Redemption

...Redemption…

Behind these beautiful lives there is a painful history.  He has heard their cry, their supplication, and offered His salvation.  He has brought them here, to the Hogar, to be protected, to be safe, to be loved on and to be disciple.  God has redeem horrible situations, rescued them and brought them into a beautiful journey at the Hogar de Niñas…. A beautiful journey He has allowed us the privilege to witness.

...Redemption…

He has used us, broken sinners to be vessels of His love. What a beautiful opportunity.  It can’t be explained in words what God has done.   Sometimes it’s hard to believe that God loves us so much. We simply stay astonished, speechless, and breathless; tears our joy show excitement and astonishment. He has redeemed us and allowed us to be used.

...Redemption…

As these young girls are growing up, they are developing great feelings, emotions, and compassion but in moments, slight moments, their feelings are mixed with confusion, hurt, pain, and rejection.  All feelings from their past are still very painful.   They are afraid to let go, they are afraid to open, they are afraid to search deep into their hearts and find a wound that has not completely been healed.  But He DOES heal, He wants to heal, He desires to heal.

...Redemption…

Search me, God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

 See if there is any offensive way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

That became our prayer.  “Lord Search me and show me my pain, I want to let go and allow you to heal me.” As feelings come back, the girls are once again confused, hurt, and sad.  They want to accept His love, but they are still hurt….they are mad, but they want to forgive, to let go and give all their pain to God.  They want to cry, they want scream, and they want to yell.  

They want to ask, “Why God?  Why me?!!” 

...Redemption…

Through a series of bible studies, we challenged the girls to take captive their thoughts, their feelings, emotions that surfaces up and surrender them to God.

It becomes an offering to the Lord; a sacrifice sometimes.

“…take captive every thought 
to make it obedient to Christ” 
2Cor 10:5

…Redemption…

“It is okay to cry.” I will held them on my arms and allow them to cry. 

I would hold them, embrace them, and offer a safe place for them cry, and cry….and cry.  I would whispers prayers with love and remind them of how Jesus thought of them when He went to the cross.  It is in these moments, when they surrender their pain, that they can feel a freedom that God offers, a freedom to heal, and a freedom to grow in Him.  He shows them His love, and they are overwhelm with tears.

…Redemption….

They are now free to be enamored, to be captivated with His loved, to be blessed with all His promises, to grow...

...Redemption.

To be freed to be loved by Jesus, our Redeemer. 

Chicken Dance in Paraguay

Shhh... 

Don't tell the team I uploaded this, but I though you might enjoy it!

The hardest part

Saying goodbye

Last sunrise in Quyquyho

beautiful smiles, beautiful girls

Cross-Cultural experiences.

Last night we had the opportunity to do at a line dance at the San Juan Festival which is a big celebration in Paraguay.  We watched the kids from the school dance cultural dances, as we as "our girls" from the El Puente home dance something they had choreographed. We also watched a guy climb a greased pole and a doll representing Judas being lit on fire. Judas also apparently contained fireworks,  I wish someone would have told me that part.  I was focused on getting good pictures when the explosions made me jump several feet.

                                                              Exploding Judas

Celebrating our countries together

 

 

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

 

Tonight we got to celebrate the 4th of July and show the girls how to make Smores over a campfire and then we set off fireworks (and of course they are perfectly legal here).  It has been great fun for me to continue to learn from and celebrate each others' cultures.

 



Todays adventure, getting stuck in the mud. Thanks to the Paraguayan locals, we got out.

San. Juan. 3

Hola a todos!

So...! Most of the team members have attended a total of 3 San Juan Festivals to date. (Some of them, have attended FOUR!)

Last night's was my favorite because the girls at the home performed in the dances (and they were so cute!!!). It was really cool to see them performing traditional Paraguayan dances and also more modern pop numbers. Soy muy orgullosa de ellas. :)

And now... allow me to share some super cute photos of them!! He he!!

The girl in the lighter blue skirt (second from the left) is Araceli. She's 7, super cute, loves eating apples and climbing trees barefoot and she did a great job last night! <3 She has also adopted me as her aunt... I think being an aunt is my calling in life. ;)

Not the best angle (lo siento), but all of these performers are our girls. In the front is Mirian (I think she's going to grow up to be a model because whenever you look at her, she gives you the Blue Steel), Pamela (she is a great teacher-- she taught me Spanish and Guarani), Jasmin (she might seem like she's quiet, but she is a silly bean) and the only girl you can see in the back from this angle is Camila (she has got pro-photographer skills, yo). Pictured but not visible is Banesa (Pamela's twin) who loooooves to dance and Mirian-Ramona (she's a smarty, picks up on languages and is very observant of people). They did a great job.

We have 2 of our lovely chicas in this dance: Marlene (the one in red skirt at the front) is very mature and calm and has a very sweet disposition. And, Ana-Victoria is wearing the red and white skirt with the blue sleeves. She's the oldest of her siblings, and while she is quiet she is so so so sweet and is really hard-working. I love these girls. <3

Once again, my angle is poopy, but, let me assure you that these young women did a great job! :) I can't tell you what song they rocked, but I am probably hum it for you, ha ha. Anyhoo! In the front is Julia (she seems shy, but she is a cray-cray jokester-- in the best way possible), Damarys (she is super helpful and explained a lot of the San Juan activities to me, and she is also a joker--she's the one that put flour on my face during baking night, pfft.), Carmen (una chica super duper responsible.. she puts me to shame at how mature she is), in the back we have Silvana (she's the fearless type), and the invisible people are: Christina (I don't think I can express how much I love her and am encouraged by her) and Mily (she's so cute.... I just want to eat her up!!!!).

Andrea, the home's chiquitita, went onto the dance floor and twirled around and entertained us all. Muy linda. <3

This dance is where there is a line of couples and an emcee in the middle of the floor. The couples take turns speaking into the emcee's mike; the boys say something sweet/cheesy to their girl partner and the girls retort back with a diss. I didn't understand what was said (I think it was done in Guarani, anyways), but it was nice to see them turning down back pick-up lines. Lol. In the front in the blue skirt is Bellen (she is such a sweetheart... and so funny. Let's just say I've seen her eat realllly bigggg chunks of raw cookie dough...eww). Julia, Carmen and Silvana also performed. Muy bien hecho!!

As mentioned before, our team also performed. We did the Boot Scootin' Boogie (a line dance) and the Chicken Dance. It was fun! :)

There was also an intermission from the dancing to watch people try to climb up a pole that was covered in pork grease to get money that was tied at the top. I was kind of worried, because there was a storm brewing during the entire night's festivities. Meaning, while the girls were dancing I would see lightning off in the distance. And... so I'm glad no one was hurt or struck by lightning while climbing that pole. O_O

Hopefully the other team members have less terrible photos of the girls dancing that they can share. :P

Anyways. Epic and blessingful night of fun. Yee haw!

Ellas. Son. Maravillosas.

If y'all read Guillermo's post about all the San Juan festivals, I am grateful if you prayed for our performance! :) And I would like to say that the dance went pretty well-- praise God!! <3

There's actually another festival tonight, too, but I think our team is kinda San-Juan'ed out. In a side story, when I first started researching Paraguayan culture I saw that San Juan was a big thing in June and was hoping to take part in its festivities. When I asked Guillermo if it coincided with our travel dates he said that we might be able to catch some sights. In the end, God delivered more than just a "some sights"-- He delivered a bunch of San Juan festivities!! Ha ha. That's just like our God. ;)

Anyways! I wanted to share about The Girls. They. Are. Amazing.

The first night we arrived, they came around and hugged all of us. Some girls sat me down and braided my hair and basically mothered me. It was so cute.

The more I get to know these girls and their pasts, I went from standing in awe at God's grace to kneeling face down in amazement at His work in their lives.

My Spanish is still no bueno, but I think my French helped me pick up on enough where I can speak (very very very) broken sentences to the girls. By God's grace they understand (most) of what I say and we can have short conversations. I was able to find out how long some of the girls have been here, what brought them here and whether they believe that Jesus is in their heart helping them heal.

I praise God for all that He has done and is doing and I pray that He continues to heal them. I've been picking up and feeling the pain that they hold onto, and my heart literally aches. And I guess I didn't take the time to feel how much it was breaking until recently, when I realized that there was no longer a heavy weight, but just a very broken heart inside of me.

These are young girls. Precious daughters of God. No one should have to had gone through what they've gone through or deal with the aftermath.

But, I believe and I have faith in the beauty of the broken. The redeeming love of God and the wonderful grace of Jesus that can heal all wounds in His time.

I am so grateful that God gave me this opportunity to come here and fall in love with these girls. I do wish that I could speak in better Spanish and have deeper talks with them about their hopes and dreams and fears and nightmares, but I feel the peace of God in my heart. Telling me that my hugs and kisses, my silly dancing and laughing is more than enough to love them with His love. And I praise Him for that.

Today I got a chance to pray with one of the girls who God has placed in my heart. In my broken Spanish I said that we should pray, and I said sorry that I would be praying in English. And she said "And I'm sorry my prayer will be in Spanish." We laughed about it and we agreed that since God understands all languages we would be covered. But it was such a blessing. A lot of times there were no words, just tears and smiles and hugs.

Still my heart is heavy.

It was pretty timely (and cool)-- today's devotional included some of my go-to Bible passage, Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I was able to give my anxieties and my broken heart to God (and a lot of tears) to the Lord. I still feel sad about what has happened to these girls, but there is also a hope in Christ that keeps me from despairing.

At any rate, I'm really grateful to my teammates who finished up an activity with the girls while I was able to go and have some quiet time.

I'll be following up with a post on last night's San Juan Festival. This was more of a post to let you know how truly amazing our God is and how super duper awesome these girls are.

Stormy morning

A stormy, sunny, rainy, warm morning. The weather is as complex and unpredictable as some of the struggles people have in this town. Good thing God reigns over both. 

San Juan

The last week of June Paraguayans celebrate San Juan, one of the most popular religious festivals in the country. It seems like no one knows exactly what we celebrate or who exactly this St. John is, but that doesn't stop people from eating heaps of amazing traditional food and playing some really silly and really fun games. 

The San Juan festivities were in full swing when we arrived in Asuncion. We braved the cold drizzle one night and went to one that was being held on the street. Despite the inclement weather, a significant crowd gathered to enjoy the traditional dances and the food.

While in Quyquyho, we went to another one organized by the local high school, where one of the girls from the Home performed a skit. We tried kabure (chipa on a stick), asadito (bbq) and mandioca empanadas -all of which were amazing.

Last Tuesday Greg, my dad and I went to our third San Juan at the local Colorado Party headquarters, where more of our friends performed traditional dances. The games were the highlight of the night:

There's the Paraguayan version of pinata but with a kambuchi (clay pot)

There's pelota tata, which involves setting balls on fire and kicking them around (extra points if you aim it at other people).

And there's yvyra syĩ -climb a pole covered in grease to get to the prizes at the top

Tonight we have been invited to our fourth San Juan at the local school. The girls at the Home will be performing more dances, and they even asked us to to perform as well. "Something American," they requested. So we've been rehearsing the chicken dance, the Boot Scootin Boogie and the Electric Slide. Pray for us...

Baking cookies: Girls' Night

Today's journey of love and tangerines

It is beautiful to hear God's precious children sing...

Here are some beautiful examples:

Can you see their joy? They are singing as they walk... It was so joyful, like little angels singing.

We are off to capture tangerines. The girls are great climbers: hop-blink-tangerines. That quickly they climbed and tossed cuties at us.

 The best was when they asked me if I wanted to go with them to the 'granja'. They asked me if I wanted a guava and immediately climbed up this tree to get it. Before I knew it,  they all RAN like quick little mice away from a cat. I, ALONE,  was left staring up the guava tree wondering about my fruit. I looked around and ALL of them, about six of them, disappeared.  I looked around for them,  I noticed 'Tio Osvaldo' was driving up. These little rascals were on guard for him, one outside, one around the corner, two next to the tree, one up the tree then me! In Guarani they had given themselves a signal to RUN, because Tio Osvaldo had prohibited them climbing that tree. Apparently a few have fallen already. Before I knew it.... I was left alone in the  the scene....and no guava.

Very cleaver.  They just laughed at me as I asked them what happened.
You gotta love these girls.

Soli. Deo. Gloria.

Hola!

It's hard to believe that we are one week into the trip. So much as happened, and we still have another week to go!

I'm really glad Jackie's been doing daily updates-- it helps me keep track of the days! Each day really seems to be melting together... in a wonderful way.

The trip so far seems like a blessingful dream. I can truly see God's hand in this home and in the girls' lives. When we first arrived, they came up to each of us team members to give a hug. And not those half- sideway- weak hugs. No. A full out hug-hug! :)

That's just a teensy hint as to how much love there is here. But, basically, the majority of the team mates have joked about taking these girls home with us... some of us more serious than others (Caroline).

God is doing great things in each of their lives and I feel honored to even know these girls. To God be the glory. <3 

This past weekend, the group went on a retreat to recharge. We drove about a couple hours away to San Ignacio and stayed at Hotel Rural, a country club. We actually had the entire property to ourselves and had our choice of which cabin or room to stay. It was pretty swanky. My highlight was feeding an orange to a cow in the backyard of our cabin... tee hee!

This was the view from my room. And no, that is not the cow that I fed.

We also went to a rodeo and then to a small carnival of sorts.

It was nice to let my guard down and relax, but! Taking a break from the adrenaline rush made me realize just how tired I was.

There were hammocks on the balcony and the porch of our cabin. It was so peaceful. <3

 Anyways! Sorry, my pics are kinda lame, these are from my phone. The actual photo-photos are on my camera, and I have yet to sort through them. I need to sleep soon, but in short, we are working hard but have had a chance to rejuvenate. :)

[Psalm 150:6] Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Amen!!

Oh, and here is a photo taken during Random Dance Session No. 23,546.
We seem to be dancing a lot during this trip. Ha ha. :)

Songs and games with the kids at Colonia Maria Antonia and Jini'sEnglish Class