December 2006 Adventures

December, for us, is the month to enjoy your July fruits, especially watermelon.  But, enjoying this delicious fruit brings about a lot of controversy (according to local customs) we thought we should share with you before you make any July Fruit Mistakes!  First, never eat watermelon after you’ve eaten beef (so forget those hamburger/watermelon picnics).  Eating watermelon after red meat can cause the meat in your stomach to become raw.  Never drink a carbonated soda with watermelon – you might explode (see above picnic caution)!  Never eat watermelon with wine – you may become drunk (and they blame that on the watermelon?).  Never eat watermelon before going swimming – you may drown.  While drilling the wells in Nuevo Horizonte, we talked to several Paraguayans about this, and they all agreed it’s just a lot of superstition.  So, after lunch with beef & coke, we offered watermelon.  They all said thanks, but no thanks, they would have to wait.

We’ve had a good month with well drilling, weddings, annual school closing activities, and family visits.  First well drilling – we finished the well at the Nuevo Horizonte site for the future school.  Like the church site, we installed a hand pump.  The water has cleaned up nicely, and the people are using clean water without having to drink creek water!

One of our workers at the Susannah Wesley School got married this month.  Marriages are only legal if they are performed by a judge.  Many Christian couples have a civil service, followed by a service in a church.  This young man is a Christian, but his new bride isn’t, yet!  So, they had a civil service at her parent’s house.  We can’t decide if we are always invited to these affairs because we have vehicles or because we have a camera.  We ended up taking about 25 or 30 people from the groom’s family in Segunda Linea to the wedding in Tacuapi – that’s about 80 miles of driving, at night, in the rain, on slippery wet clay roads!  The young couple is sitting at the desk, Elfirio with the yellow shirt and Elvira in the white blouse.

Year end closings at schools are a big event.  Susannah Wesley celebrated with a picnic in front of the school after the awards ceremony.  Picnics here signify you bring your own table, chairs, food and drinks.  It’s funny seeing people walking down a dirt road with a table on their heads.  We both participated in the ceremonies – Linda handed out certificates to those with the highest marks in each grade level and Ed said a few words about the new school opening in February, 2007.  The current facility only goes through grade 6; next year we hope to open grade 7.

Of course, what would Christmas be without family!  We were so blessed that our daughters and future son-in-law were able to come to South America for Christmas.  We met in Buenos Aires, Argentina for Christmas, then traveled into Patagonia for the week between Christmas and New Years.  Here is a photo of us in El Calafate at a glacial lake.  Yes, it was cold!  We left Paraguay with temperatures in the 100’s, so colder weather was a welcome change for us.

We hope each of you had a blessed Christmas filled with family and friends, and remembering that our Lord and Savior gave us His son for all of our salvation!  What a gift of love – please share with all those you know!

Happy 2007 – we look forward to sharing many more blessings and exciting events with each of you during the upcoming year.