Wednesday, September 30, 2015

14 Septiembre 2015: Horqueta, Paraguay

It didn't seem like a very busy week until I started looking at my planner and remembered.  So here is a summary view of our week here in the mission field.
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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