Fotos:
1 - Handwarming over a charcoal fire at our Home Evening on Sunday.
2- With our visitors Dallin and Camille in front of the Virgin on
Concepcion.
3- I bought a cover for my machete - many say it is cheesy - but I like it.
4- At a going away party for Elder Kincheloe - the Hermana Cranney borrowed
a poncho. It is winter here still.
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Hello to everyone.
We have had a very good week here in the Paraguay Asuncion North Mission.
We are truly blessed to be here and to be serving in such a wonderful cause.
Last evening at a Family Home Evening (with 24 people in attendance) we were so
humbled when Sebastiana said, “how did we get to be so lucky to be born in
Paraguay instead of someplace like Syria. At least here we are peaceful, we
have the gospel, and have what we need to be happy”. This really put things in
perspective for us.
Last Tuesday we had changes / transfers in the mission. One of the big
jokes is wondering if the Cranneys will be transferred, or if one of us will get
a new companion. We were blessed that there were no changes here in Horqueta and
we are grateful because right now we have great, hard-working missionaries that
love the people. Everyone who comes here says it is very different from other
parts of the mission, and it takes a while to grow into working in Horqueta.
But we love it here and are so grateful to serve. We did have three
missionaries from nearby Concepcion return home after three years of service.
We have grown to know and love many of these good young Elders and Sisters.
On Wednesday we taught the lesson in Branch Activity night. We always
teach the day after transfers in case our Elders or Sisters are traveling on
that day. We showed a video about Capitan Moroni from the Book of Mormon and
how is was a true hero. We encouraged all of our young people to choose their
heroes wisely - as many of today’s heroes really are not that after all. They
seemed to enjoy it and hopefully we all learned from it.
Earlier in the week we learned that the son / brother of one of the
long-time member families in Concepcion died on Tuesday. He was a police
investigator and was out in the brush with a team looking for marijuana farms.
They found one and were returning to their station when the farmers and their
guards opened fire. Ismael Franco, the policeman, and one of the marijuana
guards were killed in the gunfire. He was inactive for many years but this was
a huge impact on his family, many of whom are very active. We attended the
funeral which was packed with probably 200 people. Five minutes prior to the
start of the funeral, the District President asked if I would represent the
District and speak for a few minutes. So I put together a few thoughts about
God’s plan for each of us, and how we can find peace through the comfort of the
Holy Ghost. The first speaker used most of the scriptures I was going to use,
so my comments were brief. After the funeral there was a huge funeral
procession from the chapel to the cemetery with two buses, many cars, hundreds
of scooters, and 7 or 8 police vehicles. It was quite a sight.
On Saturday afternoon we received a phone call from an American who said
she was the wife of a member who lives and works here in Paraguay with a company
that helps businesses to grow and to become profitable. The couple was recently
married and she just joined her husband a few months ago here in Paraguay. They
asked if we would like to join them in Concepcion for dinner. We had an open
calendar so we agreed. We really enjoyed a hamburger and fries with them as we
shared our mission experiences (they are both returned missionaries) and they
shared more about their business and experiences here in Paraguay. It was a
good evening.
Sunday was quite a day for us.
We left the house early to arrive in Concepcion for the Branch Conference
of the Rama 3. I provided the combined Sunday School lesson / discussion on
their branch mission plan and then I spoke in Sacrament Meeting on the
importance of the scriptures and daily scripture study. There were about 100
people in attendance for Sacrament meeting; they are one of our larger
branches. We then zoomed home, picked up our branch President Duarte and the
missionaries and drove 40 km to Tacuati. It seems that every time we go the
road to Tacuati gets worse. We had a special meeting on the importance of
callings and service in the church, conducted interviews to call people to
positions, sustained them in a group meeting, and then set them apart. It has
been some time since many of the members there had any responsibility so we are
hopeful that this will help them and the group to grow. It was a good visit and
we are looking forward to our next visit in a few weeks to train them on Home
and Visiting teaching.
We returned from Tacuati in time to meet the Elders at the church and to
take chairs to the Vega home for Home Evening. It was really cold so she
brought out her carbon / charcoal cooker and everyone tried to gather around it
to stay warm. We had a great discussion as a group on 1 Nefi 11, with nearly
everyone participating. We really felt good about the evening
We miss and love you all. Thank you for your ongoing support. We really
appreciate it.
Love,
Jerry and Cheryl
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