Dear Family and Friends,
We had a great
week! Twice a year we are invited to the mission presidents´ seminar and it was
held this week. All of the 14 mission presidents from our area the South
America South Area gathered in
Montevideo, Uruguay to be taught by our
area presidency for the three day seminar. The area includes ten missions in
Argentina , two in Uruguay and two in Paraguay.
The other seminars we have attended during our mission have been held in
Buenos Aires, Argentina so it was fun to visit a new county for this one.
We flew to B.A.,
Argentina on Wednesday and spent the night in a hotel there for one night . The
next morning early we were on a flight to Montevideo. It is always fun to gather together and see
all the other presidents and their wives and area presidency members and wives.
We spent Thursday in meetings being
taught about the importance of constantly teaching the doctrine of Christ and repentance
to our missionaries. Elder Foster talked about the things he wished he had
known when he was a mission president like having the vision of where we need
to go as a mission and many things about how to help people really find the
truth that will change their lives and hearts. We enjoyed time that evening at
dinner visiting with the other presidents and wives. There is always so much
enjoyment in coming together and sharing experiences and encouraging one
another. Friday we had another day of meetings and trainings. The afternoon
session the wives had a separate session so we could all focus on things
specific to our responsibilities. The four wives of mission presidents who will
finish their assignments this year were given time to share testimonies and
thoughts from our hearts. The four of us, Hermana Da Silva, who is Paraguayan and
serving in Uruguay, Hermana Detlefsen who is Argentine and serving in Argentina,
Hermana Peterson from Bountiful,Utah who is serving in Argentina and I have
grown quite close over the three years since we began our missions together.
One of the great blessings of the mission is the relationships we have built
with others in our same situation and our area leaders.
Friday night we went
to the Montevideo temple where first we
were taught by President Arnold and then attended a session together. The
Uruguay and Paraguay temples are built exactly the same so it felt very
familiar. We have now been able to attend a session in temples in Argentina,
Uruguay and of course Paraguay. Saturday we had a half day of meetings where
the Presidents finishing this year all bore their testimonies. It was so sweet
to hear each of them share power testimonies of the things they know and have learned during
this experience.
We flew home arriving
in Asuncion at midnight . We slept and then were on the road to attend the
District conference in Ca´auazu. The conference was wonderful and we felt a
great spirit there. People were so kind to us when they realized it was our
last visit to their district. One sister we said good bye to was Sister Franco
who lost her husband to cancer shortly after we began our mission while he was
serving as Branch President . It is so nice that we can stay connected through
email after the mission.
While we were returning to Asuncion we had a
sweet experience with the man who was sitting next to us on the plane. We
chatted a bit and shared that we were missionaries talked about our families
and asked if he knew anything about our church. He told us he knew of our
temple in Asuncion and that when his son was younger they were passing by the
temple and his son pointed to the statue of angel Moroni and said, ´´He is my
friend !´´ We shared with him a bit of the history of the church and told him
about the Book of Mormon reading a part of the introduction with him and
explaining that the prophet Mormon whose name was on the book was the father of
Moroni whose statue was on our temple. He was quite interested and gave us his
name and number so we could have the missionaries call him and go teach him . The Lord really does prepare people to be
ready to receive the wonderful message we have to share. He promised us he
would tell his son who his´´ friend´´ on the temple really is! We really do
love the Paraguayan people! They are kind and loving and willing to talk with
us and listen to our message.
This week our
grandson Christian had his birthday and turned four years old. He is a good boy
and we love him so much! We hope you
all have a wonderful week!
Love, Mark and Sandy
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