May 2003 Adventures

May began with a return to the Alto Paraná region to complete the 2 projects we had outstanding.  Colonia Guaraní has been completed – PTL!  However, Puerto Indio is still in progress.  As we mentioned in April, we will return again in June to employ a local driller who can drill through the rock we encountered.  We did, however, paint the water tank and had everything lined up for the locals to complete various projects during May.  We left the building of the stand tank tower, bathroom, and running the line to the pastor’s house in their capable hands as we headed back to Asunción to get ready for our next phase of ministry.  The photo in the middle shows the drill site as being fairly shady.  This was quite a blessing!

Watching the drilling operation is always interesting to the local children.  On the left is one of the neighbor’s daughters.

Getting the wood to build the stand tank was interesting.  We will probably write an article for the “Stories to Tell” section of our web site to fully explain the process.  One of the church members donated the wood, but he needed our truck to get the logs out of the forest – which was almost a mile of uncut road.  The wood was 22’ long and very heavy.  It took 5 men to take the logs off the trailer.

The remainder of May we helped a team from the Wesleyan Fellowship at UGA, and then we moved to Santani.  With the UGA team, we celebrated the Paraguayan Mother’s Day, which is date specific – May 15th.  We also had a Día Feliz (Happy Day) with the children of Lambaré.  These days are always fun, as children from all over the barrio come to play, sing, and hear the gospel.

The end of May we were finally able to move all our belongings to Santani.  The road from Asunción to Santani only takes 2 hours – PTL!  We had to make 2 trips to get everything here.  Once here in Santani we are now able to attend functions at our 6 churches in the Yrybucua region.  This is the Northern District in which Ed is District Superintendent.  One of the churches had a 5^th anniversary celebration on May 24^th.  There were nearly 500 people attending!  The church saved money for a year to pay for the festivities; a band, a plate of food for each person, and a bus rented to bring people from the surrounding areas.  We had driven by the church in Yrybucua central to ask if anyone needed a ride to Primera Linea where the celebration was to be held.  We had close to 15 people in our truck heading for the evening ceremony.  We asked how they knew we would be in Yrybucua to give them a ride?  Their answer – at the previous Wednesday night service they prayed we would come and give them a ride – so, of course, we were there to provide transportation! 

One event that occurred this month that was an interesting cross-cutural experience.  We were asked to be padrinos for the groom at his wedding scheduled for May 10^th.  We asked what our responsibilities would be and were assured, just attend the ceremony.  We arrived early, thinking we would take some photos.  As they were getting started, they said we needed to be part of the service.  So, we entered the sanctuary behind the groom, and stood at his side during the service.  The bride also had a couple on her side as her padrinos.  So from now on, we will know when asked to be padrinos at a wedding, this means to be the best man or best woman during the wedding ceremony.  Also, the service held in the church is not a legal service.  The couple also had to have a civil service (which was held several weeks before the church service) in order to be legally married in Paraguay.  However, the parents of the bride did not consider the couple married until after the church service.

June we will get settled in our new home and hopefully will have photos for you in our next monthly journal.  Here is where Santani is located in relation to Asunción.