4 Enero 2016

Fotos:

1-  New Year’s Eve with Ramona, Kelly, Dario, Elder Cranney, and Hermana Cranney

2- A family visiting Horqueta from Asuncion.  They have been members only 4 months.

3-  Sunday dinner with the Elders (Mendoza y Simao).  It was too hot to eat at the kitchen table so we ate in the living room where we have air conditioning.  The Elders sat on the floor.

Hello to Everyone.  I  have attached the fotos for last week and hope you enjoy them.  We so appreciate the opportunity to share with you some of our experiences - some very positive and others just a challenge. 

Yesterday at church we had 49 in attendance which is the most we have had in months.  Part of it was we had visitors (see foto above) and some members who appear to be returning to activity.  Many of our members, especially the youth, have been in Asuncion for the new year and should return soon.  Yesterday was Testimony meeting which is one of my favorite meetings of the month.  Unlike many of the wards in the US, there are no dead spots during our meeting.  Nearly all of the adults and most of the youth bear their testimony every month.  And these are not simple one minute testimonies - they testify of why they are members, why they come to church, and of the basic truths of the Gospel.  It is really very good.  Yesterday we started our meeting nearly on time and it ran overtime so everyone could bear their testimony.  Hermana Cranney bore her testimony - part in Spanish and part in English with the help of a translator.  One of the newly activated members said that even though he could not understand the words of her testimony, he could feel very strongly of the spirit.  It was a good day.

New Year’s Eve was really a good experience for us.  We have become friends with Kelly, her mom Ramona, and now Kelly’s husband Dario who works in Asuncion.  They had invited us to their house for dinner so we went on New Year Eve.  We had planned for 800 pm but Kelly called and said that it was way too early and 900 or 930 would be better.  So we went over for dinner and had a great evening.  This family (non-member) owns a bookstore / copy center right in the middle of town and are more well to do than most.  Dario works in ranching near Asuncion and so the family is financially well to do.  We had a great dinner of chicken, pork, potato salad, Cheryl’s pasta salad, and for dessert Cheryl’s apple pie and vanilla ice cream.  We had really good discussions about churches, raising children, the country of Paraguay, etc.  We really had a good time.   We left in a hurry just before midnite because there was a huge thunderstorm and Dario said that at midnite people start shooting firearms.  We really enjoy this family and they are getting a fair amount of exposure to our church.

For several months we have been visiting the Cristaldo family.  Hno Cristaldo is an Elder and he and his wife have been inactive for several years.  We and others have been visiting this family and inviting them to come back to church.  Last week Hermano Cristaldo came and yesterday his wife joined him.   We visited with them last evening and they both seem committed to coming back to church and enjoying the blessings of repentance and the atonement.  Bro Cristaldo sells Paraguayan hammocks in the morning door to door, and then sells hamburgers and hot dogs on the corner of the plaza at night, sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning on Saturday night.  So coming to church is a real challenge for them.  We have really grown to love this good family. 

The weather is very hot and humid.  By 900 am it is usually 85 degrees with 85% humidity.  We are constantly sweating and all the missionaries carry cloths to wipe the sweat (even the hermanas).  Nearly half of our Zone has been sick.  Our two elders both have had back problems, one of our hermanas has a rash of some kind on her finger and her leg and the other has a sprained foot.  In Concepcion two of the elders had some kind of flu, another appears to have Dengue fever, and others are like me and just don’t have any energy.   We hope and pray that the zone recovers quickly.

We love hearing from all of you, and appreciate your emails and newsy updates.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

Love, Jerry and Cheryl

A funny story:  Hermana Ross has had this weird rash on her ring finger and hasn’t been able to clear it up.  So we sent fotos of her finger to the Boyds, our neighbors and asked if their son Jason and his wife Katie who are both dermatologists could take a look.  We received a reply the very next morning that Dick and Susie were in Vancouver visiting Jason and we got a diagnosis and a “prescription” to  help.  It is amazing how many people are willing to help the mission work in a very real way