Happy Birthday, Saúl!

Last night, we celebrated Saúl's 28th birthday with about 40 of our friends. We had the little salon packed full and spilling onto the porch, but all had a great time. After a photo show, various people came forward to say a little something to the birthday boy, and then we cut the fabulous cake that the Pastor's wife (known as the Pastora, and pictured here) made for him.

We are thankful that Saúl is part of our family here. He's been living with us for a lot of months now, and he is an integral part of what we do. He is quite gifted in making contacts, and definitely an evangelist at heart. He guides us in our cultural blunders and encourages us in our victories. He gets a lot of flack from the local folks, who can't understand how he can tolerate my cooking or hearing us converse in English. Because he's a pale fellow, lots of people think he's actually a blood relative and are surprised to find out he's Paraguayan. (That element of surprise comes in handy sometimes....) We think every missionary family needs a Saúl!