Friday

Friday was our "exposición gimnastica" at school. We were waiting until 6:30 pm to see if we were going to cancel it or not. The weather was not good. It thundered, rained a bit, and then the sun came out with a rainbow in the sky. We didn't cancel, but during the whole show there were strong winds and lightning. Right after the last number, the rain started coming down along with HAIL...as big as ping-pong balls! The storm did a lot of damage to some homes with just tin roofs. The hail cracked the Marcel's (our accountant who lives next door to church) windshield on his car. It was a strange way to end the program. People started running to take cover and leave as fast as they could.

Oscar told me that in San Pedro there was a lot of damage near his mom's (brother's) house.

Liliana's Little Girl...Abi

Liliana and José Luís live/work at the Quinta. Abigail is 1 1/2 months old. She is our smallest little baby at church until December.
Liliana is in the back left of the second picture. Her mom was one of the first Christians in San Pedro.

Gaby's baptism

Gaby along with four other friends, all kids who grew up in church, were baptized on Sunday. A couple and their daughter were also baptized. José had some problems with his health and the Lord healed him! He lives in front of Pastor Pedro's house and Pr. Pedro visited him often. The whole family talks about this new person in Christ! José's wife was raised in a Christian home, but as a young girl stopped going to church until now, when she saw the huge miracle in her husband and the change that the Lord made in his life.

Flowers!!

God Makes Me Laugh

After we went on our little "outing" (to Hotel Excelsior) the other day, we bought the kids some sandwich stuff and a bag of nachos (that I can only find in big supermarkets in town). I paid for the small amount of groceries with a debit card. The next morning I remembered that I didn't take it out of my jeans pocket and reached into the washer and found my card, some change, but I couldn't find my paraguayan identification card, the card I always have to show along with my debit card.
I prayed, I searched, I prayed, I cleaned, I prayed, I took the washer apart, I prayed, I went back to the supermarket...all the way in town, I prayed, I took the seats out of the car...I prayed, but couldn't find it!
We realized last week that we wouldn't be able to leave Paraguay for our Argentina trip if I didn't have that ID card.
So...we started the LONG process of getting a new one. I went to the police station for one paper, Identifications, for another, here and there for this and that, one paper had to be notarized, one stamped, one in 48 hours...
Finally, I went to the police station again and they gave me a special paper giving me permission to travel while I round up the rest of the paperwork.
It worked! We got to Argentina and back!
I washed two loads of clothes last night, and stuck in one more this morning before the kids went to school. I opened the lid and my ID card was on top smiling at me!
I started laughing and thanking God! Where did this ID card come from? The clothes I was washing were the kids' clothes, there was NOTHING in there of mine!
I still think its so funny. I must have washed 20 loads since I lost that card...how could this be???
I got half of the paperwork done already! I'll stash it way for the next scare!
So, anyway, I have my paraguayan ID card...and I'm still laughing at the mystery.

Como Papá...Just Like Dad

Edson has been picking clothes that closely resemble his dad's styles. He even stands to pose and show us that he actually DOES look like his dad. He wants a belt, shoes and all. I try to tell him that he doesn't have to LOOK just like "papá", but he keeps insisting.

It all got me thinking...do I want to look like my (Heavenly Father) Dad just as much as he wants to look like his (earthly) dad? Does it really matter to me THAT much...insisting on dressing like my Father? Am I trying THAT hard to be just like Him?

...are you?

Our Latest Activities

Some of our activities...Spring-Youth. We had a party for our youth group on September 25th. The pastor was remembering past years when they would have a parade of flowers on September 21st downtown Asuncion, and people would make huge floats of flowers, busses would be decked out with balloons, supermarkets and stores would have cut out flowers, streamers, and balloons...times have changed. We celebrated at church with finger foods, a special program, sports, and a cake.
September 29th was a holiday here in Paraguay. Oscar and I were invited to a conference at Hotel Excelsior on the 28th and 29th. We got to see Adolfo Torres a national, Christian singer who wrote a beautiful song about Paraguay. We also got to meet author, Norma Pantojas, from Puerto Rico. It was a nice get-away for both of us (completely free, thanks to a good friend of ours) as we were reminded to be faithful to God's calling in our lives.
Finally, our yard is full of flowers. I just love this time of year!