MARCH 2011 NEWSLETTER

...check it out!

MANGO SEASON

There are stand after stand after stand lining about a one mile stretch in the road between the capital and our home in rural Paraguay. In the spring (May), they are loaded with citric fruits. In the winter, (August) they are loaded with strawberries. In the summer (January), they are loaded with mangos.

My whole family is in agreement that mango is the best fruit out there. During mango season, I try to stock up and freeze a bunch. There is nothing better than a mango smoothie on a hot humid Paraguayan day.

BE MY VALENTINE!

 Our littlest valentine at 6 months (and one week).

Ginny and I made valentine cookie-pops and cookies to give to friends we visit this week.

We also made brownies to give to kids that came over to play on the 14th. We served the brownies with heart marshmellows that I found in Villarrica (I’ve never seen anything like it there before). It was their first time to have the sugary treats. They loved them.

 

DEACON INSTALLATION SUNDAY

Sunday, February 13, 2011

One of the most wonderful things to see as a missionary is watching the believers grow spiritually. Today the church installed its first deacons. What an exciting time in the growth and life of the church. Please pray for these men as they seek to serve, as they lead their families and the body of believers, and as they continue to grow in the knowledge of our Lord.

Church service

 

Elders washing the deacons' feet

Praying over the deacons.

 

Terere time

Lunch Prep

Lunch time

 

Julia definitely get A LOT of attention from the youngest to the oldest. Everyone wants a turn to hold her.

 

Ryan taught the kids baseball. They had so much fun!

JULIA at 6 MONTHS

My sweet, precious baby girl!

WHILE WE WERE in ASUNCION

OUR TWO INTERNS ARRIVED

Our two interns arrived Thursday (2-10) and Friday (2-11). Courtney is a friend of our family from Texas. I lived with her family as a nanny back in 1997 when she was 10 years old. We haven’t really seen each other since, so it’s hard to believe that she is finishing her masters in public health. We’re so glad she chose to do her internship with us. Joel is a 4th year medical student from Canada. He will actually find out what residency he got into the day he gets back from this trip. We didn’t know him before but are enjoying doing so now. His suitcase didn’t arrive, poor guy, and we had no time to wait around in Asuncion for it. Hopefully it will come in Monday and team mates can bring it out Thursday. For now, he’s dressing a lot like Jeff.
Please pray for them as they live with Paraguayan host families, eat not-so-wonderful food at times (at least not to our North American palate), hear lots of Guarani (neither has studied Spanish or, of course, Guarani), and battle the heat. Pray that they will be open to all God has for them during this trip.


WE GOT TO DRIVE OUR CAR HOME!

We are thrilled to finally be driving our big black beast of a car. We shipped it July 2nd from the US, it arrived in Paraguay December 13th and finally February 11th all the paperwork was ready for us to be able to drive it legally.

First Paraguay road trip with this car. Yeah! Our intern are with us, plus 5 of our 6 kids....plus a couple extra kids.

JANUARY RANDOMNESS

January 16th we had 3 guinea pigs born. Unfortunately one survived. His name is Mousy and he is really cute. From the first hour of birth, guinea pig babies have hair, open eyes, they eat solid food and they hop around. The kids have loved up that little guinea pig and, of course, do not want to give him away (as was planned). Mousy is now 3 weeks old and Jeff just told the kids that they could keep him (he does have a soft soft for our animals after all).  I’m still not convinced that we need 3 guinea pigs, but Joshua has been totally responsible for them, so it isn’t like they create more work for me. And I’ll have to admit, it would have been hard for me to say good-bye to the little fellow. However...Joshua promised me that the next babies, he will give away.....we’ll see....

Father Chewy, Mother Snowy and Baby Mousy (2 ½ weeks old) have been the hit of many “parties”. The kids love to show off the guinea pigs (and hamsters) to our Paraguayan friends. They have NEVER seen anything like it and are fascinated with them.

January 14-18th we had a couple come to visit us – Josh and Letti Berry. We had only met them briefly twice before and had fun getting to know them better. We first met them at a mutual friend’s wedding. Joshua (an American) was just back in the country to live and court his now wife (who is Paraguayan). They now have been married two years and have been living in the states. In December they came to visit her family in Asuncion and came all the way out and see us. We talked a lot about missions and are praying that God will clearly show them the how, when and wheres of future missions.

Have you all ever played washers?  Jeff and his dad made these boards after Jeff played in the states. We have gotten a lot of use out of them.

January 19 – 23rd we hosted another couple. Brendan and Erin are American missionaries in Peru. He is working with Wycliffe on bible translation and she is a dentist doing mobile clinic among other things). They were on their way from Peru to a dental conference in Bolivia and asked to stop in with us. We had never met them before, but quickly found many many many topic of conversation. Jeff said of himself after they left, “Wow, I didn’t know I could talk so much!”

 

January 27th Jeff woke up sick and unfortunately the following week Ryan, Ginny, Micah and Julia came down with the same thing...headache, fever, some barfing and extremely tiredness.

January 28th all of us SIM ladies on the field (minus one) helped teammate, Cherlynn celebrate her 49th birthday. We had a slumber party at her house in Caazapa. We talked and talked for hours (surprise, surprise), ate dinner at 8, played MadGab (thanks home group for sending that...it is really fun), ate cake and prayed over Cherlynn, and put in a movie around midnight.

I made the birthday cake and tried my hand at fondant frosting for the first time. Under the balloons I put scripture verses tied to ribbons. After singing to the birthday girl, we each pulled a ribbon and then prayed that scripture over Cherlynn.

Homeschooling - We ended our first homeschooling month. I am really enjoying the curriculum we are using and the schedule I created to help keep us all organized.

Mom (during homeschooling): It was good that their city was on the coast because it made it easier for them to trade.

Student (in all seriousness): Who would want to trade sea water?

We made 3 clay Venuses but the ducks ate them!

We may just have to let the punishment fit the crime as one friend recommended.

This week we worked on taking pictures with a "Flat Stanly" that was sent to us. That is why Ginny is hold a paper doll.

We start early around here with homeschooling

ENGLISH CLASSES

I really enjoyed teaching the English classes that I offered to the community during January and the first week of February. I had 20 students in my class (and I was praying that at least 8 student would show).

PAULINA'S NEW LIFE!

What a life Paulina has had! 

When she was young, her mother abandoned the family and Paulina dropped out of 3rd grade to do all with the household chores. When her father left a couple years later, Paulina (at the age of 13) was left to care for her 3 younger sisters. She became pregnant, and at 14 years delivered twin girls in her simple thatched roofed, dirt floored house in rural Paraguay.

She began attending Bible studies because her neighbor/relative, Zulma invited her. She started hearing things that sounded familiar.  She remembered finding a little Bible in a trash heap behind her relative's house and staying up late into the night reading it.  But at 10 years of age, there was a lot she didn't understand.  Years later, with the help of missionaries, she was able to ask her questions.  She found that little Bible again and began to practice her reading (a skill that was very rusty).    

Today when I look at her, I see the Lord radiating from her face.  Her husband is now a believer too and they actively study God’s word together. What an incredible legacy they are leaving to their 4 small children! Pray that they will continue to be faithful to God’s word.  Pray for Paulina’s husband who recently was nominated for and accepted a deacon position.

Paulina and her sister and three of her 4 kids.