Beryl in Paraguay

18th December 2013
Paraguay, PRAY

Casilla 1124,  Asunción,  Paraguay, Beryl Baker bbakerparaguay@gmail.com

Dear Praying Friends,

The theme of the Every Day With Jesus Bible notes for last month was “Worship”.
Psalm 34 is a wonderful inspiration as to what our constant mind set should be,
I WILL PRAISE THE LORD AT ALL TIMES. I WILL CONSTANTLY SPEAK HIS PRAISES.”

Praise and thanks to the Lord for all the wonderful rain that has fallen in the Chaco alleviating many communities of many months of drought and hardship. The wonder of the Lord’s creation is ever present but even more so now that everywhere is green and beautiful.  The frog and toad concerts in the evenings have started again after several years of silence.  Hopefully this means the amphibian population is on the increase again after world surveys showed a dramatic decline.

Praise for the money to pay off all the current bills for medicines.  A big thank you to all the churches and friends who make this possible. Praise for the good recovery of Maruca Ruiz at Sombrero Piri after a stroke left her without the use of her right hand arm and leg.  Praise for Sharon Mccreery’s ongoing recovery from the cerebral vascular incident that left her almost dead.  She is now in the States with her sister.  Please pray for her sister who is not a believer and well into all New Age thinking.

The longer evenings and scorching afternoons mean working hours start earlier and end later leaving a break in the middle to avoid the worst of the heat. Early days to see how the new government will handle the Chaco Health programme.  All I can say is that on my last visit to the Regional Health authorities all was doom and gloom and one of the lady doctors and the obstetrician were actually in my arms crying!! The people at the next door ranch are going through hard times – indians and non-indians alike.  Please pray that they will turn 100% to Jesus for help in their time of trouble.

Being realistic about the future and the present means I have to move all the cats,  dogs and tortoises from Asuncion to the ranch as the next door neighbours are again throwing poison over the wall and Ana who looks after the house and the animals is 5 months pregnant.  As I planned to move the animals out Ana rescued three tortoiseshell kittens that were being swept away by rapidly flowing water in the road during the last heavy rain.  Please pray for new homes for them urgently. Please pray, too for Ana and her husband Jorvy as they prepare for the baby and I need wisdom as to whether I sell the house in Asuncion or not. If, when and how.

Just to keep everyone happy, I now have some medical insurance in Paraguay which I guess is the sensible thing to do no matter how old or young you are but equally my trust for health is in the Lord.

At Rio Verde a Jehovah’s Witness couple have moved in and are visiting everyone in the area.  The lady is English and her husband is Spanish.  Tim Curtis and I on separate occasions have chatted with them the reality of what the risen , living Lord Jesus makes to people’s lives and these people are now feeling very unsure of their beliefs.  Please pray that the Holy Spirit will free them from all the lies of the Devil and that they will come to know Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. Their names are Claire and Rafael.

Preaching at St. Matthew’s church Rio Verde regularly is an enjoyable challenge and praise the Lord the congregation is growing. To leave you with a word from the Lord for myself and for you.

Psalm 138: 8a “The Lord will work out his plans for my life – for his faithful love endures forever and the words from one of my favourite country and western gospel songs “One day at a time, sweet Jesus.”

Lots of love and prayers

Beryl

Gwen & Mags Prayer & News October 2013

3rd October 2013
Paraguay, PRAY

Gwen & Mags Prayer News recently received into the SAMS office:

Dear Friends,

Spring is finally here and the sun is out after quite a few cold days lately. At the moment we are enjoying a week off school for our Spring break. Not many schools take this week off but we always find it useful in the middle of a very busy year.

We will be back in school on Monday and the year 11’s start their IGCSE exams almost immediately, The year seems to race by after that. Last week was a very busy week as we tried to fit in all the extra activities before our break. The secondary spent most of last week celebrating one thing or another! On Tuesday they had sports day up at our sports ground. They were back there on Thursday for a day retreat with Pastor Ronnie and Pastor Donald. They had a good time out and the weather was great on both days. On Friday they celebrated Youth day in school with a service followed by competitions and entertainment by their teachers. They went home at midday and so started their break. Many of the families have travelled this week. I’m pleased to report that the lower secondary boys have calmed down in the last few weeks. Thanks to all of you who prayed.

Last week the primary 5th grade class went out on a 2 day trip and had a great time. At the same time  two of their English teachers were ill and one was on a course. A third English teacher was on the trip and yet another was at the sports ground with secondary. We had three classes to cover in the afternoon and not one of their usual teachers in school…we managed as Gwen took a class and so did the head of English and a helper took the third one. By the next day everyone was back in school. There has been a lot of illness recently especially with flu and a tummy bug. I’m pleased to say that we have managed to avoid them all so far and are fit and well.

The infant classes also had their Sports Day and went out on a trip to see a school for children with special physical needs. It wasn’t the most successful trip as none of the children there turned up that day!!  Meanwhile we have been busy interviewing children for our nursery class next year. We have just about managed to see all those who have brothers and sisters already in school and are about to start on children of ex pupils.

The Secondary also had a visit from DENIDE which is a group working with kids with special needs and preparing them for work. They sang and danced and it was great when one of the older boys got up with one of the lads who was a really good dancer and danced with him. We have invited a special football team to come and play with us at the Sports ground after the holiday.

Our  school’s march didn’t happen as there was so little enthusiasm. It was as if we’d already celebrated and this was too late. Anyway, the Annexe school was able to use the same date to hold their Folklore day which went really well. We had visitors from Ireland and were able to take them to the Annexe school for the event. It was great to see our SAMS Ireland boss once more.

We’d planned to hold our staff retreat the first Monday back i.e. next week but we decided we couldn’t miss any more days of classes after having an extra week ‘s holiday in July. So, we had our retreat this last Saturday. It was to have taken place at our sports ground but the forecast was so bad that we changed venue to the cathedral and lunch in school. We had a lovely sunny day in the end and a good time together on Saturday. The storm broke later that night wreaking havoc in various parts of the country.

We haven’t taken any services in church this month but we have two lined up for October so we will be able to prepare them whilst we are off school. We offered to do two together as they are two halves on the same theme and , therefore easier to follow on with.

We realize how many parents often ask for help with their children and so we decided to try and get someone in to give talks. We chose a Christian organization  to come in and give a series of talks. We had about 100 parents at the first meeting and they were thrilled with it. By midday someone had posted their notes of the meeting on the internet. It was great to see their enthusiasm. We had the second meeting this last week  with about 60 parents there ( many families had travelled!) and, again, it was well received. We aim to have 2 more and then hope parents will sign up with the organization to do a full course.

October should be a month of normal classes as they children do their final push towards the end of year and get ready for their final exams. It will certainly be a busy month. This week we had good news about Munchie, our dog who is ill. She had analyses done and she is in better shape than two years ago as her liver has recovered. She still has some sort of skin cancer but it is under control and she’s really perked up again now. The rest of our menagerie are also well.

Many thanks for your continued support and prayers,

God Bless and love from,

Gwen and Mags

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