Only Time Will Tell

 Well Monday started with a bang literally. Traffic signs are nearly non existent here in Paraguay. We were t-boned at an intersection. Gratefully no one was hurt and our car was not badly damaged. Both cars were able to drive to the police station to fill out reports. Not the best way to start the week but we were still able to only miss our first appointment of the day and head out for our second and third.

  

Tuesday we were given the go ahead to have container offices (2) moved to the Centro de Salud 10 which is across the street from us. They are a wonderful group of people really trying to make healthcare better for the people of Asunción. It is also endearing that they call us Señor Elder and Señora Chris.

More visiting and meetings about getting our temporary residency card but we are hoping there is more action behind the scenes to get this resolved as we have heard of no progress or timeline. Someone who had to get one for an exchange student said it was quite easy so hopefully we will have good news soon.

Tuesday evening thunderstorms from our balcony

 

 

Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday we visited a few of the special needs facilities in the greater Asunción area. The one on Monday was a live-in facility. The other two days were schools. It is amazing to see the love the directors have for their students and a desire to make their schools and living arrangements more adequate.

More gifts from the sweet students

On Wednesday we also visited with the First Lady (Govenrnor's wife) of Alto Paraná. She came to our office with some amazing ideas. One was to buy tools for the prision so they could make chairs for school children. We were very happy that she was thinking about the problem she was trying to solve and a way she could lift others in the process. After all that is what ministering is, bringing hope to others.

She was touched by this pictures that hangs on one of the walls in our office. She stopped to take it in on her way out so we sent her a digital copy and an explanation of the story behind it.

On the language learning front, Chris was left in the room with the first lady's assistant for about 10 minutes and mangaed to carry on an intelligible conversation. 

Mems and Steve called in the evening and a few friends gave us shout outs via texts during the day, always a highlight.

Thursday we thought we were going to be able to catch up with our worldwind of projects but we were instead able to enjoy people dropping by the office unannounced and some awesome Arroz con leche from our lunch buddy Sandra. 

Here is our video of the week. It is of our grandson, Cooper hitting a double.

Friday morning came with a call from our grandsons and in the afternoon we enjoyed a call from our oldest daughter Kenzi. How we love our kids and grandkids!

Another week zoomed by and next week is May. We already have two trips to the Chaco happening in May and June and we are hoping to help with a conference service project that may be in the works. Some of our projects are getting big enough that we work with our specialist in Salt Lake City. It has been great to grow in understanding of the why's behind the things they ask us to do. We are understanding that it isn't about just getting people the things they need but helping them be accountable for the things or training they receive. We want to help them to improve their lives not just for the moment but forever. Think celestial works is humanitarian work too.

This is a book that Chris is reading in Spanish about the history of the Church in Paraguay(for those Paraguay folks a newer addition is on Amazon for $14.95). It is quite interesting. The second picture is in the book and is a famous painting that shows the devastation of the wars of Paraguay and the strength of the women who picked up the pieces and continued on. (Google translate on your phone allows you to have your own seerstone /Urim and Thummin. The words under that picture were translated as the picture was taken.)

Spiritual Thought: Another week rolls by and we can't believe we are in our 60's still figuring things out and deepening our understanding of what a disciple of Christ does. A disciple of Christ isn't perfect but is always turning to and remembering God. A disciple doesn't want to separate himself from God. Christ overcame death or the separation from God both physically and spiritually. Are we choosing to turn away from that help and power or turn toward Him with faith in that power and help only He can give? We are grateful we are still learning. Have a great week.

A Week of Patiently Seeing Things Come Together

 How we love being in Paraguay and working with the people here, enjoying their company, their devotion and their kindness!

Saturday and Sunday was stake conference at a meeting house a few miles from our apartment. We had to take Bolt (like Uber) to get there but were always taken home by sweet members who wanted to help us. It was the first time that all the music including congregational hymns were accompanied by an acoustic guitar. We also enjoyed hearing the hymns of the choir in Guarani. Here are some audio recordings that Ken made Come Ye Children of the Lord and How Great Thou Art.

After coming home we celebrated Hermana Goñi's hard work and completion of her mission. The elders were supposed to come but Elder Ensign was sick so we enjoyed time with the Sisters. In the evening we enjoyed out English Connect class.

Ñanduti lace picture in the Ministra's office. Chris saw it the first time we were there and loved it. Paraguayan Pinterest Project for Chris

Monday was an 11 hour day with a working lunch. We visited the Ministra of Health and all we got was this picture. 

At the Ministry of Public Health and Welfare: Chris, Ken Elder/Colonel/Dr. Riverola (area seventy), La Ministra Teresa Baran, Vice Ministro Garcia, Head of International Relations Dra. Amarilla, Hermana Giselle(Churchdirector of communications/gov't relations Paraguay)

At the time it seemed like three hours we would never get back spent smoozing with powerful people without progress but the visit was a catalyst for an avalanche of hopefully successful projects that will help the people of Paraguay. Blessings aren't always fulfilled the way we picture them or completely finished in moments.

Tuesday was a beautiful 65°F and we got a picture of the leaves in the Paraguayan fall (spring in the U.S.). It was fun to hear the crunch of leaves as we walked down the sidewalk. This whole week we've enjoyed pleasant temperatures and have had our airconditioner off.

Sometimes it is easy to blame the missionaries for why things are slow or why things aren't getting done but on Wednesday we were able to make connections and move ahead on projects we have been waiting on for weeks. Maybe by the time we are going home and we are all used to the different ways we all do things, they will go more smoothly and quickly. Very exciting news about agreements being approved by legal and signed with a hospital and a clinic we have been waiting since February to start purchasing equipment for.

We can't sign the agreement(someone else has that power) but Ken had to sign for receipt of the agreement

In the afternoon Chris was able to make cinnamon rolls one last time at the request of Hermana Goñi. It is so uplifiting to spend time with the young missionaries and feel of their spirits and testimonies. They make us want to be and do better.
Thursday the Ministry passed along several solicitudes that we have been waiting to receive so we can move ahead in preparing them for approval. We were also able to see our project we revived pass one level of approval from the area presidency and wait with baited breath for Monday to jump through the last hoop of approval before being able to send the request to our buyer!
The temple is closed this week and next so we invited out temple friends, the Rolons over for dinner. They are Paraguayan by birth and also US citizens and have an amazing story of faith and doing the Lord's will that has brought them back to Paraguay. We had tacos which is one of Hermana Rolon's favorite meals and laughed alot while playing Quirkle. A wonderful evening.

We also found out on Thursday that there was an area meeting about visas and things will be changing and we will hopefully be getting out temporary residency card like we should have when we arrived. This will give us a more secure feeling when crossing the border to Argentina. Sometimes it feels like we are sent places to shake things up.

Friday we worked hard on all the paperwork we get to do to keep a trail of our projects, approvals, purchases and pictures that document material and supplies given, first visits and deliveries of equipment. More equipment was delivered in Saltos del Guaira for mammography digitalization. This hospital has been calling for a few weeks to let us know they had no more film or chemicals to do mammograms. It is also located about 5-6 hours from Asuncion where the first hospital with a digitilizer is so this project will be providing a broader reach of help.

In the evening we helped decorate,clean,set up chairs and attend the 60th anniversary of the first chapel in Paraguay. Here is the Guarani choir singing I am a Child of God.

For those following our blog because of a love for all things Paraguay, we took few photos and videos you may enjoy from the anniversary celebration. If we can get ahold of the professional one we will share it as well at this link.

This St Patrick's Day card was sent in February and arrived on April 19 full of love from my RS sisters in MN. Thanks

We are grateful our daughter Polly is doing well as she prepares to give birth to a daughter with Oakey by her side on May 6. Our son-in-law Michael has been accepted into the Master's program at Michigan State in vocal performance. And we got this sweet video which made our day earlier in the week from Kensington and Lane. (Gran and Tito are our names for Grandma and Grandpa)

As we said in the beginning we love being here and feel empowered by God's power to do His work. We also feel His grace to make it through the lonely and tough times when we miss home, friends, kids and grandbabies.

Spiritual Understanding for the week:

It isn’t that we disagree with people that makes things wrong. What is wrong is when we put ourselves or other people down in our actions, thoughts or words because we disagree with them.

We Will Not Shrink but Think Celestial and Stretch

 Hope everyone got a chance to enjoy conference. It was wonderful to be uplifted and receive personal revelation on what we can do to be more like the Savior on our walk here on earth.
After a hectic weekend with many trips to the office and the grocery store for conference goodies, on

Monday evening Chris realized she had lost her keys. Ken walked back to the office to check in the
conference room and office and we checked all our bags and pockets and coats and couldn’t find them.

She thought that it was possible that the keys had fallen out of her unzipped bag. She prayed

earnestly that somehow they would be found.

On Tuesday morning we had an early Teams (Zoom) meeting so Chris told Ken she was staying home

to join it and she was going to clean the bathrooms and then head to the office. She had been putting

off the task and just felt like she should stay home. Dressed up, she donned her apron and set to work after the meeting. After deep cleaning the bathrooms, kitchen floor, the dryer/washer lint, the office floor, the shoe marks on the wall she sat down to rest a minute before ironing a blouse. Only when she sat down did she feel the keys in her apron pocket from when she went to let the sisters out of the apartment on Saturday. This isn’t a dramatic miracle but it is her miracle of following the direction of the Spirit. It isn’t miraculous that she found her keys but it was timely and guided. She never would have looked in her apron pocket and if she hadn’t sat down to rest. She would have just hung up her apron without feeling it. God can only bless us when we listen.

We found out that Vicente Romero, the older gentleman helping with the ribbon pull who was the founder and donator of this Puesto de Salud passed away on Sunday. We are so very grateful he was able to see the Puesto fully functioning before his death.

One of our projects was to help funish burial equipment to a funeral home that donates time and resources to those who can't afford it. The name of this non profit is Fundación Ebenezer (In Hebrew, Ebenezer means “stone of help” (eben = stone; ezer = help) and comes from 1 Samuel 7:12 
"Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

This picture is of a grandmother receiving a small coffin for her grandchild. Her daughter was still recovering from the birth in the hospital. They were from the interior of the country about 4 hours away. As most of you know we lost our Sarah at age one and were blessed with a funeral director that only charged us at cost for her funeral. We know this isn't our money that bought this for this family but it was nice to be part of the giving if only in a small way.

Wednesday was a slow day. We had meetings, went to the bank, visited about the containers at Centro Salud #10 and went to the temple. It was great to be at the temple doing sealings with those we love. Good thing we had the support, strength and perspective for Thursday.

Storm clouds over Asunción Thursday. You can hardly see the city. This was the general feeling of Thursday. It was border crossing day. Before 90 days are up we have to go out of the country because of our tourist visa (or so we thought). By the end of the crossing we wanted to shrink but instead pressed on and stretched ourselves. At the beginning all was going so well. The new bridge made the trip to the border only about 1/2 an hour and we were able to drive right up to immigration. We got in line for Paraguay and they said we needed to show our card. So we showed them the only card we had, our ministeral one. (So glad we listened in the MTC and always keep them with us.) They seemed satisfied and Argentina migration didn't even ask for them. We also have to prove that we weren't going to sell the church car and that we had permission to bring it over the border. It took a 1/2 hour but was not intimidating. We spent about an hour in the border town and then began to cross back. Again, no trouble with Argentina migration but after a few minutes with the Paraguayan migration they have us pull over to the side. The boss comes out and says we are abusing the system by just going out and then back in to Paraguay and we need to get temporary residency within 15 days. He went back in to the office and when the worker returned with our passports he said we had 90 days. So this is what we get when we try and follow our leaders. NOT. We decided we would not being heading over to Argentina again until all of this is resolved. 

Ken talked to the travel guy at the office and he said they were just blowing smoke and we shouldn't have any problem. NOT. Chris called Salt Lake and found out that although we were to come into the country with a tourist visa, once in the country, the missionary department sent all those documents we had gathered to the office we work in here in Paraguay (not to us, but the travel people) and they were supposed to get us a temporary resident card, yes, the card the first migration worker was looking for. UGH! Tune in to see what happens. Did they every get the papers? Are they out of date now as some like the FBI check and fingerprints and apostiles were time sensitive? and expensive!

We just have a feeling that all the conference counsel on connecting to the Savior and Heavenly Father through covenants, prayer and scriptures study to make it through the trials of this life gives us eyes to see and perspective that help propel us forward regardless of the disappointments and unfairness that happens in this life. Without Their eyes and perspective we experience hard hearts of pride, unforgiveness and blame.

Friday we visited a center for special needs kids. They need some updated equipment for their physical therapy room. This organization/school was started around 30 years ago by mothers of special needs children who felt the need and moved forward to help their children.

Two of the mamas on the left still supporting the organization and school

It feels so awkward when they give us gifts but that is the Paraguayan way so we try and graciously accept. These were made by the special needs children that we visited.

On the way home we drove by Puesto de Salud Juan Bautista Morel and found this pile of gravel and a man with a rake. 

By the afternoon we had the second picture of the parking lot completed and craters filled.

Saturday we spent time at the Albergue for kidney dialysis patients near the National Hospital. It was a wonderful morning. We were able to talk about the church with Gustavo Martinez before everyone else came and see all our friends at the Albergue. The first three are the official pictures and the latter are those who we serve with delight.

This weekend is stake conference and then we are half way through April.

Spiritual thought for the week: Abinadi quotes Isaiah, "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Consider how often arm of the Lord is used in scriptures and it's meaning of power. Have you seen God's power in your life this week? Were you looking in the right place?

Remember the story of the Brother of Jared and how he saw the finger of God? Arm or finger same principle of faith and power.

We are praying to see miracles (God's power). We know God is in the work and He is always performing miracles, we are praying we will see and recognize them so we can continue with hope and joy.

Yummy Apple Pie

There is a bird on Angel Moroni's hand.

We love you. Have a great week!

Conference Weekend after a Whirlwind Week

Easter was a quiet day of worship. This is another one of those motocycles with a built in cart that is a way one brother in our ward makes it comfortable for people to get to church. That is one of the endearing traits of the people of Paraguay, they give all they have to help others and they make things work with what they have.

Monday was a paperwork day and holiday in Argentina so we didn't have much we could move ahead. We did get our haircuts in the afternoon.

This is our lunch group that we eat with when we are in the office. We share different flavors with each other. 

Tuesday Chris brought Coconut Black Bean Soup, which is a keeper. Thanks to Theresa ONeil, Chris's friend since first grade for the recipe.

Wednesday we were able to get a big project that our supervisor looked at last week approved and now we are still waiting for the official legal agreement with the Church and the Ministry of Health to be signed so we can have our buyer begin purchasing the equipment. Also we had our project with an afterschool program that helps special needs students with remediation. It is a small project but we feel it will have a big pay off in helping children who don't get extra help through the education system. Our project with the local Centro de Salud across the street is approved as well so Ken downloaded a CAD program so he can figure out the best configuration for playground equipement and a few 20ft.furnished containers at the Centro.

Wednesday was also temple night full of personal revelation and so much strength and power to move us on and be more Christlike. We are so grateful to all the help Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ want to bless us all with as we turn to them to receive it.

Thursday the Welfare Services/Selfreliance manager,Juan, his wife, Gladys, the two interns, Ben and Noah and us piled into the van and headed to the Museo de Futobol de South America and had our picture taken with the GOATS, Messi, Pele, and Maradona.

On our way to San Bernardino and Lago Ypacaraí we followed a truck of gravel that we are hoping was going to the Puesto Salud and Dra. Natalia for their parking area that is riddled with big puddles. We couldn't follow it all the way there but we are 80% sure that was were it was going!

It was pouring but Ben was gracious enough to venture out for a photo.

Juan's great grandfather was the one who founded and organized the town of San Bernardino. It is quite a tourist attraction in Paraguay's winter months which is like our summer only hotter. Below are the euphoniums we saw in the museum so we thought of Carter and Chloe.

Noah told us about bollos, something like a filled donut hole only much bigger, popular in the San Bernardino area of Paraguay. Lunch at Grimms.

Downtown San Bernardino.

After the rain storm a tree went down.

The second largest lake, Lago Ypacaraí. We drove the circle around it as we visited different places but here are a few of the shots we got of the Lake off in the distance.

The last stop out of the car was at the Basilica of Caacupé. The story is of a statue of the virgin that was miraculously saved in a flood. It is a beautiful building and this one was built in the 1980's to house the statue and the crowds.  On March 8 pilgrims from all over Paraguay walk to Caacupé to pay honor to the Virgin.

This is a stainglass of the virgin statue being saved.

The statue is just below Christ on the cross

Ben and Chris walked to the bottom of the dome and saw the view from the top and also from the balcony.

Last thing to do for the day was to cross the new bridge that just opened up at the beginning of March.

One more shout out to my kids. They have a Colegio Parroquial John F Kennedy in Paraguay in Caacupé. 

Friday morning dawned early for us so we could catch up with our Humanitarian friends from the MTC. These people teach us so much each time we visit. They are assigned to tougher and more dangerous places without open temples and they are still working hard and doing what they can. We are always grateful for so many things after talking, laughing and praying together.

We also were able to work at solving a problem with equipment for one hospital. Before the morning was over we also had a meeting with our Humanitarian specialist in SLC. What a wonderful and uplifting call. Anita really buoyed us up, listened and heard what we were saying and helped us see we were understanding the purposes of the projects we are doing. It was so affirming, something we have been missing since the MTC.

Friday afternoon we bid farewell to our interns with an ice cream cake. Yum!

Friday night and Saturday morning Chris spent making our conference feast and cinnamon rolls with the Sisters. Ken made his famous jalapeño poppers dip. It was great to share the spiritual feast and the food. 

Hope you are enjoying the wonderful words of the prophets and apostles at General Conference. Our spiritual thought could not be better than just listening to them.