Bananas

Sharing a little of our family life here in Paraguay.... We planted 3 banana trees shortly after we got to Paraguay.  We have watched them grow and didn´t think that we were going to see any bananas before we have to go home but in November we got the flower of the bananas!  We have watched these little bananas grow to fat ones and this was our FHE activity to cut them down.  It was a little more exciting than we anticipated when all the banana tree liquid came pouring out! We heard that there was liquid inside but had no idea how much! Wow!!  Word to the wise- wear clothes you don´t like because the liquid stains!

Zone Conference with Capitia and Luque Sur

Limpio 2 FHE

We have had such a hard time getting the district of Limpio 2 to the house for Family Home Evening.  We have had to cancel twice on them for emergencies that have come up.  We sure enjoyed having them here with us on this Monday night though, definitely worth the wait!

Telephone calls home once a week??

When we received the news of the announcement that missionaries can call home on their p-days and other special days for family members, it was the day of our zone conference in Pedro Juan.  There were smiles all around and tears shed for the opportunity to communicate with family verbally more than twice a year.  We are so excited for them!

Limpio and Chaco zones

A great day learning together with the Limpio and Chaco zones! Learning together how to ask better questions in our lessons with lots of practice. 

Zone conferences start again

This the zone conference for Asuncion North and Luque.  We discussed the doctrine of baptism in the scriptures and how we can more effectively bring that saving ordinance to the wonderful people of Paraguay.  What are some of our most effective tools and how can we invite the Spirit to be a part of our planning.  Of course practice makes perfect so we were able to do a some of that as well.  

Growing....

It was satisfying to visit our little group in Bahia Negra.  These are good people that are growing in the gospel. It was so exciting to see two boys with the priesthood be able to pass the sacrament. We were also able to break into three groups for primary, youth class and adult class. We were blessed to have a tree to meet under and clouds that helped temper the heat.  We hope by next time we are there to see a tin roof big enough to keep the sun off everyone and provide shelter from the rain.  

Back to FHE

We have had a few disruptions lately on our Family Home Evening but hopefully we are back on track now.  We really enjoyed a night talking about the Family Proclamation with the District of Capiatá 1. We love learning growing and having fun together!

Where we are and where we need to go

This councilio we discussed some of our statistics.  We have improved dramatically but we don´t just want to settle for that so it was good to see where we are and what we need to do.  More investigators each week is our goal and better teaching.  We are so proud of how obedient our missionaries are and their desire to do their very best. We know that we can continue to increase in our abilities with their obedience and more effective hard work. 

Continuing to dry our tears....

We love hellos in the mission but the goodbyes are hard!  Especially when we know we don´t even have many more opportunities to say goodbye!  We continue to be excited in the growth that we have seen over 1/2 or  two years.  We know that these missionaries have accomplished much here and can continue to do the same in their own countries and their future families.

Here are some first and last days.

And the last traditional meal at Paulistas.