Weeks Fly By and This Week Was No Different.

Asunción by night from our balcony. It. has been cool enough that we have enjoyed a few evenings out on the balcony listening to the roar of fútbol crowds and fireworks.

Can you see the can of bug spray behind our badges on the credenza? Each morning we stand on this rug and spray ourselves with bug spray to ward off disease carrying mosquitos before putting on our name tags and saying our morning prayers. There are three life threatening diseases carried by mosquitos here, so it is worth the time but we have never had a designated spot in our home before. 

We started celebrating early for Chris's birthday. One of the great things about Paraguay is that you can go out to eat and it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg even on a missionary budget. We both had dinner of a burger plate with fries, bottled water and three scoops for under $20. The danger is this ice cream shop is across the street from our apartment.

We have some wonderful new friends who made sure to make Chris's first birthday in Paraguay special. Some of the gifts are shown here. Although you can't see the earrings, they are Ñandutí lace made in Paraguay. Also a sweet card with a beautiful scarf.

Ken brought a cake to share with everyone at the office although this is not everyone. The cake had two different fillings, one of cream and one was dulce de leche. AMAZINGLY RICH!

A special friend from home sent a card with me that I wasn't supposed to open until my birthday. How surprised was I to open and find a souvenir leather bookmark from Paraguay. 

We'll let her explain in her own words

Thanks to everyone who took the time to make Chris's day special. It is so nice to be able to call, text, Facetime, and just have technology in general to keep in touch. Just this week we have communicated with people on nearly every continent. 

The flowers on these trees are beautiful. They come in several colors and are planted all around the office. The flowers in the picture are especially beautiful with shades of pink, red, cream and yellow.

Both of these shots are views from our balcony of storms coming in. We didn't realize that we would be enjoying such beautiful storms like we used to in Iowa but every day this week it has rained. During the day it seems to pour down hard and fast for about 5-10 mins and then stop. At night though, it can go on for awhile. A few times the wind would become quite strong. Our glass door howls with the wind but we are surprised when it is still warm outside. Rainstorms are another nice thing that makes us feel at home in Paraguay.

Now even those of you who don't speak Spanish may assume, as we did, that this was an auto mechanic shop. We did for the first week we were here because we were never around when they opened up. It is actually a little tienda (shop) to buy fruits and veggies and all kinds of groceries and we love it and it is right across the street.

A friend told me I can't only share the good things. So I want to share that being missionaries again has made me realize wearing the Savior's name on your heart gives you added strength to look for the good in things and laugh at what goes wrong. The Savior's ministry had to have been one adjustment after another so why should ours be any different? In the spirit of full disclosure, I'll share my washer/dryer combo story.

Here is a washer and dryer combo. It is handy and right in our kitchen. A few days after arriving we tried to wash our clothes. When the washer began to spin it went out of control and was bouncing all around. So we thought we would try another cycle and it did the same thing. At one point both of us were trying to hold the bouncing washer and even that didn't work. Long story short, they hadn't taken the packing pieces out that hold the drum in place. The great thing about being in a missionary apartment is there is someone in charge to call the service technician and it was all done while we were working. Chris downloaded the machine's directions in English and now we are putting the soap in the right dispenser and if we use the wash/dry cycle we can put it in before we leave for the office and it is done when we get home.

We have been reading a conference talk as companion study each day. One quote that described our job was from Elder Robert M Daines Sir, We Would Like to See Jesus:

"to serve in this Church is to stand in the river of God’s love for His children. This Church is a work party of people with picks and shovels trying to help clear the channel for the river of God’s love to reach His children at the end of the row."

Thank you for the prayers and love sent our way. We feel it and continue to need it as we learn our jobs and learn the needs of the people we are to serve in Paraguay. God is real and He makes things happen. If we are watching we will see His hand in all things.