Greetings to all especially everyone buried in the snow. Your snowstorm made international news even here in Paraguay and many here that have never seen snow have had lots of questions. As mentioned last week, I knew this was going to be a busy week and it surpassed even my expectations.. and it has been such a blessing!

First, here is an update on Bettina whom I saw Saturday. When she shared with her boyfriend that she had found the Lord, he cried and cried as he had prayed so long for her. We had some time to talk and one topic that came up was about how our school serves poor children in a barrio and that many are involved in making the school a reality and how it is such a blessing to our community. From her questions, I think she is from a wealthy Paraguayan family and she has no concept of giving to the poor nor does she have any idea that people can be content in all circumstances. Friday night she went to a Bible study and was amazed how the people knew she was coming and that they had waited for her to begin. Unfortunately I have not had time to contact her since, but I can see how God through the Holy Spirit is opening many doors for her to hear and learn of Him. Praise God!

Saturday in the afternoon, Johanna and I met my supervisor from Latin American Mission, Miguel, and a team of missionary candidates he was bringing. Joanna & Alberto; Rochelle & Gustavo; and Janette came to learn more about Paraguay and of the ministry options. Along with other missionaries, we have spent the week sharing maybe overwhelming them with options to serve. We visited many places and helped them see churches, ministry options, neighborhoods, and school as they explore what God desires for their future. Saturday and Wednesday evenings I hosted two dinners at my home for our visitors. One night we met with the Paraguayan leaders of the national church and many from our local church, then the other night several missionaries were able to meet with our guests and help answer many questions. As in most ministries, the workers are so few and the harvest is ready.we pray God will open the doors so they will be able to serve here along with us in a variety of different ways.

Sunday evening we had our Grand Inauguration and Dedication service for the school as we prepared to open the new section Monday. It was a rainy misty day with moderate temperatures.Gracias A Dios.. (Thank God). We had an awesome turn out with probably over 450 people. The Women of the church decorated and helped serve refreshments; many of the youth and other members helped set-up; and the men of the church helped with the clean-up late Sunday night so the school would be ready for Monday. Pastors Pablo, Andres, and Miguel lead the service and gave the message and four youth from our church lead the praise and worship as we celebrated and thanked God for the blessings He has given this community. We also thanked many who have worked on this project from the local church and community members to the countless Americans who have donated monies, donated time or materials for the school and for each of our sponsors. The local community and church honored Mark and Johanna for putting feet to the vision and for all their hard work and dedication to the school.

Every time I think about the school, I stand in awe of God's mysterious ways and how He orchestrated the planning and building of this school many years ago.as we see things unfold it is now like seeing a finished tapestry whereas before it was like looking at the backside where everything appears to be disorganized and often did not make sense.

Monday morning we opened our doors to many happy and excited children eager to return. There were lots of hugs and flowers for all the staff. We also have added many new children. How many? We now have 185 children in the school!!!!!!!! Surprisingly with our prayer campaign and discussions with parents over the past few months of how to prepare their children for school, we had very few tears. Our jardin (four year class) teacher reported she had an awesome day and her one class had already learned a short poem. What a change from our first year, when her children cried for two weeks.

One thing that has helped is many of these new children have older siblings or neighbors in the school and they have helped explain the "ropes". I have not begun to teach English yet but lots of the "older siblings" or their parents have reported the new children already know their colors or how to count thanks to the instructions of the big brothers and sisters. It will be fun working one on one with the children and we will begin our English classes the first of March. Please pray for me as I now have 7 classes instead of 4 to teach. I have been trying to plan how to reorganize and since I will not have as much time with each class I will need to prioritize more.

The national church had their General Assembly Friday with representatives from the churches across Paraguay. Each ministry gave a short presentation and each of the Christian schools is faced with the same problem.lack of space for all who want to get into the school. My friends from the San Pedro region particularly touched me. They began a school several years ago for the Christian children in their area due to the persecution the Christian children received in the national school. Now, those who persecuted the children in this area are begging for their own children to be allowed to enter. The quality is so poor in the public schools and some have closed their doors. The director shared they have over 120 children who want to attend their small three-room school. Also, the Cerrito Indian school now has about 150 children and youth. Unlike our school, the children in these two schools do not have sponsors so there is practically no money for materials, books, or even to pay the teachers. Whenever possible we try to send up materials from our school to them. I was able to visit Cerrito Wednesday and took them quite a few supplies. If anyone would like to donate a few dollars for the San Pedro or Cerrito schools, you can donate to my mission work funds by:

Earmarking on an attached piece of paper for:
The Paraguayan Outreach/Sue Givens/Work Funds for San Pedro & Cerrito.
The mailing address is :
Latin America Mission
P.O. Box 52-7900
Miami Florida 33152-7900

***********Please note this is a separate account from our school fund, which is through Samaritan Hands Paraguay School. That account is strictly for our school, Nuevo Horizonte. On behalf of these schools, thank you so much.

Thank you so much for your prayers this past week. My Aunt Garnett is now with the Lord and I ask that you please remember her son and his family and her sister, Aunt Vera, in your prayers. Please pray for my niece, Kristen, who is serving in the military. Also, please continue to pray for Tom as he battles cancer and for his wife, Mable Love Brown. She is our Coordinator in the US for children sponsorship program. Please pray for Mark and Johanna during their time in the states and for their family as they await the arrival of two more new grandchildren, visit families and as they share our work in Paraguay. Please pray God will provide individual sponsors for each of our children in the school. Please pray for our construction workers from the school as we have suspended the new construction until Mark returns. And also, please pray God will renew my strength, as I am very tired from all our school preparations over the past few months. Also, I may try to visit the US around the end of April. Please pray God will help me plan for all that needs to be done during that time not only here in Paraguay but also in the US as I schedule and plan to share God's work with interested churches and groups.

Also, please pray for Kenny and Larry and special birthday greetings are extended to Pastor Chuck all from my church in the US. May God's peace surround you and may you find rest in Him.

Love,
Sue