November 2004 Adventures

November has been a fun filled month for us.  We began with 2 special people visiting us here in Paraguay.  We ended the month celebrating our 35^th wedding anniversary with a great trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

At the beginning of November, Dave & Tammy Vigliotti from Cannon UMC came to visit us for 10 days.  They got off the plane with running shoes, and we are sure that they returned to the states needing a vacation!  The day after their arrival, we headed to Yrybucua (planes come into Asunción) to be the Padrinos at the wedding of some of our friends.  This is our 3^rd wedding where we’ve been the Padrinos, and each one has been different.  This time, Linda entered the church with the groom, and Ed walked the bride down the aisle.  Like the others, we remained at the side of the groom during the ceremony, but we were lucky enough to have chairs to sit in during the sermon.  Cesar & Zulmira are a lovely couple, and we pray for many years of happiness for them.

While in the Yrybucua region, we gave Dave & Tammy a quick tour of all our 8 churches, plus our newest church to be built at Ogalata.  They had a chance to meet each of our pastors, look at our finished projects, and get ideas for future projects.  We were also able to visit Iguazu Falls in Brazil.  Since we were so close to Argentina, we did sneak a quick trip into Argentina.  Dave & Tammy’s last day here was fun too as we had lunch with all the missionaries with the Methodist church. 

Happy couple - Cesar & Zulmira

Dave & Tammy enjoying Iguazu Falls

We said goodbye to Dave & Tammy, and headed back to Primera Linea.  As you will remember, we finished drilling their well in October, but returned to install the pump this month.  We had barely finished installing the pump before neighbors were arriving with buckets to fill, since there had been no water in the area for the past two days.

The tower has also been completed, and we will install the tank during December. 

The week-end following the pump installation, Linda attended the annual Federation de Mujeres (UMW) conference, while Ed focused on our never ending list of errands.  The women’s conference was a success with about 100 women attending.  This year, we had 9 women from our Northern District attend.  The conference is held at our Methodist camp, which is 60 miles from Asunción.  The women got to Asunción by bus, (which is 125 miles from Yrybucua).  After the conference, we took them home.  We had to spend the night at our Bible Institute in route, since the trip would involve driving at night – which we avoid doing.  While at the Bible Institute, the women asked Linda to come into the bathroom.  Linda said – “after driving 2 days, serving the women, getting dinner ready, etc., what now?”  The women were all standing in the shower and asked her to come in.  They all looked at her and said – “Linda, could you please explain to us how to use this?”  The shower had 2 knobs; 1 for hot water and 1 for cold water.  The women had never been in a shower that had a hot water tank with 2 water lines and 2 knobs!  It’s amazing how God can humble us even in a shower!

We ended the month with a great vacation to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  We took an 18 hour (each way, total 36 hours) bus ride from Asunción.  The international buses here are double deckers, with limited seating, and each seat lays back to form a bed.  Very comfortable!  Buenos Aires was built to be the Paris of South America.  Every where one looks the buildings are beautiful.  We went to an opera (sung in English) at the Theatre Colon, which is one of the few theatres in the world that is built so perfectly that stage performers do not need a microphone.  We saw the balcony where Eva Peron gave her famous speech and Madonna later made famous in the opera Evita.  We took a day to get out of the city and visit Uruguay.  We spent lots of time just enjoying each other, seeing the beautiful buildings, and people watching.  What we were amazed with is the different Spanish accents we encountered. 

December will be busy as we finish up our projects before heading to the US for Christmas.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we speed forward.