The month of August was filled with activities and special
events. In Paraguay, Friendship Day is
celebrated similarly to the American celebration of Valentine's Day. Children and even adults exchange small gifts
and notes of friendship. Our children in
Hogar GANAR celebrated during their weekly church service by drawing names exchanging
small gifts with their Bible study classmates.
Our staff also celebrated the event by exchanging gifts and taking a
moment to share about the good qualities of each person.
Our teenagers exchange their gifts
During one week in August, our school held the annual school
Olympics. The Olympics consisted of
funny and challenging races and scavenger hunts, soccer and volley ball
tournaments, and even academic quiz bowls.
The students and elementary school teachers were divided into three
colors and our middle school teachers served as the judges for the
competitions. Paraguayan culture is
extremely competitive and the kids took their Olympics very seriously, created
team mascots, "kings" and "queens", team songs and chants,
and brought signs and banners each day to use in cheering on their
teammates. As always, our school
principal, Francisca worked hours to make the events a success and the children
had a great week!
The red team preparing for their initial march
Our school auditorium during the quiz bowl- divided into the three teams
August 16th is the celebration of Day of the Child. This is the day that the whole country takes
a pause to honor and celebrate children.
We are so grateful that our church families and community again
supported us in the planning of this day.
We had donations for the food, sponsors to help with purchasing gifts
for every child, and volunteers that gave of their time to organize games and
to serve the food. Our middle school
students and youth were also extremely helpful in organizing the event and
helping with the children. Many of the children from our home planned skits and
dances to present during the program. All
the children from our school were involved in the event, along with their siblings
that are not yet school age. Every girl received
a stuffed animal and treat bag, and every boy received a ball and treat
bag. Many of the school parents were
also present for the celebration. We had
a visiting clown, Toti, and his friends.
With a long history of working with children in Paraguay, Toti and his
team did an excellent job of making everyone laugh by interacting with the
crowd. In the end he shared an important
and clear message about Jesus' desire to cleanse us from pain and sin through
forgiveness and to give us a life full of joy as we learn to serve Him. It was a wonderful day that I think the
children (and parents) will remember for a long time.
Toti and his friend sharing with the children and families
Araceli and her classmates with their gifts
In September, six of our children from Hogar Ganar ran in a
nighttime race (with head lamps) in the Botanical Gardens of Asunción. To be able to run in the race, each of the
children had to maintain good grades and had to be training ahead of time (for
several weeks) with Milciades (our head of maintenance). The five younger children ran 2.5 kilometers. Carlos, since he is now 15, ran 8
kilometers. We decided the day before
the race that it would be important that all the children from the homes go to
cheer on their brothers and sisters, so all our house parents and children rode
a couple of hours each way on public buses to be at the event and to
cheer. The emotion of the evening is
hard to describe here, but it was absolutely beautiful!! Milciades ran both the 2.5 kilometers and 8
kilometer races to cheer the children on, and it worked, because Amado (13
years old) WON the 2.5 kilometer race!! We were so proud of Amado, who is a wonderful
young man. He takes his faith seriously
and is very humble. Even after his win,
he was embarrassed to go on stage and receive his trophy, but of course we got
him up there, cheering him on. All of
our children finished with good completion times and most importantly came
around the final bend running strong, with smiles on their faces. We are proud of all of them!!
Carlos, Amado, Lorena, Kevin, Matias, and Antonio Paredes ready to run
It seems that September was meant to be the month of
excitement in sporting events. At the
end of the month, Itauguá hosted a city-wide field day with all middle schools. Since our school had never participated in
these events, we were not sure what to expect.
For the weeks leading up to the event, the children trained in track and
field with Milciades and volleyball and soccer with Roberto (our school
principal's husband). When we arrived,
there were probably 1,500 people and lots of events we did not even know were going
to be offered. Our students bravely jumped
in and participated in virtually every event. Because we are a much smaller school than
most, our same students were participating in every sport. The boys and girls both made it through their
first couple of elimination rounds in soccer and volley ball. Our girls were the only ones that
participated in the distance races, so they took home first second and third
place medals! Another of our students
came in second place in the boys' 100 meter sprint, and Carlos won second place
in the high jump (something he had never practiced before the event). At the end of the very long day, our girls'
soccer team made it to the semi-finals.
Quite honestly, we never expected them to make it that far, playing
against much larger schools. The game
finished with a tied score and went to penalty kicks. For those of you that watch soccer, you know
that it is the ultimate stress! There
were three total kicks per team and the other team made 1 of their 3 goals. We also had 1 goal, when Lysandry (from house
3 in Hogar Ganar) was up to kick the final goal for our team to win without
having to enter another round of penalty kicks.
She ran to the ball and kicked with all her might--- GOAL!! We-- students, parents, teachers, and all
rushed the field.
Lysandry's kick that won the semi-final game
We made it to the finals.
We were matched against the same school that beat our girls in the
volley ball semi-finals. So, I was
worried. We made the first goal, then
the other team scored a goal. And in the
last moments of the game, we scored our second goal. Defending our goal until the final seconds of
the game, with time stretching on endlessly, our team won the championship. We were jumping and screaming and running and
chanting and everyone was asking, where is that school located? Our girls had practiced many hours to
prepare for the event and played with all their might. It was a day that we will never forget and we
thank the Lord that we were able to share such a wonderful moment with the
students and parents from our school.
Itaugua's championship soccer team from our own Tape Pyahu school
I also want to say a special thanks to our donors. Due to a few unexpected donations, we were
able to purchase couch cushions for the couches in each of our three houses and
playground equipment for the school.
Below, you can see the states of the couch cushions before they were
replaced. Essentially, our children had
been sitting on wood. In some of the
houses, they had even just stuffed the ripped cushion covers with old
clothing. The children (and house parents)
were thrilled with the new cushions and are enjoying them every day! We had wanted to buy playground equipment for
the school for some time, and are so happy with the jungle gym, swings, and
slide/swing/see-saw combo that we were able to install. The first, second, and third grade students
have been coming to school early just to play on the equipment before school
begins, and during recess, the kids are making good use of every swing, slide
and bar on the jungle gym. Thanks to
each of you whose donations allowed us to make these two major
improvements.
Matias on the old cushions
Matias on the new cushions
The new playground equipment
Junior likes the jungle gym
I want to say thank you as well to those that are committed
to give monthly to our ministry. I know
that often the donations you send are a sacrifice. Please know that you are such an important
part of ministry to 120 children on a daily basis. The transformation and discipleship that is
taking place in the 30 children in our children's home is unmistakable. They are precious and we know that God is
preparing them for great and powerful ministries in the future. Our other 90 students in the school are daily
growing more open to the truth of God's love and are gaining confidence and
receiving nourishment, not only in the
form of food, but also through a quality education, and through the love of our
Christian staff. We know that God's plan
and purpose for each of them and their families is something that will amaze
us. You are a part of that, with every
donation, and with every prayer prayed.
We love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for partnering
with us to serve Paraguay.
Shaun
and Sara Morton
