Hola from Asuncion

This has been an incredibly busy week. We have been working on getting the priesthood reports for FPE out, meeting with directors over the Employment Services and the Institute, and visiting wards and branches. Today (Sunday 16 2011) We were able to visit with two wards. That almost never happens because most of the units are in far reaching areas, there is only one unit in a building and since they all start between 730-900 in the morning it is impossible to get from one to the other in time enough to meet with students after their sacraments. So needless to say…we love it when we can knock out two with one bus trip.

This week we had a young sister missionary staying with us. She has been very sick with a 5 day fever and symptoms of Dengue. She is not well enough to maintain the routines expected of the young missionaries so she is going to help dad and I with our work and stay with us until she is well enough to keep up with a comp and the demands of her area. She has been a delight to have in our home and it has been exciting to watch her get better. She is from Austin Texas and has great Spanish. She is helping us with ours

We are using Spanish more and more each day. Dad is picking up on many of the dichos. We study almost every day now and it is great to have Dad be able to listen to my pronounciation and correct me before I get use to using words incorrectly.

We think we will be moving into our office on the 22nd. We are waiting for the furniture. We met with the gentleman that will be fabricating the white boards, clip strips and easel this past week. The clip strips on the walls are not something that is used here but we are thinking it will save a lot of space when it comes to displaying the large maps that we use.

We were invited by the temple president to join him and his wife to a Stake youth conference and a stake standard activity. It was great to get word out about the FPE and we were able to meet with students. The temple has been closed for cleaning for the past two weeks and we start back up on Thusday. The air conditioning at the temple has been messed up and a repairman from Salt Lake City came this week to work on it. We are hoping he will do his magic before we go back on Thursday.

We had a delectable treat this past week. We located some stovetop dressing mix and were able to make the infamous chicken dressing cassorole. We invited another couple over and we all ate until we couldn’t put another bite in our mouth. We topped the meal of with homemade coconut cream pie. (we also found the Bakers sweetened coconut). We felt a little spoiled….No a lot spoiled.

Alan is drooling over the mangos. They are green right now and he loves to sprinkle salt on them. He said they remind him of a green apple. We plan to make Lynae’s Mango Salsa and serve it with the Paraguayn corn chip…they are kind of like our Sun chips

We continue to feel blessed to be on a mission. We continue to thank Heavenly Father for the confirmation that we are to be here working with the Paraguayns and find the most joy when we are visiting with students. The full time position for a FPE service center supervisor was approved and filled last week as well. We love the sister that we will be working with. She has a dynamic personality, knows a lot of people in Paraguay, and knows nothing about FPE…Perfecto…we can raise her up without preconcieved ideas. She has been managing the church distribution for Asuncion and has a great background for understanding reports too. Her name is Monica Romero. We are sure you will hear a lot about her in the next 17 months.

One of the highlights of this week was this afternoon…we taught about 8 elders how to make the microwave cakes in a dish. They are all extreemly committed to keeping cake mixes in their appartments ! They are excited to know they can make such a jiffy quick treat for cheap and in one bowl. It was fun watching them experiment with the chocolate and white cake mixes. They were great to wash their dishes too. They sang I Am a Child of God (harmonized), Elder Lucas offered the prayer and they were on their way. It was awesome having them in our home. They bring an energetic spirit for teaching the gospel and one can’t help but feel the spirit of service when they are around.

Of course there are things about Paraguay that do not change…it is still hot, humid and heavy pressure out side. We are grateful for ac and fans, water bottles and the shady side of the street. We are happy when the colectivo (bus) takes the down side of the hill rapideo and we get to feel a little breeze on the wet necks. We are estatic when the colectivo is only 15 minutes late and we have a chance at sitting in the heat instead of standing. Life is good.

We just got word from Kay Hauser that her Grandson just received his mission call to Asuncion Paraguay. I will be great fun getting to know him. It’s a small world.

We love you. Thank you for your encouragement, funny comments, mission ideas, scriptures and prayers.

Love
Alan and Vicki