Fotos:
1- Homemade (by the Hermana Duarte) empanadas with mandioca flour
and the other is a mixture of meat and mandioca - all deep fried.
2- Our pickup truck - on the way to Tacuati
3- Hna Cranney on the new bridge over the Arroyo Paso Ita
4- President and Sister Evans - we are thrilled to work with them
5- I am becoming Paraguayan - we had a rattle in the front bumper
so until we can get it fixed I stuck a popsicle stick between the bumper
and the fender. Seems to work for now.
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Greetings and we hope you all have had a good week. We are forging
ahead, doing our best to serve the Lord and the good people here in
northern Paraguay.
Yesterday our attendance for Sacrament Meeting was up both in
Horqueta and in Tacuati. We have been visiting more and the
missionaries are working very hard to invite both investigators and
members to participate with us regularly.
We have been working on the ward mission plans for all of the
branches in the Concepcion District. We have a fairly simple format for
them to follow, they set the goals, document them including how, who,
and when - and then we go to work. The focus is on people - members who
are less active, new members who need some additional support, and
investigators who are looking the truth and for happiness and may not
know where to find it. We are making progress and the members are
starting to feel the excitement of doing the Lord’s work.
On Wednesday our friend Kelly took us fabric shopping (woo hoo) for
skirts for Cheryl. When they picked out the fabric we went to Kelly’s
seamstress for he to make the skirts. It was the same seamstress who
had shortened the sleeves on my white shirts and who had taken in the
waistband on all of my pants. We had a good laugh over that.
We went to Tacuati on Thursday to work with the group leader for a
few hours. The group is struggling a bit with some of the members
saying that they want to be the leader, they want to plan the meetings,
etc even though they have not been called and are not very active. We
are trying to teach them that the church is not a social club or like
other churches. We believe that callings come from God- and we can
accept them or not, but we dTheon’t try to run the church when we have
not been called. We do plan to visit this Sunday afternoon for a class
and for interviews and callings. They are wonderful people and just
need a little help now and then.
We have been very blessed to see the fruits of our labors - from
the seeds we have distributed in Tacuati and Horqueta. Most of the
members have hearty gardens and are eating lettuce already. Pte Duarte
has given us two big bags of lettuce which we have really enjoyed. It
is great to see the members become a bit more self sufficient and to see
them eat more vegetables.
There was a baptism Saturday night while we were at meetings in
Concepcion. I was blessed to interview Vanesa for her baptism. She is
12 years old, and is the niece of a branch member. The Elders taught
her well, but were concerned about how much she understood in Spanish,
So our branch mission leader spent some time with her repassing the
lessons in Guarani. During the interview she clearly was well prepared
and ready to be baptized. It was a great experience even though we
weren’t able to attend the baptism. Cheryl made a white skirt for
Vanesa, she bought a white blouse for a dollar, and she made two cakes
for the baptism.
Everyone here is getting sick, and we have been giving many Priesthood blessings. I love their faith.
We love you all.
Jerry and Cheryl
