It's 3 AM my time, and I'm awake for what seems like the 5,000th night in a row. Okay, it's more like a week, but it's starting to feel like 5,000 nights by now. I tend to think too much, and at night, sometimes that catches up with me. I find myself able to fall asleep, just not to stay asleep. I think my mind is in overdrive and just refuses to rest. I wake up saying things in Spanish and actually thinking in Spanish, like "Los perros son muy fuertes." (The dogs are really loud.) I can't seem to shut off the little translator in my brain so I can rest a bit.

For the record, this isn't the first time this sleeplessness thing has happened to me. It's something that I seem to cycle through every now and then, and once it passes, I'm good. I have several theories on this plight...

1. God has His hand in this, and is using this time to draw me closer to Him. Inevitably, what I end up doing when I can't sleep is reading the Bible, walking around the house, and praying. Perhaps God isn't getting enough uninterrupted, focused time with me during the day and my spirit man needs the hours I spend with the Lord on nights like this. Maybe He is preparing me for things I'll be facing soon, or He is birthing something new in my life and requires a little extra of me. Or maybe someone on the list of people who get my nighttime prayers really needs more than the usual intercession, and this is the time God has called me to it.

2. God wants me to sleep, as in Psalm 127:2b ("...he giveth his beloved sleep."), and this is a spiritual battle in which my enemy tries to rob me of that gift. In that case, the result is the same as #1. I pray, I read, I walk. I quote the words of Proverbs 3:24b, which we taught our girls from an early age: "When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet."

3. This is a physical response to stress I've been under lately. Despite all the fun excitement in this life-changing move to a new continent, I have to admit that my body shows the signs of the physical strain it's been under. Obviously, we were on overdrive for months before actually getting here, focused on getting all our "ducks in a row" and bags packed, so to speak. There wasn't much rest in that time period, and since coming here, there are definitely adjustments in the nighttime routine (sleeping in a hot bunk bed, the noise and air movement from the ceiling fan, hearing dogs barking outside the open windows, the random mangoes dropping out of the tree onto our tin roof with a LOUD bang that makes one think a mack truck has hit the house, etc.) Throw on top of that little stresses like not yet having a renter for our house back home, trying to communicate with a new culture of people, working our daily routine into a schedule, keeping up with homeschooling in this heat, etc.

I acknowledge that there is such a thing as culture shock, and although I don't want to think that's what's going on, I have to admit that my brain is tired from all the translating and adjusting and re-adjusting, and that it doesn't want to shut off long enough to let me rest. If this is the true culprit, I still do the same things as above... read some calming scriptures, pray and try to put it all in God's hands.

I've always been a heavy dreamer, with sequences of dreams all night long being the norm for me, but I don't usually wake up every 5 or 10 minutes feeling like I need to get up, not sure if I'm awake or dreaming. I'm doing all the common sense remedies, like not eating close to bedtime, avoiding caffeine, reading a little before falling asleep, wearing comfortable pj's, blah, blah, blah. I even took an antihistamine for a couple nights, thinking the culprit may be the congestion I was having at the time. Unfortunately (or fortunately, in this case), the only one I could find at the local pharmacy was an all-inclusive medicine similar to Ny-Quil, minus the alcohol. That did help me stay asleep, but I have this thing about taking medicines, and I thought the last thing I needed was to develop a dependency on a pill to sleep at night. So the first night I DIDN'T take it, I'm back to square one.

DISCLAIMER: I, even now, am fighting the urge to delete this post before sharing it, as I don't want to sound like a complaining whiner. I really am having a spectacular time here and know that God has great things in store for us in Paraguay. I could just use some prayer support so that my body and mind can rest enough to enjoy those things. Thanks in advance.

The first camp of 2009 will start this Friday, for ages 5-11. The list of things to do in preparation is long, and today's rain has halted progress. HOWEVER, the rain did drop the temperature from 112 to 80, so you won't hear me complain. The girls have taken to wearing a jacket if we get anywhere below 85. Becoming locals! We're piling in as much schoolwork as possible this morning, knowing that the next few days will be jam-packed with work around the campground.

We've decided to send the girls to this camp. They are excited but a little nervous. They'll still come back here to sleep, but they'll be spending Friday, Saturday, and half of Sunday with a group of about 50 fellow campers from the different Churches of God of Prophecy here in Paraguay. Thankfully, some of the girls from nextdoor will be there, too, so Camille and Caroline won't be totally in the dark. They're both doing so well at picking up the language. They hardly ever come grab me for translation help now, and they've been teaching English words in trade for the Spanish/Guarani ones they're learning. (Don't click below...this is a short one!)

The mangoes are ripening now. That didn't matter to the kids next door, as they've been eating them green and hard for weeks now, despite the protests of all us adults, and their lingering stomach aches afterwards. My kids love them, my husband keeps making juice, but I can't quite get into them. I like the flavor (even though in juice they're a little "thick") but I can't get used to the stringy fibers inside. One of the trees here has a different cross-bred mango, bigger and less fibrous. It does make a better juice I think. They call mangoes "poor man's food" here because when folks run out of money for groceries, they can just walk along the road and pick mangoes. How convenient it is to have fruit in massive quantities growing in our YARD!

The mburucuya are also ripe. I think this is the equivalent of passion fruit. You cut it right in half, scoop out the gelatin-covered seeds, and blend them with some water... VOILA! Instant paradise! Blend some ice and sip it in the hammock, and you'd swear you're in Hawaii. It's reputed to lower blood pressure, although I hope not. Mine generally runs too low anyway (hence all the swooning and spinning), and I'm drinking this stuff like our SUV drinks diesel. Phwew! It sure is refreshing, though, in a tart-sweet fruity sort of way.

There's a really sweet lady that lives a few houses back from the campground, who comes several days per week to help cook and clean the children's home next door. She is a single mother to 7 kids in a tiny one-room house, and she works very hard to provide for them. She is also a sweet Christian woman who attends our church. Her youngest daughter, RosaCatalina, was diagnosed with diabetes years ago. She has been taking insulin shots twice a day for as long as the little 8-year-old can remember. Very recently, she was told that she has leukemia and would begin treatments December 18.

About a month ago, RosaCatalina came forward for prayer, her mother declaring that she believed the child could be healed. She told of how brittle her daughter's health is, with her sugar levels being very unstable and needing constant monitoring. It was not uncommon for the child to be in bed more than out of bed. Several testified of miracles in their own lives before we prayed for little Rosa that morning.

Just this past week, RosaCatalina and her mom went into the city for a check-up. Not only did the doctors find that she would not be needing treatments for leukemia, but her sugar level was in the normal range. They waited until lunch and did another test, to be sure they were right. Once again, she was normal. They are now having her only take one injection per day, and return later for a re-check. As you can imagine, this teary mother is telling everyone she knows of God's healing power!

Beside Ken is our friend Milciades (Meal see AH days), who is on the construction crew for the girls' dorms. He shared with us that he had several head injuries as a child, from windows falling on him, to boards from the ceiling, to falling out of trees, to whatever. Once, the injury was so severe that he was blind for several minutes as a result. He didn't seek medical care for any of these injuries, and he has the scars and lumps to prove it!

He has trouble seeing for any sort of distance and is bothered by consistent headaches, as you can imagine. He visited a doctor recently who told him there could be blood in places it shouldn't be, inside his head (that loses something in translation, but you get the picture). He is supposed to go have a scan done but has been a little nervous of what they'll find, so he's putting it off.

He is gifted in a lot of ways and it's obvious to see the hand of God in his life, after only talking to him for a short time. Please help us pray that he will turn to God through all this, and that God uses this opportunity to heal Milciades and draw him to a strong relationship with Jesus.

Christmas Eve is called La Noche Buena here, and everyone stays up to usher in Christmas, much like we do for New Years. WE started our evening with a traditional Christmas meal (haha) of burgers and homemade fries on the front porch.

About 10 PM, we ventured nextdoor to the children's home, where they were enjoying some loud music and dancing, hanging out in the front yard. We went inside around 11 PM to take pictures around their tree and enjoy the evening feast.

This meal was rice salad (rice, mayo, small chopped veggies), chipa guazu (corn bread, sort of), sopa (also sort of like corn bread), mandioca (like a potato, kind of), potato salad, and pig. The boys were proud that they'd helped the house-dad handle the pig part.

We then all went back outside for more dancing and sitting around, until the countdown to Christmas. At midnight we heard fireworks from all directions and there was much hugging and jumping and shouting!

This morning, we awoke to this lovely little tree. Cute, huh?, in a Charlie Brown sort of way! We opened our presents and had a nutritious pop-tart breakfast (THANKS, NANA!) Pop-tarts are impossible to find here, and the package my mom sent arrived a couple of days ago, just in time for a Christmas breakfast! Ken got a much needed pair of shades, Camille and Caroline got a DVD and nail polish, and I received some beautiful drawings from the girls. Now we're off to share the soccer ball we bought as a gift for all the kids next door, then spend some time with a few other Americans in Asuncion. Hope your day is great, as well. God bless you all, Merry Christmas!

The Christmas presentation was a HUGE success! Thank you so much for your prayers. When you click to see the rest of this post, you'll find a few photos and a video.

We split into three groups yesterday morning to visit all our neighbors. (Quite fun, since most only spoke Guarani. I had a "small" conversation with one older gentleman who complimented me for trying to learn it! YAY!) SIDENOTE: Each group came back with a load of fruit that the neighbors shared with us. Our little group had grapes and mangoes, and some sort of small round fruit bigger than the grapes but smaller than a plum, that opens up to a very sweet, gooey ball of fruit inside.

It has been at least 100* here for the last week, but about an hour before starting time, the temp dropped to 85. This was a very bad sign, as it could only be signaling a thunderstorm. When it rains or even THREATENS to rain in Paraguay, the world stops. No school, no church, many don't even go to work. They just settle in at home and stay put. So we were just a little worried that the clouds would scare everyone off.

But we had a great turnout, and the play began with the moderator reading the Christmas story from the Bible. We started at the angel's visit to Mary and went all the way to the shepherd's visit to Baby Jesus. I just loved the little angel chorus below!

The three kings decided to put some decoration on to distinguish themselves from the shepherds, so Caroline actually has a pink guitar pink hanging on her forehead from a bobby pin. Once the idea was in her head, there was no turning back. The others are donning pillow cases, of course! Caroline is on the left, their friend Emily in the middle, and Camille with the blue cape.

Mary is being blocked by the star-studded coconut tree in this photo, but the little family is surrounded by the angels and some visiting shepherds. The gifts left by the wise men are on stage (they are boxes wrapped in soccer jerseys...)

The video below is all the girls, with the Marcos Witt song, "Es Navidad" (It's Christmas) in the background. I shot it with my regular camera, so the sound is pretty bad. Caroline is in the red and white shirt with a scarf draped around her like a skirt. She comes forward in the second group of dancers. Camille is on the stage, mostly blocked by that aggravating coconut tree. She's on the left of the screen in the first group. The girls here are always making up little dances to songs, so they were excited to present this last night.


Here's a crowd shot. We were so happy with how many came from the community. As soon as the sound equipment and all the props were brought in, the bottom fell out of the sky and we had thunderstorms all night. Thank the Lord for holding off the rain and giving us the opportunity to proclaim the real reason for NAVIDAD!

If you read this in time, say a prayer for our Christmas program tonight. The kids are reenacting the nativity story, complete with a little song and dance and some angels, animals, and an innkeeper. It's a wonderful opportunity for outreach in the community, as the plan is to serve refreshments. That always seems to draw a crowd, right?

This morning, we are going to visit the neighborhood door-to-door so that all know about the evening's festivities. The children have been practicing for days and are a bit nervous, but they understand that many people in this area don't know this story. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures later of them in full costumes, during the program. :)

We spent Saturday morning working on the headers on top of one of the girls' dorms. Thankfully, the work started at 6 AM (Okay, I got there at 7) and was done by 1 PM. In the first picture below, you can see the wood form built on top of the bricks. These were put up last week, and then Saturday we made and hauled and poured concrete into the forms.

In the next picture you can see the different components of the mix (mezcla)--rocks (ita), water (y), and sand (yvy), and then the two buckets beside the bags, of the powdery stuff (pola). My job was to keep the pola in the buckets, so that when the guy needed to add it to the round cement mixer, it was always ready.
When I had both filled, I tried to also help with taking buckets of the mezcla to the guys on the scaffolds, or to scrub the dripping mix off the bricks before it hardened. Camille washed the bricks the whole time, and Ken did a little of everything. We decided to leave Caroline in the house since she doesn't take the heat or sun very well, so she missed the fun. Progress!

We took a family excursion day today--I know, not the most romantic way to spend an anniversary, but we really needed a fun family day. We had been seeing signs for a national park about 50 km from us, called La Rosada a Ybycui Parque Nacional. Sounded like a fun adventure, so off we went first thing this morning. (WARNING TO MY DIAL-UP READERS: If you click below to read the entire post, we've got lots of pictures.)

We got to the town called Ybycui and although charming, it had no signs of a national park. It did have a sign ABOUT a National Park, though, and we squinted to make it out, as it was quite faded. It told us to turn right... where? No right turn was available at that time. We took a chance and took the next right, which looked like the road to nowhere.
The whole trip was quite beautiful, with rolling hills and pastures, cows and horses and sheep, quaint little cottages, groves of coconut and eucalyptus trees, and small mountains in the distance. Nevermind the tremendous potholes or livestock on the road. A constant threat here. My husband takes it as a challenge, like some kind of video game where the SUV dodges the large steers and humongous holes in the sort-of paved roads. Only amusing to him. Well, I shouldn't say that--the locals sitting on the side of the road in their lawnchairs (watching the grass grow?) seem quite amused, as well.


So we finally made our way to the park entrance, paid our little fee, and realized we were the only people enjoying the historical ruins of the first iron factory in the Americas. The eerie glow in the picture to the right is from a little skylight.

Afterward, we ventured down a few footpaths to lovely overlooks. We kept saying that it seemed like we were at Table Rock, with the paths winding through hilly woods beside a stream most of the way. Thankfully, most of the paths were beneath the shade of the huge trees.


There were so many butterflies swarming us that we had to constantly shoo them away.


Then we stumbled onto the jackpot. I rounded a corner, and ta-dah!

WATERFALLS!
We had the place to ourselves and really were glad for the cold, cold water to cool off in. Camille was ever so happy to take the pictures, so she'd have an excuse to say, "Stop splashing me!" We had to drag Caroline out of there, begging for just "a few more minutes!!" Fairly romantic after all! What a great day!

We're celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary today and I want to publicly say that I married a great man. God knew I needed someone a little crazy to balance out all my quirks and oddities, and Ken's just the man for the job. He makes a great dad, too, and is always on the same page with me about this adventure called life.

On another note, I wanted to show you a couple pictures of what we see in the city. We travel into Asuncion (the capital) for business and such, and at most intersections--every one with a stoplight--we encounter various children and adults selling their goods and services. This could be anything from fresh fruit (oh, so fresh, and at bargain prices) to cell phone covers to maps to bread to DVD's (on or before the day they come out in the theater) to newspapers to basically anything you can imagine.

Some are carrying squeegies and soapy water bottles, and as SOON as the light turns red, they are splashing the soap on your windshield to wash it. Others are carrying various sizes of windshield wipers and will sell you and INSTALL the wipers before the light turns green. There are also the basic beggars, just coming to your window to ask for money or show you their deformity.

All that is well and good in a poor economy, where folks need to make money how ever they can. I have to draw the line, though, at small children. It's extremely common to see 6-12 year-olds everywhere, but at many of these intersections, there are VERY SMALL (2-5 years old) children, stretching to wash your window, offering to sell you fruit, or just holding out their hands. If you live in Greenville, just imagine Woodruff Road at lunchtime, or in Charleston, Rivers Ave towards the end of December. Except here, the maintenance isn't as good and there aren't nice medians dividing the lanes. Instead, these tiny kids are standing there, often alone or with another small child, just inches from the passing cars. It's all I can do not to open the door and pull them into the car with me.


I see them and think about the children next-door we've come to love, who are abandoned children themselves. I try to imagine them, or one of my own, standing on a scorching hot street in the baking sun all day, risking life and limb to survive another 24-hours. We knew before we came that a large part of the Millers' ministry here is homes for abandoned children, but after seeing the alternative first-hand, we are more and more thankful that God laid it on their hearts to make a difference where they can in the lives of these children.

We're learning that Paraguay is a little quirky. It's kinda like when someone from England moves to the deep south, and even though everyone's speaking English, it's a whole new world of English in Macedonia, SC than in London, England. Here are some differences unique to Paraguay that we've noticed: (DISCLAIMER: I'm new here, so don't take me to task if this isn't completely accurate, and these learnings reflect life out in the country, 2 hours from "big city" life...)

GREETINGS: In the states, you shake hands. In some South American countries, you give a quick kiss on the left cheek. In Paraguay, you kiss both cheeks, leaning to your left first, then your right. I haven't seen men do this to other men, but all women do, whether with another woman or a man. Children always kiss both cheeks, also. Kinda nice. :) The joke here is that this tradition started because when a man needs to relieve himself (go pee-pee), he just does that wherever... side of the road, in the field, around the corner of the store. So the no one wants to shake hands with men who don't wash them after taking care of their business.

BEANS: You may think that just because your Spanish dictionary says "frijoles" that you should try that word, too, but don't be fooled! The word here is "porotos," and if you try frijoles on them, they give you the "Are you speaking English now?" look.

UMBRELLA: Despite the fact that there is rain here, more often the umbrella is used to block the sun. Therefore, the name parasol (literally "for sun") is used more often than paragua (for rain). They do at least know what a paragua is, but it's a clear indicator that "you're not from 'round here" if you use that term.

BANANA: Just say banana. Not platano. Just plain old banana.

GUARANI: Since most everyone in the country speaks Guarani, you'll hear all sorts of mixed conversations, where words from both languages are used. They tell me that when the Guarani word is particularly long or difficult to say, they just use the Spanish word instead. Sometimes there's no rhyme or reason to it. I guess since the typical Paraguayan can speak both languages, they just throw it all in a blender and see what comes out. (Actually, away from the city in the "interior" region, you find many who don't speak any Spanish and ONLY know Guarani.)

SPANISH: You hardly ever hear the word "español" here. When someone comments on their surprise that we speak Spanish, or that the girls understand and respond appropriately, they always say, "Oh, you know CASTELLANO." It seems Spanish belongs to Spain and Castellano belongs to Latin America. Anyway, it's a compliment. :)

YOU: I've never seen this until here, but they hardly use the Spanish word for "you" singular. So when I'm in everyday conversation with someone, I'd normally say, "Tu tocas la guitarra bien." (You play the guitar well.) In Paraguay, I'd say, "VOS tocas la guitarra bien." It took me forever to figure this out, and I still don't use it as comfortably as I'd like to. The funny thing is that this whole vos thing is a real live proper word, but it's not conjugated correctly here. Instead of the verb that should go with it, just use the form of the verb you'd normally use with "tu," except when you're saying, "You are..." Like, if I want to say "You are pretty," I'd not say "Tu eres linda," or even "Vos eres linda," but "Vos sos linda." AAA! Confused yet? Me, too. Thankfully, they don't laugh when I still use TU, it's just one more way of proving I'm "not from 'round here."

FORMALITIES: I drilled it into my head to use the "usted" form of you in Peru, because it's a term of respect, used when you are speaking to someone you don't really know, an elder, or someone in a high position such as your boss. Here, I tried that at what seemed like appropriate moments and was told I was being offensive for being TOO polite. Snobby was the connotation, I believe. So we're back to tu and vos and I'm relearning how to speak to older people in what seems like a disrespectful way to me.

There are a trillion more little idiosyncrasies we're learning each day, but it makes for a country with its own distint, at times strange, personality and a strong sense of uniqueness. We fit right in.

While I was at my "clandestine meeting" yesterday, Ken and the girls took some time to drive around town exploring. They tried out some new roads and wove their way in and out of some neighborhoods, basically looking for anything interesting (which is at every corner!) They passed a man walking--not just any man, mind you, but a Catholic priest in his full robe and overcoat (I'm sure they have specific names, but the big heavy draping cloak covering the big heavy draping robe). It was round about 100 degrees or so, as always, and this poor fella was carrying three suitcases. They passed by him in the truck, noticed his predicament, and determined that he looked about 2 seconds away from a heart attack/heat stroke.

So Ken whips a U-turn, they offer this grateful priest a ride, and so began a long conversation for the remaining 15 blocks to this man's home. He explained that he had missed his bus by only one minute, and proceeded to point out the high points on the tour of his barrio. When he got ready to get out, Ken said to him what we say to everyone when parting ways, "God bless you." The priest burst into laughter, and when he composed himself enough to speak, he said, "YOU aren't supposed to say that, I say that!" He then proceeded to recite the blessing over Ken and the family, through his giggling, and laughed all the way to the front door of his house.

"Beware of internet relationships!!!" Yesterday, I left my family to run away and meet some people I've been talking with (rather obsessively, at times) on the internet. It was in a secluded neighborhood, behind a gated entry, in a private dining area. Quite clandestine, huh? Okay, it was a ladies' group--missionary women, no less, but it all sounds very mysterious, doesn't it?!

Way back in the "where are we going, Lord?" phase of hearing our call, I started googling (yes, that's a verb now) missionary wives in South America and found all these blogs. Not only didthey help me prepare mentally for what sorts of things I'd be facing here, they helped me prepare my kids, my husband, my suitcases, my finances, and the list goes on. They had so many pointers about real life, South American-style, that I couldn't help but glean some of their wisdom and apply it to our move here.

Meeting them in person was really fun. I told them I felt like I was invited to some celebrity party, since they'd been like characters from the tabloids to me, or off some tv show. But they REALLY DO EXIST, and they're just as nice and strong as you'd think from their interesting blogs. They were such an encouragement to me. They have miles and miles and years and years of missionary heritage, and this is all new for our family, so I just sat there and soaked in what I could.

Thank you, Ladies, for giving me a boost on this journey, and for proving that internet relationships CAN work out. :)

There's work going on here! The construction team is steadily working away (despite the heat) at rebuilding the girls' cabins that were destroyed in the tornado earlier this year. While this was going on this week, a team was working in the pool at the campground, draining the "mud" from it so it can be sanded and repainted, in time to put it to good use for the camps scheduled in January. Pictures are included if you click below. (Insider Stock Tip-If we Hagermans continue to be outside here, stock in sunscreen will be skyrocketing.)

Here's a shot of the pool. Dan and Ken were working with the filter, which was constantly being filled with glump, for lack of a better word. The ones inside the pool were using brooms/mops/whatever to keep the water stirred up, so as to avoid all the mud going through the filter at one time. Every couple minutes, the men stopped to clean out the filter, then it all started back up. As you can imagine, when the water was all drained, this erupted into a huge mudslinging water fight, much like that of recent politics (although these guys were nicer about it!)

Today we met a couple young people who are stationed here through the Peace Corps until next May. They were in the same Burger King as us and asked if we wanted to eat with them. Never one to miss meeting new people, I drilled them with a million questions about the Peace Corps. The guy was from Philly and the young lady, from Minnesota, and they met here in Paraguay. They got married but chose to each remain in the towns they committed to for now. (That's dedication, eh?) Both are working in health education and told us some neat stories about going into the local schools. I thought it'd be nice, on that note, to share the pictures of our visits to the school down the road from us, where several of the children from the home next-door are students.

We were invited to drop by, so we did just that. The kids knew we were planning to come, so round about 6:00 AM they were knocking on our front door to see if we wanted to walk with them. I politely declined in favor of a later visit. We walked down the dusty dirt road for about half an hour before coming to the neat little school yard. The children had seen us coming and told their teachers, so by the time we walked up, they were pulling chairs under the mango tree for us, and getting the terere ready.

And what do you think the students did while we chatted? You guessed it...they played soccer!

One of the teachers invited me to return for the equivalent of kindergarten graduation later that afternoon. What fun! I sat in a tiny school desk in the back yard, next to a young mom who told me that the clothes her baby was wearing were given to her from a visiting mission team (Am I that obvious?!). Here are a couple of "our kids" from next-door, receiving their certificates.
Aren't they just the cutest?!

This past Saturday night we attended a festival in the town closest to us, Carapegua. Almost every town in Paraguay (and Peru, from my experience) has a square park in the center of the town, facing the Catholic church. The parks are pretty large, at least a city block, with benches and trees and sidewalks, and always a food/ice cream vendor or two.

This weekend, the street in front of the cathedral was closed for the event, and the front of the church was the actual stage. The festival itself was a joint venture between the Catholic church and the Evangelical churches of Carapegua and surrounding communities. They declared together, through videos, speakers, songs, and dance, that God has a plan for each person living here, and that plan does not include wasting life on alcohol (very common problem) or other traps of the enemy.

The praise and worship band was really talented and Spirit-led, and the traditional songs and dances were very interesting. We enjoyed being together with other believers, and definitely were glad this took place after the sun had gone down. In true South American style, the music and speaking was loud enough to be heard for miles and miles. That's one way to get the gospel out there! :)

I have been having dental work done in the capital at the rate of once a week, since we've gotten here. It's not that there's that much to be done, but the dentist has a whole different philosophy about getting it done. He does a little each day, so as not to shock my tooth. I have to say that my jaws are happy about that plan. Rather than the days of soreness I usually have after a dental visit, this gentle approach just leaves an only ache, that passes within an hour or so. It turns out that my tooth is actually trying to heal from this past summer's root canal, but that the crown was sitting on there crooked and making trouble. He repositioned it and all's well. I actually cracked the crown (twice) before I could get the final work finished, but my friendly dentist was able to fix it. Nice guy. He's from Argentina, incidentally, and gave me some lessons on culture and geography while he did his work.

I also attended a ladies' Bible study hosted by American missionary wives in Asuncion. It was great to be with them for a study about Esther in English, and spectacular (they use that word a lot here) to have brownies and treats, American style. (I always said I could live on the food served at wedding showers....) This is a monthly meeting, so we're planning to make our trips into the city on the days of the Bible study, if all goes well.

The girls have been shopping around since our arrival for somewhere to spend their Christmas money from the grandparents. They bought bicycles today, rode them for a few hours, and Camille got a hole in her tube. Bless her heart, she'll have to look at hers for a couple more days until we can get a patch. They are both getting so good at soccer, and at communicating. They spoke with the bicycle dealer (who also thought we were Germans) and the sales guys, as much as they could.

Funny thing, the locals usually seem very stand-offish with us in the stores, until they find out we live here, and we throw in something like, "This is such a beautiful country," or "We are already in love with Paraguay," or "You have wonderful, welcoming people here." Then the smiles come out, the handshakes take place, we get a million questions, and we're family.

Every 8th of December is the Day of the Virgin of Caacupe, who is the patron saint of miracles. Catholic citizens honor the city of Caacupe as the holy city of Paraguay (the Pope visited there in the 80's) and make a pilgrimage there each year. I'm pasting an article about it below, from travelblog.com...


According to the legend, the Blue Virgin of Caacupé saved a converted Guaraní from a band of Mbayáes hostile to the Christian faith. To show his gratitude he carved and image of the Lady of Caacupé out of a large Yerba Mate plant (some grow to near tree size). There is some question as to whether the image on display in the cathedral is the original. Another version of the story has the Indian being pursued by a bull, and saved by a snake sent by the Virgin to bite it on the ankle. These stories were probably invented by the Jesuits in order to convert the Guaraní Tribes to Christianity.

Caacupé is the center of much activity on December 8th, the Dia del Virgen (the Feast of the Immaculate Conception). Pilgrims come from all over Paraguay, many on foot, to participate in the celebrations (including fireworks and a candlelight procession). The sick and injured come to the town in great numbers.

Apparently, the belief is that the harder the journey, the more likely that the miracle you seek will take place. (Still a little caught up in "works," I believe...) So they tell me lots of folks crawl there or walk barefoot, or whatever they can do to make the journey more difficult. It's a long walk from the capital (31 miles, more or less), where most people live. And based on the way people drive here, I can only imagine how high the risk is for pedestrian accidents on that long highway.

Thank God He doesn't require such of us. It's sad that tradition has people in need of a miracle putting their faith in something like this, rather than bringing their petitions to God, "the old fashioned way."

It makes me think about how many times I still revert back to that mentality, though. I know that faith without works is dead (James 2:20), and I also realize that when we're living in God's plan and following His commands, things just naturally go more smoothly (Heb 12:5-11).

I equate it to my relationship with my daughters. If I'm getting a bad attitude from the same child who asks me for ice cream, I'm likely to say, "This time you'll do without it to learn that you mustn't talk to me that way." So for sure, God doesn't go around showering us with rewards when I deserve a negative consequence. But I tend in my humanity to take that a step further sometimes and think that, for example, if I rise at 5 AM instead of 7 AM for my devotion, that I'm storing up points with God that I can cash in later for favors. I have to remind myself that grace is UNMERITED favor, and that God wants to supply my needs (Phil 4:19), even if I don't butter Him up earning brownie points. And how thankful I am for that today, because in this heat, I can't even CONSIDER walking to the cathedral!!

We went with the Millers to a neat grocery store, reputed to have imported American groceries. I was all excited, envisioning pop-tarts and Duncan Hines frosting and all sorts of sweet things. If you look closely, you can see my family picking through the row of candy bars, under the American flag (hadn't seen one of those in a while!) As it turns out,...

...they also had a row of refrigerated imports. My thrifty side kept me from purchasing the Reese's peanut butter cups at a couple dollars each (and you KNOW how hard that was for me!!) I got all excited, though, to find shredded cheese packs (you know, the Kraft variety, in pouches for about $2 each), blocks of cheddar, and--wonder of all wonders--BREAK AND BAKE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!!! These are a staple for my diet. A regular part of any get-together at the Hagerman home or at our youth room at church ALWAYS includes chocolate chip cookies. My mom used to make them by scratch, but it was a revolutionary day when I found them for $2 in the refrigerated aisle at Bi-Lo. So there was much rejoicing, and before I even got there, the kids were jumping up and down in anticipation of how excited I'd be. Alas, look at the picture below. Can you make out the price? 44,581 guaranis. At an exchange rate that day of 4870 with the American dollar, that put those babies at a little over $9.15. NINE DOLLARS AND FIFTEEN CENTS!!!! I almost choked! (By the way, same price on the cheeses.)

I've done well with the heat. I've not minded the dirt and dust. I've adjusted to learning two languages. I have accepted the bugs and spiders and parasites. I am joyful when I boil milk and water. I've gotten used to being stared at. But when I realized that the cookies weren't going to go in my shopping cart, it was then that it hit me that a missionary lifestyle involves sacrifice. Lord, help me.

I've been promising some pictures of life as we know it now, so here are a few glimpses. Because I'm ever mindful of the dial-up blog readers, I'll put these photos on the next page. Just click below to see what we've been up to lately.


This home is the regular spot of Wednesday night services. We walked through a cow pasture and over this creek to get to it. In the top picture, the lady on the left is the lady of the home, in the pink shirt. Dan is beside her in the jersey, and my mom in on the right. It's hard to see in this small picture, but to the left of the lady is a bed. I've learned that lots of people in the country sleep outside because of the heat. Crossing the creek: my mom, me, Gwen (Dan's wife), and Saul (the evangelist)


This is our new mode of transportation. Four wheel drive so that we can get in and out of our long dirt roads in the rain. Jump seats in the back so that we can carry more than the four of us (I'm surprised at how many times I've already said, "Thank God we have the jump seats!") On a normal day, it does not look all shiny like this. It is covered in orange dust. It's a 90's decade Mitsubishi Montero, the most common vehicle in Paraguay. Far in the background you can see one of the buildings of the camp. This is the view from our front door.


A very hard, very large antbed near the Itaipu Dam (see below), just about as tall as my dad. It's not uncommon at all to see them this size, dotting the landscape all over the cow fields. The ants don't come out of them very often at all, and I'm told they aren't bothersome when they do. They come out to eat (From looking at the size of the antbed, I'm thinking they could eat a cow or something....)




We were visiting the Itaipu Dam, at the border of Brazil and Paraguay. It's quite an interesting story of how the two countries made a deal in the 70's to build this HUGE (so big it's one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World) hydroelectric power plant, with Brazil providing all the financing and Paraguay the labor. Paraguay only needs a very small percentage of the power produced, to handle their entire country. Brazil, which is MUCH larger, uses the rest. Paraguay sells them their portion at an extremely reduced rate, as part of the bargain they struck so that Brazil would finance the dam's construction. In several more years, the contract expires and Paraguay will receive market rate for the electricity they sell to Brazil. However, some of the Paraguayans are unhappy about this "injustice" in their eyes, and there were groups out there picketing when we visited. We drove across the top of the dam and this picture was actually taken from the Brazilian side.

We spent yesterday evening trying to pamper our pet parrot, Chico, after learning that it's a BAD sign for him to have his feathers fluffed all up for a whole day. We hand-fed him and held him and tried to keep him adequately satisfied. I even made a "heating pack" of warm rice tied in a sock, in case the drop in temperature had upset his delicate balance. He didn't want to walk up and down our arms, though, and wasn't much interested in eating. He didn't try to talk to us or move around much. Bad signs.

Camille came into our bedroom first thing this morning to ask if Chico should be lying down on his side, rather than perched on his stick. Alas, Chico had passed on in the night. Our friend, Saul, came over to perform a funeral service, wherein we observed a second of silence (that's all the poor fella got) in memory of Chico.

We had gotten used to his squeaky calls, apparently a sort of conversation he was having each day with the parrots outside in the mango trees. Caroline was having moderate success at trying to teach him different animal noises. He was a neat little pet. I think we'll hold off on finding another "mascota" until we're in our own home and know more about local animals. :(

Caroline wanted her own post, so here's the world according to a new 10-year-old...
Ok, so we’re here and I love playing with the kids. They are so much fun! Today we will clean the house where we are staying(UGH!). My favorite part is the kids and the MALLS!!!!! When Mom and Dad need to turn our American money into Paraguay’s money, we have to do it in an office in the mall, so we get to walk through the air conditioning! Everything is different but fun. We’re getting used to the time difference, it’s 2 hours ahead here. So we wake up your time, at least 4-5. When the sun comes up, it's hard to stay in bed, but I pull the sheet over my head and try. Don’t have much to say so I guess I’ll go.

Today was a big day. Caroline's 10th birthday, my first soccer game here, our first Christmas tree in Paraguay. We found a cute little Charlie Brown tree complete with decorations for about $2.50, and it's now on top of our fridge. (By the way, these "during" and "after" shots are taken from opposite directions, so you can see both our front doors and our back. We've learned that the optimum house plan has the front door aligned with the back and you just open both during the day, so that the air moves right through, ideally.)

Caroline had a friend from church come by to play all day, and now she's spending the night. They're watching ELF in Spanish as I type. I made a cake with a box mix I found here, and traditional dulce de leche for icing (caramel). The gal next door (Carolina) reminded me often that I wasn't cooking like her aunt does. So I kept reminding her that I'm not South American like her aunt is. She laughed.

Tonight, the community guys let me in on their soccer game. I'm very new at soccer, and the only time I've ever played was in Peru, at church camp. Those Peruvians were nice Christian fellas, quite chivalrous on the field, and careful not to injure me. It took about 2 seconds to realize this is a whole different ballgame. I came away with only a whack to the face and a bruise on my arm, but I was one of the lucky ones. Can't wait till they let me back in! Ken is elevating and icing his ankle right now (but not with dulce de leche--haha!) after his soccer game yesterday, which included stepping in a hole. These young guys keep meeting in our front yard each night to play, though, and they are a wide open mission field. So we'll take a few bumps and bruises to open the door to getting to know them. Say a few prayers for us, and for God to pave the way.