Sunday Fun

Yesterday was quite wonderful. After church service all of the youth came over to hang out, listen to some music, and have, popcorn, brownies, and terere.
After snacks, our friend Carlito that leads praise and worship sometimes for service asked to play Ken's guitar. After a few songs, they decided to take the music out to the front patio. Carlito and Sesi (another youth) did a duet of some praise and worship songs, and Ken brought out the congas. The music was so beautiful and drew in a small audience. The crowd across the street that is normally watching a soccer game was on the porch, and some of the neighborhood kids lined up on the sidewalk to watch from a short distance.

Learning

After two weeks, today, I finally finished a small goal that I set for myself: reading the entire New Testament of the Bible! I have learned so much that I didn't know, and the stories I did know, I got a better insight on. I have also been reading another book called "For Such a Time As This," by Lisa Ryan. It's a book about Esther and how to be a "modern day Esther," and do things that aren't always easy to do, but you do them because God wants you to. It's been a wonderful book so far, and I feel like I have a better idea of Esther and her life, and how she might have felt back then. The Bible is so much bigger than I ever imagined, and every day I see more and more that there's more to this Jesus thing than the ten commandments and Noah's Ark...

Milanesa Surprise

Yesterday, was my friend Denisse's parent's 17th wedding anniversary. They invited me to come over for dinner to celebrate with them. I really enjoy visiting with them because it gives me an opportunity to practice my Spanish a lot, and I get more of an idea of Paraguayan life. So, for dinner, we had chicken soup. It was quite different than the good 'ol Campbells, but it was good nonetheless. I have noticed several traditions in Paraguay that are not the norm. For example they eat a snack (Merienda) about the time we normally eat dinner, and then they have dinner at about 8 or 9 o'clock. Then they don't drink they're drinks while they eat...they wait until after the meal. Last night, they not only waited after the meal, but they waited 30 minutes after the meal, because they said that if you drink right after eating soup, it will make our stomach sick.
So, after soup, they brought out what they called a "Special Milanesa." (Think country fried steak.) The way they were acting, I could tell it was something weird... and then they kept saying "You're gonna die when we tell you what it is..." My first and only guess was horse. [it's illegal, but readily available black market style] Turns out, it wasn't horse but Crocodile! It was quite delicious and I took every bite down with a smile :)