new culture. new home. new family ~ My Paraguayan Adventure~: A Month in Paraguay

It's been almost a month since I first arrived in Paraguay; an eventful month with a multitude of emotions.

I began solo teaching about two weeks ago. I'm teaching English to eight different grades (pre-k through 6th) Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's a challenge but a good one. The kids are full of energy but adorable:)

Spanish is going well…I think. Everybody keeps telling me I'm going to pick it up fast. And that's been my prayer, so we'll see. I absolutely love the language though and learning in general, so I think with hard work and learning to embrace embarrassment I'll get there haha.

We've been dealing with major internet issues here which has made this past month a little more difficult when it comes to missing home. On the bright side it has led to lots of movie nights, baking, and heart-to-hearts haha. But Lord willing the situation will be resolved soon. We pray so. We all miss Skype.

It's funny how that one person that can drive you the craziest is the one you miss the most. Miss you little bro ;)

The other night we had "Cell Groups," a bible study they do here at Hogar El Camino every Wednesday night. Sara leads the older girls of the houses and community and Shaun leads the older guys. At the end, we all split into groups of two to pray for each other. It was neat to see how even though these girls have grown up in different situations than I, we all still battle the same insecurities and difficulties. I'm thankful I'm getting the opportunity to get to know these girls. They are each so gifted in their own way and have incredible futures ahead of them. Definitely, some of the strongest girls I've ever met.

I'm slowly starting to make connections and build relationships with some of the kids here. Especially the oldest two girls Nilda and Lisa, who just recently got their visas and will be making their way to the states with Shaun and Sara come December for scholarship interviews in hopes of attending college in the states. Their desire for learning and helping others is so evident and inspiring. We've kind of become language buddies. I help them with English and they help me with Spanish. We make a good team haha:) If anyone would like to help toward Nilda and Lisa's trip they would greatly appreciate it. Be keeping them in your prayers.

The 5 intern girls that I have become close friends with only have 3 weeks left before they each return home. I'm thankful I've had each of them at the beginning of this journey. We've made great memories and had lots of laughter:) They will be greatly missed.

One of my highlights about these past few weeks has been getting a crash course in the World Cup. I've learned more about soccer or "futbol" in the past few weeks than I did going to countless soccer games through high school haha.

One Saturday morning, I and the other 6 intern girls set our alarms at 5:30 to go climb the water tower in order to see the sunrise, which was a lot higher than it looked but SO much fun. And absolutely gorgeous! I could get used to the scenery here. I'm enjoying having palm trees and fruit trees in my backyard.

The cold weather here has gotten all my seasons (and holidays) screwed up. I've been in a Christmas mood all week. But we did get a really warm day on the 4th of July. It actually felt like I was in Tennessee. We celebrated July 4th and one of the girl's birthday with a big cookout and fireworks. We all teamed together and attempted to prepare the best "american" meal we could come up with, burgers and lots of delicious desserts. Later in the evening we roasted smores while the men went to set up the fireworks. It was so neat seeing the house kids' responses to their first fireworks experience. Lots of screaming and laughter:)

Bug Report of the Week: I and the other girl interns encountered the biggest spider we have all ever set eyes on. Which lead to us calling the maintenance guy, Milciades, at midnight to come and take care of it. We didn't even feel bad. That thing came straight out of like Jurassic Park. So now I don't do frogs or spiders.

We currently have a medical mission team here from the Chattanooga/North Georgia area giving all the children in the school and community check-ups and fluoride treatments. A blessing I know I've taken for granted.

I'm beyond thankful for my bible study back home. Before I left they each wrote me letters so that I would have at least one to open every Thursday while I'm here, making Thursdays my most looked-forward-to day of the week. This past Thursday's letter had a very fitting scripture from Luke.

"to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve
Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days."
-Luke 1:74-75

Even though I'm so far from home, friends, and family and don't know what my future holds this reminded me that I can "serve Him without fear."

P.S. I'm happy to report that I did not catch anything on fire or blow anything up in the past few weeks. #feelingaccomplished

~Aubree