Almost three weeks in...

Hello to everyone!

Well I finally have a free moment to try and write a quick note to you all! Friday I will have been here for 3 weeks – the time just goes by so quickly!

I am officially living in my new place and it is so nice! The house is owned by a young married couple, without kids – their names are Guillermo and Jessica. What’s great about the house is that my room/bathroom are actually separate from the rest of the house.

Here is a photo of the gate to leave the house.

Here is a photo of the front of the house. The side door on the right is where I go for my room.

So when you walk through the side door, if you take a left then you see this door, which goes to the kitchen inside the house.

If you take a right, then you can see my space. The door on the left is my bathroom and straight ahead is my bedroom. You can also see where I hang my clothes after I wash them - most people have washing machines here, but most don't have dryers. I will have to take a photo of my room after I have cleaned it up a bit - LOL

So 3 big events from past couple of weeks:

1) I started teaching at a bilingual school. I am teaching high school science and English. Right now I am working M, T, W, and F from 8-12. The job definitely has its ups and downs (but what job doesn’t, right!). I do like that it is part-time right now though.

2) Dia de Amistad is a big holiday here. On the day you give your friends cards and little presents to show how much you appreciate the friendship. They love to do a “secret santa” sort of thing though. Guillermo, Jessica and another girl, Karina and I all put our names in a hat for Thursday. That night night, Guillermo cooked these really intense hamburgers (see photo) with a hamburger patty, a slice of ham, a slice of cheese, a fried egg and some sort of dressing on it- HUGE!

After dinner we exchanged our presents. It was a VERY fun evening! This photo is of Jessica, Guillermo and Karina.

3) I went to my first soccer game. It seems like the two biggest rival teams here are Cerro and Olimpia (both based here in Asuncion). I went to see Olimpia play in the Olimpia stadium and it was a blast! Of course the people at church who are for Cerro are so not happy that I went to cheer for OIimpia! LOL. We sat on the side, but the end zone was FILLED with these intense Olimpia fans who jump, sing, and chant for the ENTIRE game. It was awesome!

Let’s see – weather update: up until today it has been pretty cold. I am grateful that Jessica had a space heater for me that they weren’t using. Even with the space heater, there were a couple of nights where I slept with multiple layers on! Today is hot, sunny and I have the ceiling fan on – a sign of the weather to come from what EVERYONE tells me!

I have also successfully taken a public bus from my school to my house. I have also successfully walked to and from my house to the supermarket and the mall – YAY!

Col 1:10-12 “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. “

I share this scripture because God is definitely trying to work on my patience here. It has definitely been frustrating at times not being to understand what is going on around me. But God is helping me to work on being “tranquilo.” (calm and patient). I do give him thanks for taking care of me and really helping me to feel successful down here! I thank you all for your prayers and good wishes – I have felt all of your love down here.

Hope you all are well!

Ciao

Sarah