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Paraguay Missions Newsletter
The Miller Family
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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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DECEMBER 2016
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JUNE 2016

I was shocked to look at the calendar to see that Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! Where does the time go? This week Kyle is going to chop down an evergreen shrub that is planted in a bad spot and we are going to use it for a Christmas tree. We are in summer now and so we are expecting the traditional hot Paraguayan Christmas.

On November 28th Monica turned 17. She has been in the Home the longest out of everyone. It has been so wonderful to watch her grow from an insecure little girl to the intelligent and confident young lady that she is today.

School is out now until February. A few of the kids are able to go to relative’s homes for Christmas but the majority will be here with us at the Home. This is always hard for those that stay behind because they wish they could see their families as well.

Alejandra and Zulma have completed Grade 12 and will now be looking into Universities for February. They have both done really well this year and we are very proud of them as they take the next step in their lives. We had 5 girls graduate from public school this year. Three of those girls made straight 5’s (that is the highest mark you can get). It means they each graduated with a mark of 100%

Carolina is finishing her first year of medical school and her last exam is on December 23rd. Dan will be picking her up to make sure she can get home for the holidays with her bags and the 9 medical books she has to read in her 5 week break (not much of a break at all for her).

In last month’s newsletter I talked about the trouble we were having getting a few dry days together to paint the pool. We finally got them! The pool dried out and we painted the first coat. Then 24 hours later we painted the second coat. We had some pool paint left over and we were going to paint a 3rd coat on the pool floor but the rain came and ended all possibilities. Kyle got the pool filled just in time for the first camp to arrive. The pool looks fantastic and we sure look forward to the pool during the summer as a reprieve from the heat.

We have been super busy with our back to back camps. On the last day of one of the camps for American Missionaries, I was to make pancakes. I woke up in the night sick to my stomach. I waited until 6:00am to call Dani and ask her to do it. She had no problem making pancakes for 64 people. Kyle and Dani then took care of everything to finish out the camp, clean for the next day’s group and be here at the Home so that I could spend the day in bed. Yet again I thank the Lord for them and I don’t know what I would have done without them.

Exciting news…the men are starting to put on my roof this week! This project has been put on hold for many different reasons. One of those reasons was that Dan could not find the wood that we needed. He pulled his crew onto building the second Children’s Home. Then we had wood but no workers. Since we are doing dormers in the roof, which is a new thing for our crew, we waited until our friend Reinaldo was free from his construction project to be here to work with and oversee our crew. The most amazing thing is that for the first time in a while there is no rain in the forecast for 5 straight days! I used to get anxious or sad about the house but not anymore. God has proven it over and over that He is in control and it will happen.

Dan was home for a few days and then left for Argentina at a conference to translate and teach. The kids asked me yesterday if Dan had any more trips after this one. I believe they are ready to duct tape him to his lawn chair when he arrives so they can spend time with him.

Our mission team is now arriving on Dec. 18th and will be leaving January 4th. The plan right now is that they will be at the Overseer’s house for Christmas and then the team and the Overseer will spend New Year’s with us at the camp. We are super excited about them coming and the work and ministry they will do while they are here.

Youth camp is next month. This year the Overseer has divided Youth Ministry into 2 groups. Suni and I have the 12-21 year olds. This will be the first time for it not to be 12-35. Change is never easy and the adult youth are not happy that they cannot come to our camp in January. Suni and I on the other hand are excited about the group we have. Please pray for us and the camp.

We have received 3 siblings. Mirian is 13, Cesar is 12 and Luz is 2. Luz will not be staying very long because her mother will be receiving custody of her. It has been fun having her here because she is really cute and when she cries she wants her big sister so it has been easy having her here. So this puts our current number of kids at 17.

Since I was busy last week I decided to just let the kids have their first week of summer vacation off. This week I am getting them to work a bit with me each day to do some needed gardening. The kids transplanted the lettuce that I had planted a couple of weeks ago. They cleaned up the rest of the garden and spread manure on the areas we need to plant yet. The boys and I are hoeing an area getting it ready to plant with beans. Earlier in the year we harvested more than 80 kilos of beans from that patch that I planted. We dried the beans and used them for months. Hopefully we get another good harvest this year.

One of my summer projects with the kids is to repair the chicken coop so we can have laying hens. My work list is always long so we will see what we can accomplish during the summer. Since they are all adolescents and teens they can accomplish lots of things but need some motivation to do it. They have learned to never use the phrase “I am bored” around me. I always have work for bored people. Many times I have heard “I am (then they look at me) ….ah never mind”.

Lord willing we are taking the kids to the capital city for an outing and Christmas shopping this week. We have heard of a big store with great prices. The plan right now is to shop first and then go to a mall and have lunch and watch a movie. It is always hard trying to organize an outing with so many of us. Just trying to figure out buying the movie tickets alone is an ordeal. Just when Dan thinks he has the numbers of how many for which movie they start changing their minds and he has to start over. It is always fun to go to the city and see the Christmas decorations in the mall. It also helps the kids appreciate how peaceful and relaxing our life in the country really is.

We are having a sad day today here because Nicol has left the Home. She came here in February and it was to be just for a short time. She was only here for a short time when an Aunt came forward wanting custody of her. It was sad that the system was so slow doing the paperwork and to string this along for her. The good thing about it was that she completed an entire school year here. She is so sweet and well behaved that it was easy having her around.

We want kids that are here on a permanent basis until 18 but it doesn’t always work that way. God knows how long each child will be here so our only job is to love them and teach them about Jesus while they are here. It is not an easy job and many times we cry with broken hearts for and with the kids. There are also great moments of laughter and love. Just last week I received a wall hanging that Monica made for me with a flower made from a pop bottle that said “I love you mommy”. The day I was sick Jazmin made me a get well card telling me she loved me and signed it “your baby”. She was the youngest in the house and was jealous that Luz (the 2 year old) would take her spot. I told her that Luz was the baby of the house but that she was my baby and she like that.

Blessings and Merry Christmas!!!

Dan-

011-595-981-776-208

Gwen-

011-595-985-889-983