6/19/20

Asunción, Paraguay

Saturday the weather began to change, the wind picked up and the rain started to fall. Things began to cool off quickly.

I spent most of the day working on the above “epistle”. We stayed close to home except for a quick run to the grocery store up by Recoleta. It was nice to take it a bit easier.

In the evening Juan and Beth [Laven] Meza along with their two beautiful girls, Barbie and Carolinna, picked us and we went out to eat. Along the way you could see that the people were really getting ready for Sunday’s Paraguay-Slovakia game. Flags draped over cars, flying from buildings, the trees across from the Recoleta Cathedral were wrapped in red and white lights. It was very festive. We went out for “bife de lomito” sandwiches and lots of catching up.

Beth’s brother was a close friend of my older brother and Beth’s older sister and my older sisters were also friends. Loren, my brother, was in the same class as Beth. As we retold our stories, it became clear how similar we really were, the struggles, the joys…especially with reference to our bicultural-ness [It’s a word, right?], coming and going, relating to and with people both at “home” and away. And how does all that affect our own marriages and families? What residual strengths and weaknesses do we pass on to them? As Barbie and Carolinna played, I wondered at God’s grace. We too were once that age running about barefoot and carefree [relatively speaking], rather innocent of the struggles our parents faced daily. Though we experienced difficult adjustments and some painful times as we grew up, the God of our parents became more and more ours in a fresh and personal way. A common desire grew steadily to seek His direction in our lives, to honor Him.

And we said good-bye again, trusting that it will not take some 32 years to see each other again. Thanks guys, you blessed us. There is strength in fellowship.