Paraguay, Day 7 (Friday)

Last night, Lenny and I went with Bob to a cell group led by Jorge Encina. It was a small group, with mostly church people. Lenny gave her testimony in Spanish, and added some things in English while Bob translated. Then I gave the message about grace with Bob translating. Afterwards, we enjoyed a delicious "snack." The evening snack here is enough for dinner. There were empenadas, a kind of cookie, and a number of other baked goods. Some of the food was a bit dry, meant to be washed down with the fruit juice which was served. However, Bob told us not to drink the juice here because our North American digestive tracks would not handle the bacteria that might be in the water or on the fruit. (Ask Jackson about his "di di" experience in Ecuador! He wrote several blogs about it.) One of the hosts broke out a bottle of Pulp, which is a carbonated pomelo drink in a bottle. It was cold, sweet and wet.
This morning, we worked at church some more, and are almost with finished with the painting and the office. We have had a wonderful time working with the Paraguayan Christians, and have enjoyed their easy-going, friendly nature.
We returned to the Boston's home for lunch, and were joined by the 2 other missionary families who are serving here in Paraguay. Forest and Sarah Schell and Jay and Karen Spurling have both been here less than a year. They are working part time in churches, and are also in their second year of language study. Both came with one child and one on the way. They are wonderful couples who are adjusting to ministry here, and are having a great impact in the churches of Paraguay. Two young ladies from Toccoa Falls Bible College are doing their internship by teaching English as an outreach in Paraguay. They are working with the Schell's and joined us for lunch. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and prayer for our missionary team here in the greater Asuncion area.
I spent the afternoon working on computers. The San Lorenzo church's laptop, which they use for projecting powerpoint, and videos, and playing music, has been acting funny, running sounds at a higher pitch and a higher speed. Turns out it has never been updated, so I ended up staying home this evening to download and install 41 updates so far (I expect there will be many more once these are finished). I have already cleaned up an old computer for guests to use to check email. I am also installing a scanner on the mission computer. Most of my "free" time has been at a computer while others rested or talked, so the team decided to leave me home tonight while they are out at cell groups.
We have another full day tomorrow; we need to finish the church in the morning, then get it cleaned up in time for AWANA in the afternoon. We will be part of the dinner for married couples in the evening. That could go late, so I don't know if I will have time to write a blog.
Thanks for your prayers. They do make a difference.