January 23, 2026
Susan Hoover
Dear family and friends,
Greetings once again! Praise to the One who, in the midst of all the changes, stays the same, yesterday, today, and forever. We can rely on that!
I'm trying to remember what all for newsy and highlight-y things have happened since I wrote last. The truth is, life is just pretty mundane at times and there is not always a lot of excitement going on. In fact, there have been times in my life when I've wished that things could just stop happening for awhile, that life would just settle down and be calm and collected, and normal. Whatever normal is!! I suppose we all have times like that. Or maybe people that pretty much stay in one place all their lives, don't experience that, and wouldn't know what I am talking about. Just relax, and enjoy!
We had a house guest for about three weeks. Jeff Jones from Manitoba arrived on the 30th of December and left for his home again on the 21st. He had driven his car from Manitoba to Texas, then flew from there to Paraguay. So right now, as we speak, he is still driving back from Texas to Manitoba. I'm hearing reports and forecasts of bad weather, snowstorms, etc. in those parts, so we are praying that he will make it safely through and not be stuck somewhere! He's a pretty resourceful person and I know the Lord will take care of him too.
We had moved into this apartment barely two weeks before Jeff arrived, so we did not have everything the way we wanted it yet, but we made do. In the room which is the second bedroom in this house, but we use it for Peter's office, we put a single bed mattress on the floor and that is where Jeff slept. Poor guy, it was so hot while he was here and there is only one air conditioning unit (mini-split) in this apartment. It happens to be in our bedroom. We do have a fan, so Jeff had that in his room for the nights, but still. It was not anything even close to cool in that room. Well, Jeff came from freezing cold Manitoba and emphasized that he was TIRED of the cold, so at least here he escaped that!! He got quite the opposite here!
We actually got quite a bit accomplished while Jeff was here. I say we -- I should actually say Jeff and Peter. They went and bought lumber and built several sets of bookshelves -- one set for here in the dining area, and two sets for Peter's office. They also put up a washline for me. As for what I got accomplished -- I got the men fed, the house cleaned, and the laundry done. All that takes a lot more effort when done from a stool rather than the normal way. Healing from my surgery is still ongoing. By now I do see a lot of progress -- I am actually starting to walk, without any aids, short distances here in the house. It still walk slowly and very carefully, and not without any pain. I still wouldn't dream of walking outside without my crutches, or going to church without them. But I have to start somewhere, and within the walls of our own home is the best place to start! God is good -- always has been and always will be.
One day when Jeff was here we went to Ciudad del Este, a city on the Brazil border, for immigration purposes. We discovered there is an immigration office in Ciudad del Este where we can do everything that we could do in Asuncion. The advantage is, C del Este is only half as far from our place, in the opposite direction. It was a good day, but a harrowing one in some ways. Traffic in C del Este is awful. Jeff drove -- I sure wouldn't have wanted to. At the immigration office they made some kind of error and sent us to some other place first. Because of the heavy traffic, it was almost impossible to get anywhere and so Peter and I decided to walk a ways, but it was longer than we had thought. I was stumping along on my crutches when a kind man, (a taxi driver) asked if we needed a taxi. We gratefully accepted. He took us where we needed to go, and decided to stay with us and take us back to the immigration office when we were ready. Long story short, they sent us back to immigration, and when we got there they realized they had made a mistake and they should not have sent us away in the first place. WOW! What a discovery. Wasted time and money. Our faithful taxi driver waited on us again till our papers were finished at immigration, then he took us back to the parking lot where our car was. We made a couple more stops, and it was 5:00 till we finally were on the way home again. It had been another very warm day and we were all exhausted upon arriving home! At least the drive from Ciudad del Este was only about an hour and a half, instead of two and a half or three, to Asuncion!
The next day it was wonderful to just stay at home!
Jeff and Peter made several trips to town during those days to get screws, brackets, etc. for the shelf building project. One of those trips they came home with ice cream! Two litres of soft serve ice cream from Lactolanda, in a styrofoam container. That is the way they sell it here, because the heat would just melt it very quickly in a different kind of container. Anyway, it was another hot day, and we sat right down and had an ice cream party. We shared it with Ben and Justina, our next-door neighbours too.
I think I wrote last time about Jeff having gone along to prison ministry, quite a distance away from here. He also learned to know and appreciate Ben and Justina, living right next to us here, and they were planning to go home to Rio Verde for this past weekend. They invited Jeff to go along, and he did! They left early Saturday morning and didn't come back till Tuesday afternoon. So Jeff got to see quite a few different parts of Paraguay. Even in Rio Verde, he met some young people who could speak English. Jeff knew a little Spanish when he came here (he helped at a mission in Mexico for a few months, several years ago) and he really picked it up more around here, quite rapidly. You would not sell him in Spanish anymore, as the saying goes! When they went to town, Peter often encouraged Jeff to do the talking in business places, and he got along quite well.
At least one evening we, with Jeff, were invited to Ben and Justina's for supper. A lovely evening, they carried the table out into the yard and we ate outside. Evenings here have been really pleasant. As soon as the sun is down, the fierce heat subsides. Peter and I enjoy sitting out on our porch in the cool of the evening, enjoying the sunset. So many blessings to praise the Lord for!
Last Saturday evening we were invited to a wedding at the Missionsgemeinde. Eddie Bergen, son of the elder Bennie, and Tabea Buhler, daughter of deacon Abram Buhler, joined hands in marriage. I enjoy weddings -- the solemnity, the beauty, the joy and celebration. During the service it rained heavily! I had seen tables and chairs out on the church lawn, set up and ready for the reception afterwards. I guess the servers and food crew did some quick work!! The rain stopped before the service ended, and you would never have guessed that anything out of the ordinary had happened. Everything was attractively set up again as before. The sun was out, and the grass had already dried. Obviously, God was in charge!! The tables were round, and seated six each. Peter and I chose a table where two young couples were already sitting. We didn't know them, but soon got acquainted. We discovered the one couple was married, but the other one wasn't yet -- they were looking forward to their wedding one week later! Peter and this bridegroom-to-be just really hit it off well, and as a result, that couple sent us their wedding invitation too! So now we get to go to another wedding, tomorrow! This one will be in the EMG church (EMC in English).
Wednesday morning we took Jeff to the bus station to begin his long journey back to North America..
Our air conditioning unit was not working properly, ever since we moved in here it was not putting forth as much cold air as it should have. This morning we went to town for a few items of business. I had seen this ad for a refrigeration maintenance place, online, so we went there to see if they could come look at our unit. Yes, they said they would come. We were only home from town for half an hour or so, till they came! It was a man and his two sons, working together. They were just the right people. They had all their tools along, even a ladder. I saw right away that he knew his business. He began taking the unit apart, then he and his sons removed and cleaned all the moving parts with a pressure washer which they also had along. The man said it should be serviced about once a year for maximum performance. This one obviously had not been serviced for a good while. He put it all back together again, and YAY! It works wonderfully now. That's all it needed. When they wanted to leave, their van battery was dead (the lights had been left on) and so they pulled out a set of booster cables, and we used our car to give them a boost. We made more new friends again (the man's name was Pedro, and my husband is also Pedro in Spanish, so that was another point of interest!) If we ever need something along that line again, I'm sure we'll be calling on the same people.
We've also gotten to know some more of our neighbours. Friendly folk. This neighbourhood is muy tranquilo, as the Paraguayans say. Very peaceful. Gifts of food have been brought or sent to us by various ones, both Mennonites and Paraguayans. We are far from being alone or lonely! Because I am still recuperating from my knee surgery, I have not been over at the Home much, but Peter goes every day, as do Ben and Justina. There is much to do over there to keep everyone comfortable.
Hot weather continues, and according to the forecast, next week is to bring some even higher temps that what we've had so far. We'll see! But I'm glad the air conditioning is working again, before that time! If we put a fan in our bedroom doorway, it circulates the cool air nicely through the rest of the house. This house is small so it doesn't take much.
And so, there I shall leave you until next time!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Susan for the Hoovers