Home Sweet Home

As Yoej and I are trying to clean the house and pack all our things to go home, I'm starting to wonder about what it'll be like when I land at LAX. How is life going to be the same? How is it going to be different? What am I going to do now? I feel that I should be finding comfort as I go home, but I'm feeling mixed emotions. Not that I'm not excited to see familiar faces and spend time with loved ones, but I think that God is placing these emotions in my heart to teach me that my home is not in America, nor on Earth. 

When I first came to Paraguay, Yoej and I were talking about going home and we looked at her calendar. December 20th was marked "Home America Bound". I realized that she was reminding herself that America is not our home, but our sweet home is HEAVEN. Many times, I forget that there is more to life than the life lived on Earth. I forget that my earthly life is so fleeting and we are called to live to glorify His name and not our own.

So that is my prayer as I return to America: that I would continue to strive to live a gospel-centered and mission-minded life, to live for something greater, to live for SOMEONE greater.

It's Summertime!

Can't believe school ended last week! Waking up late on a school day was just weird. Not to say that I didn't enjoy it, because I definitely did! 
It's just a little sad. 
For the past two days, we attended graduations for the elementary students and realized that it's probably the last time we'll see them. SIGH. Praying and hoping that they would come to know the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and that we will all be able to praise God in heaven one day!

Here are some pictures of students and profes during the last days of school:

Paz, Luana, Amelie, Keren

one of the 1st grade classes
Prof. Judith is one of the best profes!

here she is praying with her students for their merienda (snack)

Joe singing with the 6th graders

these crazy girlsss
Lourdes & Amelie

Paz and Ian

my Mombarete student, Rocio

lovely high school senior girls!
graduating next week!

one of our 2nd grade classes

the other 2nd grade class at their despedida (goodbye party)

Nicolas & Alejo

Cesar

playing soccer

Camila
she is so freaking cute

playing telephone charades

Mario

Toby
omg so cute

Ruth and Violeta

our crazy 5th graders

6th grade boys

1st graders!

Yamila & Ayelen
they gave me the hardest time, but why are they so cute?

these boys are so cute...but the biggest troublemakers!

Prof. Betty
she is seriously soooo funny

Hugo y Enzo

Prof. Alma gives the sweetest hugs

Sophie, Maria Jose, & Camila

Prof. Nancy
I got to teach her two beautiful and sweet daughters

I will miss this. I'll miss my meriendas. I'll miss her.

Silvia
seriously, she is one of the sweetest ladies. EVER.

Aline and Mariam

and these kids are super happy to be done with school!
FELICES VACACIONES!

What time is it?
IT'S SUMMERTIME!

Tengo TANTO Para Agradecer

This past Thanksgiving weekend, I realized that I have SO MUCH to be thankful for here in Paraguay!

I'm thankful for:

Joe and Yoej, who show me much love and grace as well as make sacrifices for me! and they help keep me sane :)

the Chos! It's so nice to just spend time with them and hear their stories. They continue to serve us with their generosity and we love to eat Korean food with them!

the Jovenes. These people are so humble, kind, and fun! I'm so blessed to know these brothers and sisters in Christ and I'm seriously going to miss them so much.

& my students. Although they challenged me every day, I was amazed by their ability to love me even when I didn't deserve it.

Feasts!

To start off our Thanksgiving celebrations, we had dinner with the Chos!

it was raining so hard that day- there was a blackout.

and the lights turned on right as we were about to begin!

BOMB. 

Yoej made the apple crumble! I helped cut apples!

Paraguayans don't celebrate Thanksgiving so we decided to cook a traditional dinner for the jovenes! By the way, jovenes = young adults, not kids! Eric thought it meant "children" this whole time, hope you didn't think so!

salad, stuffing, gravy, rice, chicken, creamed corn, mashed papas

seriously felt like we were at home!

played some games, love this edition of Stacko

the girls

nuestra familia Paraguaya

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with loved ones here in Paraguay! Hope you enjoyed your time with family and friends <3

Remember, we have much to be thankful for! Hopefully we can remember to be thankful every single day, not just for the blessings we have received, but for the One who continues to bless us with His presence and the gift of vida eterna.