Linn’s News September 2009
Thank you for your prayers. I am greeting you from a warm and sunny Paraguay as the temperatures are climbing and Spring appears to have arrived. The whole city is covered in a spectacular burst of blossoms.
In response to prayer Childrens’ Day was a great success. Also I finally received my new ID card at the third attempt to get it.
The Church
The second Mission Paraguay team arrived and we spent a lovely evening with them before they split up, with some going into the Chaco
and some going to Concepcion. The Chaco group completed the walls of a church that was started last year. The Concepcion group ran some very successful children’s clubs and they reached around one thousand children with the gospel this year.
Ideas for tasks for next years Mission Paraguay teams are already taking shape.
The Children’s Saturday club from St. Andrew’s Cathedral spent a very successful Children’s Day out at Emboscada in the countryside. The sun shone and a good day was had by all concerned, especially the children! They are from the Chacarita shanty town so going out of the city on a bus was a huge adventure for them. Some were quite over-awed.
The School
This has been a month of doing battle health-wise against the Yo-yo temperatures as the wind has changed every two or three days bringing cold air one day and hot air another. Several staff have succumbed to chesty colds which have warranted a day or two in bed. I have been battling an allergy to the mango blossom again and have a cough. The children are still going down with colds and coughs.
The second exam season is currently upon us. However, the children have had plenty of time for fun. Childrens’ Day became Childrens’ Week as we had a week packed with activities, beginning on the Tuesday of that week with a visit from an Olympic standard swimmer who gave the children a demonstration of good swimming.
Wednesday saw fun and games at our Sports ground.
On the Thursday I showed a twenty minute Powerpoint of staff and children not quite as they see themselves ranging from Baby monkeys to Superman and well known film characters. They laughed all the way through as they recognized people. We also had the annual dance competition that day. Although it is just an event for the children, each year we find more and more parents turning up uninvited. They put so much effort into helping the teams that they want to see the children in the competition. This year the hall was packed out.
On the Friday we celebrated the National Day of the flag. Two of our staff had put together a very professional video of our city and the flag. Unfortunately it is in Spanish or I would have purchased a copy to show in my link churches.
Just before lunch the Primary children were treated to a staff pantomime. It had been written based on the Three Little Pigs, involving swine-flu of course. The children loved it and the staff had fun over-acting it.
Both the Pre-primary children and the Primary children enjoyed two bouncy castle activities and they also appreciated hamburgers and Coca-Cola (Coke is normally banned in school).
In the secondary department some students went out for a ‘survival’ style night camp out on “The hill”, which they enjoyed and they all arrived back in one piece.
Also the secondary department has had a visiting maths teacher from UK, Simon Dowland. He had sacrificed a couple of weeks of his UK summer teacher’s vacation to come over and he found himself flung in at the deep end, taking maths classes. It was great to have him around and we hope that he will visit us again, maybe for longer.
This month Sophie Hirst, a volunteer, arrived to help out in Pre-school and secondary until the end of term.
The country
There is still much discontent in the country as the economic crisis deepens. President Lugo is very unpopular with the opposition parties.
The campesinos and the Indigenous peoples have had more demonstrations about their rights to land and housing, but with nothing happening to meet their demands.
The Swine-flu is still with us but people seem resigned to its effect and masks are rarely visible on the streets now. There have been a number of deaths as with the constantly changing weather people have developed severe respiratory problems. Intensive care units have been full to overflowing at times.
Prayer points:-
1. Give thanks for all the good things that have happened here over the past month.
2. Please pray for President Lugo. Pray for wisdom for the government and for the population to be more patient and to accept the reality of the economic crisis. Pray for the Lord to meet their daily needs.
3. Please pray for the staff and pupils of St. Andrew’s School. Pray for better health for everybody. We are all beginning to feel tired due to being ‘under-the weather’.
4. Please pray for Mags Southern and Bishop Peter as they work together on areas of finance. (Mags is Diocesan treasurer). Please pray for wisdom and encouragement for them both.
Linn Tedman, Colegio San Andres, Casilla 1124, Asuncion, Paraguay, South America. Information on http://www.samsgb.org/people/documents/tedman.pdf If you wish to support my work through SAMS please contact Philip Tadman (Financial Secretary), Allen Gardiner Cottage, Pembury Road, TUNBRIDGE WELLS, Kent TN2 3QU (email:- finsec@samsgb.org).
Thank you for your prayers. I am greeting you from a warm and sunny Paraguay as the temperatures are climbing and Spring appears to have arrived. The whole city is covered in a spectacular burst of blossoms.
In response to prayer Childrens’ Day was a great success. Also I finally received my new ID card at the third attempt to get it.
The Church
The second Mission Paraguay team arrived and we spent a lovely evening with them before they split up, with some going into the Chaco
and some going to Concepcion. The Chaco group completed the walls of a church that was started last year. The Concepcion group ran some very successful children’s clubs and they reached around one thousand children with the gospel this year.Ideas for tasks for next years Mission Paraguay teams are already taking shape.
The Children’s Saturday club from St. Andrew’s Cathedral spent a very successful Children’s Day out at Emboscada in the countryside. The sun shone and a good day was had by all concerned, especially the children! They are from the Chacarita shanty town so going out of the city on a bus was a huge adventure for them. Some were quite over-awed.
The School
This has been a month of doing battle health-wise against the Yo-yo temperatures as the wind has changed every two or three days bringing cold air one day and hot air another. Several staff have succumbed to chesty colds which have warranted a day or two in bed. I have been battling an allergy to the mango blossom again and have a cough. The children are still going down with colds and coughs.
The second exam season is currently upon us. However, the children have had plenty of time for fun. Childrens’ Day became Childrens’ Week as we had a week packed with activities, beginning on the Tuesday of that week with a visit from an Olympic standard swimmer who gave the children a demonstration of good swimming.
Wednesday saw fun and games at our Sports ground.
On the Thursday I showed a twenty minute Powerpoint of staff and children not quite as they see themselves ranging from Baby monkeys to Superman and well known film characters. They laughed all the way through as they recognized people. We also had the annual dance competition that day. Although it is just an event for the children, each year we find more and more parents turning up uninvited. They put so much effort into helping the teams that they want to see the children in the competition. This year the hall was packed out.
On the Friday we celebrated the National Day of the flag. Two of our staff had put together a very professional video of our city and the flag. Unfortunately it is in Spanish or I would have purchased a copy to show in my link churches.
Just before lunch the Primary children were treated to a staff pantomime. It had been written based on the Three Little Pigs, involving swine-flu of course. The children loved it and the staff had fun over-acting it.
Both the Pre-primary children and the Primary children enjoyed two bouncy castle activities and they also appreciated hamburgers and Coca-Cola (Coke is normally banned in school).
In the secondary department some students went out for a ‘survival’ style night camp out on “The hill”, which they enjoyed and they all arrived back in one piece.
Also the secondary department has had a visiting maths teacher from UK, Simon Dowland. He had sacrificed a couple of weeks of his UK summer teacher’s vacation to come over and he found himself flung in at the deep end, taking maths classes. It was great to have him around and we hope that he will visit us again, maybe for longer.
This month Sophie Hirst, a volunteer, arrived to help out in Pre-school and secondary until the end of term.
The country
There is still much discontent in the country as the economic crisis deepens. President Lugo is very unpopular with the opposition parties.
The campesinos and the Indigenous peoples have had more demonstrations about their rights to land and housing, but with nothing happening to meet their demands.
The Swine-flu is still with us but people seem resigned to its effect and masks are rarely visible on the streets now. There have been a number of deaths as with the constantly changing weather people have developed severe respiratory problems. Intensive care units have been full to overflowing at times.
Prayer points:-
1. Give thanks for all the good things that have happened here over the past month.
2. Please pray for President Lugo. Pray for wisdom for the government and for the population to be more patient and to accept the reality of the economic crisis. Pray for the Lord to meet their daily needs.
3. Please pray for the staff and pupils of St. Andrew’s School. Pray for better health for everybody. We are all beginning to feel tired due to being ‘under-the weather’.
4. Please pray for Mags Southern and Bishop Peter as they work together on areas of finance. (Mags is Diocesan treasurer). Please pray for wisdom and encouragement for them both.
Linn Tedman, Colegio San Andres, Casilla 1124, Asuncion, Paraguay, South America. Information on http://www.samsgb.org/people/documents/tedman.pdf If you wish to support my work through SAMS please contact Philip Tadman (Financial Secretary), Allen Gardiner Cottage, Pembury Road, TUNBRIDGE WELLS, Kent TN2 3QU (email:- finsec@samsgb.org).
