Day 7 Edition of Our Journey In Paraguay: Thursday in Quinta Linea
We were up at 5:45 this morning. It was a little chilly out compared to the past mornings. I went in for my first cup of coffee and picked up my laundry that the local ladies had done the previous day. The strong smell of soap that stayed in my clothes almost knocked me over.
As I sat over my first cup of coffee, thinking about the beautiful children we were working with this week, I ran across a verse in 1 John 3:18 “Dear Children, let us not love with words or tongue but with action and in truth.”
We needed to finish bringing in the fill dirt for the foundation this morning. Ed Baker took one of the locals to a hospital this morning. The man had lost 50 pounds over the last couple of months and was very sickly. They think he has a problem with his kidneys. This left us without Ed’s truck, so we hired a local oxcart to help us carry in the last few loads of dirt.
This was also the day to hand out sweatshirts to all of the children in the school. Thanks to the families at Horizon Christian Academy, as well as a network of loving parents all over the U.S. and Canada who have adopted children from Paraguay, we were able to collect & distribute over 160 sweatshirts. The entire team visited each class. We had the children line up in order of size, tallest to shortest, as this is how we had the sweatshirts organized. As each child walked into their class room, we handed them a sweatshirt and a book bag filled with school supplies. This was as much a gift to us as it was to the children. As I mentioned earlier, it was a little chilly this morning, so our timing was perfect.
After lunch, Nelson and I had the task of making a Cross for our VBS program that afternoon. We found a couple pieces of board in a workable size. We got out a saw to cut them to the right length and notched them to fit together to make a cross. I have only seen wood this hard once before, and that was the Ironwood in Arizona. We could hardly make cuts, let alone pound nails into it…but persistence paid off and we eventually got it together.
Our story in VBS today involves the theme: How with God through Christ you can overcome all problems. In the skit, McGyver was the Gambler, Dennis was the Drug Addict, Tracy was the Prostitute, Nelson was the Adulterer and Jimmy was the Alcoholic. Now before your mind wanders too far, the area we are working in is called Quinta Linea, the fifth line. Before the school and church opened in this area, it was an area known for prostitution, drugs and crime. So unfortunately the people and the children in this area know about the type of characters we were going to portray in VBS.
During VBS each character came out playing his or her part. Each had a wooden sign hung around their neck which named their sin or addiction. The story centered on the fact that Christ came to take away man’s sin. This was all finalized by the Crucifixion of Christ, played by our own resident missionary, Christian Dickson. This had a great effect on the children and the parents that were there.
After VBS we held a foot washing for all of the children. Melody was taking pictures and I had the task of being the towel boy. As each child came up front and had their feet washed, each Team Member said a prayer for that child as they were washing and drying their feet. This was quite an experience not only for the children but for the team as well.
Once this was done we started the VBS craft for the day and then headed back to our base camp. We cleaned up as quickly as possible and headed back to the church for church service. Ed Baker gave the sermon for the night. During prayer we noticed that the entire congregation was chanting, or so we thought. I asked Ed about this later and discovered that during the pastor’s prayer, each person says their own prayer. Since it’s in their native language, it does kind of sound like chanting. The Team was asked to get up and sing a few songs to the congregation, which we did joyfully with Nelson leading.
After church service we headed down to the Agricenter for a special meal. They had barbequed three pigs. The entire team gathered, along with the school teachers, the Pastor and his family, the laborers that worked alongside us building the house, and a few local neighbors. It was a magnificent feast celebrating all that the Team had done. We headed back to camp after the meal. It was about 11:30 when we got back.
Thankfully, breakfast was scheduled for a little later than usual, 7:30 am the next morning.
Stayed tuned in for Friday's adventures!
Labels: journey, paraguay, thursday, vanderhoff
