July 6,2025
Susan Hoover
Dear family and friends,
Greetings, as always, in the Name of Jesus, in whom we live and move and have our being! How wonderful He is. Without Him, we can do nothing, just as He told us while He was here on earth. And the older we get, the more we realize the truth of those words. Nothing at all of any worth can we accomplish on our own, but with Him, anything is possible! We can do all things through Christ, the One who strengthens us.
What a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon! It's amazing, the variety of weather we can have in just a short period of time. Just last week we were having frigid nights and cold, windy days. But when it's more dry, the wind stops, the sun shines, and presto, it is quite warm again. We're enjoying the changes.
On Friday, June 27, we were
invited to attend a harvest praise service and meal at Luz y
Esperanza, just a few miles from here. We enjoyed it very much,
in spite of the cold wind that blew through the open-sided gym
where the meal was served! The morning service was inspiring,
with a short message by Matthew Myers formerly of here, but now
of Mississippi. They are back for a visit. There was also some
group singing, by the school children as well as another group.
The meal was delicious and plentiful, and we very much enjoyed
the fellowship of believers as well! We met some interesting
people whom we had never met before.
Then on Sunday, the 29th,
we attended another harvest praise (Thanksgiving) meeting, in
the large Missionsgemeinde in Sommerfeld. They had also invited
us to share the day with them, which we appreciated. In the
morning meeting, all the parents who had new babies born within
the last few months were invited to come forward, with the
babies, and a blessing was prayed on all the little souls who
had joined them in the last months. I think there were 13
couples who went forward. What a blessing, so many sweet little
ones! The message, on having truly thankful and grateful hearts,
was brought by Freddy Friesen.
After the church service
was over, everyone moved out to the large open area by the
school -- there is a roof but three sides are open. The fourth
side is the school and kitchen wall (it's a two-storey
building). One of the open sides was temporarily closed with a
tarp, to keep at least most of the cold wind out of the eating
area. The whole area was set up with little tables where groups
of six could sit to eat. Very pleasing arrangement, nice for
chats and sharing and fellowship! We found ourselves sharing a
table with Billy and Christina Buehler, and Dennis and Lena
Hildebrand, both of whom we had some acquaintance with already.
Billy and Christina are in the cell group that we have been
invited to join, so we were glad to get to spend more time with
them. And Dennis and Lena, we learned to know last November
while we were here. For the first hour or so, everyone just sat
around visiting and drinking mate. What a comforting drink on a
cold day! I used to not like it, but it's been growing on me and
I actually enjoy it by now. It's a good way of socializing too,
as the guampa gets passed around to a few others...
Then the food was served. Bowls of hot borscht (soup) appeared on the tables, and we filed to the food table next to the kitchen and picked up hot dogs, buns, trimmings, and pieces of a great variety of pies. Coffee was also served. It was a very pleasant afternoon of singing, testimonies, friendship, and fellowship. The congregation has somewhere between 400 and 500 people, so we did not get to meet everybody. We have attended there a few times now, so we are slowly learning to know more of them.
Wednesday evening there was
a service here at the Home -- the Beachy people from Luz y
Esperanza came to sing and bring a short message for the
residents here. We got the surprise of our lives when we met
David and Nita Friesen, and two of their sons, from Nicaragua
who were also here that evening! The church at Luz y Esperanza
is having a week of youth Bible institute, and David was one of
the teachers. We used to live right next to them, in Costa Rica,
years ago. In fact, we knew them long before they were married.
How interesting, how unexpected, to meet them again, and in
Paraguay of all places! Davids moved from Costa Rica to
Nicaragua many years ago already, after we were no longer in
Costa Rica. We had not seen them for probably 30 years or more!
It was delightful to connect again after so much time. Now they
are grandparents already.
Friday evening Peter and I went to Julian's house for supper! I had told Julian that I would like to come over sometime and cook supper at his house and we would eat with him there. Sometimes we get gifts of food, personally, from other people, but I have no way of cooking anything in our little casita here and it's kind of awkward to cook something just for us, in the big kitchen!! So we had this smoked sausage that someone had given us and we decided to share it with Julian. I arranged with Julian that we would come over after he's home from work on Friday, and I will make supper. So that is what we did! We had such a nice, relaxed evening with him! He has a little half-grown kitten, that I enjoyed playing with after supper. I've always been a cat lover!!
Other than that, life has been pretty ordinary. Oh, no, there was one more thing! About a week or two ago, we received an invitation from Willie and Maria Braun (Maria is my second cousin) to attend their 50th wedding anniversary celebration, on July 3. It so happened that Hein and Tina Hildebrand were also invited, and so they offered to pick us up and take us along. The celebration was in the Winkler church house, in Sommerfeld colony. It was so much like a wedding! The couple sat on two chairs in front of the church, right in the middle between the front benches. Their children and grandchildren filled the next few benches. The ministers and song leaders marched in and sat in front, facing the congregation, as always. We opened with a few songs, then there was a sermon, a very good one actually, on how many things there are to be grateful for in the past 50 years. They have had their share of sorrows and hard times, but God has been good to them. Just very recently, Willie was very sick, spending two months in the hospital with a very serious infection. He was at death's door a few times. But God granted healing, and now he is celebrating 50 years of marriage with his wife! What a blessing.
After the service ended
with a few more songs, everyone sat out on the wide verandah of
the church, drinking terrere. They had young boys going around,
filling the water pitchers for the terrere. After about half an
hour of this, we were called to come in to the dining room where
a sumptuous feast was spread on long tables. We filed in and
took seats as we came, in whatever order. Men on one side of the
tables, women on the other. Bowls of fried chicken, creamy
potato salad, cabbage salad, buns, sopa (a Paraguayan
cornbread), and a variety of pastries stood at intervals on the
tables. Young men went around serving coffee. It was a delicious
meal and no one left that dining room, hungry! At least if they
did it was their own fault!
So, that is what our adventures have been lately. Other than that, we help the elderly, put their socks on for them, serve drinks, comb Carmen's hair for her and put it into a pony tail, do laundry, etc. etc. Peter puts several of the more disabled men to bed every night. I make sure the ladies have clean, dry sheets and blankets on their beds, and change sheets when they need it (sometimes every day). Our days are filled with menial tasks. But we are totally satisfied that this is where the Lord wants us at this time, and so we will serve Him here with joy as long as He wants us here!
Because of Jesus,
Susan, for the Hoovers