April 30, 2005

Good Evening! It has been a busy week at the school with the children finishing their first tri-semester exams and Tuesday they surprised the secretaries with special gifts and prayers. Thursday, after the first period exams, the children of each grade level presented a special program to salute and thank all their teachers and the other workers in the school, as tomorrow is "Labor Day" in Paraguay.

The children, sang, danced, recited poems and the third graders dressed in clothes representing what they inspired to become in the future...there were doctors, dentists, teachers, policemen, firemen, hair dressers, secretaries, carpenters, pastors, mothers, and others. But the favorite part of the program was when one child recited a poem about having to study and if he did not he would not "pasa de grado"...pass the grade.

Besides the work at the school we have been working on the Festival de Esperanzana and biggest news is that I finally found another vehicle after searching for several months in our 40 different dealerships. Praise God that so many helped donate funds and that I was able to buy a heavy-duty vehicle...a Toyota Land Cruiser. It is considered a "workhorse" on the rough roads of Paraguay where my other vehicle was just "Galloper". There are two other missionaries who have the same dark blue color only with different stripes...we are now teasing that it becoming the standard model for the missionaries.

A few weeks ago the authorities announced that there was a large number of counterfeits US $100 bill s circulating in South America. When I went to pay the cash for the vehicle 32 of the $100 bills began with the counterfeit Serial numbers. There is only place in Paraguay according to the dealer that can verify if the bills are good so we have to wait a few days to see if they pass the screening.

I mentioned earlier that tomorrow is "Labor Day" in Paraguay. I was surprised to hear on the news tonight as they were showing a public parade downtown today that over 1,000,000 Paraguayans are unemployed. That may not seem too high until one does the math. Paraguay has almost 6 million people and approximately 50 % are 18 and under. Thus it means that approximately 1 out every 3 adult persons is unemployed.

Also, this week the country of Paraguay has been mourning the death of their favorite and most famous son, Augusto Roa Bastos. He had been an educator, writer and a political activist. He was instrumental in helping to expose the injustices of the Strossner dictatorship even though he was exiled from Paraguay for many years. The sad part of his life was that majority of his writings denied the existence of God. The ministerial of Education was asking all their schools to visit the "Hall of Heroes" where Roa's body lay in states for almost three days.

Tomorrow we have our Fasting Sunday for our congregation. I would like to ask for prayer this week for the following:

• The plans for Esperanzana and that everyone who has a heart to hear God's Word will be able to enter the different events for adults and students.
• That God would strengthen all those working on the Esperanzana and give us extra strength for the next few weeks and that God would help all the organizational plans.
• That all my plans for my US visit can fall into place and that I can locate a car/s to use during the time I am in the Ohio area.
• Please pray for my Mom, my siblings and especially their families. My brother from Alaska is visiting my Mom and siblings and wants to visit his mother-in law who is extremely ill.
• Please pray for our school administration as we daily face new challenges.
• Please pray for our teachers as they continually are impacting their children.
• Please pray for missionaries that God guides us and strengthens us we face many trials.
• Please pray for the birthdays of Raquel and Patricia (she will be celebrating her special 15 birthday.)
• I have discovered many names have disappeared from my computer database. Please pray that I can recuperate the lost data.
• Thursday is the United States' National Day of prayer. Please join thousands to pray for our national leaders, the families, and our children. Please pray God will be honored and praised and that hearts will be turned to him.

Peace and Love,
Sue

Mailing address:
Sue Givens
C.C. No. 24078
Lambaré, Paraguay, 2420

Check out our web page that is on the web. Every few weeks, we will be posting to new pictures of the school progress and of our various programs and activities. http://paraguaynewhorizons.lam.org/

We are partnering and assisting the local Paraguayan churches in all we are doing in Paraguay. Friends and churches that are praying for God to work through us are making this Paraguay Outreach possible. All of our programs are made possible by donations that we use to cover different expenses.

Tax-deductible donations can be made to help cover my living expenses, my auto which is used for the church and the school, newsletters, and for helping with other mission expenses such as buying food, medicine, clothing, or helping in other ways can be sent to either and need to be specifically earmarked:

Latin America Mission
Earmarked on an attached piece of paper for:
The Paraguayan Outreach/Sue Givens
P.O. Box 52-7900
Miami Florida 33152-7900

High Mill Church of the Resurrection
Earmarked for: The Paraguayan Outreach
1920 Schneider St. NE
North Canton, Ohio 44721

If you would like to help our school or sponsor a child for 2005, please contact Mable Love Brown 865-984-4111 or Email address: mclovebrown@charter.net
It costs $30.00 a month or to make donations to our school new multipurpose building construction fund, please contact:

Samaritan Hands Paraguay School
% Fairview United Methodist Church
2508 Old Niles Ferry Rd.
Maryville, TN 37803