NTM

After coming home on furlough, it seemed a bit overwhelming to know what to get involved in with our church, not due to lack of opportunities, but the abundance of them!  Now we are thanking the Lord for the privilege it is to be plugged in! 

Wednesday nights finds us doing a bible study for the junior high youth that are seeking to learn more about Christ, and answer any questions that they might have.  Please pray for these kids that they might be a light in their schools, and that we would be able to help them grow in their walk with the Lord. 

Thursday nights finds us at the house of our good friends where we join 5 other couples to pray and study the Word.  Wow, how we have missed this!  It is a refreshing time for us, and the kids love being babysat by their Nana!

Sunday mornings finds the kids looking forward to going to kids church, while we enjoy the sermon upstairs.  One Sunday, Michayla and Rylan were so excited to go downstairs to kids church, and were disapointed to find out that they had to wait til after the singing was finished. )  Praise the Lord for this opportunity for them!

   Approximately a year ago, I was sitting in the sweltering heat of the Chaco of Paraguay making plans for furlough.  My mom and I were brainstorming how we could see each other often, even though it would be a 12 hour drive between Ontario and Wisconsin.  You see, it’s easy to forget the sacrifice that parents make when their kids are missionaries.  I am so thankful for the technology today that makes it possible to chat online, or call from the computer.  However, now that we are in North America, we are throughly enjoying spending time with our parents in person, and the opportunity our kids have to get to know their grandparents.  Most recently my mom and sister came here for a 5 day visit, in which my mom taught me how to can salsa and applesauce; (two of the things we can’t buy already made in Paraguay) thanks mom!  Even the simple act of my sister reading stories to her niece and nephews, and my mom having the opportunity to play games with her grandkids is really special to us and something we will treasure forever!  Thank you Lord for these special memories!

How do you make moving less stressful for kids?  How about moving them to a new country and culture, and then traveling again just as they start to get settled?  As we settled into our house in Canada, I couldn’t believe how well our kids were adapting!  They weren’t any meltdowns occuring, and they seemed really happy and excited about all the new things around them.  Even our 2 1/2 year old Seth, who usually takes awhile to settle in, seemed oblivious to the fact that we had just moved him over 5000 thousand miles.  Just as we got all settled in, it was time to travel to Wisconsin to spend time with my family and visit our church.  I was worried to tell the kids that we would be on the move again, but to my surprise, they responded with excitement!  Thank you Lord for preparing my kids, and giving them the strength and grace to be moved all around!  What a blessing it has been to come home on furlough, and have our kids be as delighted as we are to see everyone again!  Yeah God!!

As we unwind and catch up on sleep from our recent trip to Wisconsin, we remember all the fun memories we just made….

We enjoyed a wonderful week in the Dells with my Mom and Angela, visiting the Deer Park, playing mini golf, going out to eat, shopping, visiting, swimming, and more swimming and visiting!  We are so thankful for all the memories that we made and for all the fun we had together!  Thank you Lord for this blessing!

After fun at the Dells we returned to my parents house for a family reunion!  It was so awesome to see everyone again, catch up on everything, and see everyone with their kids and mates!  We are also so thankful for the opportunity to see Grandma and Grandpa again, and take lots of pictures!  We are thrilled for the opportunity to reconnect with everyone again, including our church in Markesan, after our first 4 years on the field!  Thank you Lord!

Wow, just 2 1/2 weeks til we leave for furlough!  It hardly seems possible that almost 4 years have passed since we arrived here in Paraguay!  We have felt God’s love in all the ups and downs we have faced; wow, am I thankful for His faithfulness!  We are so excited to be going back to North America for a year to be able to see all our family and friends and see what God is doing in their lives!  Please pray for us as we leave this home, and settle in a new one.  Thanks!

     Honey hunting is what most tribal people here in the chaco consider one of their favorite pastimes. So what is involved in finding honey in a vast jungle. Well, the last time I went out, here is how it went.

     About noon a fellow missionary and I picked up three Manjui men and drove off down the road to spend some time together looking for honey. A ways down the road I saw what I thought was a good area for looking for honey. (In the chaco there are many different kinds of woods and only a couple are good areas for finding honey.) I stepped out of the truck and to my dissmay not one of the three Manjui men followed. I told them that I thought this would be a good place and they answered, in a very Manjui fashion, "it could be". Finally I talked them in to giving it a try. Actually, I think they just took pity on us poor white folk who don’t know much, and so decided to give it a brief try. After about ten minutes everyone was done, not having found anything, though I wondered if they even really looked. However, they are the professionals at surviving in this inhospitable jungle.
     We hopped back in the truck and went no further than half a mile, at which point they announced that this would be a good place to look for honey. Within 5 minutes we had found 3 hives within 100 ft of the truck. During the heat of the day is the best time to find honey. The bees are most active when it’s hot which makes them easy to spot flying in and out of their hive. There are many different kinds of honey to be found, and not all of them have bees that sting. There is everything from tiny little yellow bees that don’t sting, to the africanized honey bee, and many in between. And if a hive is too high to chop out from the ground, you can climb up a tree using a rope as your climbing tool.

     It really is amazing the amount of knowledge these people have about something as "simple" as honey hunting. For them, it’s just like a trip to the grocery store. You just have to know what aisle to look in to find what you are looking for.

For the past couple of months we have been trying to prepare our kids for our furlough.  To us, furlough means going home.  But to our kids, this is home!  When we first arrived in Paraguay, Michayla was just 3 yrs. old and Rylan was 1 1/2 yrs. old.  Seth was born here, and probably doesn’t remember his short trip back to North America when he was 4 months old.   Now, 4 yrs. later, Michayla and Rylan are preparing to enter first grade, and Seth is an incredibly curious 2 1/2 yr. old.  So, I decided to start by asking if the kids had any fears or questions about going back and living in Canada for a year.  Rylan spoke up right away and explained to me that he was afraid of the bears and wolves there, "because don’t you know mommy that they have those in Canada!"  After reassuring Rylan about wolves and bears, I pondered what an interesting perspective this was, seeing as we have had tarantulas, scorpions, and poisonous snakes in our yard, but again, it really is the unknown that is the scariest.  Michayla’s fears were more along the lines of worrying about going to school and if other kids were going to be nice or not.  As we talked through these things and went over what Jesus would want us to do, I realized just how many things will be different and maybe overwhelming for our kids.  I am sure it will be a huge learning experience for all of us, and we would sure appreciate your prayers!