Edson and Bianca

Kathy and Gaby

WARDEN MESSAGE

This morning's Warden Message from the US Emabassy...

This Warden Message is being sent to advise U.S. citizens traveling to and residing in Paraguay that President Nicanor Duarte Frutos has declared a nationwide state of emergency in response to the fires spreading through the departments of San Pedro, Canindeyu, Caaguazu and Amambay. The state of emergency is valid for sixty (60) days. Americans are advised to reconsider nonessential travel to areas threatened by the fires and to exercise due caution in all travels to affected areas.
The text of the decree establishing the state of emergency can be found, in Spanish, at the following website:
http://www.presidencia.gov.py/decretos/D10884.pdf

...still praying for rain!

Today’s front page news…

http://www.abc.com.py/ says: “They will bring a super plane from Russia”…The government decreed Paraguay in a state of National Emergency. In the last three weeks more than 1.235.526,91 acres of forests, crops, and pasture burned.
There is a picture on today’s front page of the fire in San Pedro.
You can go down the page to "fotonoticia" and there will be about 25 pictures of the flames.
Sorry, but it is all in Spanish.

P.S. to "God, send us rain"

The kids came home with a note today saying that school will be let out at 11:40 am. There's too much smoke in the city. Gaby says that coming home on the bus, it stings your eyes. Other schools have cancelled classes all together.
The sun is a deep orange at all times of the day, and you can even look at it without squinting.
News reports say that airplanes from other countries will be bringing water and equipment to put the fires out.
Thanks for your prayers!

God, Send us Rain

It doesn’t matter if you dust every day or every minute of the day, there is still sooooo much dust. It hasn’t rained for about 4 months. That’s bad since we supposedly just went through our winter, rainy season. The wind lifts the dust and dirt all the way up to my bed! I have to shake out the sheets before sleeping in them or I wake up looking as if I played in a sand pile (a little exaggeration allowed). Even if I mop the floors, an hour later, Edson’s little knees and feet are black.
There was a popular praise song on the radio about three years back, God, Send us Rain. It was one of my favorites to sing at church, but every time we sang it we would get this incredible, but unwanted rainstorm. This past week, I have heard the song on the radio EVERY SINGLE DAY!
It’s the prayer of “El Pueblo”…God Send Us Rain. The farmers are praying. They can’t plant their crops until it rains. They are battling forest/farm fires instead of weeds! Whole estates have been burned to the ground. Our own relatives battled the fires for 48 hours to save the animals. There are few mosquitos! Too hot and dry!
Oscar took the visitors to the Iguazu Falls the other day and said that it was worst he’s ever seen it…it just looks sooooo dry. (I remember when we went with some Canadians and it was soooooo full that they had blocked some pathways off to the public).
God, Send us Rain…the plants are dusty red and yellowing. There are water shortages during the day. The rivers are going down. Your beautiful creation is suffering. We saw the big clouds and heard the thunder, but just felt the hard, dusty wind blow over us. God, Send us Rain!

So, how’s it going?

So, how’s it going? You haven’t heard from me in a while, right? Well, that’s what happens when you don’t pay the telephone bill. You get your line cut off. We are still on dial-up here in San Antonio, Paraguay. Things are still done the - s l o w - way. We thought we were fine! We thought we paid the last one, but in our rush to get back into routine after our trip to the states and then visitors…we forgot last month’s bill. It’s still on top of the refrigerator along with the new expired one. As soon as I get the line back, I’ll post this so that you’ll know where we’ve been.