Scotland 2025

Alex went back to Scotland again this year for a work trip.  He was gone for about 2.5 weeks the end of April - beginning of May. 

 

Spring Sports

 Owen played school volleyball on the JV team this year.  He played the middle position, which mostly involves blocking and spiking.  He did really well and earned the "Most Improved Player" for JV.  I missed the first couple of games and a tournament since I was taking care of Savannah.  Of the games I saw, their record was 8 wins and 7 losses, so they struggled a little bit as a team (losing twice to both cross-town rivals in their league play).  They did have a great tournament where they won 2nd place (that's the trophy pictures).  Their record was 3 wins and 3 losses in the opening round of the tournament.  They came in nearly the bottom seed for the playoff round in the tournament, but then they won the first 2 rounds, advancing to the championship game.  They didn't quite win it but played well against a top-notch team.   

Owen loves volleyball and often jumps around the house, hitting the walls as he goes.  He now has me playing Tuesday night volleyball with him at the church as well.  It is pretty fun.

Savannah was able to get back into swimming for April and May on the swim team.  She also did really well.  She swam the 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke and breaststroke in the April meet, along with a relay.  She did the 200 IM relay (swimming 50m backstroke), the 200 freestyle relay, and the 50m freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke in the May championship meet.  She got a PR in the 50m freestyle - 39.85 seconds.  She didn't PR in the May meet for the 50m backstroke and breaststroke, but her best times for those are 56.53 for breaststroke and 47.55 for backstroke.  She was the lead off for the 200m freestyle relay and gave her team a nice lead, which the next two girls kept the lead.  It was the boy in the final leg that dropped them to 3rd place... 

She got 6th place on backstroke and 2nd place in freestyle.  She was disqualified for the breaststroke for her kick apparently.  This was the only meet they were very picky on doing everything exactly right.

Savannah loves swimming - she will continue into the summer conditioning and then swim meets again in the fall.  She had a few friends from school on the team too, so that made it more fun. 

Mother's Day 2025

I had a nice Mother's Day.  Alex made breakfast for me, along with giving me some chocolate.  The kids gave me cards, which I loved.  They each took a little time to write something meaningful, so that was better than any gifts.  We had a nice church service, followed by a little more chocolate and ice cream after church.  I went to the singles ward with Nathan during our 2nd church hour because he gave a talk.  I enjoyed hearing him speak.  He shared some thoughts from the recent General Conference talk by Elder Ricardo P. Giménez called My Love for the Savior is my "Why". Here's the link to that talk. Nathan also shared some nice comments about me, so I was glad to be there.

I got to chat with my mom in the afternoon. I took a few pictures with the kids. (Owen and Savannah requested selfies with me, so that's why I have individual pics with them and not with Nathan or Weston. No favoritism involved!)

We went to a potluck dinner with friends. As part of that, the kids sang a few primary songs and did little tributes to the moms.

Since we went to that on Mother's Day, Alex made me dinner on Monday.

 

The priests in both wards did their annual dinner activity to honor their moms.  They gave their speeches and presented a little award to us.  Owen gave me the "Defensive Player of the Year" award, using "stats" from a basketball game to describe me.  He said the most valuable defensive player is someone you can always count on.  They are high in assists, blocks, and rebounds, which he compared to me being there for him, protecting him, and helping getting back up when he's down.  I love listening to the speeches.  It's my favorite youth activity of the year. 

School Overnight Trip

 The end of April, Savannah went on a school trip, which was 3 days and 2 nights.  They took a bus and boat to get there.  She had a great time.  Her favorites were snorkeling and hanging out at night with her friends.  Her chaperone let them stay up a bit longer chatting and brought them sodas, so it was a bit like a sleepover for 2 nights.  She also got to touch sharks and stingrays, do a rock climbing wall, and participate in other activities.  She said the food was actually good too.  

Mission Update

It's been 5 months since the last update... time is going by fast.  Jared is about 8.5 months into the mission and doing really well.  He's pretty comfortable with the language and still picking up a little Guarani along with Spanish.  He served in Ciudad Del Este until the end of January, when he was transferred to Col Thompson.  He served there for the next 3 months, serving with 2 different companions - Elder Sidan from Argentina and Elder Bean from New Mexico.  He just transferred to a new area, Yaguaron, last week.  His new companion is Elder Villareal from Bolivia.  Col Thompson and Yaguaron are about 1 to 1.5 hours south of Asuncion.  He's had 4 or 5 baptisms since the first update. He loves teaching and meeting so many new people. He got to visit the Asuncion Temple again in April.  

While in Ciudad Del Este, he got to visit Saltos del Monday (large waterfall) 3 times.  He mostly plays soccer for fun on Mondays, their preparation day (along with the laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, haircuts, and other things they need to do). We have been able to video chat with him for 1-2 hours every Monday. 

They do a lot of walking and waiting for the bus.  They also use Bolt to get around (essentially Uber down there).  It's been really hot the past 4 months, with temperatures in the mid-90's most days.  It's just starting to cool off a little bit (into the 80's).  He got sick just a couple of times - heat related.  He thinks he got what was called sun poisoning once, which caused him to throw up most of the night. His companion got sick once from the food and they had quite an experience trying to get back home.  When his companion was about to puke, they yelled at the Bolt driver to stop.  They pulled over quickly but got stuck in the mud.  So then they got all muddy trying to help push the car back onto the road.  When they got home, they discovered they left their keys (and backpack) where they started and had to turn around and go back before finally returning home again, all while Jared's companion was sick.  

Jared has enjoyed the food, even trying to make some of the traditional dishes like tortilla (cake or muffins), chipa bread (cheese bread), or fried pancake-like food.  He's enjoying most of the fruit, such as mangoes and others that are new to him.  However, he did have an experience with watermelon, which is one of the few foods he doesn't like.  During one of their visits, a lady set down a whole watermelon in front of him and his companion, along with 2 spoons, and told them to eat it.  Jared did eat a little bit of it, but his companion ate most of it, taking one for the team.  He enjoys drinking terede, a cold form of mate, which is basically crushed leaves and caffeine but not tea.  They do have Pizza Hut there and cheap ice cream.  He was able to buy a triple scoop ice cream cone for 5,000 guarani, which is about 62 cents in US dollars.

For the Christmas Zone Conference talent show, Jared made and ate a PB&J sandwich in under a minute.  He got to sing a solo in church one Sunday, after one of the other missionaries joked that he would like to sing a solo.  Instead of turning down the solo when asked to sing, he went along with it.

For Easter, he and his companion grilled a steak.  He enjoyed eating the chipa bread that was made and sold on every street during Holy Week. 

Here are some of my favorites from Jared's e-mails to describe his experiences:

"Missionary work breaks my heart from time to time. I've been blessed by individuals that need it far more. I've been served what was surely going to be the dinner of a family of five. I have looked people in the eye and testified that going to church would bless them greater than working would, knowing that this would mean waking their kids up early, putting on their flip-flops and walking the three miles in the heat to make it before the opening hymn started."

 
"This week, my companion and I were teaching a lesson about the earthly ministry of the Savior. It was going well, but after talking about it later we decided we were kind of teaching in circles. We knew that the Spirit took control at a certain moment though, because almost out of nowhere we found ourselves teaching about the Book of Mormon. We both knew that the Lord had a different lesson to teach them because we taught and testified clearly and directly about the Book of Mormon."

"It's been a blessing to deepen my knowledge of baptism through acting in faith that it will help these people. Every day I'm learning from the experiences of those that we're teaching. I have also recognized when the Holy Ghost is speaking directly to the people through me. Don't doubt any promptings of the Holy Ghost, and don't fear to do what is right."

"Sunday can often be a hard day to do contacting. It's more likely that the people are home and not working, but many are spending time with their family and not exactly hoping to receive missionaries. Nonetheless we set out to teach someone that had said they were only at home on Sundays. The person didn't turn out to be that interested, however while talking to her a man passed by and said he wanted to talk to us. He looked drunk, and had a machete in his hand, and wanted to take us to his home to tell us something. So naturally we followed him. No, I wouldn't normally do that but we just did. He led us through a field and into the woods until we got to his house. He told us he wanted to change. The day before, he prayed and received an answer that the next day God would send someone to help him. And the next day he found us. He told us where his family lives and asked us to visit them. We found more or less where he directed us, and a man let us in. He told us that the missionaries had taught him a while back, and that he reads the Book of Mormon every once and a while. We didn't think he was the son of that other man until we saw the name of the man's wife written on the bricks. After leaving, basically perplexed at this point, three teens stopped us on the street and asked if we were of the church on the main route. We were, and they showed us on google maps where they lived and said they wanted us to visit them. So long story short, we found 5 new people on Sunday afternoon without planning for any of them. I know that the Lord keeps His covenants and guides us with the Holy Ghost when we obey Him."

He's been humbled by his teaching experiences and continues learning how to follow the Spirit. It's hard at times, but he's still enjoying the work.