21 Marzo 2016

First, the fotos:

1- This is a picture of a member’s house.  He is one of our best branch missionaries, and he built this himself.  He is one of the most faithful and humble members I have ever met - anywhere.

2- Cheryl at the Relief Society birthday party. 

3- Two of our best leaders in Concepcion.  President Angel Gomez, Branch President of Rama 1 and Gavi Benitez, counselor in Rama 3.  Gavi is a policeman in Concepcion. 

4- the house of Maria, one of the investigators and a neighbor to our branch missionary.  Single mom with 4 kids under the age of 6.  

 

 

Greetings to all:

It is amazing how busy we are.  We are trying to organize well, travel only when we need to, and we go grocery shopping far less than we used to.  We have many assignments with our District calling, but we still have so much work to do here in Horqueta. 

We are grateful for good missionaries with whom we serve.  We have Hermana Martinez from Paraguay, Hermana Scott from Utah, Elder McNulty from Las Vegas, and Elder Piriz from Uruguay.  We had a District fast last week to help us know why we are all here in Horqueta and how we can find people to teach and invite to return to activity.  It was a wonderful experience and everyone benefitted from the experience. 

We went visiting with our Elders and Cesar, our ward missionary this week.  We went out near his house to visit an investigator (see photo ) who has been taking the lessons.  She is very interested in the gospel but lives very far away.  It takes Cesar about an hour to walk to church and this woman has 4 small kids.  We are working on having the branch president give them a ride.  Anyway, we went to teach a lesson and this good sister only has 1 chair.  So Hermana Cranney sat on the chair, Maria sat on a bucket, and we sat on the ground.  It was a very good lesson and we were reminded again how much we are blessed.

Saturday we went to Tacuati with the new Elders - their first trip.  It is always fun to see people enjoy the beautiful scenery on the way to Tacuati.  Large open ranches with coconut palms, lots of cows, and miles of scenery without any people, power poles, etc.  We also planned the trip to support a fundraiser for the father of a member boy who broke his arm.  Story to follow.

On the way up, for the first time ever, there was a police checkpoint.  Four policemen with rifles, camo gear, etc.  One stopped us on the road and asked for our documents (I always get a little nervous at this point) and we gave him our registration card.  He was very serious….and then asked for my drivers license.  While I was taking it out of my wallet, the senior officer came over, said hi, and then reached over and grabbed the card from the younger officer.  He smiled, handed the card to me and said, “have a safe trip, hermano” and off we went.  I am so glad that we always pray before we drive. 

We had lunch in Tacuati as part of a fundraiser for the father of a member of the group.  He broke his arm about 4 months ago and was told he needed surgery in Asuncion.  About 3 months ago Pedro and I gave him a Priesthood blessing that he would heal without serious complications.  He borrowed 1.200.000 Guarani from his landlord and went off to Asuncion.  The doctors there took x-rays and asked why he was there.  When he told them that he needed surgery on his arm, they said that his arm was totally healed and he only needed some therapy.  He paid the doctors 200.000 and returned home.  He paid the 1.000.000 to his landlord but needed the 200.000.  The members had a fundraiser but due to economic challenges in the area had not earned enough.  So we (us and 2 missionaries) went and ate and they were able to pay off his debt.  It was a simple but wonderful meal.

We had visits with the two investigators who are getting baptized on the 26th, visited a few other people, and waited for a brief thunderstorm to pass before we left for home.  On the road home near the bridge we encountered a huge section of the road (1-2km) of pure mud.  We also could not pass because a girl in a new Toyota was stuck in the mud.  We pulled out our rope, hitched up her car, put the truck in 4 wheel drive, and pulled her out.  Cool.

We have had a week filled with miracles.

Two last thoughts. 

1- a few nights ago the elders called and said that they had no lights in their house, but all their neighbors had lights.  They said that it looked like their power cable had broken.  Sure enough, it had.  We drove over to the power company, and miracle of miracles - they came and spliced the cable.  They said the cable needed to be replaced because it was very old, probably the first wire put in when the power arrived here.  We asked a neighbor lady when she first had lights and she said……….1982.   Wow.

2-  One of our sister missionaries told a funny story last night when we were eating dinner.  She said that when she received her mission call she and her mom joined a Facebook group for mission moms for our mission.  As she looked at the sister missionaries hair, skin, clothes, etc she kept saying, “ They are so ugly, but so happy, how can that be”  She sent a foto home a few weeks ago and after looking at it said, “my clothes are ugly, my hair is ugly, my skin is ugly……why am I so happy?”.

We love you all,

Jerry and Cheryl