a risen Savior!

 "Don't be alarmed," the angel said.  

"You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, 

who was crucified.  He has risen!"  

Mark 16:6a

We woke this morning at 5:00am to prepare

for church, which started at 6:00am.

It's tradition: worship service at 6am followed

by a breakfast of chipa and cocido (sweet, hot drink).

There's one thing I love about rising that early

on Easter Sunday.....thinking about those women

walking to Jesus' grave just after sunrise

  and finding it empty!

Mark 16:1-7

chipa!

Easter is the most celebrated holiday here.  

The week before Easter is known as Holy Week.  

No stores are open on Good Friday, 

not even the grocery store!  

One very old Easter tradition here is to make chipa the Wednesday or Thursday before Easter.   Many "city Paraguayans" will take a trip to the country to visit their family and make chipa together! 

This has become one of our new traditions also!  We do our best to make good chipa though we don't have a big brick oven in the back yard to give it that Paraguayan flavor!

Mix in a blender:

1 cup milk

1 cup oil

4 eggs

100 grams of Paraguayan cheese

(this year our's came straight from the farm!)

1 1/2 tsp salt

100 grams corn flour

15 grams anise

Pour mixture into a bowl.  

Add 800 grams mandioca (aka yucca) flour

and start to mix/knead by hand.

Form into little loaves or wreathes.  

It is a PY tradition to let the kids make fun shapes!

Below is a little loaf.

Make light, diagonal slices along the top.

With the oven at the highest setting (ours goes to 

about 450 degrees), cook each side for 7-8 minutes.

Enjoy!

a very special birthday!

I don't know how he does it, but my husband

ALWAYS manages to make my birthday so

special!

He has brainwashed our boys into thinking

I am the best mom in the world!

Some of the things that made my birthday special were:

a homemade, boy-made breakfast,

 precious, homemade cards,

(made me cry!)

lots of big bear hugs,

 

 a trip to the park and a homemade, very tasty 

chocolate milkshake with Oreos!

I have a precious family!

To top it off, I received birthday e-mails from many 

family and friends!

I don't deserve a bit of it!  

But out of the Father's great love for His daughter,

He blessed me with all of you!

"I will sing to the Lord, 

for He has dealt bountifully with me!"

Psalm 13:6

how far the Lord has brought us!

Here's what the situation was this past Sunday.....
My husband and I had just finished teaching our 0-5 year old Sunday School class.  We were ready to walk downstairs to the Worship Service when my friend walked in our classroom.  She was supposed to lead Kid's Church but announced to us, "I have to lead the singing time in the Worship Service and I have no one to stay with the kids!"
OK.... 
3 years ago we wouldn't have understood what she was saying.
2 years ago she wouldn't have hinted to US that she needed help.
1 year ago we wouldn't have been ready to jump in and sub.
But yesterday...
because of all the Lord has taught us, we were able to help!

We didn't have a lesson, of course, but we lead some songs, played some Bible trivia, and had a good time getting to know them better!
The Lord has brought us so far!!!!  Thank You, Father!!!!

Follow this link to see a video of a game the church kids played while we were with them.  (Sorry, the video is a little bouncy.)
https://vimeo.com/62117703

more new teammates!

This missionary family arrived a couple weeks ago!

It's so fun to listen to new missionaries talk about their first

impressions of the country and people...

brings back lots of memories of when we first arrived!

"Jesus said to his disciples, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few.  So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields."

 Matthew 9:37-38

We are very thankful for these new "workers" and how the Lord will use them in the fields of Paraguay!

the marriage of a young couple from our church!

 Here they are!  The sweet bride with her groom!

We were honored when they asked our littlest guy to 

be in their wedding!  They've always been so friendly

to him when we sit close to them at church, 

and he is friendly in return!  So, that's how they built 

a little relationship with each other!

And here he is...all dressed up!

He was as cute as cute can be in his little suit!

.

 

 There was no rehearsal, which made me a bit nervous!

But he did a fine job walking down the aisle with

the other kids!  We were very proud of him!!!

The Lord created marriage to be a beautiful picture of
Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:22-33) 

We pray that this marriage will be one that shines here in Paraguay,
where infidelity, broken marriages and fatherless children are the norm.