Passion for Paraguay

Just tonight... <p><p><p><br>'</p></p></p> There is so much excitement in our house!  Yes, we have a toddler :)

Usually we are so busy translating or driving or making logistical decisions, we don't have time to take some shots during a team trip.  I am adding some great pics that the group gave us...so you can see things from their perspective.  The group with the Ache  blessing a motorcycle in Naranjal blessing a tricycle in Jesus blessing a motorcycle in Triunfo 43 blessing a motorcycle in Hohenau CMA Paraguay with the team  visiting the Jesuit Ruins in Trinidad visiting a school in Cerro Cora a monkey in the town of Jesus  animal life at the falls We were blessed in 2011 by the CMA group.  We can't thank you enough for all you did here and we pray that God will continue to use you to spread the vision for evangelism worldwide!

OVERFLOWING with thankfulness for all that God has done for us this year!  Our hope is that you too are giving thanks to our Father for His many blessings on your lives today.

This week we have some of the greatest folks on earth visiting us.  They have two things in common...they love Jesus and they love to ride.  Yes, our long-awaited CMA team has arrived.  They arrived 9 hours late due to their flight being cancelled and having to take a 6 hour bus ride instead.  However, they still got to dedicate the motorcycle that is destined to the Bible translation project for the Ache people. Then they headed down south to help us with painting the radio station. As you can see, the radio desperately needed some paint.  The "after" results are amazing!    We had a really nice time of food and fellowship with the CMA Paraguay chapter, which invited several interested people to attend.   They showed pictures of their bikes and made jokes about each other's motorcycle model, all in good fun of course.   They even fixed a motorcycle owned by the radio that was broken!  I guess we shouldn't be surprised by the man...

This week the dynamic duo, Michael, (the expert bee guy) and Alfredo, (the Bible student) put the UNS nut sheller together!! Here they are reading the bi-lingual manual.  For more pictures of the machine and its results, look here .  This machine will help us shell our 1000 + lb peanut inventory in no time at all (It shells 50 kilos an hour)!!   Thanks again to our friends who helped us purchase the machine and our buddies from Butler, PA that brought it here!!  We are so incredibly thankful for everyone's help.

Nine years ago today we pulled into Paraguay.  This is what we (and our poor truck) looked like the day before arriving to the Paraguayan border.  After being on the Pan American highway for over 70 days (we left Anderson, Indiana on Sept. 6) we were so elated (and exhausted) when we finally arrived that we both wept when we saw the " Bienvenidos a Paraguay " sign. As we reflect back on these past nine years in South America, they've been some of the best and yet toughest years of our lives.  I look at myself then and I see myself as a kid, a whipper snapper of sixteen years or so (I was much older than that!).  I feel like I've matured decades since arriving here; the Paraguayans are so gracious and have taught me so much.  Yet, I still feel in a way like a kid cross-culturally.  I'm still making language blunders and I'm still missing social cues and I definitely still (and perhaps always will) feel like an outsider.  I can't imagine what I woul...

Since today is Orphan Sunday , we thought we'd post a new picture of our little princess.  She is such a happy, delightful baby and we thank God every day for her!  It's hard to believe she's only been home a little over two months.  She is fitting in so well...sleeping and eating well and she just loves people.  Two and a half years ago Norberto joined me in the call to adopt at the Expolit radio conference in Miami when he saw a session called, "The Miracle of Adoption" with Rebeca and Brian Knowles . The speakers at that session dispelled the myths that many people have regarding the adoption process.  Norberto broke down at that conference and knew that God was telling Him he needed to take a step of faith.  When we returned home from our furlough we immediately started the adoption process.  Now, two weeks ago at the COICOM conference in Asuncion, the same speakers were present and he was able to share as a testimony how God used them to touc...