Alpharetta Cumming Lake Lanier Real Estate Blog

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

Day 6 Edition of Our Journey In Paraguay:

We awoke at our usual time this morning. McGyver and I showered and dressed then raised the rest of the team at 6 am. We then went for our morning coffee and quiet time. Breakfast was another culinary delight this morning. Not quite sure what it was, but it tasted great.

It was my turn to give the morning devotional. My topic was “Why mission trips: What’s my motivation & what results do I see from these trips”.

I opened the devotional with the question, “Why are you here?” I answered my own question with, “It doesn’t really matter what your motivation; God will use it for his purpose”. Over the years on our many mission trips to various countries, Melody and I have teamed with people from all walks of life. Some are stepping out in faith, pushing their limits to answer God’s call. Others have been inspired by someone else to gather the courage and go abroad to serve the Lord. Others have just wanted to see another part of the World.

The funny thing that happens to almost every person that goes on a mission trip, is that they have a life changing experience. Being in a foreign land, showing less fortunate people that you are there in the love of Jesus Christ, has a tremendous impact on the people we are visiting, as well as those of us who are team members. We ALL experience the love of Christ.

Many people have asked us if it would be more productive to just send the money and hire the work to be done by locals…our answer is always the same. Yes, we would get more physical work done, but that is the least important aspect of these trips. Building relationships with the people and showing them we care are the most significant things we accomplish. Another important aspect of these trips is the fantastic opportunity that it gives us to evangelize to those in our own country once we return home. People constantly ask about the trips and this gives us the golden opportunity to tell our story of sharing Jesus’ love. And, because they asked it becomes a much more effective way to communicate the Good News to them.

After breakfast and devotional, we gathered our things, hopped in the trucks and headed for the Agricenter and School. More brick laying and shoveling fill dirt was the call for the day. I had a short break from work today to help Melody at the school and play soccer with the kids, which may have been harder work then shoveling dirt. We broke for lunch at noon and took some well deserved rest along with another great meal.

After we finished our work for the day, we hiked down the road to the school and church for VBS. It was a great program about Jonah and the whale today and the team members are all starting to really get into the skits and becoming hams. The kids all did really well with their project for the day, so I joined in with Melody taking pictures of the kids with my camera. Once they know you are snapping shots, they all want their pictures taken and want to see it on the digital display. Needless to say I had kids all over me for the rest of the day.

One really interesting thing I noticed was how many of the children have light complexions and blue eyes. Considering they are all natives to the country, it was a surprise to me. I was told later that during one of the two wars that Paraguay had started, with the intent to gain more land (both of which they lost), many of the men were killed. The lost war left many widows in the country with large land holdings. Many European settlers came to Paraguay after the last war and married these women… resulting in blonde haired, blue eyed children. Another fact that I learned was that originally Paraguay was the largest country in South America and encompassed Argentina, Uruguay, parts of Chile and a large portion of Brazil.

Marla, one of the little girls that attends the school and church, had a bad burn on her foot which had become quite infected. We did not have a doctor with us, but we did have McGyver with us who received medical training while he was in the Marines. So he, Melody and Ed Baker took Marla and her mother to a pharmacy in the nearest village to get antibiotics to fight the infection. The pharmacy was a small room attached to the pharmacist’s home with a few small cabinets of drugs, a chair, a dirt floor and plenty of flies. It was a far cry from the secure and sterile environment required in this country. The Pharmacist looked at her foot and asked Ed if one of them was a doctor to which Ed apparently indicated that McGyver was…so he sold them the needed drugs to help little Marla. McGyver didn’t realize that he was now a doctor…so he gained a slightly different nickname: Dr. McGyver.

When we all finally arrived back at the camp, we cleaned up for dinner. We had the added pleasure of celebrating Christian and Angelica’s third wedding anniversary with a beautiful cake made by our wonderful cooks. It was a great day topped off by a wonderful celebration honoring the marriage of our own missionaries.

We prepared for our next day’s VBS and hit the sack. I think everyone was pretty well worn out, but definitely at peace.

Labels: journey, missions, paraguay

Day 5 Edition of Our Journey In Paraguay:

McGyver and I started the day at 5:45AM. It seemed that almost everyone slept a little later today. About one half hour before breakfast, four or five of us gathered in the dining hall for our morning coffee and some quiet time to work on our journal and reflect on the previous day and what lay ahead for today. Breakfast was served at 6:30AM and was great as usual.

After breakfast Jimmy Newmon shared his testimony with us, and it was a wonderful and moving story. We each continue to share more and more about our personal lives and are really coming together as a strong, closely knit Team.

The ride to the Agricenter was quiet as we all focused on our tasks for the day. Once at the site, we were introduced to a revolutionary new Paraguayan tool…The Wacker Packer… The Wacker Packer is a section of log (tree) about 12” in diameter and about 2’ long. It has two narrower tree limbs, one attached to each side extending straight up as handles. The purpose of the tool is to compress the fill dirt we have been, and will continue to, load into the base of the house we are building. After each layer of dirt is filled in, we simply lift up the Wacker Packer and drop it on the dirt to compress it. It sounds easy, but let me tell you, it wears you out.

Some of the better brick layers on the Team continued to lay brick, while others mixed the mortar. The rest of us went back to shoveling loads of fill dirt in an ox drawn cart down the road from the construction site, and then off-loading it into the foundation of the house. After each load was filled in, the Wacker Packers took over to compress the fill dirt.

We broke at noon for lunch and were treated to another wonderful meal. During lunch we learned that Christian was short $1500 to purchase all of the land he wanted for the school expansion. The Team discussed this and we decided that we would give Christian the additional $1500 he needed for the land purchase and that we would give Ed Baker the $900 he needed to get clear title for the Agricenter land. This money was only available because of the generous support of each and every one of you, and our Team members’ sponsors. After lunch we went back to work on the house until about 2:45PM.

We cleaned up as best we could and hiked down the road to the church for VBS. Today was the story of Creation. I had the role of playing GOD again today (not because of my character, but because of my white hair and age). I was also informed that this would be my role for the balance of the week so as not to confuse the kids. Our craft with the kids today was decorating picture frames for each of the childrens’ individual photos that Melody was taking and printing. They would be getting those later in the week. They decorated the frames by gluing small squares of colorful paper to the outer border of a 5” x 7” piece of cardboard.

When we got back to camp for the evening, we were given chicken and dumplings for dinner…not quite the same as we get here in the South, but it was good. After dinner we prepared for the next day’s VBS program, the story of Jonah. We each practiced our roles in the skit and made sure we knew how to put together the next day’s craft.

As the night wound down a few of us had a great game of Hearts, while Melody was busy printing pictures of the school children. I had a little time before bed to reflect on my devotional that I was to give in the morning. My topic was: “Why do I go on Mission Trips and what are the results that I can see from them”…a surprising answer.

Lights were out at 10 pm…stay tuned for our next day’s adventure.

Labels: journey, paraguay