Hot! Hot! Hot!

Now am I complaining? No way! I just love being in 40+C whilst pottering round, doing jobs and walking to the shops at about 2.00p.m. What is it that they say about "Mad dogs and English......"? I constantly remind myself about frost and snow in UK.

I love holidays and the time to do what I need to do. This was supposed to be "sewing" week and "laze about". Neither has been accomplished as I would wish. 

The problem started with my fridge/freezer going on the blink. That has meant two afternoons out, the first transferring stuff to a temporary replacement whilst mine went for repair. (It took an hour and a half to clean it once emptied!) and then I had the same in reverse today.

All I need now is to find the repair a typical Paraguayan repair and I will have to start all over again.

I have lost track of days so I will just say, "The other day." The other day I decided to tackle my front garden before the sun became too hot. I have had no lie-ins because jobs need to be done early, or the heat means that they don't get done. Having just spent a half hour on my treadmill exercising, I then went out to hack the plants. I cannot say that I prune because really I don't have a clue. I just take the shears and secateurs and hack. I then pull out anything that looks suspicious. The result is very pleasing and I have received good comments from the neighbours, so it was all worth the effort.

A few years back I bought a little rose bush to put in. I did not expect it to last as the sun blazes on it all day. However, it has flourished and it gives me such pleasure. 

Last week I went out with friends to an outlet shop that sells locally made, cotton fabric at knock-down prices. I bought enough for four pairs of cut-off trousers. I had bought some trousers in South Africa that had pockets everywhere. They are great for travelling in South America, where your pockets can get picked at every turn. I had found a pattern and decided to make more. It is a long story that took five hours in the making, but at the end I had a pair of trousers that would fit an elephant. I tried some swift alterations but with so many pockets in different places, I then ended up with a pair of pants that would be great for a giraffe with a crutch round its knees.
Now I ask myself, "What am I going to do with the other three pieces of material?"

Some of you may remember Beto, on the right.
I posted this picture of him and his friend Mauricio in 2010, when they came to our church. They were both addicted to alchohol and drugs. Both started coming to Sharon's Bible study across the road. However, they both slipped back into addiction. Now a miracle has happened and Beto has kicked his habits. Mauricio is still a victim of alchoholism, which is his escape from the reality of living in poverty, with no hope. Beto is coming along to the group regularly, but he is now in bad shape physically, due to malnutrition.

Please pray for Beto. His life is a tremendous struggle. He is in his thirties, intelligent and articulate, but he has never been able to get proper work. He comes from a family with horrendous problems. These guys just plod on, living one day at a time, trying to make sufficient money by cleaning car windows at an intersection with traffic lights, to buy enough food to survive. They lose hope of any “normal” future with a job and a family.  However, the Lord is now using Beto to bring others for prayer, counselling and to accept the Lord into their lives, which is a real encouragement for us.

Annexe update

The metal roof and guttering is now on, the walls are plastered, the flooring is being laid and they are now working on getting ready to put in a false ceiling to cushion noise when it rains.

They are making a new entrance to the old library area.

They are keeping everything clean, even the sand pit/adventure area.

Safe transportation

Yesterday was my birthday, a day to relax???
First I had breakfast outside, sitting in the lovely sunshine before it became too hot. I noticed how grubby my patio was so I attacked it, scrubbing and polishing.
Exhausted, I decided to relax and read. However, plans changed. My fridge/freezer has been defrosting itself regularly for the last three months, causing a real mess. Yesterday was the day that the maintenance team brought a temporary replacement while mine is repaired. Whilst I was pleased, that created another three hours work for me, changing things over and giving mine a really good clean before it went off for repair.

The men came down with the fridge on top of the school combi. It took five men to bring it! Two were sat on the roof holding it in place so it did not fall off. Whatever happened to ropes?

Mad dogs and English women.....

I must be mad.
Today I woke up very early. I looked at the temperature and it was a relatively cool morning at 25C. I therefore decided to go and grab my shopping trolley, a cool box and then went to find a bus to take me over the border to Argentina. I was lucky. A bus came almost immediately and I climbed on. However, there were no seats left. It is a one and a half hour to two hour trip with a dirt track road across the Chaco for the last half hour.

Eventually a grandmother took pity on me and she moved her grandaughter onto her knee. In the end we took turns at having the child, who was a sweet little thing. (Not one of theses "macho" men would give up his seat for a grey-haired "old" lady.)

I was in Argentina just after nine, so went straight to the supermarkets. The exchange rate is well in our favour so I stocked up on cheese, real ham (as opposed to plastic sealed ham) a huge amount of washing powder, some 70% chocolate for making mousse and eight bars of Dove soap. I was peeved that I could not get my toothpaste as they did not have it.
By eleven my cool box and trolley were full, so I went back to the bus station. There was a bus in but it was full so I hung around for the next one.
As it pulled in I could see men moving stuff around on the bus. I climbed on to get a seat near the front. All the seats in the bus and under the seats was full of stuff, from sacks of rice to cans of beer and bottles of cooking oil (all contraband bound for the market in Paraguay). The driver told me to sit on top of a box. I and another lady (who was 85) sat doubled up in an almost foetal position on boxes. My shopping trolley was removed and placed behind the drivers seat along with a several sacks of stuff.
Eventually other people piled onto the bus. By then it was getting very hot. The driver was not going to leave until there were as many people as seats on the bus... no matter that they were stood on boxes in the aisle because there were no seats actually available.
The lower windows on the bus had no opening mechanism so there was only air coming in at the top through a vent. I was sooooooo hot! I have been on a few buses from the border, that had contraband under the seats but this was amazing. The bus had a distinct list to the right because the weight was unevenly distributed. (I was sitting on the left. Ha! Ha!)

On the way back we were stopped at the International bridge. The driver had to climb out of his "cocoon" in the driving seat (It was surrounded by stuff) to tackle the police. Eventually, after some arguments he handed over a fistful of guaranies (bribe!) and we were sent on our way.

When I got near to my road I yelled at the driver to stop. There was then a major problem extracting my trolley from under what had now become a pile of sacks of rice. Finally a kind man did what was needed and I was set down with my shopping onto the pavement. I was "dripping" and very tired.

I will now wait until the Autumn and cooler weather before I attempt that journey again. Living in Paragauay can never be called "dull".

Progressing fast

I popped along to our annexe school at the end of our road today to see how the new computer room is progressing. These guys work fast! It was around 39C and they were beavering away. Bear in mind that they wear no hard hats, scaffolding is crude and at a minimum and most of them work in bare feet or with flip-flops. Where are the safety nets? They just trust Jesus!

The walls are now up and wood window frames are in, ready for windows later. That is the gutter sticking out, which they were about to install prior to starting on the roof construction.

Internal plastering is underway. (No rain is forecast for the next ten days or more.)

The old library is being redeveloped.

These men run along the top of a wall like a monkey.

Where is the Health and Safety executive?!

The Annexe School is funded partly from the tythes on fees for our main college and partly by the government. However, this project is being funded from the UK. Keep up the good work all you fund-raisers and prayer supporters.

Oops!

I just love my crazy friend Sharon. She gets so excited when somebody has a birthday and even when they don't have a birthday. I went out today to see the top notice "Happy B-Day Linn,"

glaring across the road at me. I ran back in and phoned her to tell her that she is a week too early. Then as I went out again there was the second message, "1 of these days." There is always a good laugh to be had here when Sharon is around. She makes everyday special.

At Epiphany in Paraguay the children get so excited because the three "kings" come and they usually bring gifts. In fact the children leave shoes outside and also food for the camels. This morning I decided to aid the "Kings" a little. I went out to the market to buy some toys for the Kings to leave for Sam and Ben, when they return from their hols and also to take to Juan, another little neighbour who lives in the shack adjacent to our property. He is a lonely little boy, with no brothers and sisters. Recently he has been invited round to the Hickmott's, now that the boys can speak Spanish. He loves coming and he has been looking out everyday for their return from holidays. I managed to get some remote control cars for them all.

As I alighted from the bus in the market I was concentrating on not falling. (The buses often take off before people actually get off.) I looked at the ground and did not see a wooden bar at head level. I hit my head very hard almost knocking myself out. I was then part of the Good Samaritan story, except that no Samaritan stopped to help me. Many people just walked past, looking at me rather strangely. They probably thought that I was an addict. It took a few minutes for me to be able to walk away, with a thumping headache. When I arrived home Sharon came over with ice for my head. Now I feel much better.

In Paraguay there is no natural gas for cookers so we have to use calor gas. (The bottles sre kept in the house right next to the cooker!!!) The ovens have two temperatures, "On" and "Off". Mine is eight years old and recently it has not been getting hot enough. It was time for an overhall.
I have learned from Mags' and Gwen's experiences never to let a man near the cooker to dismantle it. They wreck cookers. Last year I did it myself, successfully but very slowly. It has a strange contraption that holds the shelves when one opens the door. This all had to be taken apart to reach the gas jets. Thank goodness that I do not swear or the air would have been blue. It took me almost a day, half of which was spent working out how to get it back together.
Now it was time to attack it again. I had been putting it off. Amazingly everything went smoothly this time and it only took me an hour, including a good clean of all the parts. I am quite proud of my eight year old cooker. It is up to Army standards of cleanliness and looks quite new, apart from where paint is peeling off with age. I now need people to come home so that I can bake a cake and see if my efforts have been rewarded.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all. It is now time to change my header to my blog again.

I hope that you had a good celebration. My New Year was a bit of a damp squid this year. Everybody is away apart from my friend, Sharon, who lives just across the road. She decided to invite people round and to have a party, so I was invited too of course.
I went shopping for some nibbles and gaseoso (Coca Cola etc) and Sharon slaved in her house cleaning and cooking. Then, in true Paraguayan style, with about half an hour to the start of the party the phone calls came in to say that people could not come. (They obviously had better offers). Poor Sharon was so disappointed. In the end I stayed at home and waited for the fireworks, which actually started mid afternooon and went on until around 2.30 a.m. At least I did not hear so many guns being fired this year.

So, what does a missionary do in the holidays? Apart from my trip down south in Paraguay, I have not yet decided to take off travelling as in other years. I have been happy to stay around home and to do some clearing out of rubbish that I have accumulated over the years. In Paraguay nothing is wasted. I threw out a broken video machine, old videos in English and loads of English novels, as Santa brought me a Kindle this year. I placed them into the bin ready for the bin men and within about five minutes they had all disappeared. A taxi driver took most of the stuff. I bet he did not realise it was all in English. Very few people speak English here.

In clearing out I came across a stash of jam jars. Hmmm, I couldn't throw those out. Consequently I went off to the market in search of mangoes. It is the season for them. Beetroot was also a good buy. I came back laden with loads of big mangoes and loads of beetroot. I then searched for all the other ingredients and spent the rest of the day peeling, chopping and cooking. Of course I managed to chop the chillis and rub my eyes. Ouch! The smell of the spices cooking was mouth-watering.

It was a stinking hot day and I ended up exhausted. However, I produced twenty jars of delicious chutney..... Spicy Mango to go with my curries and spiced beetroot and orange to go with roast and asados (barbecues). Chutney has only just become available in the shops here and it is outrageously expensive, so I am quids in now and can't wait for it all to mature enough to eat it.