Ellen in Paraguay

This week has been a strange fusion of childhood and adulthood for me. On the one hand I played hours of Phase 10 (a card game), volleyball and ping-pong (so much so that I was dreaming of ping-pong). On Monday the boys and I made a fire and roasted hot dogs and made s’mores and slept outside. It was a really beautiful evening and the smoke from the fire went straight up and we left the fly off so we could lie in the tent and watch stars. Tuesday night there was a ping-pong tournament and with all my practice I managed to grab 4th place. It was a fundraiser to buy drums for the church and/or a band that a group of boys from the church put together. They made a whole $5 in entry fees. Wednesday we took a drive through the countryside and climbed a big rocky hill, and I realized again that I’m living in a botanical paradise. Paraguay doesn’t have mountains, but in certain places there is a single hill or a gathering of a few big bumps that rise out of the landscape, and I think they are just beautiful. The boys and I went searching for caves, but our quest ended after Brandon got stung by what they called a bee but looked like more of a small bird to me. Then we had a picnic lunch in the park. It seems like wherever we are, walking down to the river, hiking up a hill, eating in the park, Oscar finds some kind of food to eat off the trees. I was introduced to guayaba, which I think is probably guava fruit, and then when I came home I realized I have it five feet away from my door. Every few minutes I hear one drop from the tree. I just got home from a BBQ with about 4 families from the church, and now I am ready to start working again. So I had a lot of fun playing this week, which got me in a good mood to start teaching and being with kids.
But I also feel more maturity and responsibility being placed on me than ever before. For one thing, I am looking for a new place to live. I think I would like the just rent one of the many empty lots with huge trees and live off all their fruit and stay in a tent. It is kind of frustrating looking for a house because there is no Craig’s List or Bargin Finder; right now my method of house-shopping is also my daily exercise of running up and down the streets. My other grown-up task at the moment is helping Karen write up about the new building project and make a brochure. I am totally excited about it and am convinced that you all will want give lots of money to the school after you read the brochure, hopefully in 3 or 4 weeks. I think having this project to work on and the missions manual are two things that I can set my mind to and they give me a sense of purpose and help me not to be homesick.
Ahem, I have an announcement to make. I finally gave in a got a Nokia cell phone. It only cost $40 and I am on a plan with it seems most everyone from the church that I would ever need to talk to so I can call or text-message them practically free. I am very nervous that people from here will try to call me, because it is one thing to have a difficult conversation in person and it is another thing to try and understand each other over the phone. Everyone had a good time yesterday impersonating me trying to talk on the phone in Spanish… “uuuhhh Hola? Soy Ellen! uuhhh…no entiendo!que?” I never wanted to have a cell phone, and it is strange to me that here where there is so little well-developed infrastructure and up-to-date technology is where I really have learned to appreciate my camera and the internet, and I know I will appreciate being able to have my family call me.
I have learned a lot about prayer since I came here, and I think I’m starting to figure out why these people pray so fervently and frequently. When I am at home in North America, I feel pretty much like I can work to change things and improve my circumstances. It doesn’t always feel the same here. Even looking for a house, it seems like it depends more on luck and being at the right place at the right time, than any kind of vigilant searching. Because the opportunities are not as great, there is always only so much that one can do. And then all that’s left to do is to ask God to help. Except here they already know that so they just start by asking God. Yesterday a friend gave me a cheesy little card showing a picture of a teddy bear with a big red nose, but the silly picture does not match the seriousness of the quotation, which says something like “more has been accomplished in the world by those who pray than those who combat, and if the world is bad, it’s because there are more battles than prayers.” I know I can be very skeptical when it comes to the power of my prayers, but I am glad to be learning about prayer that can bring peace in my life. So I PRAY that you too can give up the battle to God and be free of unnecessary striving and violence in your life. In connection with them, I may as well mention that the high humidity here pretty much makes it impossible for me to wear my hair any way except in a tight ponytail. I always said before that I have a good understanding of not being in control because if I can’t control my hair, then what can I expect to control? Well, that is especially true for me here I guess. Sorry for discussing my hairstyle and prayer in the same paragraph. I just wanted to let you know I feel very at peace. Even with a having a cell phone when I said I never would.