We left immediately from the encuentro for the Hotel Tirol near Encarnacion (3 hours away) for a mid-trip break. This morning we woke up to pouring rain and unfortunately this is our only day to see the Jesuit Ruins. Hoping that the rain would let up, we began our morning with a time of debriefing and prayer. How encouraging to hear the students praying for the Paraguayan leaders, the church in San Francisco and that God’s word would be spread throughout Paraguay. When the students first arrived in Paraguay we gave them a list of about 15 goals that we wanted them to be working through while they were here. How wonderful to look back at the past two weeks and recall God’s faithfulness and be able to look ahead to the next two weeks with a renewed joy.
Unfortunately, it was still raining hard in the afternoon, but we decided to go to the ruins anyway. We splashed through puddles, huddled under 2 umbrellas, got soaked and frozen. However, we came back to hot showers, coffee, room heaters and games. I don’t even want to count how many hours worth of games we played over the past two days. I have never laughed so much in my life! Here are some of the game highlights that will mean nothing to the “outside world”, but have to be included….Potato MopTop virus….white pongo…giant white ape….scattergories…animals developing human characteristics in one day…LeRoy Nash…white meat…Cuban…pool….alien octopus…September 19, 1987…Pretty Mens’ Coloring Club…ping-pong….Pieter Van Loggenberger…clinchpoop (definition: a slob)…take two….Big Boggle…overweight teen working at Dunkin Donuts…occupation…B grade movie….incredible melting man…phase 10….Pilson Mathis Broadcasting Company (PMTV)….
The Reiches and Floyd’s kept our kids which was very nice of them. It was our first chance to get away alone since Ryan was born 9 1/2 years ago! I thought I would miss the kids a little while we were gone (I knew they probably wouldn’t miss us), but honestly I haven’t (is that wrong?). We haven’t even been able to call to check up on them since we get no reception here. We are blessed with a great SIM mission family. The kids have so many “cousins” their age and “aunts” and “uncles” who love them.
Here we all are going STIR CRAZY!
Dave's drinking problem
Abby squatting....why?
Giving herself a shot
A big mouthed crocodile?
rocking out to my air piano
Caitlyn shooting the bad guys with her air bow
Paul as a beaver
Dancing?
TIME 2009 Goals
-To become more Christ-like in my attitudes, motivations, thoughts and actions through what I am learning during this experience
-To more fully understand God’s heart for the lost of all nations and his mission of redemption
-To gain a fuller understanding of my strengths/ gifts and weaknesses as an individual. Where is God working in and through my life and where is He working on me?
-To carefully consider my future role in world missions and how I can promote missions back at my home church
-To be able to articulate what it means to be a health care professional with a Christian worldview
-To humbly accept the role of learner and avoiding the temptation to prematurely judge Paraguayans or missionaries
-To learn flexibility and patience, being relationship-oriented, not task/event-oriented (like latinos)
-To lean on the Lord daily through personal prayer and time in His Word
-To reflect daily on what I am learning (e.g. journaling)
-To appreciate the realities of the missionary calling and daily life, the joys and the triumphs, as well as the costs/ sacrifices, difficulties and struggles they face
-To appreciate and learn about the Paraguayan people, their culture and their languages
-To maintain unity and peace on this team at whatever the cost
-To experience joy in the midst of my daily routine
-To understand the history and present situation of the body of Christ in San Francisco and to commit to praying for the Paraguayan church
-To become more willing and adept at sharing my faith, even with limited language abilities
-To understand how SIM Paraguay works and the value of a mission family/ team
-To seek God’s direction in using my Paraguayan experience to know the next steps to take in my upcoming major life decisions
The Jesuit Ruins...not from the day we visited...
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