HERE WE GO!

Friday, May 26^th we left the city.

 First stop: Caacupe.  The basillica in Caacupe houses the shrine to the Virgin Mary and is a Mecca for Paraguayan Catholics.   

Second stop: Lunch in Chololo.

Third stop: to buy rain boots in Paraguari.

Final stop: The Bowen’s house in Escobar.  We spent three nights at the Bowen's.  It is a time of orientation to Paraguay and Guarani.

 Saturday morning the students completed a ropes course at Mbatovi.  It was a wet day.

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The monkey has been traveling with us.  It’s very spoiled.

Class time with Andy. 

Students had 6 hours of Guarani class which is just long enough to realize that language learning isn’t easy and, well, that’s the point.  Language learning in the setting of cross-cultural ministry is a life long learning process.

 The students also had a Paraguayan history class.

 Playing games in their down time.

One evening we had worship and heard the testimonies of Andy and Lizet.  The second evening we watched The Mission which is based on the Jesuit’s history in Paraguay. And on the third night we had s’mores around the bonfire.

 It’s always such a wonderful time at the Bowen’s.

May 29^th we headed to Jataity.

WELCOME TO PARAGUAY, T.I.M.E STUDENTS!

One of our favorite times of the year is hosting our Training in Medical Evangelism (TIME) 6 week internship.  Thursday, May 25^th at 3AM we (by “we” I mean Jeff and Ryan) welcomed our new group of 6 interns from Cedarville University in Ohio. 

After they rested we all sat down for an SIM/SIMPY orientation.

We ate a yummy empanada lunch before heading downtown.

Downtown we went to a church/museum that displays the heart of Paraguay’s only saint – San Roque.  The heart is over 400 years and it is said to still bleed every now and then.  Very interesting.

We also visited the South American Soccer Museum.

 There was time for a quick game of basketball before dinner.

That evening we went to Harpa Roga (Harp House) for a cultural event.  We ate great Paraguayan foods and listened to traditional harp music.  

 The students were pulled up front to try some of the Paraguayan dance moves they had just seen.

IN ASUNCION......AGAIN!

This is our 4^th time to Asuncion in 4 weeks.  One trip to take Derek, our DO intern back, twice for Ryan’s AP tests and now to pick up new interns.

AS IF WE DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH CHAOS…..Ginny bought a monkey! She is now the proud mama to a one pound, one month Capuchin.  So cute.  So clingy. So spoiled already.

HAPPY 19 YEARS to US!

We even went out on a date, thanks to our oldest who watched the younger kids.