November 11, 2005

Good evening! I want to extend special blessings and thoughts for all veterans who sacrificed so much for us. Living in a Third World country where again recently Paraguay scored second as the most corrupt country in the world according to an International Corruption Rating Scale, I appreciate many of the freedoms and blessings “Americans” (north) have and had had. I am thankful that in Paraguay we still can legally share Jesus in the classroom; please pray that that right will continue until all have had an opportunity to hear.

This has been a week of many challenges and I confess I am exhausted tonight. As the school nears the end, there is always so many last minute things that need to be done, planned, and resolved. Please pray God gives us wisdom, discernment, and strength to accomplish all that is happening right now.

Yesterday, we shared some of the pictures and video clips with our second grade children and their parents of our recent trip to the farm. Everyone laughed as we watched the young ones reactions to the various activities: digging for worms in the recycling bin; playing with the sheep and goats; trying to milk a cow; horseback riding and so much more.

I have several praise and prayer reports:

• First my Mom, my uncle’s and Aldo’s surgeries all went very well and all are home recovering. Thank you Lord.
• Secondly, I was able to take the lady whom I am discipling to the psychiatric visit. A few times, I thought maybe she was going to run, but we kept praying and all went very well. We are both in the process of reading a book the doctor recommended “Bondage Breaker” by Neil Anderson. I am hoping to see her later this weekend to discuss parts of it with her. Later we will need to read some other books so I need to find them in Spanish for her and English for me. I think the English versions are “Victory over Darkness”, and David Seamand’s series on “Healing….Pain, Memories and Emotions”. I am hoping I can find some Americans with the books here. I have some of the Spanish ones in our library.
• Most stores do not carry books written in English. One large book store only had one book in English… “A Purpose Driven Life”.
• Speaking of that book, “A Purpose Driven Life”; our school staff finally finished it during our daily devotions. Now the staff are working on their own purpose statement. Thank you Lord for that book and for helping us to stop and examine our lives.
• Our Youth received permission to use the park for evangelistic campaigns…please pray God will prepare hearts to receive the gospel.
• Our leadership at the school has been under fire as some still are confused as to what is the school’s vision and function. Please pray for us.
• One of my teachers has had a very rough year. She was married last December and they had purchased a small jeep right before the wedding. When they returned home from the honeymoon, her husband received “pink slipped” so the owner could have a family member in the company. Her and her husband have been forced to live in a very small one room “shack” built on the roof of her in-laws home so they can help with her father-in-law since his accident. Before Easter, she resigned from her afternoon teaching duties at our school as the Ministerial of Education promised her and her husband employment. This has not come to pass. Then she got extremely ill with a fever which left her quite sick for some time and shortly after recovering she had to have nasal surgery and it was much rougher than expected. Today, in front of the school, someone broke into the driver’s side window of her jeep and stole the radio/CD unit. They had been planning to sell it so they could close in the cooking area on the roof. Please pray for Andrea and Charley. They are trying to faithfully serve the Lord and have been under a year of attacks.
• I was personally shocked by a recent law that is now in effect in Paraguay and is now being implemented slowly in stores that have computers. In order to buy goods one must have a business code number (known as a RUC) or one’s personal ID number (like a social security number). The law is supposedly to stop corruption but there is a bigger plan behind it.
• Please pray for Kathy, a friend and ex-coworker in the US. She collapsed last Sunday and they discovered she has a cerebral hemorrhage.
• Special birthday greetings are extended to Pastor Andres, my nephew Ben, Greg, and Peggy and anniversary wishes and prayers are extended to Jill and Tim and Don and Gail.
• This weekend, I am going to help a missionary couple in the interior. They have over three hundred people and we are going to help them with a special program. We have many activities coming up in the future. Please pray for our church’s evangelistic campaign we will be doing in Luque at the end of the month; for the marriage encounter seminar this next weekend; for the Women’s Congress and for all the school’s special closing activities.

Remember the dog, Tulo, I inherited when his owners threw him out on the street…actually he kept escaping. He will be two on Sunday…my hope is that he will suddenly become an obedient dog. He is a fuzzy little bundle of energy who thinks he needs to intimidate everyone who even passes by my home. When he is excited he can jump straight up about 4 feet high and he always has to have the last bark at everything. He has made lots of progress but whenever I am gone too many hours he seems to regress.

As I close, my prayer for all Christians everywhere is that we stand firm…with truth (Eph 6:14) and that we can even in the midst of trials and tribulations dwell on whatever is true as mentioned in Phil. 4:8. Peace my friends!

Love,
Sue

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

Earmarked on an attached piece of paper for:

Latin America Mission
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

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13.