4/18/2016

 

 

Hola!  What a great day we have had today with our Preparacion Day.  We went out to the branch President’s ranch and had a great time.  We picked fruit….grapefruit, oranges, manadarins, Persian limes, and Paraguayan lemons. He also showed the elders how to harvest mandioca.  It was fun. 

A few fotos:

1-  Me with a large machete that they use to clear brush and dig up mandioca. 

2- Cheryl visiting with a calf at the ranch.

3- Flowers and butterflies

4- Cheryl and Hna Scott and Hna Martinez. 

5- President and Sister Duarte headed for home.

This has been a busy but good week.  We have been working hard to try and update the membership records for many of the members here in Horqueta.  We had to locate copies of or recreate membership records for 9 members of the branch.  We then added at least 4 ordinations to the Priesthood that had occurred months and years ago but never recorded.  The thing is that the more we solve the more we find.  For example, we are trying to find witnesses for a baptism of a young man that occurred about 6 years ago.  Just as we are getting close we discovered that his older sister does not have a membership record either.  Well, I guess we are here to help in any way we can and sometimes it is in ways that we don’t expect.

This week in our Noche de Rama (branch activity night) we taught the lesson on “Choices”.  We used the stories of Daniel in the Old Testament as examples - when Daniel chose to eat healthy food rather than the food of the king, - when Daniel refused to bow down before the golden image and was thrown in the fiery furnace,  - and when he refused to stop praying to his God and was thrown in the den of lions.  All great examples for us to learn from and to help us make better choices every day.

We helped with Relief Society meeting on Thursday by showing a video about the formation of the Relief Society.  It went well with about 8 sisters attending and we had finger foods and cake afterwards. 

Friday evening we had Presidency meeting in Concepcion and a Self Sufficiency Committee meeting.  We have much work to do and so few willing hands.  We are trying to do something with self sufficiency and not just talk about it.  So we are trying to obtain vegetable seeds so that we can help the members plant, tend, and harvest vegetables from their own gardens.

Sunday was a great day.  We left home about 730 am to drive with the Elders to Tacuati.  We attended Gospel Principles Class and then Sacrament meeting.  They only have 2 hours of meetings each week as they are still not a branch.  We then distributed vegetable seeds to each family - with a commitment that they plant and harvest the fruit.  We had tomato, green pepper, onion, cucumber, carrot, lettuce, and a bit of spinach.  Everyone was so excited to plant their garden.  We look forward to seeing the results in a month or so when we visit Tacuati.

We had a nice lunch of chicken, pork, rice salad, mandioca, and juice at Pedro's house.  It was very good.  We then taught a temple preparacion class and shared a few ideas about Priesthood ordinances.  We finished about 4:00 pm, went and picked up the elders and drove home.  A busy but fruitful day. 

The Elders taught 5 lessons to Sister Adelaida who is planning to be baptized on April 30.   She and her family are so wonderful.

Well, we love and miss you all.  thank you for your love, support, and prayers. 

Jerry and Cheryl.

ps:  We don’t have an update on Manuela Martinez yet.  She was hoping to have surgery this week IF they could find her blood type.  In the meanwhile, her tumor continues to grow.  Thanks to those who have helped put her name on Temple Prayer rolls.