June 25, 2025
Susan Hoover
Dear family and friends,
Greetings in Jesus' Name. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Having chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him ..." Read on in your own Bibles! This is from Ephesians 1, which I started reading this morning. How rich, how abundant. One thought that impressed me is that God knew all about me, what I would be like and what I would choose, before He even laid the foundations of the earth! Isn't that marvelous, and beyond comprehension!
Life here at Hogar Esperanza can become rather humdrum at times, but at other times there is a lot going on. I thought the last week was rather uneventful, hence the lack of a letter on the weekend! We did attend a cell group Bible study/prayer meeting again, at the home of Manuel and Jenny Friesen in Sommerfeld. Other than that, we do our daily things, helping the elderly, doing the laundry, doing the grocery shopping, and trying to show the love of Jesus to those around us. Especially to the elderly, who absorb all the love and attention one can give them, like a sponge! It is so rewarding at times, when you think you are only doing what is your duty to do, but there is such appreciation shown.
On Saturday we went to a
bookstore in Sommerfeld, just off the highway in Campo 9. We
bought two songbooks, and I got a Plattdeutsch Bible! I'm so
pleased. I've been wanting one for awhile already. I've been
reading or listening to the Plattdeutsch Bible on my phone for
awhile already, but I wanted an actual physical, printed
version. And now I have one. I can read Plattdeutsch much, much
easier than proper High German, especially since I've been
getting lots practice with it on my phone. [Church services in
most of these Mennonite churches here are almost totally in
Plattdeutsch, even some of the songs. Some songs are in High
German].
After that we went to Schroeder's mill to get two bags of chicken feed, for Roberto and Norma who have a few laying hens here on the place. Then to the supermarket for a big load of groceries. There are things to get used to -- one of them being having two carts loaded with groceries, and then the bill totals something like one million six hundred thousand -- not dollars but guaranies. Big scary numbers but in dollar value it is actually pretty normal, or even less than an equal amount of groceries would be in the U.S.
On Sunday we were planning to go to the Misionsgemeinde. We were all ready to go, but lo and behold, the car was gone. Someone else was using it that day. We don't have our own car yet, but we are allowed to use the Home's car when it's not otherwise in use. It almost always is available on Sundays, but this Sunday it was gone. So, it was a disappointment, but we adjusted our plans for the day and had a very pleasant day anyway. We listened to a message by Dean Taylor, went for quite a long walk, had lunch, rested, and did some reading. We felt we had a blessed Lord's Day even if we didn't get to go to church.
Sunday night we had a lot
of heavy rain. Monday dawned, COLD!! and windy. Tuesday morning
we had a frost -- temperature was down to slightly below
freezing and the grass was white with frost. A friend sent a
photo of her car windshield, white with frost, and she had
scratched the date into the frost -- 24/06/2025. I remarked that
I am kind of glad we do get some colder weather. I like it a bit
more seasonal, rather than just having warm weather year round,
day in and day out. But that's just me, my personal preference.
And I don't really like to BE cold!
As long as the heat works, it's fine!! This morning our heat system failed. And it was very cold again. I brought a little space heater home and got it going. It didn't quite keep up with the cold in here, the wind was driving the cold in, but it was definitely better than no heat at all. I guess we'll have to call someone in to check out what's wrong with the heater/AC unit in here.
We have enjoyed a few more visitors. Yesterday morning Henry and Hannah Kehler from Bergthal stopped in for an hour or so and we had a very good visit. Henry is also on the board of directors here at the Home, and his wife just wanted to visit with me. I enjoyed it -- taking a break from the daily duties for awhile!
This afternoon now, Arnaldo and Monika Harder and Marlene Kehler came over! What a delightful surprise! We learned to know the Harders quite well last November -- they were so good to us and helped us so many ways, with support and love, and with goods that we needed! Marlene is an older lady, she is actually a nurse and is very interested in what is happening here. They all enjoyed chatting with the elderly for awhile, then we brought them over to our casita and had an excellent visit here. They prayed with us and blessed us for the work we are doing here. So very encouraging, and so needed! All three of them were Godsent, we believe! Marlene said she knows our daughter Stefania from the coffee shop ... Interesting connections. The Lord is at work. His ways are higher than our ways, His plans are always good. Why should we not trust Him and His workings?
Monika brought us a jar of soup that she made, plus some pumpkin pie. Tonight Peter and I shall eat supper in our own little house!! :-) And it will be so-o good. We also have some buns yet that Mrs Franky Friesen brought us ... what a feast we shall have. Peter and I usually skip supper, but not tonight!
On Father's Day, we attended the Sunday morning meeting at Centro Cristiano El Refugio. We had a sumptuous lunch that day at El Parador, where we met Darvin and Karla Zimmerman who were also having lunch there. We had met them as well last November, so it was good to reconnect. They invited us to their house for coffee after lunch, so we went there and had a very nice time. They are a young couple with two cute little boys.
And so -- you have heard a bit from our corner again. I should tell you about Vidal. He was brought here a few weeks ago. He was perhaps in the early stages of dementia, and did not want to stay here. He resisted everything that was done for him. Tossed his food away, etc. He did learn to eat then, I think he enjoyed the food he was given. But he did everything he could to destroy his room. He took the bedding off the bed and stood the bedstead up on its end, against the wall. (Amazing strength, for an old man who was even sick!!) He pulled the curtains off his windows and used them.... He actually forcefully broke apart the wooden bedstead and tried to break the window of his room with pieces of wood from the bedstead. With his bare hands, he tried to break the brick wall under his window. He finally gave up after his hand got hurt from it, it was swollen and sore and very painful! He became content to just sit quietly with the other elderly men. He began showing signs of serious illness and was taken to the hospital. Tests showed that his liver was full of cancer, and it had already spread to other parts of his body as well. They sent him to a larger hospital in Caaguazu, but he died there the next day.
So, that is another one whom we have gotten to know for just a very short time. I hope we were able to show the love of Christ to him in his days here. Some are much easier to relate to than others, but all are precious in the Lord's sight.
Pray for the work at Hogar Esperanza!
Because of Jesus,
Susan for the Hoovers