Life as we know it, Paraguay.

This post is long past due. I apologize for putting this one off for so long! I guess part of me wanted to wait a little longer until I really felt like I had something to say about what I am going to say. This post is dedicated to my time and experiences thus far, here in Paraguay and Paraguay alone.

For many of you, some of this will be a repeat, but for some of you, I’m sure it will be eye opening. It certainly has been for me.

In no way do I want this post to sound negative. I do not want to put the idea across that my time here has been frightening, difficult or unbearable. I am just being real and honest and am sharing some of my frustrations, feelings and thoughts. However one thing I can say with complete honesty is that each day, my eyes are opened more and more to the needs of this world. Most importantly, the need of the presence of Jesus Christ.

Just the other day we found out some terrible news. A good friend from the church was robbed. She lives in an apartment with her husband and 3 daughters. They live on the 4^th floor of the apartment. Here, it is apparently more common for apartments on upper floors to be robbed than ground apartments. Why so? The thief took most of her clothes, her daughter’s clothes, their computer, printer, jewelry, food, her husband’s suit and more. Several of the women have visited her home to comfort her and give her clothes of their own. Kristin and I went the other day and talked with her and gave her some money to go and get some more food.

The sad part is that this is not the first time she has been robbed. This has happened before and last time, a lot was taken as well.

It’s not like robberies don’t occur in the US, because they do. It just breaks my heart to see and hear how often they occur here. Women (for the most part) are scared out of their minds to walk alone on the streets (especially at night) and sleep alone in their homes. Generally, if the husband is for example, gone on business, the woman and her children sleep at a friend or family’s home because they do not feel safe enough to sleep in a home without their husband present. How would this make you feel? To feel like you are not even safe within your own home. To me, home is a place where I can feel safe, where I can have me time, where I can cry by myself, laugh by myself, dance around, sing, sleep deeply, etc. I cannot imagine what it would be like to literally live in fear while in my own home. Being here has made me realize how comfortable I am back in the US. Rarely do I feel afraid, at risk or uncomfortable in my own home…never do I feel like I constantly need someone to be with me. It is such a different way of living in this country. They have literally grown up and grown accustomed to always watching their backs, to being halfway awake while sleeping, to always have an ear open and an eye ready to detect danger. My question to myself these days has been: if God called me to permanently live in a place like this city, would I go without regard? Or would I be afraid to live here and deal with these insecurities? What instilled faith these people have to live such lives, and live them with complete faith in the plan of the Lord, even if the plan is that they will suffer.

Another thing which has hit me hard over the past few weeks is freedom of religion. Thanks to the Lord, (a common phrase they use here. They say this before almost every sentence) Paraguay remains a country where freedom of religion is permitted. This is obviously the same way in the US. However, what weight does “freedom of religion” hold? Apparently none. The other day pastor said that every 5 minutes (or was it seconds…?), someone is persecuted for their faith. We have seen examples of this in the US. Columbine High School student Rachel Scott who was persecuted for her faith several years back at the Columbine High School massacre. Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming and Nate Saint who were missionaries in Ecuador years ago, were persecuted for sharing the Gospel of Christ to indigenous tribes. These are examples of a FEW instances which US citizens have been killed for their faith. How often do you go to church with the notion or the possibility that someone may walk through the doors and ask you if you want to live or if you want to die for your God? As for me, this thought rarely crosses my mind. As a US citizen, I am comfortable. I am comfortable because I live as a comfortable Christian. I have never feared that my religion would be my demise. Is this right? Should I feel grateful for this or should I be ashamed? Is there something I am doing wrong?

Years back when the church which I attend down here was just beginning, they had a guard stand watch at the door during the nights. One evening, this man was killed for standing watch at the church. For caring for a religious institute which his murderer did not approve of. The church suffered his loss but continued to hold meetings and services. I ask myself, who should I fear? Man or God? The answer is easy, yet living it is a different story.

Lilian and I have had several conversations about this topic. The ultimate question is: what would you say to someone who demands to know if you would choose to live or choose to die for your God? Literally, put yourself in this situation. What would you say? How would you feel? Down here, I don’t feel the level of “comfort” when I attend church, as I do when I am in the US. When we have our services here, the back entry door is left open, due to the heat and so that people feel more of a “you are welcome here anytime” vibe. Right by the entrance of the door is a busy street where cars, buses, vans, motorcycles, people and cows are constantly passing by. I have a feeling that several of those people do not know the Lord, nor do they care to know Him. So what do they think of us having our “Jesus services?” Does this make them upset? These questions pass through my mind as I hear, for example, a van go by blasting obscene music. What would it be like to have someone walk into our church and tell us we had to choose life on earth, or Christ? What would that be like? Before this trip, the thought was nearly foreign to me. What would it be like to literally die for God? What would it be like to literally not know if someone would walk through those open back doors with a gun? My eyes have literally been opened to the fact that this could happen here. And not only here, but in the US as well. Freedom of religion, ok yeah, it exists on paper, but not in the hearts of many people. This possibility literally tugs at my heartstrings and makes me really, really think. Friends and family, what do you believe, why do you believe it and what are you willing to risk for it? I have yet to fully answer these questions for myself.  

There are several things we have noticed while living here, which I will say…are quite different than the US, and make this whole experience a bit harder to adjust to. Let me share a little bit more about everyday life in Paraguay. Some things are different, some are plain strange and some are quite comical.

It took Kristin and I some time to accustom to the following.

In Paraguay, it is very common for “security guards” to stand watch outside of important buildings, stores, supermarkets, etc. in order to keep things in line. Each man (they are all men) holds what I would describe as a machine gun. I doubt it is as powerful, but it is definitely too big to properly hold in one hand. At first, I would keep my distance from them, not wanting to get near touching that gun they hold. But by now, every time I pass them, I look at them and give them a friendly greeting. A friend of mine told me, “don’t worry….it just takes some getting used to.” It sure did, but now I can say that it doesn’t seem as weird anymore. Not that I have ever or would ever shoplift, knowing that guy is out there to get me if I do makes me and every other person think twice about stealing.

In short, other aspects of life in Paraguay we have found to be different are:

The lack of respect men have for women. I swear, men here treat Kristin and I as if they have never seen a woman in their life. Every time we walk by, are running in the park, drive by in a car, their eyes are GLUED to us. One time, we were walking by a construction zone of male workers, and one guy was looking at us for so long that another worker had handed a brick to him, but since he was not looking, it landed straight on his foot. “Owwwwwwww!!!!!!” yelled the man. “Serves him right” I whispered to Kristin. Don’t get me wrong, Kristin and I are by no means the most beautiful women you will ever meet, (which is partly why we are so confused as to why we get so many stares and hollering and honking) but we sure do feel like celebrities down here. You’d think we would enjoy the confidence boost, but after two months, we just want to walk in peace down a street without being looked up and down. Just once dear Paraguay. Just one time, leave us alone!

Don’t even get me started on the lack of organization, dependability and professionalism of the post office here!

Ya know how when you arrive at someone’s house as a visitor, you walk up to their front door and knock? Well here, you cannot get to their front door because there are 10 foot high gates in front of everyone’s yard (for security purposes). So, in order for the owner of the home to know that you have arrived, you stand outside the gate and clap. Literally, you clap. You can clap like you are clapping after a concert, you can clap just a few times nice and loud. Whatever suits you. Kristin and I have been having fun experimenting with what kind of clap rhythms we can come up with. 

Public urination is not a crime here. Today we were on the bus and the driver stopped the bus in the middle of the route, left the engine on and got out. I looked at Kristin and said, “where is he going, where are we and why is the bus still on?” Come to find out, after looking out the window and turning towards the back of the bus to see if we could see where he went, he was indeed near the back of the bus, with his little friend out, peeing right there on the side of the street. Kristin turned around and said, “Oh my gosh! He is right there peeing! If I look again, I’m sure I could totally see everything!! This would be front page news if this were to happen in the US!” The driver got back on the bus and continued the route as if all was normal. Of course here in Paraguay, this is an everyday occurrence. We couldn’t stop laughing.

Just today we were talking to the woman who was robbed the other day, and she informed us of something which was real shocking to hear. She said that the police went to her house yesterday to talk with her about the robbery, and when they were there, they said that they think they know who and where the thief lives. But the terrible thing was that the police said that our friend needed to pay them in order for them to go arrest the thief. “Ok wait a minute,” I asked, “why do you need to pay the police to do their job and arrest a criminal?” She said that often times, criminals will go to the judges here in Paraguay who deal with robbery cases, and they will pay the judges to keep them from having to go to jail. So, since the robbers are paying the judges, the victims need to pay as well, in order for the police to get something out of the situation. So first of all, the judges know who the robbers are out there, and second of all, they are accepting money from the robbers (which was probably stolen from someone else) as a “get out of jail free” card. HOW IS THIS OK!? I couldn’t even believe it when she was telling me this. Our friend told the police that since she is only a teacher, she does not have much money at all and therefore is not able to give them any money. Fortunately, they understood and told her they would let her know once they identify the thief. After the story and when our friend saw my disturbed and confused face, she said, “Welcome to Paraguay Katie!” This whole story nearly made me sick to my stomach and made me so grateful for the US justice system!

Earlier this trip when Kristin and I would go to the store to get food or supplies of some sort, we both would always wonder why sometimes at the register, we would get a piece of candy back with our change, and sometimes we would not. It took me a while to figure it out….and one day, it came to me. After I bought something and got a piece of candy, and Kristin bought something and did not, it all made sense. Turns out, they do not have proper coins here to give proper change. For example, if something were to cost me $3.15 (let’s just use dollars for the sake of explanation) and I gave them $4 for the purchase, they only have coins which would enable me to get $.50 cents back. So where do I get my other $.35 cents from? That’s right, the candy. Alright Paraguay, let’s get something straight, rather than properly giving someone back their change, you think everyone is going to be ok with a piece of candy? Like, “oh ok, well now I have my little piece of candy instead of the money I just got ripped off from, I guess that’s fine!” Again, this wouldn’t fly in the US! So next time I am about $.35 cents short for a purchase, I’m just going to whip out one of the little pieces of candy I got from before, throw it in their little candy box, call it even and run out of there. There is no problem with that, right?? Wait, I don’t want to get shot by the guard with the machine gun outside!

Time. Oh time to Latin Americans…how I wish it existed. As I have discussed before, time works very differently here. I can count on one hand how many clocks I have seen in a public place in this city. They just plain do not exist. Everyone runs on their own time. It is almost as if we are back in the olden days, using the sun to tell us what time of the day it is. (Perhaps that is what they do here!?) There is this very nice woman named Cynthia who Kristin and I have been spending a lot of time with lately. She has severe back issues and headaches as well. Kristin and I have tried to accompany her to her doctor appointments as well to the grocery store to carry her groceries for her, since she has no vehicle and the long walk makes it too hard to carry the groceries that far. One day, we were to meet Cynthia at 7 a.m. on the street corner to accompany her to her doctor appointment. That day, we showed up at the street corner around 6:58 and waited patiently. Originally, we pondered not showing up until about 7:20, because time here of course is irrelevant, and that was the time she would probably get there anyway. But, against our will, we showed up on time thinking that since she had an appointment, we should be there as scheduled because we didn’t want to make her late. 7:00 came and went, no Cynthia. 7:05, 7:10, 7:15, 7:20- no Cynthia. Once 7:25 rolled around, we looked at each other with a “well, should we just leave?” look, and that’s when we saw Cynthia walking around the corner. We waved and smiled and she asked me how long we had been waiting. I said we arrived at 7, as she had asked, showing her my watch. Her response? Oh, well sorry you had to wait, but your watch is just fast! Yeah, ok, thanks for trying to make your tardiness seem more accidental, but I’m pretty sure my watch isn’t 25 minutes fast Cynthia. I think you were just plain late. J

The next time we met with her, we showed up about 10 minutes late and were “just on time,” according to Cynthia’s “watch.”

I am just going to be honest, Kristin and I don’t shower very much down here. We are both lucky if we shower twice within one week. Gross, we know, but there is a reason for this. Lately, due to weather and just due to the electrical system here, we have been losing our power almost every day. Sometimes it comes back on within a minute or so, sometimes it won’t come on for hours. (Losing your power every day, especially when there is no storm, again something that would not happen in the US). But of course, the times when we do lose power, it happens to be when either Kristin or I are in the shower. This happened to Kristin a few weeks back, and just yesterday, it happened to me. I mean common, Kristin and I shower once, maybe twice a week, and the ONE time we are in the shower, the power goes out for that one or two minutes?? Really???? So yesterday when the power went out while I was enjoying a nice shower, I stood there in the freezing cold water, trying to get the conditioner out of my hair and waited for assistance. Finally, Kristin showed up with her flashlight and showed it through the bathroom window so I could see what I was doing. I spent the last few minutes of my shower shivering in the freezing water. It was at this point that I concluded that showering often here is just not something I want or frankly, need to do. 

Check out what storms in Paraguay are like in the video below! (It starts with me running through the house in the dark due to the power outage).

When we arrived here, we were told that we would be able to have a fridge for ourselves where we could privately store our purchased food. One day a while back I purchased what appeared to be delicious chocolate pudding. I put it in our fridge, and when I went to retrieve it a few days later, I noticed it was gone. “Kristin…did you eat my pudding?” “No….” she said. I asked Lilian and she had not eaten it either. Immediately she ran to Enzo and in a strict tone asked if he had eaten my pudding. “No no no!!!” he kept yelling back at her. Before I knew it, there was a family meeting in the kitchen for the purpose of discovering where Katie’s pudding went. As we all sat there, Tata’s (Maria) had Ara and Enzo stood in front of her as she said, “Now children….I do not know your hearts but Jesus does, and He can see everything….SO WHERE IS THE PUDDING?!!?!?!?!” As they both kept saying, “WE DON’T KNOW! WE DON’T KNOW” I just looked at Kristin and said, “Oh my goodness…if I had known this would cause a family meeting and an interrogation by Tata’s, I would have left the chocolate pudding issue alone!” Unfortunately, the chocolate pudding thief was never discovered and I have yet to taste chocolate pudding here. Though this is terrible to say, I have an inkling that it was actually Tata’s who ate it. ;)  

Silent Chief serenading Tata´s. Gatta love em.

A little while back, Silent Chief and Tata’s let the dogs out into the yard to let them play. We were happy they felt comfortable to do this, because they didn’t want to do this before, thinking the dogs would attack Kristin and I (kind of them to be concerned for our safety). So as the dogs were running around in the yard, I came outside one day to find Tata’s literally whipping one of the dogs with a belt. I thought to myself, “What is she doing!? What did that poor dog do wrong!?” Come to find, I saw Ara doing the same thing just a few hours later….and this is when I figured out that whipping the dogs with a belt is simply just a way of playing with them. What I would like to know is if the dogs find this enjoyable. (I know my sweet dog Emma would sit there with her little tail in between her legs and her head down, thinking she had just done the worst thing ever. She would NOT consider this fun!)

Can I just say, I do not know how children get a proper education here. Well, I do have to respect the fact that to them, education is just not as important to them. What is more important is children coming home earlier in the day, with no homework, to spend more time with their families. Though I respect their priorities, it has been very difficult being ok with the education system here. At the school we volunteer at, they start at 7:30 a.m. and leave to go home between 11:30 and noon, depending on when their parents arrive. Don’t let me forget to mention that while they are at school for these 4 to 4 and a half hours, they get (on average) two recesses which usually last about a half an hour each (sometimes an hour) and also a merienda (“an afternoon snack”) which lasts about 20 minutes. Oh yes, lets also count the 30 minute nap time for the younger kids. So what does this leave us with…hm….about 2 or 2 and a half hours of actual learning? Wow. One day I went to ask a teacher a question, and she had her kids scattered throughout the classroom, playing with stuffed animals and crayons and she was sitting there with her iPod in, listening to music. Really?? Did I really just see that?? This is all very different to see and Kristin and I still cannot get over how different school is here than it is in the US. So be it I guess!

Along with these stories, we cannot forget the following differences. Besides the constant smell of urination (inside and outside the house), throwing away your used toilet paper in the garbage, having to rake water back into the bathroom after it flowed out of the bathroom after a shower due to no shower door, throwing bones after eating chicken onto the communal bread pan in the middle of the table (true story!), the absence of littering rules, the absence of road rules whatsoever, the absence of actual paved roads, their events (for example church) lasting no less than 3 hours each time (this does not include the hour of socializing after the event), the unprofessionalism of doctors (we have seen very sad things happen to our friend Cynthia here with some doctors), the ridiculously high number of stray dogs ruling the streets, the absence of cleanliness (they don’t use soap to wash their dishes. To them, washing dishes is using water. Therefore, Kristin and I often volunteer to do the dishes. This way, we know that they will actually be washed), the inability to drink water from the sink or brush our teeth with sink water (one night I brushed my teeth with the sink water, and I had a stomach ache the entire night. I haven’t done it since then, and my stomach has been fine. Coincidence, or is their water just not very good?)The other day I (kind of) jokingly asked Kristin, “how are we not dead yet??”  

That’s enough about sharing how different life is here. In no way am I saying it is unlivable here (because it is totally livable), it is just fun to share and laugh with others about!     

A little while back Kristin had a scab on her foot and had to put a band-aid over it. She kept finding that the band-aid would disappear and end up in the strangest places. One day earlier in October, Kristin and I were writing a few things on the Coca-Cola calendar which I brought down here from the States (thanks for it Mads J). We were simply writing things which we knew we would have to do for the month, or special events coming up. I left the room to go do something and Kristin kindly took the tape we had and put the calendar back up on the wall. Later that night (while I was still out of the room), Kristin decided to show Lilian our calendar and kind of point out things we had written down and events that were coming up. (Kristin finds visual things to be very helpful in order for her to communicate with people down here). So she was showing Lilian all the things we had written down, pointing each one out on the calendar, and Lilian was nodding and enjoying being able to interact with Kristin. Later that night, I walked back into the room, sat on my bed and started to chat with Kristin. I looked up at our calendar which was taped on the wall, and saw something which made absolutely no sense to me. Stuck to the side of the calendar was a used band-aid. I stopped Kristin in mid sentence and said, “Kristin….why is your used band-aid sticking on the side of our calendar up on the wall???”

“Oh! There it is!!!! I was wondering where it went!!” she replied. We both could not stop laughing. What concerned me the most was that while Kristin was showing Lilian all the things on our calendar, she never once noticed that her used band-aid was right there, right where she was pointing to things. My question is, how did you not see that Kristin!? Right after this, I ran into Lilian’s room and told her the story and she replied by saying, “Yeah…I was wondering what it was doing up there. While Kristin was showing me all the things on the calendar, I kept thinking….hm….why is that band-aid there? And why isn’t she taking it off? Perhaps this is what Americans do…they stick used band-aids on the sides of their calendars??? Who knows! You girls always surprise me!”

After telling Kristin what Lilian had said, we both just died of laughter. The face Lilian had when she was expressing her confusion about it was this face of, “well….I didn’t know why it was there…so I didn’t ask…whatever!”

To this day, when Kristin and I write things on the calendar or look at it, we laugh about the used band-aid that was once stuck to the side of it. Perhaps we could start this trend back in the US….? Anyone with us?

Yes.

I have not talked about this much to anyone (not even my parents!), but it looks like Kristin and I will be moving, along with the family, to another home before we leave Paraguay. Yes, this was big news to us as well. Earlier this month, we would find Lilian in the house just crying to herself. I would always ask what was wrong and if I could do anything…and she always said no, and that she was fine. Finally, Lilian told me what was wrong. After living in this house since 1988, Lilian was crying about the possibility of her parents wanting to sell the house and move out of a place full of memories and family time. During this time, Silent Chief and Tata’s had found a buyer who was willing to pay a decent price for the house, the best offer they have had yet. Without much thought, they sold it instantly, seeming to forget that they had two extra people living with them, and forgetting that the house they were building in another location was not yet finished and would not be finished until after the new buyers wanted to move in to our house. This has posed as quite a problem recently. Kristin and I have been wondering where we will live in between the time the buyers move in and the time that the new house is built. Just tonight I went walking with Lilian and I was talking to her about this. She said that her and her parents feel really bad about the situation because it is looking like there will not be room for Kristin and I in the temporary house which they are going to move in to in early December. Right now, Pastor is looking for another family for us to live with for the last few weeks we are here. Yes, this situation is not ideal at all, having to pack up all of our things, move out of the house, move into another house for 2 weeks then pack up again to leave. Along with this, Kristin and I just plain don’t want to leave this family. They are a second family to us! However, for some odd reason, we are at total peace with this and we see this as a new and exciting opportunity. So, please keep us, the family and this transition in your prayers!

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Kristin and I have thoroughly been enjoying living amongst the people and culture of Paraguay. We could not have asked for a more welcoming, kind and fun community to be immersed in. Everyone at the church is as kind and welcoming as can be. I owe so much to Carolyn Watson and Pastor Juan Carlos for inviting Kristin and I to share life with these people. This is a place I will always treasure, a memory which I know will only seem like a dream and these are people who I would trust my life with. I really feel like they are my family.

Coming down here, Kristin and I prepared ourselves with the possibility of not being much of a help around here. When I say this, I mean that we told ourselves that we may not see houses get built, we may not see hundreds of people come to the Lord because of our presence here, we may not see another floor be added to the church, we may not see all the children in the school learn how to speak English- - these things just can’t always happen on a “mission trip.” I feel that when Americans go on “mission trips,” they want to see things get done. They want to see and feel that they made a change. But this “change” needs to be a specific change. A tangible change, a change which one can see with their eyes. But this is not always what happens when we go abroad, or when we leave our home to serve others and Christ. Sometimes, you have to be ok with not knowing how you “helped” or what your purpose was. Kristin and I made sure that coming down here, we wouldn’t come with expectations. We wouldn’t come down with a check off list of things that we had to see get done while we were here. We told ourselves that we had to be ok with letting God do His work and on His timing. I read the most powerful statement in “Finding Calcutta” regarding this idea.

Author Mary Poplin said, “Don’t give in to discouragement…If you are discouraged, it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own powers…It is very difficult to practice because we all want to see the result of our work. Leave it to Jesus.”

How powerful! This spoke volumes to me because earlier this summer, I was discouraged with the idea of maybe not “doing much” while here. But through this woman’s words, my heart was opened to the idea of letting God take your time and allowing him to take our hands and our feet and use them to serve Him in the way which He pleases. This may be teaching a foreign language to 40 kids or this may be being a listening ear and a friend to Lilian for 3 and a half months. Either way, being the hands and feet of Christ means that we are available for whatever it is He desires us to do.

Having this mindset, I believe, has really changed the entire path of this trip. Not only have Kristin and I offered friendships and love to several of the women of the church, but we have served quite a bit of time in both the school and the church. Let me give you a little background on what Kristin and I have been doing at Hope Christian School for the past few months.

Thanks to our parents (thanks mom, dad, Shari and John!), we have been able to give several new English books to the school here. When we came, their library consisted of about 30 books in English, all which had been read over and over, so much that all the students practically new them all by heart. A few days into our trip when Kristin and I read a new book to them which we had brought, they all went, “what?!?!?!?!” and sat down, folded their hands and were all ears throughout the entire story. This was just an awe inspiring moment for Kristin and I. It was literally a slap in our faces. Firsthand we saw how fortunate we were as young learners back in school. Never was there a lack of tools or funds to purchase more books so that we could experience new stories. Actually, I remember always rolling my eyes and grunting when my teacher said it was “story time!” Ugh, how boring story time always was for me. I preferred going out and running around or taking a spelling test (I loved spelling tests!). How fortunate I was growing up, how spoiled I was! It has literally been a pleasure to bring a few new books to school each day and see the looks on these kids’ faces. I never thought a new book about Dr. Seuss could get an entire classroom standing up, yelling and clapping their hands in happiness!

While at the school, Kristin and I have essentially served to be a native English speaking presence. They have an awesome English teacher at the school who comes in every M, W and F, however she has a pretty strong Paraguayan accent, and she is not a native English speaker. So, along with being native speakers, we are also helping establish a strong base in English pronunciation. As we read books, sing and play games with the kids, they are hearing how we speak in English and what words sound like. Though they may not know what we are saying, our pronunciation is helping their brains further develop their understanding of English. Listening to these kids try and speak English is the cutest thing I think I have ever heard. Every day we arrive at the school, we hear “teacher! Teacher! Teacher!” being yelled throughout the school. We are often referred to as teacher, tia (my personal favorite. It is a Spanish word which basically means “miss or mrs.” in English to recognize a superior. If they were talking to a superior male, they would call them “tio”) or they call us, “Kreeeesteeeeen” and “Kaaaaaaatiiiii.” Too cute. Minus the rambunctious kindergartners, I would love to sneak all of these little kids back with me to the US.

Along with reading, singing and playing games, we have been working a lot on the children’s end of the year Christmas concert/presentation. Kristin and I have really been a help (according to all the teachers) because so far, we have spent hours on helping create and make the set of the concert. Right now we are cutting out little Christmas trees and flower pedals, ironing them to make them hot, which then enables us to stamp a design on them. Once this is done, I hand them over to Kristin who glues all of these little pieces together to then make a flower or a bigger Christmas tree. I have minorly burned my hand a few times with the iron, and Kristin has pretty much glued her hands together every day with the glue. On M, W and F we go to the school and work for hours putting together these flowers and trees. Today we thought we were almost done with this project, then we looked in another bag that was given to us and saw that we have only started. Kristin and I just looked at each other and smiled. Looks like I will be working a lot more with the iron, and Kristin will continue to glue her hands together. So after all of that, we will start on printing, gluing together and writing Merry Christmas cards for each parent and family of the students which will be given to them the night of the concert. We are thrilled to be helpful and save these teachers time!

As for the church, there is not much “extra work” that needs to be done (they run on a pretty tight budget, so there is not much extra “fluffy” stuff going on). So at first, Kristin and I were not doing much at the church besides being a part of the congregation. Then about a month ago, Pastor approached Kristin and I and asked that he could use our help on Friday and Sunday evenings to help watch the babies during services. Kristin and I gladly agreed to help, so every Friday and Sunday we have enjoyed hanging out with the little kids, holding them, singing to them, reading to them and listening to them speak the few little Spanish words they know.

Meet Mikaela.

The other week the church held a “missionary conference” where people came from all over the country, some even from other countries. Kristin and I could both tell that this was a big event for the church. The day before the conference, we were walking down the street and Pastor drove by us, pulled a U-turn, then drove back over to talk to us. He said that his wife was alone at the church, working hard to set up for the conference. We gladly offered to go help his wife with anything she needed. We were both in shirts and skirts, but we knew we could still help with whatever needed to be done. Well, we ended up showing up and shoveling gravel around. Here we were, in cute shirts and skirts, digging up gravel and moving it across the church parking lot to then properly lay it. At first some of the men there helping didn’t think we would be able or willing to help, so they said we could go do other things. But, insisting to help, Kristin and I both grabbed a shovel and began getting dirty, as the smoke of the new gravel was rising and falling all over our clothes. We didn’t care, we were glad to be helping! We are both pretty sure that we impressed some of the guys who thought we would want nothing to do with “getting dirty.” We showed them! ;)

The kids getting ready for their special performance. Enzo is the one with the black cowboy hat on :)

The church during the conference. Packed!

Our good friend Tania and Pastor´s son, Christian, singing.

Left to right- Cesia (Pastor´s daughter), Valeria, and Natalia before their performance!

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As November has approached, Kristin and I have talked a bit about how crazy it is to be able to say that next month, we will be back in the States. Our time here has seemed to go by real slow, but at the same time, we cannot believe we have been living here for over 2 months. We are well over halfway through this trip and it is freaking us out! The daunting questions are coming from our parents, “so…you are coming home kind of soon…what do you plan on doing when you get back?” Dear parents, WE DON’T KNOW YET, SO STOP ASKING US!!! ;)

Thank you all for reading this blog and a special thank you to all of you who have financially supported me down here. Without you, I would not be here learning and experiencing all that this huge world has to offer. It is valuable and priceless and my time here is something I will always treasure. Thank you for making it happen! Love you all!  

This little dog was sitting on the patio one night when we got home. I had never seen it before and I asked Maria where it came from and whose was it, and she said ¨I don´t know! It just appeared!¨ Later that night he escaped and (hopefully) found his home :)