Christmas

We spent 3 days in Argentina right before Christmas, and what a time we had. I am sure that all of my other teammates have written up about it on their blogs, so feel free to check them out as I do not feel like writing it all out.

Christmas here was very different then in Canada. We had a big meal on the 24th at about 10:30pm, and after that alot of people came over and we all hung out until about 3am. Christmas morning I slept in until noon, and that was Christmas!! It was very hot on both the 24th and the 25th, and in the afternoon of the 25th my family and a couple of friends spent the afternoon swimming in a river. This was a first for me, as well as recieveing a pair of shorts and a tank top for a present.

People kept asking me if I was sad, whether I cried alot, and how my first Christmas away from home went. And I told them all that this is not Christmas for me. I didn´t cry, didn´t really miss my family (sorry guys :) ) and basically felt that it was just another normal, hot day in Paraguay with another late night meal. I am actually quite glad it turned out like this, as I had visions of it being the crappiest day of the year and such, but it turned out quite well.

Time is passing very quickly in Paraguay, as we are past the 3 month mark already!! Some days I am still wondering why I am here, but then I just remember God put me here for a reason and that helps me be content with the situation!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!

(ps Darrell I hope you are happy this is my second blog this month - just for you :) )

December

So I know it´s been awhile since I have last blogged, my mom finally emailed me and told me I should probably do one since people keep asking her what I am doing here. What am I doing here? That question rolls through my head on numerous occasions when I hear from all my friends at home, and what they are doing. Then the question springs to mind ´why the heck am I living in Paraguay and not at home in my cozy home living my normal life?` I guess it´s because God had other plans for my life. He has been stretching my in so many ways since I got here, and I know he will continue stretching me until I come home.

So I have started working at Chacomer - a large factory that makes motorcycles. Actually I´m working right behind it at a place that feeds street people breakfast and lunch everyday. I only have to go in for lunch though. Everyday there is probably 70 people that come - mostly children, but there are adults too. These are the people that I see everyday on the buses selling Coke, cookies, or singing trying to make a couple dollars. They are all wonderful people. The children call me `tia´ (aunt in spanish) and always come running for a hug when I get there. When I first started there, I wondered why they needed me because I don´t really do a whole lot, but then I realized I come to love the children and adults that may not get a hug anywhere else. Yes the bus ride is an hour long both ways, and yes it is over the hottest part of the day, but I am doing alright so far.

My team is preparing to go to Argentina for 3 days right before Christmas to renue our visas, and then the Christmas festivities start for me on Christmas Eve. The latino people celebrate Christmas on the 24th at midnight, by having a huge meal, and then sleeping most of the day on the 25th. I think this is going to be a tough time for me being away from my friends and family at this time, but the way I look at it is, in two weeks it will be all over - then I just have to get through my 19th birthday alone!

I have missed the snow a little bit - I know it´s hard to believe, but I think anyone would miss it just a little bit if they were living here. Especially the mornings you wake up after a snow fall and the sun is glistening on the snowflakes - all you at home enjoy it for me!!

Merry Christmas

Pizza Hut

So since before coming here to Paraguay, and since getting here, there hasn´t been a day that I haven´t wondered or asked God why he brought me to this country, and I think I may finally have an answer.

A friend and I were sitting in Pizza Hut on Saturday afternoon talking about everything under the sun. She is a teacher here, but is from Whales, so she understands what I am going through, and all the cultural differences and struggles I have encountered. She once told me that a friend told her that God only brings the stong to Paraguay because it is a hard country to live in - which is so true. She also told me that he brings the independent and strong willed to show them that we really do need to rely on God everyday. I am a very strong willed and independent person, and I have to admit that when I was living at home I didn´t really need to rely on anyone for much. I could basically go where I wanted, when I wanted, do what I wanted and not have to worry about much. I could communicate with everyone around me with ease, and never thought about how others might feel coming new into my town, church or school. I went to church every Sunday, said my prayers before eating, and was baptized at 16, but never truly lived out my faith to the fullest. You could almost have called me a hypocrite Christian. Well apparently God decided it was time for me to get a reality check, and decided it was time I began relying on him.

Since coming here I have relied on God every minute of everyday. Some mornings its a struggle for me to get out of bed because I know I am going to have to speak spanish - all day, when that happens I just ask for the courage and wisdom to get through it. On the days when I have so much homesickness I just want to get on the next plane home I ask for a hug from God and I always get one. The other day I was going to work with a friend and had to walk up a fairly large hill, and it was quite warm out already. I was in an area that buses don´t go through very often and figured my chances of getting one was slim. I started walking and said a quick prayer asking for a bus. After I said it I turned around and there was the bus I wanted. In Canada I would have thought I got lucky. Here in Paraguay I thanked God so much for answering my prayer. It´s little things like that, that are bringing me back to God. Even seeing a firefly the other night and thinking how great is our God that he created something so cool as a glowing bug.

I hope that all made a little bit of sense!!

Heat

Since coming here everyone´s favourite question to ask me is ¨are you hot?¨ because they automatically know the answer is going to be yes, and it always is. I think that they assume that since I´m from Canada, I have never expierenced heat before, which I haven´t or atleast not heat like this. This morning I went out, and at 930am it was already 35ºC. My spare time is filled with sitting under a fan, with my feet in a pail of coolish water and drinking terrerre. I am actually enjoying it though. As much as I want it to cool down, and to stop sweating for longer than the 10 min in a cold shower, I know that at the end of this I will be able to say I survived Paraguay. God has placed me here for a reason, and even though everyday I ask why me and why here, I know that there is a reason.

I am 18 going on 3....

¨Yo hablo un poco español.¨ I speak a little spanish. This has become one of the main phrases I use when going out anywhere. When I walk into a store and the sales people run up to me and start speaking really fast in spanish, I ususally wait until they finish and then say that line. It's actually really fun. It usually gets a different reaction each time. Some people look at me funny and then walk away, and others start talking really fast to me again like they don't realize I just said I don't speak much spanish.

I was told before coming that I was probably going to feel like I was 5 again. Well I got thinking about it and decided that was inaccurate. I feel more like 2 most days because 5 year olds can atleast make a sentence when they speak. It's actually quite fun though for the most part. There is plenty of dictionary passing, and I think I will have some wicked Charades skills when I get home next year.

Life in Paraguay has been so exciting for me. I was out for dinner the other night and when I wasn't trying to have conversation I just sat and thought about where I am, and if my friends could only see me now. It's truly amazing the way God has blessed my time here so far.

I had my last spanish lesson today!! And am supposed to be starting work on Monday. Well as of right now I have no idea what I am doing or where I need to be - I guess this is another act of patience!! And if you knew me before you would know I am not a super patient person!! I guess we'll have to see what God has instore for me next.

Week 3 in Paraguay

So I am officially living in a country where I can hardly say my own name (it's pronounced Root, but you have to roll the r, so it's Rrroot - yea difficult) but other than that, my spanish is coming along slowly, the days are getting warmer, and each day I get a little more comfortable with their crazy public transit! One thing Chicago taught me was how to ride a bus thankfully.

The church I am attending is a small mennonite church, but is very charasmatic. It really surprised me the first Sunday I attended, but it is growing on me. Starting this Sunday I will be helping with the babies every other Sunday. The people here have accepted me wonderfully, and my host family treats me as a daughter. Infact I am always introdued as ¨the other daughter¨ or as ¨my sister¨by Raquel. It is a really nice feeling.

Our group purchased cell phones yesterday. I didn't think I would mis smine when I left Canada, which I don't. They will come in handy here once we all begin working and don't see each other everyday.

Each day my homesickness grows less and less, some days are good and some days aren't as good, but Eph. 2:10 helps me through that.

Paraguay

After a two hour delay in Chicago, 6 hour layover in the Orlando Airport, a basically sleepless 9 hour red eye flight to Brazil, and another short layover in Brazil, I arrived in Asuncion Paraguay yesterday at about 1030 am. A very friendly group of people from the church I will be working with met us after we got off the plane, and took us back to their house for lunch. After we ate I found myself saying goodbye to Jono and Daniel as I was being ushered into a car without seeing Rose and Naomi. This was mega scary for me. I got to my host family´s house safely though and was met by a wonderful woman named Lida, she is my host mom. I have one sister named Raquel, and a father named Alberto. All very wonderful people, and remind me off my parents in Canada. They have a beautiful house, very different then Canada though, as most of the outside walls are just like fences with curtains infront because it gets so warm. My first night was good, although very hard to communicate. Raquel and I can use a mixture of spanish and english to talk to each other, but my parents speak no english. God provided me an angle though, in the form of a middle age british woman who just happens to live right above us in an apartment. Her name is Bobs and can speak fluent english and spanish. The 5 of us start spanish lessons with a lady named Laura tomorrow, and I have yet to find out what I will be doing in the church. This is ok though, as I would like to learn the language abit first. This is a beautiful country to live in. It´s very different from home. They have cobblestone streets, giant frogs and dogs everywhere. This morning I also saw a random cow and some chickens walking around in the street. Now that I am here and have a family, a friend and less unknowns I am so much less worried then I was 36 hours ago when I started travelling here. God really does provide!

oh crap

We leave for Paraguay in under 2 days now, and today I had what we like to call around here an "oh crap" moment. This is when I come to the realization that I am truly leaving and that I will be gone for 10 months. The root of this moment came when I read an email from our contact person in Paraguay. It stated that Rose and Naomi were working together somewhere, Daniel and Jono were headed of together, and Ruth is by herself working with children. Now if you know me well you will know that I don't really like children - infact I tend to call them "little people" not children. I have very little patience with them, and things that most other adults find cute, I find quite annoying. Now there is the odd one that I will take a liking to, but not many. So as I was sitting there reading this email, I began to question what on earth I am doing here. Paraguay was not my first choice of country to go to, and working with children was definitely not in my top three things to do. I held it together for awhile, until Rose came up and asked me how I was doing. Then the tears came. Now I know as my mother reads this she will want to come to Chicago to hug me, but thankfully Rose and my other teammates filled in. I just can't stop thinking about what God is going to have instore for me this year, as it must be huge because of where he is sending me, and what he is having me do. I finally got over my tears and kept telling myself to "suck it up and serve the Lord" (one of our favourite sayings at the flat). I will continue to keep you all updated with what God does have instore for me as he reveals it over the net 10 months.

6 days and counting

In 6 days I will be on my way to Paraguay. Right now I am feeling both a mixture of excitment and nervousness - which people keep telling me is normal. I don't think that I have come to the total realization yet that I am going to Paraguay for 10 months, and I probably won't fully realize it until I am standing on Paraguayan soil. I keep asking why am I here? Why not at home in my normal house, with my normal routine. The only answer I keep coming up with is God. Only he truly knows the plans he has for me and what I am going to encounter over the next 10 months. He has guided me through this first month of orientation, and will be with me for the next 10. The pastor at the church I attended yesterday preached on Psalm 91 - this passage is one I know I will be looking at frequently as I embark on this new adventure.

I thank everyone for their prayers so far and will continue to appreciate them over the coming months ahead!

Silence.

This past Thursday, Krista had us participate in a 5 hour silent retreat. Now for most people this wouldn't be anything difficult, but for a chatter box like me it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. I knew that in order for me to be able to do this to the fullest extent I would need to get out of the house where I would be tempted to talk. I headed downtown to Millenium Park. Well I couldn't find it so I ended up sitting under a shady tree in a different park for awhile. We were supposed to spend this time reflecting, reading our bible, journaling, singing or anything else that came to mind as long as we weren't talking or surrounding ourselves with noise or technology. I didn't mind this activity, but it wasn't my favorite thing in the world either. I was able to concentrate on reflection, journaling and reading for about half of the time, but then realized I was getting bored. So I continued my silent retreat while walking around downtown Chicago. The part that was hardest for me was while I was on the EL. Usually I like to talk to others around me, but on this particular day I couldn't. At one part of the day, I found myself down near the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day and the water was super blue as I looked across Lake Michigan. This was my favorite time of the day, as I was able to stand there in silence and marvel at God's great works. As much as I didn't enjoy this activity, I think it was a good thing for me to do. It slowed me down, made me think, and gave me time to myself which is a rare thing to get in a house of 18 people.

Free Water

Labour Day was not a holiday for me this year. I found myself up at 6:30am for a jog, shower and breakfast and heading out the door at 8:30 to go meet our leader Krista at Union Park. This morning we talked about hospitality. Our task for today was to go out alone or in groups into the city to preform hospitable acts to others around us. Now when I think of hospitality, I think of bringing someone into my house, serving them a meal and letting them use a bed for a night if needed, not walking around a city looking to do something for others. I set out with two other girls walking around trying to smile and say hello to people we passed. This was actually harder then I thought it would be. Not many people make eye contact in the city, and some look at you as if you are crazy if you do. So after a while of this we decided we needed a new plan. One of the girls tried to buy a lady a coffee at Starbucks, but was turned down. So we kept riding the bus and thinking. Something my mom said to me came to mind. She had suggested we hand out free water. So we headed to Walgreens, bought a case of water and started walking. Now when you aren't looking for homeless people you see them on every corner, but as soon as you begin to look for them you can't find any. Slowly but surely our case of water diminished. It was a fairly warm sunny day in downtown Chicago, and our water was well received for the most part. We received many heartfelt thanks, and even a couple "God Bless" which we gladly returned. This wasn't something I thought I would ever see myself doing on a Labour Day Monday, as they are usually spent getting ready to start school the next day. For once it was spent helping other's who needed it way more than I did. At one point when we were walking around and I had one water bottle left, I couldn't find someone to give it to. I was hot, tired, thirsty and super close to opening the bottle and drinking it right there. A couple minutes later I found someone to give it to. I'm glad I didn't drink it because after we finished handing out the water we stopped at a restaurant for lunch, where I promptly bought a bottle of water. Something I could afford, but the person who I gave my last bottle to couldn't.

I think this was a great way for us to spend our holiday - using it to help others instead of lazing around our flat, or spending the day for ourselves. It showed me that I don't have to invite someone into my house for a meal or to use a bed, but that I can walk around handing out something as simple as water to those in need. I saw many smiles that day that might not have been shown if we had thrown a couple dollars into all the cups being shook. I know they appreciate the money, but this was our way of showing the homeless that we cared.

Poverty

Yesterday morning Krista lead us in a discussion about poverty. She had us participate in an activity that really opened my eyes to poverty in the world. She had us all line up in a row outside on our lawn facing a brick wall. She then began to ask us questions. For each question you either had to take a step forward or backwards as stated, but only you answered yes to the question being asked. Eventually we were all scattered at different places around the lawn. Some farther ahead, and some way behind. Eventually after the last question she asked she told us to race to the wall. Since we were all at different places it took us different amounts of time. Some got there very quick because they were close to the wall, and some people it took longer. This is the way society works. The people with "better lives" get things before the "poor" people. I had never thought seriously about this before, but after the activity we broke off into pairs and discussed what we were feeling. I don't think that many of us had ever thought about it like this before, and some almost felt bad about our lives. How come we were chosen to have the lives we have, while others have to suffer going to jail just for sleeping on a sidewalk? How come we were given stable families with jobs to support us? It was a very moving time. We also read an article about how you have to be rich to be poor. Most people like to shop at big box stores because stuff is usually cheaper at them. Most of these places are located not downtown, but either a car ride, or transit ride away. People living in poverty often times don't have the money to have a car, or even get a pass for transit, and are therefore left to do their grocery shopping at convience stores located within walking distance to them. Often times though, prices at these stores can be almost twice as much as they are in the big box stores. What is our world coming to when suddenly you have to be rich to be poor. It's the same as houses. It is often cheaper to buy a house, but since many people can't afford the down payment they end up renting apartments which is more expensive in the long run. All of these things gave me something to think about, not only yesterday, but I think it is something that will help me when I get out into the world and actually begin working with people in poverty. I also think it is something that everyone should keep in mind, and maybe one day can be changed for the better.

Church on Sunday Morning

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to worship at Uptown Baptist Church, and what a wonderful experience that was. I have never really worshipped in a place like it. I really enjoyed the music, and the pastor delivered a good sermon. It was nice to sit back and watch the way all of the people interacted throughout the service - it was not a quiet service whatsoever. People would speak up if something was printed wrong in the bulliten, and there were many "amens" and "halelughias" passed around throughout the service. This was a large difference from the church I have attended most of my life. Not only has church been like this, but my day to day life since coming here. There have been more than one time that 5 or 6 of us from our group will be on a bus and be the only white people on it. Or visiting one of the 77 communities in Chicago of which many are Indian, Spanish, Mexican, African American etc. It is experiences like this that open my eyes to the fact that there is a bigger world out there than the small town where I come from. JPUSA (Jesus People USA) is another example of this. You will find people from all walks of life in this place, yet they all share one common thing - Christ in their lives. I have really enjoyed beginning to get to know some of these people, and they are just so charasmatic and so full of fire for God that they make me look back on my life and think that I could do so much better in the way I live out my faith. I hope that over the next 11 months that I will be able to start living my life more like them.

At the Library

So I was finally able to obtain a library card today Saturday August 29th. Now to most people that wouldn't be a big thing for them, but to me this little green and white plastic card is my ticket to communication with those back home.

My first week in Chicago has been busy! And I have to admit that I am exhausted, but it is a good exhausted. God has provided me with a great group of people to live with while staying here. I have recently begun to learn the CTA (which is the public transit system) and can basically get anywhere I want to go by walking down the street and getting on either a bus or the EL. I never thought I would enjoy living in the city, but have come to realize that since it's only for a month I am going to make the best of it, and I actually do enjoy it! We have been doing so many things together in our group that I feel as though I've known everyone forever (which is nice). I have definitely learned to savour my alone time in the shower each morning because after that I am basically not alone until my shower the next morning. We are living in a very small flat consisting of 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room, dining area (no kitchen) and 18 people. It is not somewhere I ever pictured myself living, but it is acutally quite fun!

Since I am going to Paraguay with 4 others, we have started getting together everyday to practice our spanish. 3 out of 5 have basic knowledge which is helpful for the other two of us that know basically nothing. I am trying to learn as much as possible before we go to make the transition as easy as possible. I am looking forward to heading to South America because it is also not somewhere I ever pictured myself living, but have realized this is where God wants me to go, and so I will go. We fly out of Chicago to Paraguay on September 20th and arrive there on the 21st. All thoughts and prayers are much appreciated on not only those days, but everyday as well!

3.5 days and I will be on my to Chicago to meet up with my fellow journyers. I am feeling a mixture of excitment and nerves as I prepare to leave for my first time ever! God worked wonders when he brought my visa back to me in less then the expected time. Well I'm not great at blogging so my posts will be short and sweet! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.

My Journey Begins

Mom is sitting here crying, as her last baby gets ready to head out the door. I got my visa application all filled out and ready to send off tomorrow - we prayed over it and hope that God will give it wings to come back soon. I leave in 25 days for Chicago, and can't wait! The first month is spent doing orientation, and I leave for Paraguay on September 21st. I am still working on raising my funds and if anyone would like to donate, or knows someone who might, you can send all donations to:
Mennonite Church Canada
600 Shaftesbury Blvd.
Winnipeg, MB
R3P 0M4

Please put on the memo line Ruth Weber - Radical Journey

Thanks for all your prayers and support as I get ready for this next step!