December 28, 2015

Hello to all.

We hope and pray that you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you are all ready for another new year.  A few years ago I never would have thought that we would be entering the year 2016, especially in Paraguay!

We already shared some of our wonderful Christmas Eve experiences and we will always cherish the opportunity we had to give something for Christmas that most of these wonderful people had never received - Christmas Carolers.  We visited the house of some members where we had gone caroling and they said that their neighbors asked why we had not visited them also.  What a shame that we could only spend 5 hours out caroling.

On Christmas Day we visited the Cristaldo family, delivered a Christmas cake, and had a short lesson with them including the video “A Savior is Born”.  They really enjoyed it and we invited them to join us for church on Sunday.  Hmo Cristaldo seemed interested in coming back to church but he didn’t seem too sure about when he might return as he has been inactive for several years.  Yesterday morning about 10 minutes after the start of our meetings in walked Hno Cristaldo.  He decided that this was the day he was going to come back to church.  He stayed all three hours and seemed to enjoy seeing all of the members, he participated in the classes, and seemed pleased to be there.  We had an appointment last evening (already scheduled) to visit with the family again and when we got there we asked Bro Cristaldo how it felt to go back to church.  He said “estoy muy contento”, or in other words “I am very happy and content”.  He said it almost felt like he had never left.  We will continue to meet with them because the Hna Cristaldo hasn’t attended yet, but said she would start next year, which we reminded her is this coming Sunday!  It has been a wonderful and sweet experience to get to know and to help this good family.

We continue to have problems with our internet service and company.  A few weeks ago, in anticipation of all of the skyping from us and from the missionaries around Christmas, we doubled our data plan to 60gb…..we thought.  Today we have no internet because we have used up all of our data plan.  But, we didn't use all 60.  We have only used 35 which is what the internet provider set up in error.  So now I am on the phone all day trying to get this resolved.  Cheryl keeps reminding me - “You are in Paraguay”!

We really enjoyed visiting with everyone during the holidays.  It was great to be with family - even if only by phone or by Skype.  We had a chance to meet one our missionary’s family when he skyped with them from our house.  It was fun to meet the Mendoza family from Riverton, UT (formerly from Bolivia). 

We continue an unusually wet and cooler summer here.  Usually by this time we would have temperatures well over 100, sometimes over 115 degrees.  But we rarely have hit 100 and usually in the high 80s or mid 90s.  I have no complaints but things sure are muddy.  We also have to plan carefully when to wash our clothes as our clothesline is not covered and we can only dry clothes on a dry / sunny day. We are truly blessed to have a washing machine - I love it and I have the assignment to do all the laundry.  It is amazing how we are beginning to more fully appreciate some of the small things in life:  clean running water, hot running water,  a clothes dryer,  gasoline/ diesel at less than $4.00 per gallon, good ice cream, pizza hut, internet service that works, a true grocery store, etc.  But we are truly blessed here with all that we really need to eat, work and be safe. 

Thanks to all for your love, prayers, and support.  

Love,
Jerry and Cheryl

Merry Christmas 2015

Good morning and Merry Christmas to all!

It is hard to believe that we are here in faraway Paraguay for Christmas this year.  It is such a privilege to be here in the service of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  At times we seem to forget why we are here, being caught up in the challenges of living and working here in Paraguay.  

But Christmas Eve was a great reminder for us and for the missionaries serving here in Horqueta.  We decided some time ago to go caroling on Christmas Eve, visiting members and others whom we have come to know and to love.  We had already prepared little Christmas bags of goodies for the children and arranged to meet and begin at 3:00 pm on Christmas Eve. 

We all drove together to visit, starting with places that were nearly impossible to reach by car.  The Elders and Sisters are used to walking everywhere, and so we had some challenges with the roads, trails, and mud.  But we were led to where we needed to go.

We visited 9 or 10 families and there was such a special feeling as we, as missionaries, sang several Christmas Carols - always ending with a pretty darn good rendition of Silent Night in Spanish and in harmony.   Many hearts were touches, many tears were shed as we visited members and then three of our favorite neighbors and friends…all non-members of the church.

We then had a Christmas Eve activity here in our house with the missionaries who had received permission to be out until 11:00 pm - which we took advantage of.  We enjoyed good food, good church videos, and good company.

We are so grateful for the mission of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that he willingly fulfilled the Father’s plan to redeem us all.  There is no message more important that this.

We love you all.

Jerry and Cheryl

Chicken

I couldn’t wait to send this to you all. 

We were in Tacuati this morning and the Hermana Deliah has a laying chicken under her outside sink.  I looked and here is the layout:

• There is a barbecue grill under the sink
• There is an empty “carbon” or charcoal bag in the grill
• There is a chicken sitting on top of them both.
• Luckily for the chicken, the grill wasn’t lit.

Just thought it was kind of funny.

Love you all,

Jerry

December 21, 2015

Hello to everyone. I hope that everyone has enjoyed your preparations for Christmas, which is just around the corner.  We plan to celebrate little but try and focus on the Savior this Christmas.  As we have explained earlier, there is not much happening here for Christmas.  We might have the Elders and Sisters here for dinner on Christmas day, but it is basically another day for missionary work.

Last Tuesday was Changes for the missionaries in our Mission, and 5 from our Zone got transferred.  It was a shock to some of them who have only been here for 1 change (6 weeks).  We received some new and pretty enthusiastic missionaries, including 2 new zone leaders and one new District Leader.  The work had been going very slowly, so it must have been time for a change.

I spend quite a bit of time this week preparing materials for our Branch Presidency Training meeting scheduled for this Sunday.  We are discussing year end activities and the Area Plan for 2016.  This plan covers the South America South Area, including Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay.  There are 4 main areas of focus:  The Work of Salvation / Missionary Work, The Sabbath Day, Being Self Sufficient, and Focus on the Temple.  Elder and Sister Guterres, the other senior missionary couple from Brasil joined us and it went quite well.  It lasted 3 hours (at least an hour too long) but we will do better next time.

On Friday we drove with two of the missionaries to Tacuati to “reopen” the area.  The missionaries were pulled out about 4 months ago due to a kidnapping in the area, and have not been back since.  Cheryl and I go visit about once a month just to stay in touch with the members there.  We had been told that the road was impassable due to flooding.  A few days earlier the roads had turned into rivers and the only way to get to Tacuati was by boat.  Fortunately for us, the water had dropped about 15 feet and we could pass.  We had a good day, visiting with members and the Elders worked with about 6 investigators that the members had found and prepared.  It was a very good day.

Yesterday we went to the Rama 2 in Concepcion for Church.  I was asked to lead the discussion in Sunday School about the Book of Mormon, and I also spoke in Sacrament Meeting.  Cheryl played the piano and kept me in line during our classes.  All of the members in the South America South area have been challenged to read the Book of Mormon prior to General Conference in April.  It will be a challenge but we are working hard to help everyone to complete this challenge.  We had a wonderful dinner at the District President’s house - Chupin de Pollo = a type of very flavorful chicken stew and baked chicken. 

We had a good visit also with Alex and Hilda - Alex’ dad was visiting from Brasil and he is a very good person.  We enjoyed our visit.  He told us about a bean dish that has meat in it - pigs ears, pigs tail, and pigs feet.  Cheryl wasn't too sure about that.   They then told us that we should eat more fish, but I told them that Cheryl didn’t like fish that had a moustache (catfish) which is what they eat here.  They all laughed about that also. 

We are really concerned about our branch here.   The President is not functioning well, but he is the only active Priesthood holder at this time.  Attendance is declining slightly, and the missionary work is slow.  We are trying to determine what is needed and how we can best help.  One of the hardest things to do is to NOT jump in and do it all for them.  That will not help them grow or prepare for the day when the Cranneys leave the mission.  We love these people, but at times they an be really frustrating (almost like our children). 

We love you all and thank you for your love, support, and prayers. 

Cheryl and Jerry

Below is a scripture that goes with the attached photo.

DyC 42:6 And ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto angels of God.

pictures

Not sure what kind of plant this is, but we planted it when it was about 12 inches high.  Now about 6 1/2 feet high.   It regularly blossoms with beautiful red flowers.

 2- Cheryl teaching an investigator in Tacuati how to do bracelets made of thread.  They were a big hit there, with about 15 people working on them at the same time.

pictures

1- Cheryl in front of the Garay house. 

2- A Christmas tree in the Branch 3 building.  Made from  2 litre soda bottles.

3- One of the Seminary Graduates - Helbert Echeverria

4- Our garden continues to do well.  Tomatoes all died, but we have green peppers, mandioca, and many plants and flowers.

1- the man who helped with our flat tire.

2- The virgin de Caacupe in front of the neighbors house.

3- Selfie

4- Cheryl and Brisa.  See if you can read Brisa’s nametag.

December 14, 2015

Hello to everyone.  First of all, I will send separate emails with photos attached.  Makes it easier for everyone to receive the email even if they can’t receive all of the photos.

It has been an interesting week with strange weather and all of the accompanying challenges that come with it.  It is unusually cool and rainy for this time of year.  We have some really hot days, but many are cooler and rainy.  The bad weather is creating serious problems for the economy here, and for some of the members.  One good family is struggling with financial issues due to the fact that the husband can’t work making bricks due to the rain.  Plus, there is no demand for bricks as construction is all but stopped due to the weather.  Their son, a returned missionary, works in a shoe shop but there are no shoe orders so he is not working.  They had ducks and chickens which they used for eggs and eventually to sell.  All of their ducks and 19 babies died due to a virus.  All of their chickens and their 13 babies dies from the same thing.  The spouse sells used clothing from door to door, but no one is buying anything right now. So this good family is struggling for food, electiricity, water, clothes, etc.  We would appreciate your prayers in their behalf.

This week we helped our neighbor and landlord trim a very large tree in the street in front of our houses.  He was up in the tree with a machete cutting off rather large branches, and we were all on the ground trimming and stacking the branches for removal later.  It is much safer now and we get more light from the streetlight. 

Tuesday was the big celebration for the Virgen of Caacupe, the virgin of Paraguay.  Our next door neighbor has a sanctuary for her saint in the road in front of her house, and they had a large activity that day.  They had a mass in the street (blocked off from traffic) in the morning, and a large meal for family and friends at noon.  We were invited but unable to attend due to a zone meeting in Concepcion.   When we returned home, however, she gave us some of the food she had prepared - a plate with three large pieces of blood sausage!

On Wednesday we drove to Tacuati to assist with the cleanup of the missionary’s yard and house.  When they were moved from the area they only had a few hours notice so they dropped everything and left.  The landlord threatened to evict us even though we were paying the rent because the place looked so bad.  The members of the group there did all of the work - we provided cleaning supplies and the funds to pay the man to weed wack the yard.  The house had been cleaned and organized so well that it looked almost good enough to live in.  It is still very small and isolated.  But the members really want missionaries to return to Tacuati.

On the way to Tacuati we had a tire blowout.  Cheryl and I started to change the tire when a friendly man on a horse rode up and asked if we needed help - which we did.  With his help and the help of his brother-in-law, we were able to get the spare in place and arrived in Tacuati without problem.  We repaired the tire and on the return trip to Horqueta had another blowout on the same tire.  Fortunately we were only two blocks from the tire repair shop.  The tire was destroyed so we had to order two from Asuncion which arrived early the next day.  We were talking about this experience and realized the had of the Lord in watching over us.  We were not injured when the tire blew out.  We were in an area with no cell phone coverage.  We were blessed to have a good and honest man come to help us, and when the tire blew again we were only two blocks from the tire store.  The new tires arrived in less a day and we were able to travel to Concepcion the very next day.  We are humbled and grateful.

Friday the Elders invited the familia Cranney to lunch at their apartment.  We took a drink and breadsticks,  and they provided the spaghetti and salad.  It was amazingly good!

Friday night we attended the Seminary Graduation in Concepcion where 4 of the youth graduated after 4 years of attendance.  Pretty amazing.  During the event the power went off and then the storms started.  We left at 900 pm and it was pouring buckets of rain as well as wind, lightening, and thunder.  It took us about twice as long as normal to drive home, but we made it safely. We also used our new projector to show 2 videos about seminary and it worked really well!

Saturday we had an invitation to have a light meal with the owner of the local book / paper store and her family.  It was really a good experience.  They have a simple but beautiful home and served sandwiches, cake, juice, and hot chocolate.  We made arrangements to return before Christmas to share some American food and show them the video “Ha Nacido un Salvador”, or A Savior is Born.  Later that evening the missionaries were tracting that same street and knocked on that door.  They asked if they could come in and show a Christmas video.  Kelli, the daughter, said that the Cranneys had already made arrangements to return and show the video.  We all laughed about that!

Yesterday morning we got up to a sunny and warm morning.  We thought -”great, the members should come to church today because there is no rain, it is not cold, and the roads are not muddy.   Then the power went out.  The power came back on about 60 minutes into our meeting schedule.  We had reasonable attendance with 38 people.

We are still trying to decide if we want to purchase a Christmas tree or not.  Cheryl already bought some garland and lights and we will decorate the inside of our home a bit.

We love and appreciate you all.  Please pray for the good people of Paraguay who are beginning to suffer some pretty serious challenges in their lives.  We so want to help but there is only so much that we can and should do.

Love ,

Jerry and Cheryl