Games, Dances and Sunday Services

All continues to be well in Paraguay -- after a few days of rain which prevented us from doing the painting we were doing, the sun is out and today is beautiful. We spent the morning playing with the children. For many of us it´s the first time we´ve tried our hand, or I should say, our feet, at playing soccer, which is called football here! It´s a lot of fun and good exercise too! Some of us have even scored some goals for the first time! I have to admit I was a bit nervous because one of the boys on my team,Carlos, kept saying ¨Come on, Lindsay! Go down the field!¨ I would much rather play defense, but he insisted on helping me get a goal, and I finally did!

This week we will continue our painting work and in the late afternoons we will be doing our VBS for the kids at the Home. We also have some excursions planned to see a little more of the capital and also to visit the Medical Clinic.

Yesterday was jam packed! It started with a morning service here at the Villa Mora Corps. The Colonels Neusch who are responsible for this territory were here as well as the Commisioners Swanson. The children from the Home sang a song together, our group did a dance, and a group of children from Vinas Cue did a timbrels number. After the service, we had a birthday celebration. Every six month they decorate with balloons and have cakes for every one who celebrated a birthday in the last six months. They invite the children´s parents, and afterwards they have an afternoon of sports adn games.

The visit of the parents was very interesting to see. For some of the kids, it had a positive impact, but for others it was very difficult. then there were those whose parents didn´t come or who don´t have parents to come and I think for them it was somewhat depressing. One little girl, Miryan´s mom came, but it was obvious that she was trying to get out as quickly as possible. When she left, Miryan cried for at least an hour. As we consoled her, I noticed that she was clutching some money in her hand. Her mom had given her some money, probably to make herself feel better about leaving, but it was obvious that this was no consolation to a little girl who just wants a mom and someone to make her special.

the crazy thing is that so much of our ministry here is playing with kids and just being with them. This is what they need more than anything else. When I think of all of them not having one person in the world to call their own, to whom they are the most important in all the world, it makes me sad. It also makes me give thanks to God for my mother, and for the blessing of having someone who loved me and made me feel special.

In the evening we went to the San Lorenzo corps. It was a beautiful meeting with a lovely spirit to it. San Lorenzo is a corps that has seen a lot of growth. They have 40 adolescents and 100 children in their programs! God truly is blessing the work there! Commisioner Swanson gave the message and it was about suffering for the gospel -- which many of the people here do. It was definitely a call to serve Christ no matter what the cost and I thought it was very inspirational. The meeting ended with a Paraguayan dance with the young people in traditional clothing!

Speaking of dancing, one night we were coming home from our VBS in Vinas Cue and we passed a dance school with big windows where we could see a group of dancers dancing a traditional Paraguayan dance where they put bottles on their heads and balance them there. it was quite impressive and all of us took out our cameras to take photos. The Captain turned the car around so that we could get a better shot, and the cameras were flashing away as if we were the paparazzi!! The dancers became a little self-conscious and stopped dancing! But at this point Estith was already running up to the man at the front door and telling him who we were, etc. The next thing we know, we were all invited inside! There they did 3 dances for us -- and each one was awesome! But they said it was going to be a trade off, they wanted to see us dance too! So before they would do their dances, Leilani had to show a dance from Puerto Rico, and Ashley did a dance from TAM!!! As we were leaving, we went thru the line giving everyone the customary greeting of 2 kisses, one on each check. There were at least 20 dancers and 8 of us so as you can imagine it took a while! Only after we left did the Captain tell us that we didn´t have to give them 2 besos! He said that is only for people that you know really well. . Well, during our cultural orientation, we were told the greeting in Paraguay was 2 besos, no one clarified it by saying it depended on how well you know the people! So the Captain was laughing at all of us and saying that the dancers would never forget that group of missionaries who came and kissed all of them! We felt so embarrassed!

On another note, we all had the chance to try Mate, the traditional tea drink here. I think the reactions were mixed. I really liked it and found it to be much more flavorful than regular tea. Basically the people fill up an entire cup with herbs add a little water and drink it thru a special type of metal straw. It´s served very hot. This drink is a HUGE part of the culture. You see people everywhere with their mate cups and also with a special kind of thermos of water. The people even bring all of this when they go to the mall! It´s incredible!

Well, that´s all for now! Thank you again for all of your prayers! God Bless You All!

Lindsay