so good to see the joy they had!

Sunday we attended church in Ita Enramada and enjoyed a meeting that was totally focused on missionary work. One young man who just returned from his mission in Uruguay spoke along with two of our missionaries. Mark and I ended up speaking also. We are seeing more and more missionaries from Paraguay returning from their missions. That is such a blessing for this county. Priesthood leadership is so needed here. We are happy that we have seen a great increase in missionaries leaving from Paraguay over the last couple years. We also have seen an increase in the number of men who are joining the church here in the mission. That is a great blessing for the church here. Our missionaries try to focus on finding families and men to teach.

This week of changes also brought changes in the office and with our assistants. We still have four assistants so two can be out of the Asuncion area on divisions and the other two in the Asuncion area. Our assistants have done a great job. Elders Durrant and Love have finished their assignments as assistants and will go out to other areas to serve now. Elders Dexter and King have become the new assistants to join with Elder Clement and Henriquez. These young men are all amazing and are doing and have done such and good job in helping others become better missionaries. Elder Hair finished training Elder Nielsen as secretary. Elder Hair worked so hard to fulfill all the many things he is called upon to do to keep things running well in the mission. He keeps everyone legal here, keeps the cell phones working, schedules interviews and meetings for president among the thousand other things he does. Elder Hill joined the office as administrador. He is being trained by Elder Calvert. His responsibilities include keeping the mission supplied with Book of Mormons and pamphlets, maintenance of the office and cars, sending and receiving of all mail and packages. They do all of these things and baptize too!! We love them all!

Wow , that letter went really long ! Sorry but it was a full week! Have a great week!