December 4, 2005
Good Afternoon! I will try to mail this later today but again the email is acting up…I received a number of duplicate forward messages yesterday that has locked up my email system.
I am so thankful this past week is behind me and I am grateful God gave me the strength for each day. This week in the office we were busy finalizing ministerial reports; evaluating the students overall progress in all areas; preparing report cards; parent letters; and finalizing plans for the three evening closing ceremonies for the different areas. However, for me of all the events of this week the most exciting was last Sunday evening as twelve people from our church were baptized…all 12 had connections with the school with only one of the youth having been in the church before the school began five years ago. Two couples that were baptized will be getting married this next Saturday. One of the couples is the ones I have been discipling.
Sunday was a day of tragedies for many Christians in Paraguay. First, in the morning there is one large church in the main part of Lambaré (we live on the outskirts). The church is going each Sunday into barrios and hauling children in rented buses to their Sunday School programs. They had a bus loaded with young children (many only three and four years old) and that bus was smashed into a pole as two other public buses collided as they raced their regular routes. The reports vary as to how many children were on the bus but it was between 80 to 140 children. By Sunday night 68 children remained in the hospital; 7 or 8 on respirators. At last count, we have heard five children have died. Many are pointing fingers at each other…the church had too many on a bus; the drivers were driving recklessly; and none of the buses were up to code with bald tires, poor brakes, and regular glass in the windows. However, I have yet to hear anyone identify one of the main factors for the accident. The drivers are forced to race through their routes and daily cause traffic accidents because the owners and bosses give the drivers a time limit for their routes…if they are late making their rounds (which is difficult with heavy traffic); the drivers can be suspended for up to 5 to 10 days or dismissed. Please pray for this Presbyterian Church ran by Koreans missionaries.
Also, Sunday evening, a pastor friend and fellow seminary classmate of Pastor Andres and Felicia was invited to preach at our church instead of his about 90 minutes in the interior, Pitayu. I had just been at their church a few weeks ago with my projection equipment. Their young adult son had gone with several members to their church and when he arrived at home around 12:30 in the morning, he was kidnapped and was severely pistol-beaten and threatened for several hours before the kidnappers released him way out in the middle of nowhere and stole his four wheel drive vehicle. It is a long story but from all indications the police were involved in the robbery and kidnapping. Please pray for Pastor Guillermo, his wife Nancy and their entire family.
The hardest part of this week was meeting with a few parents (representing 2%) of the children who did poorly on their core exam areas. In almost every case, the school had offered special tutoring or other assistance and the families turned down the help until the final weeks of school. We have stressed to families that in order for the children to succeed, there needs to be regular study times…that the children have a hard time when they just cram at the end of the term.
What was great to see Friday evening was the number of children who received special certificates. When I first came to Paraguay, if it rained children did not come to school. My third year, I gave out a perfect attendance certificate…only one child received one. Last year about 10 children received one; this year we had about 40 children receive perfect attendance certificates and many more would have but we had an outbreak of chicken pox in November that spread to almost every first grader and many others in the other classes. We also, gave out certificates for an outstanding child in each grade and awards for the children who received all “cincos” (or 5’s which is the equivalent of all A’s) in their last grading period…even more children received those certificates than for perfect attendance. Next year I plan to have a special honor roll bulletin board in the school to recognize the children each grading period.
Wednesday evening, due to the threat of rain, our computer staff decided to host their closing ceremony for all their students from the community in the salon area of the school…it is large covered area used for special activities, snack and lunch time, and general assembly times. With almost two hundred people in attendance, I figured many would leave as their child or they received their diplomas since it was extremely hot, the salon was jammed packed, and there was no breeze whatsoever. The computer students shared about what they learned and did a number of special musical and dance numbers plus an evangelism skit aimed at sharing Christ to teen-agers. After the skit, one of the staff asked people if they wanted to pray and accept Jesus and we were all surprised at how many prayed the salvation prayer with her. It was a wonderful evening.
Thursday in the morning before the extreme heat, our staff worked hard to set out over 600 chairs in the school playground area for the closing ceremony that evening of our Early Childhood program. Right after lunch the skies got dark and it began to sprinkle. Soon everyone was running to get things inside during a torrential downpour. Ivana and I went to run some errands and the rains continued and flooded all the roadways. When we returned to the school a group of us began praying…we prayed God would clear the skies as we had no other options…the salon could not hold everyone and rescheduling was going to be really difficult. Within a few hours, the skies cleared and we had a very pleasant evening.
I wish you could have seen these young children…they danced, sang and a few did skits and as with most four and five years olds we were brought to tears many times by the antics and miss cues. Several children really touched people’s hearts with their extra abilities and enthusiasm. One was the granddaughter of my dear friend, Chocha and a group of boys from her class. She danced with an umbrella and they did a rap dance. The evening was spectacular and the crowd enjoyed the evening.
Friday night we hosted the closing program for the elementary students. Again, I stood in awe as I watched the children perform. The third graders did hand mimes with a black light that everyone enjoyed. Unknown to me, someone planned after one of the events to have a fireworks display. I am just so thankful God was watching out for us. The person shot the fireworks right over the back playground wall behind the stage scaring some of the children as they were leaving the stage. The fireworks sent sparks flying everywhere over the crowd head and I was just praying no one would get hurt and the stage that was draped in fabric would not catch fire. Fireworks are so much a part of the culture and many have no concept of safety precautions. Please pray for me as I address this problem this week with my staff. Often they think I am being a “cautious North American”. Lord, help me to communicate to them I don’t dislike fireworks, I just don’t want to have them handle incorrectly and mame a child or person for life.
Saturday morning I arose extra early to make spaghetti sauce as Ivana and I spent whatever moments we could squeeze to mass produce large pans of lasagna for our Sunday lunch. We hosted 22 after our fasting and prayer service (which lasts 6 hours). Ivana has been promising everyone lasagna since she arrived almost 6 months ago and since she will be leaving the 12th, we figured it had to be this Sunday. The meal was a hit and in the Paraguayan tradition, both Ivana and I received everyone’s blessings that since we demonstrated we could cook, now we are free to get married.
Also, Saturday we drove a group to the camp for the annual church picnic and another baptismal service for members of another church. I had the opportunity to chat with many of the brothers and sisters of other churches.
I have several prayer requests:
May God find you and your household ready for His Son’s return.
Love,
Sue
Mailing address:
Sue Givens
C.C. No. 24078
Lambaré, Paraguay, 2420
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:
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
Or
High Mill Church of the Resurrection
Earmarked for: The Paraguayan Outreach
1920 Schneider St. NE
North Canton, Ohio 44721
Mable Love Brown Phone #: (865)984-4111 Email address: mclovebrown@charter.net Samaritan Hands Paraguay School % Fairview United Methodist Church 2508 Old Niles Ferry Rd. Maryville, TN 37803
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:13.
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