"PEANUTS, Get your Fresh Roasted Peanuts!"

This week has been soooo cold.  What better way to warm up than being in the kitchen.  The students have been working hard for four weeks now with our micro-enterprise peanut project.

With our peanut harvest we have been shelling nuts by hand and elaborating delicious roasted peanuts and candied peanuts (beer nuts). We think we've got a really good recipe too!  Last week we bought an electric scale and a sealer machine, so our product is presentable and weights what we say it weighs!

We've been distributing to five local mini-markets here in town.  On Thursdays we replenish the stock.  So far, sales have been very good!  We're now working on designing our label, which will be ready next week.  Then we will reveal our new product name!


We are grateful that the students are so excited about this endeavor and that people love eating peanuts with yerba mate tea in the winer. 

Please pray with us that our nut sheller molds arrive (long, complicated story) in July so we can continue to process our peanuts at a faster rate.  The bottle neck in the process is definitely due to shelling by hand.

So, what do you prefer...salty or sweet peanuts?

Frost, Kindle, and Milestones

Someone in our home had a milestone birthday this week.  He's entering a new decade and we're pretty excited here to celebrate his life and all that God has done to bless him.  More pics to come.

While we didn't win the Kindle contest a while back, some friends are sending us one they don't use.  Isn't that fantastic!


Last night was the first frost of the season and a cold front is blowing in.  I am reminded how seasons in our lives are so important.  There is beauty in each season and there are challenges that come as well.    Here's a pic of Timmy and Norb early this morning using spatulas to scrape the car window so Timmy could get to school!

Last night we gave thanks to God for a roof over our heads, a warm fireplace and food.  We prayed for Paraguayans that live in poverty without the basics to stay healthy. 

What are you thankful for right now?  What season are you in? 

Happy Father's Day...Feliz Día Papá

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and especially to the best "Papi" ever!

 

Timmy was so excited to put on the same traditional Ao Po'i Paraguayan dress shirt as his hero.

Can you tell he wants to be just like his dad?

What did you do to celebrate the special father-figure in your life?

The Empty Dish

The first time our neighbor Roberto brought over some food, I looked into the pan and thought I was going to vomit.  It was a cow's hoof.  All I could think of was the amount of manure that was under that toenail and after saying a prayer to God for strength, I just barely get it down.

That was nine years ago and he still continues to bring us over food about once a month and while I still don't like cow's hoof, the level of Paraguayan hospitality is the best we've ever encountered.  This family doesn't even have electricity, (no fridge or stove) yet they want to share with us what they have.

This past week, when Roberto handed over some warm tortillas (like a salty pancake) to Norberto he whispered....don't return the dish empty.  A little confused, Norberto asked for clarification.


Roberto chuckled and said that true Paraguayan culture requires that when a neighbor brings you food, you, in turn, should fill it with something you've made to share as well.

Norberto said, "You mean for NINE years you accepted the dish back empty from us and you never said anything!!"

 We were so embarrassed and apologetic.  We immediately filled it with what we were cooking for lunch.  We're STILL learning Paraguayan customs and habits and we are grateful for patient and forgiving friends.

Advocating for the Orphan

As most of you know, we are in the LOOONG process of adopting a Paraguayan orphan.  While we feel that God is calling us to adopt, we know that it is not for everyone.  Yet, we do believe that God is clear that caring for orphans and widows is something Christ followers should take seriously. 

Recently, we became familiar with the Reese Rainbow, an international orphan ministry.  They just turned five years old.  Since their inception, more than 500 orphaned children with Down syndrome and other special needs, who were hidden away in orphanages and mental institutions around the world, have now found "forever families" in the United States and Canada!

For their anniversary, they launched the 5/5/5 Warrior Project to bring greater awareness and grant funds to all of their  5-year old children, both with Down syndrome, HIV or other Angels.  These kids are facing life-long institutionalization, instead of preparing for kindergarten like they should!

Folks, Timmy is five and when we look at him and think of what his life would be like in an institution we just want to weep.  Our hearts break for these young ones whose entire lives have been without a home and their greatest desire is to have a real family. 

We ask you to pray with us for these little children that are suffering!!

We have become prayer warriors for this sweet princess, named Sarah.  She is almost exactly the same age as our little guy.  Isn't she just a doll!!

She is described as "a lively child, cheerful character, always in good spirits. Accurate, loves beautiful clothes and playing dress-up. .She loves to draw and is very artistic. Her drawings often depict a house, a mom and a dad. She hopes that her dream will come true.The only health information available about Sarah at this time is that she has a "serious incurable disease"."  Sarah only has $5.00 in her adoption fund.

Please pray with us for her healing, for her adoption funds and for her forever family!


We are so excited to have become 5/5/5 warriors for Lance!  He just turned five in May and is living with HIV.  Doesn't he just have the greatest smile!  Currently, Lance has no funds in his adoption fund. 

Our job as warriors for him, is to ask people to pray him home and raise funds for his adoption.  Even $10 is a HUGE help offset adoption costs that might scare potential families away. 

"Jesus, thank you that you love these little ones and that you are wrapping your arms around them, giving them protection and peace to their spirits even in the midst of pain and suffering." 

If you would like to donate, you can do that securely by clicking on their names.   There are more five year olds that need prayer warriors too!  Go here for more details. 

Please leave us a comment letting us know that you are joining us in prayer for Sarah and Lance!

Reaching Out Through Sports

 Giving sports balls is one of the best (and cheapest) projects available to bless lives through 

Missionary Ventures' Gift Catalog. This year we were able to purchase 8 balls.

  The five balls on the left are thread bare and the five new balls on the right put smiles on all the kids' faces.

This soccer club meets every Saturday morning in Asuncion.  

 The 70 participants practice two hours and end it out with a devotional every week. 

 These kids come to the Hora Feliz in Cerro Cora every Saturday afternoon.  

The boys got a soccer ball...

 and the girls got a volleyball (of course)!

The last ball went to the Explorers' Club. That is the local ministry that Norberto serves in.

 Wanna reach out to kids through sports? 
You can help a children's ministry by giving a soccer/volley ball here. 

Lessons on First Fruits

This is a three year old fruit tree in our back yard.  At the top of this tree you can see the first tangerines it has ever produced.  You can imagine how excited we were after watching that tree grow for three years to finally try those juicy, little treats!  However, while we were waiting for the tangerines to fully ripen, we had some people stay in our home while we were gone and they ate ALL our fruits and we didn't even get to enjoy them. 

After getting over our initial frustration, we realized that there seems to be a lesson in this somewhere.  We decided we had "unwillingly" given our first fruits offering!  We gave of the best that we had.

Proverbs 3 says it like this, "Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine."

The neat thing about first fruits is that you know that there is more to come.   You give up something now in faith that your sacrifice will bring greater rewards.  Now, admittedly, we didn't generously give away our fruit, we were so ready to scarf them all down ourselves. We hadn't even considered sharing from the small harvest we had reaped and we are learning what it means to honor the Lord with all our possessions.

With this little incident we're reminded to keep an open hand to others and believe by faith that God will bless us when we give with joyful hearts. 

What about you?  Do you give first fruits offerings to the Lord?  Have you seen the increase that comes with it?