Climbing Mountains

As I look over my shoulder at the past eight months I note that the number of experiences I have each week has declined as I have become accustomed to life here and obviously, experienced new things. However, this past Saturday I did 2 things which were new to me.

The setting...
Who: My host sisters, Celeste, Janette and my host father.
What: Christian Festival
Where: Ñembu Paraguay
When: Saturday evening April 18
Why: My sister works with the organization the runs the show.

Because we arrived at the festival several hours before it started, we were provided with the opportunity to climb/hike a cerro, which is something I have wanted to do since I arrived in Paraguay. A cerro is a little mountain or very large hill with steep slopes that just kinda pops out of the ground (about 200 yards high on average I would say). I dont know why they are here or how they were formed because they seem to be scattered around the country. We followed a trail crisscrossing through the woods and then up “stairs” made of stone. At the top there was a place to pray with a large cross and I little building. It was nice to get some exercise and the view from the top was very beautiful.

The second new experience took place near the end of the night. Janette and I were sitting down and watching the speaker when my other sister called and said that they needed more volunteers. Five minutes later I found myself in front of a group of 4000 making myself available to people that wanted to accept Jesus. The first guy that I talked to wasn’t too interested but the second man was. He was a weathered man and ready. Luckily, we were given little books to read through with them, which I did after apologizing if I mispronounced any words. When we got to the end of the little book that explained what being a Christian meant I asked the man if this is what he wanted. He said "si" with a full sureness. I read the sinners prayer a few words at a time and he repeated after me. Afterwards I hugged him as my brother and we went our separate ways. I never would have thought that the first time I prayed that prayer with someone would be in spanish, but it was a beautiful experience.

After a long, eventful and fulfilling night, I realized how fast my time here is really going. I am excited to be home but am also very sad to leave all of this behind. I’ll try to drag as much of it back home with my in my heart as I can…