Wasting Time???

Last night I got distracted finding myself on a google map and thought you might like to see where we are...
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=es&geocode=&ie=UTF8&t=k&msa=0&ll=-25.404108,-57.581964&spn=0.004032,0.004882&z=17&msid=103513512202011473796.00044f5a81704c69a0687 If you make the map smaller, I've added some other places like the school, the churches in Bañado and San Pedro and was trying to get the one near Ciudad del Este on, but had some problems for the time being.
So, instead of blogging, I was playing, but IT WAS FUN.
Take a look!

Kaylie

Last year at Mid West camp Oscar and I were walking toward the dining hall and this really friendly girl stopped us to tell us that she had plans to go to Paraguay after she graduates from high school. She wanted to come to teach English, learn a different culture and help in any area needed. That was nice, but, was it for REAL? We didn’t even know her or her family…could it be true?
We wrote back and forth for a couple of months after camp...and then, her letters started changing a bit. She was talking about her trip down. She was making plans. She set a date and bought her tickets. She was coming! It WAS for real.
May 23rd finally came…for her and for us! We didn’t know WHO the Lord was sending us, but we were definitely excited. We found out that she is a beautiful child of God who is eager to serve Him. She speaks Spanish and her outgoing personality has already won her many Spanish-speaking friends. The students have been supplying her with notes, cards, and gifts…they love her. She is their new “teacher Kaylie”.
We’ve enjoyed a lot in two weeks! Cold weather, early mornings, hectic-school days, holidays, "terere", "máte", visits, bike rides, late night talks, bathing babies, trying Paraguayan foods, a baby shower, “cosido”, citrus fruits off the trees, and much more.
Her love for the Lord is just bubbling over, and she is helpful in every way. She has already substituted for all of our English teachers. She has been a huge blessing to our family, our church and Colegio Privado Adonai. We are enjoying her visit and her exciting attitude, and we are extremely grateful to share part of her young life.
Kaylie, thanks for being a part of our family and ministry. You have BIG plans in life! May God bless you in each one.

CPA – 6

Finally the day arrived, the first day of school in ADONAI...February 9, 2003. With our vision statement in mind…“to educate children, molding their character in order to serve God and the nations.”…we opened the doors to 58 students. It was a miracle! BUT…We still did not have the resolution from the government on the first day of classes...we were “jumping into faith”. We KNEW that God had brought us this far, and He would get the paperwork through the right channels.
We checked, called, and visited the Ministerio de Educación (MEC) almost daily to see how the papers were coming along and our answer was always… “this takes time, you’ll just have to wait”.
We waited and prayed, waited and prayed. Finally, in March the supervisor came with the resolution. Escuela Adonai was accredited by MEC from kindergarten to 6th grade!

Fast, Slow and Steady

I am usually hurrying to do something, talk to someone, work on something, or whatever. I also have my minutes counted. I know what I have to do and when I have to do it. I take two or three steps at a time going up the stairs…you know, to save time and get upstairs faster. I cook large amounts of ground beef and put it in small containers in my freezer to save time and cook FAST meals in a moment’s notice. Sometimes I “drop” at 9 or 10 pm complaining (only to Oscar) that “I’m tired”. Well, I should be! I didn’t stop all day long! But still, I have to keep going and it has to be FAST.
That reminds me of my mom…it must be hereditary! When I am feeling the most tired, I think of how my mom NEVER stops. (It must be hereditary for her, too, considering that Grandpa and Grandma Pavkov had a garden and were still canning food in their 90`s.) I never saw mom tired of life. She was always running here and there. Even after 60 years she is STILL not huffing and puffing after a long walk. She’s always happy! She’s always busy! She just keeps going steady.
Sometimes I’m forced to slow down…like, walking up the stairs with a 1 ½ year old. He takes one step at a time. He stops to play with a sun beam across the wall and then finds a spider to tease and then step on. He plays peak-a-boo a few times through the rails and then goes back down two steps. All the while, I’m in a hurry. I want to get to the top. He is enjoying every slow-step he can take.
I’m a lot busier with Edson, but I am trying to SLOW DOWN and enjoy “the walk upstairs”. When I’m too busy or too tired, special people come to mind…my mom, who never quits and Edson, who takes slow steps while enjoying his surroundings.

CPA – 5

Well, the word was out! The Iglesia Nazarena Apostólica Cristiana was going to have a school backed up 100% by our church family. Finally…a dream come true…our church doors could be open…7 days a week! Most of us couldn’t even get to the end of 2002. We were excited and every day seemed to have its own miracles. God was GOOD.
We started working on the classrooms, the office, and the park area. We prayed and prayed and prayed. Some did a fast for 40 days, January 1 to February 9, (February 9th was the first day of school) asking for God’s blessing on the school project and a beginning count of 50 students. We advertised all around the neighborhood and had interviews for teachers. Most of the members in church decided to dedicate one year of free service to the Lord in what ever area they could. Some were teaching, some were cleaning and some working on the building (painting, bricklaying, etc.)…all with no pay!
Sometimes we look back and say, “How did we ever decide to do this? If we would have known everything we would come up against we wouldn’t have even started!” But, our faith was strong and we wanted a future for our kids, for our youth and for our neighborhood.
We talked with Amy (Shurance) Nenadov to come and help with the English classes. She knew Spanish well and already visited Paraguay two times before. The people loved her and we just knew she could be the perfect English teacher for the 2003 school year! She accepted God’s invitation and was here in January 2003.
We wanted our members to take an active part in something that was theirs. We thought that maybe North Americans could take an active part in teaching English or sponsoring a student to go to school. Our church neighborhood could have a close place to send their kids to school and a place to find spiritual healing. God was opening all the doors. We were blessed.

New Pictures

I just HAVE to post these cute pictures!

Edson with a black eye.

Trying on DAD'S shoes...

Edson and Gaby

CPA – 4

We went to church. We prayed. We sang. Then we were invited to give testimonies of “last night’s experience”. Some people said that they felt as if the church “died”. Another person said that it “seemed as if we were at a funeral”. Some one said that they were thinking of going to another church. Others said that they didn’t have true peace until they fully repented and “vomited” up all the negative, evil thoughts and sins that were hiding in their hearts. Some couldn’t sleep all night long until they worked things out with God.
The talk was different. The tension was gone. People were praising God and talking about freedom. What happened? Everyone was asking each other for forgiveness. We kept praying and singing and the whole evening turned into a night of celebration. The strangeness of the night before was completely covered up by a mysterious joy and peace.
The night went on and all of a sudden we realized that it was 11:00 pm. One of the last songs we sang was…Because He lives, I can face tomorrow…Little kids, only five years old, were singing at the top of their lungs along with all the rest of us. We were all in tears with our hands held high. God gave us our first miracle; forgiveness and unity.
The congregation was asked once again if we would support a Private Christian School in our church premises and the vote was a unanimous…YES!
Back home (relieved, overjoyed, forgiven and at peace) we got online to share the GOOD NEWS with family members who were already praying for this project, but God had more miracles waiting! We received an email from my sister that said “our Sunday school class raised $2000 for desks or what ever you need for the school. It’ll be in the mail soon.”
I always wonder…why didn’t that email come on Tuesday night? Why Wednesday? No, it couldn’t have come on Tuesday night, we were still arguing, unforgiving, and we had to “die” before God could bless us with true life in HIM! We spent another night crying…but this time joyful tears of victory!

Because He Lives – Music: Bill Gaither, Words: Bill & Gloria Gaither

God sent His son, they called Him Jesus
He came to love, heal, and forgive.
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Chorus: Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives.
But greater still the calm assurance,
This child can face uncertain days because He lives.

And then one day I'll cross the river,
I'll fight life's final war with pain.
And then as death gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He lives.