August 2008 Adventures

August 2008 Adventures

In July, we forgot to mention we are now on the radio! Yes, Missionary News Network called us for an interview. The link to read the article is: http://mnnonline.org/article/11475. The audio can be found in the upper-right section; but we are only included, briefly, in the 4.5 min. version. In case this article has been archived, the article date is 24, July 2008.

August 1^st, we said good-bye to the Cannon UMC mission team, and hello to a medical team from the St. Louis, IL area. This is the 5^th year we have helped with the St. Matthew’s medical team. During the 4 days of seeing patients, 1,175 medical visits were made – but the best of all is that 60 souls were committed to Christ - PTL!

This year the medical team set up at the Methodist Technical School in Yrybucua

3 really cute customers

The remainder of August we spent completing the tower and water tank at Palomita. This well will provide water for 13 families, so we wanted a bigger tank than we usually install. We’ve installed a 2,000 liter tank, on top of a 20’ tall tower. Some of the houses are a bit uphill from the well and we were concerned that the tower may not be high enough to deliver water to them. When we mentioned this concern to the homeowners, their reply was – no problem, we will just move our house to where the water is! Now that’s being determined to get water! Keep in mind; their houses are just made of sticks & straw.

One of our many great helpers

While we are cleaning the well, people start using the water – it’s better than creek water!

The remainder of the month we’ve been driving! Now that we are living in the Asuncion area, we are 175 to 200 miles from our work sites. It seems we always need to go out to deliver pipe, check on the project, and deliver tanks, all kinds of things. Plus, we just enjoy getting out of the city & traffic and visiting with our Paraguayan friends.

This month Paraguay has inaugurated a new president. President Lugo is a former Catholic Bishop. He gave up “the cloth” to run for the presidency. For missionaries, you would think this would be good for the country and for the church. However, the only other country leader to attend the inauguration was Hugo Chavez from Venezuela. In the newspaper headlines the day after the inauguration, Chavez said: “My brave Paraguayan people”. Now all improvements to such things as roads, etc. are being credited to funds from Chavez. We just wonder what the future for missionaries will be in Paraguay.

We still have lots to do before we leave for Nicaragua. We still have 2 more wells to drill plus lots of loose ends to finish up. Please pray for guidance, patience, and safety on the roads as we travel to and fro getting things done!

This is the same precious little Granny from Palomita in both photos. She will be getting a spigot in front of her house!