All Things Bright and Beautiful the Lord God Made Them All

 

Hermanas opening their mac n cheese

On Monday we spent the morning getting Chris's computer all reinstalled and working well.  A huge blessing! It was a holiday in Paraguay, celebrating the end of the Chaco War. We thought we would go in to the office to get the computer finished and catch up. Does it seem we are always playing catch up? Yes, our heads are spinning. Well and to be honest. at the end of the week Monday is just a blur and most of Tuesday too except for the Pizza Metro miracle.

On Tuesday the sister's invited us to go to their English class they started teaching. Ken has been tired so he stayed home but Chris attended the class. It was fun and there were two non members there that even stayed for a gospel message, one of them was the daughter of the Pizza Metro owner. The sisters wondered if having an English class was missionary focused enough. Chris's thought that she shared was it was dark outside and if they didn't have appointments, they would probably just be visiting members. At this class they taught two new friends during the hour. Not only was it uplifting for all involved, that statistic looks good on paper too.

The miracle came Wednesday after a wonderful time at the temple. Well, at the temple the name on Chris's card was Celine Dion, only this Celine was born in 1910. (not the miracle but a smile maker ) When we reached home, Chris brought the temple bags upstairs while Ken slipped across the street for some Pizza Metro. While waiting for his pizza, Ken was shown a text by the owner from 2021 when he was texting with missionaries and they promised that they would let him know when they had the next English class. The sister's didn't know that but when they had Pizza Metro last week they invited them. This week Augustina came! Woot!

Wednesday was also the handover ceremony for the equipment at USF Isla Valle. This little health center needed basic necessities and it was great because the ward helped with a service project and painted some of the rooms and walls. Although there weren't many people from the Church available for the ceremony, there was a good crowd from the Departmento (state) government of Central. One of the leaders was a dentist and she was really impressed with the quality of the dental chair.

 

Thursday we spent time in the community of Maka Quekuket. They speak Maka. Our friend, Monica, from Defensoria del Pueblo invited us to come to one of their events that they have where they rally the different government agencies to go in to these communities and get the people registered with identification, and health screenings. Once again we learned from the people out in the field. They do a marvelous work. We were impressed with that along with the Defensor wanting to protect the rights of the people, he feels self-reliance is important also. 

Our cameo appearance this week in social media.

Friday was a big day. We squeezed in 3 meetings while watching the skillful and non OSHA handling of two containers for the Centro de Salud 10 across the street. The videos show some of the stunts that make us gringos shutter. The electricity wasn't knocked out, traffic was not totally stopped, only one lane, one door was on the wrong side and needs to be recut, and the airconditioner was also on the wrong side and needed to be moved. Doctor Barrios and Jose the administrator are thrilled! They have really worked hard to improve this Centro de Salud.

Containers waiting

 

Ken doing a little bit of supervising (white shirt)

Check out the guy holding the wires while wrapping it with another wire that was just dangling from the rest.

Ok so these videos are in order. Total it is about 10 mins but it is amazing that they did what they did without accidents. Watch the wires, the people and the driving.

   

     

Friday meeting one was with the couple over service missionaries to better coordinate with some of the organizations we have worked with that may have opportunities for our service missionaries. Meeting two was with our Salt Lake advisor to discuss how to move forward with a UNICEF WASH project in schools in Central and Alto Parana departmento (states) in Paraguay. Meeting three was about getting a Mistolar water project ready for approval. That may not sound like a lot but with each meeting brings more assignments to finish. It is all good but we are tired at the end of the day.

But not tired enough to give up date night with the Allen's and meeting the Whatcotts the new couples in the Asuncion mission. We went out for Mexican food that was quite good. It was fun to visit and be grateful for our assignment and apartment. We have not complained about either but now we are more grateful.

Saturday morning was filled with Chris learning to make vori vori (a traditional Paraguayan soup)and lunch for Dia del Padre. Chris made cinnamon rolls to share for dessert. Ken was able to visit with one of our English Connect students who was here from Resistencia, Argentina visiting the temple.

The process of vori vori started at 8:30 am finished at about 2 pm. It is something that is passed down generation to generation at gatherings like this.

 

 

In these pictures and video they are making paraguayan tortillas

Some musing this week:
Sometimes we may think senior missionaries are called for their experience and wisdom. We have a little of that but if you are feeling like you want to settle in to your comfort zone put in your mission papers and see how Heavenly Father will help you have more experience and grow in ways you couldn't see or experience from your armchair. Although we give and sacrifice as missionaries, we are gaining so much in growth.

Temple thought: do we want to live like mortals or do we want to learn to live like God? If we place mortal limits on God's love, understanding, and power we will not know Him and not want to enjoy all he wants to give us. Everyone comes to the temple to gather in and be with Him and make covenants for eternal life, God's kind of life and be recognized as His people.

Alma 32 is all about an experiment upon the word. In order to experiment upon the word, we need to use diligence, faith, patience and long-suffering. What about experimenting upon having the WORD (John 1:1,14) in us - being like Him and doing as He did, being true to the WORD. 

Monte Libano is now open for lunch across from the office. Yum!

Happy Father's Day