June 2, 2025
Susan Hoover
Dear family and friends,
Greetings again in Jesus' Name. This same Jesus, who commanded us to love one another. "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34,35. What a simple test! And yet, do we always pass it? A very pertinent question.
We are enjoying a rainy, cool day, with thunder rumbling through the sky for a larger part of the afternoon so far. As usual on Mondays, we had a large laundry. We dried some in the dryer, and hung a bunch up in the loft again. I'm so glad that we did a second batch of laundry on Saturday afternoon, after all the residents had their baths. The laundry bin was almost full again so we did four big loads yet, after all the rest that we had done in the morning.
Our room is so nice and cozy now on these cold days, since we got the mini-split going. It's a system that heats in winter and cools in the summer. Pretty neat.
Yesterday was Sunday. Peter and I stayed home in the morning, since most of the other staff was either away for the weekend, or else going away for the morning. So we and Angelica were here to stay with the residents. Angelica cooked a delicious meal for lunch -- roast chicken and beef, mandioca, etc. My favourite was the roasted meat. :-) There were also fried corn cakes -- the Paraguayan version of tortillas. Totally different from the tortillas in Mexico and Central America.
So our Sunday was rather uneventful. On Saturday Julian was here after lunch, helping us put up some shelves in our little casita, also mounted the wall bracket for the oil lamp that we brought along. Yes, that fragile item survived the trip from Pennsylvania to here! It will come in handy for the times when the electricity is off, which does happen more often than it should, probably. :-) We really appreciated Julian's help and company!
On Thursday was Ascension
Day and we attended services at one of the Mennonite churches on
Bergthal colony. The Chortitz one where Hein Hildebrands attend.
They had invited us to come for the meeting, and to their house
for dinner afterwards. We had a very enjoyable time with them,
besides having a scrumptious meal of Wareneki and smoked sausage
in a creamy sauce ... and other goodies too. A few of their
married children also were there for lunch, and more of them
showed up in the afternoon. It was fun getting to meet them.
They have 14 children, so we still didn't get to see nearly all
of them!
On the morning of Ascension
Day I read the account of Jesus' going up in the clouds. What a
beautiful picture it makes in your mind, to think of Jesus,
riding up on the clouds, as the disciples gazed longingly after
Him. Then the two men in shining clothes appeared, and told them
that Jesus will come back, in like manner as you have just seen
Him go up! I often think of that promise, when I look at the
clouds, especially if there are outstanding ones or extra pretty
ones. What a joy it would be to actually see Him returning on
one of those!
Peter and I have done the grocery shopping a few times now, and Hein would like us to take over that responsibility, so we probably will be doing it regularly. A few days ago we bought a big screen for Peter's computer. He needs help to get it all set up and running. The electricity here is different than in North America (220 instead of 110). Dennis Hildebrand is coming over one of these days, he says, to help him get it all set up and in working order. He hasn't had a whole lot of time to be doing computer stuff yet anyway, so there is really no rush. But it will be nice to have it be in working condition again.
The power just came back on after being off for a few hours, so my writing was interrupted. I don't think I have any more news at this time so maybe I'll just send this short letter this time. We are perhaps going to a house meeting (cell group) tonight that we've been invited to. With the weather like it is, I don't know for sure if we'll go or not. I don't relish driving in the dark here to begin with, and if it's both dark AND raining, it would be easy just to stay home. But, we'll see! Maybe we'll brave it. We probably will, with enough encouragement. :-)
Let's keep pressing on the upward way!
Love,
Susan, for the Hoovers