Paraguay

I am so enjoying Paraguay - I really love it here!

Everything John mentioned has a story attached to it - they all make me laugh, I would love to tell you all about each thing. Truly, there is so much to tell, but so little time. We cleaned up from lunch - which was wonderful and prepared by some neighbors. We are getting ready to head out to the work project, I think this will be our last time there. I can't wait to show you a picture of the finished building, it is amazing!

Today we met the man who will live in the little house we are building, what a blessing to be part of this community and the ministries here. More later - thank you so much for your prayers, keep praying!

Shushan

Flurry of Activity

The last few days here have been so interesting...and fun...and exciting...and busy...Well you get the idea. Just to fill you in on a little of what we've done over the last couple of days:
-Traveled cross-country twice
-Toured the largest hydro-electric dam in the world
-Spent time in Brazil
-Went to the zoo
-Got hissed at by Puma's
-Realized just how big "big" cats are
-Tried to tour water fall in Argentina
-Realized you need a multiple entry Visa to re-enter a country
-Enjoyed several ice cream cones
-Ate out at a sidewalk resturant
-Got lost
-Toured a large Catholic Church
-Visited a lake
-Saw more ceramic statues than ever in my life before now
-Went souvenir shopping
-Enjoyed a trek up the mountain to the house
-Saw water flowing both in and out of the same storm drains
-Realized a sudden desire to go into city planning
-Layed the last brick on the back wall of the building project

John

On a more serious note...

So, God is so good. He has been blessing the whole team each day. He has been keeping us free from sickness and danger, and we've had no major setbacks. We've come here to be a blessing to the Paraguayans and in turn, God has blessed us more than we could've imagined. He's rerally evident everyday. Every night, we talk about our "God moments", or where each of us has seen God at work through the day. It's really amazing to see each other's perspective on the day's activities.
One a more funny note, John and I have had some quality bonding time doing dishes together once every day or two. He knows I'm allergic to dish detergent, so he kindly offers to splash me while we do dishes at various points throughout the day. He hasn't yet, though. That which I am glad of.
We have gotten to see some of God's amazing artwork in nature several times throughout the past few days. Mark and I found our way out to a cliff overlooking the valley where the view was breathtaking. We have gotten to see a few waterfalls, and even got flooded yesterday. We were driving back to Asuncion and it started raining. The streets FLOODED and at points, the water was over the hood of the van. The clutch started going out and it wouldn't shift into gear like it's supposed to. Praise God we got back to the Carrs' safely.
The driving here is crazy. We've seen a couple wrecks and several near misses. Some people here ride small motorcycles, some drive tiny cars, and a few drive horse pulled carts. GA friend- yes you who would love all the horses!
Please remember to pray for us!
-T.J.
P.S. The BIG sumbrero (spelling?) that I bought gets me funny looks from the Latin Americans here....

more pictures

I am excited about pictures! It is just a glimpse of what we have been doing. We did not all bring a camera - actually we just have 2 people taking pictures Mark and Kara, but I promise we will have more than enough!

Sitting at VBS, this is the unactive part of our activity

This is the house that we built

Our team at the Asuncion Christian Academy - where John and Kara are going to teach

a few more pictures

Success in picture posting! Here are a few more!


TJ sleeping in the airport in Chile.

This is the team arriving in Paraguay!

pictures

I have been trying to upload pictures without much success, so here is another try.

Josh and Kara - how cute they are!

Our team waiting to begin our travel adventure in Cincinatti - observe both TJ and John playing with their toys.

It is hot here in the summer

We are loving our time here, we have been able to do loads of stuff. One thing we all agree on is that it is a lot hotter here than it is in the states. However, we have stared to adjust and we are starting to get use to it. About the time we get adjsuted it will be time to go back to winter. We were able to experience our first church service and it was amazing. One thing we noticed is unlike the states people really accept you here and it is so cool for people who can't speak your language are still trying to carry on a conversation with you just because they want to make you feel welcome. This is a shorter blog but it is time to eat and that is my cue. Well talk to ya'll later for now goodbye. Josh