Last week was a big week for me. Sunday evening I decided I wanted to go to the church that some of our friends go to. I went without Ken, Christie or the girls. That was a huge step for me. After I got home that night, I couldn’t even believe I had done it, gone by myself. I had a great time! The worship service was awesome. I understood some of the message but not all of it. I’m so glad I was willing to step out and go on my own.
On Wednesday, I walked to the grocery store by myself. Before going, I told Saúl, in Spanish, where I was going. After getting back and making lunch, I asked him, again in Spanish, if he wanted pizza for lunch. I know those were only two sentences but that was a lot more than I had spoken any other day. He was bragging on me to Christie. A compliment from Saúl is a big deal to me, I don’t get those often.
On my way home from the grocery store that day, I pretty much got chased down by Julio. He’s completely harmless. He’s just a friendly man who hangs out on the main road in town all day, talking to whoever passes by. He greeted me with a big, wet kiss on each cheek. He walked with me for about two blocks, talking to me the whole time.
Friday was an awesome day! Ken and Christie dropped me off at the pastora’s house around 9:30 that morning. First, she had me come out on the back porch with her, where she was cooking meat and marmalade. It was raining most of the day. It was so nice sitting out on the porch beside the fire while it was raining.
We had coffee and bread for breakfast, a typical Paraguayan breakfast. She told me to pour my coffee first. As I began to pour it I was afraid I was pouring the wrong thing and would end up with a cup full of cream. But, no, it was the right thing. The coffee was mostly cream, completely white, only a little coffee flavor to it. Very different but tasty.
Her daughter-in-law, Susan, came over and they showed me how to make bread. In the summer, the pastora makes fruit salad while the pastor goes out and sells it. In the colder months, they make and sell bread. She wanted to teach her daughter-in-law to make it so that her and her husband would have something they could work at together to make money. I think that’s sweet!
It’s definitely true that you can learn just by watching. I had so much fun mixing all the ingredients together on the table, kneading the dough, forming it into little loaves. I was there for over 8 hours that day and enjoyed every second of it.
Saturday, several of our friends came over to hang out. It was a lot of fun….a little music, some frisbee in the street, kids playing Uno.
Another HUGE step, which was not taken so willingly, as I was scared half to death of it….One of our guy friends asked if he could take me for a ride and for ice cream. After much discussion and freaking out, I said yes. We went to the ice cream shop first, then rode way out to I don’t know where. Then we hiked through the woods, to a place where we could see all of Carapeguá from up above. We ate our ice cream there. It was way too cold for ice cream though. So most of it is in our freezer now. If only they had coffee shops here. Now that’s the way to win my heart, through coffee.
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