We had a great Thanksgiving dinner and time with the missionaries.
Our menu included chicken, mashed potatoes (from the Hermanas), cooked
carrots, jello salad, rolls (made by the Elders), gravy, and for dessert
apple pie and chocolate layer cake. Everyone ate a ton and we realized
more than ever how very blessed we are. After dinner Hna Ross had an
activity for us in which every person had a paper with their name at the
top. You pass it one to the right and that person writes something
about you for which they are grateful. You then pass it again to the
left, and when it arrives back to you - you have to write something
about yourself for which you are grateful. We had a good day but
missed our family bunches and bunches.
Yesterday
was kind of a downer at church. It has been cold and rainy, and
yesterday was no exception. When we counted attendance during Sacrament
Meeting we had 14 people in attendance including 6 missionaries. We
are so grateful for the 8 faithful members who attended, but we were a
out 30 short from where we really should be right now. We did kick off
the new church Christmas program “Ha Nacido un Salvador”. We were all
so touched by the wonderful video with the children speaking. We are
anxious to share with all of our friends and neighbors. We also had
a meeting with a counselor in the mission presidency about the Book of
Mormon and how we should be reading it regularly - and try to complete
it prior to Conference in April.
Our
projector arrived yesterday and we used in for the Book of Mormon
discussion. It worked amazingly well in a fairly light room. Our
branch president is very excited to see the First Presidency devotional
at 10:00 next Sunday night. He has never seen a devotional before. We
have already had to set some ground rules for the use of the projector -
our District President wanted us to send it with Pres Colman for the
Book of Mormon activity in Concepcion yesterday. We told him that it
only went where we went - and should be used only by us. Too much
money and grief for us to sent it out all alone in the backwoods of
Paraguay.
We had a great Family Home evening
with the Arce family the other night. We are trying to help them out
both temporally and spiritually. There is no Dad in the home, just a
Mom, a married daughter, a teenage son, a daughter, and two
granddaughters. They live in the most humble of circumstances and
struggle with many challenges in life. They have a very small and
humble 2 room house with a large yard of dirt. Their garden of tomatoes
was destroyed by the rain and flooding, and they don’t have electricity
in their house yet. We had two of them work here at our house so they
could purchase wire to add power to their house. They also have
struggles with the teenage son, and the mother speaks very little
Spanish. But there is a very special feeling or spirit in this home.
We always feel loved and welcome when we visit. We had a family home
evening about how the Lord will bless us both temporally and spiritually
when we are obedient (Mosiah 2:41). We challenged them to read the
book of Mormon every day as a family and trust that the Lord will bless
them - as we have experienced in our home. We trust that they will
receive enough blessings to stay afloat and stay faithful in the church.
The son-in-law works way out in the country
and the other day he came home with a baby cat that he found after he
had burned some fields. The cat got singed a bit in its whiskers and
feet but should be fine. This is NOT a housecat. It appears to be a
baby jaguar or tiger of some sort. It only will eat meat, it doesn’t
mew - it growls, but is very cute. The chickens in the yard are already
afraid of it and it is still a baby.
We are
truly grateful for the opportunity to serve. We appreciate the support
we receive from all and pray that health, happiness, and success come to
all.
Love you.
Jerry and Cheryl
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