Paraguay, Day 6 (Thursday)

Last night we went to 2 cell groups again. This time, Lori and I went with Brenda to one group, and David, Aaron and Lenny went to the other group with Bob. Once again, we all spoke. They were good meetings. At the group I attended, last night reminded me of my days in Hawaii. The night was quite warm and breezy, and we met outside in Jorge Cabral's back yard. He played guitar and led singing, there was good food, testimony and Bible message, and good fellowship, with laughter and conversation. What joy!

Today, we continued working on the church office and painting. We need to be finished by the end of Friday, so please pray that we make good progress. We've figured out how to nail the hardwood, and the pine tongue and groove strips are going on well.

Bob took us to lunch to a place that sells empenadas. Mmmmmmm! I was so full after the meal that I could hardly move, but we headed back to church, and then walked a couple of blocks into downtown San Lorenzo to do some shopping. Kelly took the ladies, and Jorge Encina (see the Alliance Life article) took Aaron, David and me. We went through the market place, which was an indoor maze of alleys, with thousands of shoes for sale, along with a multitude of clothing, cell phones, jewelry, etc. It is where the locals shop, definitely not a tourist area. Some of the team were impressed by the pig intestines being sold for packing sausage. It reminded me of the markets in the San Francisco China town, but more relaxed.

Bob had warned us to take only the amount of money we would need, and a copy of our passports. He instructed us that if we were robbed, to give them everything. We had no incidents at all. It was actualy a very pleasant time if you like shopping! We found a store like a 3rd world Walmart that has everything cheap, bought a couple of things there, then went to a local store owned by Christians, and purchased a few things there.

When we got back to the church, we went back to work for a couple of hours, and then headed home to prepare for a cell group tonight. Thanks for your prayers, and keep it up!