Deepening Relationships

This week is flying by fast! This week I have become good friends with the English teachers that I work with. On Monday night they invited me to one their houses for a get together. It was a lot of fun. We just sat together, ate, laughed, and talked. Then on Tuesday night I went back to her apartment to watch Paraguay play in the semi-finals against Argentina. Unfortunately, we lost by too much to mention. BUT, it was a fun cultural experience. When Paraguay scored a goal. fireworks exploded somewhere in the neighborhood. When they didn't and the other team did, the Paraguayan ladies in the house screamed and booed. Both the English teacher and her sister have cute little kids that kept us entertained despite a horrible game.

This weekend we are planning a 4th of July celebration at our house. We are inviting some of our new Paraguayan friends to join us to show them what the American holiday looks like. It should be a lot of fun, and very good for deepening relationships.

I am also starting to feel like I am getting to know some of the awesome people at the church as well. We went to prayer meeting last night and had some good conversations with the church members. I also LOVE the pastor and his wife. They are so sweet. The pastor is 73 yrs old but joins the youth group and even plays the games with all of the young people.

My students always look forward to seeing me and love having me in their classroom. I feel like I am starting to bond with them as well and my heart is starting to go out to some of them, especially when I hear stories of neglect and inattentive parents. It is a privilege to serve and love on these kids.

This weekend is the SIM Spiritual Life conference. We will be leaving on Sunday and spending the night. On Sunday night we will be throwing a Quincenera for an american girl coming down to help. Laurel and I will only get to stay through Monday because we have to return for teaching, but we are excited for the opportunity to get to know the SIM workers a little better and to have a little bit of a change of scenery. It should also be a great time to reflect and learn.

I do feel quite homesick from time to time, especially in the down times. Thankfully, we are gaining more and more students to tutor, which brings the down time down a lot. I am also half way done and soon will be the 2 week break from teaching when Mark gets to join me!

PRAYER REQUESTS:
*Continued deepening relationships with my new friends
*For the many Bible Studies that Karen leads--most are for nominal Christians
*For the SIM Conference
*My homesickness
*Safe travels for Mark as he arrives next Friday