October 4, 2015

Hello to All:

We have had a good week, with lots of rain and cooler weather.  The locals say that this is the end of spring and soon summer will arrive with a vengeance!

We had the opportunity to take some clothes / goods from a missionary that went home to one of the member families in our branch, Richard and Danelia.  There were a couple of shirts and slacks for Richard and three towels.  We weren’t sure if we should take the towels or not.  We visited with Danelia on Tuesday and started to show her what the Elder had given to them.  When we got to the three towels she was shocked.  Richard is now working out of town and he took their only good towel with him.  She started working at a local store and that very morning at work she had picked up a towel and was going to ask the owner if she could take the towel and pay for it when she got paid.  She said she thought about it two or three times but always replaced the towel with the idea that she would wait for a while.  When she saw the three towels she was so grateful and knows that she had listened to the promptings of the Spirit that morning to now purchase a towel for use by her family. It was a small yet powerful reminder that we need to always listen and heed the promptings of the Spirit.

I have been working on trying to help fix the finances for the branch.  The branch president has a bankcard and he withdraws funds as needed to run the branch.  However, he needs to report every expenditure he makes with the money he has withdrawn - and things are out of balance.  So I am analyzing what has happened, identifying outages, and then we will come up with a plan to fix it. 

General Conference here was wonderful.  By using our wireless Internet Router at the church, we were able to live stream all of the sessions of Conference on Saturday and Sunday.   Typically, the branch here in Horqueta and the group in Tacuati would rent a minibus and travel to Concepcion to see 1 or at most 2 sessions of Conference.  The group from Tacuati came Sunday morning and it was a great session for all.  We had a big box of bananas and light refreshments for everyone.  President Duarte said it was the first time he has seen all of the Conference sessions live, and especially the first time he had seen a live Priesthood Session.   We really enjoyed it and felt good about helping with the Conference. 

We are preparing for our trip to Asuncion next week - we will travel on Monday and be there all week, returning next Saturday.  We will be watching Bryant McMullin, age 13 while his parents are at a Mission President’s Seminar in Uruguay.  During the time he is in school, we will be conducting some inspections on Missionary Houses.   Should be fun.

Love you all.  Thanks for all that you do for us.   We love and miss you.

Mom & Dad, Jerry & Cheryl.