A special time

This morning I set off to church as usual on a Sunday. I was in good spirit because the weather is so beautiful just now.
I had toyed with the idea of going to the English chapel this week because the Trew family were going to be leading the music. In the end I felt convicted to go to the Cathedral as usual.
We had a lovely service and Pastor Ronnie talked about storing up riches in heaven and not here on earth. It was a lesson that I had shared with his daughter's class on Friday in school, prior to reading them a story about a treasure hunt.
Today it was gift Sunday when we give two offerings. (We do this once a month). One is to help those in the church with needs.

As I sat down, from the corner of my eye I saw a new face. She was a very poor-looking indigenous lady. She looked very sad and lonely, so I decided to talk to her after the service.
When the service ended I looked for her but she had gone. I then decided to go home for lunch. As I left the church I literally bumped into her. I stopped and asked her where she was from. Before I knew it I found myself inviting her for lunch and rather hesitantly she accepted. This was an unusual event for me as it is not usually safe to invite total strangers home, here in Paraguay. One has to be careful.

We walked down the hill chatting and she told me that her name is Fermina and she had come from Makxawaya in the Chaco for a medical appointment at the Central Clinic on Tuesday. She had had to hitch a lift down last Thursday on a truck as she had no busfare. Since then she had been waiting for Tuesday to come around, with nowhere to go. She was staying quite nearby in some sort of hostel known by the Indians.

We arrived at my flat and I welcomed her in. She was a lovely lady and we chatted easily about ourselves and our respective lives and how the Lord had helped us. She knew Beryl Baker, a nurse in the Chaco and she spoke fondly of our last Bishop and his wife. I could see that she was a bit on edge so I made some terere (a herbal drink) and we sat talking whilst the lunch cooked. I felt so humbled by her presence.

After lunch she was not sure whether to go but again I felt that she should not be pushed away so I invited her to stay a while. I gave her a year book of daily readings in Spanish and she immediately wanted to read them all!!!
She carefully took out a pair of spectacles but it was soon apparent that she could not see the print. Suddenly she asked to use my specs. I told her that I had some old ones so she could try those, but I explained that they are variofocals so they may not be of use.
As she put them on it was like seeing a light switch go on. A big beaming, toothless smile spread over her face and she gazed around the room and then at the pages. Soon she was engrossed in them and she then dragged her Bible out of her bag. Her "Bible " was a New Testament in Enxtet language. (The Old Testament is currently in the process of being translated.) We were soon sharing the Word, she from her Enxtet Bible, I had my English Living Bible, with its notes and we were communicating in Spanish. We had a lovely time together and prayed before she left. I walked her to a familiar street and we parted. I felt that I had been privileged to meet her.
God is Good!

Well done Paraguay!

The Trew family arrived from Northern Ireland yesterday for a two week summer holiday with us in our winter. In fact the weather is wonderful at the moment, with sunshine and a lovely breeze.
We gathered chez Mags and Gwen to watch the Paraguay v. Spain match. Paraguay may have been beaten but we were still proud of the way that they played. They have succeeded in uniting a nation which had been in the doldrums and they brought a spark and a smile to the people.
THANKS Paraguay!

Paraguay goes to the quarter finals!

WE LOVE YOU PARAGUAAAAAAAY!!!!

¡¡¡¡¡Felicidades Paraguay!!!!

We had a great time watching the match with half the school away, watching at home. It was so gripping, watching the penalty shoot out. We all went wild at the end. Now there is no hope of teaching this afternoon! Asuncion has gone mad, with people driving round hooting horns etc. and the city centre is full of thousands of people. It is impressive. Goodness knows what will happen if they get any further let alone win the cup ....... I'm off to celebrate now.

Jesus came first today.

It was with some prayer that I forced myself to put Jesus first in my life today and I went off to church wearing my England shirt proudly, missing the match on the tele'. I did not even take my phone. (However, I had my MP3 in my back pocket ready to catch the end of the match on the radio after the service.)
In fact the service went on late, but the Paraguayans had their phones and they took great delight in commiserating with me as soon as they received text messages with the result. I can't really say that I was surprised. This time around England just has not had what it takes.

It was a sad day.

We now await Paraguay's performance on Tuesday, with baited breath.
FUERZA PARAGUAY!!!!

Onwards and upwards

It was great to see both England and Paraguay go through to the second round of the Mundial (World Cup).

We all arrived at school in our Albirroja t-shirts. The school stopped work at 10.00 a.m today and we gathered in the school hall around the BIG SCREEN and also around every television set and smart board available to watch Paraguay go through. It was great fun cheering them on.

FUERZA PARAGUAY!

Cheering them on

Everybody here loves football. Third grade even came into the library to cheer on England on Friday. The English team needed all the support they could get!!!!!









I spent the last half standing in the local supermarket watching them. A Paraguayan man next to me commented on what a rubbish team they are and how badly they are playing, when they only drew against Algeria. I opened my jacket to reveal my England shirt and agreed with him. He was so taken aback. His face was a picture.









The second grade decided to cheer on Paraguay ready for Sunday. We examined and admired the national flag and then they coloured their favourite team and finally wrote about them.