Another new arrival

I was back at the airport this morning to collect Zoe, our latest arrival. Zoe comes from Northern Ireland. She had quite a trip to get here because when she arrived in London she discovered that her flight had been delayed 24 hours.

She finally arrived here safely this morning but unfortunately her luggage is still in transit, or sitting on the tarmac in Sao Paolo.

I was mean and took a photo as soon as she arrived.

Zoe is on the left, Jo in the centre and Beth on the right.

Please pray for all three girls as they adjust to living together in a new culture, school, and life in Asuncion generally. Pray for the Lord to help them all with their Spanish.

Back to work

Today we went back to work. They eased us in gently with a spiritual retreat in a beautiful place. We were taken out into the countryside to Atyra. There we were driven off the beaten track to what looked like an Italian monastery. It is only a few years old. It was built by Italian and Paraguayan artisans and it is filled with beautiful paintings done by local, Paraguayan artists.

We were hosted extremely well and we spent three sessions during the day listening to a speaker and then examining ourselves and listening for what God had to say to each of us individually. It was so refreshing for me in particular, after being cooped up in Asuncion for the entire holiday. People can go to spend a day or so at the centre by arrangement, so I think that may be somewhere to go for a weekend when the weather is much cooler. The drawback is that they have no air-conditioning and the temperatures soared again yesterday.

None of these photographs can really give you any idea of the size of the place or the sense of tranquility that we experienced.

The church is at the heart of the centre.

We were based in a hall for lectures and met under the cloisters for a break.

We all enjoyed a good lunch in the dining room and we could see through to the immaculately kept kitchen. The chickens came from their own farm.

A guide pointed out the amazing Italian artisan brickwork. Many of the materials used to build the place were recycled from elsewhere.

There is a beautiful, very unusual sunken Catholic chapel.

All doors are hand carved and each is an individual design.

There are paintings all over the building depicting scenes from scripture and of local history and culture.

Children the same the world over

This morning I walked to the supermarket under some ominous looking dark clouds. As I was walking home the rain came in torrential bucketloads so I decided to nip into our brand new MacDonald's for a hot chocolate until it eased off. Afterwards I walked home with my brolly up, but everytime I had to cross a road I had to wade through a foot of water so my jeans were soaked up to the knees. Iwandered down the hill, watching the river running alongside of me and sometimes having to plunge my way through it. As I drew nearer to my house I could hear shrieks of laughter.

I rounded a corner to see seven street kids having a wonderful time literally rolling in the gutter. They had been soaked in the storm so they figured that they could not get any wetter. They were playing in the water. I yelled at them to stay there until I came back with my camera. By then the river was more of a stream but they still had fun. After taking the pictures I rushed inside and printed a copy of each for each child. They were so excited. They told me that they come from the Chacarita and they had no photos of themselves. They could not wait to run home and show their Mums. Small things can make kids happy and water fun is one of them. I was so wet that I almost joined them.