Oops.

So. It's been almost a month since I've updated this thing. Woops! So here are some updates/thoughts/prayer requests I've had in the past few weeks:

I've been sick 2 or 3 times since last updated. Apparently my kick-butt immune system continues to be a serious pansy in Paraguay. Hit up the ER 2 weeks ago with a fever, an awesome cough, and stellar headaches. Don't worry, I'm obviously fine. But I could definitely use some prayer for health! It's been very difficult me to be the sick one. I'm so used to being healthy and not needing to rely on people for things. It's been difficult for me to ask people for help when I'm sick, but it's been a real learning experience literally having to rely on others. Still stubborn though. :)

Speaking of health, I know I've talked about the health care here before and the hospital situations but every week it seems I'm learning more about it and becoming more horrified with the way things are done here. There is a girl in 7th grade at the school who has asthma problems that apparently are starting to affect her heart. But her family can't afford the medicine, and they can't afford the hospital care. She's out sick pretty often, and has made several visits to the hospital. Last week Sue and I went to visit her and pray for her, and she was sitting in a front room with only an IV for fluids since she'd been vomiting. They wouldnt do anything else for her unless her family could pay up front. We held a "Hamburgeseada" for her and sold hamburgers to help pay for her medicine. Please keep her health and family in your prayers. And definitely pray for the health care down here. There are just so many horror stories...

It's been rainy and cold the past week or week and a half. And by rainy I mean crazy, torrential, rivers-in-place-of-streets type of rain. Something we have desperately needed but good grief... It finally got sunny today and it was gorgeous. And since we're in the beginning of winter down here, it's getting cold too! My apt doesn't have heat except in the bedroom (thank you Jesus for that!) so I keep bundled up most of the time. Since we had sunshine today its much more bearable, but I have a feeling its only going downhill from here! Should be interesting... Prayers for warmth! I'm mainly dreading showers in the freezing cold. eek.

This morning we had the land dedication for the Poliodeportivo the school is starting to build! It's a huge project that's been planned for years but they've been building in stages and then the price went up, but it's finally going to go up! It will have a gym area open to the community and more classrooms to expand to 9th-12th grade, something we desperately need. Still trying to raise funds for it, if you want to give, email the Director, Sue Givens, at sue@paraguayschools.org. Also, only 2 out of the 56 kindergardeners have sponsors to attend the school. This is obviously a big problem! We are working on getting sponsors now, so if you want to sponsor a child or know someone who might, email Sue at the email above! There is a website (it's poorly done, they're in the middle of updating it I promise!) at http://www.paraguayschools.org/. Feel free to leave me a message here and let me know and I can give your some more information!

Bendiciones!

*Here are a couple of pictures from the dedication this morning*

Here is the morning half of the school, there are about 260 in the morning and another 260 in the afternoon. You can see part of the school building behind everyone.

Diggin' the dirt!

Yes, they let me use the shovel! And then promptly asked me if it was my first time... humph. :)

El Campamento

This past weekend was a 4 day weekend for teachers and students in Paraguay. They had off Thursday for Teacher Day and Friday for National Workers Day. A little silly that they get off both days, but no one was complaining... except maybe Sue, the school's director. :) Thursday I went with Sue to visit a sentimiento (shanty town) about an hour outside of Lambare. If you remember, in the shipment from the states the school received new(er) computers and have been giving their old 90's version IBM desktops away to some schools Sue has connections with. VERY few schools have access to computers here, especially schools in sentimientos. It was an eyeopening experience. I had never actually visited homes in one before, and definitely not a school. You can see in the pictures what a dismal state these are in. The school only recently got water and electricity and has only 4 small classrooms for pre-kindergarden thru 8th grade (I think!). Since they got water access they are also finally putting in a bathroom. The teachers work hard but are poorly trained or equipped to teach with this kind of environment, although Im not sure how you would train anyone to teach like that. They have few materials and no money to buy any.

The rest of the weekend was spent at a weekend retreat for the "jovenes", or young adults (ages 17-39) at the campground an hour and a half outside of town that is owned by the Methodist Church here. I had a great time! Met lots of people from other churches, was thrown fully clothed in the pool twice, participated in crazy games, competed in the "mr./ms." portion and sang and danced my lil heart out in front of 50 people (no, this white girl did NOT win!), hardly slept at all, and we had lots of awesome worship and great speakers. Well, the parts that I could understand, that is. :) Yes, my spanish is much improved but when they start throwing Guarani in or talking 80 miles/hour I get a bit confused. It was great! Here are some photos for you!

Me and Willi, my dance partner!

La Fogata! Bonfire! It was kinda cold that night...

Perla and I, soaking wet

Surrender?

So I had a nice, easy going blog about my recent adventures in Paraguay but then I decided to check out some people's blogs that I hadn't read in awhile. One of the ones I read was The Bradburn family (www.thebradburns.blogspot.com). If you do go there, prepare to cry, be amazed, touched, etc. Theirs is an amazing story of strength and hope. The most recent blog spoke of surrendering. This family is battling every day to beat the cancer that has hit their son. His mom writes of struggling with really, truly surrendering HER will that her son lives for GODS will, whatever that may be. She has chosen God's will.
Just writing that sentence makes me want to cry.
If she can make that choice, how can I sit here and fight God on so many things? Things that do not include giving over the life of my child? As I sit here with no REAL worries, yet worried about so many things. The little things in life that I make into catastrophes in my mind. The things that I need lay down for HIM to handle. Because He can do a much better job than me. But still.......... I struggle to surrender. I struggle to surrender my independence. My work in Paraguay. My future. My relationships. Each day is a new struggle.
But each day, I will choose to surrender.
Our lives are not for ourselves. They're not to make sure that we live every day getting our way, getting what we want. And it's not easy. I'm pretty sure I make my life much harder than it needs to be. Definitely ready to change that.

"And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in the knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ" Phillipians 1:9-10

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" Luke 9:25

I'm giving you my heart, and all that is within
I lay it all down for the sake of you my King
I'm giving you my dreams, I'm laying down my rights
I'm giving up my pride for the promise of new life

And I surrender all to you, all to you
And I surrender all to you, all to you

I'm singing You this song, I'm waiting at the cross
And all the world holds dear, I count it all as loss
For the sake of knowing You for the glory of Your name
To know the lasting joy, even sharing in Your pain

Fuggedaboutit...

I think that you can really see a person's character when they get in a tight spot. Whether that's trouble with friends, jobs, finances, whatever the problem. What is your first inclination when something doesn't go as you expect it to? Do you try to find something or someone to place the blame on? Personally, I often go into pity-party-woe-is-me mode. And I have to talk everything out. I think that with all this financial stuff in the US things aren't going the way most people would like them too... Lives so full of panic that we no longer know how to function without it.

There is a whole heck of a lot of stuff in the bible about worrying and times of trouble and trial. Matthew 6:34 says, "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." I think that may be one of the hardest things the Bible asks us to do- not worry. I know I fail at it constantly, probably daily. I'm sure there's a statistic somewhere that some smarty-pants somehow discovered that gives us an estimate on how much time- days, weeks, months- we waste worrying throughout our lives. I don't really care to see that number, I already know its big.

How do we solve this giant worry that infects our lives? If only I had an answer for that! The best thing I can come up with is to just forget it. Forget it and remember God. He is a God bigger than our car problems, bigger than our human relationships, bigger than our finances. Heck, He created every single person, animal and piece of nature you can see, and even more than we can imagine that we haven't seen!

Easier said than done...

My biggest worry right now is what to do with my life and finding a job when I get back to the states at the end of July. The END of JULY... FOUR MONTHS and I'm already in pre-panic mode. Hidden fairly well, but oh its there. So here's my plan/hope/prayer. I'm not going to worry about it. When I start freaking out- that's my cue to fall on my face and pray. I'm fairly certain my life will be one giant prayer for the next little while but I hardly think that's a bad thing! It's a giant, and incredibly difficult, leap of faith for anyone trying to just let go. And I can't expect things to go the way I want them to... they rarely do... when I stop relying on myself they usually turn out better. :)


Here are some other verses I found that talk about trials:

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may recieve mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Phillipians 4:6


I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Psalms 34:4

I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me. Psalms 118:13

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. Romans 5:3-5