Hosanna and Hallelujah

 Another week has flown by and Easter is happening on Sunday! Last Sunday was busy. We had an extra hour of sleep because here in the southern hemiphere we are heading into fall so our clocks fall back. The biggest bonus for us is that we are closer in time to our kids so it is easier to set up times to call. 

The downside is that Argentina and Chile don't change so we messed up our English Connect 2 class because we didn't clarify whose 18:00 hrs we were meeting at. So grateful for patient people.

We have also started to have people for lunch instead of dinner so we don't have to rush them out to have class. We have two new missionaries in the area Elder Ensign from Traverse City, MI and Hermana Yardley from Syracuse, UT. We enjoyed BLT's, lots of salads and Brownie Pudding or Hot Fudge Cake, whichever you call it, and ice cream. We also took a trip to the roof to show off the view.

These pictures were Sunday while the midwest was getting snow.

Monday Ken left to pick up our supervisor at the airport and make the 3 hour trip to Villarrica. Due to the monetary amount involved and that approval needs to be sent up the line, our supervisor needed to visit the hospital. Chris stayed at the office and worked on paperwork. She also shared hummus with some of the ladies at the office. Here humus is dirt but Chris told them that dirt wasn't one of the ingredients. Ken returned about 7 pm. just a little worn out.

Also on Monday Chris finally received her Paraguay phone. Everyone can still call and text her on her US number. It will be helpful when going out of the office and home to have data so she can use google translate, Bolt to get rides, maps and call people.

Tuesday we visited with Banco de Ojos again for the same reason, their project is for a big ticket item. It is amazing how when people see things in person and talk with the people themselves there is a better understanding of the organization's needs and the diligence of the directors. We also visited a government office that deals with nutrition. 

Wednesday was a busy day at the office trying to get things done before all of South America takes off on vacation(Paraguay-Thurs, Fri; Argentina- Thurs.,Fri, Mon. Tues.). We also missed an entrega ceremony for a school in Argentina because it was too far and we didn't have enough warning. They received audio visual equipment from the Church to help them move into the 21 century.

We were invited to a birthday party with our friend Oscar whose organization helps with the wheelchairs. It was an asada and it started at 8, but we didn't eat until 10 pm and returned home by midnight. Yes we are wild every now and again for a good purpose. 

Chris was asked to bring dessert and it was a hit. As with most of her recipes she had to make due with what she could find, a Paraguayan version of scotcheroos.

Just noticed that this picture confirms this dessert is a fruit or vegetable, right?

Thursday it was quiet at work and we were able to get so much done because we weren't interrupted. It was just the Myers and the guards. For lunch we had Pizza Hut delivered and shared with them. That was a treat for all of us. 

In Paraguay where the majority of people are Catholic on the Thursday before Easter they cook all day and celebrate with family at a Last Supper. Then Friday through Saturday at 3pm all they can eat is chipa. Then Saturday evening they begin celebrating the Resurrection.

Thursday night we headed to the temple. A group from Brazil was there so instead of them wearing headsets because there were too many, only those of us who wanted to listened to the session in Spanish were given headsets. Not going to lie, we were both switching between many different languages as we listened to the presentation of the endowment.

Friday some of the restaurants were closed in Paraguay. We just continued to work on paperwork and called it an early day.

Saturday Chris is speaking at a baptism. Trying to work on her Spanish. Some moments are better than others.

Spiritual thoughts for this week.

1) Studying the last week of Christ's life begins with Palm Sunday where people lined the streets and shouted "Hosanna" meaning "save us." Some of those people misunderstood how Christ would save them and left off following Him becuase He didn't do what they thought He should. It is easy to point fingers at them but do we have misunderstandings about how Jesus saving us should look like in our lives? Do we give up on Him because salvation doesn't look a certain way in our lives?

2) Heavenly Father didn't include Jesus' Atoning sacrafice in His plan of salvation so He or us would focus on our sins. He included it as a means to help us and stay focused on the process of what we can become through Him. He is not about our mistakes but about our growth!

 

Full moon from our balcony

Still not Easter but We are Turning Our Clocks Back Tonight in Paraguay

 Saturday's meeting was fantastic. We visited with some of the church leaders of Paraguay and one of our favorite NGO's. We smiled, laughed and enjoyed each other's company. We learned a lot about the NGO's plans to move forward to help nutrition in Paraguay and we shared the amazing program the Church has to put in place through the wards and branches, that covers everything they were talking about and more. We will meet up again soon.

The rest of the day we just relaxed and good thing we did because Sunday was busy. We woke up to an invite to Zoom the Sioux City Stake Conference where Chris's brother was called as the new Stake President. So we went to our ward and stayed for sacrament meeting and then came home to listen to the stake conference. While at church we met Kent Cannack, from Phoenix, AZ who served his mission in Uruguay and Paraguay in 1972-73. He and his wife, Nolene were visiting around his mission. It is a trip they had planned since he returned from his mission. They have their mission papers ready but are waiting for some health clearance and hoping that comes soon. They would love to be Humanitarian missionaries somewhere where Kent served. We spent the whole afternoon eating and visiting about all the great projects we have had the opportunity to be a part of and answering their questions about what we do in Paraguay. It was a lovely afternoon and they left right before our English Connect 2 class started.

We love our English Connect 2 class and hope to remember to take a picture to share one of these week.

Any of the women who have not listened to the worldwide Relief Society devotional and testimony meeting, take the time to watch and listen. And also reread Sister Johnsons talk from April 2023, Jesus is Relief. Chris loves how Sister Johnson shared the entomology of relief. Eye opening to the reason Sister Johnson testifies that "Jesus is Relief." Makes being part of the "Relief" Society (the Church's women's organization) a deeper experience than what Chris once thought.

Monday came and Chris stayed home to work on a model and directions for mammography capes, We are hoping the Relief Societies will make the capes as a service project in the stakes where the digitilizer for the mammography machines are being donating . Chris will probably be making them longer and adding another tie. Right now the model is with one of the doctors for his approval.

While Chris was working at home, Ken was at the office experiencing miracles. Another former missionary that served in Paraguay showed up at the office. He lives in Boise and works in water conditioning. So many missionaries that served here in Paraguay are still trying to help grow the country because of the love they have for the people here. Remember we have been praying about what to do to help in Mistolar with their salty water. This guy even has charity hours he can use. Stay tune to see what happens next. Later in the week we got word that the facilities arm of the Church is looking into fixing the desalinization process in Mistolar. That would be so helpful. We hope they also teach and train them how to maintain and take care of it.

Tuesday we went to see Banco de Ojos, a non government foundation that helps those who can't afford to have eye exams, glasses fit or surgery done if needed. They have a big piece of equipment that was supposed to have been donated by the Church 2 missionary couples ago but something held it up and we thought it was dead in the water from what we had heard. Thank goodness these things are the Lord's errand and we are now moving through the approval process again with hopes it will happen.

On Wednesday we had some ladies from a Puesto de Salud that we are trying to help because their building flooded and there was also a fire and they now have no permanant building. It is complicated to share the whole story about the project but they came to the office to visit with us and plead their case. We hope we can get them the containers that they are requesting soon. There are so many dedicated Paraguayans working hard to help people here in Paraguay. It is beautiful.

Chris's mom always said "If you don't have anything good to say,  don't say anything at all." And that was most of Thursday for us. But prayers are answered and Heavenly Father knows us and will give us personal ways we can be strengthened in circumstances beyond our control if we humbly listen and accept the help He gives.

Friday was temple day. Partly because Chris continues to get the date for Easter wrong and she thought it was Good Friday and that no one else would be working. It was a good friday for us. We enjoyed from morning until noon in the temple. Then we tried a new restaurant for lunch that we were able to be in and out of within 45 mins or less which never happens in Paraguay. It tasted good too. Forgot to take a pictures. We headed back to the temple to do some sealings in the evening.

And we had fabulous bookend Saturdays. We had the entrega ceremony for one of our first beginning to end projects. You can tell by the smile on Dra Natalia's face how much this donation from the Church will help her do her job. She sees the hand of the Lord in this projects and that is worth everything. 

Our participation medals for our help. So sweet.

Ken getting a few word in with the press! He's a real TV personality. We really try and not be in pictures or TV but they sought us out in the back room.

    

Three spiritual thoughts this week:
1. Heavenly Father and the Savior have the same goals we have for ourselves but generally their timing is different and because of their perspective,  they know better options to help us get where we really want to go even if they are hard and not always fun.  No one else needs to see or affirm our efforts. More light will come as we follow the light we have already been given. we will never grow out of lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way, teach me all that I must do to live with You someday.

2,  Enos 1:17 And I (We), Enos (Chris and Ken), knew it would be according to the covenant which he (the Savior) had made; wherefore my (ours) soul(s) did rest. 3. Omni 1:26 I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption.

In the Spanish language instead of partake it uses the word participaseis. See the root, participate! We can not have salvation without the Savior but we need to make the choice to participate in it. How are you participating in your salvation?

We love you all. We miss you. We wish someone would come and visit us. We are learning and growing and stretching. We feel the Lord is pleased with our efforts! Have a great week.

Another Week in the Books

 This was a bitter sweet week in a few ways. To begin the week we had our last supper with some excellent missionaries who are returning home after serving their missions. We will miss Hermana Nogales and Elder Sherwood mucho! We had spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread, and sautéd zuchinni, onions and tomatoes for dinner with cinnamon rolls and ice cream for dessert. These young missionaries work so hard with lots of rejection so it is nice to love them up. We had our final game of Qwirkle and a message and they were off.

Monday came and we took our first Bolt ride (Uber). Up to this point we had been a little aprehensive of taking it but Bolt is what the young missionaries take so it must be safe, right? Parking is so difficult in the city that it was so much easier to do it this way. Woohoo for brave new experiences.

We visited with the Vice Minister of Superior Education or what we call Higher Education. He is supposed to be getting us a visit with the Vice Minister of Escuela Basica (PK-12) soon so we can find a project to partner on. They are looking for air conditioners and libraries for PK-12 and computer systems to get all the universities, private and public, to report and communicate with the Ministry. We shared about BYUPathway and EnglishConnect.

Monday afternoon the bitter pill of bureacracy had to be swallowed. Ken takes it down well, but Chris is still choking on it. From every direction getting different direction without clear direction is a crazy maker. Difficult to move forward. But Tuesday came and the Appels called and our granddaughter Lany made us smile again. We also had a meeting at the ice cream shop across the street with one of our mission presidents, he always makes us smile.

Wednesday started out great. Chris is getting braver with her Spanish and she went to the copy shop to get the Mistolar family pictures printed. Success, thanks to patient clerks and Google Translate. She has also had conversations with the apartment guard and some of the ladies at church. Wednesday was also our grandson, Kenny's birthday and in the evening, we got to see the whole family on Facetime, which was another bright spot in our week.

Thursday came and Ken left a little early for the office and empanadas and Chris thought she would follow but felt weak and ended up staying home. She even missed the temple date that night so you know she really wasn't feeling well. We did however get the pictures from the first Returned Missionary Business in a Box, a landscaper. Can we get another Woot Woot!?

Friday was school day. We visited 2 schools. This is one of their libraries, and so we understand the request from the vice minister a little better.

This is their water station.

At the second school they'd like new playground equipment for the littles. Below is what they have now. We are hoping we can help with that.

Great news this week:

Our project we inherited that was about a year old when we got it has finally been purchased. It is a automated dermatome that helps with skin grafts so that healing time and infection should decrease and the time between skin harvest will decrease. This is being donated to the National Burn hospital so it will help lots of people.
We were also able to get a few projects that had loose ends tied up. 

Saturday we have a meeting with a NGO and the Area Seventy about a nutrition project in Paraguay. (yes, we are working on our pday again.) We are really not sure what is going to happen and have had little direction through our specialists in Salt Lake. This is when things get a little unsure and messy for us because the lines of authority and heirarchy are a little blurred. Haha stay tuned because we will be battered around like a ping pong ball before things will be settled and a project is decided upon.

We just remember that Christ experienced the pain of all we feel because of our own shortcomings and the shortcomings of others yet He still chose to go through it all for us. He is there waiting to help us through our own Gethsemane as we remember Him always. Because of Him we can have hope to make it through to the other side of our trials, afflictions and circumstances. He lives and loves us all. Walk with Him.

Moroni Ward Relief Society

Look for Miracles in Your LIfe

 

    Last week we were on the green trip. This week we went south on the red to Pilar. On our trip back from the Chaco (green) we made it home safely but we didn't realize that at some point we picked up a thorn in the sidewall and while the car rested over night,the front driver's tire lost all its air. Of all the places we had been and all the places we could have been stranded we will take the office parking lot. (Miracle). For a scale of reference, Paraguay is smaller than California but larger than Montana.

    The next miracle we recognized this week was the report from our Mission Training Center trainers that this week a record number of 18 couples are joining the ranks of Humanitarian missionaries. Wow! We entered the MTC the Monday after Elder Rasband's call for more senior couples and they are coming. When we entered the MTC, our group of 8 couples was the record. Can you recognize the miracle in more than doubling that number in 5 months? Heavenly Father is so good at multiplying things.

Something else that is less of a miracle but something we never thought would happen to us was we were on Paraguay TV twice this week. One was with the Ministra de Salud of Paraguay (like a US cabinet member) and the ambassador from Taiwan. 

The other cameo was with the Governor and First Lady of Ñeembucú. Yes little old us from the hayseed midwest. #BecauseoftheNameontheBadge

Other miracles. this week were the hope of a project that we thought was unapprovable has been revived and the donation from the church can help more people to have improved vision through another Foundation for Opthomology. Wasn't it Marjorie Hinckley that said "never suppress a generous thought." Someone didn't and that is how we were able to revive this! (Miracle)

On our trip South to Pilar we saw a drastic change from last weeks drought. We followed the Paraguay River all the way to Pilar. On both sides of the road it was boggy, in fact we learned that rice is grown in this region of Paraguay. Chris also had a thought as she saw the cows grazing on all the green grass, "you don't know how lucky you are to be living on this end of Paraguay." 

Rice fields

Pilar is the "cuña de basquetbol."(not a miracle but a surprise) They have a municipal gym where kids of all ages comes after school each hour, youngest to oldest and learn skills, get exercise and stay out of trouble. It was an amazing sight to watch one coach with about 20 kids running the drills and personally helping each to improve. All the kids wanted to shake our hands, as if we were some celebrity. A few of the braver ones tried their English skills.

The last night we were there we were watching a few championship games. During the boys game it started to rain so hard that it was misting in through the vents on the side of the building and the main doors had to be shut to keep more rain from coming in. The game was postponed due to the court getting wet and players falling. For a country whose main sport is futbol, there are some amazingly tough basquetbol players in Pilar.

Also not a miracle but a surprise was that we found out that ADM has a port, a parking lot for the grain trucks and an industrial site in Paraguay. (Not sure what industrial site means) Always fun to see things like that to remind us we aren't too far from home.

Not sure where this would be classified but when we planned the trip we didn't want to put 50% down on a room (mistake) and thought a town of 33,000 wouldn't be too busy in the middle of Holy Week (another mistake.) There was a huge fishing tournament in Pilar with fisherman from all over the South America. We are very grateful for the Santacruz family who found a hotel with a room for us on Wednesday. It was clean and we are grateful we had a place to stay but Chris made Ken take a shower first. Something about electrical wires hooked to the shower head made Chris a bit nervous. We paid about $25 for 2 nights with breakfast, When the Santacruzes asked us if it was OK Ken said, "if the AC works it will be fine." And it was! We were on the first floor (the ground floor doesn't count in Paraguay, so the first floor is what we'd call second floor). The main street was right outside and there were vehicles, horns, and people talking and laughing most of the night. We were so tired both nights that we didn't even notice.

Our hosts, the Familia Santacruz, introduced us to Mburucujá, a fruit in Paraguay that they have in ice cream and make juice from. Naturally made juice is what you drink at restaurants here as much as pop. We enjoyed our Mburucujá juice and Naranja with some homemade VoriVori, the national soup (caldo not sopa, that is cornbread here). They also own a pizzaria. One night we got to try it and it was great, it was even better than the Pizza Hut we had a month ago.

Most of Thursday was spent trying to keep up with the governor's wife. She is so full of energy and passion to help the people of her departmento (state). We first saw her at a wheelchair entrega, then we spoke with her briefly to learn what her vision was for her term. She said she didn't know why God put her in this position (First Lady) so she'd better do something with the opportunity at hand. Such faith, determination, and attitude! Then she was off to donate tool kits so 15 men could work and feed their families.(This is where we were requested to join in by the Governor himself, so we ended up on TV and the funny thing was that people from the small branch saw it and were happy). We then visited a hospital, childcare center, mobile dentist and ob/gyn clinic and a hopeful medical facility for indigenous people. 

On Thursday we were grateful for siesta before we made our host go North American and eat dinner @ 6 before heading off to the basquetbol game. The custom here is to eat a huge meal between 8:00 and 11:00 pm. No way we could sleep if we did that. So we insisted they adopt our customs. Nice thought but the restaurants don't even open until 7:00 or later...We didn't get pictures but one of the sets of younger missionaries was walking by and we bought them dinner to go.

Miracles on the way home 

   1. We found out a small school project that had been waiting for a year for a response (so before we got here) and then once we got on it is was two month to get approved and it had been almost another two months waiting to be ordered. (we don't have control over approval time or purchasing time especially when it is a project in Argentina) ITEMS HAVE BEEN ORDERED!!!!!!

    2. A new tank was brought to Mistolar to replace the broken one so they can have a better chance at saving water when it rains and a better way to use the water from the taquemar or holding pond. We are not sure who initiated this or paid for it but we are just happy it happened and that the wonderful District President shared photos with us. Prayers help move the work along.

Saturday was filled with Chris teaching the sister missionaries how to make cinnamon rolls, making sauce and meatballs for tomorrow's lunch and catching up on organizing photos while Ken finished the expense reports for our travels.

Spiritual thought for the week as we celebrate the Resurrection during this Easter season comes from something that was pointed out to us. In John 11:25 "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life . . ." The resurrection is not only an occurance, but Jesus says the resurrection is who He is. Ponder on that thought a minute. How important it is then for us to be linked/yoked to Him through covenant promises and always striving to keep them? We are so grateful for the Resurrection, because He is the only way to Eternal Life. Without him there would be no Creation, no baptism, no repentance, no light, no life and no hope. With Him and only with Him can we have all that the Father wants to bless us with.

  And some extra photos for a giggle or two!

A Paraguayan moving truck-Greenhalghs and the Beverly Hillbillies have nothing on these guys

Do you think they ship the ice from Alaska to the Paraguayan Chaco?

Paraguay pitstop <Ahem...Ken checking soil conditions for planting>

A flower that only blooms at night

A big bike in Pilar

The Paraguay River- much like the Mississippi 

A large tereré cup- different than a maté cup

The Pilar textile factory

Rotisserie chicken Paraguayan style