: Paraguay

Dear friends,

Thank you for your faithful praying. My apologies for the delay in getting the Calendar sent out. To say that life has been hectic would be an understatement. This last couple of weeks have seen me very busy with several complex pastoral situations including the health and practical issues that retired missionary Sharon has been going through following a stroke. Please could I ask you to pray for her continued improvement and the preparations for her travelling back to the States in an air ambulance, hopefully later this week. In order to deal with the all practical matters I have involved as many other people as I can as so often two heads are better than one! Although sometimes its would have been quicker to have done things myself I am confident that working in group usually leads to much better solutions. It has been great to see how the Lord has opened doors and met so many needs. Amongst the properties that Sharon owns here in Paraguay she has a house where we have been having to deal with a difficult situation involving a member of one of our local congregations. Protection, wisdom and patience are required!

Blessings, Sally

• Paraguay Prayer Calendar Sept October 2013

News & Prayer Update from Gwen & Mags in Paraguay

• Sept 1 [pdf]
• Sept 2 [pdf]

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all your prayers and support for our work. It’s been another busy month and the temperatures once more dropped and we have just had a week with temperatures barely above freezing! This is “sunny Paraguay”! I am pleased to say that it has once more started to warm up but we are still in jumpers.

We had a sad start to the month when one of our annexe pupils was killed when she was knocked down crossing a road on the way to a sports competition. She was in 9^th grade( 15 yrs old) and the top pupil who was working hard to get into a good secondary school. She was the adopted daughter of a single mother. The mother is a Christian  and it was very moving to see her so firm in her faith. The girl was also a Christian.

The month has ended the same way as, on Monday, we heard of an ex pupil and her husband who were killed in a car crash. Again they were strong Christians but leave two sons of 20 and 17 years old.

The lower secondary boys seem to have been on a roll recently with bad behavior and we have one boy hanging in by his teeth! I feel sorry for their families  and, in this case, the mother, who has made herself ill with worry. She’s an ex pupil. Still, I am thankful that we are able to work together with the parents and quite a few have been called in in this last week. Many cases involve the mis-use of their cell phones and they fail to realize how dangerous this can be. We have called in an ex pupil who is a fiscal to talk to them. He came in today to talk to us first and it was great to see this professional, responsible man, a strong Christian as I remembered him as a naughty 10 year old! He actually said how he had regretted many of the things they had done as kids.

We have had some tough moments recently but in among them the Lord has sent encouragements. We have seen ex pupils who are strong in their faith and active in their church. In many cases some of these people have been pupils we never thought were listening or interested in spiritual things. It’s so good to see how the Lord’s word doesn’t return void.

Celebrations this month included Children’s day when the infants and primary celebrated with a morning of games and fun. The  day before that we saw the new president inaugurated . His name is Horacio Cartes and he promised lots of things in his inaugural speech. If he is able to fulfill his promises it will make things so much better for many people and especially the poor. There is optimism  for his term of office although he also inherited a teachers’ strike which finally ended yesterday. Many children in state schools haven’t had classes since the beginning of July. Needless to say, we have gone on as usual!

After two postponements, the Primary enjoyed their Interschool sports competition, with eight other schools taking part up at the Sports Ground. It was a cool day but brightened up later and the kids played their socks off. It was all very exciting with the under 8s winning their cup.

Our pupils sit the Cambridge IGCSE and AS level exams and on Friday we had the Certificate ceremony to which came the new British ambassador to give out the certificates. It’s great to know that the embassy has returned after 8 years absence. The ambassador also asked if he could come into school the day before to see what he was coming to and to get to know us. It’s good to see him interested in education and wanting  to send students to the UK to study. The embassy has offered Gwen the chance to go to Ecuador at the end of November to a British University exhibition

At the moment we have a new house guest. Deborah goes to the English chapel and works in the American school and recently was knocked off her bike by a car. She had to have a knee operation and has her leg in a splint and so was unable to climb the stairs to her flat! She has come to stay until she is able to return home.

We are both fit and well. Our animals are fine although we had a fright on in the middle of the month when our dog, Munchie, was ill and we thought it was the end. We took her to the vet’s and left her. It was remarkable to see how well she was when we returned two days later.

Thanks for all your prayers and support.

God Bless and love from,

Gwen and Mags

Most recent FEISA Praise & Prayer news and prayer letter received into the SAMS office:

• FEISA News August 2013

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

• Aug 1 [pdf]
• Aug 2 [pdf]

Dear Friends,

It seems we have swapped climates for now! We are freezing here, with temperatures down to zero this morning, whilst you all seem to be roasting. It’s been cold all week and the Ministry of Education declared an extra weeks holiday last week knowing it was forecast for cold weather now. We debated having classes anyway as we have heating in school but in the end we decided to take the week too….just as well as it seems to have been colder than expected! There was already a lot of flu round school before we finished classes for the holidays.

It was great to get a break a week after all our 50^th anniversary celebrations…we were all ready for it! We still had a visitor here for the first week. Pat stayed on to see people here whilst we took advantage of being able to have a few lie ins. We also managed to get quite a lot of things done and it was great that Olga was well again and able to come back and get the house back into shape. The extra week has been an added bonus and meant we were able to do even more. We went into school on Monday to prepare work to send home and then tomorrow, we go in again to get things ready for Monday. Apart from that we have been sewing, knitting , washing and Mags was painting the patio chairs today. We also managed to prepare our church service for August 4^th as well as a few assemblies and meditations we have lined up.

As we go back we have our inter school sports competition on August 3^rd. This is the one cancelled due to rain in July. We have a number of primary schools taking part in this. On the 30^th of July we celebrate Friendship day and then on August 15^th we celebrate Children’s day. The primary pupils also have exams in August…life seems one long exam for them as they have them three times a year from 6 year olds upwards!!At the end of August we have our official IGCSE certificate ceremony and we are so pleased to know that the British Embassy is about to return and that the new ambassador will be here then to hand out the certificates. In between these events we hope to get down to some work too!!

As we went down town the other day we noticed people moving up into the centre from the Chacarita area. They were putting up plastic tents on a side street. However, by yesterday they had gone again . The river isn’t flooding as we have a new coast road which stops the river from overflowing into nearby land. We think the flooding was caused by so much heavy rain before the holidays and maybe the new road stopped it all flowing out down to the river. We hope to find out if any of our annexe pupils were affected by this.

Many of you know that we invited Victor Santa Cruz to move from the annexe into the college to help us and be in charge of the official Paraguayan programme. Many wonder what happened to the annexe…well, we appointed one of the teachers there to be head. His name is Catalino and he seems to be settling in well there. Victor still goes at the end of most days and to oversee what is happening and support Catalino. Gwen goes down most weeks and Mags goes when she can get there.

In these holidays we sent in the builders to knock through from the old kitchen into the infant classroom and so make the classroom bigger. By all accounts the teacher is over the moon with her new, larger classroom! The kitchen was then relocated into what had been a school shop but didn’t prove to be very viable. Recently the builders had been in to drain the floor here as it seemed to collect water from the whole block. The school patio floor was also levelled out as a tree had lifted parts of it making it unsafe. Our next big job there for the summer holidays is to totally re-do the toilets there as they are the original ones, 40 yrs old!! Any money we make from our celebrations is going to pay for  these. …so far we have raised  about a quarter of what’s needed with some help from folks in England…thankyou to those who gave for this!

When a family there seem to be in real need the school sends down their social worker to see what’s needed. Some of the kids live in brick houses but others still live in precarious homes. For those who really haven’t enough we provide a scholarship and often send down food for them too. Otherwise the parents there pay about  4 pounds a month per child. In this way we hope they will value the education their children receive. This is far cheaper than the other “free” schools in the area! The fees go to pay the electricity and water bills, with the main college still paying most of the staff wages.

Many thanks for all your prayers and support. We hope to see a lot of you in January. Please get in touch about visits.

God Bless and love,

From Gwen and Mags xx

Dear friends,

We’ve had lots of people asking about our recent visit to South America so this is a sort of update..

We had a very special time.  The journey, though very long (32 hours!), went smoothly with just the right help at the right time.  The main reason for our visit, as you probably know, was an invitation to the 50 years Anniversary celebrations of St. Andrew’s College, Asuncion, Paraguay.  These celebrations lasted a whole week towards the end of June and were very carefully planned and executed.  The attention to detail & amount of work that went into it all were incredible!

The school itself was very creatively decorated with pupils’ art work, and included a huge mural of an oak tree, whose branches were formed by the names of past & present personnel & pupils.  The significance of the tree was beautifully illustrated later in a dance sequence, during a Gala Concert evening, showing how a small acorn (the founder, Dorothea Wedgwood’s tiny kindergarten) has grown into a large well-established  oak tree (a school of almost 400 pupils aged 3 to 18 years).

The week started with an unexpected change of programme.  A school parade had been planned through one of the main streets of Asuncion, but had to be cancelled almost at the last minute as it would have clashed with a Gay Pride Parade. Instead, we were all invited to a breakfast in school which for us was much better as we were able to meet  up with so many ex-pupils, their parents & offspring, and former & present members of staff.  It was a little like what it must feel like to arrive in heaven and be greeted by people whose lives have crossed with yours at significant times!  We had a wonderful time exchanging memories & news!

Two Thanksgiving Services had been planned, the first an evening one for ex-pupils and their parents.  Ex-students led that service and the hymn singing (including a lovely medley of songs they had sung while in school).  A list of all those staff & pupils who have died during the past 50 years was movingly read out, with the reminder that they are the ones who have already “graduated” above (!).  Former Head Master, Bishop Greg Venables, challenged us all to look to the rock from which we have been hewn & to never forget our Creator and the tremendous value He has placed on each of our lives by sending His Son to die for us.  At the end, in reminiscence of their 6th Form Thanksgiving Leaving Service, everyone was given a symbolic candle  to re-ignite any spiritual flame that might have burnt very low over the years.  There was hardly a dry eye in the place!  The second service was a daytime one for the whole school, at which Bishop Ken Clarke from SAMS UK & Ireland gave a very clear, challenging talk on 3 simple but important words in our relationship with God: sorry, please, and thank you.  The pupils were very attentive.

One of the most thrilling things of all was an informal evening spent with former pupils who were continuing to seek God & to study the bible together.  They meet each week to share their lives & their concerns.  They included some men who had been rather difficult during their teens in school!  It is so good to know that God’s Word does produce fruit in His time and that sometimes the rebels are the very ones who have the most about them!

The final official event was a magnificent Gala Dinner for over 800 people.  The parents had organized this and spent many months working on all the details.

The décor was very beautiful, and the entrance was decorated as though outside Buckingham Palace, with guards in full uniform and busbies to receive us all!  Again we met so many former pupils and parents: it was almost over-whelming!

Besides these organized events, there were many spontaneous invitations to meals out and times of sharing with former pupils, ex-colleagues & friends.  These continued into a second week in Asuncion.  We were able to visit the Chacarita Annexe School and attend a very impressive Father’s Day Concert there, and to look round their lovely new computer room, built with donations from a church in England, and to look round their library and after school study room.  The school has progressed beyond anything we dreamed possible, remembering its very humble beginnings in a rented house over 40 years ago!

We were also delighted to spend time with Ana Maria Demestri, the Director of FEISA, the Early Years Teacher Training College which we had the privilege of helping to set up during our final 5 years in Paraguay.  The College has over 80 students now and Ana is very dynamic, a person with real vision and also excellent administrative skills – not a common combination!  It was impressive listening to her dreams of how God could further develop the College in the future.  She is working on a new 3 year degree course at the moment that will have an emphasis on educational management, thereby potentially preparing future heads and educational inspectors.  It needs to be approved by the Evangelical University and the Paraguayan Ministry of Education, so she needs much prayer & wisdom!

Apart from these 2 weeks in Asuncion, we spent 7 weeks out in the heart of the Paraguayan countryside, in Colonia Independencia, with 3 of our close friends, the Evangelical Sisters of Mary.   We had a wonderful time meeting many people who came out to visit them.  One of our main remits, however, was to work on the Spanish and English translations of the Sisters’ German book “Paraguayan Realities”.  It tells of their many amazing experiences  of God’s provision and miracles during their early days, 30 years ago, in an undeveloped part of the Paraguayan countryside. It makes gripping and challenging reading & we felt it was a great privilege to be able to help with the translations.  We are hoping the 3 versions may be published later this year.

All in all therefore, these last couple of months have been very special indeed!  Thank you so much again for your interest.

Many blessings over this lovely summer period.

With love,

Molly & Eileen.

Update from Virginia Morales in Asuncion news and prayer letter recently received into the SAMS office:

• Update from Virginia Morales in Asuncion

Virginia with children at Remansito

Dear friends and supporters of Mission Paraguay,

Hello from Roque Alonso where the first group of Mission Paraguay volunteers are based.   We have been here for almost one week and except for one very heavy rain storm the weather has been warm and sunny.   We have been greatly blessed by God in so many ways since arriving. Everything is going to plan up to now and we have been visiting a number of different communities in the Asunción area to work with children including involvement with the mobile toy library, distribute spectacles and continue the support for the sewing workshops.   This year’s project to train women to make aprons has gone really well so far.   The building work which Mission Paraguay is funding is underway and proceeding well in the Chaco.    While further information is available on the SAMS UK and Ireland website I have attached and information sheet.

We value your ongoing prayers for safety in travel, that the Lord will bless our visit and that through Mission Paraguay 2013 many grow in faith and come into a closer walk with the Lord Jesus.

David

• Mission Paraguay 2013 projects [doc]

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for your faithful praying for the church in Paraguay – as you can see the Lord is good and faithful towards his people. Thankfully the cool weather here is reducing the number of mosquitoes and so the number of cases of dengue fever are dropping. Paraguay has just had an unusually long cool and very wet spell (it seemed to rain everyday for weeks and weeks) and so many people have colds and flu. It is a blessing that the nation’s children are now enjoying their winter break from school and so that too is reducing cases of flu. Peter is in the Chaco at the moment at the Chaco Bible Week, and I am at home recovering from a nasty chesty cold.

I have included photos in the PDF version but not the Word document. If you have any problems with either of these documents or would like a copy of either photos please let me know.

We do pray that wherever you are and what ever the weather may be, that the Lord will keep you and protect you and make his face to shine upon you.

Blessings and love in the Lord,

Sally

• Paraguay Prayer Calendar July August 2013 [pdf]
• Paraguay Prayer Calendar July August 2013 [doc]

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

• July 1 [pdf]
• July 2 [pdf]
• July 3 [pdf]

Dear Friends,

The sun has finally made an appearance after almost 3 weeks of rain and cold…. most unusual for Paraguay! It’s not been easy in school when it’s too wet to go out for days on end and now we have a lot of children off ill. In first grade only 7 pupils out of 28 came today and most of the others have flu. We have closed the class for a couple of days but I doubt they’ll come back this week as the holidays start this weekend.

June was a very busy month. We had an inter schools sports competition planned where we would be the hosts and invite other schools. We had a press launch as well !! We had a visitor to that… a Paraguayan footballer who was obviously well known as all the children wanted his autograph. Gwen found herself sitting next to him without knowing who he was ! When Mags came back from the sports ground she wasn’t happy to know the Paraguayan goalkeeper had been in school and she’d missed him…she seemed to think it was all wasted on Gwen! In the end the day had to be postponed due to very bad weather and it is now planned for the end of July.

The third form held a dance competition for all the school from 4^th grade upwards. The pupils took it very seriously and practised for months. We had a very good evening watching them and the quality of the dances was exceptional. The year 11’s won yet again ..they’re a group with a lot of dancers in it.

For Father’s day we invited the dads into school for breakfast. We must have had a record number of dads in this year. When we first came we rarely saw the dads, now they are much more involved in their children’s education.

The secondary went out on their visits to the different children’s homes and schools they support. It is great seeing them setting off with such enthusiasm for their children. 7^th Grade went to the home which last years 6^th form had visited for 6 years and played happily with the chidren who have HIV. They build up relationships with them all over the years. 8^th Grade came back full of plans to paint the Preschool they visit.

We also had the last two decade shows. The 90s and the 2000s. The 6^th form had organized all their show brilliantly. It was a multimedia in every sense. 7^th – 9^th Grades were much more self-conscious in front of the older ones – typical teenagers!

As you know, June was also the month of our celebrations. We were blessed to have  Bishop Greg  (Venables) from Buenos Aires and Bishop Ken Clarke from SAMS Ireland and UK along with Eileen Murphy (head 90-98) Molly Cooper and Pat Chapman . We also had some of the ex Paraguayan staff with us.The first event was a school march down the main street in Asuncion. We had all the permissions we needed and were very organized for this and then, 3 days before the date, we found out there was also to be a Gay Parade in the same place at the time we would finish. We decided not to go ahead as we didn’t want a clash. We tried to get permission to march near school but it was too late. We had a quick change of plans and invited everyone to breakfast in school and to see a film  of the history of school and to chat with the visitors. About 200 people came to that, mostly ex pupils, and we had a really goodtime. Many thought it was probably even better than a march. The march is postponed until September now.

The ex pupils’ service was on Tuesday with Bishop Greg as the main speaker. It was a very good service and many had tears especially as they sang the school hymn. It was a special time for many of them.

The next day we had a Gala evening where the pupils did their dances from the decades. This was planned for outside but we had to change it rapidly and finally had it in the gym and the food stands in the secondary patio. It was a great evening, lots of people came  and money was raised for the annexe bathrooms.

On Friday we had our school service with a number of invited guests. It was good to see a representative from the British embassy which is about to return to Paraguay. Bishop Ken from Ireland spoke and was very well received giving a very clear message for the children. In the evening we had our School dinner which was  amazing. It was beautifully prepared and decorated with a fantastic atmosphere. Everyone had come to enjoy themselves and enjoy the evening. The outside was decorated to look like Buckingham Palace! There were over 800 people there and it was quite a job trying to fit names to people especially when they might have left over 20 years ago!!

Now we have one week left in school before our winter holidays although quite a number of pupils are already away. We are quite tired after all the events and a long term.

One of our dogs is quite ill with cancer and probably won’t last much longer so that’s something we’re not looking forward to. Also the lady who cleans for us has been ill with pneumonia for the last 6 weeks just at the time when we have been busiest in school. Hopefully she’ll be back this week.

Thank you for all your prayers and support.

God Bless, Love Mags and Gwen