Visiting at a Hospital & A Couple of New Groups

Our Tuesday Cell Group went really well and we had one of the women open up a little more about her life, which was great! With her opening up her life, even a little, we are able to pray specifically for all that is going on in her life right now. Beside this praise we also have been invited to start up a second group in the same area. We are planning to start a new group there this week!

Wednesday we had our cell group with Patricia and before we left her house we asked her if it would be ok if we invite her neighbors. She was very open to this and even told us which ones we should invite and which ones would be more difficult to deal with.

Thursday we had the opportunity to visit one of the local hospitals. We asked around to make sure it would be ok if we talked to some of the people who are waiting to go into the hospital. I am told that the process to get admitted to the hospital here is difficult. A person wanting to be admitted has to arrive around 3 in the morning and wait in a line. At 5 they start passing out numbers to the people waiting and finally at 7 they start registering people. If that isn’t bad enough the doctor doesn’t even come in until about 9 in the morning so it is even more waiting. We see this as a good opportunity for us to visit, talk, and pray with people while they are waiting. We are working on getting a letter turned in that asks for permission to visit the hospital and then we can then visit whenever we want. We are praying and working on getting that done this week.

Friday we finally had a group with Lula again. She had been on vacation so she was not able to meet. When she came back she seemed ready to jump back in and help us get the small group to grow. So we will continue to meet with neighbors and share small devotionals to get to know people.

Saturday we started another small group with a family that lives very close to the church. The mother understands very little Spanish and speaks mostly Guarani, which creates some challenges. However everyone else in the house speaks Spanish and they are excited to have us there.

Praise & Prayer:

1. PRAISE: It seems like we have seen a lot of growth in our groups this week and in our work overall – PRAYER: That God will continue to grow these groups and the influence of our ministry.

2. PRAYER: Sleep is still avoiding me. My mind just does not want to turn off to give me some peace to sleep.

3. PRAYER: Continued growth in regards to unity, relationships, and the ministry of the Paraguay Team.

Thanks for all your continued prayers as they are felt! I also ask that you prayerfully consider joining my support team through prayer or financially or would like more information on how to join the team click the following link: Kelsey Extreme Paraguay Click to donate or join the prayer team and follow the steps provided. The most efficient is direct withdrawal from a bank account, credit cards have charges so not everything you donate will make it to the field with me. Thank you

A little late...

I know I said that one of my goals, besides the cookie goal, was to make sure I wrote blog each week sharing whats is going on as well as sharing prayer requests and praise reports. I still am planning to do this but this week has been just one of those "stinky not so good weeks!" There were some good things that happened but also some "just stuff".

We went to our Tuesday group and found that there were not many people there. However, the woman who has opened her house for this group was very concerned about this. (PRAISES HERE!!!!!) She was very worried that there was not people coming and she asked us what we can do to get people to come. This is amazing and an answer to prayer! We are now praying and working on different ideas on how to bring more people to the cell group and not only will the cell group grow but also her faith and ours.

There is a English school here in Paraguay with teachers who are from United States and this week Emily and I got to go see the city with them. We were able to get to know them a little better as will as see more of the city and culture that we are ministering in. We also found some different coffee shops which was a nice bonus and made for a nice getaway.

Like I said earlier though this past week was just a stinky week! So prayer is especially appreciated this week:
1. I have been having problems sleeping. Partly because of my back and partly because I can not turn off my mind when I try to sleep. Pray for some restful and renewing sleep.
2. Some things just came up this week. We are past them (praise the Lord!) but there is work that comes with that to continue on the road to healthiness in all areas.
3. I am doing a personal fast this week and ask for prayer that God will reveal himself in a new and exciting way

Some Growth, God at work, and a little Adventure

It was exciting to see that the brand new Cell Group that we started last Tuesday has already experienced a little growth. We had another family join us as well as the mom of the some of the kids who have been in the group. It is exciting to see this group start to grow as they become more and more excited about meeting together.

This past Wednesday we met with Patricia, and if you remember I had asked you to be praying for this group last week as there was some “stuff” going on here and it seemed like all week long leading up to this time there was still more going on. However when we went this week it seemed like the “stuff” that had been happening has passed and moved on – PRAISE GOD! Patricia was in good spirits and we were even able to sit outside which we had not been able to do because Patricia’s broken leg.

When Friday came our cell group ended up being canceled, which was a bummer because we had made some contacts this past week. Our hope and prayer is to be able catch up with them this week and work on building these relationships.

With our group being canceled Paty, Emily, and I went out to explore the city a little. We have yet to master the collectivos - these are like combis or buses - so we called one of our friends to get some help with which ones to take to get where we were going. We got to where we wanted to go with no problems at all, however, the return trip was an adventure! To get to Shopping de sol we were told that the colectivo that said “Aregua” would take us directly there. No problem! But, we assumed it would also take us directly home also. Problem! We were really wrong. As we traveled and we went past some of the areas that I knew we quickly figured we were on the wrong colectivo to take us home but at the same time thought that since we were told it was right we would just wait it out and see. Plus, why not enjoy the adventure. We ended up staying on that colectivo for about an hour traveling in the opposite direction of our house before finally deciding we needed to end the adventure, get off, and go the other way. By the time we made it back Emily and Paty were having to rush off to their small group however Paty had became sick on the way so I was able to accompany Emily to the cell group. It was so cool to see Emily lead this group and to see how much she has changed the style I have seen from her in the past as she embraces the culture here. It was both a blessing and an opportunity for me to learn.

Sunday during Church I was able to be help with the kids again and be part of teaching Sunday school. We started with a few games that they are used to playing, which I had a hard time understanding the rules, however the kids knew what they were doing. I then got to tell the story of David and Goliath using some of the kids to act out the roles. It hasn’t always been easy to get the kids' attention but by telling the story this way they all seemed to pay attention and hopefully learn a little more. It was also nice for me being in my element of teaching and interaction with kids. I love teaching, playing, and sharing Christ with the kids – maybe it has to do with growing up in a Children’s Pastor’s house.

By the way – COOKIE COUNT: 184 down – 29,816 more to go!

Prayer request:

1. I have a bad back and there are times when it goes out and the only relief I find is visiting a Chiropractor. Over this past week or so my back has been acting up and I can’t seem to find a Chiropractor. Please pray for God to heal my back and provide me with the relive I need to carry out His plan for my life.

2. Paty, one of the girls from our team, has been sick off and on. Please pray for her health.

3. Continue to pray for our small groups during the week and that they continue to grow.

Kids Events, New Small Groups, and an Inside Flood

This past Monday was our day off so we once again decided to make cookies. I have this goal that maybe sound really silly and possibly impossible, however it is sometimes fun to have goals like this, right? So here is my goal: To make 30,000 cookies in the year and a half I will be in Paraguay. I know that sounds like a lot however our current cookie count is 142 with only 29,858 more to go. Pretty good, right?

Tuesday we had a NEW CELL GROUP! It is exciting to see our schedule slowly filling up. I was a little nervous going into this group because our host had been involved in another group before but she wanted to host a group to reach her neighbors. I was nervous that they would feel like this group should be just like the other one – interactions, leadership, and function - and if it ended being different than there could be problems. However I had no reason to worry because the group went really well - when will I stop worrying and remember that God is in control. I am really excited about this group because I believe there is potential for this group to grow quickly. It is in a good spot with many friendly neighbors and I feel like we will have many people come.

Wednesday we met with Patricia again. This meeting was just a little different then any other that we have had with her. There is a lot going on here and I ask that you keep this family and group in prayer. There is a lot of tough issues going on here and all I know is that through a lot of prayer that we can see this group grow and lives changed.

Thursday we went out to Lambare, which is the neighborhood where Patricia lives. We just walked around and prayed. We also got to know the neighborhood a little more. It was looking to be a good day overall until we got home. It had been raining, not to bad, but off and on all day so when we got home we were all sitting around relaxing in our room. I got up to get something and when I opened the door it started raining hard and water started pouring into our room. We quickly called the boys to come rescue us so while they were outside trying to fix the problem we were inside frantically trying to pick up our stuff and keep the water out. After about an hour we almost had all the water out of our room and thought the problem was fixed when Round 2 came. By the time we were done we all ended up pretty wet! However, because we were all ready wet, Emily, Paty and I decided to go out and dance in the rain. It was a fun and refreshing way to end the day. The water problem is still not completely fixed and next time we get a lot of rain we may have the same problem so we are currently looking for a solution.

Friday was a pretty busy day. We had a Big Kid’s Event on Saturday so Friday was filled with our normal activities as well as getting ready for Saturday. Yoli and I spent the morning running around buying last minute things and making sure everything was ready for Saturday. In the afternoon I watched Landon and Isaiah Foster - the children of our current cluster support family. It was fun to do and energy is something that is not in short supply for these boys. We played legos and then they wanted to be spies so we ran around the church grounds pretending to be spies. Then later that night Yoli and I had our normal group. It was very encouraging this week as we saw some growth. We led the group with the entire family that lives there instead of just the one lady. After we had the opportunity to visit with her neighbor. We prayed with her and a friend and then shared a little devotional. We visited and talked with them for about and hour and were invited to come back whenever we have the chance and visit with here again. I am praying that our friendship with this woman will grow and she will start coming to the groups and I ask that you join me in prayer.

Saturday was an AWESOME day! We had our first big event in Paraguay! Since the kids are going back to school this week we were planning on doing an event to kick off the school year for them. We had a story, craft, movie, lunch and some water balloon games. There were 41 kids by the end of the day! We got to meet some of the parents from around the neighborhood and talk to them about the church. It turned out to be a great event with a great turnout.

Sunday we had our normal services but this time we had 80 people there! This was the first time I had seen so many people at church. We also had many of the kids from our event show up and some of them with their parents!

I have mentioned many prayers request for this week in my blog above so this week I am going to put my praises down at the bottom.
Praises:
1. We had 80 people at church!
2. We had 41 kids at our kid's event!
3. We had a new cell group!