I made the police how up at the church building.

3 of the 4 missionaries are on either furlow or vacation.
Since the missionaries dont regularly go in on fridays it ws left up to moi to open the church building. Not a problem.
I was due to open the church any time before 9 am. So I woke up at 7 am got ready, hung out and was out the door by 809. I decided to take the bus, which takes 30 minuets. Today it happened to take 40. So I arrive to the church building unlock the door and the alarm starts to beep. Which is normal its just a sound to signal the motion detectors. Once the code is entered a single beep sounds to signify the alarm has been deactivated.
So i enter the code. Wait a moment and nothing........... I enter it again. Wait another moment and nothing.......I enter it one more time and again no beep and a few seconds later the THE LOUD ALARM GOES OFF!!!
I jump up and down as i beg BEG the alarm to stop sounding. PLEASE STOP! PLEASE STOP!! I beg and plead. Then i decided to change the last digit on the code and the alarm ceases to sound.
Then i realized i had been pressing in the ACTIVATION code instead of the DE-ACTIVATION code. The alarm stops and i look our the glass doors to see if police cars swarm the church. Nothing....I listen for the phone to ring as the security alarm people call. Nothing....
I breathe a sigh of relief and head back to the office. Not to long after that Mirta, the secretary, arrives. I told her what happened and we had a hardy little chuckle. Then all of a sudden a police officer walks in. Im stunded. As he removes his sunglasses he asks "Whos in charge here?" I say in the nicest softest voice I can and "I am :)" and he says "You??" I nod my head. He then asks "Are you the one who deactivated the alarm?" "Yes." "Cual es tu numero de cedula?" Whats your ID number? Since i dont have a "cedula." I proceed with giving him my passport number. "13...." and before i can get to the next set of numbers he exclaims "13!?!?!?" Cedula numbers start with only numbers 1-6. So when i said 13. He thought i was crazy or something. I then said "Soy Estado Unidense. Le puedo darle mi numero de pasaporte." I am from the United States and i can give you my passport number." So i give him all 9 numbers. "Como es tu nombre?" "Rocio Esquivel." He writes them down. So as hes waiting for the voice on the other side of the walk-e talk-e to respond he says "Americana. eh?" "Si. Estado Unidense" So about 5 more minuets pass and we both just kinda stand there. He let me know he was waiting for conformation. Then he says " ALRight! Thats it! Thank you and have yourself a good day." "Igualmente" I replied. He turned and walked out the glass doors.
I thought, he must have thought "What a strange occurance. A young girl in charge of a church building from the United States with a name like "Rocio Esquivel."
You dont see that everyday.

Awesome.

The Greek Eye

So I am pretty sure most of us do not analize every single word we say in our mother tounge.
Its so natural for us to just speak communicate joke defend encourage correct in the language we've grown up without looking at borrowed words, analizing idioms and disconecting conjoined words.

Even when youve grow up with 2 or more languages you often dont see things until people who are learning that language bring it to your attention.
Or when you teach someone a language you often dont know how to respond when you dont know WHY certain words mean certain things and why they are used in that certain way.

So the other day Brittnea and I went to Luque. Luque is known for the silver they sell. There is this one principle street that has like 20 jewlery stores. Beautiful expensive artisental cheap silver with some gold is what you will find. And so I was looking for something small but profoundfully meaningful. So I started looking for the letter "Y" to add as a charm to my necklace.
Y is the initial for "Ysapy" which is my name in Guarani. Which is just one of the many indeginous languages spoken in Paraguay. Its the most prodominant one. Pronounced "UHsapbUH."(from my phonetic understanding) For those of you who don't yet know, Rocio is the spanish word for morning dew.
There are many designs of letters you can find in all the different stores. Everytime I went in a store I would ask "Ustedes tienen el inicia 'y griega'?" "Do yall have the letter 'y'?" I said it so many times that all of a sudden I turned to Brittnea and said/asked in a half rhetorical kind of way "Do you think the 'y griega' is the 'greek i'?"
Of course when you WRITE it, there's no question. But how many of us have written out phonetically and or the actual spelling of each letter of the alphabet? So I started thinking "Well spanish and english, amongst other languages, use Roman letters." Parts of the Bible is written in Greek and Jesus lived in the Roman Emire. So thats basic evidence that Roman and Greek writings/script are related.
Books have been written about these conncections. Im going to go look for one to read. Its just an observation.

BUT so thats an example of how the smallest things, down to the writing and pronounciation of a letter, makes you look into the world of words and why things are written they way they are, why words are used the way they are, why words mean the things they mean. And or why certain words mean one thing but depending on context it can mean something different. And how is it that that particular word can transendend its own original meaning. Does it depend at all WHO the person is thats saying it? Could that word mean different things in different parts of the country? Or different meaning in same language but different country? ie the US of A and England. All this is speaking soley of one language.
What about translation of one word in different languages. Every language can have its own use of that one word. OR same word same meaning but different cultural context.
And you can go into subcultures and "third cultures."
As to keep my brain from exploding I will give another example.

Another example is listening to spanish speakers speak english and when they say something grammatically wrong and what not. If you translate liternally into spanish what they just said, it makes perfect sense and vice versa.

And so I've been playing/learning German and Guarani. For example there is no "Thank you" in Guarani. I've asked a lot of Guarani speakers and they say "Eeeeeeeeehhhmmmmm....." and then I was learning phrases in German and I asked "How do you say 'Nice to meet you?'in German?" And there really isnt a translation or form to say/translate that. And in Japanese there are 2 phrases you say when you meet someone and one of them translates to "Please be nice to me"

Its all SOOO interesting!

Heres a joke.
Im sure many of you have heard this one but I want to share it since were talking about languages.
What do you call someone that speaks 2 languages? Bilingual.
What do you call someone that speaks 3 languages? Trilingual
What do you call someone that speaks 4 or more languages? Polyglot
What do you call someone that speaks 1 language? American.

This is in no offense to those who don't happen to speak more than one language. Learning a language is not the easiest thing in the world. Instead be encouraged in being open to different cultures and ways and walks of life. And be encouraged to support your local missionary!

Thanks for reading!

Traveling and Anniversaries!

September 7th will be the Iglesia De Cristo en Sacramento's 4th anniversary!There is expected to have an attendance of about 150 people! We have been inviting everyone to our Anniversary Service non stop for about 2 or 3 weeks now! I am extremely excited about all the people who are attending. Among the people attending are old friends, new friends, members from the all 3 Church of Christ congregations, visitors, which are soon to be new friends! I am very bless to be able to participate in a growing church's anniversary service.

Jim Holway is our guest speaker. After several hours of plane riding and spending a day in Santa Cruz, Bolivia because he didnt know he needed a visa to enter Paraguay, Jim arrived to Asuncion this past Thursday. Jim was a missionary in Buenos Aires for 10 years from '83 to '93. He currently works with the spanish speaking congregations in Miami, Florida. Hes a really funny guy! While his stay he plans to have counseling sessions, teach the various weekly bible studies, learn and love alongside fellow Christians and enjoy all the great things the country of Paraguay has to offer!

I have been placed in charge of the food. Its hard to find a cake with out any kind of dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is a Latin American staple. Dulce de leche, which in literal translation means "Candy of milk" or "Milk candy". Its pretty much like caramel. I find myself in a land flowing with dulce de leche and café.

I thank God and all of you for all your support, your prayers have enabled me to stay to witness all the various and wonderful events thrown by the church. Its been great watching all the planning and effort that goes into these events. I feel so privileged in being able to help plan and participate in such important things. Of course we know everyday the things we do in our lives are important, everyday of my internship has been a gift,a privilege and a blast, its just awesome to witness something in continuation having a fresh start, a rejuvenation if you will.

The following day, the 8th, i will be traveling to Uruguay! I will fly in to Buenos Aires and take a ferry across to Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay. After my plane ride and ferry ride I will take a rather short bus ride and arrive to my final destination in the wonder city of Montevideo. Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay and the home to a population of about 1.5 million. This will be my first time in Uruguay and it will by my 11th country visited!I will meet up with my friends and fellow Serve Abroaders. Amanda Scott and Carol Mendoza are currently working with the church in Itu, Brazil. Mark and Ali Kaiser are the missionaries Amanda and Carol ever so happily intern under, they will also be meeting up with me in Montevideo.I will spend one exciting week in Uruguay. I return to Asuncion on Saturday the 13th.

Life is great :)

Save the Date!

After much prayer and counsil with supporting congregations, mission team and family, I have to decided to extend my stay.
Originally I was to return the 11 of August but have now changed my date to December 19th.
Why have I decided to stay?
Well, it wasnt too long into my internship that I feel in love with the people and country of Paraguay. A few months before I came to Paraguay, the notion of staying for a year was mentioned and I honestly thought it was a little too crazy for me to consider.
I arrived January 5th and by March, I had taken that once "crazy" thought into considerable consideration.
I felt that 6 months was only enough time to LEARN from the missionaries and the people and so more time would be needed to be put into practice to be able to transform a persons perspective, attitude, and definitions of hope, sacrifice and love (to name a few). And perhaps even then one has not even scratched the surface. I have seen and felt the begining of what I hope my life will become.
It has not been the easiest thing to change when not necessarily wanting to. Change is such a scary thought. Our cultures, learnings, trainings, teachings, even bodies would not openingly bring about something that has a certainty of dificulty, pain and sadness. Nevertheless, we must not be afraid.
II Timothy 1:7 states "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit power and love and of sound mind."
Fear is probably on the top of the list of things I struggle with. Fear protects vulnerability.
SOOOO
I John 4:18 tells us "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears in not made perfect in love."
SOOOO
We are not allowed to fear.
So back to answer the questions in rather simple "oraciones." I have decided to stay longer not to help the church but for the body of Christ and God teach me how to be a fearless humble servant. That which in turn, makes me for usefull and moldable to be used how God wants me to be used to expand his love and kindgom to everyone.

I as prayers for wisdom. That I may be able to see what God is showing that I make the right choices and remember love is what supersedes everything.

Goodbye Tennessee!

During the 3rd week of July,a group of 20 Americans from West Dyersberg Church of Christ came to visit the Sacramento congregation. Christopher Fry was a former Youth Minister at this congregation. They held a 3 day VBS with an orphanage that is near the church. Ara Pyahu, which is Guarani for 'A New Begining',is an orphanage that we visit weekly.
The group also handed out flyers at locals near and around the church building.
The theme of day 1 was, Rahab and the Spies, Day 2: 12 Spies of Cannan, Day 3: Walls of Jerico.
There was craft time, snack time, game time, skit time, and story time! They also held a teachers luncheon. All the members of the congregation who have helped or taught bible class were honored with a certificate and a nice lunch.
Several of our Interns returned home. Many of them from Freed-Hardeman.
Tracy Mitchell, Bonny Moore, Jordan Braswell returned to the states in mid July after spending 6 weeks here with us. They taught english and participated in all our events. Clay Smith, who will begin studies at Lipscomb this fall, returned to the states the first week of August after his 2 month stay.
For those who did not know. The Asuncion team here at the Sacramento Congregation is a Freed-Hardeman team out of Hendersonville, TN.

The Bus El Collectivo El Camion

So this month Brittnea Dye, the single missionary, is on furlow. I have been living with her since the day I arrived. Since she has a car there has been very little need to take a bus.
But now that she is not currently here, I cant/wouldnt drive here, SO the bus (and sometimes the missionaries) are my modes of transportation. Bus fair is currently 2,300 Guaranies, which is about 60 cents. Taking taxis everywhere can burn a hole in your pocket SO I now take the bus to practically everywhere I need to go. Shannon and Alisha , 2 students from ACU, are currently living with my during their summer internship. It has been a HUGE blessing for me in how flexible they are. They do not mind at all taking the bus anywhere. So we have and here are a couple of comments/observations I want to share:
• Sometimes if the bus is extremely full people will grab on to the vertical handles on the bus at the back door and just hold on to the handles with their feet on the last step and just hang off the bus.
• You need to JUMP on and JUMP off because the busses never really come to a complete stop.
•You can pretty much flag down a bus from anywhere. Bus stops exist but hardly acknowledged.
•Because you can flag a bus anywhere, you can push a button or pull a string to let the conductor know you would like to get off and the conductor will just stop at its next available moment.

Today a group from Freed Hardeman University left for the states. They spend 6 weeks with us filling our lives with joy and teaching English. They will be sorely missed by all.

This week a group from Christopher Fry's supporting congregation arrives to spend a week here in Asuncion. Pray for their safe arrival and effectiveness as they minister.

I have been translating a lot lately.

New Friends

A group from Leanna Church of Christ in Murfreesburough, TN spent this a week with the Sacramento Congregation here in Asunción. They did a small VBS, Vacation Bible School, in 3 different orphanages.
An orphanage in a town called Limpio, which is about a good 45 minuets from the church building. This orphanage currently has about 2o children. Another orphanage near the church building, which takes about a 5 minuet walk. This orphanage currently has about 50 children. And lastly, the largest orphanage visited in a town named Capiatá. This orphanage currently takes care of 200 children and is a little over a hour away from the church building. The orphanage started with 5 children looking for a place to live. They knocked on a door and asked to be taken care of. The lady of the house opened her doors and her heart to the children and did just that. There is currently a chilean, Santiago, and an American, John, who are missionaries who live/work at the orphanage. I find it extremely admirable when young people decide to live and work at an orphanage with 200 children that is out in the countryside. That is one of my dreams to be able to live amongst a "foreign" people out in the "middle of nowhere" and live very "mininally." I think it would give me the opportunity to get back to nature and facilitate my closeness to our Lord in heaven. To me, nature is the closest purest for of God. No person fills the rivers, no person makes the trees grow, no person feeds the wild animals except God.

7 students from the Tennessee and Texas arrived to teach english and help the church in anyway needed. I have been placed in charge of intern affairs. A whole new responsibility that i am looking forward to.Things have been very busy lately. Sorry for lack of communication. Thank you for your understanding and I appreciate you prayers