September brought changes to the lives of many people here in Paraguay.  We had a baptism, a wedding, the loss of a small child, the mobile medical clinic, a quince años (15th) birthday celebration, and our usual driving from Asuncion to Santaní to Yrybucua on a regular basis.

It has also been a fairly dry, cold month for us.  We have had to limit our water usage at our house again to either 1 shower, or 1 load of laundry, or wash dishes.  We still think this is God’s way of humbling us to the needs of the people we serve with our water well ministry.  It is amazing how many people in the world take water for granted!  Not so in many parts of Paraguay. 

Our small town of Santaní has seen changes – we now actually have a supermarket; well maybe not “super”, but much larger than the normal Mom & Pop type of stores we have had.  Also, as our population grows, so does the use of motorcycles.  This has been a traffic hazard as many of these new drivers have never received any driving instruction.  On Sunday, September 4th, 4 teenagers in our town were killed due to different motorcycle accidents.  This is a tragic time for our town’s citizens.

Another tragedy this month was the death of 2 ½ year old Daniel.  He lived close to our church in Quinta Linea.  On Sunday, October 11th, he was playing with his 10 year old sister close to the road.  As a motorcycle was approaching, Daniel pulled away from his sister and ran directly in front of the motorcycle.  He died instantly.  His funeral was Monday, with Linda driving the blue Hilux serving as the hearse with about 10 people including the parents.  Ed drove the Land Cruiser with the trailer and had about 40 people.  We drove the 1 hour distance to the cemetery.  It was a very sad day.

Also in September, the St. Matthews Methodist Church from Belleville, IL came for a week.  We always enjoy working with this group.  Remember in September of 2004, we delivered Santiago David with this team?  This year Santiago visited us on his birthday.  You can see he is a very healthy little boy! 

The baptism and wedding occurred on the same day, with some of the same people.  Maria has a lovely family with several children, but lost her first husband who died during a poker game (make up the details).  She met Anistacio, and they decided to get married.  Anistacio had not been baptized, so the morning of the wedding, off to the creek we go with not only Anistacio, but several others who wanted to be baptized as well.  The day was beautiful as a lovely Christian family became whole.

The quince años (15th) celebration was special.  Mercedes is one of the daughters of Pastor Felix from Quinta Linea.  We were very active in the preparation of this party as the mother, Pabla, came to Santaní to buy preparations for the party.

Construction this month has focused on getting the roof completed on the Agrimissions Center.  We also worked on installing the windows and doors, which is almost done.  Our construction crew will now be able to concentrate on the Susannah Wesley school addition.

We ended the month by getting ready to start drilling!!!  Our next well is planned for 2a Linea de Ybú Porã.  We hope to have good news to report by the end of October.  Until then…