HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Making cookies

 

BIBLE STUDIES.....part 2

Read the previous post first...

 

          When we arrived at Manuel and Eva’s house at 8:00pm for the study, we were shocked to see so many motorcycles and people milling around.  Jeff said jokingly, “Wouldn’t that be funny if they were all here for the Bible study?”  I replied, “They probably just got finished watching a futbol game at the field across the street and are heading home.” 

As we entered the host’s front yard, there were even more people sitting in a big circle on chairs, benches, and stools.  As we began singing, the people who were milling around outside the fence came in and more chairs, benches and stools were found.  Joshua leaned over to me and said, “I think the whole population of Jataity is here.”  It was great to have Rene, a believer from our Sunday night group, come and play his electric guitar with Jeff on the keyboard.

It wasn’t our entire town, but it was one entire neighborhood.  I counted 80 people!  Many people participated in repeating the story and the scripture verse.  That was the first of six foundational stories that every unbeliever needs to hear in order to be convicted by the Holy Spirit of sin, righteousness and judgment. 

At the end a lady commented for all to hear, “We have never had anyone tell us about the Bible.  We’ve been waiting for something like this.  Do you think we could do this every week?”

God is good.  He is up to something very good in the neighborhood of Hugua Boli.  We can’t wait to see His Kingdom come with great power to this poor, forgotten place.

BIBLE STUDIES

It has been a year - since before we moved to Jataity - that the Bible study was first started. It has been fun to watch this group grow especially over the last few months, most recently welcoming three teen-aged boys. If everyone shows up, we have a good crowd of 14.

 

At the beginning of the year, Jeff and I were impressed upon to pray about starting a new Bible study in a different neighborhood. We didn't have anyone or any place on our hearts, so we kept praying for divine appointments as we interacted with people.

 

Then God brought someone to us. Her name is Silvia and she is the house help for our neighbor. She and our neighbor have been faithfully coming to the Bible study at our house. Silvia is always very quiet and never repeats the stories or scriptures.  We've often wondered how much she absorbs. Well, apparently she is absorbing them all and retelling them to her neighborhood because according to her many families are interested in hearing about the word of God. 

 

At her suggestion we went to visit a family that mentioned they’d love a Bible study at their home.  They were a sweet family, seemed very open to hearing God’s word and to inviting their neighbors.  

 

Tonight is the first study.

LANGUAGE LEARNING is TOUGH!

I heard that recently Miss Venezuela totally biffed in the interview section of the Miss Universe pageant and received a 0 out of 10 points.  Ouch!  One commentator guessed the reason may be because she chose to answer in English and not in her first language, Spanish. 

 

That really resonates with me!  I know rural Paraguay isn’t a world stage, but I have had plenty of conversations with people who look at me with a blank stare after I am done.  And I think to myself if only I could just answer in English.  I’m not as dumb as my simplified, mixed up words and not properly conjugated verbs suggests.  Can I get a do over? 

 

The Paraguayans are a lot more forgiving than the Miss Universe judges and they do give me do overs – plenty of them! I am so thankful because studying, learning, speaking, and expressing myself in another language is tough.   

MEDICAL PATIENTS

Patient #1

“Doctor, I need my blood checked!”

“Why?” I asked.

“Something is wrong.  Whenever I take a cold shower, well... I shake all over.”

“Me too!” I said.  “That’s why I take hot showers!”

 

Patient #2

 

One particular day while trying to see a myriad of patents, Jeff was constantly disturbed by a 4 year old banging on the metal clinic doors, trying to look in the clinic widows, and yelling outside.  When it was finally his turn to be seen, his mother said, “Can you give my son a pill; I think he has angry worms.”  Jeff replied, “Your son doesn’t need a pill; he needs a spanking.”  Jeff actually hears quite often from patients that they think their child or they themself have “angry worms”.

 

Jeff sees patients from 8-12 Monday through Friday in our mobile medical clinic parked right next to our house.  Since Jeff only sees the first 15 people, patients begin to gather at 5:30 in order to get a number.  Last week a man arrived at 4:30!  On most days Jeff ends up turning several people away because there are just too many who need medical attention.  Pray for Jeff as he attends not only the physical needs of his patients but also their spiritual needs.  Each morning before he begins clinic he tells a Bible story and then engages people in a discussion over it.   

MONKEY MEAT

MONKEY MEAT

 

1-30: I am sorry to say that the monkey our neighbor brought over for us to grill did NOT taste just like chicken.  He also brought goat meat over for us to grill and try for the first time. 

30 WEEKS

1-31-13

 

I always feel like it is a milestone reaching 30 weeks.

 

Jeff and I continue to do weekly ultrasounds on the baby (it’s so handy to have a doctor as a hubby) and he is growing just fine.

 

He moves a lot which I love feeling.  The kids enjoy feeling him move too.

 

After reading through the top 10,000 baby names for 2011, we’re still no closer to finding a name for this little guy.  Now what?  I was consoled a bit to read that in 2011 76 named their baby “Unknown”.  That just might be us.   Micah daily entertains me with his name suggestions.  His most recently contributions have been: Sausage, Coconut, Pemberly (our friend’s dog’s name), Jennifer (but call him John because it is a boy, Micah said), Fire Flop.

 

Micah says, “Do you know that the baby is my favorite guy?”

 

I have been feeling really sluggish and a blood test confirmed that I was way anemic, so hopefully with some iron pills I can get that level up and gain some energy.  Of course the 100 degree temperatures don’t help any. 

 

Other than weariness, I am feeling great.

 

I’ve been walking/running daily.  I have always enjoyed exercising but had not done anything since we moved to our new town.  The New Year was as good as any time to start up again.  Having taken several months off and being big pregnant, I feel that I am progressing slowly, but that’s ok.   I keep reminding myself that being in shape will help when in labor. 

 

We’re still praying that we’ll be able to have a “home” birth in Asuncion at the SIM guest house.  That is where Julia was born and it was great.  The problem came after her birth when we tried to get her birth verified by officials in order to get her paperwork started (birth certificate and other important documents).  It was a HUGE headache and we’d rather not go through all that again.  We have a doctor friend in Asuncion looking into options but so far all leads have turned up dry. 

JANUARY THINGS

“The goat is all up in my grill.” Jeff


Even though Jeff finds Cuzco the goat the most annoying pet ever, the kids love her. I am constantly amazed at the goat’s devotion for Ginny. She cries for her when she first hears her voice in the morning, follows her around the yard (and sometimes inside...a habit we’re trying to break), tries to sit on her lap, and even eats her homework. Ginny regularly relaxes in the hammock with Cuzco or engages in wrestling matches with her.

Julia loves all animals just like her sister and is always trying to hug and kiss them....with the bigger animals it is ok (they can fend for themselves), but we still have to watch her around the littler animals (like the hamster).
 

Neighbors - Ginny, Joshua and Tyler went our neighbor’s house, an older lady who runs a store from the front room.  It doesn’t matter how many items are on the list or who goes, it always takes a long time, but this time they were gone longer than usual.  When they got back Ginny gave me the low down:  “She didn’t have any carrots and we thought she said her husband was getting us some from the garden.  She told us to sit down.  She gave us juice that made us all have gas.  She slept for a few seconds in her chair.  When she woke up, she began taking and we had no idea what she was saying.  Joshua snuck out to see what her husband was doing.  He was planting his garden, not pulling up carrots.  So the next time she fell asleep (while in mid-sentence) we snuck out and came home.”

 

Joshua the chef - Yesterday Joshua made Gummy Bears and today he made licorice.  That kid cracks me up.

 

Mango season - We have been given so many mangos by grateful patients.  Thankfully we all love them and none of us have an allergic reaction to them.  We’ve had mango smoothies for breakfast, sliced mangos on the side of most meals and mango cream pies.  One patient gave us this box full of mangos, a couple days later she gave us a bigger box full of mangos and a few days after that she brought us a HUGE box FULL of mangos.  Jeff and I figure there were probably 100 mangos in that box!

Great science opportunity - I just wish it wasn’t so close to our house! Pictured: a snake eating a frog just outside my bedroom wall.

Not pictured: the frog found in the bathroom, the scorpion on the washing machine, the ginormous spider in Ryan’s loft, the cricket that crawled on my face the other night.
The 3 inch long bug with 3 inch long pinches that Ryan almost sat on.

 

We are given a lot by our neighbors and grateful patients.  I am always so thankful and humbled that THEY would give to ME.  During a 2 week period I wrote down all the things given to us and here’s what I came up with:

1-13: PY cheese block

Grass mowed by neighbor

Big box of mangos

 

1-19: sack of sweet potatoes

2 liters of milk

 

1-20: sack of limes

Sopa

Huge box of mangos

2 liter coke

 

1-21: Sack of mandioca

Sack of beans

 

1-22: 12 bananas

 

1-27: 3 liter coke

PY cheese block

Chicken and rice

mandioca