A beautiful Sunday morning

This past Sunday morning was a very special day for us. Two of the boys from House 3 (Kevin and Amado) were baptized. They have been attending church some Sundays with their house parents, Arnaldo and Ramona, and they heard the announcement about baptism. They expressed interest in being baptized and completed a preparatory class last week.

Kevin is 12 years old and was very bitter towards God for a long time. He had no interest in the Bible, in his house's devotionals, or in giving his life to the Lord. Since the arrival of his new house parents a few months ago, his life has undergone an amazing transformation and everyone is noticing his new attitude. He has not only taken interest in Bible studies, but has begun to teach some of the house's devotionals with his house siblings. We are so proud of Kevin for his decision to be baptized and we thank the Lord for the work that He is doing in Kevin's heart.

Kevin being introduced to the church

Amado is also 12 years old. He is our little philosopher and has loved to read and study the Bible for a long time. He is one of our best-behaved children in the home and really does have a desire to serve the Lord. He was extremely nervous before going up for his baptism, and we were so proud that despite his nerves, he was baptized and even spoke into the microphone beforehand!

Amado overcoming his nerves to speak before his baptism

The boys were announced as Arnaldo and Ramona's children, and it was precious to see the way that the house parents really do feel that God has given them the 10 children in the house to love and disciple. I couldn't stop the tears of joy that I shed when watching these two young men publicly display their commitment to the Lord. We know that the Lord has great plans for their future, and we can't wait to see all that the Lord will do in them as they continue to grow and mature. Thank you for your prayers for these children! Each of you that prays and supports our ministry plays a part in every victory in our children's lives. Blessings to you!

Ramona, Ricardo (the house parent's biological son), Kevin, Arnaldo, and Amado

Overwhelmingly blessed

Today was our celebration for the very important "Day of the Child" holiday. At the children's home we hosted children from our school and the surrounding community for a giant party honoring children. The Lord blessed us with a day that was absolutely gorgeous, complete with moderate temperatures and a beautiful blue sky.

In preparation for the event, we had so many people volunteer to help that by the week prior to the event, there was nothing left for Shaun and I to do. Our house mom from House 2 and some of the children decorated the basketball court beautifully with balloons. Our church family volunteered to take care of the activities and the young people that teach our children in their Bible program on Saturday set up several exciting games for the kids.

The grocery store that is already donating meals to the school to feed 100 children five times a week also wanted to help. They reassured me that there would be enough food for everyone, but I was shocked when I saw the quantity of the delicious food that they brought. There was enough food for an army, and parents and children were able to take part in the meal. The cakes were delicious and there were cookies and candy filling everyone's hands.

The bouncy castle and slide were also a gift from our wonderful grocery store friends at Super Alegria! The teachers from our school and some special guests put on a wonderful program for the kids, focusing on God's love and care for the children, and on His ability to "clean" our hearts.

I can not express how overwhelming it is to watch how the Lord has brought together a team of precious Paraguayans that love our children and want to serve them. I know that the doors that are being opened in the community within the hearts of the moms and dads that were present today will result in a wonderful harvest of souls for the glory of our Lord. This was the first Day of the Child event done in the home that involved all the children from the school, and even other families from the community that participate in our weekly Bible school. The parents enjoyed the entire event and were so appreciative that we had planned something so wonderful and included their families.

This past weekend, Richard Baker, from Children of the World ministries visited our home. Our children's home has recently been accepted as an associated orphanage with this international foundation. We are excited about our partnership with them, and were humbled to hear about the status of orphans around the world in other continents. Our children took time to pray for the ministries of Children of the World as they have a heart to pray for children still on the streets and in situations of abuse. Our children are learning not only to receive the blessings that they have been given, but to use what they have to bless others. We hope to instill in each of them a servants' heart and to encourage the passion they have to help other children in situations like the ones they have come from.

Shaun and I want to say "thank you" to you, our American family, that prays and supports the work here in Paraguay. We also want to publicly thank our Paraguayan family for their support and hard work today! Together, the international body of Christ will bear the burden of the "least of these" around the world and our Lord will be glorified in every nation and tongue! Blessings to all!

Winter Vacation!

As many of you know, summertime in the states means wintertime here in Paraguay. We have been having a wonderful winter here in Hogar GANAR.

Special youth outing to the Expo (Paraguay's annual national fair)

complete with new sunglasses!

In May, we had a team of three interns from the Lee University Intercultural Studies Program join us for a ten-week internship. They returned to the states this month and were a blessing for our children's home during their stay. They did some of the less-glamorous but much-needed work projects of scraping paint and clearing our garden space and led Bible school on the weekends with our children from the home and many children from the school and community. They taught English to young people and adults from the community and taught our children in the home several dramas and dances. They ate meals in the houses with the children and really became a part of the Hogar GANAR family during their stay. They each stretched themselves out of their comfort zone to communicate with and love on the kids and staff in our home. We want to say "Thank you" to Audra, Erica, and Letitia for your time and efforts during your missions internship!

Letitia cheering on the green team in our school's winter field day competition.

Erica getting ready to begin her English class.

Audra teaching the youngest children during the Saturday Bible class.

We also had the visit of a team from Mufreesboro, TN during July. The team included Dana William's (our school's missionary English teacher) brother and sister and three other young people from their church. They did a variety of painting projects, including completely painting our school auditorium, which is now beautiful! They also held a special VBS program for our children in the home during their two-week winter vacation, with daily lessons and some amazing crafts. Their church, The Carpenter's House, rallied together to send a new pair of tennis shoes to every child in the home! This was a wonderful blessing for us and for every child! Thank you, Austin, Ryan, Tarah, Angie, and Ashley!

Tarah, passing out new tennis shoes to Lysandry.

As our two teams overlapped, we took advantage of their visits to take the children to the Zoo. It was great to have so many adults to help keep an eye on all our little ones and we had a wonderful day. It was unseasonably warm and the weather was beautiful! We had a picnic, Pizza Hut lunch in the shade of the trees inside the zoo. There was literally a monkey hanging in the tree over us while we were eating!

A combination of teams serving pizza to the children on our zoo outing.

We have had a full and busy winter! We are so grateful to the two teams that came and donated their time to touch the lives of the children in our homes. Also, a special thanks to Camille and Caroline Hagerman, our resident missionary kids and translators for these mission teams! If you or your church are interested in coming to Paraguay on a mission team or for an internship, please contact us at servingparaguay@gmail.com. To see more pictures of our children in the school and homes and our wintertime events, please visit our Facebook Page or our website.

In front of the Natural History Museum at the Asuncion zoo.

Disciples.

There are moments when something happens, something shines forth from one of the children we have been working with that makes my heart overflow with joy and gratefulness to the Lord for what He is doing in the children in our care.

Our vision is to see lives transformed and many days it is hard to see the transformation that God is working. There are days when the children are breaking windows, kicking and hitting their house parents and other children, screaming curses, and just behaving horribly. During these moments the pain and hurt that our children have suffered shows through and sometimes their problems seem insurmountable. But thankfully, the Lord specializes in working out impossible situations and taking each of us in our brokenness, restoring us, and using us for amazing purposes.

Soledad is a beautiful young lady that arrived in our home only 10 months ago. She has a difficult story, like the other children in our home, and came to us shy, hurting, and discouraged. Last week, she told her house parents during their nightly devotional that she thanks the Lord for Him bringing her to know Him at this point in her life. When Soledad attends church, she hangs on every word. Later, she takes her notes home and re-preaches the sermon to her house "siblings." Last Friday, she spoke at the school assembly to her classmates and the director and teachers were blessed by what she shared. Soledad has never made good grades in her life and just brought home her report card with all A's and only one B. She is not only making positive changes within, but her whole face and countenance have changed in her time with us. Her face literally shines with the joy that is overflowing from her heart. I thank God that He is using our house parents, the school staff, and our other volunteers to bring healing into the lives of some of the world's most precious and wonderful children.

Thank you for your prayers for us. We do need them and we ask that you continue to pray for every child in our home and school. We are also facing some difficult financial challenges this month and would ask that you keep our finances in your prayers. If you would like to support our school and children's home, please send tax-deductible donations to:

Serving Paraguay

P.O. Box 6092

Mesa, AZ 85216

Trust and Provision.

It is a nearly constant battle for me as a missionary, someone "directing" a children's home to trust in the Lord, the creator of the universe. I can trust the Lord is so many areas of my life, but when it comes to trusting in His financial provision, I must say that I struggle. I want to write this note to encourage you, to say that you can trust in our Lord to provide and to declare that He will meet the needs of every child and worker under our care here in Paraguay.

I spend much of my time crunching numbers, reviewing donations, and honestly, just worrying. God has been working in my heart in this area and He has been speaking to me in so many ways to communicate to me, "Just trust Me." The last two months, we were several thousand dollars short to pay for our salaries and food costs here in Hogar GANAR and the Itaugua Christian School. Many people do not realize how much money we need to operate monthly. Currently, we need around $11,000.00 a month to pay all teachers, house parents, other staff, and to provide for the children's basic needs. Our costs have risen significantly because the dollar has lost much of its value here in Paraguay.

I always have a way in my head that God is going to answer my prayers and provide, and He is constantly surprising me by where the finances come from. Praise the Lord that in the last two months "surprise donations" have arrived at just the right time to be able to cover our monthly costs. One gift of nearly $4,000 came from someone I have never even met.

This month, I have no idea, and don't even want to try to guess at how God will provide, but I am learning that I can trust Him, because He is faithful. A wonderful friend sent me a link to an article about George Mueller and I would like to paste a portion of a quote from him here below:

My dear Christian reader, will you not try this way? Will you not know for yourself . . . the preciousness and the happiness of this way of casting all your cares and burdens and necessities upon God? This way is as open to you as to me. . . . Every one is invited and commanded to trust in the Lord, to trust in Him with all his heart, and to cast his burden upon Him, and to call upon Him in the day of trouble. Will you not do this, my dear brethren in Christ? I long that you may do so. I desire that you may taste the sweetness of that state of heart, in which, while surrounded by difficulties and necessities, you can yet be at peace, because you know that the living God, your Father in heaven, cares for you.

Be encouraged! The Lord is faithful and will meet all of our needs.

Paraguay Celebrates 200 Years of Independence!

This week has been filled with celebrations of the Bicentennial of the nation of Paraguay (May 15th is Paraguayan independence day). It has been wonderful watching the cultural celebrations unfold. Monday, our school children put together a giant event to celebrate their nation's 200th year of independence. All the children intensely studied the history of Paraguay and each grade adopted a different region to learn about and then display to the community. We had a special program, as well, complete with participation in dance or speeches by every grade, from pre-school to 8th grade. All the parents and teachers worked together to prepare the school for the event. Their efforts were very successful and the students did an AMAZING job!!

Today, our school marched in the Itaugua bicentennial parade. Several of our students dressed up in Paraguayan dance attire and proudly represented our school. We were presented to the town officials. It was a proud moment for all the teachers and students! Nilda and Carlos, from our children's home, carried the school's banner and led us in the march. Enjoy the photos!

In typical Paraguayan dance outfits

Pre-school and 1st grade students' performance

Carlos in his grade's booth

Aren't they adorable?!!

In costume

Pre-schoolers in their "broom dance"

The children from our children's homes preparing to march in the parade

Our school in the Itaugua parade

In other school news...

As many of you know we have recently started the school year here in Paraguay. We are excited about the opening of our private Christian school (Colegio Cristiano de Itaugua) that aims to become a tremendous blessing to the precious children in our community, as well as the children living in our children's home (Hogar GANAR). To give a little context to the educational situation, here is a link to an interesting story that appeared in yesterday's paper about the poor state of many of the public schools in the Asunción. (Note- English speakers may want to use google translate.)

PHOTO: Just days away from starting classes, many schools look as if they are abandoned.