I had another post for today, but I wanted to interrupt my regularly scheduled programming to talk about last night. A lot of people have asked me what’s so special about Paraguay because I usually talk about the awesomeness here. Like it’s a veritable utopia. I mean, it’s new to me, so it’s all pretty cool, right? But even if it wasn’t pretty cool, why would I just talk about all the bad stuff? Anyway, I don’t want people to think that I only love Paraguay and my new friends and everything else is garbage, but you probably won’t read about the stuff I don’t like here. I wanted to start with that, cuz I’m about to write about something that’s amazing.

The Lambaré church is a church that prays. For example, a couple Sundays ago, we prayed 6 times before the service actually started. Once before singing, twice during singing, once after, a specific petition prayer for someone I think, and then finally the one to begin the morning meditation. They’re not dumb prayers, or necessarily short ones for that matter, either. At first I was like “come on…more praying? Why don’t we just combine them?” But now I like it a lot. It shows that the people love to talk to the Lord and they nearly literally carry everything to him. I’m going to start writing down some of the things I hear prayers for (like “Thank you for our jackets in the cold to remind us how You care for us”).

Last night was really cool. After some really great singing at the beginning (well, it was good for me at least – I can’t speak for everyone else), Ben read from the Psalms about blessing the Lord. After he had finished sharing his thoughts, it was time for the usual prayer meeting. We always start with a rondo (I think that translates to something like “in the round”), where anyone can pray whatever they want. It’s usually folks thanking God for blessings and praising him in prayer. Typically that one is pretty general. After a time, the pastor finishes up. Then after that is the more specific prayers. People say what they’d like to pray for, which is more like the prayer meetings we have in the states.

Last night, though, perhaps drawn from the Psalm that was read, Oscar had everyone come to the front and pray and bless the Lord together. We are typically very few for midweek services, and last night was very quaint. We also had a family that I hadn’t seen at church before, though their daughter was in my 2nd grade class, who just recently became Christians. Like a week ago recently. So we prayed for their family as a family, each one individually, and then for the dad as the leader of the home. We also praised God for bring with Don Marcos during his surgery and bringing him through it and being with him throughout his life (his wife died since I was here last year and it’s still pretty sad). It was really cool because we were all of maybe 20 people tops standing in a circle holding hands and praying together uplifting this young family to God together. I’m not sure what it is about it, but I’ve always enjoyed praying like that (holding hands) as a group. Like we’re more connected that way.

I think one thing that will change for sure while I’m here is that my prayer life will become more vibrant. As I begin to experience a real need for dependence on God, I’ll begin to understand more the importance of talking to Him. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to pray for!

-j

Wednesday the 19th was a roller coaster of emotion! It was exam day for English. Jason took 5th grade, and I proctored 2nd and 3rd. The day started out great. The first 2nd grade class probably did the best with the most 10/10 or 9/10. Very few got less than 8/10. I was very proud of my alumnos. The morning was overall a very smart set of kids. I was even pleasantly surprised with a few of the kids who I expected to do badly and ended up studying like crazy and did super. The morning was a high.

I should have quit then, because the afternoon betrayed me.

A 3rd grader came in for some extra study time just before the exam. She tried so hard but Jason said she just wasn’t getting the stuff. While she was taking her test, she came up to ask me a question about one of them and was also concerned about the rest that she had already answered. I told her the rest were fine, she just needed to answer the first one. She couldn’t figure it out, so I tried helping her understand. Finally she said “Oh, I know, I know!” She went back and finished her test, and when she handed it in, I could see that, in fact, she did not know. Then the whole second page of her test was wrong. I felt so bad! I really really wanted her to do well because she tried so hard. Unfortunately I won’t be with her next year, but maybe I’ll offer some private English tutoring (which they call a “Particular Teacher”).

In the same class was another girl who did very poorly. There’s a story with it though. Before the test her mom came up to me and said she studied so much and tried really hard, but the mom doesn’t know English so she couldn’t help her at all, but hopefully she does ok. She actually did the worst – I think she just can’t take tests, because the rest of her work is always fine. I could tell when she handed me the test that she knew she did badly. When her mom came to get her, I had a feeling she would want to talk to me, so I did what any self-respecting foreign teacher would do: I hid in the bathroom. I waited a few minutes and decided to test the water, but she was still out there so I went to the snack bar to pay my tab. After several minutes, I figured the coast was clear so I went back to the yard. She was still there sitting down, so I went into the church where some kids were practicing for their end-of-the-year presentations. I’m certain I avoided this woman for 20 minutes, and finally I got tired of it. THE SECOND she saw me, she came up to me and asked how her daughter did. Ugh…so I showed her the exam, and Jason explained to her that her daughter will pass English based on the rest of her grades, which seemed to be all the mom cared about. I need to work on my parent skills.

Finally there was a girl in 2nd grade who was taking a while to finish her test. When they start, they sit on opposite ends of their table to minimize the potential for copying. When most of the students had finished, she asked if she could move her chair to its normal position, and I said sure. She sat back from her desk, and I noticed she wasn’t writing anything else on her exam. She just kept looking down. I figured she had a question and she was embarrassed, so she wanted to wait til everyone left. But part of me wondered…

Sure enough once the kids all left, she came up to me and said she can’t read very well, could I tell her what this question said? So we worked it out until she figured it out, then she went back to her desk. I watched her answer one or two more, and then she handed me her test and left the room. At that point I checked her desk and found a paper with drawings and their meanings in Spanish and English. I couldn’t believe one of my precious, adorable students cheated (I have other not-so-precious, not-so-adorable students I would expect it from). I felt betrayed. I felt sad, heartbroken. I am certain she didn’t cheat on the whole test, but I had to give it to her teacher. She ended up confessing, which makes it a little better, but it wasn’t until she was confronted. The Principal showed mercy and only took a letter grade off, but if she hadn’t confessed, it would have been thrown out and she would have received a 0.

So my year is officially done. The older grades will have their presentation in 2 weeks, so that’s my last time with them until February. Maybe I’ll have some fun excursions to take!

-j

I noticed something the other day that struck me a tad. There are trees that look deciduous, but I think they’re not (I haven’t taken the time to check). They’ve got leaves like the North American trees in a temperate climate, but a giant oak they are not. Then I realized all of the trees I could see were generally low to the ground. Then it hit me that these are shade trees.

I took a moment to marvel at God’s design. In a climate that gets unbearably hot, He’s made it so really thickly leaved trees grow low to the ground in order to provide shade for the people. It’s way more noticeably cooler here in the shade than the sun. Get a nice breeze going, and it almost is like air conditioning (sweating could be another one of God’s great inventions…as the sweat dries, your body cools). That made me think about some other things that seem to make intelligent design more reasonable.

When it gets really hot and humid, we get a storm. The rain cools down the air (and even washes the roads for us…) and the night is nice.

In a country that is very poor, fruit trees abound. There’s a mango tree nearly everywhere you look. Four our five mangoes drop in my yard every day, and we also have an orange and lemon tree. Native fruit here is dirt cheap. If people really need food, it’s not too hard to find for free.

The Bible says about God’s provision:

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” – Matthew 6:27-29

-j

I’ve chosen a team. You see, at least in my city you have to pick a futbol team, and you only have one of two choices. Well, I suppose you could have more than two, but when someone asks you which team you are for, they only give you two choices: Cerro or Olimpia.

I didn’t want to make a hasty decision, so I would always stay neutral. I wanted to see a game between the two teams and make my decision based on that. I had my chance today, as Cerro played Olimpia today. They called it a “super classic”. Cerro won 3-1.

Now, let me just say that I had been leaning towards Cerro before the game anyway because I like their colors better than Olimpia. Cerro played a much better game. They were smarter, they handled the ball well, and they didn’t resort to dirtiness like Olimpia did. Therefore, I am for Cerro.

We sang this song last night, and the words spoke deeply to me. Just praise God! (it’s definitely more eloquent in Spanish, but I tried to translate literally)

God doesn’t reject prayer
Prayer is our sustenance.
I’ve never seen a just person without an answer
Or staying in suffering.

It’s good to wait to see what God is going to do
When he lifts his hands it’s time to have victory

Oh Praise Him
Just praise Him
If you’re crying, praise him
During tests praise Him
When you’re suffering praise Him
It doesn’t matter, praise Him
He will listen to your prayers

God goes before opening the way
Breaking chains, pulling out thorns
He commands his angels to fight with you
He opens doors that no one can close.

He works for those who trust in Him
Walks with you through day and night
Lift your hands, your victory is coming
Begin to sing and praise God

Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!

People need to understand what God is saying
When he is silent it’s because he’s working.
It’s enough to wait to see what God is going to do
When he extends his hands, it’s time for victory.

I think I should post more often. Not much happens every day, so I haven’t been taking notes, but by the end of the week I find I have a lot to say.

It’s hard to believe that this time last year I was already on my way home from Paraguay. How did I only stay for two weeks? Did I make the most of it? Obviously it was enough to make an impression if I’ve wanted to come back since then. Maybe my mentality is different this time knowing I’ll be here for a while, because if I went back home today I wouldn’t yearn as much as last year. I don’t mean to sound like I am not happy; quite the contrary. I think this time it’s sort of like the difference between infatuation and love. I was infatuated before, and now I have made the decision to love Paraguay. Maybe I’m maturing.

I have also begun to acclimate better to the language. I’ve never felt strange here, like an outsider. The closest has been when someone would say something funny that I don’t get, and I’m the only one not laughing. It’s hard to fake comprehension when you’ve got the only different reaction. But I understand a lot more, and while I can’t speak that much more Spanish, I can’t speak that much English either. Words fail me constantly. I like using bigger, classier words when I speak English, but my Spanish is that of a child who is just learning. Kinda frustrating. I have to keep reminding myself that I’ve only been here for two weeks.

It’s easy to love the children who love me. There are two who love me probably more than any other two children love me with the exception of my nephew. Whenever they see me, they run to me and give me a hug. One of them even put her nose into my shirt, breathed in, and said with a grand smile that I smell wonderful. It was kind of strange, but I’ll take it as a compliment. What’s harder is loving the children who mouth off to me. I’m convinced, too, that God made kids cute so you’d like them when they’re unlikable, and the cuter the kid is, the more unlikable they are at times. It’s just a working theory, but I have a lot of empirical proof. There’s one girl who is adorable but probably the most frustrating and sometimes spiteful child I’ve been with in class. Maybe it’s a sign of spiritual maturity or something, but instead of being angry with her I am moved to pray for her. I still have this idealistic attitude that maybe *I* can be the one who encourages some of these kids to change. Jason says he likes that about me so far, and I sort of hope I can keep that attitude. I *have*, however, realized that I will not have a problem with discipline. That is to say I will not be afraid to discipline. As cute as they are, they’re also frustrating and know how to push buttons.

Finally for today, this morning Jason, Rey, and I went to a place called Areguá. It’s a city known for its strawberries and its hand-worked clay pottery and figurines. You can find about anything you can think of there worked from clay. Animals, cartoon characters, Superman, pottery, lamps, even naked things that were quite unmentionable. Most prominently, not surprisingly, were the Catholic pieces, especially Nativity scenes. If the day had been nicer, photos would have been prettier, but I did take a few.

The way home was a rainy one, and I’ll let the video explain what happens when it rains a lot here. A light sprinkle doesn’t do this, but a normal, good rain makes itself abundantly evident.