Monday we drove to Asuncion, about a 5 hour
drive via the Chaco, or the northern wilderness. It is not advisable to
drive that route alone, so we followed the two counselors in the
Mission Presidency who were returning to Asuncion. It was a very
interesting trip: not much traffic, some very good roads, some horrible
roads, and lots of wilderness. At one point the highway was so bad that
everyone departs from the road and drives on the dirt at the side of
the highway for about 1.5 km. Strange. We arrive in Asuncion, visited
the Mission Office, checked into our Hotel (a German hotel that we
really enjoyed), and then went shopping at Super Seis - the closest
thing to Walmart here in Paraguay. Since we drove we had lots of room
for things.
We had dinner and FHE at the McMullins Monday
evening. The new couple from Brasil, the Gutierrez, were supposed to
join us but their car broke down somewhere between Brasil and Asuncion.
We had a very nice evening with the McMullin family.
Tuesay
morning we went to the office and then drove with two Elders to the
Emigracion office to sign a bunch of papers so that we can stay for
another year here in Paraguay. Then we walked to a Hospital and gave a
sweet young lady a blessing. She wants to get baptized, but every time
she gets close she gets sick or has a relapse of her smoking habit that
we has had for 11 years. Note: she is only 25 years old. It was a
wonderfully sweet experience. We then walked back to get a car and
stopped for a quick visit at the Railway Museum. Paraguay had the first
railway in South American in the 1860s. We drove back to the mission
office and Cheryl and I went to Burger King for lunch. I really enjoy
it, but Cheryl doesn't but she goes with me anyway. We drove to the
Distribution Center and found Ace Hardware along the way. It is an
amazing store and they have some really cool stuff. When we got back to
the office the President asked me how much room we had in our mission
vehicle. I replied that all the room we had was available to the
mission. He asked us to take a few things to the new couple who will be
living in Santa Rosa. Those few things included: a stove and gas
tank, large room fans, a large microwave, pots,, pans, dishes,
silverware, cutlery, cleaning supplies, emergency kits, etc. We were
packed and the crazy stove rattled all the way from Asuncion to Santa
Rosa!
Along the path we were driving through a small town and
the highway patrol was on full alert. I got pulled over and received a
speeding ticket for going 71 kph in a 40 kph zone. The multa (fine) was
281,000 GS or about $55.00 US. Bummer. But I have a really cool
souvenir of the trip - a Paraguayan speeding ticket.
We dropped off all the stuff at the new house and arrived home about 10:00 pm, tired but glad to be home.
Wednesday we recuperated and participated in the Branch Activity.
Thursday
we had a District Presidency meeting where we planned the Branch
Conference for the Rama Horqueta. I was told to prepare a talk, but on
Sunday the District President came and I didn't have to speak. Now I
have a great talk in reserve about "Sacrament Meeting". While we were in
Concepcion for the Presidency meeting, we delivered letters and
packages for the missionaries we had picked up at the office in
Asuncion.
Friday we ordered chairs from Pres Duarte - Cheryl
wanted a rocking chair for our front room and two chairs and a table for
our front porch. We picked them up and they are great!
Friday
we had a great branch activity where the missionaries issued a Book of
Mormon challenge to all the branch members....to read again the Book of
Mormon. To help them be more excited, a small cast of characters (and
boy were they characters) presented a little play about 1 Ne Chapter 1.
I was the narrator and most of the other parts were in Guarani. We had
a great time and the members loved it.
Saturday we went to
the Duarte home and had dinner with them to celebrate their daughter
Daisy's 24th birthday. We had a great meal and birthday cake. We then
went to the Garay home to help prepare food they were selling to raise
money to help pay for their 14 year old daughter Wilke's medical bills.
She was in a moto accident and broke her collar bone. She needs a
metal pin. We prepared over 70 plates of food
Sunday we had
branch conference which was focused on the Sabbath Day, Reverence, and
Sacrament Meeting. We had a nice dinner at home, then went to
Concepcion to teach our final marriage class. It went well and Cheryl
had prepared a cake to celebrate the event. We presented each
participant with a Certificate and they loved it. We picked up the zone
leaders to interview a couple in Horqueta for their baptism on Saturday,
and I taught a Missionary Prep class to 4 of the youth in our branch.
We then watched a broadcast for Young Adults on Cheryl's laptop. It was
a very good day.
Today we worked around the house, killed ants, and went out to dinner.
We sure love and miss you all. Thanks for the support, the prayers, the packages, the emails, and the love.
Love, Jerry and Cheryl.
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